Happy Halloween

[DudeAsInCool]

I know it's an old thread, but it's still worth checking out. Happy Halloween everyone!

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Lots of great stuff floating around the web regarding Halloween - music and film lists, videos and video games, costume ideas, etc - so I thought I'd start a thread. Feel free to join in if you like.

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First of all, let's get the history out of the way - how did Halloween originate?

According to Wikipedia, "Halloween originated from the Pagan festival Samhain, celebrated among the Celts of Ireland and Great Britain. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century."

Now that we are educated about this affair, it's time to pick your costume and get the party started. The fine folks over at Mental Floss have a few good ideas for costumes, if you are stumped on what to wear. Now don't be bashful, show us your goods

[DudeAsInCool]

The Shoes For Work music blog has put together a Halloween mix tape (see the track list below) - download it here before the goblins getcha.

The Demonbaby blog is also hosting an All Hallow's Eve Party - drop by & click the music tab to get their nifty playlist:

[DudeAsInCool]

Ok, time to share some Halloween videos:

Here is Marilyn Manson's This Is Halloween (from Tim Burton's 'The Nighmare Before Christmas' re-cut with Marilyn Manson's version of 'This Is Halloween' for the re-release of the film in Disney Digital 3-D and 2-Disc Special Edition Soundtrack)

[DudeAsInCool]

Here is a short by sweet home-made video:

Attack of the Pumpkin

[DudeAsInCool]

Thriller is certainly the most popular Halloween-themed video of all time - it may just be Michael Jackson's most famous video, too:

Michael Jackson - Thriller (See the Original HERE )

More Gouls

[DudeAsInCool]

Our good friend's at the Onion's AV Club have put together 14 blood chilling songs about Vampires, some with videos - here are a few samples:

Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)

Outkast - Dracula's Wedding

[DudeAsInCool]

Ok, you've got your costume, but perhaps you are afraid of going out without a date. Don't fret - our good friend DemonBaby has some gothic dating prospects all lined up for you, including a GangsterGoth couple: Check out his apt descriptions of the fine folks below right HERE - who knows, maybe you will get lucky and score a trick or treat!!!? :)

[DudeAsInCool]

For the adventurous, we've got Haunted Houses to visit in LA.

"The idea that Los Angeles is haunted shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Between the outrageous personalities who have called this place home and the gory murders and tragedies that have occurred here, you've got the makings for some serious scares. Forget the obvious ones: We've all heard about ghostly Marilyn Monroe sightings at the Roosevelt Hotel, and the specters that wander the Queen Mary. We wanted more, so we asked David Markland over at Creepy LA to pull some of his favorites from the frighteningly exhaustive map he's compiled. From ancient Native American burial grounds to suicide bridges, here are a handful of LA's most haunted spots."

How about the haunted venues in your neck of the woods? Come on, we dare you to share...

[DudeAsInCool]

The Winchester Mansion is the ultimate Haunted House:

[DudeAsInCool]

Halloween and Horror Movies are almost synonymous - can you guess this movie?

Or this one?

[DudeAsInCool]

Ryan Adams - Halloween Head

[DudeAsInCool]

There are a couple of swell Halloween video games on the web - I bet you are too scared to try them:

All Hallow's Eve Video Game

[DudeAsInCool]

Chris, the stoner pumpkin

[DudeAsInCool]

Chris, the stoner pumpkin, part ii

[DudeAsInCool]

Mac-O-Lanterns

[DudeAsInCool]

Berkeleyplace has put together their top 20 horror films, and a fine list it is. If you don't feel like going out, any of the following would be fine to curl up on the couch with. Anyone have anything else they want to add?

1. Night of the Living Dead (The original)

2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (The original.)

3. Halloween. (The original.)

4. Nightmare on Elm Street.

5. The Exorcist

6. Dawn of the Dead (the original).

7. The Hitcher.

8. Evil Dead 2

9. An American Werewolf in London.

10. Freaks. Todd Browning’s classic exploitation film.

11. 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later. (A two-parter.)

12. Alien

13. The Fly (David Cronenberg version).

14. Hellraiser.

15. Triple feature: Return of the Living Dead; Young Frankenstein; Scream.

16. Saw.

17. Dracula (The original.)

18. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 version).

19. Poltergeist.

20. Frankenstein (The original.)

Honorable Mentions: Jaws (; Dawn of the Dead (the recent remake); Psycho; Near Dark; Nosferatu (1936).

[DudeAsInCool]

Jam has put together its top unlucky 13 Halloween songs:

13) My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion

12) I Want Candy by Bow Wow Wow

11) Dead Skin Mask by Slayer

10) Sweet Transvestite from Rocky Horror Picture Show

9) I Love the Dead by Alice Cooper

8) Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon

7) Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath

6) I Put a Spell on You by Screamin' Jay Hawkins

5) Don't Fear the Reaper by Blue Oeyster Cult

4) Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield

3) Thriller by Michael Jackson

2) Bela Lugosi's Dead by Bauhaus

1) The Monster Mash by Bobby (Boris) Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers

Read More

[DudeAsInCool]

How cool is this? Drowned In Sound Presents a Halloween reading by Jarvis Cocker:

Here, for your ears only, we present an exclusive eerie tale, as told by none other than Jarvis Cocker: Rats. The 14-minute download - a tale from a book taken from Jarvis' grandparents' house, by M.R. James..."

Get It Here

[DudeAsInCool]

WDUQ-FM and NPR have assembed 5 Jazz Halloween songs:

Nina Simone - 'I Put a Spell on You'

The composer for "I Put a Spell on You," Screamin' Jay Hawkins, used to pop out of a coffin onstage when he performed the song as an R&B tune. He sounded possessed. Nina Simone added horns and strings to her arrangement, turning it into a haunting ballad. It became one of her most popular songs.

Zoot Sims, Eddie Lockjaw Davis - 'I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance'

This mellow, almost ghostly ballad, performed by two legendary tenor sax players, was captured live in concert in Stuttgart, Germany, in October 1975.

Nancy Wilson - 'The Masquerade Is Over'

If your heart has been broken at a Halloween party, this is the song for you. This beautiful ballad was sung by a young Nancy Wilson in this 1961 recording. Although alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley is billed on the album, he is absent from this song.

Ahmad Jamal - 'Devil's In My Den'

Pittsburgher Ahmad Jamal performed this song at a September 2001 benefit concert for the Jazz Musicians' Emergency Fund. The recording was made at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem. The devil is in the title, but the spirit of the project remains purely angelic.

Patricia Barber - 'Witchcraft'

Halloween isn't complete without a mention of something witchy. Barber, known as both a vocalist and pianist, sticks to piano for this upbeat live recording.

Listen to the show

[DudeAsInCool]

These guys are no fun :( - Two physicists examine certain features of popular myths regarding ghosts, vampires, and zombies as they appear in film and folklore. Perhaps they can explain away the ghosts in the photos below :)

Read More

[Shawn]

I've heard of double, triple and even quadruple posting.

What's posting 14 times in a row?

[DudeAsInCool]

I've heard of double, triple and even quadruple posting.

What's posting 14 times in a row?

A horror posting extravaganza?

[Shawn]

A post whore extravaganza?

I suppose you're right.

[DudeAsInCool]

Nathaniel over at I Guess I'm Floating has posted former Lousiville classic rock dj Dave White's Halloween song list:

[MP3] Warren Zevon - Werewolves of London

"I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand / Walking through the streets of Soho in the rain / Better stay away from him / He'll rip your lungs out, Jim!"

[MP3] Jim Stafford - Swamp Witch

"Blackwater Hattie lived back in the swamp, where the strange green reptiles crawl / Snakes hang thick from the cypress trees, like sausage on a smokehouse wall! / Where the swamp is alive with a thousand eyes, and all of 'em watchin' you / Stay off the track of Hattie's shack in the back of the Black Bayou!"

[MP3] Alice Cooper - This House Is Haunted

"I was sitting in my room, dark and gray and crying / Someone in my life, I fear, was at the point of dying / A cold wind blew right up my spine, it was the break of dawn / A little voice way deep inside told me she was gone"

[MP3] The Doors - Ghost Song

"The music and voices are all around us / Choose, they croon, the ancient ones / The time has come again! / Choose now, they croon, Beneath the moon, Beside an ancient lake!"

[MP3] Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

"Big black shape with eyes of fire / Telling people their desire / Satan's sitting there, he's smiling, watch those flames get higher and higher / Child cries out for his mother / Mother's screaming in the fire / Satan points at me again, opens the door to push me in!"

[MP3] Led Zeppelin - The Battle Of Evermore

"The drums will shake the castle wall / The ringwraiths ride in black, Ride on / Oh dance in the dark of night, sing to the morning light / The magic runes are writ in gold to bring the balance back"

[MP3] The Kinks - Wicked Annabella

"In a dark and misty house, where no Christian man has been / Wicked Annabella mixes a brew that no one's ever seen! / Don't go into woods tonight, cause underneath the sticks and stones / Are lots of little demons enslaved by Annabella, waiting just to carry you home!"

Wander over to I Guess I'm Floating and check out the tunes.

[CTC Command]

Another Halloween under the ol' belt.