Monday, September 24, 2012

Hall-GLOW-eeN!


What is Hall-GLOW-een?  It's just a play on words, but it's fitting for today because this blog post is about two decorative items that..well..glow!  See, there's something about Halloween that makes everybody want the lights out.  Throughout Summer, everybody is looking for light.  Everybody wants the Sun and to be out and about.  But Halloween?  It's about darkness.  It's about being scared.  It's about not knowing what is around the corner and, even if you know it's just the coat rack, you allow your mind to let you see a demented clown laughing at you!  That's a part of Halloween that I love and I look forward to it every year.  

However, a little light doesn't hurt and, at times, it can even add to the atmosphere.  For example, for as scary as a pitch black Haunted House may be, isn't it just a bit freakier when you're walking through high speed strobe lights?  Now you don't know if how close that demented clown is or how long before he wraps you up and pulls you into his underground circus.  Lights can be just as beneficial to the Holidaze as darkness and the atmosphere you create comes from you and your imagination.  A red room can represent blood, or it can flash like a heartbeat.  A blue room can be cold and ghostly, or you can just pretend Boo Berry had a field day while you were out.  A purple room can look like an ominous graveyard as the sun sets and clouds roll in.  You can even add a fog machine to make things spookier.


Here, I have a Jack-O-Lantern.  Get it?  Lantern?  Clever, right?  It doesn't say that anywhere, but I thought of it, ran with it, and I'm not giving this product any credit for it.

This lantern is a bit of an oddity because of the way it's promoted.  It's obviously for Trick-Or-Treaters as they venture out on Halloween night in their quest for free candy.  Safety is always a great cautionary measure, but I don't think I ever took any measures at all when I was a kid.  We just went out and walked around the neighborhood.  In fact, I think I would have been embarrassed to carry this lantern around as I traveled the city as Freddy Krueger.  It kinda kills the costume.  But now, as an adult, this lantern is awesome!!  


 Plus, it comes with a free box of Dubble Bubble Gum!  As if the lantern wasn't enough to sell me, they through in a pack of classic candy just to make sure they got me.  Great job!


How cool is Jack?  He's the type of pumpkin that makes other pumpkins jealous.  He's rocking an awesome suit, with a batty tie, and is smiling so wide that you can't miss his one tooth.  He's got one red eye, and another with a hint of yellow in it.  Lady pumpkins have to think that's a major turn-on!  This guy is legit.. He definitely he has me convinced.  He has enough confidence to light up a room!


Bring this Jack-O-Lantern into a dark room, and all four walls become a bright orange.  It's perfect for Halloween.  If you threw a Halloween party, this is the type of decoration you'd want to hang from the corner of your room or out in the backyard.  It's obviously not the focal point of any party or room, but it's enough to change the tone of any space in a flip of a switch.  All of a sudden, you're in a Haunted Pumpkin Patch, surrounded by possessed pumpkins, coming to life to feast on your body.  Tonight, YOU are the pie, pumpkin! Bwahaha..  Seriously, use your imagination and turn your room into something different.  Don't be afraid to think outside the box and get a little stupid.  Halloween is supposed to be fun, you're allow to be dumb and stupid and if anybody says anything, then they're obviously missing out on an amazing time of year!


If this were the Christmas Holidaze, this would be called a Snow Globe.  But for Halloween?  I don't know what you'd call it.  I guess it's just a Spook Globe, but regardless, this thing is awesome!  My girlfriend found this soon after Halloween 2011 and even though I love the Holidaze, once October is over, I've usually moved on to Thanksgiving and Christmas.  So, I didn't really give it much thought when she got it.  But, now that we're in the swing of things once again, I'm so excited over this Spook Globe that it's become one of the highlights this year.  When I talk about creating an atmosphere, I don't think I own one Halloween item that does so better than this.  First of all, look at this design.  It's an inferno of green ooze burning over a fiery cauldron!  It's creating a world of toxic ash that swirls around the heads of souls that once roamed the earth.  Now, thanks to whoever this witch is, the world has come to an end and Earth is nothing but a wasteland.  Little does she know, you and I are the last people on earth and it's our mission to survive!  Man, that's better than The Walking Dead!  AMC, get cracking!  That story was pretty good, but it gets even better when we light it up!


Look at how green this makes everything around it!  It reminds me of The Wizard of Oz and the Wicked Witch of the West's evil castle.  Remember how creepy that was.  There were flying monkey's and eerie soldiers chanting throughout the building.  No matter how old I get, that will always be one of the scariest scenes I've ever seen.  I literally felt stressed out for Dorothy and the gang as they struggled to find what they were looking for.  That's what this Spook Globe represents for me.  Once the room goes green, the ash begins to whirl around us like the tornado that ripped Dorothy from her home.  This globe and the world it creates is unsettling.  It makes you feel out of place and, you know, something bad is about to happen.  But the best part about this Hall-Glow-een product?  It's all make-believe.  It's fake.  It's all imagination and when you know nothing bad is going to happen, you're able to embrace the evil and immerse yourself in it for a while.


Unfortunately, for these three souls, make-believe was a reality and they're forever lost in that world of mayhem.  The toxic ash has taken their lives and they'll never live to warn us of what's to come.  

If you really want to change the mood of your room, for at least a moment, here's something you can do.  Turn out all of your lights and open the following video.  I recorded this Spook Globe in action because, when on, it truly is something to be seen.  Pictures just don't do it justice and I want you to experience it as I did.  This is the best we can do, but I've added scary music, wind, rain, and thunder to the mix to make your transition from safe to unsafe complete.  Enter that world I've discussed today.  Turn the lights off, open the video, and make it full screen.  The green light will surround you and your imagination will take over.  Only you know what it may come up with, but I'd love to hear your stories.  Have fun!

 


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