1.) Do not kick a rotting pumpkin, especially one that is bigger than your head.
2.) Use canned pumpkin for pumpkin pie. No one will know. It’s a zillion times less work, and as long as you really are using only canned pumpkin, as in JUST pumpkin in a can (no excess sugars or extraneous ingredients), it will do. Save home made roasted pumpkin for soups and fancy sides.
3.) When you’re picking out a pumpkin to carve, look for a thick and hearty stem, this is the sign of a healthy pumpkin. Also, pick the pumpkin up from the bottom, not from the stem, you brute!
4.) Canned pumpkin and canned pumpkin filling are not the same, so read carefully!
5.) “Pumpkin Preserver” sold at pumpkin patches and pop-up halloween costume stores is a waste of money! Don’t buy it! You can use household products, or even just put your pumpkin in the fridge overnight to preserve its good looks for as long as possible.
Applications for Gothtober are open until the 29th, won’t you join us?
We’re looking for films, slideshows, stories, ANYTHING that has to do with the number 13 or Halloween! We’ve had people share recipes, home made craft projects, cards, drawings, animations and more! Help us count down the days to the most gloriously ghoulie and gory day of the year. If you want to know more about gothtober, here’s our FAQ and if you want to see Gothtober in action, visit it now!
Meanwhile, here’s some Halloween Entertainment from 1977: Donnie and Marie singing “Spooky” just for you. As if Donny’s shiny butterfly collar and creamsicle orange suit isn’t a show in itself, Marie arrives on frame wearing crinkly fall color lady sport coat with a bow the size of a tractor tire! The show’s guest stars: Ben Vereeen, Billy Crystal, Shirley Hemphill, and Christy McNicol make the night so deluxe it’s totally off the ranch! Then you get to minute 2:00 which is variety show fabulousness at it’s Esther Williams best, all swirling in the midst of a clever lattice of gnarled trees and funky glitter pumpkins. It’s everything you need, really.
Look no further for your Nero and Haiku-themed word games, as well as a bonus coloring page featuring a photo bombing crocodile!
Gothtober’s DAY 9 (The book on the shelf titled Wuthering Frights) will help you download these hand-illustrated goodies by artist and illustrator, Stephanie Abler.
The name MAD LIBS is legally registered, and for lack of a better word, that’s what we’ll use here, but people have been playing this word game for eons, you don’t have to buy them at the store, you can make your own! Stephanie took matters into her own hands and made some for us. Here’s what she had to say about it:
I remember at least a couple of family gatherings from my childhood when my mom wrote mad libs for us, and we did them and just laughed hysterically. The absurd ideas that mad libs produce really delight me.
It’s hard to come up with something that weird on purpose because we naturally make connections that make sense. It takes a situation with an unknown context, like a mad lib, to come up with an idea that’s truly random.
I also love mad libs because they show how imaginative people are; when we listen to a mad lib, our minds will make meaning out of totally unreal statements.
Stephanie lives in Walnut Creek, California, where it is indeed getting cooler:
It’s been in the 80’s and 90’s in Walnut Creek. Hotter than I expected for this time of year. But since the leaves are changing and the angle of the sunlight is shifting, you can still tell it’s fall.
While shopping for giant inflatable 10 foot boa constrictors, we found this ad, and Gothtober’s High Priestess of Web, Cristin Pescosolido, pointed out that if the snake is 10 feet long and it wraps around the boy 4 times… the boy is 9.5 inches from shoulder to shoulder! As demonstrated by this handy formula:
Vincent Price was really into art, and really into food, and he published a book with his wife many years ago called A Treasury of Great Recipes that I would stare at from time to time during my childhood. It sat in a prominent spot on the cookbook shelf in the family kitchen, and it was perhaps the first time I understood that an actor could have interests outside of being on stage or on screen. Mr. House of Wax put together a fine list of recipes with his wife, and it is a collector’s item today, available on Amazon in mint condition for about three hundred bucks. Published in 1965, this book with it’s padded faux leather copper exterior and gilt lettering doesn’t have fast recipes, it’s got recipes you slave over slowly with love for food. It’s also peppered throughout with beautiful pen and ink illustrations and harkens back to those globetrotting Pan Am days of travel and romance that Mary and Vincent Price were enjoying with true appreciation and wonder.
A photo of Spaghetti alla Bolognese and a sketch from the book!
I called Bill Parr (Dad), and asked him to pick one of his favorites from the book that might be an easy recipe for Gothtober readers, and so here you go, from the vault of Gothtober Dad’s recipe bookshelf is Vincent and Mary Price’s recipe for Spaghetti alla Bolognese. Kind of a great thing is that while it seems that Mary and Vincent were at Tre Scalini a long time ago, the restaurant opened in 1815 and is open for business even today! Just try to read this recipe without hearing Vincent Price’s voice. Bon Appétit!
[column]INSTRUCTIONS SAUCE: In a heavy skillet heat 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add: 1 onion finely chopped and cook until soft.
Add: 3 rashers lean bacon, cut into small pieces, 1 carrot, chopped, and one stalk celery, chopped. Sauté over medium heat until lightly browned. Add 1/2 pound beef, coarsely ground, and stir until meat is coated with fat.
Add: 2 chicken livers, minced. Stir until meat browns evenly. Add 2 tablespoons tomato puree, 1/2 cup dry white wine, 1 cup beef stock, 1 bay leaf, and 1 strip lemon peel (thin yellow skin only).
Season with: salt, freshly ground pepper, and 1 clove garlic, crushed.
Cover and simmer for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf and lemon peel and allow to simmer uncovered until sauce thickens slightly. Just before serving stir in: 1/4 cup cream and reheat sauce. (Makes 1 pint.)[/column]
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Tre Scalini has a sidewalk café just off the Piazza Navona. You can sit at a table outside and enjoy the view of Bernini’s fountains over an ice cream, or go indoors and enjoy the view of their sumptuous buffet over a dish of pasta. Only people who loved their pasta could have invented so many charming shapes for it. But the great classic dish remains spaghetti with savory meat sauce.
Tre Scalini, where Mary and Vincent Price went on holiday, savoring the local cuisine
SPAGHETTI: In a large pot pour: 3 quarts of water. Rub a little olive oil or butter around the sides of pot above water line. This will prevent water from boiling over when you cook the spaghetti. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and bring to a rapid boil. When water has been boiling briskly, take: 1 pound spaghetti and feed by handfuls into the boiling water. Dip one end of the spaghetti sticks into the water, and as they get soft let them coil into the pot. Never break them. Stir with a wooden spoon occasionally.
If you are using packaged spaghetti, cook for about 12 minutes, or according to directions on package. It should be soft but firm when you bite it. (The Italians call this al dente, or “to the tooth.”) Homemade pasta will need less time to cook – only 5 to 7 minutes. Drain cooked spaghetti in a colander over a pan of boiling water and covering it with a towel wrung out in warm water. PRESENTATION:
Place spaghetti on a warm platter and dot with: 4 tablespoons butter. Sprinkle with: 4 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Serve with meat sauce on the side, or in the center of the platter with the spaghetti around it. Pass a bowl of freshly grated Parmesan cheese with the platter.
The deadline to apply for Gothtober rises above the horizon like a big yellow moon! I was trying to explain Gothtober to someone last night, and they were perplexed, so here’s a direct quote from our Gothtober FAQ, a tab found at the top of the Gothtober Blog:
The Gothtober Countdown Calendar™ is a curated time-release flash-based online museum of 31 works of art by 31 different artists. The official run of the show is from October 1st to the 31st, a new piece being revealed with each day of the month.The best way to see what it is though, is by visiting it!
Today’s pre-autumnal treat is some quality vintage radio. Listening to Boris Karloff, the man who has “raised more hairs than a mother rabbit” is a fine and proper way to start prepping for pumpkin season.
The year was 1947, this show was broadcast on the night of October 29th as part of the Phico Radio Hour. Bing Crosby was the first major star to begin using magnetic tape to record his shows, he gave his pal, Les Paul, an Ampex Model 200 Recorder, and Les Paul used it to invent multitrack recording!
Enjoy a trip back to Halloween yesteryear during radio’s golden age!
Part 1 has some casual banter where Bing talks about Halloween and then goes into one of my favorite songs “Feudin’ Fightin’ and-a-fussin'”
Part 2 at 7:23 gives you a great little song where Boris, Victor and Bing play ghosts who are scared to death… of kids on Halloween! And at minute 13 you can hear Boris get perfectly sinister.
It’s August, but that doesn’t mean it’s Autumn, why no, far from it. And you’re not really thinking about Halloween right now, I understand, it’s miles away. But the Application to apply for Gothtober is due August 29th so that you can have ALL of September to work on your Gothtober piece! This is why I’m introducing you to TacoPopcorn, it will give you the strength to BELIEVE that applying for Gothtober is something you could do, even if you don’t think you’re the type to do it.
Most people’s idea of “success” is not TacoPopcorn. But TacoPopcorn releases endorphins when you eat it, which means it could reintroduce you to who you are! You could be all like “I made this, I’m a person who can make things, and dang this TacoPopcorn is giving me courage, by golly!”
TACO POPCORN RECIPE
2 tb. vegetable oil
3/4 cup popcorn kernels
1/4 cup butter, coconut or olive oil
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 -2 tb. Taco Seasoning (make your own or Trader Joe’s or whatever)
pinch of Berbere Seasoning (the secret ingredient that adds complexity and a tiny bit of sweetness!)
dash of chili powder or Tabasco for heat
another dash of garlic powder because garlic
salt to taste
Pop your popcorn like you do, throw it in a big bowl, drizzle or spray with oil (I have an olive oil mist-thinger) then sprinkle your spice mixture in stages onto the popped kernels, mixing with each stage to make sure you’ve got even coverage. It’s ready to eat, and Olé you’re ready to apply for Gothtober!
Tired of trying to catch all of those Hitchcock cameos film after film?
Well, now you don’t have to, thanks to YouTube contributor, Morgan T. Rhys! Within this enjoyable compilation you will find Hitchcock breezing through the frame in broad daylight or even in dim night shadow. Other more obvious antics involve facing off with a subway small fry, hiding in a newspaper ad (my personal favorite) catching another drink, being part of a crowd or lugging around a big cello.
While his cameos would often present the big-n-tall director in a hapless or helpless position, his attention to detail and control of his work was legendary.
Hitchcock would almost always do his cameos early in each film, since they can be distracting, and he wanted viewers to be immersed in the story. The exception is in Rope where he’s got a total of three cameos, and they all have specific purpose and meaning, and of course, they all mess with the characters which messes with your head.
Hitchcock’s prankster style asks you to grapple with your own grip on reality while simultaneously guiding you through heights of anxiety that might seem cruel, but actually care about you in the end. His works portray a compassionate unifying sense of humanity that I find to be missing in many films today. Enjoy this careful compilation of cameo gems!
As you can see, Betty Boop is pretty budget conscious when it comes to throwing a good halloween party. What can we learn from this Fleischer Bros. cartoon? Here’s what she did to maximize the fun and minimize spending:
1.)Easy Home Made Invitation: Ms. Boop’s invitations were hand written and blown by the wind, which is pretty old school, it was 1933 after all. I don’t recommend that you send invites via blustery gale, but you can pass out some home made hand bills or use internet methods to spend no money and get the word out.
2.) Budget Decor: If you have a tiny cat that can pop out of the ceiling to egg beat the guts out of your pumpkins, so much the better. But if you don’t: do everything you can to make stuff out of stuff you already have, like milk jug ghost faces or cutting bats out of black construction paper.
3.) Supplying Cheap Snacks: The ONLY thing anyone’s eating in this cartoon is apples. I think you can do a little better than that, but you get my drift? Fruit is just a starting point, veggies and dip if you cut them yourself are a huge money saver, home made cakes taste better and cost wayyy less. If you purchase your libations in bulk you save lots of cash. You can also try making it a potluck, people love trying new recipes!
If you can get your hands on come cat paint or witch paint, that stuff’s worth its weight in gold, and it helps fight any party bullies that might show up, so get some ASAP, I hear it flies off the shelves!
There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it. Alfred Hitchcock
Nobody can quite get into your head like ol’ Hitch. I have always liked listening to him talk, and these videos of him explaining things that he knows are like having a mini film school in your pocket!
Here then, is Mr. Hitchcock explaining the difference between mystery and suspense, and what he considers “wasted footage.” And remember: Gothtober Applications are due August 29th!
