Once My Looks Go, I've Got Nothing

      Well, it's the Halloween season again, and if you're one of the seventeen people reading this, then you know what that means: it's time for this year's installment of my decorative Halloween village! And whether you've been following my posts about this for years or you're a first-timer, I've got you covered with some pretty exciting spooky miniature stuff in this installment. In fact, in many ways I'd say this is my freshest display in years.      The central theme of this year's Halloween village is one I've never explored before, and before I reveal it, I'll explain how I got there. Some years, I hit upon my theme early; for example, I happened to be listening to The Ramones last summer and had a flash of inspiration for the  Pet Cemetery theme that would eventually manifest itself in my 2024 village. This year, however, I entered August still feeling uninspired and rudderless, to the point that I considered only a minimal village s...

Setting up my Halloween Village decorations has been a tradition of mine for as long as I can remember. Well, that's not entirely true...I vaguely remember getting Haunted House for the Atari 2600 in an Easter basket at some point, which definitely happened before the first time I set up a Halloween Village, but even that memory is pretty on-theme so whatever. Anyway, I've written many posts and posted several videos about my Villages, as the setup is different every year, with significant variance in what pieces I display (I would need an entire room fully dedicated to the Village to display everything I actually own. Hmmm...there's an idea...). Consequently, one of my annual traditions that has formed alongside this is browsing each year's new releases from Dept. 56 and Lemax. This usually occurs sometime mid-spring. If nothing else, I can't be accused of lack of preparation. Lemax and Dept. 56, for those not as deeply ensconced in the holiday village displa...

  I've written before about Carve-O-Lantern , the company (now known as Pumpkin Masters) that brought detailed, miniature-saw-based pumpkin carving to the masses. One thing I have not done, however, is carve their iconic jack-o'lantern design: the inimitable Mr. Lips. And when I say "iconic," I mean it! Mr. Lips was on the front cover of the very first Carve-O-Lantern pattern booklet back in the late 80's.     Se ñ or Labios would go on to be a featured element of these pumpkin carving kits for years to come, even as they metamorphosed into the Pumpkin Masters brand we know and love today. As big of a fan as I am of these carving kits, I never actually endeavored to make my own Mr. Lips. I'm not sure why...perhaps he was overexposed? Or perhaps I was fearful of screwing up the relatively difficult, intricate pattern that made up Mr. Lips's illumined face, thus exposing myself as a carving poseur. Whatever the reason, I decided to shake off the jinx this ye...

     Well, looking at my cute kitty calendar, it's about that time...   That's right, it's October again, which means it's time to bust out my Halloween Village for another season of miniature monster madness. I have of course written about it in previous years , but for this year I wanted to do something a little different. For last year's theme, I largely excluded the older elements of my village in favor of showcasing my newer pieces. This year, though, I decided to make it a point to go back to the very origins of my festive decor fixation and include the original buildings and characters that I got from Oriental Trading Company...three decades ago? That can't be right, can it? I'd better confirm with the kitty calendar. Oh. Damn. Well, since I started doing this what amounts to a generation ago, I suppose it's only appropriate that I chose to combine what you might consider the first generation of my village with the latest one. As such, I endeavor...