Halloween Post: A special presentation

{For those of you with epilepsy or risk of seizures. If these lights bother you, please do not view}

This is the video I wanted to post for a long time, A replica of my dad's blinking pumpkin set-up.

My brother noted this was the correct set as he could remember it. ( Minus the porcelain cat or porcelain Jack-O-Lantern).

Halloween Post: Part 2

This is the full sleeve of the 1979 remake of Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of The Haunted House.

This time the record is more serious featuring a dungeon and an encounter with who we presume to be Jack The Ripper. There is no narration on this LP and the tracks fade from one to the next. The monster sound in the track "The Haunted House" sounds like the monster from "The Haunted Castle" with Vincent Price. Most think this follow up is inferior, though I am not one of them. I manipulated the image to add a jaw to the skeleton and brightened the lightning .

If anyone knows if I would get in trouble from posting a track from the two records on this blog, I would like to know.

Halloween Post: Never to return....

This is a special post. Chilling, Thrilling Sounds Of The Haunted House was released by Disneyland records in 1964 and re-released in a different sleeve in the 1970's. Many bloggers have posted this before. Most people have probably heard sounds from this record at on time or another from the catfight sounds to the howling shriek taken from the classic "Lonesome Ghosts". Some claim to be too timid to sit through the opening track "The Haunted House" with it's thunder and screams. This presentation is a manipulation of the cover I edited with photo software to make the lightning glow and window shine.

Halloween Post: Halloween cartoons

I'm going to post my list of favorite Halloween or Halloween themed cartoons.

while waiting for technical issues to be resolved.

(comments)

*It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

( I got a rock)

* Garfield's Halloween

*Lonesome Ghosts

(I know you.. you're a ghost)

*Trick-Or-Treat

(Donald Duck tries to put one over on his nephews)

*The Flying Sorceress

(Tom & Jerry: Tom is tired of being yelled at, so he becomes a witch's new cat)

*Fright to the Finish

(Bluto tries to scare Popeye & Olive Oyl)

*Witch's Night Out

(Just saw this one in 2007)

*Halloween is Grinch Night

*The Skeleton Dance

*The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

(from the "Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad")

*Transylvania 65000

(Bugs Bunny meets a vampire at a castle)

There are some other wonderful blogs listed on The Countdown to Halloween

so join me and other blogs and sites.

These folowing links I found through the countdown from 2009:

Halloween Specials

The Ghosts of Halloween Past

Those sites cover the cartoons and specials better than I could at this hour.

And from 2010:

Family Friendly Halloween Movie Countdown

A place where you can review movies and specials that are good for the younger children who might be scared of some spookier entertainment

so go give those sites a visit

Halloween Post: Not Retro, but Still Fun

In continuation of a mini Dracula theme, this next exhibit is a retro style face mask that I bought from Walgreens in 2005. The other styles were
*pumpkin
*witch
*skull
*Frankenstein's monster
*I think there also was a devil mask.
Though these masks are foam instead of PVC.
I also repainted this mask to my liking.

Halloween Post: Enter freely of your own will!

This exhibit is an American Greetings Count Dracula door poster from the mid 1980's. It appears to have been originally done in oil pastel.  It is large enough to fit on a door, but it is difficult to properly photograph. This poster used to greet trick-or-treaters for about 5 or 6 seasons. I had to do restoration on a small section near the cape.
I have found out it was painted by artist Pete Hawley in a newer post

Halloween Post: Ghouls Like to Rock, Zombies Like to Roll

I'm going to begin with a list of my favorite October/Halloween songs from over the years. I bet my readers have some they would like to share.
* "asterisk" denotes that I've heard it on Dr. Demento (I miss that show)




"Dinner With Drac part 1" - Zacherley

"Blood Bank Blues" - Bobby "Boris" Pickett

"Sisiter Stomp" - Bobby "Boris" Pickett

"Man With The Weird Beard" - Arthur Godfrey *
(When I heard this back in'95 I was all WTF?)

"I Want My Baby Back" - Jimmy Cross*
(most people are put off by this teen tragedy spoof)

"Haunted House" - Ray Noble & His New Mayfair Orchestra

"Haunted House"- Jumpin' Gene Simmons
(Not Gene Simmons from KISS, This one was a country singer ;) )


"It Was A Monster's Holiday"- Buck Owens*
(Good Buddy you may get me, but brother lemme tell ya yer gonna
hafta catch me first)

"Headless Horseman" - Kay Starr
(this was a remake of the Bing Crosby version from " The Adventures of
Ichabod And Mr. Toad" [1949])

"Tammy" - Spike Jones (featuring Paul Frees)

"Monster Mash Party" - Bobby "Boris" Pickett

"Bella's Bash" - Bobby "Boris" Pickett
(I like how Bela is Misspelled as Bella, so the bash must be

for a beautiful woman :) )

"My Old Flame" Spike Jones (featuring Paul Frees)*

That's all I can think of.

Holy Magazine Collection!!!: Make It So

Today, September 28, 1987 was the debut of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The two hour pilot was "Encounter at Farpoint". I never saw that episode on the first run. In my opinion the first seasons seemed awkward and forced. I learned today was the debut from Memory Alpha, the Star Trek Wiki. Another great site is Ex Astris Scientia. I have many more Starlog covers from 1982- 1995. That could be a regular feature.

(Star Trek is CBS/Paramount, Starlog is Time Warner)

When your post is a ghost (if you have a witch's brew)

Earlier this month I posted my desire to participate in The Countdown To Halloween on their website. You can go there to learn more about the annual countdown. http://www.countdowntohalloween.blogspot.com/
I will post when I can and I have some pretty good ideas on what to post.

Videogame Showcase: Swing your arms from side to side...

 According to Kotaku.com, today is the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros being released in Japan. http://kotaku.com/5636283/happy-25th-birthday-super-mario-bros
Another blog covering it is http://victorypellet.blogspot.com/ . Other sites are probably covering this commemoration. I just can't think of anything to type. This game was frustrating.
UPDATE: upon further review , my post title shoulda been " Thank you Mario, but this blog post is in another castle"

It's dangerous to go alone! Take this.

While waiting for difficulties to be resolved, maybe I will do a series of blogs on my favorite subjects

I cannot express how much I like the Legend of Zelda series, and I am one one few who like "Wind Waker" because it's classic 3-D Zelda. While trying to sleep late at night, I decided to fullfill a long time plan and make a list of my favorite weapons from the series. Now some weapons are similiar and some should make a comeback.  Parentheses denotes which game I liked it in. Or it's just a comment

Here's the list:

•  Hookshot/Clawshot( from Twilight Princess)
• Grappling Hook (Wind Waker)
• Magic Wand (from NES Legend of Zelda)
• Candle(NES Legend of Zelda)
• Spellbook(NES Legend of Zelda)
• Boomerang (why not)
• Magic Arrows (Fire/Ice/Light)
• Deku Leaf (Wind Waker)
• Whistle ( used in Super Mario 3)
• Ocarina
• Bomb Arrow (Twilight Princess) How much more awesome can it get!?
• Ball & Chain (Twilight Princess) Wrecking Ball !! OMG
• Master Sword
• Magic Sheilds (Ocarina of Time/Wind Waker)
• Mirror Sheild (Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask/Wind Waker)
• Bottles (Why not? who knows when Link will come across a soda fountain?)
• Fishing Rod (while not a weapon, it's a great time waster)
• Iron Boots
• Lens of Truth (Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask)
•  Hawkeye Lens( Twilight Princess)
• Net ( A Link To The Past)

And now for the monsters:

•  Darknut ( Wind Waker version)
• Stalfos
• Lizalfos (Twilight Princess version. How awesome, Skull Masks and Swords)
• Wizzrobe ( NES version loooks like Orko ;) )
• Redead
• Garos (Ghost Ninjas? Awesome)
• Octorock
• Wallmaster/Floormaster
• Poe /Poe Sisters
• Bokoblin
• Goriya
• Kargoroc (Wind Waker/ Twilight Princess) In Twilight Princess, Kargoroc would drop bombs like Albatoss in Super Mario Bros. 2
• Beamos
• Dark Hammer (Twilight Princess)
• Dinalfos (Twilight Princess)
• Aeralfos (Twilight Princess)
  

That's all I can think of as of now

Now for some pics that I captured from the games

Lizalfos (Twilight Princess)

 Temple of Time ( Ocarina of Time)

( All mosnter/weapon names are Nintendo, All Screen Captures and Text Are by me)

Up is relative

Technical difficulties have prevented me from posting often, as the camera I use drains batteries really fast. I hope to resolve this soon or it could be a long time before posting again. With that out of the way, I am disheartend to hear that Reis O'Brien has decided to pull the plug on Geek Orthodox, but I can understand, blogging can be stressful at times. I read it every day just to see what was next. I had hoped to get my King Randor exhibit up before it was gone. And I read that it was the 25th anniversary of one of my favorite childhood movies " The Goonies" at http://www.brandedinthe80s.com/. I had wanted to post my copy of the movie magazine here, but I must have some gremlins hiding in the museum. And as for the blog title, it's my response to " What's Up?"