Random crap with Uno.

[Unorthodox]

They only had 2 of the skull ones left. 

Strange drive in this morning...If I start acting all normal like, assume the '93 version of Body Snatchers is coming to pass. 

Re:"I see dead people"

I'm biased against the film, it's true.  The thematically similar "Stir of Echoes" dealt with the whole "I see dead people" better, IMO, but was overshadowed by 6th sense, IMO, largely because the latter was PG-13, and thus reached a wider audience than the R rated counterpart.  Sad, the difference in films is largely due to language, and Stir of Echoes could have easily been modified into a PG-13.  It's a good demonstration of why many film makers have lost sight of the audience with horrorish movies, thinking you NEED an "R" rating, when it's the PG-13 one you should really be shooting for.  To the point where I facepalmed when Universal SPECIFICALLY added crap to the Wolfman remake to make it R to "show it is a serious horror movie." 

Anyway, I like Stir of Echoes better because it more closely follows my own experiences with 'seeing dead people', picking up on little nuances most films miss. 

6th sense, I had 'the twist' figured quite early on, and presently find the best use for the movie is to set people up for watching "The Ring". 

[Buster's Uncle]

I didn't see it coming.  At all.

[Unorthodox]

Fortunate, I had an old jacket that will work for Kyle.  Picked it up as it was dirt cheap, always meant to make a scarecrow out of it...oh, and ye olde civ rev necklace.   

[Buster's Uncle]

Which loa is he?

[Unorthodox]

Baron Cimitiere, aka Baron Cemetery, fitting to be in with the breathing graves, which we'll put some of the veve on. 

Arguably, he's an aspect of Baron Samedi, aka Baron Saturday, who is where they pulled Baron Sunday from. 

The teeth and skulls are key aspects of the loa, but it's up to the person doing the representation which goes on the hat and which on the necklace.  I had the necklace already, so, the hat got the teeth.   

[Unorthodox]

We back?  Everything ok?

[Geo]

..., always meant to make a scarecrow out of it. 

He might have that youthful innocence over him, but I think you succeeded.

[Buster's Uncle]

We back?  Everything ok?

Yah.  The domain renewal invoice never seems to have happened, and although I had $40.02 in my account, domain renewal doesn't happen automatically like server bills when you've pre-payed.  I got it taken care of though, so no worries for another year.

[Buster's Uncle]

1,985 lb pumpkin wins the 40th Annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off       
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images October 14, 2013 3:00 PM



The World’s Greatest Gourd Growers and their astounding, mind-boggling, Volkswagen-sized orange orbs gathered on Monday, October 14 at the 40th Annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off -- the “Super Bowl of Weigh-Offs” -- in the World Pumpkin Capital of Half Moon Bay, California.

Gary Miller of Napa, California  won the 40th Annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off with a gigantic pumpkin that weighed in at 1,985 pounds. Miller took home a cash prize of $11,910, or $6 a pound.
(www.miramarevents.com)

The winner of the contest.  Looks ready to eat the losers.







http://news.yahoo.com/photos/1-985-lb-pumpkin-wins-the-40th-annual-safeway-world-championship-pumpkin-weigh-off-1381777674-slideshow/

[Unorthodox]

I don't understand the giant contest...or the chunkin thing. 

[Unorthodox]

Toy Story Of Terror Trailer 2013

[Unorthodox]

Well, the super extended forecast has our annual storm coming on Monday, October 28, clearing for the party/halloween, and descending into storms again by the 2nd.  COLD halloween by the looks of it.  It's too far out to make plans, but lets hope one of those storms doesn't slip into the key times...

As said, the storms tend to slip around a lot in the extended forecast.  That monday storm has now slipped back to Halloween. 

I'm...ok, we'll have to take care of the fog machines, I don't want to lose those again, but otherwise, I'm good with that, just don't want the party rained out.  Hopefully it keeps slipping off into November. 

[Unorthodox]

Ricoh just announced a new pentax $1600 flagship behemoth.  Theoretically, this opens the door to my next upgrade.  I'll now be 8 generations out of date, and while the last 3 generations have essentially been only minor differences (K5, K5II, and K5IIs), all three are worthy upgrades to my specific low light photography penchant (and indeed the only cameras rated better at it than my present model across all brands/cameras under $2k), and this is the first camera to give people a REASON to update in 3 generations. 

Question is WILL people upgrade, and what will that do to the prices of used/refurbished K5 models. 

Even better news, the new K3 (yeah, numbering has always been odd on Pentax) is coming out with a new line of lenses to make use of it's larger sensor.  That means those that DO upgrade will likely be dumping old lenses as well.

First K5IIS on the local classified by someone preordering the new K3...$800 is a little steep for me still...hell, I can get a new one for not much more than that. 

[Unorthodox]

K 30 for $550.  That's getting closer...

(The K 30 is, essentially, a rebranded K5 from when Ricoh took over.  There's some 'features' that were trimmed and others added, to my use, they are essentially the same)

[Unorthodox]

Went out to a haunt last night. 

See, we're not tied to Lagoon this year, so I wanted to go to see one of the more abbeynormal ones.

My first choice was quickly dashed. 

The Haunted Forest has been well established for years and year.  They ran a continuous theme out through the forest for years...

This year they split it into three and upped the price for the 'three different' idiotic model people are going to.  Basically, they turned it into just another crap one. 

So, my second thought was to try one of the corn mazes that throw in the spookiness at night. 

There's only 2 really withing distance worth considering.  Or, there was 2.  One did not open this year.  The other...I draw the line in my pocketbook at some point, especially when some of the features that justify that price are the novelty of your kids getting to pick their own pumpkin from the field...

I think my kids have had enough of picking pumpkins from the field. 

This brought me circling in on The Haunted Village at This is the Place Heritage Park. 

You guys being from outside Utah, this bears some explaining, what I just said. 

This is the place is a STATE PARK.  Easy enough, so far...

However, it is operated by "The Place Foundation", which is a non-profit specifically for running this park.  Still with me?

The Place Foundation is primarily funded by the LDS church. 

So, what we have is a technically separate entity here with very close ties to the LDS church.  Putting on a haunted house, where one can pretty much count on the typical LDS standards of dress and demeanor.  This is actually not as novel as it may sound, they've been doing it in the Polynesian Cultural center in Hawaii for quite some time. 

This place come to my attention 2 years ago when they pulled out the theme of Jean Baptiste, The Ghoul of Salt Lake City. 

A local spectre that could be done VERY creepy, indeed, and a dark blotch on the early church history, so dark that some efforts had been taken to cover it up at some point.  I found it a remarkably interesting choice. 

I had hoped this theme would still be running. 

However, this year's theme is "Revenge of the Witch".  What I've heard of this place is they rely less on the cheap props and thrills, and more on setting a theme and letting your own mind provide the scares while they actors do their job.  This sounds completely like my kind of place, and one a little more on the level Talia would appreciate as well. 

Of note, I'm wearing "the staff jacket" (earth o lantern on back) and hauling around Bertha.  This is like a standard no-no in haunted houses.  NO PICS.  And, we had arrived a half hour early, so I went up and asked what appeared to be security if it would be ok if I took pics.  We exchanged cards, and got to talking about how long they've been running and what the story behind this is. 

Seems one of the staff members was related to the salem witches, and the story of those trials is still passed down in their family, after converting to LDS and traveling to Utah with the first pioneers.  So, they decided to run with her families' story for the theme. 

Asking about the Jean Baptiste theme, there was some surprise I knew anything about the actual history at all, and some careful avoidance and reluctance to talk about how they managed it at the park.  Talking to some folks in the visitor center afterword, I hear the whole Jean Baptiste theme "was awful".  These folks had no idea it was an actual local legend and were mortified when I started detailing some of the things from the real story.  "why didn't they go into THOSE parts?" was uttered a few times.  ah...wasted opportunity then. 

Back the the haunt.  Here I am going into a haunt based on Salem.  They COULD have put a local spin on the thing, there WERE witches hung around Utah as well, not to mention some of the native american mythologies, but the tried and true Salem is hard to discount in it's potential, and we have a whole town to play with here.