SheWalksSoftly – Page 210

Halloween Countdown: Hollywood Wax Museum Horrors

October 8th, 2010

Last week I visited the Hollywood Wax museum for the first time since I was about eight years old.

I’m going to be honest: wax figures look MUCH better in the photos we see circulating when they debut in museums. In person, many of them are blotchy inhabitants of the uncanny valley. I felt a kind of mild disgust (when I wasn’t chuckling).

Of course, in the Chamber of Horrors, EVERYTHING is designed to look odd…so it works. Here are a few selections.

The Exorcist

House of Wax

Bella!

Lon!

I would have loved to see Vincent Price among some of the classic horror actors.

The Cryptkeeper, a childhood favorite.

Beetlejuice/geuse

And my favorite photo in the bunch:
Halloween Countdown: Worst Word Splitting

October 8th, 2010

Target gets some great Halloween items, but someone really dropped the ball on this costume (pun intended, I guess).

This is either a female baseball player outfit or a cheerleader costume, with the worst letter spacing I’ve ever seen. I’m sure “adult” costumes are full of bad puns, but come on…Target is a family store.

The phrase HOME RUN, which somehow became a sartorial abbreviation for “This is a baseball costume” (though I’m not even sure this IS a baseball costume) is improvidently divided into a glittering “HO” “ME”. Is this bastard creation rife with perverted undertones, or is ignorance to blame?
Halloween Countdown: Bats, Bones, Claws and Pumpkin Road Rage

October 7th, 2010

Okay, here are two totally unrelated things I just came across. If you really use your imagination, they fit right into the Halloween Countdown.

First, look at this fruit bat. Check out that tubular nose! This guy is a cut above your generic Halloween bat in terms of personality. I’m constantly tempted to imitate how (my twisted brain believes) he talks:

Next, the anatomically correct Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Jason Freeny.

On the flip side, we have this extremely INCORRECT rendition of pumpkin anatomy, featured on The Surfing Pizza. This toy was placed in the perfect category of “Not Really Evil, But Kind of a Jerk.”

Never thought you’d get to see a rubber, rabbit-faced, four-limbed, lanky, pumpkin-headed creature, riding upright on a bike with more than a healthy dose of road rage despite the gigantic lollipop on board? VIOLA! Thanks, Pizza!

Now, the Claws Will Tear Us Apart shirt. A favorite animal, a favorite album, a clever image:
Halloween Countdown: Supernatural Collective Nouns

October 6th, 2010

What better time of the year to brush up on your supernatural collective nouns? You’ll be the most well-informed person at your Halloween party.

Click to enlarge…

Source
Halloween Countdown: Calavera Roundup

October 5th, 2010

I’ve posted a series of Day of the Dead paper cutouts, so I figured I’d take a sampling of other calaveras (skulls) in art.

Posada was known for his fantastic engravings, many of which features skulls and skeletons. It was hard to pick which ones to post.

This fellow is adorable!

How romantic…

Wonderful snowflake idea…

And a photo to finish up.
Halloween Countdown: Spider Baby

October 5th, 2010

One of my readers was kind enough to submit this image of a costume she made for her baby. The genius is in the subtlety and perfectly surreal execution.

I present: SPIDER BABY!

People have actually tried to hold the artificial hands while the baby was wearing this costume. How I would have loved to catch those priceless moments of confusion and surprise.

Thanks, Lene! Great job!
Halloween Countdown: Oriental Trading Co. Roundup

October 3rd, 2010

I am slightly partial to the choices for Last year’s Oriental Trading Co. Halloween post (so definitely check out those items if you haven’t!). But here are a few new ones that caught my eye.

Edible Cake Decorating Prints: This is a great way to jazz up a simple cake. Very classy, completely edible!

Frosted Monster Bash Suckers: Nicely articulated as far as lollipops go. That’s some fancy monster design work for a mass produced lolli.

Lampshade Topper: I hope no one would mind if I put this on my lamp and conveniently “forgot” to take it down for the rest of the year.

Glitter Skeleton: In a word…FIERCE! Not scary-fierce, mind you. Disco ball fierce. Club fierce. RuPaul fierce.

LED Skull With Sound: This little chum just looks so friendly. He laughs too. Of course he laughs! He’s having a nice day. He hopes you have a nice day too.

LED Skeleton Torso: Now this guy is just GREAT. Look at him! Look at those evil eyes glowing red, and the nice rotting appearance! Bang up job on this prop.

Bendable Skeleton Hands: I’m not going to lie…this could be a craft staple all year round. And while I’m not sure they have any practical purpose, I still think they’re fun. I’d like to leave a bunch of them out at a Halloween party and see how people idly bend and arrange them during conversation.

And now for a change of pace…

Christian Pumpkin Fuzzy Magnets: I’m going to come right out and say it…this makes me uncomfortable. I’m sure Jesus was a nice guy, but he practically monopolizes the holiday market. In this particular case the history couldn’t have anything LESS to do with Jesus. Yet there’s a whole “Jesus Shine In Me” page of products.

I’m not okay with this reclamation of my favorite holiday.

I only wish they were simply starting a trend of rogue holiday subterfuge, soon to be followed by dreidel-painted Easter eggs and Santa headlining the St. Patrick’s Day parade.
Halloween Countdown: Vintage Monster Stickers

October 2nd, 2010

They don’t make ’em like this anymore! Monster Brains posted this fantastic series of vintage stickers.

Many incarnations of classic monster icons here…

Has anyone seen stickers like this in the stores recently? Clearly these are vintage, but I wonder if they still make stickers with a classic pulp art look. I’d love to get my hands on some.
Halloween Countdown: Laurie Lipton

October 1st, 2010

Welcome to a month of Halloween posts! I won’t post about Halloween exclusively, because I know some folks out there get a bit tired of it. But I definitely have a bunch of Halloween goodies to share.

I’m attending the Lowbrow Tarot Art Show tonight. One of my favorite artists, Laurie Lipton, will have a piece on display.

I figured her work would be a great way to usher in the month of October. But PLEASE…do not just look at these images here. Go to her website and see the full sizes. You will not believe how much detail is lost here.

Lipton has an outstanding array of skeleton art to start your month off right (I had to choose just a few but there are many others). Keep in mind, all of these are pencil-on-paper drawings.

And check out these masks!

Really, go in for a closer look!

See my previous posts on Laurie Lipton’s Day of the Dead and Weapons of Mass Delusion

I can’t believe I’m missing her Machine Punk exhibit next month!
Desktop Goodies, 9/30

September 30th, 2010

Let’s start with a few old fashioned hairstyling devices…

You’re never too young to start paying a miserable price for beauty.

Lovely illusion…

This enticing image was a recent Suicide Food entry:

Precursor to the gold mine of sports drinks:

Although it was technically on Cake Wrecks, I think this cake is pretty great:

And for some reason this piece appeals to me.

So do these:

Party hat for the cephalopd inclined?

I would very much like to have this product by my bathtub:

Amazing.

Great new mandala designs by Shepard Fairey:

“Rats off to ya!”

Don’t you feel better, now that the anatomy has been explained? (I think I found this on Monster Brains…not sure)

Let’s put 20 seconds on the clock and see how many things we can find wrong with this picture. Okay…20 minutes…

Here’s something to get your mind off the Cabbage Patch dolls:

Halloween Countdown starts tomorrow so give me a hand with suggestions (*groooooan*)…