Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Funny Christmas Movies

Its Christmas eve and my thoughts on are some of the funniest Christmas movies I have ever seen.

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 First one is Scrooged starring Bill Murray its from the late 1980s and it full of Bill Murray funniest sarcastic one liners at the height of prime.






next is Bad Santa starring Billy Bob Thornton it came out in 2003 where Thornton plays a drunk mall Santa its hilarious 




next is Ernest Saves Christmas again from the 1980s not as funny as  Scrooged or Bad Santa but still good for a laugh




and the funniest one of all IMHO is Christmas Vacation starring Chevy Chase its a classic love it!




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Saturday, December 21, 2013

Godzilla Christmas Tree

A Popular mall http://www.aquacity.jp/en/top in Tokyo Japan in years past decorated for Christmas with giant Godzilla shaped Christmas trees! These pictures are from the early 2000's.  "SHOP 2COOLGHOULS"

I got this info from the Japanese blog http://www1.u-netsurf.ne.jp/~mayurin/xmas/xmas2000/odaiba00.html

Seeing this makes me excited for the upcoming Godzilla movie this summer!


I'm a CREEP for The 13 Days of CREEPMAS

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Creepy Christmas Britain

Today I'm continuing on with Creepy Christmas around the world and our next stop is, Wales in Great Britain!

The Mari Lwyd or the Gray Mary is a strange custom where people go from house to house singing carols dressed up as a horse figure with a white cloak like dress and horse skull with eyes lit up with candles carried around on a wooden pole. Its decorated in colorful ribbons and those who dressed up the Gray Mary hope those answering the door would give them food or drink. Those who answered the door were met with singing and challenging battles of rhyming insults in Welsh. At the end of the battle of wits (known as pwnco) the group would be invited into the house for refreshments. It said to bring good luck to those who encountered the group.

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This custom would run from December to January and dates back to the 1800s and was used to mark the passing of the darkest days of Winter. Some might wonder today whats up with all this? But you have to understand for these people back then, winter was a scary time, days were short, nights were long and the cold was brutal. They didn't have central heat, computers, cellphones, you know everything we take for granted today. They simply wanted to pass the time until the warmer days spring. This old tradition died out in many parts of Wales, but some parts still act it out and every December and is becoming more popular in modern times.




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A Very Megadeth Christmas

I was watching Jimmy Kimmel show a couple nights ago and saw Megadeth during a skit parody of Thrash Metal renditions of Christmas music classics! It was funny. See the band perform complete with Ugly Christmas sweaters.



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Friday, December 13, 2013

Iceland's Christmas troll

In the spirit of Creepmas I am continuing my creepy Christmas traditions which brings me to Iceland's Gryla the evil troll that eats naughty children for Christmas.  "Shop 2COOLGHOULS"

Legend has it Gryla sends out her 13 ugly troll sons called the Yule Lads to round up these children who have been naughty all year for Gryla. She even feeds naughty kids to her pet, the evil monster yule Christmas cat Jolakottur I blogged about earlier.



 The closer to Christmas, Gryla is said to leave her cave from the mountain tops in search of naughty children.


 Icelandic parents have been getting their children by scaring them with folklore and legend of Gryla, who sniffs out trouble making youths with her long nose and whisks them away to her cave, where she will cook them for supper.

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Wednesday, December 11, 2013

A Krampus Carol

Here is a neat Animated Short called A Krampus Carol




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Creepmas Display in Central Texas

In my local downtown area in Waco Texas I spotted a cool Creepmas display with skeletons and skulls deck out around a Christmas tree with a skull tree topper it really caught my eye! "Shop 2CoolGhouls"




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Sunday, December 8, 2013

The Evil Christmas Yule Cat

Continuing on with the celebration of Creepmas and Creepy Christmas Traditions around the world bring us to Iceland's Jólakötturinn - Christmas Yule Cat! Legend has it this cat is a huge monster like cat creature that eats people for Christmas! Yes you read that right! Looks like much like Krampus, The Yule Cat is very much a villain in this Christmas folklore. It lives in the mountain tops with the mother and father of trolls Grýla, and Leppalúði and their 13 troll Yule lads . Yes you read that correctly lol. "Shop 2CoolGhouls"

 
Video above is a poem mentioning the Yule Cat its in the native Iceland Language

 Basically the sole purpose of the Yule Cat was to scare workers to work harder to finish all work with the Autumn wool before Yule. The reward for those who took part in the work was a new piece of clothing for Christmas. Those who were lazy could fall victim to the Yule Cat and the Yule Cat one and only goal is to eat you if you do not receive a piece of new clothing for Christmas. Thus the Yule Cat was used to get people to work more. Again the whole who's been naughty, vs who's been nice concept which is a recurring theme throughout Christmas celebrations around the world. "Shop 2COOLGHOULS"
 
Here are some links to more information on the Yule Cat
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Thursday, December 5, 2013

La Befana The Christmas Witch

In the spirit of Creepmas, I'm continuing my blogging about Creepy Scary Christmas Celebrations around the world. First I covered Krampus, now on to the Christmas Witch La Befana brings us to Italy. "SHOP2CoolGhouls"
Le Befana or the Witch serves as the Santa Claus equivalent in Italy. She is brings good kids presents and naughty kids coal. Legend has it this character is a hold over from pre Christian pagan celebrations that were later adopted by Christians. Folklore has it Befana was cleaning her house and was visited by the three wise men who asked her to come with them and bring a present for baby Jesus. She declined stating she was to busy with her cleaning chores.  Below is a video story of Le Befana



After mulling over her decision, Befana had a change of heart and decides to go along and follows the men. But she’s too late. She never finds the baby Jesus. Come 6 January, Epiphany, she’s still flying around on her broom, searching. On that day, Italian children leave a glass of wine and food for La Befana "The Witch" much the same way American kids leave Santa milk and cookies. And she, in turn, leaves a present for the children in every house she looks. After all, one of them just might be the baby Jesus. Befana also enters people's home's same way Santa Claus does through the chimney.

There is a cool poem that goes with the Legend of Le Befana,

The Befana comes by night
With her shoes all broken
With a dress in Roman style
Up, up with the Befana !!

She brings ashes and coal
To bad nasty children
To the nice good child
She brings candies and many gifts !

Presently in Italy Le Befana is more popular than ever with Christmas markets and shops selling merchandise such as Dolls, Books with her likeness which is very similar looking to the likeness of witches from Halloween folklore in United States.
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Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Krampus is Coming to Town

For those who dont know, Krampus is christmas character first made popular in various parts of Europe in Austria and Germany, who is the anti Santa Claus a demon like beast who punishes those who have been naughty all year.  "Shop 2CoolGhouls 4 the Holidays"

Tradition has been in Austria and Germany that young men dress up as Krampus on December 5th which is a parade like event where they scare kids who are line up on the streets, and to warn naughty children to behave. Though Krampus is poked with sticks and hit with snowballs as payment for his advice, his warning must be listened to, since St. Nicholas (Austrian version of Santa) can only find good children to reward when he visits on December 6th


These events have been gaining popularity with cities in the US like Los Angeles, and Philadelphia having similar events http://krampuslosangeles.com/

http://krampuslaufphiladelphia.com/  Its like Halloween for Christmas!



Krampus even has his own merchandise from beer to Halloween masks

http://www.stbcbeer.com/seasonals/seasonal-imperial/krampus-beer-page/

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Merry Creepmas! I'm a CREEP for The 13 Days of CREEPMAS


Monday, December 2, 2013

Merry Creepmas Time!

I am participating in the annual celebration of Creepmas with some like minded bloggers who love all things Halloween and Spooky. What is Creepmas you ask? Creepmas is the reaction to Christmas invading and dominating the holidays. Stores start putting out Christmas decorations in October, which has led to many Halloween lovers getting tired of their beloved celebration getting pushed to the side.

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 Funny enough many Christmas lovers claim there is a cultural war against Christmas. John Stewart made some funny jokes about this supposed "War on Christmas"

Halloween has even been pushed out of schools and has been for a long time but yet there is a war on Christmas lol so Creepmas has been born out of the love of one of the most misunderstood holidays Halloween. And lastly don't get me started on Thanksgiving, which basically has turned into a day to start shopping for what? you guessed it Christmas and not mention all the fights and general ugly associated with Black Friday

 Please don't misunderstand me I love Halloween and Christmas and celebrate both. Lets face it Creepmas allows some creative, unique ways of celebrating Christmas.

 Spooky Vegan has some awesome pins posted on pinterest to get you in the mood. http://www.pinterest.com/spookyvegan/creepmas/



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Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Haunted House America

NBC just recently did a featured story on the Haunted House business across the US. Seems like everything year they get bigger and scarier and are staying open past Halloween. The business has definitely grown over the years. "Visit 2CoolGhouls"


Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


The haunt industry even has their own convention HauntCon

Over this past month I visited a couple haunts myself as I do every year and I have to say Cutting Edge in Fort Worth, Texas gives the most for your money and it was intense to say the least! Cutting Edge 

The glow stick haunted and the zombie drummers were the coolest.  They really cater to one's darkest fears.  There's a scary garment district room that full of clothes on hangers and the lights strobe on and off while ghouls appear in-front of you out of no where. These haunts for me are a lot of fun and certainly an adrenaline rush.  Check out Fangoria America Haunts magazine for some of the best Haunts in America.
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Monday, November 4, 2013

The Halloween Grinch

Marlon Wayons from the Wayons Brothers has posted a funny Halloween inspired skit on how he passes out candy on Halloween I laughed hard Marlon is hilarious!


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I'm a CREEP for The 13 Days of CREEPMAS

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween Everyone

Just wanted to say Happy Halloween to everyone. I love this holiday none other celebrates imagination, creativity and the ability to connect neighborhoods. This is some of the reasons I love Halloween. Be safe out there and have fun! "Visit 2CoolGhouls"

I wanted to add some videos that represent the spirit of Halloween enjoy!
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Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Curse of Chucky DVD Review

Well here we are its October which is for me Horror Movie month! What cool way to celebrate Halloween all month long watching new and old horror films. So I headed to my local red box and rented the new Curse of Chucky film.  "Shop Halloween at 2CoolGhouls"

First I got my stash of junk food which consisted on Franken Berry Fruit Rolls up, Count Chocula Treat Bars and of course popcorn.
Now that Ive finished watching it I think its a enjoyable film in the series a lot better than both Bride of Chucky & Seed of Chucky installments. It ignores most of the events of Bride/Seed but it's set around 4 years after Seed. The first three films remain completely intact in terms of what they mean to Curse of Chucky, and there are references to them. It's sort of a reboot from then on, but it's set after Seed in terms of date/year. It's kind of confusing but fans of the films will certainly know what I mean when you see it.
Brad Dourif reprises his role as the voice of Chucky and this one is like the classic film has some funny one liners from Chucky himself.

The films protagonist this time around is Nica played by Brad Dourif’s real-life daughter Fiona who is a  paraplegic living with her mother in a spooky mansion that seems to be out in the middle of no where. As the film kicks off an very familiar plot the of the ‘Good Guy’ doll being delivered to their door, closely followed by the apparent suicide of Nica’s crazy mother.

After this comes in Nica extended family that Chucky eventually kills. I guess Chucky was trying to inhabit the body of the little girl that befriends him much like he did to Andy in the first classic film. As they say the devils in the detail I don't want to spoil the film for those who haven't seen it yet. One strange twist in the end was Jennifer Tilly's appearance when she rescues Chucky from the plastic bag and kills the cop. I have to say I liked the fact the filmmakers relied on  animatronics and less CGI effects which gives Curse of Chucky a cool old school horror feel.

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Friday, August 30, 2013

Monster Cereals kick off the Halloween Season

Its the labor day weekend and I am already thinking about Halloween! It seems everyone has a fond happy childhood memory associated with the General Mills Monster Cereals like Boo Berry, Count Chocula and Franken Berry. With nostalgia forever present, these characters have become pop culture icons and are presently loved and adored by millions! Its amazing to see all the merchandise associated with their likenesses floating around, I have seen T-shirts, posters, bobble head toys, magnets, etc. It all started back in the 1971 when General Mills released Count Chocula, whose original name was "Dr Count Chocula" and Franken berry in October of that year. Boo Berry was later released in 1973. Count Chocula had a chocolate flavoring and were colored brown, Boo Berry had a blue berry type flavoring and were colored blue, Franken Berry had a strawberry like flavoring and were colored reddish pink.

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Fruit Brute whose character was of a Werewolf that ate fruit, was released in 1974 had a tang orange coloring and fruit cherry type flavoring from what I can remember and had a ten year long run at grocery stores before being discontinued in 1984 and then later replaced in 1987 by orange flavored Fruity Yummy Mummy, whose character was also a Mummy that loved fruit cereal which in turn had a very short selling life as it was discontinued in 1993. Yummy Mummy had a cool slogan he would say makes your tummy go yummy, LOL I remember laughing at that.  The other three being Boo Berry, Count Chocula and Franken Berry have survived and stayed in production throughout the 1990s if only now seasonally for Halloween since 2010.

Frute Brute and Yummy Mummy were certainly the lesser known of the five monster cereal characters. I suppose they did not sell as well. Flash forward some 20 odd years later to 2013 General Mills has made the right decision to bring back Werewolf Frute Brute and Yummy Mummy for all things Halloween in 2013. Lots of excitement is abound particularly among generation Xers like myself who grew up in the 1980s that ate these for breakfast.


With the return comes with updated box design and images for Frute Brute and Yummy Mummy as they have a new look and box drawings. The back of the boxes features all five monsters Count Chocula, Boo Berry, Franken Berry, Frute Brute and Yummy Mummy all sitting down together eating a bowl of their own monster breakfast cereal. How cool is that?  These cereals ( along with St Arnold's Pumpkinator) have been become a cool way for me to kick off my favorite time of the year Halloween, and revisit some happy childhood memories at the same time. "Shop 2CoolGhouls for Halloween"

I personally want to thank Matt @ Dinosaur Dracula! http://dinosaurdracula.com/ for including my blog and store on his monster cereal review http://dinosaurdracula.com/blog/video-frute-brute-yummy-mummy/#more-14194