Rant Review: Spooky Mansion 500 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle (Galison, Art by Katherina Castano)

After completing one of the worst (from a QC standpoint) puzzles I've ever done, I wanted to do something quick and easy as a palette cleanser, and this cute little Halloween-themed puzzle I picked for $8 at TJ Maxx fit the bill. Apparently Galison releases a bunch of these cute, cheap Halloween and Autumn-themed puzzles every year, but as I almost never go to TJM, I had never seen any until this year. Wish I'd known sooner! I was thinking this was my first Galison, but after checking, it turns out that one of the puzzles I got at Ollie's last year was also one of theirs. Unlike that one, this puzzle has a standard grid cut. I don't have a strong preference either way, so that was fine with me, since it was at a similar level of quality. The pieces are thin and sturdy, with white paper backing. Dust was practically non-existent. The pieces have a pretty snug fit, and I had no false fits. Assembling this puzzle was easy and breezy, and exactly what I needed after dealing with a puzzle that seemed to hate me. I'll have to keep an eye out for Galison puzzles in the future, and I will most certainly make a point to swing by TJM more often to check their seasonal section! Hopefully some Xmas and winter-themed Galisons will show up there soon, or if I'm very lucky, a restock of some of the Halloween ones I missed. 

Halloween month kickoff!

To kick off October, I thought I'd share a couple of photos of some of the new Halloween decorations I've picked up in the last couple of months. (Just to clarify, I won't have time to do a Halloween-related post every day of the month like I used to, but you can absolutely expect plenty of Halloween and horror-related content, as ever.)

First up, courtesy of Dollar Tree, we have the Grotesque Garden Gazebo!

They're not as detailed or as well-painted as the Halloween miniature's you'll see at other places, but the price was right!

When I visited the Spirit Store a couple of days after they opened back up, I found this fella priced at $4.97! No idea why he was the only one marked down while the others were all still full price, but I didn't care. I snatched him up in a blur.

Pretty awesome, eh? Probably my favorite of all the fucked-up horror babies they had up there. (And if the Spirit Halloween store wants to use that line as an endorsement, they're welcome to do so!)

The new series of Lego minifigures has also been showing up the last couple of weeks, ahead of the official release date. I stopped by Walgreen's last week and happened to find the one I wanted most, the one they call Spooky Girl, who is totally not Wednesday Addams. She went right into the centerpiece Haunted House display, of course!

We'll close things out with  few pics of things I saw in stores that I was too cheap-- er, that is, too budget-conscious to buy.
Remember when I mentioned how you can find better Halloween miniatures than my Dollar Tree discoveries? Michael's always has plenty, and this was the most impressive.

This food truck was pretty awesome, too.

Note the prices, however. That lighthouse is pretty badass, but it's not $100 badass.
Back at the Spirit store, we have this apparently bewildered ghost lady who is cursed with man hands.

Then there is this pleasant scene. I think I can see why your toilet's clogged, lady.

That's it for today. Lately, I'm knee-deep in Forza Horizon 2 when I'm not ogling Halloween stuff and working on my next book, so give me a holler if you happen to see me on the open road!

Construction of the Haunted House

I teased you with this last time, and here it is: the MASSIVE and AMAZING Haunted House! At over 2000 pieces, this is far and away the biggest Lego set I've ever owned. Nearly all the ones I had when I was a kid were dinky little $5 sets; I couldn't even dream of getting something like this back then! Cindy wanted to help, so we put on a succession of classic horror movies and spent the next eight hours building!

Here are all the parts! I didn't count exactly how many bags of parts the box contained, but it was around twenty.

The three instruction books...

... and the decals.

First floor done!

Some interior rooms. Note the ship in the bottle.

Two floors down!

Completed! A couple of days later, I modified the top so that it can spin, based on a suggestion I saw somewhere on the web. I had actually been looking for ideas for a weathervane, but came across that and liked the idea.

One side of the attic. I friggin' love that it has a Victrola!

Yeah, it's a pretty nice house, but can it really be called a home with no coffins? (Note the mid-day snack in the jar next to the bed.)

Make sure you squeeze all the flavor out of that spice serpent! (The organ is an original creation I whipped up a few weeks earlier.)

The entry room and staircase.

A little office area, complete with desk and stationary!

"Here's a little number I tossed off recently in the Caribbean..."

Here's the hearse. As a potential future project, I want to build a garage for it in a matching style.

Brick-Ho-Tep swings by for a visit.

Gill Man and Scarecrow hanging out next to the tree, in which dwells...

... the Wolf Man! The tree is significantly modified from its normal version, and I'll mod it further as I acquire more branch and "leaf" pieces.

"I bid you welco-- RARRRGH! FIRE BAAAAAADD!!!!"

Cindy was sold as soon as she saw that it had this widow's walk! Love the zombie faces carved into the columns.

Full shot of the house, with Man-Bat stopping by to hang out.

Yeti in the ice cave I whipped up for him. If you look closely, you may be able to see the dismembered Lego body parts he's been snacking on in the cave behind him.

The spire, post-modding. It's pretty cool to spin it and watch the ghosts swirl around the witch.

The mad scientist hanging out by the porch, possibly drinking a urine sample.

Sweet liquor eases the Frankenstein Monster's pain.

Full shot, with all minifgs added.

These are the minifigs that actually came with the house(there were two ghosts). Cindy is holding them; my nails are not that fabulous.

Circa 1931

I can say without a shred of doubt that, of all the Lego sets I've lusted after over the years, this one is my favorite. I'm very glad that I got back into the Lego addiction in time to get it before it's discontinued and the price skyrockets. (Seriously, if you wanna invest some money with no risk, buy some of these. They'll be going for 2 or 3 times the retail price in a couple of years. Lego sets are never worth less than you pay for them, provided you get them at or below retail.)

The Haunted House occupies a place of honor in the house, and will be the centerpiece of my Halloween decorations in the years to come. I'd still like to get the castle that is part of the Monster Fighters line, but if and when I do, it won't displace the Haunted House. This thing is simply amazing.

31 Days of Halloween: Garfield's Halloween Adventure

One year ago: The Wolf Man

Let's face facts: Garfield pretty much sucks. That's a harsh reality for a child of the '80s to deal with. The comic strip has become a soulless exercise in mind-numbing routine, utterly devoid of any laughs, and on top of that, we've had to endure some truly horrific cinematic abortions.

But things weren't always this way. Back in the '80s, Garfield was king. The comic strip was still funny. We got to watch the animated Garfield & Friends every Saturday morning. And we got this Halloween special.

A cavalcade of gluttony, greed, laziness, and annoyingly catchy songs, Garfield's Halloween Adventure is a delightful throwback to the days when the networks actually paid attention to the holiday, instead of merely paying some half-assed lip service to Halloween as they do now. This animated special aired in prime time, and in those days before DVRs, the whole family gathered around the TV to watch it. (Or most of it, anyway; my dad always had the infuriating habit of channel-surfing during commercials, so we'd always miss a couple of minutes when we returned to the show.)

Garfield's hopeless owner Jon and his canine compatriot Odie are filled with the Halloween spirit, while Garfield is excited purely by the potential for some truly epic gluttony(which I guess is actually a big part of the Halloween spirit, actually). After some singing, Garfield and Odie go out on the prowl, where they meet a pint-sized Gargamel. I'm not kidding, check this out:

Various hijinks ensue-- sadly, none of them involved crashing Smurf village-- and the two housepets eventually find themselves on a mysterious island. Reluctantly entering the forbidding, run-down house, they encounter one seriously creepy old man who tells them the tale of pirates whose ghosts haunt the island.

Watching this special for the first time in years is rather an eye-opening experience. I'm always surprised these days to watch an old animated special like this; the pace is so slow, and the show spends so much time goofing around and singing songs that there's barely any time left for the main plot! Speaking of which, faded memories had convinced me that the creepy old man/ghosts on the island plot took up a good portion of the show's time, but they don't even get to the island until the show only has about five minutes left! I'm not pointing these out as if they were flaws, mind you; it's just surprising to revisit an old favorite like this and find how misleading your memories can be.

Garfield's Halloween Adventure cannot be be found on DVD currently, unless you want to go for the often-expensive out-of-"print" disc. That release includes the Thanksgiving and Xmas specials as well. Neither of those are as much fun as the Halloween special, but it's a good buy for any child of the '80s. Hopefully, they'll get off their asses and reissue it soon.

31 Days of Halloween: The Haunting (1963)

Today, we'll be looking at one of the most highly-regarded ghost stories ever committed to film, 1963's The Haunting.

Dr.Markway (Richard Johnson) rents New England estate Hill House to conduct paranormal studies on the premises. Hill House has quite a sinister background, and is supposed to be haunted in the extreme. Joining Markway are Luke Sanderson(Russ Tamblyn), who is in line to inherit the estate, Eleanor Lance(Julie Harris), and Theodora(Claire Bloom), both of whom have had some prior experience with the paranormal.

The extremely sheltered Eleanor quickly becomes the focus of the supernatural activity in the house, and she finds herself enjoying the attention despite her fear. After Dr. Markway's skeptical wife Grace (Lois Maxwell) arrives to persuade her husband to abandon his studies, the endgame begins.

The performances are excellent across the board. With the film relying so heavily on the interactions and conversations between these characters, as well as Elanor's inner monologue, it was absolutely crucial that each part be cast properly. None of the actors disappoint.

Ettington Hall in England was chosen as the exterior of Hill House, and it is a perfect choice. The forboding look of the mansion sets the appropriate mood immediately, and the fact that Ettington Hall itself is supposed to be haunted certainly doesn't hurt! The sets are remarkable, meshing perfectly with the look of the exterior of the house to create total suspension of disbelief that the group is actually inside a 90 year-old mansion. The set designs in this film rank among my favorites from any film.

The film was well-recieved upon its release, and its critical praise has only grown since then. Today, it is generally regarded as the pinnacle of the "ghost story" film, and its restraint certainly makes it one of the most subtle horror movies ever made. No ghostly apparitions are shown, and the film does not suffer the least bit for their absence. Director Robert Wise expertly paces the film, gradually creating the atmosphere and building the tension, delivering a most satisfying viewing experience. For an expertly-crafted haunted house story, you really can't do any better than The Haunting.

 Ettington Hall then...

... and now!