Horror

Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XIX

It was better than last year, but that isn’t saying much. The Treehouse of Horror really has lost its edge compared to years gone by. It used to be an amusing parody of classic horror stories or spoofs on horror movies. At the very least it mocked some common fear. When you look at the classic episodes that centered around The Raven, The Shining or The Twilight Zone, the craptastic episodes we get now are bland and boring and seem to be put together with everyone on autopilot. They lack the subtle humor of the previous episodes and seem to be going more for shock value or perhaps even cartoon violence. Basically the episodes are just boring.

The spoof of The Great Pumpkin held a lot of potential, but it turned out to be boring and pretty damn silly. An ill tempered pumpkin wreaking havoc actually sounded pretty amusing, but the way they worked it out, it just went no where and wasn’t even funny.

And that opening scene of Homer trying to vote for Obama, was that supposed to be witty political satire? They need to go back and check the classic pieces of Halloween terror. While presidential elections might make your hair stand on end and make you fearful of the future, they really don’t rank up there as dark fiction. And that I expect the Simpson’s to be dark and scary, but these latest stories don’t even rate an amused chuckle at who they’re ripping of…

With the Treehouse of Horror now behind us, Halloween truly is over. Maybe next year they can come up with something better. I knew there was a reason I didn’t actually watch the Simpsons TV show anymore.

Treehouse of Horror XIX

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Ghost Hunters Live Halloween 2008

I finished the live Halloween special over the weekend and for the most part it’s pretty entertaining and keeps your interest. Unlike the Stanley hotel which seems to have plenty of ongoing activity, Fort Delaware was definitely creepy with atmosphere and it’s imposing presence, but the overall activity was rather absent.

There were some good moments in the tunnels were Grant seemed to hear voices and had something tugging on his jacket. There also seemed to be the occasional knock and something happening off screen, but generally the place was quiet.

Josh does an excellent job of hosting the event. His quick wit and ability to improvise to the onscreen activity is fun to watch. Steve Valentine shows a curiosity about the events and asks questions about the equipment, history and events of the Fort. He seems like an eager student with amusing comments sprinkled in.

Amanda Tapping and “The Miz” seem generally interested in the Fort and exploring the paranormal. Amanda follows along through the entire program, asking questions, heading into the tunnels, and immersing herself in the environment. The Miz wants to see or experience something and seems to get a little disturbed after several hours of not seeing anything. Unfortunately he gets paired up with Joe and Kristyn who, in my opinion, are crappy investigators and were a real distraction for the show. Maybe she was being told to, but Kristyn is constantly trying to get Miz to talk about wrestling and his career. Even Joe keeps bringing it up. Perhaps that was part of the promotional deal, but it’s so annoying and completely detracts from the mood of the evening.

But putting that aside, Joe and Kristyn are the worst part of the event. Their hunting style is juvenile at best and just like the Waverly Hill investigation last year, they are unpleasant to watch, moody and act like being at the Fort inconveniences them. Honestly, take them off the show. They spoil the mood and their offerings to the show are non-existent. Perhaps even the Miz got sick of their shit since you don’t see him during the last hour of the program. Maybe he got tired of their nonsensical babbling and decided to find something else to do. I know there is no way in hell I would hang out with those two for 7 hours.

Steve and Tango seem to get a little silly as the night wears on and spend a little too much time goofing off than investigating. They don’t seem to be following their normal investigative style. You can easily see that their antics could be covering up noises or responses they might otherwise hear. Not that I take all this paranormal stuff so seriously that they can’t have some fun on Halloween, but I guess if you’re there you should be trying to find some evidence or at least debunk a few things.

There are several technical issues with the show, but that is somewhat to be expected with a live show, especially one from a truly remote location. I’m sure those will all be corrected for the DVD to be released next year. Again, it lacks and true defining paranormal moment. The big activity is an odd voice telling the group “You don’t belong here” and some tugging on Grants jacket. The Fort didn’t really seem to have that much activity, but the show is still very neat to explore and I’m sure the GH team had one hell of a time walking around it’s dark corridors on Halloween.

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Frankenstein’s castle offers Halloween chills

MUEHLTAL, Germany – Boris Karloff never walked these grounds, but the history of Burg Frankenstein may have inspired Mary Shelley’s famous monster.

Since then an estimated 15,000 people flock to the former keep near Darmstadt in western Germany annually for chills, frights and the chance to walk through the halls of the place that many believe inspired the creation of “The Modern Prometheus,” as Shelley subtitled her famous novel.

Frankenstein’s castle offers Halloween chills

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Halloween Desktops by Stardock

Fresh from the grave, Stardock delivers Halloween straight to your desktop. Our macabre desktop is packed full of ghoulish icons, unearthly visual styles, wicked gadgets, and a haunted wallpaper sure to send shivers through your bones.
Stardock Rest in Peace (RIP) 2007

Some of us decorate our houses, some of us decorate our office, and most of us decorate ourselves. But let us not forget the desktop. We look at it for hours on end, day after day. And instead of it inspiring fear and dread in a bad way, it should inspire fear, dread and loathing in a good way.

Behold the power of Windowblinds! With the click of a button you took can have a stylish a ghoulish desktop complete with graveyards, pumpkins, bats and ghosts. It’s not just enough to add a desktop wallpaper, I need dark windows, scary icons and the whole experience. Considering I just renew my subscription to Object Desktop for the new few years, customized desktops are always in fashion with me.

If you have Windowblinds then there is plenty you can do to make your desktop more enjoyable for the holidays. Right now, I’m running the Rest In Peace (RIP) 2007 MyColors theme. It’s a nice black theme with pumpkin and web covered icons. You also get a skinned calendar, clock and weather widget. It’s a nice theme that has a really cool look to it.

Not in the mood to buy a new theme? Still not a problem as Wincustomize has plenty of excellent free ones to choose from. Here is a pretty good list to get started with.

http://islanddog.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=165352

Some of my favorites:
RIP 2007
My Halloween (Cool swampy green suite)

Check out this page for themes, wallpapers, logins and everything you need to completely redo Windows is a total Halloween theme!

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