A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

halloween

Happy Halloween — be safe!

I have never really been into Halloween.

Even as a kid, I’d dress up and all, but it wasn’t the most fun thing in the world for me. I’m not sure why. As an adult, it’s been the same. I never saw the need to go to Halloween parties and get all dressed up.

That being said …

I realize a lot of people really enjoy this night. And I hope everybody who enjoys it does so in a responsible way. Be safe out there, be it trick-or-treating with your kids, or out having a fun time at parties.

Enjoy the night, but be responsible and make sure nothing bad happens!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Ugh… Halloween is back

It’s not a secret among my friends — I really dislike Halloween.

Sure, I love seeing my friends’ kids all dressed up in cute costumes. Or my nieces/nephew, if they decide to dress up or whatever. But outside of that, nope. So a night for kids to dress up and go out and get some candy? I’m all for it. Alas, this day is more than that, it seems.

I didn’t even really like it as a kid. The whole idea of going around and trick-or-treating never did much for me. I hated dressing up. I’m sure when I was a wee lad, I enjoyed it. Who doesn’t? But there came a point — maybe around 12 or 13? — where I just didn’t care for it anymore.

This is how I feel when it comes to Halloween.

Maybe it was because local college kids — upward of 18 years old — were actually trick-or-treating, too? Really? It’s one thing to dress up … but going door-to-door at that age? Come on.

It could have been the whole eggs and shaving cream thing. I never understood or was a fan of that. Especially when those doing it do it to people’s property.

Or, possibly, it’s the college kids and/or local rugrats who feel the need to steal people’s decorations or pumpkins, and smash them on the streets. Really? And the point of that is… ?

I still won’t go to Halloween parties because, honestly, at my age, I don’t see the need or want to dress up. And then to see some of these people getting all snookered and such, well, it’s just too much for me to deal with.

I truly always hated it when, at work, people came dressed up. I’ve worked in professional places and when I see that, I just shake my head. I realize it’s a think for morale and fun in the workplace, but I never participated and always disliked it. It’s one thing to wear some different clothes, but it’s another when people who deal with the public have their faces all painted up.

Turns out I’m not the only one who thinks that as I recently came across a great little blog which covered the workplace Halloween situation perfectly.

That being said, there are many people who love this holiday. And I’m fine with that. In fact, I think it’s great that people love it or want to get into it with their kids.

Heck, a few years ago, fellow blogger/photographer Mike had a guest post on this blog about how in-depth he goes with his house each year. If you’ve not read the post in the past, go check it out. It might make you want to go visit his house on Halloween! And, last year, the other blog I own — Rattling Chains — ran a story about Halloween-themed discs released each year.

With that said, there are also many — and I mean many — bloggers who are giving their thoughts on this day. Being I read a bunch of blogs on a daily basis, I thought I would share a few links, some who like the day and some not so much. Enjoy!

Jessica over at Living La Vida Holoka writes about how Halloween snuck up on her, and then decorating some pumpkins. She brings up some good points about differences from Halloweens from years ago to now, as well!

Dana, at Kiss my list, makes some good points about kids getting older when it comes to Halloween.

Kate, at Another Clean Slate, is also on the train the blah-ville when it comes to Halloween.

No Named Dufus has some Halloween-themed funnies up on his blog.

I’m sure, as I visit more blogs today, I’ll come across a few more Halloween posts. If so, I might come back and add them here, so feel free to check back. For those of you who love this day, have fun and be safe.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Guest post: Making the case for Halloween

If you want a good spook and love Halloween, make sure you check out Mike's pad if you are ever in Waco on Halloween night!

OK, if you’ve read my blog at all this week, you know my feelings about Halloween.

Not a huge fan.

Alas, on Halloween night, a person I follow on Twitter, Mike, had a live webcam of his house. He had it all decked out. I watched for a bit as unsuspecting trick-or-treaters came on the porch and the scene came to life. There were screeches and screams and surprised people, that’s for sure.

Mike, you see, is the complete opposite of me when it comes to Halloween. A fellow photographer and geocacher, I’ve known Mike in the online world for a bit and thought it would be fun for him to share his Halloween ideas and things with the readers.

I’m always up for the opposite view point, after all.

So enjoy below as Mike’s words, videos and photos take you through his Halloween adventure in Waco, Texas.

***

Call me crazy if you must, but I am a Halloween nut!

Some say it’s really only for little kids go the other way and use it as another excuse to get drunk. These days, most costumes for the female are of the “sexy” variety; admittedly troubling when applied to the pre-pubescent girls to whom they are offered as well.

Mike said he didn't have time to dress this year, but here he is in 2010 -- all decked out!

That’s not the Halloween I’m talking about, anyway. My Halloween is full of mummies, zombies, vampires, and other assorted ghouls. This is my Halloween.

First, let’s start with a little background.

I am a child of Star Wars; I was almost 10 years old when Episode 4 was released. I became obsessed with how it was made, which expanded to how all movies were made. My friends and I started making short films. Our first was a Star Wars ripoff that my dad shot for us on his video camera tethered to a giant video deck. We needed more control of our product so we started shooting Super 8 for our next films. Horror movies are the easiest to shoot. You don’t need dialog and they were just plain fun. Dressing up as monsters became our fun time.

I don’t remember the exact year we built our first haunted house. It was 1979 or 1980-ish. I know it was in the back portion of my grandmother’s house and we just had her and my friends parents come through.

The next year, we moved to the garage. We just used stuff we had around the house as props.

We cleaned out the garage for our second year in there. We used some of the same props but did a better job of separating the garage into rooms using polyurethane sheeting. I remember that we got in trouble for bringing several yards of dirt in for a graveyard room.

We were told not to but who listens to adults, right?

We put signs up for this one and actually got quite a few people through. Somehow, even though I was the most introverted of the bunch, I ended up playing the guide every year.

In 1982 or 1983, we set out to build what would be our final, and hopefully best, haunted house. That summer, we went door-to-door collecting newspapers from the neighbors and sold them to a recycling place for money so we could buy props and plenty of polyurethane.

One of the big ones from the 1980s!

Sadly, no photos exist of the full exterior of our opus but it was huge!

We built it in my grandmother’s back yard. Her lot was more than 100-feet wide and the entire structure was another 25- or 30-feet deep. We hung lines up to hold the poly walls, put a roof on some rooms, incorporated our clubhouse as part of the set design, and even built a deck with grating to hide someone underneath.

It was quite an undertaking for a handful of high school kids. We gave tours all weekend and it was quite the hit.

We all got busy with school and quit making our own haunted houses, though no Halloween passed without us visiting others. My best friend and I both started taking film classes at college and continued making short movies with horror and fantasy-type films. After graduating, we went into film production together, working on a handful of low-budget films while paying the bills with commercials and industrial shoots.

Eventually, business dried up and I left for a “real” job but still get out to the set when a film is being made. I still love the art of film making even if it is a direct-to-DVD zombie movie. Check out Risen on the Internet Movie Database to see what I am talking about.

Now, I have kids — two boys aged 9 and 11. I have been getting back into decorating “for them.”

The process starts a week or so before Halloween. I have a pair of eyes on plastic cling that I hang in our dormer windows and light from behind. It makes the house look alive. One or two days before Halloween, I wrap my front porch with black duvetyne (a twill fabric) to create a “room” for most of my props and to keep it dark.

I’ve expanded my display over the last five years and really kind of settled on a graveyard theme last year. I bring in dirt to cover the concrete and the boys help me set up and design their own little areas as well.

A shot from Mike's 2009 setup.

Most of the work, however, doesn’t happen until the day of Halloween. The moving pieces get placed, cobwebs are hung, bulbs replaced, and fog machines are filled. I tried for several years to capture reactions as people came to the door but never got the hang of it until 2010 when I decided to hide a webcam in the display and stream it out using Ustream.

This year, I managed to hide the camera in the eye of a jack-o-lantern and streamed it live once again. This is how obsessed I am: I left for a while to take the boys out and let my wife rest. While out, I was watching the stream of my house on my iPhone. I loved hearing the screams when the folks would set the mummy off then make the other one behind them move.

Here it is, the day after Halloween, and I have spent the better part of the day tearing it all down and getting the yard back to normal. I still have boxes to pack and tubs to get in the attic. I also have to check out the sales at the seasonal Halloween stores. I always need one more prop.

Why do I do it? Is all the trouble worth it?

I do it because I enjoy doing it. I do it because I like scaring people in a safe way. It’s worth it when a kid tells me I have the best house in the neighborhood or when two teenage boys won’t even step to my door because they are afraid of what might jump out (Spoiler: Nothing ever does).

It’s all in good fun and it’s all over until next year.

***

The photos are great, but they don’t do it justice. Here are some YouTube videos Mike made walking people through what they saw.

2011

2010

2009

Highlights from this year’s live stream of people coming to the door…

To see more from Mike…

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!

Trick or … bah

Halloween can come and go quickly!

So tomorrow is Halloween.

Yay.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve not been a fan of this “holiday.”

I don’t know if it’s because I’m not into dressing up or if I find it to be some silly holiday. Even as a kid I was never really into it. Sure, I went out and trick-or-treated, but I don’t ever recall staying out too late doing it. I just didn’t have a lot of fun with it.

I had friends who did all the prank stuff — you know, the eggs, shaving cream etc. I never got into it.

When I was still employed, I always volunteered to be the one to work Halloween because others had kids etc. Or, others just liked the night.

For those who like it, I get it. It’s a way to go out, dress up, act silly and all that.

But I just don’t get into it.

Halloween parties don’t interest me. I hate going out to bars and such the weekend of Halloween.

Kids dressing up and going out getting candy is understandable and must be quite enjoyable for the parents as well.  But this so-called holiday isn’t just a kids one. Adults dress up and have their parties. Heck, in recent years, I’ve seen college kids — yes  college kids — go out and trick-or-treat.

Seriously.

That’s the type of stuff that is annoying. If you are 18, 19 or 20 — or college age — you shouldn’t be going out, knocking on doors and trick-or-treating.

And if you are, you should be told where to go by the person at the house.

That’s neither here nor there, however.

It’s the overall part of this “holiday.” Like two or three others, it just seems to be an excuse for people to either go out boozing or for companies to make boatloads of money by promoting it. And I guess that just is one of those things that irks me.

I’ve seen a bunch of photos on Facebook already, so I’m sure the two choices are working out well.

And I don’t getting all done up in costumes, so that’s probably another reason I don’t like Halloween.

For those who enjoy Halloween, have fun (unless your parties have already happened, in which case I hope you had fun). And for those of you with little ones, have fun tomorrow trick-or-treating. Be safe and make sure you take photos as these are the times I’m sure you’ll look back on and chuckle one day!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!