Meet my very special new bestest friend in the whole wide world, Standing Skull Man.  A once expensive and absolutely gigantic Halloween decoration marked down to comparable peanuts during the final days for stores to milk our holiday spirit, Standing Skull Man topples in at nearly seven feet tall and serves as the perfect gift for you know, that guy, the one who has everything.

Physical Challenge: Draw a picture of a pumpkin with Dracula's hand coming out of it, somehow incorporate a goldfish, and attach a small flag to the pumpkin's stem with the slogan of your choice.  Send them to me.  (alternate address for bouncebacks: click here)  No prizes, but all but the most vicariously embarrassing submissions will be posted this weekend as part of a half-assed Halloween X-E bash.  You must follow all the directions stated or I will print out your entry and dare someone to shit on it.  Feel free to scan crayon/marker pics or just use whatever comp progs you've got going.

Super Halloween Monday Day!
Yes, Super Halloween Monday Day, featuring two new articles on the Countdown that are some of the most important to date, or something.  For October 25th, we've got a movie-by-movie look at the Many Faces of Jason Voorhees.  If you're a casual Friday the 13th enthusiast, you'll be surprised to see how much the guy's look has evolved from film to film.  The feature starts with the first film and goes all the way to Jason X.

The almost-but-not-quite-late entry for Sunday presents my official costume for Halloween 2004: Michael Myers!  The sometimes underappreciated star of the Halloween movies makes his first appearance on X-E with two different masks, including one that lights up for no good reason.  I feel like I say this every day, but it's probably only once a week: if you're just getting back after the weekend, there's all sorts of new shit posted.  Check 'em out.

HEY!  Well, sorry about the delay.  I wish I had an excuse better than "I've been too busy to think straight," but that's the truth and I know it hurts.  Here's a few subsidized entries to get us caught up so I can move onto cooler features as we enter the final week of the Countdown…
For October 21, a Head On A Platter.  For October 22, Marshmallow Halloween Peeps.  For October 23, I have absolutely no idea.
Say, do you think my boss would mind if I took off next week to write Halloween Countdown features on an unaffiliated website?  Couldn't one of you throw me the flu or something?  More entries on the way…

And, in the final chapter of the three part Slasher Costumes 4 Kids series, heeeere's Leatherface!  Not sure if I'd call him my favorite character of the bunch, but he definitely has the best costume.  If you don't agree he'll come eat you.

Part II of Slasher Costumes 4 Kids rages on with Jason Voorhees, the star of the DVD box set mentioned in the previous post.  The very big star.  Two different Jason costumes are featured, because it needed to be that way.

Weekend warriors notwithstanding, those of you who haven't been here in a few days NEED to make sure you've checked some of the other articles I posted criminally late.  Everything from pet costumes to Bo Knows to me wearing devil eyes and beyond.  Today's entry on the Halloween Countdown kicks off a three-day series focused on slasher costumes 4 kidz, yo.  First up, Freddy Krueger.  I'm still listening to that album at every given opportunity, by the way.

Okay, so I don't know what some of them there people were talking about — I LOVE the Friday the 13th DVD set.  Really.  It's not presented as on grand a scale as the Freddy set, but I think I can explain that one easily — the people involved with Elm Street movies are generally higher up on the pole than the Jason crew.  That said, most of the people involved with the F13 series show up here in extras or during commentaries, and that includes Mama Voorhees, whose contribution more or less consisted of "I hated being in this movie it was below me but man what a great thing it all was!"  I love her anyway. I didn't get a chance to watch everything yet, but I'm pretty pleased.  Like I said in an earlier post, I already own most of the movies on DVD.  Commentaries, extras and a cool looking box was all that could satisfy me, and they won on all three counts.  It's not as good as it could be, but few things are.  Totally recommended.

Here's your obvious survey question: What are y'all doing for Halloween, anyways?

And just like that, we're all caught up!  Hooray!  A site approached me wanting to advertise, but I asked if they wouldn't mind just giving me a discount in return for a review instead.  I've wanted these things for years, dating way back to when I was a REBELLYUS high school freshman in 1961.  So, here's the Halloween review of Scary Contact Lenses.  Four different pairs, from "Cateye" to "Whiteout."  I gotta admit, I love the things.  I'm past the point where I could be all fringe and wear 'em to the grocery store, but they'll be awesome for Halloween and other occasions when the general public couldn't make fun of me.

The company who sells 'em, Party Lenses, was super cool to do this, and their prices are undeniably on the cheap.  I know pairs sell for like a hundred bucks and up if you hit up the wonderful mall; Party Lenses' prices are much cheaper.  If you're ever gonna buy a pair of these, try doing it through them so they get a little payback for the nice gesture.

Also, the late entry for Saturday digs into the seedy world of Halloween costumes for your pets, featuring a series of photos where I maim and torture one of our cats for the good of the holiday.