Posts Tagged ‘Halloween’
Well Halloween’s come and gone and we can no longer play make believe .. well not until the next convention or opportunity to cosplay that is. This year Halloween seemed a bit underdeveloped. I can tell there were people that were excited for it, but for the most part people didn’t seem to care. Anyway, I had a great Halloween and a great month in anticipation of the day. Every year I like to imagine what it’d be like if that one Simpson’s: Treehouse of Horror episode “I’ve Grown A Costume On Your Face” were to come true. You know? The one where the witch wins the costume contest but it turns out she’s actually a witch so she can’t technically win. She get’s angry when they take her title away and then she cast a spell that causes everyone to become the costume they’re wearing.
I’d always end up as something cool. … Hey wait. Why was she offended when they took her prize away but not offended when the entire town thought her regular everyday clothes was fit for a Halloween costume? .. Whatever.
So this past Halloween was spent trick-or-treating then later parting. I didn’t take many photos but I did take some.
Anyway here are some costumes.
Maiyu as Cover Girl
Momo as Sailor Moon
Mokona as Rabi En Rose
Night as Soul
Leon as .. um .. what?
Your's trully as Beachhead
Yo Joe!
I saw Blair Witch Project a total of one time. At the time I was amped up to see it, but was quickly disappointed after finding out there was absolutely no truth in it. Now, at this point I can look back and say that it was a decent movie, and good for being the first of it’s kind. The creators took a chance and did well for it. There’s a certain charm to the move and the scary parts are scary in a way that your average horror movie isn’t. There’s no real jump scares or gore of any kind. There’s a lot of little nuances that pick at the viewer and the movie in a whole is a more psychologically scary than anything else. The movie is good in it’s way, but I only saw it once and don’t really plan on seeing it again. I don’t regret seeing it, in fact I’m glad I saw it. I’ll just probably never watch it again.
Jump to 9 years later and another movie in the same horror movie sub-genre is released called Cloverfield. The marketing for this movie was phenomenal. The audience is left wondering what the heck is going on, but given enough information to be curious for more. The problem with this is that it was hyped up beyond belief and when I actually went to go see it I left the theater trying to convince myself that the movie was better than what I just sat through. I was on the fence but as time progressed I began to not like it. After TF:RotF came out I now realize just how bad a movie can be and now that I think about it Cloverfield wasn’t bad. In fact, it’s a movie I wouldn’t mind watching again.
Which bring us to the present and the movie in question is Paranormal Activity.
More like Paranormal CRAPtivity. Am I right folks?
I’m just kidding, the movie isn’t that bad. The marketing technique was similar to the one used for Cloverfiel. It gave you a taste but no real information. The movie itself shared more resemblance’s to Blair Witch. Very small cast to begin with only two of the characters are faced with the actual trials of the movies plot. I won’t go into budget for any movie, because I believe the only real elements you need to tell a good story is a person who is able to tell a story and tell it well, but also, maybe more important, is a person willing to listen. For me, budget doesn’t matter.
That being said; This movie is eeeh ok, but could have been better. They did a good job of letting you get to know the characters before anything major happen but they took a bit too much time doing this. Also, it almost hurts the movie in that. By the end, it turns out I didn’t really like the character of the bo friend. He’s just an unlikable guy. I get that he reacted in a way that a real person may act when being put into this situation, but it is still a movie and it’s important to like the characters, especially when there are prominently only two characters in the whole movie. Also, through his actions the story line was able to progress, so I guess he can be forgiven.
Every horror movie needs some way to get across the rules within that movie. Something that says “this is how things work” and “this is why things are happening.” In Blair Witch, it was done through interviews from the town folk and through some research, which worked because it was about some kids investigating the lore of the Witch. In Cloverfield the rules were revealed as the story progressed, which also worked because the people in the move were finding things out as we were. In this movie the rules were literally expounded by a hired psychic .. and that was his only purpose. He told them what was going on .. and that’s it. Well he told them what they should do, but only so that when they did the exact opposite the audience can scream at the screen “No don’t!”
Non of the really good parts happen until the end and even then they aren’t that really scary. I was expecting to see some kind of apparition but, nope. A lot of the scares really on jump scares, which is kind of a cop out, in my opinion. When I was a kid I used to sneak up behind my grandma and go “BOO!” and startle her but I never considered myself scary. To really be scared by this movie you have to be of the mind set that this could possibly happen. Which I believe it could. But again, there are things they could’ve done in the movie, but simply didn’t. The ending itself is almost predictable but also pretty sad.
Would I recommend it? Wait for it to come out on DVD, and watch it late at night. Alone. With all the lights off.
At this point I don’t really care about it. I don’t dislike it. I just don’t care. A few years down the road I may feel differently about it.
Halloween is less than one week away and I am ready to party. Got my costume all set and my Halloween spirit is almost topped off. The only thing I haven’t done is carve a pumpkin. Lame, I know, but maybe I’ll get some time in before the big day.
One thing I did manage was that I was able to go to Mikey’s Trick-Or-Treat Party at DCA this past weekend with a few other AniMaid Caféers (is that right?), which was all kinds of fun. We all went as Characters from The Avatar. Maiyu went as Katara, Momo was Suki, Sentence dressed as Sokka and yours truly was Zuko. Eh, sorry no pics as of yet. Zuko was probably the most comfortable costume I’ve worn and the burn scar looked amazingly good, might’ve been the best part of the costume. I’d definitely dress as him again at a future con.
I don’t think I’ll ever not dress up for Halloween. It’s just too much fun. And if you don’t wanna go through the trouble of getting a new costume, then just zombifie and existing one. Superman this year? Zombie Superman next year. Bam. There, now you just multiplied your costume stock by 2. Your welcome.
I think maybe I’ll try and fit in another horror movie or two before the day. Perhaps Paranormal Activity. I hear mixed things about that one, but I gotta admit, my curiosity is peaked.
So yeah, I’m all set of Halloween. You ready?
————————————————————————-
Update: Photo!
Zuko, Katara, Sokka & Suki
Man, nothing beats an impromptu visit to Disneyland. Well, not “nothing.” I guess your own personal Jedi body guard would be pretty sweet. Not only could he protect you from bad happenings but you can use him as an excuse for your weird behavior. “It’s not my fault. He Jedi mind tricked me.~”
So anyway, last night I was able to visit Disneyland for a few hours, after work. Even though it was a short visit, it was time well spent and turned out to be a great evening. Right now Disneyland has some things set up for the Halloween season that I think are worth checking out. As per-usual they have the Haunted Mansion decked out in it’s Nightmare Before Christmas duds. Being one of my favorite movies growing up (and still is), it’s an attraction I can’t really get tired of. Aside form the Haunted Mansion Holiday, they have some new things set up for the Halloween season.
The new Halloween fireworks show is a nice addition. My understanding is that this is their first year doing it. Not just a fireworks display, but also features lights, music, keen pyrotechnics, and with some Nightmare Before Christmas aspects mixed in, it’s a pretty fun show to watch. I mean, if you’re into that sort of thing. The other new thing I got to experience is their Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy. It’s where they set up various projections of ghost, inside of Space Mountain, that flash and follow you as you go through the coaster. Actually, the ghosts look pretty scary. If I saw this as a little kid, I’d probably get some nightmares from it. So, good job Disneyland.
Oh right, I didn’t get any pictures or video of my trip. Hey, I said it was impromptu. I say, if you can, you should try and check out Disneyland’s Halloween Time, before it ghouls away. … Or some other bad pun.
You know when I started adding to this blog I didn’t think I would have much to add. As it turns out, if you keep busy enough, you’ll always have something to talk about. I almost always have something to contribute to the blog, … except for today. Hmm , well it is October, and for me the best time of year. It’s when it starts to cool down, Christmas songs start playing in my head at random, and best off all I get to look forward to my 3 favorite holidays; Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love this time of year. Another thing I’ve come to look forward around this time is Cinemassare.com continuing it’s Monster Madness series.
Cinemassacre is a site done by James Rolf, who (among other things) is a horror movie buff. For the past 3 years he’s done his Monster Madness video series, where he talks about a different monster movie every day for the month in October. 31 videos in 31 days. They’re short vids but there’s a new one everyday of the month, and it’s a good way to get in the of the Halloween season. The month just started so there’s only 6 vids up so far for this year so know is a good time to jump into it.
So see? I did have something to contribute after all. … Even though I didn’t actually do anything.