I'm unexpectedly busy so this might be my last post before Halloween. If it is, have a great holiday!
This picture (above) is here because it scares the heck out of me. I saw this cigarette dancer on TV when I was a little kid. It's one of my earliest memories. So what, you ask, is it doing on a Halloween post?
It's here because it seems so very old...so out of date. As the memory fades I begin to doubt whether I ever actually saw it. I find myself wondering if I imagined it. Do you see why that scares me? It's an artifact from a civilization that used to exist and has now been erased, expunged, excluded...lost in the endlessly flowing river of time. It was as real as anything that exists now, and now it's completely gone, scarcely remembered even by the people who witnessed it. Yikes! The picture makes me feel like the guy in the film "Memento."
Chibchib did this mask (above), but who is that? [This is answered on the comments page.]
And what the heck is this (above) from? Disneyland? [A commenter confirms that it is!]
John turned me onto this costume box. I love the two faces on the side and the cellophane window. Every box needs a window, even a box as commonplace as the one Cheerios comes in. It would allow us to satisfy our curiosity about what's happening inside, in the secret world of breakfast cereal.
Woooooow!!!!! I'm guessing this (above) is a discontinued Don Post creation. Am I wrong?
Above, if there was a Theory Corner pumpkin award for 2014 this would be the winner. It's hilarious!
I think I'll reprise a few cartoon characters I've posted about before, because this time I'm pitching the heads...just the heads...as stand-alone cardboard masks.
McKimson's Peter Lorre would make a great back-of-the-cereal box mask.
Geez, this black and white Milt Gross head would make a great paper mask, even though the pose is a profile and the cut-out eye holes wouldn't line up with the cartoon's eyes. It might need a heavier outline, though.
And this Wolverton girl would make a great cardboard mask, much larger than life size and cut off at the bottom of the chin.
Hmmmm.....it's a shame to cut off Wolverton's neck.
I'm unexpectedly busy so this might be my last post before Halloween. If it is, have a great holiday! 
The "chibchib" mask is from a videogame, called "Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask".
ReplyDeleteIn the lore of the game, children who wander into the Lost Woods turn into monsters called "skull kids".
In the game, one of these skull kids is friends with four giants pledged to protect the land of Termina from danger. The giants go away to slumber until they are needed, and the skull kid thinks that he has been abandoned by his friends and turns to mischief.
Skull kid steals Majora's mask from the mysterious Happy Mask Salesman, but becomes possessed by the demon dwelling within the mask.
Under Majora's influence, the skull kid brings the moon crashing down into Termina, and as the hero of the game you have to go wake up the four giants to stop it from happening.
http://operationrainfall.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/majoras-mask-moon.jpg
(Yeah, every time you look up into the sky in the game, THAT's what you see)
It's a very unique, strange game within the overall Zelda series. It's very dark in subject matter, dealing frequently with themes of loss, some have interpreted the game as a metaphor for the stages of grief.
Indeed, the game takes place over the course of four days, with the player traveling back in time over and over again to complete all the necessary tasks. You end up watching the world destroyed over and over again. Seeing the inhabitants of Termina flee in terror, or resign themselves to their fate.
The game is so rich in symbolism that it has become a favorite for "creepypasta" stories, most notably the "Ben Drowned" creepypasta, in which a nostalgic fan purchases a used copy of the game, and has his life slowly destroyed by the ghost of the cartidge's previous owner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u0FKJJclZM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtpOp-_get8
It gives me shivers just thinking about it. God I love video games.
Mantan: WOOOOOOOWWWW!!! A fascinating story! I'll try all the links!
ReplyDeleteYeah, the tiki face is part of the decor in the Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland. The eyes move back & forth and the mouth opens when the room erupts in the "Hawaiian War Chant". It's great! I think we have Marc Davis to thank for the design.
ReplyDeleteHi Eddie! I know you're not an architect, but the most interesting articles I've ever read on the subject were from you! I think it's almost like you are a psychoanalyst of the environment around us. Have you ever written anything about why some buildings/rooms/home decor feel so oppressive, while other feel like "home"? I don't think you have, or maybe I have missed it, but I'd love to hear your thoughts. Like, why do some rooms with lots of books and knick-knack feel like you've stumbled upon a hoarder's home and you just want to get out of there, while others feel like you've found a gateway into Harry Potter's world.
ReplyDeleteMantan: Yikes! So that's what a creepypasta is! I have to be honest...it's not my taste...but I can see where horror and game fans would get into it.
ReplyDeleteThanks much for the links!
M: An interesting question! Of the books I've read, the one that comes closest to addressing what you're talking about was written by a French monk during the Impressionist period.
ReplyDeleteHe pointed out that France was blessed with an unprecedented number of world class painters in his time but the Church wasn't giving them commissions because most were atheists.
He argued that the Church should give them commissions anyway because the best artists are capable of inspiring the feeling of awe and grandeur that we associate with religion, even if they're non-believers. The book discusses what kinds of design elements would allow an artist to do that.
So far as I know the author didn't succeed in convincing the Church, but he might have been responsible for getting a convent to commission the famous Matisse Chapel and vestments.
The book may still be in print in an English translation. If not you might be able to get a used copy. I can't remember the title or the author's name.
The only film I know on the subject has a name something like "Beyond the Door." It's a black and white thriller starring Michael Redgrave. It talks about "felicitous" architecture and its influence on people.