If you can’t take clowns…

Stay away from Netherworld.

Ghostbusters, Bobby McFerrin-Style.

…and there’s even a puppet. Enjoy.

The Five Crappiest Movie Monsters EVAR.

 

Had to share this.

You Want a Piece of Me, Punk?

Check this baby out.

I spent my last night that I shoulda been working Mega Mouth in the break area, recovering from getting clocked in the eye. Some moron yelled “cowabunga” or something, and DOVE into the puppet’s mouth,completely slamming the entire mechanism backward and into my face,knocking me down. I worked 20 more minutes until someone came to check on me, and by then, I was staggering.Got quite the shiner to show for it! I waited for a couple of days to take a photo, so it would be at its most gruesome, with plenty of colors.

If anyone is wondering, I did get back at the guy, a teenager, since he made the mistake of standing there afterward yukking it up with his friends. Although they couldn’t see me at all, they knew they’d done something “kewl” and were contemplating jumping on the puppet again. That’s when I managed to get up, grab the controls again, and totally smear the jackass against the opposite wall, taking a few of his friends with him.

Post Halloween Re-Cap!

I did get the “eyes”put  on the house, but this year’s is just a prototype. I know now what limitations, and potential, there are with them, so next year they will be bigger, better, and the house will have its teeth.

Oh, I almost forgot!

Happy Halloween, everyone! Tonight’s the night! Everyone be safe, and get lotsa candy!

I give up trying to get good Halloween pics of George Kitteh with a pumpkin.

Vintage Vitale Halloween!

Halloween of 1980, I decided I wanted to be a skunk. Nabbing the tried-and-true Simplicity pattern for a standard furry suit,my grandmother dutifully crafted this costume for me. Alas,I can’t seem to find the photo of the back–I had the white stripe and fuzzy tail and everything.

Then I became a teenager, and of course teenagers want nothing more to get a rise out of adults. I accomplished this by snatching an old army jacket of my dad’s and tons of mascara, and voila! I was a zombie-thingy:

Ooh, my mother hated it.:)

Slutty Girls in Slutty Halloween Costumes: A Tribute

This is awesome. I’m SO sick of the slutted-up versions of all my favorite costumes.

Bustin’ Makes us Feel Good!

Steve and I went to Discover Mills Mall last night to hang out with people taking their kids to Trick-or-Treat. Lots of people “ooh’ed” and “wow’ed”, some went completely ballistic, and a startling number of people thought our costumes and equipment were “real”. It’s truly amazing what people will believe if you put on a good enough act!

Lots of folks took our photo, but when we passed the Medieval Times area of the mall, we zeroed in on the CHANDELIER. And the rest is Photoshop,done by Steve.:)

Visiting the Netherspawn…

Last night Steve and I went to Netherworld to get a few things from the gift shop, and also to let me see what the place was like on the outside when the show is in full swing(since I’m in my puppet booth all night, I never see what it looks like out front). My GOD, what a madhouse. It’s almost a complete separate show in itself. The huge full-body puppets, The Reaper and The Wraith, were out, as well as Lizard Man, The Boozy Clown,The Collector(The top-hatted character on the billboard), The Doll, and numerous vampires, sliders, and other assorted haints and frighteners. I forgot what their specific costume is called, but the best scaring going on was from the actors in ghillie suits, who simply looked like bushes. Once a guest got close enough, BAM! The actors would  jump out and clang their tin-can noisemakers together and the guests would jump out of their skin.

The line was immense; hundreds upon hundreds of people deep, no joke. The line snaked around the building, and the police were on hand to direct traffic and keep the crowd orderly, and they truly do an amazing job of keeping all that potential chaos under control.

My buddy Derek was in The Reaper costume and came running to me (well, as fast as he could run) and CeCe(I hope I spelled that right) was his handler.

I also officially met Billy Messina, the other co-owner, who was out in the crowd and noticed my Netherworld sweatshirt I had proudly pruchased the other day. I had only seen him once or twice before, as Ben Armstrong has usually been the most visible figure of the two owners on the nights I’ve worked. Billy was extremely gracious and thanked me for doing a good job. Apparently word has gotten around.:)

I’m glad my body is finally going to have a chance to repair itself after such a strenuous work experience, but I’m really gonna miss these people till next year.:)