The Raven

I think this is going to be interesting.  It's a fictional account of the last days of Poe's life, where he is protrayed as a "hero" type.  From what I gather, the movie is about his persuit of a muderer who's slayings represent his literary works. 

I'm really intrigued by the concept.  I hope that Hollywood does Poe justice :)

The Raven Trailer

IMDB lists the release date as April 27th.

Sent

My submission for the Home Haunters Video Awards has FINALLY left my hands. 

For whatever reason, my computer would not let me submit it digitally. So today, I figured that I'd just send my DVD next day FedEx. Well, the rates were scarier than my props... $100.00 for next day delivery... get out of town! The cheapest offering was $12.00 for 4 business days, not guaranteed.

So, I wandered on over to the post office.  $19.00 and my video will reach it's destination tomorrow by noon :)  Thank you USPS :)

Halloween 2011 Video

I'm so excited about this!  Going out in the mail Monday for the Home Haunter's Video contest.

I hope you all enjoy viewing it here :)

Great Minds Think Alike...

It's really interesting to me, how artists of any type seem to follow certain trends at certain times.  There's usually some event that puts these trends into motion, that influences artists to create what they are creating. What I find even more fascinating, is when artists create things that are very similar, at the same time, yet there is no obvious reason for it.  I found myself in this very situation this week and it was a pleasant surprise.

I've been sketching this idea for a new character that I had in my head for a couple of months now.  I haven't completely gotten the look of this character the way that I want it, in order to invoke the feeling that I want the viewers of this character to get when they see it, so I have just been sketching away.

The character is going to be a raven/man type of creature. I don't know what his part in the cemetery will be yet, but I do know that I want to tie him in with my Poe tombstone some how.  The initial idea came from a very brief clip in the movie Black Swan, where Natalie Portman's character is hallucinating during a performance of the ballet and sees this very creep swan man on the stage.

Then this week, as I was reading posts on the blogs that I follow,  I stumbled upon ShellHawk's blog entry "Raven".  I was speechless when I saw her beautiful, nearly complete project, which is so very similar but so different to the one that I've been dreaming up :)  I love that she sculpted one arm as a human arm and the other as a wing.  Beautiful, beautiful work!

Now, I don't usually post my sketches, simply because my sculpting comes out a lot better and more detailed than my scratchy paper ideas.  But, this was too much of a coincidence not to share. So don't laugh ;)

Here's to great minds thinking alike :)

Happy 203rd Birthday Mr. Poe

Wish I was in Baltimore right now for the graveside celebration.  Sounds like it's going to be really cool :)  If anyone is lucky enough to actually go, take plenty of pictures and I want DETAILS! ;)
Poe's 203rd Birthday Celebration

I'm at least hoping that I will be able to find out what the special announcement is that Jeff Jerome, Poe House curator, is going to make about the infomaous Poe Toaster. 
Past Entry on Poe Toaster


Sadly, it seems that the Poe Toaster Tradition has ended.  This is the 3rd year in a row that the toaster has not paid tribute to Poe:
Poe Fans Call An End to 'Toaster' Tradition

One of these days, I will make it out there to pay my respects.  Until then, I'll keep toasting him on his death day every October.  =) 

Haunters Video Awards Deadline Approches

Good morning everyone!  If you've been looking for your first haunty project of 2012, participating in the Haunters Video Awards contest is a good start!

The deadline is January 31st, so if you plan on entering, you had better get to work!

I purchased the video collection last year, and it was such a treat =)  I've blogged about it before, so I won't go into detail again, but if you want to brush up on what it is, you can read my previous post here: About Haunters Video Awards

Happy Haunty Video making!

Haunted Mansion Goodies

I got some very cool things for Christmas, but these are by far the coolest...

I cannot believe that my husband actually got these for me ;)  They can only be purchased from Art of Disney Stores ON Disney property (unless you go on eBay and buy them for 3x's what they are sold for by Disney).  When we visited in October, I saw them and just about lost my mind.  Being the huge Haunted Mansion fan that I am, I NEEDED them.  But, my hubby went on and on about not having enough wall space to hang all four portraits and therefore wouldn't agree to purchasing them.  Unannounced to me,  when my parents went to Disney in November, he called them and got them to purchase them for him (he paid them back, don't worry ;) ) to give to me for Christmas.

Wonderfully sneaky husband ;)  I cannot wait to have them framed and hung :) 

Ringing in the New Year

Abita is very excited about ringing in the New Year and the potentional of Halloween 2012

Here's to another year of bringing Halloween goodness to our neighborhoods :)

Halloween 2012 Wish List

Is it really this time of year again? Gosh each year seems to be going by faster and faster.
Time for my annual Halloween wish list. I'm really getting excited to head into the leaisurely building/creating/plotting season I can smell the paper mache all ready. 

 On to the list!

1. New Crypt - we had quite a struggle with the old one this past year, as boards for the walls and roof were horribly warped. Thank goodness we were able to mask it with vines/moss. To make sure we get a new crypt, we threw out all of the bad pieces when we tore everything down this season.

2. New Character - With Jack finally completed, I have the itch to create another character. I have one in mind. Not really sure how he fits into my graveyard yet, but images of him keep haunting my thoughts, so he has to come to life. Also, I didn't get to complete a character that I had begun last year, due to time restraints. I want to make her come to life as well.

3. Peppers Ghost - My hubby and I almost had this one licked this year, but once things got rolling, it also didn't make it to the haunt. We have all of the materials, we tested it out and it will be amazing this year.

4. MORE MOVEMENT - There was more movement in our cemetery this year than ever and I really think that it added a lot. I want more movement, but I think that i want it in some different forms. This year we really utilized the "tombstone peeper" rig for all of our movement. Next year I want something more fluid, with different directions then our peeper creations to give diversity.

5. New Entry way - I had been looking at some gothic art and got some amazing ideas for a new entry way. The iron gate/arbor worked for a few years, but the 2nd Street Cemetery sign really needs to be updated and I figured we may as well change the entry along with the sign.  I feel like the rest of our haunt has really "matured" to the point that the sign just doesn't fit in any more. So, since that needs to be updated, we figured that we'd go for a more authentic looking entry way.

6. More Attention to Lighting - Lighting this past year was a flop. We normally use large tiki tourches for some natural fire light, amid the blue spot lights and it works out beautifully. This year, we didn't think about the tiki tourches till the last minute and sadly, they had all rusted and couldn't be used. We hadn't realized how important they were till we saw all of the blurry/dark pictures that not having the extra light produced. So, we are toying with the idea of either new tikis or some amber spots added to the blue ones.

7. Monster mud - I really want to give this a shot this year and I think that with the new crypt and new entry way projects, this will be a good year to utilize monster mud. I know it's going to be messy and I'm sure it will take some getting used to, but the results that I have seen in other people's haunts, are worth the mess.

I'm sure that there will be other projects, but for now, I think that this could potentially keep us busy for two or three years, depending how well (or not) we manage our time.

Happy New Haunting year to everyone! Now get to work!!! =)