Well, it's finally over.  Halloween is here, soon it'll be gone, and with it, we bid farewell to the X-E Halloween Countdown until next year.  My brain says THANK GOD, but my heart yearns for more rubber bats and bloody wonder.  This will all be forgotten in a week when I see Holiday Fruity Pebbles at Waldbaum's, I'm sure.  Speaking of something similar, the final entry on the Countdown takes a look at a decades-standing Halloween favorite, The General Mills Monster Cereals.  I found a megabox containing all three varieties — Count Chocula, Franken Berry & Boo Berry — and it's made Halloween actually feel like Halloween.  A much needed boost, since it's like 200 degrees outside and the kids next door are trying to set up an inflatable pool.

Had fun with the trick-or-treaters today.  We gathered up all of the small toys and candy I intended to write about, packed 'em in Halloween-themed Ziploc bags and continued the tradition of being the best loot-givers of the block, sure to be adored by every six-year-old in the neighborhood, at least until 9 PM or so.  Oh, of the many things I didn't have a chance to cover this season, I really didn't want to let this one slide.  Here's a gallery of pics I took at our wonderful local mall's Halloween store, which by now is probably selling reindeer that dance when you clap:

(click pics to enlarge)

Thanks for reading all month-and-a-half.  Click "more" to see the final entries in the Halloween Art Expo, and check out the previous posts for more installments.  Oh, and do me a favor — out of sheer megalomaniacal curiosity, I'd like for you to tell me which three entries on the Countdown were your personal favorites this year, in the comments.  Don't have to list reasons or anything.  Hope everyone had a great Halloween!  Think I'll hop in the coffin now…
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Well, Halloween is finally here — hope everyone's having a good one.  Sucks that it fell on a Sunday this year, but that's better than a Tuesday.  They'll be a wrapup Countdown entry a bit later, but for hte 30th, here's what happens when a Yeti tries to solve the Lament Configuration, better known as that kickass evil box from the Hellraiser flicks.

Anyway, click "more" for the second installment of X-E's Halloween Art Expo, including some really, really creative entries that have made my admittedly blah Halloween morning better.  I think you'll enjoy 'em — thanks to everyone who participated!  The final installment with be up later today, along with the last Countdown entry for 2004.  Sniff.  Feel free to chat about ghouls in the comments…
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Ah, let's take a look at some of YOUR works of art in X-E's not annual Halloween art expo.  This collection contains ten entries — more to come later or tomorrow.  For those who've forgotten the rules, here they are in illustrated form:

The deal was this: entrants had to draw a pumpkin with Dracula's hand coming out of it, add a banner with the slogan of their choice to said pumpkin, and somehow incorporate a goldfish.  Thanks to everyone who went through the trouble — let's check out the first batch…
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Dunno how many of you are around this weekend, but for the few who remain, let's do some Halloween shit.  The (late) entry for Friday on the Countdown takes a gander at the infamous "Halloween" Atari game, where Michael Myers chops off babysitters' heads and runs around rooms painted in really putrid colors.  I've quarantined myself this weekend against all better judgment, so if you're not out partying in a Dracula costume, stick around for the final days of X-E's 2004 Halloween season.

Here's the late entry for Thursday.  I'd debated whether this really belonged on the Halloween Countdown or not, but I'll always associate it with this special time of year, so here ya go: Hostess Twinkies now come with "Ogre Green" Shrek creamy middles.  Fate, I tell you.  Amazing how, even with the many thousand Shrek-related food promotions covered on the site, this late entrant seems to be the absolute best.  After Halloween I'll show ya some of the other weird Shrek items on sale recently, if I remember that they're in the freezer buried under unfilled ice cube trays.

Stay tuned this weekend as I unload all of the shit I haven't had a chance to write about on the Countdown in a big ol' X-E Halloween Bash right here on the blog.  At least a dozen Halloween toys, decorations, candies and other junk will be plucked from their safety boxes and ransacked for my very last minute way to justify buying them in the first place.  Should be fun, especially if you've got nothing planned for the big HORROR weekend and need something to make you feel just a little bit less suicidal.  Prepare to see everything from pudding to the Wolfman.

Thanks to everyone who sent in entires for the X-E Halloween Art Expo.  Details in the previous blog entry if you missed 'em.  All will be posted here on Saturday afternoon.  Bonus points to everyone who remembered the goldfish.  Evil Wednesday's entry on the Halloween Countdown brings back everyone's favorite generic spooks undeniably early in The Ghost With The Most III.  A pumpkin carving contest!  Oh, had a blog mishap — some pages may be screwy right now, but will be fixed by tomorrow.