Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homelessness-Themed Halloween Party
Sometimes Halloween costume choice can offer an interesting window into people’s mindsets. Via the New York Times:
The law firm of Steven J. Baum, which is located near Buffalo, is what is commonly referred to as a “foreclosure mill” firm, meaning it represents banks and mortgage servicers as they attempt to foreclose on homeowners and evict them from their homes. Steven J. Baum is, in fact, the largest such firm in New York; it represents virtually all the giant mortgage lenders, including Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.
A former employee recently sent me snapshots of last year’s party. In an e-mail, she said that she wanted me to see them because they showed an appalling lack of compassion toward the homeowners — invariably poor and down on their luck — that the Baum firm had brought foreclosure proceedings against. When we spoke later, she added that the snapshots…
Happy Jesus Ween: Canada Pastor Invents ‘Christian Alternative’ to Halloween
Tamara Gignac reports in the Calgary Herald
Tiny ghosts and goblins hoping for sugary snacks may find something odd in their loot bags this Halloween: a bible.
A Calgary pastor is promoting Jesus Ween, a faith-based alternative to the traditional holiday fare of candy and spooky garb.
Instead of chocolate bars and gummy bears, he’s asking people to shun demonic costumes and instead dole out pocket-sized bibles or other “Christian gifts.”
The idea has caught on in communities across North America, according to Jesus Ween creator Paul Ade. He’s hoping it will bring a new perspective to an otherwise pagan festival, he said.
“I do not associate myself with ghosts, demons, Satan and witches. These are things I want to get rid of,” he said.
“If it’s OK for a child to know about demons, it should also be OK for a child to know about Jesus.”
Happy Halloween from William S. Burroughs (Remix Video)
Once upon a time, there were witches … in this classic remix, the silent film Haxan is wed in an unholy matrimony to the laconic snarl of William S. Burroughs narrative aplomb.
For those of you with a big appetite, we’ve got a special sweet hidden away. Check out this great little recitation of Poe’s “The Red Death” — also read by William S. Burroughs — at Joe Nolan’s Insomnia.
Carving a Halloween Pumpkin … With A Gun? (Video)
YouTube user Hickok45 demonstrates his method for carving a pumpkin:
How To Make Horror Movie Blood
Just in time for your Halloween hijinks, the BBC has an instructional video that shows how to create the artificial blood used in classic horror movies. Their recipe produces blood that not only is rich in color and creepily accurate in texture, but sounds as if it would be delicious to eat.
Vice Ventures Into Haiti In Search Of Zombies
Just in time for Halloween, VBS TV brings us a ghoulish film that follows Vice correspondent Hamilton Morris as he travels to Haiti to explore the underbelly of voodoo culture and hunt down actual Zombies.
In 1982, Harvard ethnobotanist Wade Davis traveled to Port-Au-Prince to investigate the ethno-biological base of the Haitian zombie. Davis left the island convinced that zombies were not fictional creations, but in fact real monsters that roamed the rural villages of Haiti. Inspired by Davis’ work, VBS correspondent Hamilton traveled to the Haitian capital last year to conduct his own zombie investigation under the guidance of a man who survived fourteen bullets to the face.
Halloween and (Black and Orange) Magic
“Not pagan Samhain celebrations or the like,” to quote Chiropteran, “but bright-orange, screaming-pumpkin, Trick-or-Treating Halloween.” It’s all about doing magic with the wild, pop mystery explosion that Halloween has become. The Universal Monsters (Dracula, Wolfman, Frankenstein, Mummy) as the spirits of the North, South, East, and West; invocations of Jack Skellington; Jack-o-lanterns as the undead spirit servants we all carve every year to protect our homes from evil.
Halloween and Black (and Orange) Magick
Chiropteran – Well, yesterday was October 1st, the official opening day (by my reckoning) of the Halloween season.
This year, as part of my overarching goal to get my magickal butt in gear, I’ve decided to do a nightly meditation/devotion/working to hammer my Halloween Magick system into shape.
(I don’t know if anyone’s interested in the particulars, but here goes anyway, for any of you who are…)
I started last night by turning the lights down and reading some H. P. Lovecraft…
Father Threatens Daughter With Immortal Robot Brain
For Halloween, humor writer Hank Hyena offers a real-life story called “Hey Kids, Don’t Forget to Take My Brain Out of the Freezer!”
He threatens to have himself cryogenically frozen, telling his young daughters then he can “boss them around forever.” (”I only have enough money for the iced brain, unless I spend your college fund.”)
He suggests he could use the brain to control a new robot body, but his nine-year-old remained skeptical of his next prediction. (”People can’t make robots smarter than us. And if they did, the robots would kill us.”) But it ends when the geek dad asks, “Just don’t forget me, okay? Don’t forget to get my brain out of the freezer.”
They pinky-promise, and give him a hug.
Protests Against ‘Illegal Alien’ Costumes Have Driven Up Their Sales
Meredith Woerner writes on io9.com:
Immigrant rights activists are asking all Halloween retailers to stop supplying this controversial illegal alien costume — but the drama only seems to be improving their hype.
This adult Halloween costume shows an alien in a prison suit, holding a green card. Get it???!!!! The second illegal alien hat has a dark mustache and baseball cap over space alien features. And you can tell our space friends are pissed.
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles explained that it had been receiving many complaints about the costume:
Jorge-Mario Cabrera, the director of communications for CHIRLA, said he initially thought the costume was a stab at harmless satire. But when he saw the Green Card, he realized it was an swipe at illegal immigrants.
Even though the costumes have been pulled from Target, the “drama” might be increasing the outfits attention. A Halloween costume supplier Ricky’s in NY commented…
