Library Halloween Day II 10/31/11

It is Halloween day! I'm at work and playing lots of scary movies. We also had a big Halloween party and many staff wore costumes. More candy and favors than anyone could eat.

For lobby movies we played:
1) Horror of Dracula 1957
2) Nightmare on Elm Street
3) Halloween II
4) Sleepy Hallow
5) The Sixth Sense

10/29/11 Downtown Orlando Halloween Festival

     In  a last minute change of plans after work I went downtown Orlando to see the mass of Halloween celebrators. Man! What a crazy croud. There was a couple thousand people. The police closed off the central part of downtown. I carried around my fake Rotwieller Dog, which scared one person after another. Even a cop came over to me, I quess to tell me to put my dog on a leash, then he realized it was a stuffed animal. I saw people dressed a Terrorists, Angry Birds computer game characters, Tetris Game Peices, Vampires, Bees, Sexy Girls, Waldo (from Where's Waldo), Frankenstein's Monstor, Bruce Lee and many more. There were a lot of unidentifiable monstor costumes.
     I'm so glad my friend Dan invited me out to do this. This event made my whole Halloween season official.

Library Halloween Day 10/29/11

     I work in the Media section of a huge university library. To get ready for Halloween we played scary movies all day today in our lobby. I didn't bring any of my movies from home. This is because I need the movies playing on the TV to be available to our patrons to check out. So I only used in house movies.

1) The Craft
2) The Exorcist
3) 1931 Dracula
4) Frankenthumb
5) The Others

"The Evil Dead" (Movie)

          It is just six days until Halloween! Really I celebrate the weirdness all year long. But it's nice to see the world get into it too for a week. Today I have some hours to "kill" before I go teach a Tai Chi Class, so I'm watching"Evil Dead". I haven't seen many zombie movies, so I'm catching up on them.

      This movie starts off with an odd scene where a woman is raped by some branches. If this kind of sexual scene bothers you, try to skip ahead. The plot is more about possesions than zombies. What I mean is, the possesions make people into zombies.

     I've got a lot to learn about zombies. I guess they can be made in all sorts of ways. When I started studing vampires I was suprised how each writer would alter their reality. I guess watching zombie movies will be like that too.



Goodwill (Stores)

     Want a good costume or Halloween decorations but short on cash? Goodwill stores around the country are putting out their selection. They have an especailly good selection in kid's costumes.

"Halloween: Resurrection" (Movie)

     Michael Myers lives on! This movie was very on the unbelievable side. The characters just didn't seem real enough for me to care about or even like. It was kind of a relief to see Michael take them out.



"Willard" (Movie)

     None of my pet Black rat babies are still alive. My pet Florida Snapping Turtle ate them all. This remake or the original "Willard" movie has lots of drama and lots of rats. I'm told the original never came out on DVD so I'll have to search for a VHS. There is a sequal called "Ben" out there too.

"The Nightmare Before Christmas" (Movie)

     This is one of my favorite movies of all time. It is as creepy as it is fun. I highly recommend checking it out. You would have to watch it over and over to see all the little crazy details.

"The League of Extrodinary Gentlemen" (Movie)

     I wouldn't really call this a Halloween movie, but...
It has Vampires, Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde, an Invisible Man and other characters. Over all this is an excelent movie, better than most movies that are just taking advantage of Halloween's popularity.

Halloween Comic Strips

     This comic appeared in my university newspaper "Central Florida Future". They are making fun of the job prospects of recent graduates. This cartoon is by Nicole Lulinski

The 13 Days of Halloween (Children's Book)

     A great spin in the Christmas song/poem. Lots of scary things like skeletons, ghouls, ghosts and vampires building up to one little girl's Halloween night. A fun quick read. This would be a good book for a read-a-long as a kid's Halloween party.

Touch the Dark (10 CD Audio Book)

     It took me two weeks to listen to this long vampire book. I got lost in the story and multiple characters, it was both entertaining and an education in all things paranormal.

Van Helsing (Movie)

     I've been watching a lot of old and not so professionally done horror movies. But Van Helsing is not one of those. This was a well done Halloween thrill ride.

Little Owl (Small Children's Book)

     This is a cute little book was a fun quick read. You put your finger in the owl's head and it moves around like its alive as you read the story. I love the idea and think it had many applications, some not as cute as this series.

The Hollow (Movie)

     I got this picture from another Halloween Blogger Blog "Dead End Drive In". I'm from New England so I've been brought up on all the Legend of Sleepy Hollow stories. This movie is about the decendents of the first legend. There are good twists and turns, even though the filming is kind of TV looking.

"Halloween H20" (Movie)

     Michael Myers lives on and on. If I had run into him with my years and years of Hapkido trianing, he wouldn't last two minutes. He'd be ten times worse if he knew a little kung fu.
     I know H2O stands for Halloween Twenty Years later, but it keeps reminding me of one Hydrogen atom for every two Oxygen atoms (in other words...water).

"The Craft" (Movie)

     This is one of my favoirte movies of all. Along with the original Dead Zone and They Live. This is the movie I think the TV series "The Secret Circle" is modled after. The girls are cute and there is good special effects.

"The Secret Circle" (TV Series)

     This new WB TV show about witches started off prettty good. I wish they would not use actors from other shows, like the kid from Terminator. I always see them in their old roles. I'm thinking "Are the Terminators learning Witchcraft?" I think this show is trying to make a TV drama out of the movie "The Craft" which is one of my favorite moives. I hope it gets better, or at least more original.

Rats (the animals)

      I don't mean any rat, I mean Rattus rattus, or the Asian Black Rat. Why this rat? Because right now I'm trying to raise two of them. I do animal rehab and animal control brought our hospital seven of them as tiny babies (cubs or kittens). We didn't know what species they were, so they told me, "If they are a native species raise, rehad and release them. If they are an exotic species kill them."      Well I have identified them and they are an exotic species. They are Rattus rattus, also known as Ship Rats, Citrus Rats, Black Rats, Roof Rat, Tree Rat, House Rat, Fruit Rat, Sewer Rarts or Plague Rats. These babies were about a week and a half old when I got them. Of the original seven two are still alive. I'm doing my best to help them. I keep their cage on a heating pad. I hand feed them. I massage them to stimulate growth and digestion. If I was raising an Opossum, Raccoon, Alligator or some other native animal I'd be upset if they didn't all survive. But with these I'm concerned if any of them DO survive.
     Later...All seven didn't make it and were all fed to my pet Florida Snapping Turtle. With mixed feelings, I'm sad my cute little Rats didn't make it, but at the same time I'm happy America if free of seven more Black Rats. I always enjoy feeding exotic invasive species to native ones.

Halloween City (store)

     These stores are not as common as Spirit Halloween store. But they have just as much crazy Halloween fun inside. I actually bought something which I don't do often. I got some pastel jack-o-lantern lights. They are kind of like cooking pepper decorative lights but little jack-o-lanterns. You have to look twice to see what they are.

"The Vampire Diaries" (TV Series)

     I have been watching this TV series from day one. There is a mix of vampire, witch and werewolf bad deeds going on. This is one of the few TV series that really holds my attention and I care about what happens to the characters.     

"Frankenstein" (2 audio CD set)

     I listened to this audio CD verson of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein while driving. It was made by BBC Audio, Classic Radio Sci-Fi. I learned several facts about the story I didn't know before. It made my drive to and from work so much more enjoyable.

"Man's Best Friend" (Movie)

     This movie was done in a mix of afternoon special and slasher movie kind of format. Most of the movie is kind of sleepy easy watching, but when the dog eats someone they don't hesitate to get real bloody. I like any movie that puts dogs as the villans.

"Skeleton Hiccups" (Children's Book)

     This was a fun kid's book about a Skeleton and his Ghost friend who are trying to escape an attack of the hiccups.

Spirit Halloween (store & web site)

     No I don't work for Spirit Halloween Stores, Walgreens, Halloween City, Party City, Barnes and Noble, Dollar Stores, Goodwill or any other store. If I talk good about them, it is only because I like them. I'm not a coporate spammer.
    Spirit Halloween stores should sell Hallowee movies. They do have sound CDs. These seasonal shops have just about everything you need for costumes and props. Just going into one of these shops and looking at all the displays has been a more entrtaining experience for me than some haunted houses I've been to.
     I do tend to do my Halloween shopping at Dollar stores and Goodwill to save money.

"Wild Florida: Bats" (the animals)

      This morning I watched "Wild Florida" and their episonde on Florida Bats.
In my study of all things Halloween, Bats are right in the middle of it all. Vampires turn into them. Real Vampire Bats do in fact lick the blood out of their hosts, after cutting them with a sharp tooth and slabbering on a bit of anti-coagulant saliva.
     In my vounteering with Wildllife, I have in fact worked rehabbing Bats. It was my duty to hand feed them meal worms, always staying a safe distance from their busy little teeth.
     Bats do not get tangled in people's hair. But they do swoop down at us to eat the insects that we attract.

"Frangoline" (Children's Book)

     This was a nice children's book by Clemency Pearat centered around a strange little girl. Not so much Halloween related but odd enough.
     Now no matter which book store I go in, there are at least a couple kids Halloween books I've read again and again over the years. It's like seeing a long lost friend.

"Frankenstein" (1910 Silent film)

    

     This short silent film was an interesting interpretation of the original "Frankenstein" book. I'm due to see many incarnations of Frankenstein and his monsters as I continue my celebration and study of all things Halloween.

     For me Frankenstein, the Werewolf, the Witch, the Bat, the Hunchback of Notre Dame and the Vampire are the original Halloween creatures.

"Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers" (Movie)

     One thing you can count on is these movies being unpredictable. I mean you know Michael Myers is going to live because there is five more movies. But other than that things stay good and strange.

Walgreen's Pharmacies (Toys)

     Sometimes I don't even know what holiday is coming up until I walk into my local Walgreen's Pharmacy. I was happily surprised to see they already have their Halloween goodies up and this year they are better than ever. I have this screaming ghoul in my baby Box Turtle fish tank. I actually saw one of my tiny Box Turtles walk up and stare at it for a long time.

"Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" (Movie)

"Halloween 4" was as good as "Halloween 3" was bad. The producers got it back on track and cranked up the action. I'm a fan again. :)

"Halloween III: Season of the Witch" (Movie)

Ok someone really messed up. This movie had nothing to do with Michael Myers. Even as a stand alone movie this one just didn't make much sense. It left so many unanswered questions.

I want this hour and a half of my life back.

The movie "Halloween II" (Movie)

     This movie could have been called "Part 2" as it picks up right where Halloween 1 ends. Another look into a mass murdering mental patient's day. I worked as a mental health counselor for fifteen years and believe me this moive is not far from the truth of some of my old schizophric patients.

Halloween (Stuffed Animals)

     These two cuddly ghosts have been huanting my house for years. They are soft and scary. They often find their way into my bed without me knowing how they got there.

"Nosferatu" (Silent Film)

     "Nosferatu" is the original Vampire movie. This odd 1922 movie is subtittled in English, with a main sound track in German. It has penty of very creepy scenes. I found my favoirte scene on Google/Images. It is Nosferatu looking down into the hold of a ship. He had sucked dry all but the captian of the ship, the first mate escaped by jumping overboard.
     Watching this movie once a year has become an unofficial tradition for me.

"Room on the Broom" (Children's Book)

I went back to B&N and read "Room on the Broom" written by Julia Donadson and illustrated by Alex scheffler. I liked this witch book because like me this witch liked to have the company of animals.

"Pumpkin Jack" (Children's Book)

I love to read the children's Halloween books. I have a big collection at home. I buy them after the holiday when they are on sale. Sometimes I go Barnes and Noble and see what new kids Hallween books are out. Today at B&N I read "Pumpkin Jack" by Will Hubbell. This was a sad story with a happy ending.

The Movie "Halloween" (Movie)

     I may be late in coming but tonight I watched the 1978 Movie Halloween for the first time! This was more of a slasher movie than about Halloween itself. But it was a fun low budget ride. I teach self-defense classes so its entertaining for me to watch characters die of things like choke holds that any of my students could escape from.
     I recently learned there are now 10 Halloween movies. I'm looking forward to wading my way through all the carnage.

Welcome to my Halloween blog!

     Welcome to my "I Love Halloween" Blog!

     I live in Florida now and I have many fond childhood memories of Halloween from when I was growing up in Massachusetts. I love the candles, candy, costumes, TV specials, movies, children's books, fall leaf colors, pumpkins, warty gourds, parties, monsters and haunted houses.
    In this blog I'll share my year round celebration of Halloween.
    The friendly piece of candy you see above was a gift from a fellow Halloween enthusiest.

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