It Came from New York

Taking a stab at evolved, alternative (his word) pumpkin carving that aims for unsettling results is Tom Nardone’s obsession. First there was the website. Then last year, Penguin published his first book, Extreme Pumpkins, which sold out everywhere weeks before Halloween.

This year, he’s ba-ack with Extreme Pumpkins II - Take Back Halloween and Freak Out a Few More Neighbors, also published by Penguin and available now.

He recently put down his Sawzall long enough to answer a few questions.

We saw Jimmy Kimmel French kiss your devil pumpkin when you were on Regis & Kelly Live. How thrilling was that?

That was fun. I also pranked Kelly and Kimmel. I spent the entire night in a hotel room filling their pumpkin with fake blood. It was worth it to see the look on Kimmel’s face. As soon as they finished carving it, blood dripped out of its mouth.

Last year, you did a promo tour for the first Extreme Pumpkins book. What was that like?

I learned who is reading my book. It seems to be beer-drinking dudes, old ladies and boy scouts.

What did you learn about pumpkin carving in the past year? Any new frontiers being crossed this Halloween? [click to continue...]

…even this T-shirt from Print Liberation.

I first came upon actress/writer Fia Perera while she was doing stand-up comedy and I’ve been a fan ever since. Her latest solo show, Swimming Naked, about her charged relationship with the über WASP trip that is her mother, is currently making the rounds as a film script.

Her bi (coastal and career) ways keep her darting back and forth between NYC and LA acting gigs and comedy clubs. On the acting side, she will appear with Harrison Ford, Ashley Judd and Sean Penn in the upcoming film, Crossing Over.

What’s the scariest thing about Los Angeles?

Even the dogs look like they’ve had work done. I saw a chihuahua taking a s*** on Rodeo Drive the other day and he had no facial expression.

What do you love about Halloween in LA?

I love how it brings inappropriateness forward in people, especially the men. Not that they aren’t that way year round here. I was once dating this guy who said to me, “Oh my God, Fia, I so want to go down on you right here in the parking lot of Starbucks.”

Wow. What did you do?

After he was done, I kicked him out of my car.

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For when not just any skull candle will do this Halloween, CreepyLA has rounded up the best in a range of prices.

Top left, DL & Co., $95, available at Fred Segal, Los Angeles and Matter. Top right, $30; Etsy/Cre8tiveGoddess, (The only green Halloween candle here works with an LED “candle.”) Bottom left, Pottery Barn, $19 each. Bottom right, Target, $9.99.

One more after the jump… [click to continue...]

I hate to get attitudinal about such a carefree celebration but can we agree on proper motivation for a holiday inspired by death? Ghouls, monsters, Oprah, witches, werewolves, Republicans, the undead, Cindy McCain, demons– all are a suitable starting point.

One of these photos shows the appropriate approach to Halloween costumes. The other two are indicative of the spiraling downward of our culture as it relates to reality shows, generic, cookie-cutter “hotness” and other generally justifiable reasons the terrorists hate us.

Can you guess which is which?

Photos by ICFNY

This Halloween, West Hollywood may be crawling with an army of Sarah Palin look-alikes in upswept hair, $375 designer frames and stilettos– and 5 o’clock shadows.

Although it may come as no surprise, even in Washington DC people like right wing pundit Bay Buchanan are planning on dressing up as the moose-eating Alaskan governor this October 31st. Last night on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, Buchanan gave her costume a tryout run. At one point, Cooper offered to help pin her hair up, but she demurred.

And if she needs any tips, we’ve got it covered.

At age 19, Donald Roman Lopez came from Colombia, S.A. to Los Angeles with a Cal Arts scholarship in hand, searching for the American dream as an actor. In the process, he discovered classical dance and his life took a detour.

In NYC, he trained with The Joffrey Ballet School and later joined the Ballet Hispanico and Metropolitan Opera Ballet companies. Ten years later, he found himself acting off-off Broadway and in indie cinema and doing commercials, as well as making his own independent films.

Relocating to Los Angeles five years ago, he has written, directed and produced, with his creative partner Veronica Diaz, Project Quantum, a sci-fi espionage web series about a new breed of top secret agents with unusual powers. The first webisode is a tight two minutes of story set-up and exposition that makes the pair seem like natural storytellers.

When asked for a quick sketch of the series, he says, “Secrets? National Security? Protecting the truth? Sounds like our government. Now that’s scary!”

Your web series, Project Quantum, is pretty creepy. Do you have any favorite scary movies inspiring you?

Of course any Vincent Price flick when I was growing up, or Frankenstein movies, or Dracula, but my favorite of all times has to be Rosemary’s Baby.

As a child in Colombia, how did you celebrate this time of year?

There was not such a thing as Halloween in Colombia before I was born, but TV and the 1960s did wonders. In the ’70s when I was a child, my little brother and I used to love going trick-or-treating. We were dirt poor, so that forced us to get very creative with our costumes. [click to continue...]

Kristin’s List, the Los Angeles cultural listing site, is the best of its kind in a city long mocked for its supposed cultural bereft-ness by callous East Coast sophisticates (like me.)

Kristin Bedford defies that cliché with cold, hard facts and winnows the dizzying cornucopia of events and activities on offer in LA to a highly selective, manageable directory– from intellectual to frivolous, fun to enriching, sometimes all at the same time and with big potential for rewarding the curiosity in us all.

Born in Washington, DC, with a background in politics, fashion, photography and a stint in big, bad NYC before moving west three years ago, she has run with the wolves and slept with the lambs.

What do you love about Halloween in Los Angeles?

Nudity. In most places Halloween is a chance for women to dress like prostitutes outfitted by the local costume superstore. LA has no need for such minutia. Strip down, maybe add a little body paint, glitter, a cape or some heels… costume complete.

What costumes did you wear as a kid?

In the 3rd grade Wonder Woman, 6th a punk rocker, 7th a piece of toast, 8th Andy Warhol and 9th a British colonialist, but what stands out most is what I didn’t wear.

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With seven weeks to Halloween, Los Angeles is already percolating with anticipation that spans the budget you either have or don’t have on hand.

Top left: British fashion designer Alexander McQueen’s Melrose Place shop has these perfect skull scarves for those who spare no expense when it comes to accessorizing.

Top right: The Kragen auto parts store that was on Sunset and Fountain in Silver Lake is gone, replaced with one of those temporary Halloween costume shops that I have a low tolerance for; opening today.

Bottom left: The low end merch is starting to trickle into the 99 Cents Only Stores; for example…

Bottom right: Paging Heidi Klum: Has Project Runway ever thought of sending their design hopefuls to the 99 Cents Only Store for inspiration? Can you imagine an entire outfit encrusted with these black faux silk roses, five to a bunch for that magic price?

Photos: ICFNY

I don’t know about you, but I can’t take it anymore, so the McCain and Obama masks get a visceral reaction from me. Yes, of course, I’m supporting Obama. But isn’t it a tad curious that race has been drained from the election if you go by these masks? They’re (almost) the same hue!

I’ll quell my usual tendency toward Rovian conspiracy theories and try to believe that, at last, America is, in some weird, rubbery way, color-blind.

Masks spotted at Universal Citywalk Cinema Secrets. Photo: ICFNY

Our 99 Cents Only Store recap of some of last year’s favorites…

Even given the sheer numbers of Halloween and Dia de los Muertos devotees and practitioners here, Los Angeles has an unusually large collection of stores catering to costume demands. Maybe that’s to be expected in a city where people routinely slip on and shed facades year round.

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A native Angeleno, composer/music producer Robert Oriol composes music for theatre and film in the Los Angeles area. He is currently producing a series of rock music workout CDs for The Gymrattz Collective.

What’s your favorite scary movie?

Night of the Living Dead, of course!

Any costume plans for this year?

I’m considering dressing up as Sarah Palin’s pregnant daughter, pregnancy test in hand and mascara streaming down my cheeks.

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CreepyLA went to Universal Studios Hollywood today to take in the final dance auditions for Freddy’s Fly Girls and other dance roles for the theme park’s upcoming Halloween Horror Nights, which starts October 3rd.

More photos after the jump… [click to continue...]

LA Times columnist Meghan Daum on her costume last year: It always fascinates me how on Halloween women want to dress up like sluts and men want to dress up like women. Maybe I’ll go as a man dressed as a woman dressed as a slut. But I’d really like to get my hands on one of those vending machine costumes they apparently use in Japan to avoid muggers.

Last Halloween season, in our Creepy Questions series CreepyLA interviewed some notable Los Angeles denizens. From Elvira to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, from Patt Morrison to John Doe, each one shed some light on their habits, quirks and traditions for the holiday.

Shilah Morrow and Victoria Lane told us about Halloween parties of the “Nashvegas” and Goth aesthetics.

On the subject of Halloween costumes they wore when they were kids, the answers were all over the place. But when it came to identifying the scariest thing in Los Angeles, we seemed to (almost) reach a consensus.

As for naming their favorite scary movies– well, try not to read too much into the answers.

What did you dress up as when you were a kid?

Elvira: Even when I was a little girl I was anything but little. I had to go out as twins.

John Doe: I seem to remember my mom making me a ghost– sheet over head, cut out eye holes, several times.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa: I dressed as a cowboy, a vampire, and my favorite costume was a baseball player.

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