How I Halloween | #3 - LibravoxGhost Story Collections

Ghost Story Collections

There's nothing like a creepy story on a cool autumn evening. Personally I like to listen while walking. Preferably around dusk and with one ear bud out, so I can also hear the rustle of the leaves as the red and orange drain from the sky and I'm enveloped in . . . I'd like to say darkness, but usually it's the glow of streetlights. At least there's darkness and shadows between the houses and sometime even between the streetlights. It's not that the darkness itself is scary, or that something might jump out of the darkness, the thing about the darkness is that you see less & listen more. The story becomes more absorbing if your not looking at a hundred things all the time. Once you've begun concentrating on the story and are paying less attention to your surroundings, that's when the shadows can start to become just a little bit ominous, adding to the story in a whole new way.
 

For the 3rd post you have a selection of downloads from librivox.org.  As mentioned in the 1st post librivox is a project that provides reading of public domain materials for free. The books are read by volunteers and sometimes several volunteers will contribute part to one book. Due to the variety of readers there can be variety in the finished product. This can range from volume to pronunciation and rhythm. They are all 'up to the task' as they say, but some really do a great job.

One of the things I like is how they create "Collections". Like the 'coffee break collections' that are shorter snippets of stories & poems that (I suppose) are supposed to be long enough (or short enough)  for your coffee break. Another example is the series of ghost story collections we will be looking at today.

Everyone's taste is different but I've made a few suggestions for each collection. I wouldn't say these are the 'best' or even all of my favourites. The suggestions are a product of my strange taste with an allowance for variety. There are tragedies and comedies. There are tales that are creepy and sinister as well ones that are amusing. There's  a tale or two of insanity and a morality play. There is even a few straight forward ghost stories.

The suggestions are there for you to take or leave as you wish. 

There is a link to each of the collections.  You can download a zip with the whole collection or skim through the titles and download the individual stories that catch your eye.


1) Ghost Story Collection 001
Suggestions: Man Size in Marble - The Empty House - Uncle Abrahams Romance

2) Ghost Story Collection 002
Suggestions: The Ebony Frame - A Psychical Prank - The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall

3) Ghost Story Collection 003
Suggestions: An Astral Onion - The Chromatic Ghosts of Thomas -  The withered Arm

4) Ghost Story Collection 004
Suggestions: The 9:30 Up train - Green Tea - The Haunted Orchard - The Signalman

5) Ghost Story Collection 005
Suggestions: The Yellow Wallpaper - The Ring of Thoth - The Phantom Coach

6) Ghost Story Collection 006
Suggestions: Children of the Moon - The Man who was not on the Passenger List - Rattle of Bones

How I Halloween | #2 - Podcasts

Podcasts

For the 2nd Post in the series "How I Halloween"  I'm covering podcasts. To be fair, only one of them is specifically a Halloween podcast.  Therefore I have split them into 2 groups. The first is more closely connected to Halloween, Mostly in a ghostly sort of way. The second batch of shows can & do have episodes on ghosts, supernatural creatures and other things closely connected to the holiday. But, they also have lots that are general mysteries and Fortean Topics.

My suggestion, follow the links and try out some free episodes. Then go back and get more episodes of  the shows you like the most.

Closely Related to Halloween & Ghosts

1. The Campfire - As described in the 1st post people call in and tell their stories. From Ghosts, and UFO's to Strange creatures and "head scratcher" there all kinds of campfire stories.
2. Halloween Haunt - A short cast made for only one month a year. It covers various Halloween topics from Vampires to candy statistics.
3. Anythng Ghost - Another show where people tell their stories. This time only ghost stories & some are sent in writing and read by the host.
4. The Folklore Podcast - A more scholarly show with each show being a look at a single topic in folklore.

General Paranormal & Mystery

1. The Paranormal Podcast
2. Created by the same person as the campfire, it is more of an interview show with guests that are mostly writer about paranormal and unusual topics.
3. Blurry Photos - A show that cover legends and  mysterious stories with a mandatory debunking at the end.
4. Expanded Perspectives - This show also covers legends and the unexplained but, is more open to the idea that something strange could be going on. 
5. Gralien Report - Mysteries & Conspiracies from an under ground bunker deep in the heart of Appalachia.
6. Mysterious Universe - Many podcasts have subscriber version where, for a fee, you can access additional or extended shows and other material. MU is the only one I pay for, I say this to demonstrate how much I enjoy their show. They cover a large variety of topics. They can be funny, sarcastic and  informative all in the span of 10 seconds. I can keep trying to explain it but, the best thing is to listen to an episode and see for yourself.

Bonus: CBC Radio Archives  (not really a podcast but too good to leave out) 

CBC Archives have lots of neat stuff from radio & TV, & not just for Halloween but for just about anything you might want to search for.

How I Halloween or Sharing what I like about Halloween | #1 - An introduction

This is the first in a series of  posts about how I celebrate Halloween.  I'm hope to get a new Halloween post up a little more often than once a week. 

I love Halloween and have a a big store of media & info to help celebrate the season.

My plan is to share lots of media along with some more 'real world' stuff like local events, recipes and who knows what.

Virtually everything mentioned will be low to no cost. Mostly because I firmly believe that a home-made Halloween is the most fun.

Let's start with a bit of a sampler. Each Category should eventually get it's own post with more examples, suggestions & links.

Follow the links below to start getting into the Halloween mood.

1) Librivox Recording - Famous modern Ghost Stories

Librivox is a cool project (as they say) "To make all books in the public domain available, for free, in audio format on the internet." .   What that means to us is free audio books of anything that's not copyrighted.  One of the  cool things they do is create collections and anthologies around topics, genres & even seasons.

2) OTR Show - Nightfall - Info - Episodes

OTR stands for Old Time Radio. It usually covers radio broadcasts from a time it was the only game in town and into the the early years of TV when  some popular shows had both Radio and TV versions. 
Today's example isn't really old enough to be called OTR , but it's almost 40 years old & it's really cool.

Nightfall was made by CBC  starting in 1980 and aside from being a bit dated or "of the time" it's really well done and when I read the following review I was sold. "Holy wow, who knew Canadians could be so scary? Seriously, though - this is a very well done horror series from the early 80s. Really creepy stuff!"

3) Podcast - Jim Harolds Campfire

We have finally reach a point where almost everyone knows what a podcast is, so no explanations needed.  podcasts are great, everyone loves them and I'll share some of favorite spooky & Halloween casts.

Today's podcast is the campfire. The premise is that people call in in tell about their experiences, like they where sitting around a campfire. Due to the fact that everyone tells their own story some can be a little generic and others are so full of details it can be a bit hard to follow. Then you get the story you've been waiting for. Weather you can see yourself in the situation, or it super creepy or just really well told. You've heard a story that's going to stick with you, the kind of story you'll want to retell a friend.  Instead of retelling it, tell your friend where they can listen to it too.

4)Flickr Photo Group/Pool - The Vintage Halloween Pool

Halloween, & Christmas,  seem like a good opportunity to look into the past.  Some times our past & sometimes much father than that. I love the the old photos in this group. The decorations , ads and especially the costumes. They run the gambit from some old clothes and a paper bag mask to very elaborate costumes that are the antithesis of a store bought plastic mask and smock.  
There are more groups or photo pools from flickr coming up in another post. One thing about flickr, if someone has a topic they're interested in, someone else has gathered a group of photos about it.

5) Local Event - Fort George Ghost Tour

Of all the ghost and cemetery tours this is the one I like the best and the one I keep going back to.
Of all the categories I've set up for myself, I think this will be the hardest. There are ghost tours, cemetery tours, & fort tours. Once those are out of the way it gets a little harder to come up with events that aren't just another temporary fun house.

6) Recipe - Pumpkin Fudge

If there is any holiday that's synonymous with sweet treats Halloween is it. So it only makes sense to have pumpkin Fudge as the first recipe.  There are tons and tons of recipes for anything and everything. My plan is to keep the ones I pass on relatively simple and to have tried them before sharing them. There are some pumpkin pancakes & warming adult drink I'm really looking forward to.

Tune in Again

That's the sample pack of how I Halloween. I'm not sure if it will be representative of the rest of these posts, but hopefully you found something you enjoyed. If you did check back soon for more Halloween fun.

Signs of Fall or rather "The sign of fall, I look for"

Those of us that love fall  are looking for signs of fall's complete and undeniable arrival.

You can look for the 1st red leaf, you can sniff that 1st cool breeze or  you can wait for fresh local pumpkins to appear. These are all good indicators that fall is coming, but they are not undeniable sings that fall has irrevocably arrived.

First Sign

There are many signs of fall and every lover of fall has their favourite. For me, Pumpkin beer is the one that says "no more waiting, no more watching, Fall IS here".  I haven't had one yet this year or even seen them in the LCBO (to be fair I haven't looked) but, what I did see last week tells me it won't be long now.

At my local micro brewery, Taps on Queen, Phil the brew master was creating the magical liquid that portents the best season of the year. My 1st hint was the the can of pumpkin puree near the brewing kettle, followed quickly by Phil's confirmation that 3.14 (pumpkin pie) was indeed being brewed before my eyes.

Phil Stirring furiously

In a few short weeks that wonder fall tradition will ready for enjoying during crisp sunny afternoons on the patio. After the 1st few pints of fall another tradition will begin 'custom pumpkin pints'. The creating, tasting, testing and debating of  custom mixtures of pumpkin 3.14 with Taps other brews.
Pumpkin with IPA, pumpkin with porter, pumpkin with lager, pumpkin with red cream ale, pumpkin will be mixed with every tap that can pour & most of  the regulars will have a the right combination in the right proportion to create (what they believe) is the perfect fall brew that represents all the best of autumn.

The wonderful aroma filling the air.

If you think that sounds a bit extreme, you've never been with beer lovers as the the warm autumn sun sinks behind the skyline and someone new comes up to the bar next to 4 regulars and asks the one sitting beside them "what are you drinking". It's a question that will have 4 answers and even more recommendations.

Flowers and Photos

 I once heard a Quote to the effect (I can't remember the exact wording) "If  you want to take pretty pictures, start by putting your camera in-front of something pretty"

You can substitute "pretty" for may things "exciting", "Dramatic", "Emotional". The point is, start with a subject that represents the look you want to achieve.

It's a guilty pleasure of mine to go for a walk & put that into practice.  It feels sort of like cheating, to try and make an appealing photo of a subject that already has lots of appeal and often has most of the element you need for a good photo.

I can & do still mess up some of these shots. But, it still feels like cheating when the photos that where the easiest to take turn out to be some of the best shots of the day.

 I'm not advocating against choosing an interesting subject. In fact finding a great subject is something most photographers strive for. Sometimes I feel spoiled for choice and miss hunting for a good subject.

That probably says more about me than it does about photography.

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Want to see more?   I'm also on  Flickr, Vimeo,  YouTube, & Google+.

The Mega-Lapse Project

The Mega-Lapse Project

The Mega-Lapse Project, sounds impressive, but it's just what I called it to distinguish it from other time lapses I was working on.

The various pieces (time lapses, footage & hyperlapse) where shot from November 2013 to May 2014.  After preparing the individual lapses  & bringing them into one "mega" project & getting started, I soon got side tracked by more urgent projects.

So, everything sat on a hard drive & sat & was basically ignored for a long time.

Until this spring when I came across the project & opening it up. All the files where there and the time lines where all in place & all the different lapses worked fine. They just needed assembling and a bit of finishing.

"I've come this far, I can finish it off quick"  was my thought. Well, it wasn't exactly quick but,  it is done & (at least to me) it doesn't look too bad.

BTS

In the mega project I also found some BTS (Behind The Scenes) footage. Once again "waste not, want not". I put the together to go with the main project. The BTS was mostly shot in one day, One windy, snowy afternoon. First I went out with a camera wrapped in plastic and put the camera & tripod where it could 'watch' me make the trip to the track to shoot that day's part of the hyperlapse (moving timelapse). once it was set & focused & running, I trudged back to the building, got the camera & tripod I was using for the taking pictures (5 different locations) each day, all winter. With the standard tripod & camera I set out to get the days shots shooting bits of live action along the way.

More to Come

I have other unfinished projects  that range from a folder full of footage to others that where nearing completion before they put aside. I just might take a few,finish them off and post them.

New project sometime seem a bit more attracting, they're well, new and exciting. But, I've never brought a project to completion without learning something, usually a lot of somethings,

So, when I have a bit or extra time or need a break from my current projects I'll take a look at an older project & see what I can learn.

ALK Art's Debut Show

On April 15 (2018) Ashleigh of ALK Art had her Debut Art Show at Taps on Queen, in Niagara Falls.

I had the opportunity to work with her and make a few videos for her social media channels and helped work on a poster for the 'real world'. If we've done our jobs reasonable well these things should need too much explanation.

So,  That's how I'll lay them out below. 

1st came the logo.










Next, came the poster.
Ashleigh had a 1st draft of the poster and with a little tinkering we had this.

Introductory Promo.

2nd Promo Video

Interview video - made & posted during the show.

'Thank You' video posted at the end of the show.