Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Gallimaufry (with horns)

Oberon Zell seems to drive some Pagans around the bend for his fondness for costuming, but who else reinvented unicorns? The original work was done by a Maine wildlife biogist whom Zell acknowledges, W. Franklin Dove, in various articles and a book, Artificial Production of the Fabulous Unicorn:a Modern Interpretation of an Ancient Myth (1936).

¶ I always say that making movies about writers is difficult because the work of writing is not very visual. Margaret Soltan links to an article about movies that are more about writers' egos and screw-ups. I think that I will rent a couple of them.

I would add Almost Famous to the list, mainly for Philip Seymour Hoffman's rants as a real-life character, rock journalist Lester Bangs, which are dead on.

¶ Recently a shut-down Toys 'R Us store in Pueblo that I pass on my way to the university blossomed with new, temporary signage as a Spirit World Halloween Store. I had no idea that there was a Halloween chain store! Or that there was a category for warrior and god costumes. Or that it included "outlaw zombie"--shades of Texarcana.

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4 Comments:

Anonymous vs-f said...

We've had the Spirit stores here in the Bay Area for quite a while. Typically they show up on a short-term basis for the two months before Samhain, then disappear until next year. As I speak, a raven--not sure whether it's Hugin or Mugin--perches near my computer bringing me thought and memory. But last year he/she was for sale at the local Spirit store.

6:39 PM  
Anonymous Chas S. Clifton said...

It just stuns me that the secular Halloween market is big enough to sustain all those stores. It's only one night, really, despite the "Month of Horror" banner that I saw in the window of the Hot Topic store at the mall.

But maybe I should stop in and see if they have any cool ravens.

2:34 PM  
Blogger Carol Maltby said...

It's an offshoot of Spencer Gifts, the mall store that sells black light posters, pop culture detritus, and fart joke tchotchkes. They pull into town, rent an available storefront for the season, and then pack up until next year. As they say, Halloween is "a $3.3 billion industry, second only to Christmas."

11:16 AM  
Anonymous Chas S. Clifton said...

Carol,

I'm not familiar with Spencer - don't go into malls a lot - but the explanation makes sense.

I see two that a recent Denver Post had a whole page of commercial haunted house ads -- obviously Halloween is being injected with commercial steroids to be more than a night or two.

I still have to check for ravens.

2:36 PM  

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