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.

Send More Paramedics!

I handed my First Year gals (and a guy), a bunch of decorations to brighten up the drab walls of their room. I'm disappointed that some have gone missing over the years.

That zombie hanging from the overhead screen cord used to wiggle and shake.

 

I saved half of my decos for the Second Year gals. 

They even put up this sheet that I have, for photo ops only. It was deemed too naughty in case some big wigs show up.

 

In the end, they all received some jelly beans for their efforts.

After class, I went to my local Aeon Mall because I've had a book on order there for several weeks and today was its due date.

 

It was 720 yen before tax, so I don't think I'll buy future volumes.

I popped into Don Quixote and scammed a photo of my monkeying around.

We interrupt this blog for a startling revelation on my part: 

When I got home, this was on my Twitch channel. I've seen TRotLD many times, but this documentary is a first for me.

So then I planned to link to a previous post where I'd spoken of The Return of the Living Dead yet there are none to be found!! I know I have pamphlets for both Return and Return 2 (s o m e w h e r e!)

Therefore, I broke out my VHS just to show a pic or two. (By the way, the Japanese title for The Return of the Living Dead is バタリアン (Batalian) for some reason.)

 

 Hey, there's even a cool card inside promoting a couple of other movies.

 

 

Anyway, back to my blog, now in progress.

Today's Oni is a switch on the Ichabod Crane tale, this time it is the horse that is headless!

 

Yagyou-san is a one-eyed ogre you will kill you when you cross paths with him, though there is one safety measure you can take.

 

Yet another reason why Japanese people always carry a handkerchief with them.

And for no reason other than a friend had shared it, so therefore shall I.

 

It's nice to see #5 hangs around with the big guns.

Over at 2 Cool Ghouls, one can find many Halloween tunes and the one at the top of the page is a KISS tune. (Still reeling over Ace.) 

Speaking of tunes, it's my buddy Alex's birthday and he's just released an original tune with some funky visuals to go along with it. Enjoy!

 

Way to go DJ Mokgohan!

Here's an old pic of the two of us. He's the taller one.

See ya tomorrow...

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.

For the Birds.

I start off Week 3 of GOvember with another viewing of Marvels. (I like it that much.)

While there, I picked up some deluxe popcorn. You get to keep the bag.

 

You also receive a micro-poster on an easel.

Pretty cool, but not worth the price so I shan't be collecting any more of these.

Dreadfully low on groceries, I popped into the supermarket and I happened to espy this tote bag for twenty bucks AND you get two free six-packs of beer as a bonus!

This evening has been spent watching Giant Bird movies, starting with The Giant Claw (1957)!

Although one of the goofiest looking avian creatures out there, the movie itself is a pretty good sci-fi flick.

From the same year (US release) but on this side of the pond, we get Rodan. Okay, not technically a bird since in Japanese it's called ラドン Radon, a truncated version of pteranodon. Still one of the best Kaiju movies out there with a truly sad ending. 

Here are several of my mini Radon.

The last Big Bird movie I watched was NOT this one.

It was Q: the Winged Serpent. David Carradine is great as the detective, Candy Clark is lovely as the girlfriend who can take a punch, and Michael Moriarty is sleazy, sympathetic and pathetic as the gangland flunky.

Once again, not technically a bird. Oh well.