Ghosts and "A Christmas Carol"

We went to see " A Christmas Carol" play at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater this year. From a Halloween "haunter's" perspective, Dicken's "A Christmas Carol is as good as it gets at Christmas time, and while we're not regular theater goers, this production was a fun time.

Kudos to Artistic Director Jim Helsinger ands crew for their "Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come" and the awesome and large "Ebenezer Scrooge" tombstone that rose from the fog. The bigger than life ghost towering over Scrooge was a "stalk around" type costume similar to what "Gore Galore" and several other companies manufacture, but the angle of the stage lighting and dark pants worn by the actor gave it a cool floating effect. You can see a couple glimpses of the ghost in this quick sneak peek video ( :17 and again at 1:02) from Orlando Shakespeare Theater.

I'd also be remiss not to mention the Ghost of Christmas Past, Jacob Marley, (glimpse at :36) with all his chains and the reverb effect on the actor's microphone. He was a pretty convincing ghost as well.

If you've never attended your  local theater give it a try. It's not the wine tasting tuxedo and gown crowd that you might see in a Broadway production. Business casual clothing, prices usually around $40 or less per person for good seats. It's a good time.

Merry Christmas

"Merry Christmas to all!" We hope you were each able to find the magic of family and friends on this special day and you didn't get too caught up in the commercialism of the season. Best wishes to each of you for the New Year!

Last Minute Christmas Gift Idea

 " Clark, that's the gift that keeps on giving the whole year..."
"That it does Edward" ("Christmas Vacation", my all time favorite Christmas movie!)

Okay, it's not the " Jelly of the Month" club but it's the next best thing!

I subscribed to three months of  Distortions Unlimited's  "Monster of the Month" back before October when they started the program and I had a little "mad money" in my pocket. Basically it's a surprise monster creation shipped to you each month from the sculptor-artists at "Distortions Unlimted".

Owners Ed and Marsha Edmunds, sculptor Jordu Schell, and and the rest of the folks that were the stars of the since cancelled " Making Monsters" Halloween TV mini-series, are some of the Halloween celebrities we've come to enjoy in the Halloween world. Even though I'm not a collector of Halloween memorabilia, curiosity got the better of me. So far I'm really pleased with the two latex masks I've received, "Blink" by Mikey Rotella and "BT-15" by Jordu Schell. Each one came with a printed card with a bio on the sculptor and a back story on the creature.

They have a gift coupon you can print if you should want to give a last minute Christmas gift membership to the club for your favorite Halloween person. I tried a subtle hint to Mrs. Claus for another 3 month membership but have to wait and see... You can check it all out at Distortion's Monster of the Month .

Photo of "Blink" and "BT-15" from "Distortions Unlimited" on Facebook