Halloween Haul 2006

One of the best things about Halloween is working your way through the candy and treats throughout the year. In addition to this year's haul, be sure to check out my 2005 blog post for a bunch of tasty Halloween leftovers from last year!

AUDIO GOODIES:


Characters © Mike Mignola. Art © 2006 Starz Media, LLC and Revolution Studios.

An audio interview with Hellboy and The Amazing Screw-On Head creator, Mike Mignola, can be found over at Word Balloon. Mike discusses the upcoming Hellboy Animated films, working with Tad Stones, more Abe Sapien and BPRD adventures, and the big red character's beginnings. *Contains potentially offensive language near the end. (via Hellboy Animated.)


The Nocturnals © Dan Brereton.

What's Halloween without Dan Brereton's The Nocturnals? The Gunwitch, Doc Horror, Halloween Girl, Polychrome. Great names. Great characters. Great stories. Great art. Check out another great Word Balloon audio interview...this time with the creator of the fascinating Halloween-style characters himself.

Note to movie and TV producers: Where's the Nocturnals movie or animated series we're all waiting for? These easily-translatable characters, if handled properly, could potentially be a box office tentpole film or series!



Tunes for Ghostbusting: Ghostbusters Project:Remix. Use the free Switch application to convert the WMA files to MP3 or other format. Flip4Mac (also free) is also required for conversion.

VIDEO LOOT:


The Skeleton Dance © Disney.

Tune in to Disney's classic Silly Symphony animated short, The Skeleton Dance (1929), on YouTube.


Lonesome Ghosts © Disney.

One of my all-time favorite Disney animated shorts, Lonesome Ghosts featuring Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, can also be found over on YouTube.



"Bustin' makes me feel good!" - Ghostbusters by Ray Parker, Jr.

SWEET GRAPHICS:


Art © Bruce Timm.

Arglebargle has a blog post on Bruce Timm's monster art as well as influential poster artist Reynold Brown. Some really fun images! (via The Ward-O-Matic.)


Art © Merrill Rainey.

Merrill Rainey has posted some fun icons, desktop wallpaper, and PDF coloring book at this link. (via Drawn.)


Scarloff. Art © Matt Putnam-Pouliot.

Matt Putnam-Pouliot has posted some fun wallpaper at this link. (via Drawn.) Be sure to check out his fantastic art gallery filled with fun ghouls and beasties!


Art © Mars, Incorporated.

Guess the titles of 50 Dark Movies hidden in imagery in this Hieronymus Bosch-like painting at the M&M'S Dark Chocolate website.


Art © Vera Brosgol.

"Everyone Loves Mummies" is a fun wallpaper for your desktop by Vera Brosgol. (via Boing Boing.)

TASTY TREATS:


Photo © theprojectmaker.

Hosting a Halloween gathering? Check out this fun set of instructions for creepy but consumable foods for supper! (via Boing Boing.)


Photo © Bakerama.

Mmm-mummy cupcakes.

GHOULISH CRAFTS:


Photo © Spooky Blue.

Carve your own decorative tombstones. Create fear with the wicked scarecrow!


Art © www.origami-club.com.

Use the leftover candy bags to make your own Halloween origami! (via Monsterama and Paper Forest.)

FREAKY LINKS:

The League of Robots and Monsters
BlueSky Studios Challenges - Halloween!
BlueSky Studios Challenges - Classic Movie Monsters
Smooky Ghost Story. (via Cold, Hard Flash.)
Flickr photos: Jack O' Lanterns, Halloween, Pumpkin, Pumpkins, Ghosts, Monsters, Monster, Spooky, Costume
Monstrous.com - "The largest site about monsters."


Photo: Copenhagen, Denmark. © Warren Leonhardt.

Warren Leonhardt's ''abra macabre!" Flickr photoset. Be sure to view his fun blog with other spooky postings!

Happy Halloween Boils & Ghouls!!

More Goodies For The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas © Walt Disney Pictures.

Catch a glimpse of how the wizards at Industrial Light and Magic and Disney transformed Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas into a 3-D film format in this video.


Photo: Robert Hanashiro / USA TODAY.

Tim Burton discusses the impact of the film at this USATODAY.com article:

"It makes the movie weirdly better; you just see it the way it was meant to be — completely dimensional," says Burton, 48, on a visit to his native Southern California from his adopted home in London. "It takes the story and actually deepens it. I see details in the sets that I don't remember seeing."

Burton has resisted tampering with the 1993 film that has become a cult classic. With so many current movies generating sequels or even forcing out a trilogy, Burton's Nightmare stands alone. There will not be another installment, he says. But that's not for lack of trying on the part of Disney, the studio that released Nightmare.

Burton — whose most recent films are The Corpse Bride and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and who is in pre-production on the screen adaptation of another macabre story, Sweeney Todd — fends off sequel offers from "each new regime that comes in" at Disney. "I just say no. So, there won't be a Jack Visits Thanksgiving World."

Part of his desire to keep the movie a solo offering has to do with the connection the stop-motion animated film has forged with die-hard fans.

"You can't screw around with that," says Burton. "It's not a mass-market kind of thing. It's kind of specialized."

Visit the official movie site at this link where you can watch Jack's head follow your cursor, check out the remasterd soundtrack (with tracks from Marilyn Manson, Fiona Apple, and of course, Danny Elfman), and enter a contest to create a character and win a greeting from Tim Burton for your MySpace page.

IESB has video clips and photos from the coverage of the film's premiere at the El Capitan theater in Hollywood at this link.

Thanks to Cartoon Brew for the first video link!

18" Mezco Hellboy

This friendly guest arrived yesterday:



Much thanks to the friend that dropped off Hellboy!

Cat and DVD for size comparison.

Photos: Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

A few photos from our trip to Chicago, Illinois on Wednesday and Thursday:


Old Chicago Pumping Station.


Lake Michigan near Lake Shore Drive and Cedar Street.


Michigan Avenue Bridge and downtown Chicago.


Stones from around the world adorn Tribune Tower.


Lunar Sample display at Tribune Tower.


Nathan Hale statue at entrance to Tribune Tower.


King Tutankhamun sculpture outside of The LEGO Store.


Me with a filmmaker sculpture inside The LEGO Store.


April sits with a businessman sculpture outside of The LEGO Store.


April and I outside of the Apple Store, North Michigan Avenue.

You can check out the rest of the photos at this Flickr photoset link.

After a 6 hour drive from Creston, Iowa (filled with 4 tollway stops!), we arrived to enjoy a nice dinner at the Weber Grill Restaurant with folks from Apple and various Midwestern U.S. educational institutions. Since we weren't ready to hit the sack, April and I, guided by one of the other conference attendees, walked down North Michigan Avenue to experience the city's nightlife. Chicago is very much 'alive' at night, and you can find people from all ages and walks of life strolling around downtown.

The cab drivers drive with insane purposes, and about half of the pedestrians don't wait for walk lights. I'm surprised there's not more accidents there. But it seems to be the key method of transportation in the "windy city."

Leaving the city was no easy feat. Roads lead everyplace but where you need to be going, and the roadsigns are either not clearly marked, or not placed far enough in advance for drivers to plan their routes. We had a map from Google which proved ineffective since we took a modified route and ended up an hour North of where we needed to be! 4 more tollway stops, and 10 hours later, we arrived back home in Creston.

Next time, we'll be sure to take our Honda Civic with built-in GPS navigation!

Despite the difficulty getting out of the city, it was a short, but enjoyable journey and we both look forward to visiting Chicago again.