Wait…it got scarrier? Disneyland really needs a proofreader (a proffreader?) for their Halloween parking signs.
Either that or they added lots of people in Scar costumes, but the day didn’t bear out that theory.
Tag: Halloween
Long Beach Comic and Horror Con 2011: Still Got It
When I heard that Long Beach Comic Con was rebranding itself as Long Beach Comic and Horror Con this year, I was a little concerned. One of the things I liked most about it the first two years was the heavy emphasis on comics compared to San Diego (which has plenty of comics, but is so big that it’s easy to miss them) or the Wizard conventions (which seem to have refocused around celebrities). As it turns out, the horror didn’t drown out the comics at all. The front of the hall was still mainly comics publishers, with dealers (mostly comics and collectibles) behind them in a U shape, wrapped around the core: a gigantic Artist’s Alley.
Of course, Halloween and horror did make their presence known, starting with the signs for zombie parking, and continuing with programming, guests and costumes. (Jump straight to the photos.)
Holiday Creep(y)
One nice thing about The Nightmare Before Christmas is that it’s good for anytime from October through December!
Skull Pumpkin & Vampire Halloween
Katie carved this incredible anatomically-correct skull Jack-O-Lantern for Halloween today. Update: Check the comments for her writeup on how she carved it.
It seems to have worked as a “yes, we’re handing out candy” signal. Last year we didn’t get any trick-or-treaters. (We also didn’t put up any decorations that year, either.) This year, they started arriving while I was taking photos of the pumpkin…and while Katie was opening the bags of candy!
She dressed up in her vampire costume, which got some great responses. One trick-or-treater asked about the fangs. She overheard another walking away from the door and wondering, “Do you think she was a real vampire?”
By 8:50 we were down to only three Starbursts left to hand out, so we brought the pumpkin inside and called it a night.
Earlier this afternoon, I ran some errands and deliberately went to the Spectrum so that I’d have a chance of spotting the Great Park Balloon in the air while it still had the Jack-O-Lantern face on. I thought this view made for a nice image of the Great Pumpkin, rising up over the trees.
Geeky Pumpkins of Halloweens Past
I’m not much of a pumpkin carver myself, but Katie likes to get creative. Here are some Jack-O-Lanterns she’s done, inspired by science fiction, fantasy, comics and games.
From 2003… Gourdzilla!
Inspired by a Grand Ave. strip earlier that week.
Also, Aeryn Sun from Farscape!
More about these: 2003 Halloween Madness
From 2005… Puzzle Pirates’ Navigation puzzle!
Yes, the “Arrr!” on the wall is a projection.
More: Pumpkin Arrrrrt.
And finally, one that hasn’t been on this blog before: The Eye of Sauron, from 2002. Unfortunately we could only find one picture of it, and it was lit up from the outside, so you can’t see how awesome it looked in the dark.
(Evidently, whoever sat at this desk liked dogs.)
This year’s Jack-O-Lantern will be up soon!
Errand Observations
The Spectrum food court has ripped out the planters. I guess they realized they needed the floor space after they chopped off one end.
It’s Halloween, so Target has the Christmas decorations up!
Great Park, Great Pumpkin
The Great Park Balloon in Irvine, California, all dressed up as a Jack-o-Lantern for Halloween. I was hoping to get a shot of it aloft, but it landed as I approached the park.
It looks really eerie lit up at night, floating off in the distance. Or just floating above office buildings.
It’s not as good a picture as the one I found on Flickr last week, but you can see the whole face.
More of my own photos of the balloon on Flickr, including this non-zoomed shot, showing the big empty field and Saddleback in the background:
