On the internets

One of my favorite time wasting websites is Hulu.com, which allows you to stream an increasingly more and more impressive array of TV shows and movies - for free! I don’t have TiVo, so this is how I keep up on a majority of the shows I watch.

October is Huluween over at Hulu, where they have selected a fun array of horror movies, like The Blob, Christine, Toxic Avenger, and Horror Express, and Halloween related episodes of shows like The Simpsons, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Addams Family, Girls Next Door, and Scare Tactics, all for your free consumption. And those are just a few examples of what’s available.

The playlists are broken up into the weeks of the month. We’re currently in week three, but the previous two weeks’ material is still available for viewing. And more material will of course be coming next week.

Love Manor has made creepy labels for you to print and decorate with. Free!

All Hallows Steve presents his annual “Make Your Own Halloween Special.”

Elvis has left the casket and is now Twittering: @Dead_Elvis.

Monster Brains, the creepy devil art blog, reminds us that the late Senator Jesse Helms, defying expectations and suspicions, revealed that he had no cadavers hidden in his house. Plus photographer Joel Peter Witkin explains his photo, The Raft of George W. Bush, with a refresher course in the monsters who have served in his administration.

Gothtober, the online Halloween “advent” calendar is back with all new goodies for 2008.

The Whittier, CA house where Shia LeBouf snooped on the killer next door (and the hot chick also next door) in “Disturbia” is for sale for $1.25 million.

Neatorama has compiled some spooky trivia about three classic horror films. Did you know “Night of the Living Dead” was originally a horror comedy about “teenage aliens who make friends with Earthling teenagers?” Or that one of the girls being babysat in “Halloween” is Paris Hilton’s aunt? Or that some theatres gave out barf bags during screenings of “The Exorcist?”

Popular Science Magazine, 1934

Let’s see. If you crossed Extreme Pumpkins, the über-pumpkin carving book by Tom Nardone, with Extreme Makeover and… nip/tuck… Oh, nevermind.

h/t> my house is cuter than yours.

Politics have longed played a role in our Halloween costumes, but things always get extra interesting during an election year. Obama and McCain masks are no doubt selling hotly, and CreepyLA even told you how to assemble your Sarah Palin get-up. But why stop there?

Zombie Pumpkins offers you a handful of political patterns for this year’s jack-o-lanterns. What better way to judge the political mood of your neighborhood than putting Obama and McCain o-lanterns on your stoop and seeing which one gets smashed?

Alas, they don’t have a Palin stencil. And the stencils aren’t free. That said, you have the option of chosing the “sampler” membership. It allows you to download 2 patterns for $2, which is probably all the average person needs.

Scream 2008, Spike TV’s third annual awards show dedicatd soley to horror, sci-fi and fantasy, won’t air until October 21st (on Spike, of course), but leading up til then you can flex your mighty opinion by voting for your favs, if you are so inclined.

While I can’t say the nominee choices are great (30 Days of Night for Best Horror Movie? Are you f’ing kidding?) the award categories themselves are a solid and logical batch - Best Director, Best Villain, Best TV Show, etc - with some uniquely fun ones scattered in too, like “Most Memorable Mutilation” or “Holy S@#$! Scene of the Year.”

For an idea of what to expect from this year’s ceremony check out the highlight montage of Scream 2007 after the jump. [click to continue...]

Photo by Choppercabra666 (he made the skull himself), from the CreepyLA Flickr group.

See the CGI sequel Resident Evil: Degeneration for free in Los Angeles on November 18th. Details at Dread Central.

Remember those plastic Jack-O-Lantern Happy Meal pails? Ah, McDonalds memories…

Frazgo spotted the first home in Monrovia to decorate for Halloween… unsure if that McCain/Palin yard sign is part of the decor.

Simpsons writer Matt Selman is asking for help coming up with his “Treehouse of Terror” name. Mystery prize involved. My suggestions: Matt Invisible Selman. Matt Wolf Selman. Matt Bat Selman. Notice a trend?

Print and build your own mini Disney Haunted Mansions.

Hate Halloween? Learn how to help abolish and replace it in your neighborhood with a more wholesome, more Christian friendly “Light the Night” festivity.

Also, Landover Baptist Church, the most upstanding church in the U.S. of A., where only the worthwhile are welcomed to worship, has tips for Christians on how to ruin Satan’s birthday on October 31st. While their full-fledged Holy War on Halloween has yet to surface on their site, they already have some early pointers for witch hunting, how to effectively impress upon children that Jesus will most definitely sling them into Hell if they even so much as think about trick-or-treating and other wholesome family fun. They even have some nifty bumper stickers for God’s favorite presidential candidate.

An odd evaluator on the fortunes of contemporary but, alas, shelf-life-expired politicos can be ascertained in fire sale prices for these (not just for) Halloween masks.

Then there are those that are too new to even be in production yet. One site is teasing by displaying the clay model of their forthcoming Sarah Palin mask. At first, I thought they were selling it in that dinge-y gray color so each wearer could customize it with their own heavily applied make-up and sassy honey highlights. Either way, tic-tock.

I love zombies.  I like dressing up like one.  I adore the artful arrangement of gore and fake blood.  I enjoy discussing ways to survive a zombie apocalypse.  I’ve even been known to take drastic cuts in pay if I can be a zombie in a horror movie done up by an inspired FX artist.

If you share my near obsession with the restless undead, you will love Lost Zombies.

Lost Zombies is a community generated zombie documentary made up of hundreds of people from all over the planet discussing outbreaks of zombie infestations in their own, personal way.

It’s free to join and a fantastic way to connect with the other twisted imaginations of your ilk.

Come play with us!

From DARK FLOORS

Hey film fans. Do you get a little frustrated reading exciting reports about exciting sounding film festivals while you’re unexcitingly stuck in town cause of pesky little issues like a job and meager finances?

Truth is, unless you’re a journalist, directed a film in competition, or happen to be a local of the fest town, film festivals aren’t something one has much access to. Sure it would be fun to mix-n-mingle with the festival crowd, but the real tragedy is missing out on all the weird films (some of which may never get real distribution).

Well this year Fantastic Fest is trying to remedy that! For all of us who can’t be at the famed Alamo Draft House in Austin, Texas tomorrow for the beginning of the week-long festivities, there’s finally another option: Watch movies from home! [click to continue...]

Photo by Thomas Hawk, used under Creative Commons.

Halloween news from L.A, online, and beyond…

No pumpkins around? Halloween Addict shows you how to carve a turnip jack-o-lantern.

Jones Soda has added Dread Apple, Blood Orange, Buried Pomegranate, and Spoookiwi to its seasonal lineup of Halloween beverage selections (warning: beware their perennial Candy Corn flavor, as tempting as it sounds…)

John Wolfe at Season of Shadows is posting weekly video updates of the preperation for his own elaborate yard haunt. His site also features DIY tips on making your own props to scare the neighbors kids.

Mmm… how to make pumpkin lasagna!

Vote now for Spike TV’s Scream Awards! Categories include Most Memorable Mutilation, Best Screamplay, Best Horror Movie, and Ultimate Scream. The event tapes October 18th at the Greek Theatre and airs the 21st.

Don’t forget to order your UNICEF Trick’or’Treat boxes!

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...]

Photo by me from Metroblogging L.A., reminding everyone that silly string is banned in Hollywood from midnight, October 31 to noon, November 1. Interesting conversation going on there, from grumbling about the poorly designed sign to the effectiveness of the law.

San Francisco’s Castro District has cancelled its infamous Halloween celebration after years of rising violence, including stabbings, shootings, and last year, one guy wandering the streets with a real live chainsaw. As a result, the website “Home for Halloween” provides alternatives, but strongly urges SF residents to just stay in for the evening.

L.A. Times columnist Sandy Banks explains that Halloween “feels like a nightmare-in-the-making, in a class by itself as a holiday ripe for kiddie calamities and parental stress.”

There’s an actual War on Halloween in our country, which is being driven by both ends of a perceived spectrum: Fundamentalists “who think All Hallows Eve is Satan’s annual pledge drive” as well as some witches who are offended by their depiction as pointy nosed freaks “that are not respective symbols of the Wiccan religion.”

But not everyone is a Halloween Scrooge: First Baptist church in Hendersonville, TN of all places, has opted to cancel midweek services so that its ministry could stay home and hand out candy… with messages on it: “We’ll have tracts that talk about how they can have a relationship with Jesus.”

Really. From CraigsList:

Call for submissions : Funny Coroner Stories
Date: 2007-10-27, 7:09PM PDT

This is a call for submissions for TRUE and humorous coroner stories. I’m a freelance editor with a fun anthology project in the works.

You don’t have to be a writer to submit. You just have to be a coroner with a story. Or to personally know a coroner with a story. The stories must be true, but the names of anyone other than yourself must be changed. A release form will need to be signed before any submission can be officially accepted.
Please respond with brief introduction of yourself and a summary of your story.
Fair and equal compensation will be awarded to all contributors in the event of any profit.

Still stuck for a Halloween costume? Download and print a face mask of Britney Spears, Barack Obama, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (pictured), or one of three others from NewsGroper.

While Los Angeles supplements its Halloween fix with Dia de los Muertos, some folks in the Mid-West had trick or treaters this weekend celebrating Beggars Night. Erick of the Wonderful Wonderblog in Akron, OH details how his candy inventory was depleted.

“This Old House,” which seems to be unusually hip again, has gone Halloween crazy with online articles on pumpkin carving hardware, checking to see if your house has ghosts, galleries of some cozy mausoleums and spooky ruins, and more.

Almond Joy lovers are “happy go lucky.” Bit-O-Honey people have “contradictory personalities.” Twizzlers eaters are “sickos. Truly demented.” See what your taste in candy says about you. (Washington Post)

Blogger Neato Coolville, the honorary Mayor of Halloween blogs, earned this title for maintaining a roll call of bloggers who promised to post once a day about Halloween for the month of October. The list is after the jump.

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