Halloween 2007 slideshow on YouTube

[Thom_Serveaux]

Yeah, I wasn't able to barrow a camcorder like I planned so I ended up creating a slideshow (ugh!) with Windows Movie maker.  I posted it to YouTube, but perhaps because it so new, I doesn't appear with the others in that catagory.  As a matter of fact, when I type in the videos title 'Halloween Display 2007 by Thom_Serveaux'  I get back 'no results found'....   So if you're at all curious as to my other obsession (other than RiffTrax and Anime, that is..)
Here's the link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAOZepplEQg

[Tyrant]

Hey that's cool! I especially dig the old photo effects you put in there. The music is a nice touch, also. You did to your yard what I wish I had more time/money/ambition to do to mine.

[Thom_Serveaux]

Hey that's cool! I especially dig the old photo effects you put in there. The music is a nice touch, also. You did to your yard what I wish I had more time/money/ambition to do to mine.

Isn't that what spouses are for? 

But seriously, I just came across a number of videos about something called 'The Great Jack-o-Lantern Blaze: Oct 2007'  Apparently it takes place At Croton-on-Hudson in New York State.  The entire display consists of over 4000 hand-carved jack-o-lanterns are put on display at the Van Cortland Manor for Halloween...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V68NO47Wdx8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xYlJBOuNEI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1buXZGmOxX4&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiOmZOC5A5w

[Bob]

Very nice.

The aging of the photos was the best touch.

Looks like you had fun this year.

[Thom_Serveaux]

Yeah, well as I've been quoted oft enough, I don't have any kids of my own, and am waaaaaaaaaaay too old to go trick-or-treating myself.  This is sort of a compromise, as well as a creative outlet for me.  I remember as a kid how much more enjoyable it was to go to a house that put forth a little effort at least to decorate for the season.   I guess in my own warped way, I want to pass that feeling on to future generations, etc.....  (geez, not too sappy, huh?)

[Tyrant]

  You sound like you'd be a good candidate to start up an annual haunted house thing in your yard. 

  Not having younglings myself, I have every reason to do what you do every year to compensate. Unfortunatly: me + Halloween + some dislike of children = not a good thing. My yard would end up repelling them, not attracting them. And I see nothing wrong with this. Which is another problem.   

[Thom_Serveaux]

... would end up repelling them, not attracting them...

Which is what I try to avoid, primarily for a number of reasons.  For one, Our park is made up of a lot of grandparents who are bringing their offspring's offspring, and don't want to frighten them away too easily.  Other concerns are a bit more ordinary/mundane, such as a small area to lay out a display, and even less to store it all after, along with stuff for the other holidays. (I only have a 12' x 12' shed to keep everything...) 

Then there is my lack of rudimentary abilities, be it with a lathe or any other wood working skill.  The tombstones were cut for me by an older retired gentleman, I assume he is/was a carpenter.  Also, as I may or may not have mentioned before, here and elsewhere, I am a hapless 'techno-neanderthal'.  I see some of these folks on YouTube who talk their mechanical displays, their synchronized sound/light system, etc, about servos, and animitronics, and circuit boards starts my head to swim.   

At he same time, I am instantly jealous of their ability...

I think maybe, if I could get ahold of a camcorder, next year I might come out with my own, video series, "Halloween Decor for For Cheap Morons' or somesuch.  Believe me, what I do, anyone can do, skill level-wise.  For that matter, this year, my biggest expense was the ghosts that you saw. 

More specifically, the five 5" styrofoam balls that I bought at @ $9 ea.  They were used to help form the heads.  I usually try to limit myself to a budget of under $100 a year, if at all possible... 

Absolutely evertyhing else, by necessity, rather than design,  was created from things constructed from previous years, and anything else, from things already around the house... 

Currently, I am battling the elements in order to get most of the Christmas Displaty done before the REAL Erie winter sets in...