Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Post Halloween Depression


I know, Halloween's over, so it can get a bit depressing. Fortunately, the internet has tons of Halloween stuff to look at to fend off the depression.

Like this original Halloween advent calendar.  You can see some other cool Halloween items on this page:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/195695546286100411/
Then there's these cool Halloween candles--original creations you can buy on Etsy. Again, more cool pics at this site:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/147774431500248208/

So don't let it get you down! Halloween will be back in no time!

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Incredible Make-up Artist Makes Awesome Masks

These are pretty incredible--you really have to look close to see their actual faces...

http://art-sheep.com/make-up-artist-paints-the-most-mind-fucking-scary-halloween-masks/

And here are some more pics from the pumpkin trail the other night!




Only a couple more days 'til Halloween!

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Pumpkin Trail Woods Walk


Second year I went to a pumpkin walk. A local community gets their kids to carve pumpkins, and then line a wooded trail with them. They light them, and there'll be a couple of "characters" along the trail to say Happy Halloween.

The Goatman was back this year, but they also had some weird woods lady who wanted to tell stories.

There were a lot more pumpkins this year so it was even cooler. I put a few of last year's photos that my brother shot into the book, and I'm sure he got some more this year.

These are ones I snapped with my GH4.

More pictures to come!




Friday, October 23, 2015

Crazy Halloween Decorations and Sexy Vintage Witch Photo

Not sure where this picture came from, but is probably from the 1930's to the 1950's.

Here's some crazy Halloween decorations...don't know about you, but I'd love to have these people as neighbors!


http://www.buzzfeed.com/jeremybender/houses-that-are-nailing-halloween#.rjBeoKLGwJ

And, as a funny aside, this cool light switch as a tribute to Sleepaway Camp. If you haven't seen the movie you probably won't get this.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Vintage 1984 Hallmark Ad and 1951 Scotch Tape Ad & Links

Some more vintage ads from Halloweens-gone-by! I find them all pretty fascinating, but especially the ones I remember like this Hallmark ad from 1984!




On the random link front, here's one I know some of my friends can appreciate! Wine and Candy!
http://theberry.com/2015/10/09/wine-and-halloween-candy-pairings-because-youre-an-adult-20-photos/?utm_source=sumome&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=sumome_share

And if you're looking for a haunted house in your area, try here first!
http://www.hauntedhouse.com/

And finally, ever wanted to actually go to Camp Crystal Lake? Here's your chance
https://www.nobebosco.org/tour/





Wednesday, October 7, 2015

The Deviant Halloween Art of Rado Javor



This guy's one talented artist. I saw some of his pics a while back. I tried to get an interview with him but he's from Europe and communication was next to impossible.

So here's a couple of images, and you can see more here:
http://radojavor.deviantart.com/gallery/8353474/Halloween

There were a couple of other artists I wanted to spotlight too, but just didn't have the room. 


Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Sample Pages From The Book

Amazon's preview pages of my book are currently in black and white. They say they'll show up in color soon, but until then check out some pages I put up to show you how it looks:

http://www.kangaskahnfilms.com/sample.pdf

It's hard to get an idea of the book because there's so much in it. I showed it to a lot of people at the Monstermania convention this past weekend, and almost every one was simply surprised at how much STUFF was in it.

I went to that length not just because of my interest, but I've bought a few self-published books about Halloween on Amazon, and been pretty disappointed with how little was in them. Giant font for their text with very few pics. They seem like money grabs.

Not mine. I crammed as much stuff in there as possible, and used as much space on the page as Amazon would let me.

I'm pretty proud of the book. I think you can tell how much (A) time and (B) effort went into it. And just in case you can't, it was (A) 14-16 months and (B) A butt-load.

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Halloween Food & Attractions

Christina Ricci looking sexy as Morticia Addams

My wife decorated for Halloween last weekend. That's right, in September. A new record for her, I think, but I'm all for it. It's the only holiday I approve of starting early. (Christmas in October? Those stores should be burned to the ground)




She has a pumpkin party for our son and some other kids every year where they come over, carve pumpkins, eat a bunch of food and drink and have fun. There's a fire pit in the backyard and they cook smores.

I imagine she's prepping that now.

Anyway, here's some cool food I think she should try making this year.
http://www.delish.com/kitchen-tools/kitchen-secrets/g3028/6-secrets-to-making-outrageously-creepy-desserts/?slide=1

And here's Travel's best Halloween attractions for 2015--wish I had to time to travel and hit some of them!
http://www.travelchannel.com/interests/travels-best/articles/travels-best-halloween-attractions-2015



Friday, October 2, 2015

October! Halloween Month Starts! (Pumpkin Projection)




So it begins! It seems like Halloween never lasts long enough. Never enough time to watch all the cool movies, read the cool books, and just enjoy the atmosphere.

Speaking of atmosphere, check out this cool new thing--digital projection onto pumpkins so it looks like they're singing. Not sure when it started, but I've never seen it before.

You can get this stuff from Atmos FX, and if I don't control myself I'd spend a fortune there.
http://atmosfx.com/

This is a Youtube tutorial on actually creating projections yourself using a program called Gordo:

Lastly on the pumpkin projection front is this video--I can't embed it, but it's probably the best one I've seen. It's on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/john.sims.545/videos/10204161122062390/


And hey, since the other Spirit store Halloween coupon expired, better print this one out and head there fast! You've only got until the 4th...
And don't forget, you can get my book at this link! Full of rare photos, weird facts, and as much of my Halloween obsession as I could fit in one book!
http://j.mp/halloween-links

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

The book is out!


You can use the links on the right to get yourself a copy! The printed book was up for a second on Amazon, but they're combining it with the Kindle in their database, so they say it will take 3-5 days to show up again.

Get it on Createspace now because I make a couple more bucks there! USE THIS DISCOUNT CODE TO MAKE IT CHEAPER THAN AMAZON! 4NVJLQWN

And hey, here's some transparency about the cost and whatnot. Amazon probably wouldn't want me to tell you this, but there's no non-disclosure in there so what the hey!

Amazon tells you the minimum that you can sell your printed book for. They say it's the amount of money it will cost them to print it for you. In my case, it's expensive because it's full color,  180 pages and 8.5 by 11.

Wanna know how much I make for every printed book I sell on Amazon for $27.95? I make $3.42 per book. CRAZY, right? I make around $6 if you buy it off of Createspace. It's because Amazon charges some ridiculous rates per page on color books.

As far as the Kindle, which I set the price for, I get 35% of the $19.95 cover price. Amazon keeps 65%. Seems a little high, but they sorta rule the market. You can go with their 70% author royalty rate, but that's only for books that are $9.99 and under, AND you must be enrolled in their Kindle Select program which lets people who are enrolled in the program read your book for free. Worse yet, you pay an electronic delivery rate per MB on your book, and it would be steep on my book since there are so many pictures.

But I never really started the book to make a ton of money. It was a labor of love, since I've loved Halloween all my life. A long time ago I made a web site with a few little tidbits, and when I stumbled across it again about two years ago the thought occurred...why don't I expand it, put in the things I want to see in a book, a lot of the interesting facts and pictures.

Around 14-16 months ago I started the book. Most of the actual work involved clearing the pictures used(making sure I could legally print them) and organizing, as well as learning InDesign, the program I used to create it.

Anyway, I hope you get the book and enjoy it, and I'd appreciate any reviews you could post on Amazon. They really help sell the book, so it's a big deal to authors.

Keep an eye out here, because I'll keep posting any interesting Halloween-related tidbits I find.

Like this! It's currently up on eBay, and I remember a friend who wore this one Halloween. The "hairy scary" Kiss mask!




Also thanks to Emma for showing me this. What it is, I'm not sure. But it's amusing...

Monday, September 28, 2015

Starting to Feel Like Halloween...



Here's a cool animated crystal ball my wife picked up to add to our over-decorated house. Hey, we love Halloween, what're you gonna do?

Here's some other crystal balls at Amazon that you can check out. There's a bunch of cool ones in there.

And speaking of Amazon, here's their new Halloween store! Tons of goodies!
http://amzn.to/1KOWdue

Something else I stumbled on a while ago was this press book from Universal in 1982. Why's that Halloween related? Just take a look--and then weep at what an awesome year for movies that was!

And those aren't even all the pages!






My proof of the book had some issues I wasn't happy with, so we're ironing those out. The print version may end up coming out a little later in the 1st week of October. The Kindle is still available as of October 1st!

Sunday, September 20, 2015

It's beginning to look a lot like...HALLOWEEN


The decorations are all over the place, the temperature's getting cool, and I've seen a few pumpkins on porches.

Speaking of which, here's some cool pumpkins and you can see a bunch more on the site!
http://coolpumpkindesigns.blogspot.com/2015/06/13-of-most-awesome-pumpkin-carvings-ever.html

One of them is by Ray Villafane, who we spotlight in the book. He's gotta be one of the best if not THE best pumpkin carver out there.

Another cool link is this crazy clown prank--these guys have done them before, but this is a newer video. One of these days I think someone's getting shot, but until then they're pretty entertaining!

https://www.facebook.com/BeTrollCom/videos/815844831865761/

And lastly, here's the pre-order link for the Kindle version of my book!
http://www.amazon.com/Halloween-Greatest-Holiday-Kevin-Kangas-ebook/dp/B015GEUFLS/

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

October 1st Appears to Be Publishing Date

I'm waiting for the proofs now so I can give the final thumbs up. I'll have a bunch of links once it goes live.

I'm excited to finally have it done! Eighteen months of work!

Here's a couple of little goodies I found in the research. A very cool ad for some movies from 1960. Peter Cushing and look at Donald Pleasence guest starring!
And then this pic I came across online but could never find out where it came from to get a higher-res scan and permission to use it. So, here it is. It's pretty cool, probably from the 80's.

And finally here's this pretty awesome prank that an electric company did in New Zealand--pretty great commercial. Stick around for the surprise ending.


More to come! Keep checking back.

Monday, September 14, 2015

Halloween The Greatest Holiday of All Book Cover

Here's the first look at the cover to the book. It was created by graphic designer Erik Ashley who's done all of my movie posters except for "Hunting Humans"(I didn't know him then). Super-talented guy and if you've got graphic design needs you should hit him up at his web site.


I'm going through the process of getting the book through Amazon's rigorous ebook process. It's not normally a big deal but their service isn't really built for books with photo-heavy interiors. Since there are so many types of readers out there, each one reacts differently to a book so if you let the reader interpret your book the way it wants then it results in crazy formatting that looks terrible.

So there's been a lot of work going on behind the scenes to ensure it still looks good. But the end is in sight!

Anyway, speaking of Halloween I'm not even sure what this is but I wish I had one to hang on my wall--very cool!

Monday, September 7, 2015

Halloween Donut Ad and Weird Puzzle

Here's a cute little ad for something I've never heard of: Morton Frozen Donuts. Sounds delicious, right?

But hey, if you get free makeup then it's all worth it...

Then there's this weird puzzle. I'm not sure if it's Halloween or what, but it's definitely a little creepy. I'd guess 1950's but am not sure.


Friday, August 28, 2015

Pumpkin Carving Ideas Plus Spirit Stores Coupon

This web site has some cool pics of Halloween pumpkins you can get ideas from(or just out-right borrow, right?).

Check 'em out! Won't be long before it'll be time to carve some jack o'lanterns!

http://coolpumpkindesigns.blogspot.com/2013/10/more-epic-pumpkin-carvings-2013m.html

And this here's too good a deal not to pass on to you, cuz you know we all go there come Halloween! (and it's legit, since it was on the actual Spirit page)




Thursday, August 27, 2015

Creepy Kids, Creepy Masks, Creepy Lipstick

From assorted newspapers or magazines that I went through in the research. These ads, while creepy, don't exactly fit into the book so here you go!

From 1950 here's some of the creepiest kids since Village of the Damned. If I didn't want to eat shredded wheat before(I didn't) then I definitely don't now.


I don't have an exact date for this next one but I do know that creepy porcelain masks will not make me want to buy stuff. Maybe it's just me.

From 1945 comes this inexplicable ad for anti-freeze. How long would you have to stare at this ad to figure out that's what they're selling? Yeah, a while.