Just...kill...me...

I am unable to live in a world where this exists.

This is a sad, sad day for humanity.

WTF?!

Pardon me, but what is this and why do we need a Twilight blow dryer? Does it come with glitter cartridges, sold separately? Does it give you a pasty complexion or that flat emotionless look that Bella sports?

Someone help me out on this, I'm confused.

Random Ramblings and S & M kitteh spanking.

Now THAT got your attention, didn't it?



I have 3 other cats that love kitteh spanking, I'll try to get Albert to do his spanking dance on film (or digital rather).  He usually turn around afterwards and either does the amorous rolling or the I love you like a goat head butt.

Went to the hospital sleep clinic last night for a checkup.  First of all this is what is waiting on you on the bed as you walk into the 2500.00 a night room...

After you have about 30 electrodes stuck all over you, 2 monitoring belts, an oxygen finger device with a red light on it and a cpap mask on, they cheerfully say, "just sleep normally"...

Uh huh, like that was going to happen.  I actually slept some and was relieved when 5:45am came and I could get unhooked and go home.  This is what I looked like right after she unsnapped all the wires...

I must really love you people for letting you see me like this.

So all in all, everything if fine.  Everything was fine before but they saw that I hadn't used up all my allotment for my insurance this year and thought that needed remedied.

So go ahead and hate me, I'm going to Vegas next week.  Free flight for 2 (yes it's on South{cattle car}West but hey, I can moo for 4 hours there). Free hotel.  Mrs. Macabre is the Jedi Master of discounts and free stuff.  If you go to Southwest.com (yes, the airline), they have a credit card offer for 50,000 travel points through Chase bank if you apply and use it once.  It might say 25,000 points but if you Google around, you can probably find the 50,000 points offer like we did the other night.  I saw a program about a guy that is the king of free travel and this is his website.  I used to feel somewhat bad for taking advantage of freebies and such because I felt like I was taking advantage of the company.  I have since moved on from that way of thinking and now if I can $(&#W a credit card company out of some freebies, you better dang well believe I will.  And if you stay off season, most of the time the hotels will comp you your room and give you gambling credit to boot.  They want you to stay, enjoy yourself and gamble away the credit they give you and then some.  Luckily, I'm a cheap @$$ when it comes to gambling...and unlucky so I give the credits to Mrs. M and usually we come out to the positive (Mrs. M can gamble and make money, however).  The freebies are out there people, go get them!

Ahem.

Groan, going to the %$#@^&* mall this afternoon.  I HATE crowds, I HATE our mall and I especially HATE our crowded Christmas rabies infested crowds mall!  But a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do, put on hockey pads and tackle the opposition for the bargains!  

Will be back a bit later...

Animal Abuse

All together now, awwwwww how cuuuuuttttte!

This gets them back for peeing on the mattress.

I love being mean and evil >:•D

Wedding Bells are Tolling!

No, not mine, Mrs. Macabre niece's!  Elizabeth has asked that her and her fiance be married:

A: On Hallowe'en night
B: In the Final Unresting Place Cemetery with ghosts, fog and tombstones.

To say that I am honored and overjoyed is an understatement!  I like her beau, he's just an all-around nice guy and although she's gone through some rough times in her life, she's straightened out and doing wonderfully.  So now I'm going to be part wedding planner with no experience at all...ain't stopped me before!

Alright you bridesmaids, you can cut off your fluorescent lime green dresses to tea length and wear them again. Yes I know they're snug, if you can still breathe, there's room for more cinching!  Alright Liz, what did I tell you about eating 3 weeks before the wedding?  No food, only diet water!  You want everyone to turn and say 'my she looks so thin'.  Where's the ringbearer?  Where's the ringbearer's sedatives?!  People, this is HER day, if you screw it up I will kill you all and hide your bodies so you won't get a proper burial!  Now this is a happy day for her D@^^^^!+ , smile like you mean it or I'll get a tire iron out of my trunk and MAKE you smile! Groomsmen, either stand up straight with no slouching or I'll take my Louisville Slugger to your kneecaps and give you something to slouch about!

I think I might like this!

I was going to whine but....

Gratuitous gorgeous picture of a maple tree  in my neighbor's yard.  I'm going to steal this tree!

I had this HUGE melodramatic post all composed that just needed the publish button to be pressed but I decided against it.  If I rolled my eyes at it, I would hate to think what anyone else would do!

Another of the same tree....I'm going to buy a shovel tomorrow!

Hallowe'en was good.  I had record low turnout (yes, you heard me), at least 5 props died and had to be mechanically resurrected (but all of them worked on Hallowe'en night, even the Axeworthy ghost which had given me $#!+ for the past couple of weeks worked flawlessly), I was exhausted from doing everything myself and as of today, haven't received a peep of thanks out of the money that was collected (170.00, way way down from last year).

So what if it's 40 feet high, I think I can dig it up in one night, she won't miss it!

But you know what, things are good. I'm a happy camper.

On second though, she has to rake all these leaves and I'm too lazy for that sort of work.

Strangely enough, I don't have to post Hallowe'en blues.  The magic is still there, even after putting the pumpkin gently on the compost heap and packing up the props in the shed.  I'm still in the mood. I was a bit off Hallowe'en night but after a bit of rest, I'm planning to start on 2012.  

Aw heck, as long as I wrote it, might as well post it....read at your own risk...

I can be a melodramatic whiner, and I'm good at it.  This might be one of those posts.

I'm a one-man-show, I don't get any help with Hallowe'en.  So as I was setting up the yard this year, I was toying with the idea of letting this year be the last.  It would be a lot easier just to carve a pumpkin and on November 1, toss it on the compost heap and be done with it.  The Cemetery had low turnout this year, mostly due to lack of advertisement, although it did raise 170.00 for the Humane Society (in contrast to 840.00 last year).  Then after a good Hallowe'en night, it was over.  I didn't feel the magic for some reason, maybe I was too tired and cold (we did have a cold snap which felt good).  Unplugging the power cords and turning off the electric tea lights one by one, I wandered around the yard a bit before going to the chain link fence gate and snapping the lock shut.  The next day rain was predicted.  Unfortunately, I had to take my mother to the doctor 60 miles away and drive her back meaning I would get in late.  As I stumbled around the back yard, lifting ghosts, ghouls and the undead mechanical apparitions back to their shed, I remember that we are having dinner guests.  %^&*@;$(#!!!!  No rest for the wicked, or weary.

As I put the props into the dry safety of the shed, I wondered, is it worth it?  Why am I doing this to myself?  I could have just taken the money that I spent on the yard this year and given that to charity if I so-called cared for animals like I say I do and come out a whole lot better in the end (told you that I'm a whiner).

But then what?

What would I do?  I'm an artist at heart and artists create to live and live to create. What would I do with the knowledge I've accumulated?  What could I apply my skills to that would be satisfying and satisfy a deep passion?  Then it occurred to me:  I haunt therefore I am.  I live for magic, for mystery, for the darker realms of existence.  My soul yearns for the unexplained, the places that people fear, the flicker of a candle where a candle should not be.  Haunting gives me purpose and although it is hard work, expensive and at times frustrating, I receive a sense of joy in watching the spark of Hallowe'en light up in a child's eyes.  Tonight as I trudged the very last of the decorations to the storage shed, I realized that I wasn't down.  I didn't have post-Hallowe'en blues.  Usually after Hallowe'en, the glow of a jack o' lantern loses its magic, the orange and black aren't as cheerful and thoughts turn toward other endeavours (namely winter vacation in Vegas whoo hoo!).  But not this time (well, winter vacation in Vegas IS on my mind right now, COME ON 7 OR 11, DADDY NEEDS A NEW PAIR OF SHOES!). Strangely enough, Hallowe'en has moved somewhere from a holiday to a way of life for me.  It feels natural to start thinking on new props, it feels...purposeful.  Maybe it's because I let myself run out of blood pressure medicine and I was about to blow a gasket (checked it today:  145/91...went ahead and got a 3 month supply to not let it happen again), maybe it's something more.  I plugged in a leftover electric pumpkin...the magic returned.  I've watched Pumpkinrot's Swamp Foetus several times now, each time with awe.  I'm listening to Saint-Saens' Danse Macabre , decidedly Hallowe'en music and have the hankering to watch Trick R' Treat.  

Back again.

As long as there is an October 31, there will be Hallowe'en.  As long as I can, I'm going to try and show kids and adults alike the wonder and mystery of Hallowe'en.  I've pondered the above paragraph for a few days and it has rang true, I haunt, therefore I am.  Give me ghosts or give me death (either way I win).  I only regret that I have but one graveyard to give to my haunting.  Damn the preachy pamphlets, full steam ahead! 

And lastly, I have not yet begun to haunt...

Happy Hallowe'en

For some of us though, every day starts out scary.  Happy Hallowe'en y'all!

It fall down and go BOOOOM!

Let it be known, Hallowe'en and wind do NOT mix.

Before:

After:

The archway and columns blew down, taking the seance table with it. Luckily, no one was around.  This was the second archway dive, I think I'm going to leave it off for safety's sake.

What the blankity blank blank DOESN'T cause cancer!?

Was sawing through a piece of wood the other day and saw this warning. Are they just trying to make me a hypochondriac basket case!?

Scare Tactics

Although I don't scare people in my haunt, I DO love to scare (just ask Sausage Von Trapp, when I scare her, I end up getting hit each time, but the bruises are well worth it)!  I also love seeing other people being scared, it's hilarious!  I never knew Ellen was a Hallowe'en fan, much less she loved to scare.







But be careful...

B. A. Spider

Saw this fellow this morning near my shed. Big, fat and creepy but spun a gorgeous web.

The Ouija Experiment

Now isn't this weird, I get an email from Spirit Halloween saying leave the Ouija board alone and now here's something out of the blue about a collective group to try and contact the dead via Ouija board.  On Hallowe'en night at 10pm EST, there's going to be a collective effort to hold an internet seance to try and establish contact with the departed.  These guys don't seem to be some sort of crackpots either, there's a lot of scientific terms and theorizing about electromagnetic fields and such as well as what looks like wiring a Ouija board to generate an electromagnetic field.

I don't know if I will be participating yet (I've had my share of paranormal activity in my life to last me for a while) but I probably will be observing. If you are interested, please click here or on the Ouija board:

The Ouija Experiment

With my luck, I'd either open a portal to let Zuul out or this would happen:

I would LOVE to know what was going on here!!!

And So It Begins

Got the sign up tonight despite a grueling headache. The witch has already taken a nose dive this year but a couple of zip ties and some TLC, she's flying high again...minus one foot.

Here we go. 6 days to showtime...

Spell For Conjuring Spirits

I wrote this little poem/spell for my fortune teller....

Yes, it is indeed my voice, just raised a pitch.

Edison and Spirituality

Found this little article while perusing through teh interwebs...

Edison was of a scientific mind and at the turn of the century, the supernatural and paranormal was all the rage (sound familiar?).  He theorized that if communication was possible with the dead, then it should be done by scientific means.  It is legend that he was/had been working on/had made a "ghost radio", a device that was able to pierce through to the next plane and allow those bygone to communicate.  Unfortunately, the prototype has never been found and the schematics aren't around either.  

Whether or not Edison had indeed constructed/planned out this device went with him to the grave.  The stuff of urban legend and conspiracy theories are made of such as this.  For a little more insight, click here for another (bit more up to date) article.  

And here's a scary@$$ ventriloquist dummy picture thrown in for good measure.

Creature Feature, My New All Time Favorite Band!

Ok, if this don't get you in the Hallowe'en spirit, nothing will!  I dig his burns!  I've got to grow me some like that!  Of course I would have to get another job, find another place to live and dye them daily.  Guess I'll stick with what I have.





More available from iTunes...

Ouija Warning

Strange, today I was checking my email and I get this (ya gonna have to click on the picture to see the whole thing because it's so big):


[Via: FrightCatalog.com: The The Web's #1 Halloween Costume StoreView Larger Image and Get the Embed Code to Add This Infographic to Your Site

Yeah, it's put out by the Fright Catalog and it's an advertisement (I think) but it makes for some interesting reading and makes you say hmmmmmm.

Ever play/use a Ouija board?  Anything weird happen?  I knew someone who had a board and said that they heard it scream when they burned it.  Not sure about all of this myself, I played with one when I was in middle school/high school and it didn't do anything. True, I levitated several feet off the floor, my eyes rolled back in my head and I started screaming "I'M RELEASED FROM THE BOWELS OF HELL!  LET THE TIME OF BLOOD AND PAIN COMMENCE WITH MY NEW EARTHLY REIGN OF EVIL!" but I couldn't get the little pointer to move.

How about y'all, had any dealings with the Ouija board?

Warning/Graphic...One Post to Rule Them All

I've been saving this for quite some time.  I will be inclined to warn you to please read the story BEFORE you click on the link at the bottom of the page.  I have included the link to the picture at the bottom for those of you that may not want to partake of the spectacle.

When I first heard the story from my dear Sausage Von Trapp, I was awed; it was the stuff of legends, of Southern gothic tales and then some.  Although not ENTIRELY a Hallowe’en per se post, you will nonetheless agree with me that this is definitely creepy.  When you see what I've brought to show and tell, you will agree that this is the...

One Post to Rule Them All.

The back-story…

Sausage’s grandfather was a 5-year-old little boy back in the early 1900’s. There wasn’t this overwhelming obsession by the government and lawyers to protect its citizens; they were depended upon to use common sense ("horse sense" as my grandmother used to say, whatever that meant). 

For ease, we shall refer to Sausage’s grandfather as Jim, and his older brother as John.  Jim and John lived in the foothills of Tennessee at the turn of the century. One fateful day, John was showing Jim his new hatchet.  (Before you stick your nose in the air at our ‘primitive’ ancestors, just remember that not too terribly long ago, in the 70’s, I had a chemistry set with real bad@$$ chemicals in it, a bow and arrow set with NO little rubber tips on the arrows, and a carving set in which one night I slipped and carved my hand with the curved blade requiring a trip to the emergency room and 16 stitches).

Of course, as 5 and 7- year-old boys do, there’s always going to be a game of chicken…John made the challenge: “Stick your finger down there on the chopping block and I’ll cut it off.” Jim stuck his hand down on the piece of wood; one was to never back down from a dare.  John was sure that Jim would move his hand out of the way…Jim was sure that his own brother wouldn’t dare bring the hatchet down.  Both trusted the other.

Both were wrong.

The hatchet went all the way down and Jim didn’t move.  The next thing was probably a scream and a pool of crimson. 

Both boys ran back to the house to their mother.  Jim's hand was intact, but his finger dangled from a small sliver of muscle.  The doctor was called and he came quickly in his horse and buggy.  Upon examination, there were two options: the bone and muscle endings could indeed be sewn back together (but the severed nerve ending ensured that the finger would never work)...

or...

he could amputate the finger. 

A quick discussion and it was decided, amputation.  A quick snip with short surgical scissors and it was all over. 

But what of the finger? 

What do you do with a severed limb? 

My dear gentle readers, YOU DANG WELL SAVE IT!!!  

(Remember, we here in the South still have Decoration Day in May; you go to church, then after service you decorate graves and have dinner in the cemetery, then a singing.  Ever see “Crazy in Alabama” or “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”?  Those aren’t movies about Southerners, those are documentaries!  We Southerners invented gothic!  If you don’t have at least one ghost or crazy person in the family, well, let’s just say that every good Southern family has some skeletons in their closet.) 

Ahem, back to the story…

A small, unused jar of Listerine was found in the cupboard. (Yes, you read that right, Listerine.  Basically at the time I think it was just this side of moonshine in terms of alcohol content).  The finger was dropped in...

...and that was that. 

Jim's mother couldn't bear to part with it.  In later years Jim and his new bride became the keepers of the finger.  It resided in the china cabinet, tucked back in the corner.  But Jim had a request, a simple one:  that his finger in the jar be buried with him when he passed on from this life to the next.

And when Jim did pass, and the wake was over, and the casket lowered into the cold earth, it was realized that the finger was still in the china cabinet…in the hustle and bustle and emotional stress of a death and burial, the grief-stricken family had forgotten to put the finger in the casket.  After a bit of worry, there was nothing that could be done.  Jim's wish could not be fulfilled; the finger would reside in the china cabinet until the passing of his wife in which the finger was then handed off to the daughter of Jim...to where it sits today in her china cabinet.

Jim was remembered lovingly and lived a life too short, but a joyful life indeed.  His finger has graced several show-and-tell times in school, never failing to get an awestruck audience. It was and continues to be a conversation piece.  

When I heard this story, I asked Sausage if her mother could take a picture of the finger and send it.  I was delighted that she was gracious not only to take a picture but a great close-up picture!  Please notice the details...the jar hasn’t been opened in over 90 years: and in it, the wrinkled, shriveled pink finger, complete with a little wart and Tennessee dirt under the small fingernail. where it will probably be passed down again and again from generation to generation.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE PICTURE PAGE 

Cartoon Time!

A few cartoons from the Mr. Macabre YouTube favorites...

How to deal with death...

Kick its bony butt!!!

Death and the Doctor have it out over a little widow woman...

Produced by Antonio Banderas, a great little film!

Day of the Dead Rockabilly Cowboy Skeletons! It's in Spanish, but don't worry, you'll get what's happening...

Should have given my Spanish classes a little more time than I did just to know what they're saying.

This one shouldn't be in here because it's of a more somber tone but it's beautiful and the song Catrina sings sends shivers down my spine.


Pure silliness to cap it all off!

50 Personalized Pens Giveaway Winner

After consulting the Oracle of Randomness, I think we have a winner...

The Favorite Things Guy!  Congratulations from Amsterdam Printing and Mr. Macabre!

Pumpkinrot's Wife, Bean, Handiwork

I just got this the other day from Primitives by Kathy...I ordered it in June or July and it was well worth the wait, beautiful!!!
And it's well made too, the thing must weigh 5 pounds at least and the detail is amazing!

He just reeks of old school Halloween! And he lights up too!

DO WANT NOW!!!

Gasp, have you ever seen something so beautiful?!  I KNEW I should not have perused over to Design Toscano (I always get in trouble there!).

Followed a link through trickortreat in Midnight in the Garden of Evil, (very good Halloweeny blog, you should be following her!). 

100 Postcards Winner

The Oracle (Random.org) has been consulted and has spoken.  Caffeinated Joe (what a great name!) is going to help out his brother-in-law's small business get a little kick start with some postcard advertising!
Congratulations from Uprinting and me, Mr. Macabre!

Cure for constipation!

This will scare the $()*%&@( out of you!!!!



Yes, I know that it could be fake, I'm not no dummy.  BUT...at the very end, the guy's voice goes into this deep guttural yell that is EXTREMELY hard to duplicate unless you are in a stressful situation.

You decide, although their first mistake was breaking into a funeral home, that's just asking for it on a silver platter!

EEEEEYYYYYAAAAAAAAA!!!

This actually did scare me, no kidding.  Click to view bigger size...

via $#!7brix.com (didn't think that I would really type it out would you? We have kids in the audience!)

Hint...look to the far left.

A UPrinting Giveaway!!! 100 Custom Postcards!

Could you use 100 postcards? Custom printed?  For FREE?  Of course you could, there's a ton of things that you could use them for, like sending out invitations to that police-gonna-be-called-it's-so-good Halloween party, maybe promote your new business of corpses and cadavers for the season, or something really horrible like something (shudder) normal like bridal shower or baby announcement.

Just kidding.

As some of you may know, I have used UPrinting.com for several years for my online printing needs, from brochures, business cards and posters and I can attest that they have fast service and the quality is absolutely incredible.  Vivid color printing at a great price!

Postcards in all seriousness are a great communication tool that lets a picture on the front say a thousand words, to get someone's attention quickly and make a good impression.  And let's face it, everyone likes a postcard, there's something nostalgic about it.

Here are the details of what you could win:

100 custom postcards for one lucky winner
5 inches by 7 inches
14pt Gloss Cardstock
No folding
Front only printing
2 Business Days Print Turnaround Time
Limited to US residents 18 years old and above only

Giveaway ends 12:00 pm CDT September 20 so go ahead and enter!  Winner to be chosen by the ORACLE OF RANDOMNESS (random.org).

Here's what you have to do to qualify:  Simply tell the world what you would use 100 custom postcards for. I'm going to send out custom invitations to The Final Unresting Place this year for a VIP night.  You MUST leave me a way to get in touch with you...Some people I can look up via Blogger, some I can't.  Make sure that you leave your email in this fashion:  gruesometwosome at snotmail dot com so the spambots won't hijack your email like they did mine.

Good luck from UPrinting and Mr. Macabre!

This giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting, no monetary compensation was given and I will receive a set of 100 postcards for hosting.

Long Time No Giveaway...Until Now...50 Custom Personalized Pens from Amsterdam Printing!

Confession time...I steal pens. I don't even realize I do it but at the end of the day I have a pocket full of pens.  I think that it would curb my kleptomania if I had pens with my name on them, that way I would keep up with them.  And then other people would steal mine because they would be so cool.  Then I would have to stalk them.

Want your own personalized pens?  Who doesn't (rhetorical question, everybody does!)! I was graciously asked to host a giveaway for 50 Inspire Pens absolutely free (a $149.95 value!) to one lucky winner from Amsterdamprinting.com, no shipping fees, no nothing, just a big box of free personalized pens!  If you need promotional pens and more, this would be the first place you should go.

How do you enter?  Simple, just leave a comment telling how you would use your personalized pens for your business, organization or personal use.  That's not too hard now, is it?  Winner will be chosen by the ORACLE OF RANDOMNESS (random.org).  And again, please be sure that I have some way to get in touch with you, and if you leave an email in your comments, leave it in the form as linus at greatpumpkinpatch dot org.  I have been having a fit with spambots lately and I don't want you to become a victim too!

Contest ends September 24 at 12:00pm CST and we will notify you personally by email as well as announcing it here.

(U.S. residents only over 18 years of age are eligible for this giveaway due to legal restrictions)

Good Luck y'all!

Interview With Unkle Pigors aka Eric Pigors of Toxictoons to kick off the High Holy Season!!!

To those that might have missed last year's interview and might not know who Eric Pigors is, he is the creator and mastermind of Toxictoons.com, a wonderfully demented collection of monsters, freaks drawn to a retro Rat Fink art flair with a decidedly Halloween bent.

Click the picture to see what got me started on Toxictoons and Unkle Pigors!

For those of you that might not know, Eric had a rather severe (ALL of them would be severe to me!) heart attack earlier this year.

Mr. M:  I've read your account of your heart attack...terrifying and not in the good way and am very glad that you're doing better.  Has this event in your life changed your outlook or perspective?

EP:  Well its really been tough, I changed my diet and exercise and I’m taking it day by day.  The first week I was listening to music and it sounded so great, I love art and music so much. I really feel grateful I am with my wife Denise. She was a god send.

As far as my art though,it’s a weird thing since I draw lots of spooky death themed art,which you can really see  in my new artbook I just put out called ,”DEATHS CASKET.” Which I also talk about death in the opening.The first print run is a 100 signed and numbered books with extras and is full of my Halloween,monster,Sexy vamp,and Frankenstein themed artwork. And I already sold the 1st half of them last month.

Mr.M:  You mentioned that the ambulance EMT knew your work, that is very cool to me.  Aside from shaking hands with former Alabama Governor George Wallace in the second grade, you are the most famous person I've met.  Has your notoriety as an artist been an overnight success or do you feel that it has been a process, having a diabolical master plan to arrive to where you are today?

EP:  Thanks for the huge compliment. I know have been pushing my Toxictoons art the past 11 years at shows I do  My Space/Facebook which have definitely given me a lot more exposure.

I think the ambulance ride was a pretty special event,that really comforted me on my way to my heart surgery. It’s been a looooong  process and I still feel like there are lots of people who don’t know who I am or my art.That’s what’s great about people doing interviews on my work like you, it exposes so many more new people to it who may have never heard of it. 

Mr.M:  The Trick or Treat bags, an uberly cool idea, what was your inspiration in creating these?

Original pen and ink..and tootsies.

EP:  Thanks, this is my 5th year doing them. Every Sept 1st I put the new T.O.T. Bag with new Halloween goodies I put in the bag.They have sold out every year.

And finished product in gory glory!

I was at a store looking for Halloween stuff and saw some bags with some cute stuff on them and I wanted to see stuff a little more edgy and not so goody goody. So I just made my own.Then I thought what would I want inside a bag,and made an Spooky activity book with my art,some pins,prints,window cut outs and sticker and my favorite thing, the spooky cd mix I make every year that’s different.  

And who knows what else might lurk in your bag,Boo haa haa!

Mr. M:  This seems like one of those Facebook questions but do you have an all-time favorite movie?  And if you say you're a Brony I will deny any knowledge of ever knowing you.

EP:  Well horror films it’s The BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. But my all time favorite movie believe it or not is,” A CHRISTMAS STORY.” I LOVE THAT FILM!!! (me too!)

I did a show the past 10 years out here in California that used to be called, FANGORIA’S  - WEEKEND OF HORRORS.” And they had BOB CLARKE, who is the director of ,”A CHRISTMAS STORY.” He also directed  one of my favorite zombie films called, “CHILDREN SHOULDN’T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS.”Well I usually never go get autographs at these shows because I am always selling my Toxictoons merchandise , but I love these 2 films so much and was excited to see he was one of the guest speakers that year.
So I had him sign both my DVDs. He was a very nice man and he introduced me to his son who he said was an artist also. And I am so glad I did go speak to him, and get 2 of my favorite DVDs signed. Tragically some drunk asshole killed him and his son on PCH highway maybe 6 months later drunk driving. I keep these 2 DVDs in a safe place, and  I look at his signature every now and then and think what a great human being he was and how much it sucks he isn’t here anymore because of some drunk asshole!!

Mr.M: Do you think of yourself as goth, alternative or something in between?

EP:  I kind of think of myself as a bit of a mixture of everything I grew up liking, I’m an artist,  goth, punk, metal, classic rock, rat fink monster weird oh!

Mr. M:  If you weren't an uber-talented artist drawing dark humor death centered cartoons, what would your backup career would have been?  I personally wanted to ride on the back of a garbage truck but we can't look back at what might have been.

EP:  Thanks, I really love music and always wanted to be in a band. But I chose art because I liked it more .Sometimes I wonder what made me gravitate towards cartoons so much,and especially dark stuff! Must have been all that death meat I consumed in my early years....uuummm  hot dogs, hamboogers! Sometimes when I hear the train at night tooting its horn by where I live I think it would be fun to drive a train at night and see the country side. (Well, I DID like hamburgers until now.  That image will be ingrained in my long term memory for a while)

Mr. M: Are you planning on doing anything special on the High Holy Day (Halloween)?

EP:  Well I think I want to go by that one house by moms, and see if they have a séance theme haunt in their garage like I saw in my dream I had before my hear attack.I also thought I was going to miss Halloween this year in that dream. If they do, It will be one freaky moment! Especially since this house never does anything spooky.

No, I wouldn't trick or treat him, not even for a Snickers bar!

Other then that not sure where I will do a haunt this year.I do love my moms neighborhood because that is where I spent my days as a kid Trick or Treating,and a few people deck out there houses there nice and spooooky!

But I do know I will be looking forward to that day like I do every year! It’s the best day ever! (That, my dear readers, is the gospel truth!)

This goes double for this!

Mr. M:  I see you were part of Halloweentown’s 2nd Annual Tribute to the Haunted Mansion ride,any thoughts about this or the actual ride you can share with us?  

A recent interview with Eric during an art show (Why doesn't anyone have anything like this where I am in Alabama?!  Oh, I remember, because we ares bakwoods an we don go fer that sorda artsay stuff!)

EP:  When I was a kid my friend TOM COLE’s dad worked at Disney, and he said he was always going to build a little Haunted Mansion ride in their garage.We used to play Bloody Mary,build  spook houses in his room ,and every time I went to his house I would peek in their garage and be disappointed to see their VW sitting on blocks.

But I always have loved the HAUNTED MANSION ride since I first went as a kid,and the music is just so great! The whole thing is just such a great piece of artistic history!

I even drew one print in my Haunted Mansion prints set that I sel that  has all the names of the biggest contributors to the ride,like artist Marc Davis who was an animator at Disney’s first.He drew Cruella De vil.

I even made a shirt similar to how the old HATBOX Ghost character worked. He was only in the ride for a short time,because they said you couldn’t see his head disappear and reappear in the hatbox quick enough. On my shirt it looks normal in the light, and when you turn the lights off it glows in the dark and you see his face appear in the hatbox instead of his body. 

Got several of the Hatbox ghost shirts!  Love em'!!!!

Here is a great 7 minutes history on the hatbox ghost:

    

Mr. M:So what was it like working at WALT DISNEY STUDIOS? And the ED EDD AND EDDY HALLOWEEN SPECIAL?

 

Charlotte from Princess and the Frog (good movie)

EP: I worked at Walt Disney feature animation  from 1987 to 2002 on the hand drawn films.I usually worked on the villain's like,Hades, Kerchak, Radcliff, Ursula,Silver,the Hyena's. It was a great job,and my own stuff would not exist if I had never worked there. See in 2002 they said people don’t want to see hand drawn films anymore and canned us all. So I took my money I saved and put it into my Toxictoons line and have been doing that sense. I did go back in 2009 on THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG,but this time I worked on the cute southern belle Charlotte.She was tuff,cute is harder to draw then hideous!

The ED EDD AND EDDY HALLOWEEN Special came about because when I was doing my own cartoon ,”LETS CHOP SOO-E!” for International Rocketship in 1989 I met DANNY ANTONUCCI there.He was one of their animators.And he is the creator of the ED EDD AND EDDY show.He was doing his Halloween special and asked if I would want to draw the neighborhood kids in my style.So I worked on it 3 weeks doing characters designs.It was a lot of fun,and the special turned out great!see it here and on CARTOON NETWORK every Halloween:
 Still don't think that you might have seen his work?  Ever seen the Ed, Edd n' Eddy's Boo Haw Haw?  No?  Then watch it!!!  NOW!  

Warning: May NOT be safe for work and children or those with weak constitutions...although hilarious...

Mr. M: I see TRICK OR TREAT STUDIOS has some more of your masks for 2011.

EP: Yeah Trick or Treat studios did 3 masks this year based on my Toxictoons characters. The masks names are Fang- Rot - Brain Eater, and last years Gruesome mask which I hear is still one of their best sellers!

The third one looks like my old P.E. coach.

Its very weird when I think back when I was a kid and bought my very first monster mask,it was a skeleton. And I even used it as a prop in my 1st Haunted House my brother and I built back in the 1970s.Then now I have masks based off drawings I drew. It’s a NIGHTMARE come true,and sometimes I really can’t believe where my life has taken me.I feel very lucky and blessed with what  I have accomplished in my art career.

Mr. M: I have your app, and it's great, tell us a little about it...

They all real real pretty!

EP: Yes I have an APP called MONSTERPIECES. My boss Margie Daniels who I worked with on THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG,Her husband ERIC DANIELS is really great with computers and he built this really great APP. Basically you are in a lab building your own Toxictoons monster from all my monster parts. You will be able to save your images you create to Facebook and gruesome photo gallery. It’s a lot of fun and only $2.99

It reminds me of the fun you had as a kid with all those old creepy toys like,CREEPY CRAWLERS,STRANGE CHANGE MACHINE & the MOTORIZED MONSTER MAKER.

(I had the honor of interviewing Mr. Daniels, a very nice guy who has my dream job, no wait, my dream job is to do nothing and be filthy stinking rich.  Read his interview below!)

Mr. M: So I gather that you are a full-time artist (insert fit of jealousy).  Can you tell us of a typical day in the life of a cartoonist?

EP: Well I wake up, and I hope I see sales from my website wwww.toxictoons.com , so I can breathe a little easier. It is a fun being a full time artist, but it is a very tuff way to make a living.

When I was working full time at Disney animation it ate up all my time which I hated,but I got paid so well and HEALTH INSURANCE. So after I see if I sold stuff I package sales and mail em off. If it’s a day where I have some drawings I have sketched out to do,I spend the day inking one in,and then color it in photo shop.

Then I see if I think I want to use it for a future shirt design or just in a future book,or some other merchandise idea. A lot of my art these days seems to fit this purpose before I start.

Before my heart attack I would finish 3 pieces a week. Lately it’s been 1 every other week. But it’s also been hot this summer here in California, and in winter for some reason I get more creative. Plus with Halloween approaching I really get inspired, and I also stock pile ideas in my sketchbook.

Mr. M:  You have close to now 80 prints in your gallery (many that hang on my wall), is #1 the first print that you officially did and I know that it's hard to do this, like picking a favorite child, but which one is your favorite(s)?  Which character is the most fun to draw?

EP: Thanx I wonder where they all went,the Herase print #1 wasn’t my 1st drawing ,but is one of my best sellers though.I have a Toxictoons book,my 1st one it’s a white paperback and has been sold out for years now.It had 150 pages of art ,plus 2 other books worth before I drew the hearse print.

Usually I tend to have liked pieces that send me in a new creative direction of what I will tend to draw a lot over and over theme wise. I do have so many characters,but Frankensteins monster and his vamp are my favorite characters to draw.

But some of my favorite pieces are ,”MY HEART IS YOURS.” I woke up one morning and was still groggy, then I just sketched it out. Just like it looks, which usually never happens.I always usually doodle thumbnail ideas on a sheet of paper, and then when I see a doodle I like and that I feel like ,ok I got it.I then enlarge the thumbnail drawing and work over it until I feel I’m happy enough to ink it in.

Some of my favorite pieces are prints: The Great Pumpkins arrival,Monster Mash, Deaths Last stitch, Love is Blind,The Sick Humor Man, Midnite death ride ,Hey can you spare a Hershy Bar,and I ATE THE COOK.

On my dvd I sell UNKLE PIGORS SPOOKHOUSE,I  talk a lot about this piece and my childhood,and how it all came together in the end.

 Mr. M: Barware, Ouija boards, magnets, shirts, prints, and now highly detailed masks, what else could we perhaps look forward to from Toxictoons?

EP:Man if I had the money I would make almost everything,I would love to see my stuff more in the HALLOWEEN area.I see so much stuff in stores this time of year and think,man if I could only get my stuff in front of all these people I could be set!

But t-shirts are my best sellers, and over the past 10 years I have made over wait... {I just counted oevr 115 shirts in 10 years,holy crap that’s a lot!} Sometimes  I feel like the well of ideas for shirt designs has ran dry. And then an idea comes to me and then 5, and ‘im off and running again! But a HALLOWEEN SPECIAL Is what I really want to do most of all.

Mr. M: Ever thought of doing a graphic novel (pleasesayyespleasesayyespleasesayyes)?

EP:Well no,I rather do a kids style book but more for adults.I like doing full page pieces.And comics, I do love,but I don’t like drawing in that format.Animation is more what I like also.

To see ERIC PIGORS Art or buy some of  his Toxictoons merchandise (you know you want to), just click the skull below!

Want to know more about Eric Pigors and the demented art he creates?  Then click on the Monsterpiece I made below to be transported to the interview from last year!

 

Bonus! Keep on readin'!  An interview with Eric Daniels, a Disney Animation Artist and Programmer of MONSTERPIECES!

(And a nice guy too)

Have you ever wondered about the life of an animator? Ever been curious on who comes up with the apps that pile up in your smartphone?  It is indeed my pleasure to introduce to you Mr. Eric Daniels, a Disney animator and the software writer of MONSTERPIECES.

Click on the cute widdle monster above to be transported to the Apple  Store where you can buy your very own copy of Monsterpieces!

Mr. M: First of all, thank you for taking the time to do this for us, could you tell us a bit about yourself and what your occupation is?

E.D: By day, I work at Disney Feature Animation. My exact job title changes now and then, because I love too many areas of this art form to stay in any one area for very long. I'll animate for a while, then I'll do technical support, then I'll program, then I'll animate some more... it's the way I prefer it. Usually the big studios won't let you move around that much, 

but I've been very fortunate with Disney; they've been unusually accommodating.

Mr. M: You know Eric Pigors and I would guess that you enjoy the gruesome creations he concocts.  How did you first meet and what brought about the idea for the MonsterPieces app?

Monsterpieces button for the iPhone

E.D:I first became a fan of Eric Pigors when my wife started as an artist at Disney, back in 1988 or so. She'd bring home these hilariously twisted postcards her coworker had made, and as our collection grew, his art just crept into my skull and wouldn't leave. Part of my brain seems to now be permanently devoted to his twisted vision.

When I started programming iPhone apps in my spare evenings, one of the first ideas I had was to figure out how to do an Eric Pigors app. I had several ideas jotted down, but none of them seemed to do his weird sensibility justice. Then, after writing and releasing two apps, I was looking around for which of my ideas to try next, and started thinking (again) about Eric Pigors' art.

My first thought was to make a game with his characters, but... well, the delight I get when I see some bizarre, crazy new idea of his is a big part of why his art is fun... so having the same characters walking around inside a game, over and over, didn't seem like it would have the same surprising, laugh-out-loud joy. But if you could create your own monster, and create your own laugh-out-loud moment... THAT seemed more like what I love about his artwork. Fortunately, he had been thinking along similar lines; he had made a "build-a-monster" page in one of his books... so I think we were on the same wavelength from the start.

Well someone's been busy in the lab!

Mr. M: In designing this app, what were the general steps in the process from the "hey, it would be kind of cool to have something where you can make your own monster" to pressing the send button to send it to Apple for review?

E.D: I like to start with a proof-of-concept stage, where I mock-up what the app might look and/or act like. So the first step was to jump into Photoshop and separate several of Eric's monster heads into their constituent parts; eyes, noses, mouths, heads... and then I started using those pieces and experimenting with how I could use them in a program.

I would name him Fluffy!

In the first version of the app that I mocked up, you could choose one nose, one pair of eyes, one mouth, one head shape... And I realized that it was incredibly limiting. It's okay for, say, the Futurama head-maker, or any of the other face-maker apps out there. But for Eric Pigors' artwork, you want to be able to make some wretched creature with three mouths, five eyes, two heads, a faucet coming from a nostril... there have to be no rules. So it was back to the drawing board. At some point, one of us had the idea of several bubbling vats, with the pieces falling in from above... We both liked that idea, so he drew me a vat, and I started programming like crazy.

The actual process of programming is tough to describe without resorting to metaphors, because it's so abstract. But basically, the job is to start with a very small program that doesn't do anything, and then gradually teach it to do everything you want it to. Along the way, there are an agonizing number of setbacks, pitfalls, successes, hurdles, and breakthroughs. Then one day you realize you're done! And at that point -- if they'll let you -- you reacquaint yourself with your wife and kids.

Mr. M: Do you have any other apps that are on the market?

Yes, I've got two other apps out right now: "Universe Splitter," which uses quantum physics to create alternate realities (no, really!), and "Sketji," which gives the user a very intuitive, naturalistic drawing experience -- somewhat like a big brush loaded with a lot of ink. I wouldn't call either of them terribly successful, but they were labors of love, so I'm not too concerned.(why do I feel suddenly feel rather simple minded all of the sudden? He are smart.)

Mr. M:  This looks like it would have been a fun collaboration, the results are great!  How was it working with Eric?  

As I said, I've known Eric a long time... we've worked on many movies together, so I feel like we were nicely "in tune" with each other during the process; I'd ask him for a particular piece of art, and he'd deliver it in no time; he'd suggest things and I'd program them in; etc. 

It was a good give-and-take.

Mr. M:  Eric told me that you work in Disney's animation department.  I'm not envious, green is my natural skin color.  Are there any films that have your handiwork in them?

Treasure Planet

Loved this movie!

E.D:Sure: For Tarzan, I created Deep Canvas, the software which enabled the background artists to paint a 3-dimensional jungle that a camera could fly through... In Treasure Planet, I co-designed and co-animated the villain Silver's mechanical eye, hand and leg (with Glen Keane)... in Tangled, I was the artistic supervisor of the amazing team which did all the long-hair simulations. In addition to Disney, though, I've worked at DreamWorks on Over The Hedge, and Film Roman on The Simpsons (Season IV). Those are the highlights, anyway. In 

between, I've done a lot of things I'm far less proud of.

I wish to thank Eric Pigors and Eric Daniels for their kind indulgences! I very much appreciate their time and effort to allow me to share with you, dear readers, their talents and accomplishments.