Jack Skellington has decorated the Haunted Mansion for Christmas!
The whole place is decked out in garlands, candles, cobwebs and jack-o-lanterns…
They’ve added all sorts of lovely details all over the place…
Spooky, isn’t it?
There’s even a Christmas scarecrow!
…and they’ve brought a pile of gifts, just for you!
The Hollywood Tower Hotel at Disney’s California Adventure even gets in the spirit.
The LA Day of the Dead at Hollywood Forever was Saturday. It’s always a magical night, harmonious and happy and just really peaceful. The Fairbanks crypt was all lit up, and so lots of folks were coming up to just hang with Pete and Jayar, aka Doug Sr. and Doug Jr. Nobody really knows who they were, one fellow guessed “captain of industry” but that’s alright. It’s a comfortable place to sit, along the ledge of the crypt, with a wonderful view of the reflecting pool and the rest of the cemetery, and there’s a quiet little marble bench behind. I actually got a little misty-eyed as we were leaving, I imagine they must’ve been so happy.
(The photo is actually NOT the Fairbanks crypt, but is from CreepyLA’s flickr set.)
…and because I am a self-aggrandizing twerp, here’s a link to the LA Times article on the Day of the Dead that I was interviewed for a few years ago.
We went to Shipwreck at the Queen Mary this evening… They make a big deal about how scary it is, but I was disappointed. It’s nothing but cheap plywood, terrible props, and really long lines. Oh, and it’s possible that security outnumbers the patrons. Crummy atmosphere.
Among the locals, it’s a widely held belief that the Queen Mary IS haunted, so it’s freaky enough on its own right, and several of the mazes are on the ship, so it has the potential to be absolutely terrifying. If they just dressed up the halls, threw in a few ghostly actors here and there, it would be nightmarish. I’m un-flinchable, and I’m not all that superstitious, but I suspect that would have even me climbing the walls to get out.
There actually were moments where I almost freaked out — but it was in hallways, stairwells, during the “empty” times when they hadn’t done anything but, say, change the lighting, and perhaps neglect the paint for a few years. I was far, far more terrified of the ship itself than anything they’d done to make it “scary.” Alas, so much potential, wasted.
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On the completely opposite side of the spectrum is the Open Grave at the GardenWalk in Anaheim. It’s very understated, so much so there’s almost nothing to it. It relies entirely on atmosphere and your own ability to see horrifying things in the shadows.
The haunt starts with a few minutes in a tiny, totally dark room, lots of banging and crashing against the walls — It sounds tacky, but it sets the dissonance for the next part, which is nothing more than a large open area filled with stage fog. At first I wondered if they’d lost their budget, it looked like it was going to be superbly disappointing.
There are no walls to lean on, so one is already a bit creeped out, and then out in the open one feels tremendously exposed. It’s very dark, and we spent whole time feeling like we were lost. The actors grabbed every chance they got at a flinch, lots of noise makers and people coming up out of nowhere, but it really worked.
My photographer friend Taso sent me this photo a few days ago, saying, “I thought it was a very lovely portrait because it seems like you. It seemed to address the kind of knowing you have.” No matter what’s going on in my life, Taso never fails to make me feel beautiful.
These are both fairly accurate descriptions of my personality, but I might split hairs with their apologia on the Devil… I’ve never thought so-called darker ambitions needed an apology — without darkness, what is light? — but I willingly read a Thoth deck, and that’s probably proof enough I’m not entirely right in the head.
The Magician came up when I chose Mercury as my favorite planet. It is the ruler of Virgo after all, and I do have wings tattooed on my feet. Seems fitting enough, with how mutable I can be. The Magician is probably the card I would choose for myself, and it seems to come up more often than anything else in self-referential positions.
The Devil arrived when I chose Jupiter, which I do love. It’s interesting, Jupiter and I have an on-again/off-again relationship, Jovian luck doesn’t seem to work the way it should for me, but occasionally, oh, occasionally it works oh so well, and I find fortune in spades. I suspect that’s the Magician aspect’s creationism cutting both ways.
You are The Magician
Skill, wisdom, adaptation. Craft, cunning, depending on dignity.
Eloquent and charismatic, you are clever, witty, inventive and persuasive.
The Magician is the male power of creation, creation by willpower and desire. In that ancient sense, it is the ability to make things so just by speaking them aloud.
Reflecting this is the fact that the Magician is represented by Mercury. He represents the gift of tongues, a smooth talker, a salesman. Also clever with the slight of hand and a medicine man – either a real doctor or someone trying to sell you snake oil.
You are The Devil
Materiality. Material Force. Material temptation; sometimes obsession.
The Devil is often a great card for business success; hard work and ambition.
The Devil is not really “Satan” at all, but Pan the half-goat nature god and/or Dionysius. These are gods of pleasure and abandon, of wild behavior and unbridled desires.
This is a card about ambitions; it is also synonymous with temptation and addiction. The card can be a warning to someone who is too restrained, someone who never allows themselves to get passionate or messy or wild – or ambitious. This, too, is a form of enslavement.
What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.
My brother’s standing in the middle of the room playing Call of Duty, because he can’t sit down with Fairbanks on his shoulder, lest the dogs try to make a snack of him. Fairbanks is looking for some interesting place to explore, and every time I walk by, I end up with a sugarglider in my hair.
…all sacked out with my knitting.
Listening to...
