EDIT: Comments are back up as of 5 PM Sunday! YAY.
Some of you asked if I was going to run any new artsy Halloween contests this year. Yes, I am! Right now!
It's time for X-E's Shoebox Die-O-Rama Contest!
Your mission: Use a shoebox to create some kind of spooky Halloween diorama. You can give it any kind of specific theme -- a graveyard diorama, an Elm Street diorama, an undersea monster attack diorama -- whatever you want! So long as we can effectively classify your diorama as "spooky" or "Halloweeny," it's valid!
You can use whatever materials you prefer: Paper, clay, plastics, cereal bits, blah blah blah. The one and only rule is that your diorama must be housed within the cardboard confines of a shoebox.
Entries will be judged by me and a team of people who just happen to be on AIM whenever I decide to do the judging.
And there will be prizes!
The grand prize winner will receive this amazing "Bloody Mary" Living Dead Doll, which is absolutely disturbing and would look just great rested upon the faux fireplace in the corner of your living room. Five runners-up will receive a random scary DVD of my choosing.
You have two weeks to send me a photo of your diorama. Please include the title of your piece with a brief description. This contest ends on Saturday, September 26th at 10 PM. Winners will be announced within one week of that time. 
Oh, and if you can't figure out what the fuck a diorama in a shoebox is supposed to look like, here's an example:
You probably won't win if yours looks anything like that, though.
Other rules: Contest is open to everyone, no matter where they live -- BUT, if you're on the other side of the planet, I reserve the right to send you an Amazon gift certificate instead of something that will cost me an additional 70,000 dollars to ship.
Get out your construction paper, and make with the creepy creativity. GOOD LUCK.
PS: The Jukebox has been refreshed with almost twice as many songs. Call it inspiration!
PPS: I can't believe that "shoebox" isn't a real word. I'm told it's supposed to be "shoe box." I refuse to adhere.
Posted by Matt on 09/12/2009. E-mail me!
Chestnuts roasted by 
No blood orange or other halloween dots at my local Walmart, but a few other interesting finds. They had a “giant 2 headed gummy snake” that was about 2 inches in diameter and looked almost as long as my arm. Also lots of different flavors of candy corn: carmel, carmel apple, carmel chocolate, apple pie, blackberry cobbler, and creme brulee.