Spooky Hallowe'en movies to carve by: Part II

Still here, carving away and getting ready for this year's Boneyard Boxing event... It's the second week of the 31 days of Hallowe'en, so here is the next batch of movies to help you carve up some spooky stamps or pumpkins...

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1988)

If you don't know who Elvira is, shame on you!  This hilarious, campy, cheesy movie always brings a smile to my face. Elvira, who was known for hostessing the airing of bad old horror flicks, gets her own movie here involving her great aunt dying and inheriting a house, a dog, and a book.

Probably one of the cheesier movies on my list, but I love this old movie.  I ended up meeting Cassandra Peterson a few years ago and what a lovely lady she is... I hope I look that good when I'm in my 60s!

The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror: the Raven (1990)

If somehow you've been living under a rock for the past few decades, you may have missed this popular show called The Simpsons.  You would also be unaware that every year they have a Hallowe'en special episode called the Treehouse of Horror that has three mini scary stories.

The very first Treehouse of Horror episodes had a mini story told by Lisa - and James Earl Jones -  of Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven.

Here it is in its entirety for your viewing pleasure.

Coraline (2009)

This newer movie is nice and spooky... It's based on Neil Gaiman's book, which is much shorter, and goes on to flesh out this amazing world. Truth be told, I like the movie better than the book.

Nice and spooky, it follows Coraline who has just moved into a new rental (something I know a bit about...) and finds kooky neightbours (also know something about) and a secret behind a tiny door... (know nothing about this).

It was put together by one of the same guys who did Nightmare Before Christmas, so it has the same sort of feel as a stop motion animated film.

Addams Family Values (1993)

This one may be controversial, but I actually like the sequel here better than the original.  Based off of the original tv series, this sequel kills be because parts of it take place at a summer camp and out in the wilderness.  And Joan Cusack? Too funny.

Anyways, I think the movie is fantastic to watch during the Hallowe'en season for obvious reasons, but if you can only see one of the Addams Family movies, skip the first and go straight for the second.

Mr. Boogedy (1986) and Bride of Boogedy (1987)

Remember the good ol' days when there was the Sunday Disney movie?  Well, these two gems were made-for-tv movies of the '80s that I had/have on beta (don't judge).  I still have them, but I don't have a working beta machine.

These great movies have to do with a family that moves into a haunted house in Lucifer Falls (couldn't they have known from the name? c'mon...). Also, I just realized that it was because of these movies that I'm afraid of the vacuum.

I have looked and looked, and other than a brutal copy online, I've never found  these movies for sale or otherwise.  If anyone knows where I can get a more modern copy (read: not beta) of these movies, I'd love to hear it!

House on Haunted Hill (1999)

This is another instance where I actually like the remake more than the original.  I love the spooky atmosphere of this killer party in an abandoned asylum for the criminally insane, and that as a nod to Vincent Price's role in the original they renamed the party host to Mr. (Stephen) Price - played by Geoffery Rush.  Great cast and super spooky, this movie originally scared me quite a bit and now I just love it for what it is.

And I love the tagline for the movie: Evil Loves to Party.

Pet Semetery (1989)

This one still gives me the creeps, which is rare for an old flick.  This is a Stephen King novel turned movie...Based on the premise that there's this old indian burial ground that in modern times was used as a pet cemetery, but anything that is buried in that ground comes back to life... ish.  Including their little son who was hit by truck, buried, dug up, reburied in the sour ground and who then comes back to terrorize the family.  Sometimes, dead is better.

I hope you're all getting ready for the spooky holiday! Happy Hallowe'en!

Pumpkin carving 101: history of the jack-o'-lantern and pumpkin carving

Well, I know this is a letterboxing blog, but as I've mentioned I came to carving stamps through carving pumpkins.  And I love carving pumpkins.  And I think it's much easier than people think, so I want to put together a quick carving guide so that you can carve too!

Carving up vegetables to light up and ward off evil spirits isn't new, it is a British tradition using turnip or rutabaga... pumpkin is much easier to carve with I suspect. But the tradition nevertheless continued until present day, with the standard grinning jack being the typical up until the 1990s.

But, in the more recent history of pumpkin carving, if the Pumpkin Master's website is to be believed, sometime over 60 years ago:

Paul Bardeen invented a pumpkin carving method using patterns and small saws. His children carved intricate pumpkins and carried them door-to-door to show the neighbors their creations. In 1986, as a tribute to their dad, the kids created a pumpkin carving kit to share with other families.

The company started selling those kits commercially sometime later and there are some amazing vintage kits from Pumpkin Masters that you can find sometimes on eBay or elsewhere. 

This is the brand that has become rather ubiquitous in stores at that time of year and if you've ever bought a kit, you've likely got some Pumpkin Masters tools stored away somewhere.

Unfortunately, despite some great stencils that they created circa 1995-2005, the quality/inventiveness/difficulty of their stencils have declined over recent years.  Here's hoping for another Xtreme Stencil set from them in the future!

Luckily, in this wondrous digital age, there are a huge number of places to get different stencils and lots of information on making your own stencils.

I'll post a little later on some of my favourite stencils!


Happy Hallowe'en!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Things I'm thankful for:

• Spiral cut honeyed ham. Mmmm....
• Last year's short winter - may we have another that I can take advantage of for letterboxing.
• Google Maps.  Let's face it, half of my letterbox scouting taking place on Google Maps and on Google Streetview.  Thank you, Google, my benevolent electronic overlord.
• Awesome trails in the autumn, with all of the fantastic colours on show. Ontario, mine to discover...
• The foreboxers.  Every letterbox you find had to be planted before you go there.* For those letterboxers who no longer box, for whatever reason, and those traveling boxers who leave boxes in their wake, their contributions continue forward to those who come after.  Thank you.
• Fantastic letterboxing community - in Ontario and abroad.  What an amazing community with which to be a part.  Thank you everyone.

*Unless you own a Tardis.

Spooky Hallowe'en movies to carve by: Part I

If you somehow didn't know it yet, Hallowe'en is coming.  And now that the big event is over, I'm back to my regularly scheduled carving (stamps and pumpkins ... and bookbinding!), and am pulling out my go-to Hallowe'en-related shows to watch.

I always have something playing in the background while I carve, but usually something I've already seen before.  If I've seen it before, my brain will fill in what I'm not looking at (because I'm looking at the carving instead).  But if I've not seen the show before, one of two things will happen: either the show is better than the carve, in which case I don't focus on the carving and watch the show instead; or the carving is better than the show and I don't remember at all what was just watched.

So, even though I'm a couple days late, here are some of my favourite Hallowe'en shows that you may want to check out, one for each of the 31 days of October, in weekly batches. It should definitely put you in the Hallowe'en spirit. The shows aren't in any particular order, but they're all my favourite shows for the season.

Clue (1985)

I spoke about this one in a post last year and I just love this movie.  It's literally what you think it is: a movie about the board game Clue/Cluedo, with Tim Curry as the butler (and an amazing cast, including the late great Madeline Khan as Mrs. White).  With dry/absurd humour that gets me every time... and three different endings? What's not to love? Basic plot: someone killed Mr. Boddy, everyone had motive because they were all being blackmailed by Boddy, whodunit?

And I always end up humming Shake, Rattle & Roll for hours after this movie ends...

Hocus Pocus (1993)

Ah, Bette Middler, how I love you in this movie.  If you haven't seen this classic Hallowe'en movie, shame on you.  Basic premise: three witches brought back from the dead and they ain't too happy, and they run amok (amok, amok, amok).  They shot this film in Salem, Massachusetts, it's gorgeous, and nothing puts me in the mood more.

Favourite line: Hello, I want my book. Bonjour, je veux mon livre. 

The Amityville Horror (2005)

Yes, I know, you should always be loyal to the originals and not remakes.  But I ended up seeing this version before the original and, quite frankly, I liked this one better.  If you don't know the history of this one, this movie as well as the original are based on the book of the same name which is about the (allegedly) true events that befell the Lutz family when they moved into this haunted home in Amityville where a serial killer once lived and committed the gruesome murder of his entire family.  Ryan Reynolds may be a bit of a distraction from carving for this one, but I do quite like this particular horror flick.

Ghostbusters (1984)

Ray, when someone asks you if you're a god, you say "YES"! 

Really, very little needs to be said about this classic.  I love it. I love Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd.

And this is one of those intensely classic films that makes me think that if you have not shown it to your children, you've actually breached some sort of societal code.  You heard me: if you haven't shown this to your kids, you are a bad parent. Your kids should be taken away and you should be thrown in jail for neglect and failing to provide the necessities of life.  

Vincent (1982)

Vincent Malloy is seven years old

He's always polite and does what he's told.

Okay, this one you can be forgiven for not knowing about.  Vincent is a short film by Tim Burton from 30 years ago, black and white stop motion animation like Nightmare Before Christmas, and narrated by Vincent Price. It's fantastic.  It's sort of a precursor to Burton's later films... And you can watch the entire thing online right from my blog... How cool is that...

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

I'm always surprised at the number of people who haven't seen this movie, despite how well known it is. If you haven't seen it, the premise of the series is that Fred Kruger is able to kill people in their dreams - so don't fall asleep.  Fred is clearly upset because he has razor-sharp knives for fingers and didn't have a letterboxing hobby available to fulfill his needs way back in '84.  Anyway, worth seeing even just to see Johnny Depp as a young actor and watch him get killed.  Good fun all around.

Also, I can't stand the main protagonist in this movie, Nancy.  Mostly I cheer Freddy on, hoping he'll get her...

The 'Burbs (1989)

You saw one of my skulls, didn't you? Oh yes, I know you did. It belonged to a neighbor of yours. The name was Knapp. We took the house from them. I offered to buy it but you know how old people are, they grow so attached to things. 

Last for this week is the 'Burbs, with Tom Hanks and Carrie Fisher.  This is a horror comedy that always kills me to watch. It's a great narrative on the problems with suburbia and how crazy neighbours can get. But just as they saying goes that it's not paranoia if they really are watching you; you're not being crazy if the neighbours really are burying people in the backyard. Nice residential cul-de-sac, weird neighbours move in next door, hilarity ensues.  Are they satanists? Are they burying people in the basement? What's with their weird furnace? Are they normal and we're crazy?

That should keep you over until next week.  Happy carving!

Sherlock, Dartmoor, and letterboxing

If it weren't for the evil winter that soon follows, autumn would be my favourite season.  The beautiful colours, the comfy temperatures, the perfection of letterboxing, and snuggling up with a hot cup of tea with your favourite blanket to carve the afternoon away... I love autumn.

And as I usually sit with something on the television (sometimes radio), I have been watching and re-watching the Sherlock series.  Love it.  Waiting very impatiently for season series three.

If you don't watch the show, and you're a letterboxer, you should get yourself out and buy season series two, just for the second episode: the Hounds of Baskerville.  The majority of the episode takes place in Dartmoor (although mostly inside, gah).  Beautiful shots of the moor, fantastic to watch even if you're not a fan of the series (although you will be after you watch the episode).

In this particular episode, Sherlock and Watson are investigating Henry Knight's witnessing of a gigantic hound in Dewer's Hollow in Dartmoor.  Conspiracy theories abound due to the presence of Ministry of Defence facilities close by in Dartmoor.  I won't spoil it completely for you, so go watch it (but Sherlock does figure it out).

Anyways, I love seeing Dartmoor in the episode, even if it's in the stylized form portrayed by a television show.  I was really interested in the idea that there are Ministry of Defence activities in the park, and apparently it is true.  This Dartmoor letterboxer here, Who Is the Challenger, talked in a recent post about the changing use by the MOD of military training areas in Dartmoor.  Who'd'a'thunk?  Amazing.  Also, check out that awesome map at the top of the post; the most amazing things are labelled on it with all seriousness, like the aqueduct* in the second from top, second from left square.

But have a look at some of the screencaps from the episode below.  Warning: like me, this episode and these pictures will give you the overwhelming urge to make the letterboxer's pilgrimage out to Dartmoor. Soon. You have been warned.

Night boxing! I'm sure that's what they're doing here.

Looking for letterboxes. I'm sure of it.

But clearly Watson doesn't know where he's looking...

...and apparently Sherlock does.

*But what have the Romans ever done for us? Oh, shut up.

10 tips for hosting your first letterboxing event

Even ran into some of the little letterboxers at the Markham Fair today after Box ON!

The dust is indeed settling over this year's Box ON! event.  It was fantastic - I had a great time, the weather was perfect, and it looked like everyone was enjoying themselves.

If anyone had ever asked me two years ago when I started letterboxing whether I would host one of these events in the near future, I would have said no way.  But now, after having hosted one, here are the things I learned that might help you out if you are in the same position I was hosting your first event:

Venue: Milne Park, Markham.  Check.

1. Breathe.
2. Figure out the location of the letterboxing activity *before* you host.  In my case, I volunteered to host the year's Ontario letterboxing event in my hometown before I thought through where I could actually have people come and letterbox.  I had already scheduled the event and picked a theme before my mind even turned to that. There are no big parks or trail systems in Markham.  Oops. Luckily, the only place that I could possibly host it was actually the perfect place to host it, so we all lucked out and I didn't have to change the event location.  Phew.
3. Pick a theme that you'll like.  If you'll like it, others will too.
4. Don't do it all yourself: letterboxers are a particular type of human being: kind, generous, and genuine.  Ask and you shall receive; everyone who attended my event voluntarily contributed, either by carving stamps, giving a raffle item, helping to plot, buying raffle tickets, etc.
5. Exception to tip 4 - things come up and sometimes the good intentions to contribute a stamp will not flesh out an actual stamp.  Just be alert to this and have a back up plan if you think you won't have a full set of boxes for the event.
6. Clues, clues, clues.  Check 'em once, check 'em twice.  And you'll still goof some of the lefts and rights.  I went to an event a while ago and there was a right in the clues where there should have been a left.  It was fine and I found the stamp, but remember wondering if they double checked their clues.  Well, karma is a bitch, and I did it three times in my clues. Gah.  It's a lot of clues to put together at once, so take it slow and try to mentally go through each clue to keep it clear.
7. Clues again: be straightforward in your clues to save yourself some grief.  It's a lot of clues at once... I had this great (read: sarcasm here) idea that I'd send people off to a letterbox which would contain a clue to a further letterbox - for each letterbox of the event.  Sounds great in theory until you get into the practicalities of actually planting boxes like that - compounded by the complexity of planting some like that with secret bonus boxes associated with them.  Gah!  Save yourself the trouble.



Amazing shirts for raffle with art by the immensely talented Ondine, check.

8. Venue choice: as a personal preference, I like private venues with potluck meals over restaurants.  I like the privacy of a rented venue for the ability to talk letterboxes, do exchanges, personal travelers, raffles, etc. without the prying eyes of muggles. Also, since it's potluck, it can be pretty economical when folks don't have to pay a restaurant for dinners for a whole family when done this way.  However, once you pay for insurance on top of the rental costs, it can be pretty costly to rent the venue.  On the other hand, I know from hosting other non-letterboxing events that to reserve space for large groups often requires credit card reservations and minimum orders amounts for everyone that can leave you on the hook if a lot of people drop out suddenly or arrive not very hungry.  Food for thought ;)
9. If you are going to be putting out some money for the venue, and you probably already will be putting out money for the actual boxes themselves, a raffle is a nice way for people to contribute financially without actually asking them for an event fee or something like that.  Because of the raffle, I was able to completely offset the venue and insurance, so that was a definite plus. 
10. Relax and have fun! People know what to do - show up, letterbox, then go back, eat, and hand out with all the cool letterboxers whose signature stamps they've seen in all the logbooks.  There's actually not much for you to do once you've reserved a venue and planted your letterboxes.  Sit back and enjoy yourself as well!

The event planning and execution was amazing, but boy am I tired.  Now I actually get to go back to the regularly scheduled carvings and work on things that actually don't have to do with mysterious things ;)  Maybe I should do something really ridiculous and carve Hello Kitty or something.

For posterity, here is the clue map I made for the event. Click on it to see it in full size.   Happy trails!

Mysterious Texts

(updated October 1, 2012)

These boxes were planted for Box ON! 2012 - Mystery Markham. 

Since ancient times, ciphers have been used to hide text and prevent information from being given to unintended recipients. However, the battle has been waged against those ciphers, revealing the text of all but the most cryptic of ciphers.  In this letterbox series, you must solve encrypted clues leading to boxes related to texts with mysterious scripts, two that have never been deciphered… and perhaps never will…    

The Rohonc Codex

One of the most baffling of the hidden texts is without doubt the Rohonc Codex. This most peculiar script is written from right to left, and seems to mix up runes, straight and rounded characters in the style of Old Hungarian – but it defies all attempts at translation. This bamboozling manuscript is believed to have been written in medieval times. Appearing to be hand-scripted, and illustrated with crude black and white sketches, the writing is simply not decipherable in any way The paper on which this maddening text was written carries a watermark from Venice of 1529-1540, though the writing itself is thought to be several centuries older than that. This utterly mysterious manuscript may never be translated. 

Clue:

The Voynich Manuscript

This is the Voynich, Manuscript, long dubbed the ‘Most mysterious Manuscript in the World’. Experts now feel that the style of calligraphy and drawing, as well as the parchment type and ink pigments, suggest strongly that this document was initially produced in the 13th century. The book is 235 pages long, full of colored images of strange astrological charts, prancing nude women, unknown plants, and even live cells that look as if they have observed through a microscopic lens. It is also written in an encoded script that nobody has ever managed to decipher. The alphabet used is thought to comprise either 19 or 28 letters, but has nothing whatever in common with any known language on Earth. With the strange zodiacal signs and the obvious recipes for herbal preparations, some think the Voynich could well be the definitive textbook of alchemy – but still, 800 years after it was written, not one person actually knows.

Clue (extra note: bookcase against the wall):

The Dresden Codex

One of the great mysteries of modern times is the Dresden Codex, one of the few surviving books from the ancient Mayan civilization that existed in Central and South America. Decoded by a German scholar in 1880, the book opened a door to discovery of the brilliant minds of the Mayans. The Codex is filled with numeric equations based upon the movement of the planets, the sun and the stars. Scholars are disturbed by the fact that the Mayan calendar stops at the conclusion of the thirteenth time period, which points to December 22, 2012.  Is the end of the world just around the corner?

Clue:

KX RXGM WIF LWVATL ZFWGFFM WIF BATLW VMR LFHXMR BPXXTL. XM WIF BATLW PVMRAMK HXQAMK RXGM, UXN GAPP BAMR WIF ZXO ZFWGFFM WIF KPVLL VMR WIF QFWVP VW LIXNPRFT IFAKIW XM WIF QFWVP ZTVHF CNLW NMRFT WIF ZTVHYFW IXPRAMK WIF KPVLL.

No matter how many letterboxes I plant, I can still mess up my left from right

Apparently I have two right feet. Or, perhaps I'm just not an ambi-turner.

I've been going through all of my clues and adding them into Atlas Quest for tomorrow's event so that people will be able to log them as soon as they get home, and it's a good thing I did as I've noticed two errors in my clues that will mean that I have to go out into the park tonight to make some last minute fixes.  Oops.  In both cases, the clues say to do something on the right - when really it's the left.

I've actually done this before a few times, writing down right when I mean left, and usually I catch it before I post it.  And it's always that I say right when it should be left.  Never the other way.  I remember at least once I didn't with my Not Irrelephant box.  I'm slightly worried that there will be other glitches in the clues that I've not noticed yet.

So the moral of this story is that it doesn't matter how many boxes you plant, you can still mix up your left from right.  Good to know and keep in mind when trying to follow clues.

I also noticed that once these go live, I'll have planted 150 letterboxes. That's a nice round number.

I also noticed that if Jiggs nabs every box for this event, he'll hit 3000 finds.  That's a crazy number.

Eagerly awaiting tomorrow...

Box ON! Ready and raring to go!

Milne Dam is ready for Box ON!

So, the boxes have been planted, the clues have been clued.  And I have significant anxiety about boxes going missing before the event... but we're only a few meager days away... Also, the weather forecast looks lovely for the event, so I'm really excited! If you know what's good for you, know your ciphers, people!

In the past 48 hours, I planted 40ish boxes in Milne Park and got to see this lush park from a completely different perspective.  I grew up in Markham, and this park was pretty much it when it came to significant parklands.  However, despite some school trips here for ecology classes and whatnot, I never actually explored this beautiful place.

And what a beautiful place it is.  While planting these boxes, it was clear that the flora and fauna were all amidst preparations for Box ON as well.  Wildlife galore came out to greet me and find out how the preparations were going, and the trees were all clearly buffing up their leaves to show their newly blazing colours.  I love autumn.

Anyways, below some snaps of what I saw while planting.  Can't wait to see everyone this weekend...

Happy trails!

My supervisor supervising the packing of letterboxes. 

Companion ducks, keeping a steady eye on my goings on.

Vibrant new colours were everywhere.

Hard to see, but those fishes were HUGE and making huge splashes while trying to swim upstream.

The Duck Welcoming Committee, practicing.

Muskrat hard at work, cleaning house for everyone's arrival.

A hint of things to come...

Just one piece of the puzzle...

I'm wiped, but all the boxes have been planted now for Box ON!  Very exciting.  Also have half of the clues done, really just need to finish up and hit print.

Can't wait for Saturday!

Happy trails :)