Return of the Rat Fink.

Now I'm not saying that Andy is a Rat Fink, nor is Alex one, but there was a Rat Fink present during Friday night's wild rumpus.

I just happen to have purchased a couple of RF stickers a few weeks ago.

Andy is on the left, Alex on the right and K-2S0 on the far right.

We had pizza and beer (lots) and spent the second melee at Dragon Diner. There we managed to swing in Andy's return (One Night Only!) and celebrate Alex's FIFTIETH birthday! At the next party, we went to a little hole in the wall place that is almost NEVER open, only this time it was. Great music but only one gal to share amongst the patrons. Needless to say, she went home with the dj. I did manage to get a dance in, alas it was with a dumbstruck dude. At least he let me lead.

I forgot Alex's present* at home but did manage to give Andy a gift. A Nightmarish fanny pack. (Thanks to Loot Fright Crate.)

Not much else to report, except a snap of a pic of a special at a coffee shop.

Thanks to all those festivities, I didn't get around to posting anything about it on Saturday. I was a tad bleary-eyed. Just when I wanted to post something, I got distracted by a Mad Mad Mad Monster special I'd never seen.

Then a Flintstones' special! The reason I was impressed by this is that the art was done by Mushi Production who worked on Osama Tezuka's works such as Atomu and Princess Knight.

After that, I went to bed.

I'll end with a quick Ukiyoe fish pic (Tametomo?). Forgive me if I've shown this before.

When I get a chance, I'll tell you about today when I delivered Alex's present to him.

Happy BttF Day!

As we all recall, Marty and Doc fired up their Wayback Machine to October 21, 2015 thus spawning 3 movies of time travel and how it's never a good idea to sleep with your mom.

For some reason there has been an influx of  Back to the Future Gatcha capsules of late. TWO sets of cars (one at 400 yen and one at 500 yen a pop). I haven't gathered up all the rides, yet I did find this guy (BttF 3) last week at half price.

I have the first one as well...somewhere.

Last week, another debuted and I scored Einstein!

I haven't seen this particular machine since I won the above so I haven't snagged any more.

Speaking of driving around, I watched a confusing though cute little vampire movie tonight, Night Teeth. Confusing because I couldn't tell who was hunting whom, cute because the lead couple were so charming.

Today's Ukiyoe is unrelated to vampires, but let's throw in an Oni instead.

That's not a Kuniyoshi, rather it is by Utagawa Yoshitsuya and it's titled, "The Downfall of Shuten-Doji of Oe Mountain." (1858)

A bit of excitement at school when a Murder Hornet decided to pay us a visit. This Suzume-Bachi was huge!

Whoa!

In retrospect, it wasn't that big, just a couple of inches. Alas, as the students were shunted out of the room, the vp and a maintenance guy disposed of it with poison. They couldn't take the chance of it flying back in the room, I suppose. They sting worse than Mohammed Ali!

Finally, today's treat was a cookie. I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but I was pleased with the result.

It's Peter Makai-Jin-Shi. Some other-worldly sprite.

I'd be remiss if I didn't remind you to check out the other bloggers in the Countdown to Halloween, especially since one of our illustrious moderators from Zombie Crossings paid a visit in my comments section yesterday.

Whether you can Weather the Weather or not.

Somehow I let my evening get away from me. I blame Supergirl (will this season ever end?), Stargirl (why does this season have to end so soon?), and Murders in the Building (this season just ended!). And I finally conquered a level on Candy Crush that was nagging at me. I guess they're starting to get more difficult now that I've broken level 10,000.

So, no horror movie for me tonight. But check out this Tengu attack!

It's titled, Ushiwakamaru Practicing Fencing under the Direction of Sojobo, King of the Tengu and it is one of Kuniyoshi's weirder ones.

I've been neglecting my Loot-Fright-Crate lately, so I cracked open a werewolf(?). (Don't tell DJ Mokugohan (Alex Hutton), it's his birthday present.)

That is extremely odd. Ya know, if ya wanna shop for more by Alex Pardee try Alex Pardee Shop. I wouldn't mind tracking down this:

That's your trick, here was my treat this morning for breakfast. I thought it might be a simple cupcake with some orange frosting.

But no, it was some weird concoction with beans in it and covered in a thick pudding icing. Not un-tasty but it sure was messy. (Not a good look to enter school with orange pudding in your beard.)

Hey en route home, I saw a rainbow!

A little later, I could stop and take a panorama, but it got a bit wonky near the end.

Ah, that's better but not as clear.

At one point, I saw the beginning of a double rainbow but I was immersed in traffic by then.

Speaking of the weather, I sure hope all is well in Kumamoto for Mt. Aso decided to blow its top today! (Click that for some pics and a video).

As far as I know there were no injuries to any humans. The same cannot be said for the reckless Kumamon!

Bedlam and Broomsticks.

I'll go straight into today's Ukiyoe... 

Yoshifusa Utagawa etched this of Kiyomori at the Nunobiki Waterfall.

Along the same lines, Kuniyoshi painted this rendition of Kiyomori visiting the Nunobiki Waterfall whereupon Nanba no Jiro is struck down by the ghost of Akugenda Yoshihira.

I need a segue to tonight's movie now. How about William Hogarth's A Rake's Progress about his final days in the insane asylum at Bethlam Hospital (Bedlam)? 

It's a pretty lousy segue yet it does allow me to speak of the movie I watched tonight called Bedlam. This 1946 gem stars Boris Karloff as the Head Physician of the Bedlam Asylum, offering those with a tuppence to view his loonies. Billy House as the wealthy Mortimer and Anna Lee as Nell, the gal who takes pity on the inhabitants stand out.

  

         

Most surprising to me is seeing the immortal Ian Wolfe as the Greatest Lawyer (also a Loonie). He was ancient in this movie and barely aged twenty years later when he was Septimus and Mr. Atoz in two episodes of Star Trek. 15 years, later he looked exactly the same age as Hirsch, Mrs. Carlson's butler on WKRP.

Not very much Halloweeny stuff going on so far, so here is a Bearbrick of The Phantom of the Paradise!

(Hey! I just figured out why it was so cheap. It's missing a hand!)

To top it off, I have some chocolates that I have yet to consume featuring Jack and the gang.

I'll end tonight with a Kana-Hebi (Grass Lizard) that one of my Grade 3 kids proudly showed off for me.

What's IT all about?

Less than two weeks left until Halloween and I still haven't gotten this countdown thing organized yet. Ah well, maybe tomorrow.

Hey the above Clear File is one that I haven't yet written about. Kuniyoshi drew this in 1843 and it is "Yoko protecting his father from a tiger."

Here's a slightly clearer image scammed from Wikipedia. Oops, looks like I have the reverse image of it.

While I'm at that page, here's another of his tigers.

How about tiger vs. Samurai?

From his signs of the Zodiac series, another hero (Watounai) vs. a tiger.

and

My favourite is this battle between a Tiger and a Dragon.

There, that should make up for a lack of Ukiyoe yesterday.

I slept poorly last night so I'm going to retire early. Before I go, here are some IT Gatcha!

First up: A Pennywise saved is a Pennywise earned.

Pennywise in the Water, fire in the sky.

Breakdancing Pennywise, or as it's referred to in the Gatcha, IT in the box.

Terror Face, you've got the cutest little terror face!

And these can still be found in the wild, if you're lucky.

I'll end with a pumpkin pic I took at a cake shop yesterday. Nothing worth buying there though.