Now Watching: Mr Jones (2013)

I haven't worked on a Halloween prop for myself in months years.  Between building haunted houses professionally, pursuing other artistic avenues, and the shortcomings of apartment living (namely, having no yard to haunt) I haven't felt that Halloween urge to make stuff for a couple of years now.

But this week... I don't know, something just shifted.  I'll probably investigate this further in a post down the road, but in short, I finally resolved myself to just make something, damnit!  I challenged myself to make even one (1) prop, just for myself.  After I made it, I could hang it on my wall, or give it to a friend for their yard, or leave it in the woods--the point is I will have made something, finally, after so long.  

I decided to make a scarecrow.  I'm still working on it.  I'll share once I'm done, I'm sure.

As I worked, I decided to switch on a film very dear to me: Mr. Jones.  In brief, it's a found footage horror movie shot from the perspective of a young couple attempting to film a documentary about a mysterious, infamous, and reclusive artist known only as Mr. Jones.  He creates these "scarecrows"--unsettling sculptures that serve an unknown purpose.

Wicked poster, right?!

By any objective metric, the movie is.... fine.  I think the acting is good.  The exposition is a bit clunky and heavy-handed at times.  The pacing is weird.  I really dig the concept and ultimately enjoy the story.  But my favorite part of this movie is the scarecrows. Check out the clip (1:30) below to see what I mean:

The scarecrows were created by Pumpkinrot. Karl Mueller (the director) says Rot made about 18 scarecrows for the production.

When I saw this movie, I was just beginning my yard haunter/Halloween prop journey.  This film inspired me to pursue my craft; to make creepy things and tell a spooky story by doing so.  It seemed like the obvious choice for me to put Mr. Jones on the TV as I busted out the branches and paper mache again after all this time.

I highly recommend giving this movie a shot. CriterionCast's James McCormick described it as "something like David Lynch directing a Lovecraftian film," and I think that's a pretty good description.  Plus, it's free on YouTube (with ads, but ad-free with YouTube Premium [or an ad-blocker])

Listening to: Shine on Harvest Moon

In celebration of last night's beautiful harvest moon.

Composed by Nora Bayes and written by Jack Norworth, this is the 1931 recording sung by Ruth Etting; a favorite version of mine and the ghoulfriend's. 

click below to listen on YouTube

"First" Day of Fall

Central Florida experienced its "first" day of fall today. Even though the equinox was a few days ago, a cold front came through this morning and cooled the air here to a pleasant 65°F (and perhaps more critically, removed much of the tropical humidity). It's shaping up to be a weekend of beautiful fall* weather here--a tantalizing prelude to the season to come.  There's a whisper on the wind, and it's saying "soon."

*What passes for fall in Florida at least