There are many milestones that usher in the Halloween season, and depending on your interests, some will be decidedly more exciting than others. The changing colors of the leaves and new flavors of candy corn are nice, but one sure sign that October 31st is nigh is the X-Entertainment Halloween Countdown. Its kickoff means a near daily dose of the unadulterated celebration of our beloved holiday. Every weekday Matt, the Man Behind the Curtain at X-E, writes about “new-for-2007 Halloween stuff and tons of ghoulish goodies from yesteryear.” Some highlights from last year include a review of the new Jones Soda Halloween flavors, The 3D effects of Friday the 13th: Part 3, the tale of his best Halloween costume ever, and a 3 part series on the best new candy of the season. Matt is a huge Halloween fan (obviously) and to set aside enough time to write those hilarious articles is a kind of dedication that few of us know first-hand. Oh, and did I mention that he’s been doing these countdowns for FIVE years now? If there was a Halloween Badass Award, he would certainly deserve one. Needless to say, if you weren’t sufficiently motivated to click away by now, go have fun in the 4 years of Halloween archives on X-E.
Haunters are an ingenious bunch. They’re always thinking of ways to make their props and decorations more realistic, elaborate, and impressive. While their efforts are no doubt scaring the pants off their victims, sometimes simpler is better. How often to do you hear that “gore isn’t scary” and that mood or “hinting at the monster” is what really gave someone the chills?
I stumbled upon this Hand in a Box prop, and could immediately imagine the shock of those who unwittingly pushed the red button. “…the observers are supposed to push the ON button. After a while the lid of the trunk opens, a hand comes out and turns off the machine. The trunk closes – that’s it!”. Normally I try to present project ideas that come with at least a few instructions, but this simplistic prop seemed very worthy of mention anyway. Imagine this chest sitting on a pedestal at your front door. Before knocking to get their candy, Trick-or-Treaters would invariably push the button and scream as the hand shot out and slammed the lid. I am probably far too motivated by the screams of kids, but that thought is inspiring me to try my first pneumatic prop.
For all you other animated prop newbies, here are a few online resources to get you started. If you make a prop like this (or have already made one), please let us know!
It happened quietly, but 365 Halloween celebrated its first birthday this month. As with any labor of love, it’s almost hard to imagine a time when this site hasn’t been a part of our lives. When we’re not actively blogging or posting tutorials then we’re planning new website features, collaborating with other Halloweenies, tweaking code, or designing a new layout. All year long. It may sometimes look a little sleepy around here, but we’re always planning new and awesome things for our fellow Halloween lovers!
If you haven’t visited 365 Halloween in a while then you’ll notice our brand new look. Dig around a little more and you’ll see new features like;
- Listing of the most popular posts (automatically updated)
- RSS feeds for each blog category
- Free Halloween Countdown widgets for your website
- Improved navigation and layout for easier browsing
- RSS feeds for individual tags
Next week we will also debut;
- new RSS feed and blog category that includes just Halloween-related sales and coupons
RSS feeds for individual tags Now working!
From now until Halloween we will be rolling out lots of other goodies, and updates will be daily again. In short, 365 Halloween is going to kick a lot of a$$ and we hope you’ll come by, contribute, and be a part of it. If you’ve got a website, MySpace, HauntSpace, etc. please help spread some Halloween luv and post a banner.
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There are still a few bugs lingering throughout the site, so please bear with us while we sort through them. If you see anything wonky, drop us a comment and let us know. We spent, no joke, the last 2 solid weeks at our laptops from sunup until sundown working on everything, so we’re taking a few days to kind of slow down.
Also, if you e-mailed us at any point in 2007 but didn’t receive a reply, please e-mail us again! It’s quite possible that we didn’t receive your letter.
The Halloween 2007 season is finally upon us, so get out there and have some fun with it!
