The hour is nigh… but you still have a few more days…

ALL Gothtober Applications are due September FIRST, 2010!

Fill out your Application HERE!

Artists will be notified of admission by September 6th at the latest. Upon acceptance, a $25 registration fee is required.

(for more of an explanation, see the Gothtober FAQ)

Your application doesn’t have to make sense, but it does have to be in on time! Recipes, crafts, how-to primers, slideshows, drawings, sculptures, videos, music, stories, informational pamphlets, movies, skits, puppets, pets, monsters, bicycles, toys, costumes, photography, performance art, MORE!

Remember: ALL Gothtober Applications are due September FIRST, 2010! Fill out your Application HERE!

Artists will be notified of admission by September 6th at the latest. Upon acceptance, a $25 registration fee is required.

(for more of an explanation, see the Gothtober FAQ)

Gothtober 2010 Theme: HAUNTED BOOM BOX

You mean you’ve never heard about The Tale of the Haunted Boom Box?!? Here goes:

In the the time of Pac-Man and the Cabbage Patch Doll, a boisterous fellow decked in gold chains and a massive boombox would saunter his neighborhood breakin’ to the beat. You could always hear him before you saw him, his music was so fresh and loud, it would bounce off the bricks and float through the sky, making people dance when they’d least expect it.

One day, there was a terrible accident. The legend tells that one rainy sinister night, the break dancer’s Boom Box started playing Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up over and over again. Puzzled, and irritated, he checked all the frequencies, and made sure the radio was off and PHONO was on, but the Boom Box seemed to have a mind of its own. After 15 minutes of trouble-shooting to no avail, the frustrated break dancer pressed fast-forward on the tape deck. It was then that the mighty boom box’s wicked cassette spindles caught and held the shiny bling around his neck.The high whine of smoking torque tightened the necklaces around his windpipes, and then jerked them tighter still, eventually wrenching his head off, leaving a gruesome gory gash. No one ever found a body, or a boom box, just a few broken links from a 14 karat gold chain and eight D batteries covered in acid dripping into the sewer drain.

Yet, dare I say, the spooky headless breakdancer and his haunted boombox lives. On a full moon, you may catch a glimpse of his transparent form weaving through the buildings of the city. The apparition’s name is UC No HED, and he can do the wave, the caterpillar, poppin’ and lockin’ but don’t ask him to do a head spin, it sends him into a frenzy of rage which will transform even the bravest foolhardy soul  into a piteously weak and feeble coward.

If you see a BoomBox that is not quite right… DON’T TOUCH IT!!! Especially if its playing Rick Astley.

More details on how to protect yourself from a Haunted Boom Box in the next post.

-JP Candycorn

Gothtober Applications are DUE September 1st, 2010

Fill out your Application HERE!

Artists will be notified of admission by September 6th at the latest. Upon acceptance, a $25 registration fee is required.

This year’s theme: HAUNTED BOOM BOX

(for more of an explanation, see the Gothtober FAQ)

Are you looking for something to DO?!? Well, let us help! Don’t sit there and be all namby-pamby and say silly stuff like “I’m not an artist, I dunno how to come up with ideas” etc. SNORE. And don’t say stuff like “Oh, I’ve done everything there is to do, I’m bored by the inside of my own skull, I’m just too jaded to do this…” ALSO very boring. YOU are not boring, YOU have weirdness in you, I can see it. You are beyond those old chestnut excuses, you are AMAZING! Here is your autumnal creative outlet! Gothtober is seeking the bored, the jaded, the pent-up unrealized freaky-crazy peculiar nuances of your very SOUL. I could try to sound more casual about it, but why?

Halloween is not a casual holiday, it freaks out the religious right, it’s misunderstood, it’s minimized yet also demonized, it encourages erratic behavior and rebelliousness, half the people think it’s kid stuff, while the other half of the population things its for naughty nurses and drag queens.

It’s a troublemaking holiday.

Gothtober celebrates this troublemaking holiday with panache and fun, without the hindrance of grace or sophistication.

Come on, fill out an application, it doesn’t have to be wordy or verbose, and it doesn’t have to make much sense either.

JP Head Candycorn

Gothtober.com

Well it’s about that time now, isn’t it?

We are gearing up for our NINTH Gothtober, is that crazy or what? Over the years, it’s only gotten crazier, stranger and more fun, and this year will be no exception! We’ll be delving into “musical thrills” for this year’s theme, the official news on that isn’t far behind this very post. For now, consider this an official acknowledgement that yes, Halloween is on the horizon, we are again bringing you 31 days of highly varied versions of the fantastic, the exuberant, the macabre, the usual assortment of interesting and creepy goodies you’ve come to expect.

And yes, if you want to make something for Gothtober this year, put on your headless thinking cap. More info on the way, stay tuned!

JP Head Candycorn

Today’s foray into the unknown might change your life.

You will see things that only you will understand, and only you will be able to decipher.

I’m not going to promise a transformative experience, but I do want to encourage you to tap into your animal nature and feel Gothtober Day 27. I can’t tell you what you’ll find, perhaps the answers to a few of the unsolved corners of your mind? Take a look, peer into the depths, gaze into the universal meow.

Today’s piece was created by Canadian artist and filmmaker, Amy Lockhart!

What a weekend!

Gothtober DAY 25 Creepy N. Shady, Esq. offers very important facts and figures to members of the population that possess otherworldly traits! Know your rights, fight the good fight, supernaturals unite!

And DAY 26 by Bill Wolkoff offers a challenging Gothtober Times Crossword Puzzle, you can download it, print it out, and take it with you wherever you go! Don’t know where to do your crossword puzzle? Bill has enclosed a handy tour showing you some good spots for working out the solutions. Also… there’s something special about the “blood drive” page, rumor has it, if you click around, there’s a secret button you can press. What will you find? There’s only one way to find out…

The Three Rotten Cat Heads made today’s excellent adventure for Gothtober DAY 24! They are:

Dave Pitters of HungryEyeball

Tripper Dungan of NumberStar

Martin Ontiveros of MartinHead

Apparently, these three Gothtober artists had to film this piece in TWO parks, because they almost got in trouble with the law at the first park for being generally weird! We’re so proud of you, Rotten Cat Heads! Don’t EVER stop being rotten! The Three Rotten Cat Heads are all in Portland, OR. Send them notes on their blogs with lots of meows in them, they will understand.

It’s been an EVERY DAY TRICK-OR-TREAT on the Gothtober Calendar!

DAY 16 is a spooky sound download from Dark Adams, download it, and then play it through your subwoofers and scare people half to death with it’s creepy audio craziness!

DAY 17 Oonstein gives you a recipe you can download for GIANT Pumpkin Muffin-Top Cookies — YUM!!!

DAY 18 takes us into a contemplative and informative vignette about fear, it involves driving, beware…

DAY 19 features our YOUNGEST independent Gothtober artist, amazing renderings of monsters making out! Really!

DAY 20 is a little ditty by none other than world-famous animator, Christine Panushka! If you’d like to see something really cool on October 26th at 8:30pm at the RedCat in Los Angeles, check out Mosca and the Meaning of Life by Christine Panushka and Alberto Araiza. See this groundbreaking multimedia piece in which animated characters leap off the screen and join up with live performance!

DAY 21 is a heartrending story of rejection and longing, told through the eyes of a lonely amphibian. Over 25 individual charcoal drawings for this piece were lovingly crafted by Stephanie Abler, who in addition to her own blog and portfolio website, has products for purchase at her store, Elsie Tervo.

DAY 22 might make you feel a little queasy, but we’re hoping it also makes you feel a little Crafty! Christy Chambers has created a fantastic project for YOU! It’s a diagram on how to crochet your very own disembodied head! Eeeeeeee!!!!

Which brings us to TODAY, DAY 23! Jenny Walsh has been DAY 23 for the last 6 years on Gothtober, and as usual, she has brewed something up the likes of which you’ll thrill to look at, as you eat a jar of pickles, boil some centipedes and wait for the phone to ring…

YES! Yes it will! Especially if you consult Furious Georgette, who will ruin it one of FOUR ways! Visit DAY 13 on the Gothtober Countdown Calendar, and take this harrowing “Choose Your Own Adventure” excursion that is sure to leave you filled with a very special cartoon sense of dread!

Contrary to how close you might want to get after viewing her piece, you should consider investigating Furious Georgette’s fabulous funny farces further at NerdeGade.com

Happy Lucky DAY 13 Everybody!

No doubt you had lots to do this weekend, lots of chores, hanging out with friends, reading things, cleaning things, calling relatives, I mean you know, whatever you’ve got going on during the weekend, you were doing it, right? Who has time for the COMPUTER on the weekend?!? Ah, and now it’s Monday, and maybe you’re grumpy because some people get the day off, but you don’t… and it’s a fine time for a little diversion. That’s what Gothtober IS FOR! Hooray! Let’s play catch-up on the days you might have missed, and then you can brag about how awesomely cultured you are and create envy and intrigue in the workplace.

Lush Newton (famous artist in beautiful Humboldt, CA.) made for us some beautiful Haunted Paper Hot Rods, you just download them, print them, color and cut and you’re ready to race! We’re going to make a bunch of these babies at CraftNight on the 14th this week, we’ll post pictures of what is made, Haunted Auto Derby here we come!

Woodrow & Jimmy (DAY 11) Take us down memory lane and revisit a classic film, zombie style! If arm-munching makes you a little queazy, make sure you view this one before lunch.

Monday starts us off with Hel’s (DAY 12) touching and endearing story of two crocheted birds having a lovely evening out on the town. There’s no arm-eating in this one, as far as I can remember, it’s actually kind of sweet.