Tricks or Treats.

I was showing off my carved veggie o' lanterns to my students tonight and taught them about the origins of Trick or Treat. I was basically correct (missed guising) and this Britannica article helped clarify. Here is the Peanuts comic mentioned in the article.

 

And here is the Donald Duck cartoon.

 

I scammed a few vintage Halloween greeting cards. My students found the idea of bobbing for apples to be incredulous.

 

 

Ah, remember the good ol' days when there was an apostrophe between the two Es in Hallowe'en?

Here's a picture of my carved Radishes. (Ignore the scribbles on the paper, I didn't write them.) I couldn't get "Totoro" on the left to light up.

Proudly showing off my Peanut Kabocha.

And I'm emulating Edvard Munch's Scream. (Did you know Japanese, and mostly likely Germans, pronounce Munch as MOONK, not as MUNCH. I always said Moonch, I'm happy to now know the correct pronunciation.)

 

I should have had my hands on the sides of my head covering my ears, but I only have TWO hands.

Here are some of the parties I'll be attending next week:

I'll probably get up to some hijinx elsewhere as well...

If you're at all a crafty person, you might enjoy Spooky Moon. 

I'm going to show my students a movie tomorrow (maybe Sleepy Hollow) and I have a snack for them to share.

 Ciao

You Look Radishing This Evening.

Another lazy unproductive day, though I did manage to carve a couple of Radishes.

 

The one on the left does have a candle, but it's not getting enough oxygen.

Here's a very short video of them.

The other day I got a toy in my Happi Setto. They're celebrating Universal Studio's 25th and I was hoping for either Jaws or BttF.

 

I scored BttF's Delorean! (ps. Today is Back to the Future Day by the way.)

It looks better with the decals. According to the box, you can play with it by pushing it on the floor. (The wheels don't even move.)

I also got Curious George. I'll try again for Bruce the shark tomorrow.

 Today's monster is the Qirin or Kirin. Mmmm.Kiren beer...

 

 

I'm also all caught up on Vision Quest and we get to meet his "mom?", Jocasta!

 

Anyone want to go to Stranger Finds and check out some Garage Sales?

 

That's it, it's way past my beauty sleep! 

Die Khaaan!

A lazy day at home today yet surprisingly I accomplished a lot. I made an Alien egg out of a cabbage!

 Sure enough, it grew and ...

 

I was subsequently attacked by it.

I also made a representation of Khan by carving a Japanese radish. You can see a brief video of that encounter here. What did Captain Kirk shout to his adversary? Die Khaaan!

 Fyi, a Japanese radish is known as a Daikon. I plan to fry up its guts fried onion style.

 

One can access a brief video of my daikon here

Not much else to report, except check out this SpiderLass.

 

 

Check out Halloween Radio for some interesting tunes and vibes. 

That's it for today.

Well, Below Me Down.

I watched the first episode of Below and it was nice to see Newfoundland represented in a show. I haven't heard so many Newfie accents since the 90s when I worked Welfare. Anywho, great show so far, only One Episode in and I'm hooked.

 

Speaking of Leviathans, I saw Whalefall  クジラに落ちた男. Not a good movie if you are at all Claustrophobic, have daddy issues or are a whale-hugger. For anyone else, it's good fun. Who is this Austin Abrams guy anyway? He's great. Oh right...Weapons!

Not much in my Monstrous book that's Under the Sea, though they do speak of Mermaids.

And once again with the History lesson. 

Ah shoot, I forgot to copy the page about Manatees (Womanatees). Sailors thought the Dugong were sexy. That's the gist.

I had my students give a presentation on classic monsters or Yokai. One pair chose Mermaids.

 

Sirens are also thought to have been Mermaids. This is one of them at Aeon Mall.

 Here's a Siren dangling from a dude's bag.

These Chiikawa characters are all the rage now. Air Nippon have jumped on the band wagon.

(Frankly, I don't get the appeal.)

To cleanse your palate of so much cuteness, try visiting Chad Savage's art. 

See ya tomorrow.

Vampires Sudge.

I learned a new word today courtesy of the Simpsons: substitute sucks with sudge*.

*Possible reference to A Christmas Story where the F word is substituted with fudge. 

Anyway, today I watched a handful of Hammer Vampire movies while carving fruit & veggies. 

 

Last night you may recall that I turned a turnip beet into a Jack o' Lantern.

Today at lunch, I transformed a pear into one.

Before and After:
 

 

Here I placed in under a blanket so it would glow better. Check it out here.

It took all afternoon for my next project, a Butternut Squash is difficult to squish.

 The end result was pretty good.

I tried to capture the essence of Escher and when I videotaped it here, it coincided with Dracula's demise at the end of Scars of Dracula. Scream and Scream again!

I had a can of Campbell's Pumpkin soup, so I added the butternut guts to with a bit of honey and some spices. Pretty good result.

 The vampire in my monster book looks pretty cool hanging upside down.

 

It's Vlad!

I wish I had some of this garlic for my soup.

 

Found this little creature the other day, I may have scored a special one, this guy doesn't match those on the box. Hey, it's a magnet!

 

 

If you liked the Hammer above, you may enjoy visiting Monster Movie Kid, there are plenty of old movies to browse.

Tomorrow, I'll be taking my vast amount of decorations to school so they can adorn their classrooms. Pictures forthcoming.