Thursday, September 09, 2010

SEVEN WEEKS TO HALLOWEEN!

Aaaaah, it's Halloween time again!  Okay, it's almost 7 weeks away, but L.A. is Halloween chilly and overcast right now,  and besides, starting early'll give us plenty of time to get in the spirit.  One of the best ways to do that is to pay a daily visit to weird blogs like "Frankensteinia", "Monster Crazy", and "Shadowplay." I'll put up links in my sidebar.


























Boy, there's no lack of scary pictures on the net. How do you like these evil parade pigs from Disneyland?

In the photo above we seem to have caught the sailor pig at the exact moment when his hungry eyes locked in on the plump little kid in the foreground. No doubt in the next instant he whisked the kid away to a cooking pot....or to a dreary subterranean cave where the ragged child will endlessly plod along in a circle, chained to a mill wheel. As I said, these are evil pigs.





















Who did this painting (above)? Tim Burton?


























Above,  a detail from one of the all-time greatest animation backgrounds. It's a long pan BG from The Fleischer's "Snow White." I'm considering a framed copy for my wall. Of course, it would have to be a pretty long frame.
























I love stuff like this (above), which I swiped from "Monster Crazy." Unfortunately, I can't identify it.


















Above, a beautiful depiction of murder at sea by animation artist Dan Krall.






I'm flirting with the idea of making plaster or paper mache pumpkins this year.  They're probably  more trouble to make than conventional ones, but they should last for years.  I'll try to find instructions on the net.





Look at that (above)! The painting part looks easy, and how hard could it be to sculpt cheeks and eye sockets like this?





























Above, a rude pumpkin.




12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh no! In seven weeks, those pesky trick-or-treaters are going to be knocking at my door, asking for candy that I don't have and that they don't deserve. Thanks for reminding us, Eddie.

Seriously, you just gave a good idea of how I'm actually am going to celebrate Halloween this year, since my parents think that it's a "sinful," evil holiday. I'm gonna watch "Swing You Sinners, "Snow White," Les Elton's "Monkeydoodle," "Halloweeen" maybe a few other super weird cartoons like those, and maybe throw in the Frank Capra classic, "Arsenic and Old Lace," with one of the best performances I've seen from Peter Lorre, without ever seeing "The Maltese Falcon," sadly. Hopefully you'll do something similar yourself besides visiting those creepy blogs.

Steven M. said...

Those pigs are creepy. If I ever go to Disneyland, I'd better watch out for them.

Suka said...

Haha I'm already excited for Halloween too. That pumpkin is hilarious, I can't wait to start carving some.

Alberto said...

Oh man... I gotta ask! Are you dressing up for halloween and as what? I must know this.

Lester Hunt said...

Ah, Halloween, Eddie's favorite holiday! That nude pumpkin ins seriously disturbing, partly because its hands seem to be upside down. But then that depends on which body part is being depicted. It is ambiguous, I admit.

Allen said...

I love halloween, though I always forget to make a costume until its too late. At least I'm growing pumpkins.

By the way since your'e listing a few websites, have you ever been to monsterbrains.blogspot.com? Its one of my favorite blogs collecting hundreds of pieces of different monstrous art and artists. I would recommend it.

C said...

Man, Halloween was the best for a kid. You get to take candy from strangers, which is the exact opposite from what you're told to do. It's also probably the most creative, for everybody. Cartoons like to have creepy Halloween specials, and people come up with the craziest costumes.

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Roberto: Peter Lorre's great in Arsenic, but you should see him in his final scenes in "Stranger on the Third Floor." Last time I looked, it was on YouTube.

Rooni, Charlie, Allen, C.: This is why it's best to start getting set up early!

Alberto: I haven't decided yet. It'll have to be something that uses the giant rubber hands that I bought last year.

Allen: Monsterbrains! Of course! How could I have left those guys out? Thanks for the reminder!

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Lester: Son of a Gun! The hands ARE upside down. I hadn't noticed!

Joel Brinkerhoff said...

The levitating man is an illustration supposedly covering a true event involving Daniel Dunglas Home. I copied this from Wikipedia:

Lord Adare stated that Home "swung out and in" of a window in a horizontal position.[55] "He [Home] came in [through the window] again, feet foremost, and we returned to the other room. It was so dark I could not see clearly how he was supported" [outside of the three story window].

You should look Daniel up and have a Happy Halloween!

Alberto said...

haw! giant rubber hands. Maybe you could be the Boston Strangler.

The Happy Bremblespreck said...

Yup, that painting sure was done by Tim Burton. I can tell 'cos I've got a massive book full of his work.