f13.net

Couldn't decide an appropriate thread for this, so I made one for anything to do with the season.

Best $5 Halloween decoration ever:

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20557826/IMAG0080c.jpg)

I've had at least a half dozen coworkers visibly jump and squeal walking in to my office. Turns out realistic looking things are much scarier.

I can see how you'd be startled at first.  My sister is a bit of a crow nut so I got her some realistic ones for cheap, too.  They look great perched upon the bust of Palas just above her chamber door.

So, I'll be in New York City for the 2013 NYC Marathon, and I'll arrive on October 31st around 1pm.

Beside the Halloween Parade and of course Times Square, where else can I see some halloween extravaganza, maybe off the traditional tourist routes?

Thanks :)

http://www.blackouthh.com/rules

Hmm, that sounds and looks quite awesome, thanks  :drill:

Err, did I forget to mention that I'll be in NYC with my GF, and she hates horror movies and stuff like that? (yeah well, you might say one more reason to push her onto this unforgettable experience :D). This might be a little too extreme and "real" to her, sigh  :oh_i_see:

Oh, definitely do that!  It looks creepy and fun. 

Yesterday, in the grocery store, I saw big sacks of little Halloween bags of Hormel Pepperoni.  This year I'll be passing out bags of mini pepperoni and string cheese.  Srsly.

It's actually a good idea. I love me some pep.

Everyone loves pepperoni.  Even vegematarians.  It's almost as good as bacon.

Vegematarians? Someone who only eats Vegemite?

My children don't get to return to the house until they fulfill their 100 grand and Almond Joy quota.

Fresh out of the oven, piping hot bacon is the best thing to give out on Halloween. Kids love it, parents are horrified. My roommate did turkey bacon one year, didn't go over as well.

That's because turkey bacon is disgusting.

On topic, what do you guys call the day before Halloween? I saw this image on facebook and now I'm wondering if we have some weird local tradition that doesn't exist outside NJ/DE/PA.
(http://i.imgur.com/HW6fibN.jpg)

Yup, no word for that.

Yeah, why would there be ?  It's not like there's a word for the day before Christmas Eve.

Except 'Fucking People and their Fucking Shopping, Get Out the way You Cunts.'

"The first day of Xmas season"

 :heart:

I put one of those on my monitor one year and left it there because it's fucking awesome.

And Detroit.  I'd never heard of Devil's night until I lived across the border from Detroit..

Here in NJ Mischief Night is when kids go around throwing toilet paper on trees, egging houses, and generally getting into, well, mischief.

Never saw the Crow? 

Most people do not call it anything special.  This year I am mostly calling it Wednesday.  Mostly. 

Mischief Night in PA, too, and when I was a little kid it was very, very popular.  Recipe:  Eggs, toilet paper and soap.   :grin:

We did that on Halloween. Not sure why you need a separate day for that.

Because you don't have enough hands to carry eggs, toilet paper, a pocket knife, soap and HUGE sacks of candy. 

This. We didn't use a lot of soap; shaving cream/gel was more effective.

Recipe in Detroit: Empty booze bottles, gasoline, and matches.

--Dave

Army men costume:

http://www.viralnova.com/army-men-costume/


(http://cdn.viralnova.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/3-7ljPYco.jpg)

1. Wait for fifteenth wedding anniversary.
2. Arrange for child to sleep over at someone else's house.
3. Obtain case of diarrhea.
5. Romance!

1. Be at work meetings until 6pm.
2. Spouse delivers 12-year old for insertion into gaggle of middle-schoolers doing trick-or-treating in the "best decorated neighborhood".
3. Instructed sternly by 12-year old to rush home for candy delivery so that small children in our neighborhood do not regard us as a non-participant.
4. Open bottle of wine. Reheat frozen chili. Disperse candy with increasingly indiscriminate abandon but maintain small reserve for grouchy teenagers at 9pm.

I bet you get some fucking posh candy where you are, Khaldun, like Godiva or Teuscher. 

Do people still trick or treat at houses there?  Here, it seems to be mostly malls and stores and stuff.  I'd never heard of that until I came here.  And you can't blame the weather - in my day, we'd trick or treat in freezing rain and snow most years!

Oh, and apparently trunk-or-treat or trick-or-trunk is a thing now, too.  As are candy buy backs..

Which scares the hell out of me.  What guarantee do they have that the candy isn't tainted?  A local business is buying back candy and sending it to the troops overseas.  It's a great gesture, but I have concerns about the safety of the candy that they are buying from random strangers. 

I wondered what they were doing with the candy, since it seems to be mostly dentists and pediatricians advertising them around here! 

The biggest douchebag move in the world ever, just in time for Halloween:

http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/local_news/water_cooler/Woman-trying-to-tackle-childhood-obesity-by-giving-letter-not-candy-to-obese-kids-on-Halloween

Do only the fatties get that note?

'

That woman's house would be covered in eggs, toilet paper, and worse things if that would have happened when I was a kid.

They should declare mischief night on her house.

Already eaten too much candy today, in danger of turning into a giant zit.

She should just pass out bottles of Glucerna not a stupid note.  Be proactive. 

Yep, a one-night binge of candy is why Americans are fat.

There is a shelf in my pantry which functions as a candy graveyard.  Halloweens, Easters, Valentine's Days of years past have all left casualties there.  Sometimes I sneak some of the bodies into the trash, but more come.  Always more.

One of the things I have is a box of raisins from WDW that was given out during their Not-So-Scary party.  They have stopped doing that, presumably because they gave away exactly one box of raisins.

The boy went to school today dressed as Pikachu.  Under his Pikachu costume he is wearing blue denim shorts and a Finn t-shirt.  Once he leaves school with his friends, Pikachu comes off and the Finn hat, backpack, and sword come out.

I can add a number four to my previous list:
4. Obtain calm stomach.

I feel ready!

Yeah, I'm no fancy nutritionologist but eating 2 lbs of candy in one day is going to do basically nothing to your fatness or lack thereof.  There is no way in hell you can digest that all in one day.  I'm sure some interesting toilet time is in the kid's future from one end or the other but it's one fuckin day, they aren't going to gain any weight.

Parceling it out so you eat 300 calories of it every day for two months, that is a horrible horrible idea, I have no idea why people do that.

No, see, you tell the kid that they only get 300 calories a day, then you eat the other 30,000 calories and have the awful toilet sessions.   Just taking one for the team, really.

--Dave

Like most Halloweens I'm unaware of what happens in real neighborhoods. In the high rises, we have some sort of kid's Halloween "parade" then the adults get drunk.

One group of three kids. At 7pm.

Maybe this neighborhood just doesn't look right. Guess we'll divide up the loot and take it to work.

We almost never get them here, they all go off to actual houses instead of apartment land. Went to practice instead, but probably no disappointed people knocking on the door.

Some years I've stayed home and handed out candy, but I've never gotten more than three groups of trick-or-treaters.  I live way up on a hill in a relatively poor neighborhood, and it's not a very far walk to much richer neighborhoods.  I wouldn't trick or treat around here either.

My son had a great time with his friends in a very nice neighborhood.  One house was giving out full size bars.  There was a parade but we managed to miss it.  Pizza at the community center.  I used to live very close to that neighborhood but mine was shit, full of old people and weirdos.

The kid who lived in that neighborhood went traditional with a vampire costume.  My son was Finn, and the other friend was Link.  There was some swordfighting.  We will need to do this again next year, instead of just us solo-invading a nearby neighborhood.

To cap it all off, my wife and I had a nice dinner at a great Greek restaurant.  Once we got home, my stomach betrayed me so we watched The League and went to sleep.

Did anyone else see a lot of "morph suits"?  Basically Green Man from It's Always Sunny, but not all green.  I saw a ton of kids wearing a variety of colors but I don't know what is the source for it.

I've seen a bunch of "performance artists" wearing those on the drug bridge in my neighborhood. Not a place you usually see kids.

Well, kids younger than about 16 at least.

"Halloween city" or the equivalent. You know those seasonal Halloween stores. They tend to have a huge selection of them the last few years.

Mine went as Marceline, heh.

When I was a kid, our bags of candy were ours and no one monitored them.  Well, ours after my mother took out all the peanut chews and my dad took when he wanted.  We didn't like the same sort of candy they did anyway.  My aunt, who was a holiday celeb, made at least 100 red candy apples and gave out big bags of awesome candy.  The retro kind, like wax lips and Mary Janes and paper candy dots.  Her sister owned an old fashioned diner/candy shop.  Kids came from all over the place to visit her on Halloween.  I don't remember her ever running out of anything, either.   Halloween was a big deal for my family.  Dunno why.  Now I just find it intrusive.  I don't give out pennies for the Guy either.  They don't really want pennies.  They want fivers.

Anyway, since it's just about having fun,  I don't think it's a big deal what you end up doing as long as the kiddies enjoy themselves.  It's sad that people don't trust the world enough to let their kids run around wildly with sacks begging for sweeties because that's what made Halloween exciting for us.  Still, friends and parties and community centers, that sounds fun for a kid, too.

My sister had a band of about 25 teenage girls dressed in black leotards, blue duct tape around the knees and elbows and covered in coloured glow sticks. Some of them put the glow stick around areas that most of the other kids who came to the door probably didn't know they had yet.  Ahem.  They wiped out all the bags of Skittles.

We left a huge tub of candy out on the honor system while we took the boys trick or treating and got cleaned out in less than 20 minutes. I had to run back to get Logan new mittens and when I arrived the tub was upside down in the driveway and empty.

Good job kids.

There is no honor when candy is involved.

My 13 year old was in a black morph suit.

Both my children have been fired from their current positions due to a complete and utter failure to secure any Almond Joys and/or 100 Grands for their father to consume (I mean not a SINGLE FUCKING ONE). Anyone want them?

How fast can they solder circuit boards?   :why_so_serious:

Our neighborhood is too erratic - if we buy candy nobody shows up, if we don't, a couple dozen do, so, as we've done for a couple years now, we go to a friend's house about a mile away which is a Halloween circus (price of admission: big sack o' candy).  Basically non-stop from 5 to 9.  This year instead of just manning the door I went out with my nephew for a little to see what all the fuss had been about.  My brother said it was way less than previous years - it looked like a lot of people were lights out, perhaps sick of all the traffic (it draws in hordes of people from the poorer city across the bridge as well), or maybe just because it was mid-week.

Even so, it was a lot of people.  It seemed weird, though, that most people just sat on their porches, handing out candy.  It doesn't seem like Trick or Treating unless there's knocking on a door involved, I dunno.  But when it's non-stop, you kinda get sick of closing the door I guess.

A lot of parents were dressed up, at least half.  I don't remember that from when I was a kid.  At one point on a street corner there were four different Supermans, two of which were parents.  I saw a couple people dressed up as Minecraft terrain blocks, too, that was weird.  'I'm a grass block!'

We had two boys dressed up in the most elaborate Steampunk outfits.  Hats, goggles, boots, jewelry, etc.  Two completely different outfits, too.  And they looked really awesome and very posh.  I reckon they're from the upper Mainline where everyone has a horse and a bidet and can afford to have their kids Halloween costumes designed by Alexander McQueen or Versace or some other silly person.

Also:

Heidi Klum's Halloween costume.
(http://i.imgur.com/1knKRKq.png)

Street layout matters as well.  There was lots of trick or treating in my neighborhood last night, but the neighborhood is laid out as long streets north to south, with east-west streets that terminate into a neighborhood park.  Not only does the house face into one of the east-west streets, but it's a couple of houses from one of the main roads that marks the edge of the neighborhood.  Most trick or treaters go up and down the north-south streets, and since nobody wants their kids on the highly trafficked roads around the edge, very very few come down this street.

People in the houses facing the park sit on their porch or at their doors because there are so many, I had maybe 15 kids in 5 groups.  You'd get a similar effect if you were the only house in a cul-de-sac with their lights on.

--Dave

My kids were 2800 miles away. Worked late. Got home after 8PM, roommates said no one knocked all night.

2011 was a good Halloween. My wife took the boys out while I ladled out over $300 worth of candy. Zero chocolate, but we had a bunch of local-made caramels. Until I ran out, everyone got a Giant Pixie Stick - this is how I spread the hate to fellow parents. There were a few goggle-eyed tots walking away with something as tall as them.

I bought a £1.50 mask from Tescos and 2 bags of cheap chocolate and then no kids knocked on our door.

(http://i.imgur.com/e74zXu4.jpg)

There were two main groups of dads: the ones that wore a costume and the ones that had a large plastic drink cup.

Nephew's group won the costume contest at their local pub!  I'm so proud.

(http://i.imgur.com/vDuVbPl.jpg)

That's fantastic.

I'll be that guy.  I don't get it.  Is it Downton Abbey?

Last night it was a ton of parents and even more kids roaming the neighborhood.  The parents mostly had bottles of beer and were smoking weed.  This wasn't one or two groups either, this was noticeable amounts of parents.  First year in this neighborhood after moving out of the ghetto which mostly meant no Mexican candy.

(http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_li97iwIeE11qi7deco1_500.gif)

Woefully lacking in Krieger's girlfriend.

OK now I see the dolphin.

I was group two.

I didn't get it either.  I still don't, but at least I know it's based on that show you chaps always talk about.

I wouldn't have got it either but when I moved back to the US last December, it was everywhere. 

I love the show and the only reason I got it was because that one woman had a dolphin puppet, everyone else looks nothing like the person they are trying to impersonate.  The Krieger person is probably the most accurate but still off base.

I still don't know who's trying to be Gillette.

The guy with the terrible moustache to the left of Lana.  The guy with glasses is Cyril.  I can't figure out who the bald wig guy is.  I hope it's not supposed to be Nikolai.

What were the other costumes like?

Woodhouse?

Awful!

Oh, I don't what the other costumes look like.  It's just a pub around the corner from him.  Krieger's my nephew.  I think he looked great although he looks better in some other pics of him but that was the only group photo he posted.  I don't know who the bald-headed bloke is supposed to be, either.  It doesn't look like Woodhouse to me.  They won beakers.

The sun can shine on even a dog's ass.

Did anyone else do a decent costume this year?

I don't know what that means.  :(

It's pretty straightforward?

Blind squirrels sometimes find nuts.

A broken clock is correct twice per day.

I googled it.  First I had to listen to some weird rap song which didn't help.  Then I read a story which didn't help.  Saw a video.  Was weird and didn't help. :(  Finally I found an explanation.  So I understand.  You guys can stop now!  :ye_gods:

The Video. (http://vimeo.com/45020614)

Even Signe can google a colloquialism.

Kadir beneath Mo Moteh.  The beast at Tanagra.   Signe and the canine sunshine.  Sokath, his eyes uncovered!

(http://content.ytmnd.com/content/9/5/a/95a24b52a487be7d8c96ce2ad00b3892.jpg)

My friends and I did the army men at the village Halloween parade back in '92. The wife and I did Louis and Zoey from L4D.

Aperture test subject and also headcrab zombie.  The zombie costume is not comfortable to wear all day but I needed something monsterish for a costume contest so I did a quick change.