Anger Is My Middle Name...

Not much going on around the Cemetery lately, although I did stumble upon something that MUST be shared...

The First MnT of 2012 And Other Madness...

Well, a week later and I'm finally able to document the incredible time Scrapes and I had at the Northern Ohio Haunters' first Make & Take of 2012...

As a quick recap, the Make & Take was held at Forsaken Haunted House, which was by far the most perfect venue to hold a gathering of home haunt loonies like us. A HUGE thank you to Brian and Diana for allowing us to come in and use their space and especially for giving us a full tour of the haunt. Scrapes and I will definitely be making the trip back up in October to get the full effect (and for anyone else thinking about going - hold on in the Decontamination Room!).

A talking skull routine welcomed you to the haunt, complete with a hidden hose that pumped out a buttered popcorn scent. Yum!

After the guided tour, we got down to the business at hand. For this Make & Take, we were carving foam tombstones (which was nice because all of the tombstone epitaphs in our Cemetery haunt thus far were painted). Eric and Tracee gave a detailed how-to and we were off to carve...

Scrapes gets busy with the x-acto blade in between bites of his Sloppy Joe...

Eric brought an amazing sample from his tombstone collection...

Stacey got to try out a hot wire foam cutter (but her daughter took off when she saw me bust out the camera)...

And Randy showed off his incredibly detailed tombstone. Wow...

The time flew by and we soon headed home. Scrapes and I talked about the direction we wanted to go with our (his) new tombstone and decided to go a little bit more subtle. Instead of adding "Jason" to the Voorhees name, we decided instead to add the roman numeral for "13." (Get it? Friday the THIRTEENTH??) Scrapes was so pumped, he went home and continued to carve that night, firing off a new photo the next morning. I'd say he's got it!!

I can't wait to get some paint on this thing. The subtle reference is spot on and I think we've decided that the only other thing that we are going to do is to hang a hockey mask off of the corner. This thing is going to look incredible sitting amongst the other tombstones in our Cemetery this year. We'll definitely post more photos as we continue to progress on it...

In other news, our GoE friend Stacey sent us a link, saying she thought of us when she saw it. I wonder why??

HGTV - Calling All Extreme Halloween Fans!

Is Halloween the most important holiday of the year for you? Do you spend a days, weeks, even months turning your house into the scariest place on the block? Then you could be a part of an HGTV Halloween special!

We're searching the country for home decorators, designers and pumpkin carvers who go all-out and over-the-top getting their house, yard, pumpkin patch or corn maze ready for the scariest day of the year.

Does this sound like you or someone you know? If so we'd love to hear from you! Please send us an email to halloween@stvcasting.com. Be sure to include the following:

• Your name, address and contact information (please include email address and cell phone number)
• A brief description about yourself and why you love decorating for Halloween
• Pictures and/or video of you and your Halloween decorations and creations

 

Thanks, Stacey, but I know a whole slew of fellow haunters that can be included on this!! Hmm... An entire segment focusing on the Northern Ohio Haunters??? Let's make it happen!!

And finally, anyone who frequents our blog knows what a big fan I am of the Swedish band, Ghost. In October, I was pumped to see them play in Columbus, only to have them cancel the entire tour because of visa trouble. Currently, they are on their rescheduled tour, but aren't playing any city remotely close to me (Chicago being the closest, a mere 6 hour drive away...). So imagine my joy when they announced another tour starting in April. And this time, I'm making the drive to see them in Pittsburgh on April 15th. For anyone else who might be at the show, (they are opening for Opeth and Mastadon), I'll be the dork up front with the camera and the perma-grin at the start of the show...

For anyone who hasn't heard of them yet, simply feast your eyes on this...

So there you have it for this installment. We'll be back soon with more updates as we complete more projects for Halloween, 2012. Only 262 more days, which means, as always, we need to get moving!!!

We Got Tagged...

A big thanks goes out to Cemetery friend Lisa, from the Maple Grove Cemetery blog, as we have officially been "tagged." At least this will give us an opportunity to get back to posting something. Anything.

So here we go. We had done a similar list a while back and I had posted some info about myself, which you can still read here, so for this one, I'm going to let Scrapes step up and take the lead. So sit back, relax, and enjoy some little-known facts about Scrapes, the other half of Highbury Cemetery.

Take it away, little brother...


The Rules

1. Post these rules.
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post.
4. Create 3 new questions for the people you tag.
5. Go to their blog and tell them they've been tagged.
6. No cheating & saying "if you're reading this you're tagged". You have to legitimately tag 3 other people.

Random Things:

1. Take my birth date (3/20/78) and jumble the numbers to get 7/23/80, the birth date of my wife.  Soul mates. 
2. Back when the VCR first became commonplace in American homes, my 3 most viewed tapes (and those which I still know word-for-word, I promise) are The Goonies, Police Academy 4, and the Making of Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
3. Since childhood, hearing the M.A.S.H. TV show theme song makes me depressed.  Probably the producer’s intention. 
4. My parents’ favorite movie of all time is M.A.S.H. 
5. My favorite singer/band/artist right now is Regina Spektor. 
6. My most desired travel destination right now is Stockholm.
7. You know how you hold up three fingers in the air, like pointer, middle and ring?  I can’t do that.  My pointer and ring fingers must be missing something- they only go halfway.  
8. I often have a burning desire to tell strangers what celebrity they look like, but I rarely follow through.  For example, “Dude, you look just like that fat kid from Superbad.”  Probably for the best. 
9. So far I have spent 45 minutes on this list.  Probably too long. 
10. When I retire I’m starting a shopping cart patrol in front of my local grocery store.  If you leave the cart just “somewhere,” I’ll bark at you through a megaphone then tip the cart upside-down behind your car so you cannot leave. Some have to be taught a lesson. 
11. I dislike when people use the term “less than” when they really mean “fewer than.” 
12. In 1992 I buried a time capsule in my backyard.  It was full of sports memorabilia like baseball and football cards, and a Sports Illustrated with Jose Canseco on the cover. Unfortunately, the “capsule” was a cardboard box, and I unearthed it a month later to find a soggy pile of cardboard mess.
13. In the early years of eBay, I sold a steering wheel from a 1950 Mercury, starting at .99, for $821.00.  I shat. 
14. My long-lasting nightmare since childhood involves Fisto from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe being chased by boulder down the side of a desert mountain.

 
 

 

And now for the questions put forth by Lisa:

What did you really want to be when you grew up?

A landscaper. When I was young my folks had some landscaper form some mulch beds and plant trees and shrubs around our house.  I thought I could do it better.  I also had thoughts of becoming an actor or soccer star.   

What are you most afraid of?

I’m afraid I can’t tell you. 

What is the most exotic place you've visited?

I’ll interpret exotic as being a place visited by few people.  “The Ridges” is fitting because it’s also haunted and creepy. “The Ridges” refers to the abandoned tuberculosis hospital and mental asylum near the campus of Ohio University in Athens, OH.  Entry required sneaking in through a hole in a chain link fence.  Once inside you realize it’s the perfect backdrop for a horror flick.  My words cannot do it justice: go to one of my favorite sites for proper background and photos.

And finally, 3 questions for the next victim:

1. What was the last movie that made you cry?
2. What song do you want played at your funeral/memorial service?
3. Better decade: 80’s or 90’s? Explain.

 
 
So there you have it. Everything you ever wanted to know about Scrapes. And yes, don't you worry. I will most assuredly procure a photo of Scrapes' hand and it's inability to put three fingers in the air. What a weirdo!!

And yes, I think he also needs to expand on the Fisto nightmare...

And finally, the part of the game where we "tag" three other bloggers. The lucky three are as follows:

1. Ked from Something WicKED This Way Comes...

2. Dixie and Jaybo over at Nichols Manor 

3. The Frog Queen over at Frog On The Pumpkin

I find the three people (okay, technically four) above to be outstanding examples of all that is truly great about the Halloween season. Passion and dedication, but most of all fun. Take a minute and visit each of them and tell 'em Highbury and Scrapes sent you!!

We'll be back on Sunday with a wrap-up of the first Northern Ohio Home Haunters' Make & Take of 2012. I'm really excited to get back into the swing of things, see some fellow haunters, and build the first new tombstone of 2012 for the Cemetery.


And don't forget! Only 10 more days until new episodes of the Walking Dead on AMC!


(Editor's note: I was going to post a funny mashup trailer of the Walking Dead recut to the intro song of Growing Pains, but it has already been taken down. Nuts...)