The Krampus

Well with Christmas fast approaching, and the usual hateful experiences of fighting through crowds of dawdling tourists Christmas shopping in Oxford Street just to get to work, I thought it appropriate to remember that wholesome icon of Christmas - The Krampus.

The Krampus is the antithesis of St. Nicholas and is celebrated in some European cultures on the eve of St. Nicholas' day. And on St. Nicholas' day when children are visited by St. Nick who favours them with presents if they've been good, the old fat man doesn't punish the naughty but saves that pleasure for his sidekick - The Krampus - who administers his blend of punishment with a switch and chains.

So let's hear it for The Krampus and let's await his return with pleasure! What a better world we'd have if he did come to take away and torture the horrible kids of today!

So have a Merry Christmas and one mercifully free from any children!

Tuesday 21st December 2010

The Muppets - Pumpkin Carving

Another great short film from the Muppet Studios. Let's hope one day there'll be a whole DVD of Halloween related Muppet material that's available to buy.

Tuesday 16th November 2010

Everyday Is Halloween

And no, not the song by the band "Ministry," but simply a small pin badge picked up in a record shop in Folkestone!

Saturday 13th November 2010

Universal Monsters

Back in 2004 when I was visiting a friend to see him get married in Maine, USA, I stumbled across these toys heavily discounted in a store after Halloween. It seemed a shame not to give them a home! They were originally priced at $5.99 and reduced to 99 cents! (At a time when the exchnge rate was close to $2 = £1) So I got the six they had and found the other two on ebay at a later date; having spent no more than about a tenner for the complete set of eight.

Sunday 7th November 2010

The morning after the night before...

Well the party happened last night and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves - food, charades, fancy dress, and the pumpkin carving competition. So here are a selection of photos for anyone interested.

 

Sunday 31st October 2010

The morning of the party...

Well the morning of the party is here, and yesterday's day off work was well spent shopping for food and roasting chunks of pumpkin to turn into chocolate pumpkin brownies or Cajun pumkin soup today.

Above are a few of the decorations already up in the house, but tomorrow will see the pictures from the party and of some of the carved pumpkins that the guests will bring along.

Went to a great Halloween party last night also in Cheriton with home made pumpkin soup, chilli con carne thankfully without the threatened mystery ingredient of insects, and a variety of party games such as apple bobbing. I'll try to get some of those pictures on her over the next few days too.

Anyway, back to the cauldron for now...

Saturday 30th October 2010

Pumpkin carving practise...

Well I know there are better carved pumpkins out there, but I think my attempt tonight isn't too bad!

The local church youth club were carving pumpkins tonight, and I'm always asked to come along and lend a hand - and they expect me to be able to do one in about half an hour, with no stencil or anything and just make it up as I go along. So above was my effort!

Sunday 24th October 2010

A Philatelist's Nightmare! (Part 2)

America has been ahead of the game with stamps as these two show from many years before the 90s. But even the UK had previously had a horror themed stamp if you include the Hound of the Baskervilles from a set of Arthur Conan Doyle stamps.

More recently, Boris Karloff has appeared on another stamp in the US in 2003 which celebrates Hollywood and the art of cinema - in this case Jack Pierce's make up. And according to Sara Karloff, Boris' daughter, in a recent BBC documentary, her father has appeared on more US stamps now than any other person apart from the presidents!

In the UK in 2008 the Royal Mail celebrated the Carry On films and Hammer films with a set of 6 stamps - 3 from each genre. Below are the 3 Hammer stamps, but also I've shown one of the Carry On stamps as the film poster shown was Carry On Screaming.

Sunday 24th October 2010

A Philatelist's Nightmare! (Part 1)

And now for a rather big blog...

In 1997 the Royal Mail issued the first Horror themed stamps issued in the UK; it was just a shame they didn't go with their original designs...

And as other countries also issued stamps that year with a folk story theme, various other stamps soon followed; such as Romania issuing a set of Vlad Tepes stamps...

Canada issued a set of monster related stamps...

America based its designs on the Universal Studios monsters...

And Ireland issued some very camp Dracula stamps...

Yet both before 1997 and after stamps across the world have cropped up with Horror related themes... and my list excludes any Science Fiction stamps (of which the UK has issued stamps commemorating H.G. Wells, The Clangers & Daleks!) Tomorrow I'll upload some more stamps that I've found.

Saturday 23rd October 2010

More pumpkin soup anyone...

After making some disparaging remarks about the Covent Garden Soup Company's seasonal soup this year - I take it all back. It was lovely. It had a slightly smokey flavour, the beans added texture and it wasn't too watery.

Sadly I can't say the same for this year's effort from Tesco! It tastes Ok with a slight hint of ginger amongst the spices, however it is far too watery for my liking. My recommendation would be to make your own... or try the Covent Garden pumpkin soup.

Saturday 23rd October 2010

Black Magic Part 2

Back in July I decided on the day to see if there were any remaining tickets for what was Penn & Teller's first UK tour in over a decade. For many of us who live in the UK, we will remember Penn & Teller's TV late night on Friday evenings on Channel 4 in the early 1990s and then disappearing back to the US with virtually no trace apart from a couple of 1-off TV specials.

Well they did not disappoint! Lots of misdirection with cards, coins and other objects. Just the right amount of humour with a knife throwing trick done by a blindfolded member of the audience where the knives were pulled away to safety on the end of a fishing line! The levitation trick which had been performed on BBC1's The One Show a few days before was in there, as were some fire-eating and an exquisitely beautiful trick where Teller draws his knife across a silhouette of a flower vase causing the flowers to separate from the stems in the actual vase.

And then there was the 'trademark' sketches that the crowd were hoping for - regurgitating needles attached to a cotton thread (both of which were swallowed separately), and the trick that fooled John Cleese on Channel 4 where Teller in locked under water in a sealed tank whilst Penn messes up a card trick wrong causing Teller to apparently drown, whereupon he is rotated in his box only to show the missing card in his scuba diving goggles.

Let's hope it isn't another 10 years until they return to these shores.

Sunday 17th October 2010

Peanuts... or Halloween Snoopy

Well I've been a little preoccupied at work this week so haven't posted anything and yesterday discovered what Hell really is! (A 28 mile hike across the Romney Marsh following the Royal Military Canal from start to finish... although the scary part was not the intense pain from aching feet or torn ligaments - but the journey to the starting point at Pett Level. Well part of it anyway - the early morning bus from Rye to Pett Level across the marsh near Winchelsea beach. And I now fully appreciate the reality of films like Deliverance or the writings of HP Lovecraft about Innsmouth. I'm sure the locals on the bus had webbed fingers and gills!)

Anyway, the Halloween decorations went up last Saturday and the Peanuts diorama has this year taken pride of place on the mantelpiece. So here the pictures...

Charlie Brown, Lucy & Linus van Pelt

Sally Brown & Schroeder

Snoopy & Woodstock

Sunday 10th October 2010

The first of the Halloween food...

Well a trip to the local Tesco supermarket in Cheriton today saw me come home with some purchases not on my shopping list. They had even started to put out some of this year's Halloween decorations - but it was the usual tat - cheap, disposable and fit only for the lamest of kids parties.

As for the food, it is surprising how many companies are getting in on the act by changing their packaging to include a 'spooky' word just to sell, for example orange flavoured cup cakes or jam filled sponge mini-rolls. Anyway I did succumb to Mr Kipling's Fiendish Fancies and Devil Slices... well he does make exceedingly good cakes!

At last Tesco is selling pumpkin ravioli - something rival Waitrose has been doing for some years. I'll be trying it out tomorrow.

As for the New Covent Garden Soup Company - I always try out their seasonal Halloween soup, but making a lot or pumpkin soup myself, I tend to find that their soup's taste fails to live up to the excellent packaging design. Let's hope I'll be pleasantly surprised this year!

Saturday 2nd October 2010

Black Magic Part 1

Another find from my plethora of Halloween bits and pieces, a postcard from Simon Drake's 1992 UK tour. I saw him perform at Folkestone's Leas Cliff Hall and the tour was off the back of his late night Channel 4 TV show "Simon Drake's Secret Cabaret." I believe (but could be wrong) that he did two series of shows for Channel 4 mixing the rather bloody magic that Penn & Teller would later become famous for, with interviews from confidence tricksters and vintage footage of freakshow acts.

The show featured his staple acts of sawing a woman in half... lengthways! And ended with him being knowed out and balanced in the centre of his back on a tall metal spike or pole. As he was then spun in the same way plates are spun round on poles, the pole appeared to pierce his chest as his impaled body dropped to the floor with much blood and gasps from the audience.

Sadly he seems to have disappeared from our TV screens and apart from seeing on TV an Iron Maiden concert in the early 1990s for which he designed and performed similar effects, the last I heard he was running a 'House of Magic' in London performing magic tricks in his own pricey restaurant.

Sunday 26th September 2010

Say No To Halloween

Whereas I'm a big fan of celebrating Halloween I do feel that this leaflet that was distributed by the Kent Police is actually a good idea, especially for those groups in society that are either offended by the idea of Halloween or those members of society who are vunerable and easily preyed upon - such as the elderly. And if it cuts down vandalism too - what a great idea.

But let's have Halloween celebrated properly. None of this trick or treating for candy; or alleged neo-pagans exerting a claim on this sacred holiday. Let there be real devil worshipping, naked dancing round bonfires and animal sacrificing... or small children if available!

Wednesday 22nd September 2010

The bank that likes to grow pumpkins!

Well it's nice to see LloydsTSB using the humble pumpkin in their advertisements for savings!

Saturday 18th September 2010

Eeire Pubs

I was working in London the other week in an office on Ludgate Hill, near St Pauls cathedral, opposite "Ye Olde London" pub. And this got me remembering back to when the Eerie Pub chain had their gothic themed pubs around the country. What a shame that they didn't stay open for that many years and got taken over. Obviously people didn't fancy having a pint and pub lunch in somewhere that looked like a torture chamber with skulls, manicles, chains and gargoyles all over the place! I had many a pleasant pint in the "Bell Book & Candle" (which became "Ye Olde London") in Ludgate Hill and "London Stone" opposite Cannon Street railway station and managed to find this flyer.

Thursday 16th September 2010

Halloween Beer (Part 4 - Monsters)

Well the last post on beer for a while... or until the Hammer beers come out. Nessie's Monster Mash was a nice pint from a brewery up in Scotland that I purchased about 10 years ago; and similarly the other bottles are from about the same time. Before Safeway turned into Morrisons supermarket they stocked some American beers around this time of year. Both Hop Devil and Dead Guy Ale were vile - but the Dead Guy Ale has one of the best bottles I've seen. The other beer - Vamp Beer - is actually a screw top tin can that I picked up in Carrefour supermarket in France one year and have never seen since. A shame since it tasted nice and has a great design.

After my pumpkin beer bottle post, and wondering when actually was the last time I'd seen the Wychwood Brewery's Pumpking Ale... it seems that just like last year and possibly the year before that they are only doing a slightly relabeled version of their popular Hobgoblin beer this year with some pumpkins in the drawing on the labels. Here is a bottle I bought from Sainsburys supermarket today, although most other major supermarket I'm sure will also be stocking it.

Wednesday 15th September 2010

Halloween Beer (Part 3 - Devils)

A shorter blog from me today with some demonic bottles. The Belgian beers here (Lucifer, Satan and Belzebuth) are all well worth trying if you can find them... so that'll be in Belgium then! Although I did pick up the Lucifer beer in an English supermarket - but it is the less attractive of the bottles. Young's Old Nick I also picked up in England and personally found to be quite vile in taste so won't be buying any more of that one. Regarding the Satan beer, it is sold in Belgium in large wine bottle sized bottles and then placed in a very nice metal case. I have one but it's packed away amongst the Halloween decorations so I will have to wait until later to display this.

Monday 13th September 2010

Halloween Beer (Part 2 - Pumpkins)

Wychwood's Pumpking Ale is a nice tasting ale which has been regularly available most years although I don't recall seeing it in 2009, also it has changed from clear to brown bottles and increased its alcoholic content by 0.5%. In 2009 I saw the Badger brewery's Pumpkin Ale which was nothing special to taste and it's label visually left a lot to be desired too. However, in America back in 2004 I was surprised to taste Halloween themed beers both draft and bottled that were flavoured with such spices as vanilla or cinnamon and Stone Cat Pumpkin was one such beer that sadly we don't get over this side of the pond.

Sunday 12th September 2010

Halloween Beer (Part 1 - Witches)

Well with the news that Hammer Films are producing a range or horror themed beers this year, available in October, I thought I'd just post some of the other Halloween themed beers that I've tried over the years. Wychcraft from the Wychwood brewery is usually available this time of year in major supermarkets and is a reasonably good tasting bottled beer (but not as good as their Pumpking Ale - see next post). Black Cat Ale from the Fallen Angel Brewery I purchased a few years ago from a farm shop in Faversham and have to say that the label's graphics surpassed the actual enjoyment of the drink inside. However their best bottle design has nothing to do with Halloween but I've put it below anyway. Kopparberg did a Witches Brew mixed fruit cider a few years ago too which was for sale in Wetherspoons pubs. They still do a mixed fruit cider, however I haven't seen the same packaging in supermarkets. And finally Moorhouse's Pendle Witches Brew is a beer I picked up from the Sourced Market stall in King's Cross St Pancras station recently and is worth trying as well as having a great label.

Saturday 11th September 2010

The first pumpkin crop of the season

Well I decided to pick and cook some of the first pumpkins and squash of the season. (Sunburst, Baby Pan, Patty Pan, Winter Festival, Custard White, Uchiki Kuri, and a rather large courgette hiding behind!)

So Sunday Lunch today consisted of sausages, mash and a selection of roasted pumpkins! Mmmm!

Sunday 5th September 2010

Arkham in Brighton!

Here's a flyer I found in my folder of Halloween's past in the early 2000s... Does anyone else remember a small shop at the end of the North Laines in Brighton called "Arkham"? It was run by a very slim bespectacled and dreadlocked young man known as Docktor A or Bruce Whistlecraft who was also the synth player for local goth/electronic/industrial band Goteki. He sold all manner of HP Lovecraft inspired artwork,  independantly produced videos and audiobooks; stone gargoyles; clothing; graphic novels; goth and synth CDs and the odd cauldron or two! According to wikipedia his model making and art is influenced by Victoriana and steampunk and after the his shop closed he moved to Yorkshire. Many a work trip to Brighton was simply an excuse to visit this wonderful shop and spend some hard earnt cash. And it is a treat to see his work lives on at http://www.spookypop.com/

Saturday 4th Spetember 2010

Day Of Syn 2010

Well today was the Dymchurch Day of Syn, the culmination of a bi-annual local village festival based on the series of Dr Syn novels by Russell Thorndike who lived in the village and based his tales around local smuggling history and legends. His first book, simply called "Dr Syn" was published in 1915 and successful enough to warrant the writing of 6 other Dr Syn novels, all prequels as the character Dr Syn died at the end of the first book. The popularity of the Dr Syn story made for three films in which George Arliss portrayed the vicar-cum-smuggler in 1936, followed by a Hammer adaptation in the 1960s starring Peter Cushing, and a Walt Disney TV series starring Patrick McGoohan that was also edited into a film for theatrical release in the 1960s.

With rumours of Disney still guarding the film rights and contemplating another film adaptation and with the novels out of print and as rare as hens' teeth (apart from a 2010 reprinting of the original "Dr Syn" novel), it is heartening to see the people of Dymchurch put on effectively what is a village fete with acted out scenes from the story at various places throughout the village, such as on the beach, outside the local pubs and a parade through the main street, to keep their moment of fame alive in the 21st century.

The whole feel of the day is one of homely amateurism. The village hasn't succumbed to selling out and becoming over commercialised. The fete is still a free event and yet attracts thousands. The programmes have a feel of cheapness about them and that they could be so much better designed and printed in the modern age; and yet that is part of their appeal.

The only sad aspect is that when the villagers dress up as characters from the period, I did hear children's voices cheer at seeing someone dressed up as a rather out of place Captain Jack Sparrow (from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films) and one even piped up that he wanted to see more of Captain Jack, but "who on earth was the person dressed up as a Scarecrow supposed to be!"

Monday 30th August 2010