Kapp o' Lantern.

Since pumpkins are tough to find in Japan (unless you want to spend 20-50 bucks), I try to find alternate fruit or veggies to carve. I found an Australian Orenji Gold Melon at Costco for about five bucks, so that suits me fine. 

Once you pop the lid off, there is plenty of juicy pulp to be scraped off the rind. (The seeds looked a bit dodgy though.)

 

Not a bad luncheon snack. 
 

The zigzag top, made it look like a Kappa somewhat. I used this as my inspiration. 

I started off simple. Hmm. Looks okay. Still, missing something.

 

Aha, one of my students gave me some basil last week and since I don't know what to do with it, it'll make a fine wig for my Kappa.

That's better. Added some eyebrows
 

 

Ooh, not bad. I'd love to put a bowl atop its head but then I couldn't light the candle.

 

I would have like a more pronounced beak, but what are ya gonna do?

I made a short video that hopefully you can access here. The screechy voice is a kid requesting that the Kappa will provide their village with rainfall. I scammed it from this story.

 

I bought this Gatcha of a pumpkin a while ago.

 

Oh, cool. Crack it open and it folds out into a pumpkin patch!

 

I suppose that was worth the 5$ I paid for it. There are others in the series as well. I wouldn't mind getting the bat, but don't want to chance getting doubles.

Today's Oni is a friend of both Oscar the Grouch and Marjory the Trash Heap. (Be sure to click on any pic to enlarge it.)

 

I'm running out of time this month and I want to get through my Mars Attacks Comics, so here's a sampling.

 

Last night I caught up on some TV and finished off Gen V. What a great season. Bring on the Boys! I also watched the 5th episode of the 3rd season of the Daryl and Carol show. Probably the best episode overall with Spaghetti Western vibes throughout. I'll watch the next two episodes tonight.

I'll leave you with another blogger, Crafters for those who are good with scissors.

Rowlf Meets Sprocket!

How is it possible that I've never seen this special before. Fraggles, Sesame Street Gang and the Muppets in one special! Whoa! And a heck of a cool cameo at the end...

I'll share again my photo (alas, unsigned) that was given to me by a fellow commuter from Brampton to Toronto on the GO Train back in the mid-80s. I was "Making Copies!"* at a Marketing Firm and she worked the front desk at the Yorkville Studio where Fraggle Rock was being taped.

Only problem with the special is the lack of Doozers and Sweetums. Otherwise, pretty darned good.

*

The above special was very sweet (almost Too sweet) so I watched the 5th episode of Monarch to sour my disposition. I do hope we get some Kaiju action later in the series (halfway done), cuz there sure wasn't much in this. (On the plus side, there was a character revelation that should excise even more of the toxic fanbase.)

Since I have another Santa gig in the morning, I'll just settle down with a nice mellow horror to cleanse my palate. Fortunately being Santa does have its perks.

Sweet 17!

(X3) Today, I celebrate the third anniversary of my 17th birthday! (Proof attached.) When I was home in October, I found a briefcase full of photos and stuff and since it's my party and I'll scry if I want to, here's a look back to some memorabilia from days gone by.








25 years ago when I was 13 kg lighter and a struggling Social Worker by day and struggling actor by night, I had an inept agent who got me next to no work. It couldn't have been because of my profile, because...well I'll let the photos speak for themselves:





























I promised a while back that if I ever found it, I'd post the picture of Fraggle Rock I had. Much to my chagrin it was not signed as I'd misremembered.










High school buddy, Phil, sent me this photo earlier and here it is again in all its faded uncropped glory!










I won tickets to the third Star Trek movie premiere and although it was an odd-numbered one, it was still pretty good. There was a costume party afterwards and I put on a bathrobe, hung a fish from my ear and went as Arthur Dent. Needless to say no one figured it out except for a Dale Arden-clone with whom I fell in love.






My all time favourite movie is King Kong and I must say I have a soft spot for the Creature as well.










I don't care what anyone else says, I liked Yellowbeard!











Don't tell Mokugohan because this will be one of his Christmas presents today and the others are for his wife and daughter. (You'll have to figure out what goes to whom.) The GeGeGe pic is from a calendar of a dozen different anime that I'm using as wrapping paper.



























If there really were a Santa Claus, this gal who I met at a Comic Convention ages ago would have ended up in my stocking this morning!

The Phabulous Phantom.

(Another post from the vault...)

Remember my review of Frankenstein?














How about Dracula?
Or the few Dracula depictions I once made?













Do those wacky Universal Monsters, specifically the Phantom ring a bell (no, not Quasimodo?)










Well, now you're in for a treat since we have オペラ座の怪人 by G. ルルー (Gaston Leroux), adapted by Kate McMullan to whet your appetite for more literature.






























































































I read the original many moons ago and I don't ever recall there being a carnival, but I could be wrong. I've seen several versions of the PotO movie (the best makeup of all time is Chaney's) plus the Weber-Rice engeki*-extravaganza in English and Japanese and I must say I've never seen a more dull show than オペラ座の怪人 in Japanese...YAWN! The singing was magnificent but the staging was just BOOORing!
*演劇 = engeki = theater

My favourite cheesy cinematic version is Phantom of the Paradise but as I recently discovered, it doesn't hold up well over time. I do have an amusing Paul Williams anecdote though. Back in the early 80s, I commuted to Yorkville in Toronto to work in the mail room of a now-defunct Marketing Firm. One of my co-commuters was a woman who worked in the reception of Fraggle Rock! Needless to say, I relished any brush with greatness she could regale me with and I certainly wish I could find the Henson-autographed Fraggle photo she once gave me!! Anywho, she told me about the time she met Paul Williams on set and she told him that she is a huge fan who bought an album of Phantom of the Paradise and he replied, "Oh, you're the one!" An old gag, but a good one!

I'm going to have to be on the lookout for other classics in this series. I have Dracula, but need the second one in this edition-Frankenstein, the 3rd one is King Kong, a Holmes story, then Vampyre, Jekyll & Hyde, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and the one you just witnessed.