Halloween Post-Mortem

Posted by frykitty on November 1, 2025
Posted in: Halloween. Leave a Comment

We had 53 trick-or-treaters this year, down from about 85 last year. I hear there is a new neighborhood behind Target that was fire, so I’m guessing that’s what sucked away our kids. Gonna drive down there later. I just want to talk.

I was going to do a retrospective on past Halloween displays, but I was missing some stuff. Then I found it on Flickr, of all places, so I’m waiting to get a link to download my archive. Short version: a couple days.

Here was last night’s setup, showing off the blowmolds.

Daytime
View from the driveway, with 12-foot cat
Nighttime

Blingkin

Posted by frykitty on October 30, 2025
Posted in: A Month of Spookdays. Leave a Comment

I feel obligated to share this every few years. It became semi-viral in 2011, and suddenly there was even a kit for putting rhinestones on a pumpkin.

Blingkin is long gone, as it got pretty ratty over the years. I think if I did it again, I’d have to do a whole bunch of them and light them well for a display. That would be pretty cool.

A black pumpkin with a silver stem, covered in large, cascading rhinestones.
Blingkin forever!

Not Sorry

Posted by frykitty on October 26, 2025
Posted in: A Month of Spookdays, Moving Pictures. Leave a Comment

About nine years ago, I posted the story of Madame Violet of the Edinburgh Vampire Hive. It had legs. I had to write a newspaper or two explaining that it wasn’t real. It got a Reddit thread, and made it to Snopes, though more as an adjunct to stories about the original image.

I made a video narrating the story. I took it down for a while, because I’m always re-purposing my YouTube channels, but I’ve put it back up again.

Boy, after listening, I really need to redo the audio on this.

Aiden Taylor

Posted by frykitty on October 24, 2025
Posted in: A Month of Spookdays, Art, Halloween. Leave a Comment

Aiden Taylor loves Halloween. He specifically loves vintage Halloween. And he has the chops to realize his vision. Right now, he’s working on a Halloween costume ball, but I want to show you something from last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjb5OKxAOsk

I absolutely love his vintage-inspired moon head costume. Also, Aiden himself is a lot of fun. You can follow him on YouTube and Instagram.

Elric of Melniboné

Posted by frykitty on October 23, 2025
Posted in: A Month of Spookdays, Art, Moving Pictures. Leave a Comment
Stormbringer, Michael Whelan

Elric of Melniboné is where fantasy meets horror. It was the prototype for so much dark fantasy, and heavily inspired works like The Witcher and Game of Thrones. But Michael Moorcock’s Elric was first.

He was an emperor of an evil land, but he had something of a conscience. Problem was, his sword, Stormbringer, had none. Elric was a wonderful brooding anti-hero, who thought deeply, cared passionately, and lost everything.

I read a ton of these books in the 70s, when I was definitely too young to be doing so. Eh, I turned out fine. Right? I also stopped reading in the 70s. I shouldn’t have. I just didn’t realize that Moorcock never stopped. Hasn’t stopped yet. There are a lot of Elric stories.

White Wolf, Michael Whelan

I only found out today, in fact, because of the video that inspired this post. Exits Examined, a favorite channel of mine, did a great essay on the history of Elric. If you are curious, I encourage you to check it out.