A Performance of John Carpenter's Themes

This is pretty badass. This guy decided to recreate a few of Carpenter's better-known movie themes in his home studio (which, incidentally, makes me want to sit down and cry):



Pretty impressive stuff. You can check out his blog here.

Why I Do It

It's making the monsters I both dreaded and wished were waiting beyond the hedges when I was young enough to trick-or-treat.

It's the hours surrounded by paint, glue, paper mache, sticks, wires, tape and sketches.

It's the clippings of found horrors pinned up for inspiration.

It's the dark music slithering through the air with the scent of clove and cinnamon candles and the smoke of incense.

It's the mounting anticipation as the sun drops a little sooner each day and the cold begins to rob the crickets of their inspiration and the garage door can stay open a little later because there are no more uninvited guests bouncing obsessively off the fluorescent tubes of the workbench.

It's about the family and friends who are excited to hear what I'm up to and want to be a part of it, offering their help, advice, time and effort.

It's about the kindred spirits found along the way: the folks who inspire and encourage you to go 'even bigger next year' every year simply by following their own inspiration and sharing it.

It's the reactions. All of them. The kids and the parents. The appreciation and the concerned expressions and hasty retreats.

It's about creating (re-creating?) an experience that will inspire some kid to do the same thing with their own yard some day.

The "Why We Haunt" page of the Grim Hollow website got me thinking about this.

I'm working on a new site for Halloween, horror and all that good stuff. I don't want to say much more than that right now but I'm pretty excited about it. There'll be more news as the big day approaches.

Cheers.

all about you

all about you
Originally uploaded by Jon Glassett

consider it a response to the expectations of others regarding your time and attention. consider it an indictment of the culture of self-obsession. consider it accusatory. consider it shit. i don't really care. i consider the matter closed.

In Good Company

Motorcycle Update!

Our good friends Scott and Ginella (and Brave Sir Liam) were by last weekend. Scott and I took the opportunity to go out for a quick ride. My first official ride outside the confines of my neighborhood, actually. That was a really good time. Got to take in some great scenery and get a real sense for what it means to see the world from the back of a motorcycle. As a beginner it was pretty awesome to have someone to tool around with and get some experience with "real world" riding, especially stuff like getting a bug in the face at 50 mph.

It was also interesting (read: hilarious) putting the Savage side-by-side with a very customized '94 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy:

It can be hard to tell them apart at first but if you look very closely I'm sure you'll appreciate the subtle differences.

One final note: I observed that the Supertrapp muffler which the previous owner put on my bike has the interesting effect of staying in your head for a good hour after the bike is parked. Now I understand why there were empty earplug boxes in the saddlebags when I first got the thing.

Scott, if you're reading this, thanks for about the twentieth time. All kidding aside, it was a blast.

How About a Box o' Halloween Awesomeness?

I recently ordered a tiny, twisted, handmade jack o'lantern from the Pumpkin Hollow Shop (an Etsy shop). This is what arrived yesterday:

The little guy with the hat in the foreground is what I actually ordered. Also pictured are two Halloween compilation CDs, a package of Ghostly Glow incense (which smells absolutely amazing, by the way) and a couple of Halloween pencils secured with two plastic rings: one skull and one bat.

These other items were thrown in for free by the artist and accompanied by a very gracious note of thanks for my purchase. I have to tell you that this is about as much fun as I've ever had opening anything. From the moment I saw the pumpkin and bat stickers on the outside of the box I knew that care had been taken to make this package special.

Pumpkin Hollow is run by Pumpkinrot (whom I've mentioned here numerous times) and bean, two very talented folks who have much to offer lovers of Halloween, horror and all things grim and gruesome. Pumpkinrot has started selling hand made props and stationery featuring his work while bean keeps a steady inventory of amazing, unique decorative pumpkins like the one that I bought:

If this sort of thing is your bag then I strongly recommend you pay their sites a visit. They never disappoint.

Heads Up

I've come to believe that looking at the sky for at least one full minute per day can save your soul.

Photo by yours truly.

Bliss...

My order from DarkCandles.com arrived today.

(click the image to see the massive, slow-loading version)

High-quality scented candles with dark themes (and lots of great Halloween options).

I was so happy with them I couldn't resist setting them up for a shot (along with a little Halloween prop in the background).

The clove candle (aka, "Temptress") is unbelievable. My jack o'lanterns are going to smell amazing this year.

Thanks to pumpkinrot for telling me about these.