John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

Batman shows Dr. Lecter his credentials

Imagine Batman and Bane in some well-known films ... and now imagine a twist for Halloween. 

Away we go. 

 

No one ever dresses as crippling self-doubt

Says Henri, le chat noir, and he ought to know, no? 

Way out yonder in the pumpkin patch

[Surf’s Up, as published in the St. John's Telegram, on Thursday, October 18, 2012.] 

While it’s evidently customary now for stores to start draping products in orange and black pretty much as soon as the back-to-school sales feel tired, I actually try not to pay attention to Halloween until, well, about this time of October. 

While I applaud my self-control for not (yet) buying a box stuffed with tiny chocolate bars – as if the entirety would make it to the door! – I’ve been checking out a few treats online.

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
iTunes

Last year, I loved playing with an app that breathed new life into A Charlie Brown Christmas, which turned the iconic TV special into an interactive storybook. This year, the same makers are back with a take on that other seminal Peanuts holiday classic, It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. 

As with the first, it’ll cost you some money (about $5 in this case), and while I had no trouble recommending the Christmas edition, I’m not as enthralled at all with the Great Pumpkin.

I have nothing against Linus’s hero, I should note. Rather, I have a few gripes with how this particular app is designed, and what it expects users to do.

Again, the app opens with a wonderfully nostalgic tableau: a child’s record player gently spins while you hear a jazz theme by Vince Guaraldi. If you want to be transported back to the Sixties, this will do the trick. 

The problem is that as soon as you get started, you’re taken not to the story, but instead to a staging area where you first must create an account (or log in via Facebook, which I somewhat reluctantly did).

This left a little grit in my mouth, and that uneasy feeling got worse. I could not proceed until I had created an avatar – and I was not at all amused to see the creators trying to sell upgrades, all within moments of getting us to pay for the app in the first place.

Fortunately, you can create a decent avatar and trick-or-treating costume (your character will join the famously dressed Peanuts gang) for no extra cost. Still, by the point that I was finally able to get into the story itself, I was ready to toss an egg at someone’s house. 

The saving grace is that the main part of the app is wonderful. The graphics are crisp and in high-definition, presented as if the elements were layered paper cutouts. The original voices from the TV special are used, as well, and a reader can move through the chapters (tug on the bookmark to advance) or skip to favourite moments. I think this will appeal more to the nostalgic, but maybe children will love the story, too.   

In all, I liked it – but having to go through all those hoops left me feeling a bit like Charlie Brown on his back, foiled yet again by the football-swiping Lucy.

Elsewhere this week 

Shock Till You Drop
When did getting the pumpkin scared out of you turn into such a huge business? Even beyond their home base of October, frightening things demand a lot of our pop-culture attention, and if you need proof, just try keeping up with the movies, shows and games based around zombies alone. Shock Till You Drop caters to the fans who can’t get enough of what scares them, from trailers of upcoming movies to tidbits and links to horror-genre goodies.

 

Ultimate Pumpkin Stencils
Carving a pumpkin used to involve a steak knife and a few minutes. The artistry of a few, though, is now widely accessible thanks to the web, where templates for fairly complex patterns are easy to find. Search for free pumpkin stencils (or templates, as an alternate keyword) and you’ll no doubt find something nice, but if you want something cool and of the moment, you may well have to pay. I’m recommending this site, which sells templates for several dollars, often in batches.

All the Angry Birds, for instance? Got them. Same goes for comic-book heroes, movie characters, music fads (Gangnam Style, meet One Direction) and even oddball choices, like Walter from Breaking Bad. (That, I guess, is if you want to scare the wits out of the higher-brow TV aficionado.)

Scary screensavers

Even scarier

Give your monitor or laptop an all-hallows makeover. Again, you can find an endless supply of options with a search engine, and these are just two options you might like.

I hope to have some more Halloween options in next week’s column. Now, off to watch our son turn a pumpkin into a spaceship! 

 

John Gushue is an editor with CBC News in St. John’s. Twitter: @johngushue.

 

I am pumpkin, hear me roar

We came across this pumpkin during our regular walk along the Kent's Pond trail today. It had been left there by someone with a sense of humour, I'm guessing! 

Zombie hunter

This shirt, from TeeFury, arrived today for Nick. Martha had spotted it. It would have been especially appreciated on Halloween itself ... but it's just fine now.

An instant Halloween classic

I posted about this New Yorker cover when it appeared in 2009 ... but I loved it so much, I wanted to look at it again. 

Tonight, incidentally, was the first time our son hit the neighbourhood on his own, so I wasn't one of those parents glancing at their phones while the little monsters tricked-or-treated. 

That combination of Star Wars, Halloween and cuteness

A tote bag that any young kid would want. Or an adult who's either irony-obsessed or just plain creepy. 

As seen here. 

Angry Birds and a Halloween adventure

The poor pigs. The title of the new promotional video, Ham'O'Ween, says it all.

Cårven Der Pümpkîn

That's the title Muppet Studios put on this Halloween-themed video featuring the Swedish Chef, and released a couple of years ago.

Halloween pins

We bought a pack of these yesterday - one for each of us, and one to spare. I called dibs on "This is my costume." 

Rotting pumpkins

A couple of weeks ago, Nick carved two pumpkins, on the assumption that they would take on the appearance of zombies by the time Halloween rolled around. 

Looks like he's right on track! 

 

The zombie pumpkins

Nick has been dying to carve some pumpkins since, well, probably the spring. Last week, Martha and he picked out two small ones, and when they got him, he went straight to work. 

Zombie Pumpkin #1 is above. 

Zombie Pumpkin #2 can be seen below, stalking No. 1. 

Thirteen ghosts

I like the fitted sheet ghost best, having seen one once. By Adam Koford, and seen on Hobotopia. 

Pumpkin pile

Carving a pumpkin or two is something two of the three of us are good at. (Hint: I'm not one of them.) We bought a pumpkin the other day. It's early, and I'm not sure how well it will last until Halloween, but then again Nick wants to have a zombie pumpkin. We'll keep you posted. 

Martha incidentally is a dab hand with pumpkin puree. That's another thing to look forward, too! 

Ghosties for sale

I snapped this over the weekend, while Martha was browsing the aisles at Pier One. Boo. 

Little witches

I snapped this a while back at Michael's, while Martha was hunting around for supplies. (I suspect I'm far from the only husband to stroll around there for something interesting to look at, or just pass the time.) There's a full Halloween display, of course. I thought these had that creepy-cute thing going on. 

Click on the image to go to my Flickr feed. 

Pumpkin Star Wars

Halloween is a long way away, sure, but isn't this awesome? 

As seen here. 

My kid's cannibalistic pumpkin

When Nick asked if we could get two pumpkins this year - one big one, one quite small - I had a hunch of what he had in mind. And then he carved it out, pretty much as he told me he would as he snickered in the car.

Next stop: Where the wild things are

My thanks to my friend Tim for pointing me to this picture, the best family outfit for Halloween I've seen this year, by far. As seen here.

The New Yorker cover on Halloween, parents and phoning it in

The New Yorker's Halloween cover is brilliant. Although I saw nary a parent out there tonight (mind you, we weren't out long) with a smartphone, I think artist Chris Ware - more from him here - nails something about the obsession grown-ups have with their gadgets, perhaps at the expense of their kids.

My boy, Death

This wasn't the plan. The plan, hatched in February, when we visited Disney World, was that Nick was going to go as the Sorcerer's Apprentice. (You know, Mickey Mouse in the red cape and blue hat, the one with the stars. The side deal, which I was willing to go along with, is that I would go as one of the brooms carrying pails of water (the pails actually holding treats and such), with Martha more than willing, somehow, to turn a grass skirt into the broom part of my costue. Like I said, we were all willing to do what we had to do.

Well, that got cast aside, as nine-year-old boys are wont to do. Instead, in September he informed us that he was going out as the Grim Reaper. And that was that. Martha stitched the costume this week, and it turned out really well, given that it was just one big heaping pile of fabric at the start. Our friends Christine and John donated their (plastic) scythe.

I'm suggesting that Nick go around tonight with a sack with "soul food" on it, for his snacks.

RSS: Really scary syndication

One of these years, I'll get around to carving one of those brilliant pumpkins that people talk about for years. In the meantime, here's a link to a collection of pumpkins with social media motifs. Very clever.

A skeptical thought on spooky things

"A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere."
- Groucho Marx

Yorick, Nick. Nick, Yorick

Our son was being outfitted just now for the costume he'll wear for Halloween. He's going as the Grim Reaper, and was holding up an almost weightless plastic skull, which was part of a lawn decoration we bought last year. I couldn't resist, and got him to repeat, "Alas, poor Yorick" .... and I misfed him the line "I knew him well," which I should have known instantly is not what Hamlet said next. (That would be, "I knew him, Horatio.") (And the words after that spawned one of the better novels of my generation.)

Thus was our son Nick's introduction to Hamlet. "What's with the Shakespeare stuff?" he asked. Good question. And I'm sure he'll have decades to think about how rich that answer can be.

Monster Mash, a la Lego

For my son, who got quite a chuckle today from this, and before Halloween slips too far away: