Frankly, this next entry is something pretty special. Click the pic below to reveal today's surprise.
Bad-vent Calendar - Day 3
Bad-vent Calendar - Day 1
Today is the first day of Bad-vent! And also, this evening marks the first night of Hanukkah!
We'll kick things off with a horrifying version of a holiday song you either love, hate, or love to hate.
Will this be a trick or a treat?? Click the pic below to reveal:
Bad-vent Calendar 2021
Like George Carlin, I was raised Irish Catholic, so the countdown to Xmas known as Advent is something I'm pretty familiar with. In the spirit of things, I'm going to start a new tradition here at Petrichor & Pumpkins.
I'll be posting some weird shit from my collection of quirky, odd, cringe-y, kitschy, offensive, so-bad-it's-good, and downright literally BAD Xmas tunes, videos, and miscellanea, right here on this blog for you to discover daily - a collection of tricks and treats, if you will..
This will begin on 28th November til the 25th of December, or til Krampus shows up to drag your ass back to his lair, whichever happens first.
YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
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| Photo by Alessio Zaccaria on Unsplash |
Before you see the (Xmas) light(s), you must die!
Hey, so I guess it's officially Xmas season, right?
I'm a big fan of mash-ups and this is one of my favorites in recent history. Another one for my Ho-Ho-Horrible Holiday playlist!Xmas zombies
If, like me, you work or have ever worked in retail in the USA - then you already know this story.
Watch a giant pumpkin grow!
Got about 90 seconds?
Watch this mind-blowing time lapse of how a seedling grows up to be a massive pumpkin!
🌱🎃
Have you or any of your family ever seen a spook, spectre, or ghost?
I gotta be honest. I haven't seen it yet, but I have mixed feelings about Ghostbusters: Afterlife. I loved the original film, but didn't care much for the others, not even Ghostbusters II, which I know has its devotees.
Still, it was great to watch Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Ernie Hudson reunite for this interview on Jimmy Fallon:
I mean, I'll definitely watch this one and hope I will be pleasantly surprised. I suppose that means I ought to re-watch Ghostbusters II again, since it's been quite a few years since I last saw it.
I'd sacrifice myself to you
The candle is burning low
At the window to my soul
The reaper is at my door now
He's come to take me home
(click pic for London After Midnight)
[Image by Petrichor & Pumpkins/ Nebulosus Severine/ CMPauluh 2021]
Bunnicula
I read at least one Bunnicula book as a kid, notably Howliday Inn.
I don't think I've ever seen this TV special however, which popped up as a random suggestion for me on YouTube. It's a pretty fun piece of nostalgia, especially because the TV commercials are included. (Minor spoilers below)
I actually laughed out loud a couple of times. At 5:34, 2 kids find themselves in the path of a pumpkin avalanche. One kid says, "They're coming this way!" and his brother responds, "Don't announce it -- RUN!"
Later, at 6:45, as the siblings are fighting over who gets to be in charge of Bunnicula:
Kid 1: "You can keep smelly old Harold [who is the family dog] in your room!"
Harold (aside): "At least I don't wear the same socks for three days in a row."
Have fun with this one!
Horror video games
I'm not really much of a gamer, but I know lots of people who are, thus I definitely appreciate video games as an art form and sometimes enjoy watching others play. There's lots of intense horror games out there and sometimes the gameplay from these has me on the edge of my seat, more suspenseful than most scary movies I've seen. Here's a great example, one I watched tonight of a tense game called At Dead of Night.
Enjoy with the lights out.
Horror movie ambience
A friend of mine shared this fantastic Youtube video with me today:
It's a great fix for keeping those cozy Halloween vibes going. Enjoy!
The Journeys to Grottoes and Wastelands
Currently playing:
(click the pic above to enjoy some Dark Dungeon Music)
Winter ache
A feeling has come over me this evening, not unfamiliar to me -- but only tonight have I been able to describe it in words: winter ache.
The ancient Irish basically divided their year into two halves, light and dark. The season of Summer (beginning around 1st May, called Bealtaine) is the light half; and the season of Winter, beginning around 31st October, called Samhain), is the dark half.
So, up here in the Northern hemisphere, Winter has begun. I can feel it in my bones, down to my soul, somehow more abruptly and acutely than ever before. Winter ache. November is here. It's the darker half of the year. The last remnants of summer have gone.
It's not a sort of pain exactly, or just melancholy, although those elements are certainly present. There's a deep feeling of longing to it as well, a yearning -- and I'm not entirely sure what for, or why. A feeling of restlessness accompanies it, too, and anticipation. I keep thinking I see little shadows moving out of the corner of my eye. I want to bury myself under a bunch of sweaters and blankets and listened to Doomed on SomaFM in the dark and eat soup and burn candles that smell like burnt herbs and bonfires.
It's getting damp and cold. Each day has a fewer moments of daylight. It's supposed to be a time of rest, respite, reflection. It's the rainy season here. The days are grey and yellow, colored by the quiet fog and withering leaves; a powerful and multi-sensory aesthetic.
I used to dread the winters when I still lived in New England; they're fun when you're a kid with no responsibilities, when a snowstorm means a day or two off from school, you can play outside all day and drink hot cocoa afterward. As an adult, you have to deal with the ugly side of it all; endless shoveling, driving on treacherous roads, expensive energy bills, cancelled plans due to weather, being trapped indoors, cars prematurely rusting from the salted roads that erode their frames. A couple of winters before I moved, a storm dropped about a meter of snow overnight. It took us literal days to dig out.
But here, in western WA, winters are peaceful. Snowstorms aren't as common, so when it happens, it is a bit of excitement and a novelty. * Nobody knows how to drive in it, though, and nobody has snow tires here, nobody has snow shovels, or a handy supply of rock salt for their front steps, etc. -- oh yeah, and for whatever reason there is an abundance of steep roads in the Seattle-Tacoma region -- so even a couple inches of snow, which wouldn't even make us bat an eyelash back east, is a huge hazard.
But anyway. Yes. Winters here are overall peaceful and pleasant. Grass is lush and green. Daytime temps don't usually drop below freezing. I don't even need a full winter coat, just a decent sweater and scarf. It's a great time for hiking or spending time in nature, provided you don't mind being a little damp. Nobody's out there in the parks and on the trails. There are ample opportunities for solitude.
I'm really looking forward to it this year. 2021's been a strange one for me, with a lot of joys but a lot of unexpected challenges, too. As the darkness grows, it's a good time to think about all that's happened, to take stock of it all, regroup, and think about 2022's plans, goals, and hopes.
[Photo and content by Petrichor & Pumpkins/ Nebulosus Severine/ CMPauluh 2021]
The morning after
Sigh.
Halloween night is over, but the season continues with Dia de los Muertos and other related traditions honoring the dead. To me, the feeling of the season goes on into at least mid-November, anyway. The Veil is still thin now. The dark time of the year is upon us, the days are shorter and shorter.
I'll keep on updating this blog of course, but things will slow down a bit til next season. I hope you'll stick around, as I celebrate Halloween and horror content all year. 🎃
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