Great Pumpkin was on tonight, and for the first time in about ten years, I missed it. Well, I caught enough to notice that ABC took some liberties and made Charlie Brown do some heavy lifting promo work during the commercial breaks — wtf was that all about? Missed all the good parts, though. If you’re in the same boat, take note: ABC is re-airing the special tomorrow night. (I’m sure that there’s some ratings/network competition-related reason for this, but I prefer to think that ABC is doing it just for me.)
Thanks to PlantMonster for the hot tip! New (or somewhat newish) at Walgreen’s, it’s the General Mills Monster Cereals lip balm collection!
I located Boo Berry and Franken Berry, but Count Chocula remains elusive. The completist collector in me is disappointed, but on the other hand, I can’t say that I’d be a huge fan of chocolate Chapstick.
There is no feasible way to improve on these. The colors, scents and flavors are totally dead on, to the point where you would guess “Franken Berry” even if you had no idea it was supposed to look/smell/taste like it.
By the way, when I say “taste,” I mean it, and not in that bullshit “lick your lips” sort of way. Of all the awful childhood habits that I’ve never been able to break, treating Chapstick like candy stands proud at the forefront. I’ve long considered lip balm as a more malleable form of Twizzlers.
While we were out Halloween store-hopping this past weekend, I absolutely could not resist this mask. The “Light Up Clown Mask” was fairly overpriced at twenty bucks, but it stood out like an unholy grail in a mask collection that was mostly filled wih easily recognized movie-and-television characters. I had to have it.
What struck me most is how reminiscent the mask is of those last minute costumes that I used to get from local pharmacies and supermarkets. You know the kind. When I was still young enough to wear costumes but too old to really care what those costumes were, it was common to just pick up the most heinous mask still available at CVS on the night before Halloween. If I was feeling saucy, I’d grab a plastic scythe or something to go along with it.
By that point, costumes were no longer a point of passion for my friends and I. We’d still dress up and go trick-or-treating, but by then, it was just a thing to do…not THE thing to do. Besides, we were really too old to get away with action-packed head-to-toe costumes, anyway. The other kids would’ve frown upon it and egged us. With all of that in mind, our half-assed costumes always ended up being something like that evil clown mask — effortless and apathetic enough for us to avoid looking lame, but still somehow great.
The mask has an unmistakable Killer Klowns From Outer Space vibe, and I’m not just saying that because it happens to be a mask based on an evil clown. It really does sort of look like the lead Killer Klown from the movie. Then again, his face didn’t light up.
Yeah, so, the mask comes with a tiny push-button remote, which activates a series of white lights that scatter underneath the mask and make your head look like a Christmas tree. It’s a common gimmick in pseudo-extravagant Halloween masks, but it works well enough — or maybe it doesn’t.
See, what you can’t tell from the crazy animated photo above is that my clown mask arrived completely busted. It’s actually taped together up there. In reality, as soon as I opened the package, the mask fell into pieces. Two whole pieces!
The light-up stuff actually exists on a second mask, which, in a perfect world, would remain glued to the outer clown shell, giving consumers the impression that they’re buying one whole awesome mask instead of two shitty broken ones. Since this is a pretty old item, the ancient glue lost its once-celebrated adhesiveness, and I was left with what’s shown above — plus a outer clown shell.
Am I disappointed? Not really. The way I figure it, I probably saved some kid from having the worst Halloween ever. We so often forget how a child’s sanity hinges on every immediate event, and I can think of no quicker way for a trick-or-treater to have a heart attack than a busted costume. Besides, any kid who would’ve picked this light-up evil clown mask over some tired Hollywood pop idol costume is someone I’d want to save.
Wow, I totally dropped the ball on getting everyone’s entries published in a reasonable timeframe. Sorry about that! We still have a few days left, so by the time Halloweekend is over, all Die-O-Ramas will have had their day in the sun. Or stark raving darkness, as the case may be.
Worst of all, some of the entries I’m stumbling onto now clearly deserved to be among the winners, making me feel like even more of a horrible monster for putting them up so late. Oi. Sorry guys, your work was much more tremendous than my organizational skills. I’m still compiling the remaining entries, but for a taste, here are five reader-created Spooky Die-O-Ramas that you’ve yet to see!
(Click here to see a larger photo!)
Created By: Kittymao
Full disclosure: This really should’ve been one of the winners. I knew that the second I saw it, but somehow, I misplaced the e-mail and screwed up. Well, better late than never: Kittymao, you’ve won yourself a DVD! It may arrive after Halloween, but horror movies are still okay in November.
I’ll let her describe it: “In a nutshell, it is the Beginning Graveyard Scene from Night of the Living Dead — the 1990 version, directed by Tom Savini. Johnny has just wrestled with the western Bolo Zombie — AND LOST – and our forlorn and scared Barbara is about to make a run for it.”
Incredibly, Kittymao made all of the elements — she sculpted and painted the figures, and even sketched out the background with precise faithfulness to the film that the diorama was based on. And check out the detail work! Way too much finesse and awesomeness here for me to handle. Awesome job!
(Click here to see a larger photo!)
Created By: Darth Poop
There’s more to Darth Poop’s Aliens-inspired opus than it seems! Don’t let the first glance fool you, because there’s a lot more to this than neatly organized action figures! Check out Darth’s photo gallery, and you’ll see what I mean. In fact, every time I go through that gallery, I realize just how much work really went into this. Darth, if you’re reading, would you mind giving us a breakdown on how this was created?
As you browse through the gallery, keep a sharp eye and spot all of the crazy minute details, from the severed limbs to the Aliens lurking under the platforms! With all of the stuff happening in “This Is A Bughunt,” it’s easy to forget that everything’s contained in one measly shoebox! I’m starting to think that I should just send everyone who entered a DVD and be done with it. 
(Click here to see the full Die-O-Rama!)
Created By: Dymphnawolf and Aitora
Dymphnawolf and Aitora’s intro: “It is a night time graveyard scene in which a grave digger takes a break from his grim occupation, unaware of the danger that lurks behind him in the form of a rotting corpse that is digging itself free of its resting place. If you look closely, you can see that the zombie is missing part of his head, leaving the contents exposed.”
There’s an odd and unsettling feel to this one — it’s as if the entrants used a time machine to pillage their diorama from some horror-obsessed kid from the 1930’s. The antique feel definitely adds a creepy layer, and I’m especially fond of the toothpick cross in front of the open grave.
(Click here to see a larger photo!)
Created By: Thorzul
You know, Thorzul, you may have gotten robbed. I think yours is going to be a fan favorite. In Thorzul’s words: “I chose to think outside of the typical Halloween fright fest and depict what might possibly be the scariest thing I can think of.”
Political and societal commentary aside, I’m enamored with how Thorzul so effortless turned a shoebox into a television set. It’s no doubt the most uniquely concepted Die-O-Rama that I received, and I’m sure Thorzul wants to kill me for waiting so long to post it.
(Click here to see a larger photo!)
Created By: Class3KillStorm
Class3KillStorm’s diorama was one of several Ninja Turtles-themed entries. Here’s his description: “Basically, the concept is that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are having a Halloween costume party, and Raph and Leo aren’t too happy about Michaelangelo’s poor costume choice. Donatello was too busy making machines to attend; also, I don’t own any Donatello action figures.”
What Class3KillStorm didn’t mention is that his Die-O-Rama glows in the dark! Course, the best stuff is hiding in the background — look close and you’ll spot a crayon-drawn Shredder and Bebop, putting aside their usual differences with the Turtles for the sake of a successful Halloween party.
Again, thanks to everyone who entered, and if you haven’t seen your Die-O-Rama spotlighted yet, stay tuned — it ain’t Halloween yet!
Posted by Matt. E-mail me!
Ghosted by 
Um…so…not to have ten million tons of gen x-er internet spite rain down on my head, but does anyone here dislike Peanuts, or is it just me? I mean, I love the TV specials as much as the next red-blooded American. How could you not? The music is great, the stories are pretty tight, you can’t argue with the dance sequences. It’s just that I really, really dislike the comic.
Yeah, thought about that a bit more. Really fucking hate that comic strip.