Happy Halloween 2009!

Happy Halloween indeed! As I will be crazy busy with family activities tomorrow, today will be my last post for the Countdown to Halloween. I can't begin to tell you how honored I've been to be a part of it, and for you to be a part of this blog. I've made several new friends thanks to this event, and I can't thank you enough. The first words of my blog's title are "Me and You," and that aspect of blogging is very important to me. Let's check out my last Halloween offerings together!

I had a few videos hanging around, and didn't know what to feature today, so I said what the heck and decided to post several things. First up, two clips in honor of the classic film Halloween. Here is a look at the real life locations used in the film as they look today.



Here are some "deleted scenes" from the first film. No not really, but these scenes would have made for a much funnier film!



Here is an old silent film strip from 1948 describing the history of Halloween. It's interesting to see how Halloween looks both the same and different then and now.



Finally, here is the "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence from Disney's Fantasia, a beautiful yet chilling way to close out the Countdown to Halloween.



Once again, THANK YOU for joining me this month. I've had an absolute blast doing this, and can't wait to do it again next year. Until then, there's still plenty of great blogging to take place, especially between now and the end of the year. Please stay around, there's more great stuff on the way. Thanks, and one last time, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

"The Telltale Heart" animated short

Today's find is, like yesterday's post, courtesy of a mention by the Saturday Supercast's Halloween podcast. The classic Edgar Allen Poe story "The Telltale Heart" is rendered in animation by legendary animation studio UPA. It's very aytpical of cartoons of its time (1954). Very creepy. Enjoy!

Tomorrow will likely be my last post for the Countdown to Halloween, as I will be busy on Halloween itself, so please stick around for one last post with me then. Thanks!

Oh, one more thing:

Raggedy Ann & Andy and the Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile

I have the gang at the Saturday Supercast to thank for the idea for today's post. Here is a great late 70s special I haven't seen since possibly that long ago. Raggedy Ann & Andy starred is a couple of TV specials around this time, as well as a full-length feature film, all produced by legendary animator Chuck Jones.

Here, Ann and Andy help unite a lonely boy who isn't permitted to go trick-or-treating with a lonely pumpkin no one wants. Whether you've seen this before or not, and whether you have children or not: do yourself a favor, sit down and watch this delightful special. Thanks!





Oh, one more thing. GO PHILLIES!!!!!

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown Classic Promo

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. We know it, we love it. It's on tonight! 8pm ET/PT, 7pm CT/MT on ABC. It's not Halloween without it. See it with someone you love.

Here are two quick tags to the opening credits that typically aired during the 80s acknowledging the main sponsors.




Thanks!

"Vampz" Animated Short Film

This is the last week of the Countdown to Halloween.

AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!!

That means I'm sad it's wrapping up. I've had such a great time taking part in this, both in posting my own stuff as well as enjoying what everyone else has done. The last three months of the year are always the best time for blogging, and this year has been the best yet. Of course, we still have a few more days of the Countdown to go.

We start this last week with a short CGI-animated film called "Vampz." It involves two vampire siblings and a twist on sibling rivalry. Very cute, very well done. Enjoy!


VampZ_medium
Uploaded by MaNoViLLe. - Click for more funny videos.

Soupy Sales R.I.P.

This is a brief interruption of the Countdown to Halloween to note that comedian Soupy Sales died this morning at the age of 83. I've featured Soupy on this blog twice before, and you can find those posts here.

Mr. Show, "Monster Parties: Fact or Fiction?"

If you're a fan of the 90s HBO comedy series Mr. Show, you're in for a treat. Here is a parody of the typical "unexplained mystery" series as it explores "Monster Parties: Real or Imagined?" Could a monster mash really happen? Of course not, but that doesn't stop the cast from having fun with the idea! Thanks to friend Stephanie Roulias for this find.

Mighty Mouse, "Frankenstein's Cat"

That's right, it's Frankenstein's cat on the prowl. Who knew Frankenstein even had a cat? Enter Mighty Mouse to save the day!

80s Horror Movie Trailers

I have to admit something. Despite my love of Halloween and doing all this Halloween blogging, I'm not a horror guy. At all. I don't watch many horror movies, as I'm such a squemish person, and in most cases have made effort to avoid most of them. Even when I was a kid, I would hate when commercials for horror movies came on TV; I would often leave the room.

That doesn't mean, however, that such images didn't stay with me. Here are several trailers for 80s horror movies that I remember when I was growing up.

Funhouse (directed by Tobe Hooper):



The Boogens. What a name!



I didn't know Albert Finney and Gregory Hines were in Wolfen!



The 80s remake of Invaders From Mars. This is a movie I did see, and it was actually quite awesome!



The Beast Within. Ronny Cox is always welcome in a film.



Ghoulies. I just DVR'ed this the other night. If I'm lucky, I may actually get the chance to watch it. The "Trivial Pursuit" girl is Mariska Hargitay from Law & Order: SVU!



Terrorvision. I saw this on broadcast TV one Saturday afternoon in the late 80s/early 90s. Being on free TV plus the comedy made this a more palatable horror film for me.



Scanners.



The legendary Basket Case. My family rented this one night and my very young self foolishly hung around for some of it. Big mistake!



The last film I have is one that blends humor and horror equally well, which isn't easy to do without being a spoof. The Stuff. Smart, witty, with just the right amount of chills. Well done! Starring SNL's Garrett Morris and two more Law & Order alums, Michael Moriarty and Paul Sorvino. Two trailers, no less!

Pac-Man: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Pac-Man

Rolling along in the Countdown to Halloween, we stop at one of my pet topics--Pac-Man, the game, his image, and yes, his cartoon series. Here, Pac lets out his wild side thanks to some bogus power pellets in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Pac-Man." Enjoy!

UPDATE AS OF 8/23/2010: Looks like this episode has been deleted from YouTube, and I can't find it anywhere else, sorry. I'll keep the post in case the episode appears in the future. Thanks!

More Halloween TV Commercials

Remember in my last post about Halloween commercials that I said there aren't that many Halloween commercials out there? Boy, was I wrong! I've found quite a few more cool TV commercials since then. Here they are!

The first is an absolute hoot. It's a commercial from the very early 70s for Orange Shasta soft drink with Frankenstein's monster, named Igor here. I love the grainy film, which gives it a horror movie type of feel. And Igor's grin is hilarious. Plus, John Fiedler and Tom Bosley! Thanks to Professor Brian O'Blivion of the Cathode Ray Mission blog for bringing this to my attention!



Pepsi will help you kick off a great Halloween party!



Toys 'R' Us used to have great commercials. Here is a really cool example for Halloween. Be careful, the volume is quite loud.



Here is a quick one for Dunkin' Donuts that debuted a year or two ago and is still airing this season.



This next commercial is for spending Halloween at Universal Studios. I love the self carving pumpkin at the end.



This is a fun one for Jiffy Pop popcorn featuring a witch who likes to cook.



Here is another witch commercial from the UK for Orange movie theaters, featuring the most famous witch of all.



Back to food, here is a Cap'n Crunch commercial with zombies. That's an unlikely combination.



Lastly, this commercial is the most tame but also my favorite of the bunch. It's a simple, sweet ad for Rick Krispies featuring a mom and her kids making Rick Krispy Treats for the big day. It's not scary, spooky, and features no monsters, but it does feature family members sharing time with each other for one of the most fun days of the year. What more can you ask for?

Mighty Heroes, "The Ghost Monster"

Today I offer more spooky cartoon awesomeness. A creepy ghost monster has come back from a hundred-year slumber to terrorize the peaceful citizens of Good Haven. Who can stop such a monstrosity? The Mighty Heroes, of course!

UPDATE AS OF 8/24/2010: YouTube has deleted the video. Sorry! Perhaps in the future I'll find it again.

A Scary Movie...Or Is It?

Today I present a short film that seems very eerie and spooky...but then, well, watch it first.



Now that you've seen it, I can spoil it. This was an intermission film created by film students at the University of Arizona for use at the campus movie theater and was used rather frequently, according to a former student at the time. Oh those crazy college kids!

Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling: Rock 'n' Zombies

In cas you haven't guessed by a lot of my posts in my blog's history, I kinda like the 80s. A big part of 80s pop culture revolved around pro wrestling, notably the WWF (now the WWE). No one was a bigger wrestling star than Hulk Hogan. One example of this is this Saturday morning cartoon series Hulk Hogan's Rock'n'Wrestling. It's not that big of a difference, really; the actions of wrestling stars are often cartoonish anyway.

This episode teaches a very important message: wrestling managers should never build amusement parks over graveyards. Heck, that's just common sense. How many times do people have to build things over graveyards? It never works out!





UPDATE: Holy crap! Just hours after posting this, I learned that Captain Lou Albano, legendary wrestling manager and one of pro wrestling's most colorful and well-known characters, passed away this morning at the age of 76. I had no idea when I posted the cartoon, I swear! My, that's eerie. Thanks to Rich Dart of Dartman's World of Wonder for letting me know in the comments section.

Ghostbusters Trailers, Real and Imagined

After a brief acknowledgment of that other October holiday, we're back to Halloween awesomeness. Today I present two film trailers, both for the same film--sort of. First, the trailer for one of my favorite alltime films--Ghostbusters!



Next, another trailer for the film, had it been made in the 1940s and starring comedy legends of the time. Can you imagine what an incredible movie this would have been?



And lastly, just for the hell of it, here is the music video for the theme song by Ray Parker Jr. Thanks!

Countdown to...Columbus Day?

Here I am, a few hours early, posting this Sunday night instead of Monday morning, outside of my pattern of early weekday morning blogging lately, so I can get this to you before a day off tomorrow. Tomorrow is, or course, Columbus Day, and although we are indeed counting down to Halloween all month long, I thought it still appropriate to acknowledge the day, after which, we ramp up the Halloween goodness.

Here is a fun Bugs Bunny cartoon in which he assists the sailor in discovering America. Enjoy "Hare We Go!"



Here is another Columbus cartoon that I'd never seen until researching for this post. Here is an educational approach to the Columbus story. Very interesting!


003 classic cartoons christopher columbus - MyVideo Schweiz

We'll be back with more Halloween goodness Tuesday. See you then!

Amateur Psycho Remake--With Toys

Today we take a look at a remake of the classic film Psycho--but not the color film by Gus Van Zandt. No, this remake was done by a complete amateur. In black and white video tape. With toys.

Yes, toys. Take a look!

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends: The Triumph of the Green Goblin

Today we go back to the early 80s (my favorite era) for a great episode of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. Peter Parker and his super-powered pals are at a Halloween party (actually, it's just a generic costume party, but let's pretend it's a Halloween party) where they run into Spidey's greatest villian, the Green Goblin (who also showed up in last year's Halloween celebration). Enjoy!

Jonathan Coulton, Re: Your Brains

Have zombies ever been more popular that today? Just look at the last five years or so for all the zombie films that have been released with both fan and critical acclaim (Zombieland being the latest example). There's just something terrifying about the thought of being attacked by monsters who were once our friends and loved ones. But can you imagine being attacked by a coworker?

Singer/songwriter Jonathan Coulton has, and he's done so with a great sense of humor--and rhythm! Here he is performing his hysterical song "Re: Your Brains." Enjoy!



For more info, songs, and concert dates from Jonathan Coulton, check out his site. For those here in the Philadelphia area, he'll be appearing at the Worlde Cafe Live on Thursday, December 3rd.

Popeye, Fright to the Finish

Today we take a look at a classic cartoon battle for love, between sailors Popeye and Bluto for the hand of sweet, thin Olive Oyl. Bluto uses Halloween night as a chance to get in good with Olive, but Popeye will have none of that. Enjoy!

Halloween TV Commercials

Hello once again to Me and You's Countdown to Halloween. This time we'll take a quick look at some Halloween TV commercials. I love to post holiday-related commercials, as they're usually one of the first signs that a holiday season has begun (gotta love commerce). Unfortunately, you don't see many Halloween commercials at all anymore, so they're a bit hard to come by. Let's see what I've found today.

From the late 70s, here is a commercial for Play-Doh Haunted House playset.



Here is Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, pitching for Coors Light.



Here is a surprisingly creepy commercial for McDonald's that apparently aired in another country.



Here is a fun commercial from Target back in 2001. Target always has fun with their Halloween promotion in their stores, but this is the first time I've seen a commercial from them.



Finally, here is a foreign commercial that starts out rather terrifying and then takes a strangely comic turn at the end. The product is for a men's deodorant spray. Be warned if you're the squemish type, as the commerical is quite intense for most of it.

Hummmm ............ haaaaaaaaa hummm
Uploaded by _006-serie-TS_. -

See you back for more ghoulish fun tomorrow! For more Halloween commercials, click to my post from last year here.

Real Ghostbusters: Halloween II 1/2

Welcome to Day 2 of the Countdown to Halloween! Today, in honor of Shawn Robare's Real Ghostbusters animation cel marathon, I present a Halloween-themed episode of the cartoon series. The characters seen in Shawn's header for his cel showcase can be seen in this episode. Here the boys (and Slimer) take on the literal spirit of Halloween itself, Samhain. Enjoy!

Halloween 2009 Opening Ceremonies

Welcome boys and ghouls to this year's Countdown to Halloween at Me and You and a Blog Named BOO! I am absolutely thrilled and chilled to take part in this spooktacular online celebration. This is the first time I've participated in a project with other Web site owners, so this truly is a treat for me.To those who are longtime readers, thanks for being part of the fun. And for those who are here for the first time, I welcome you with open arms, and I hope you like it here so much you stick around after Halloween is over. Please be a blog follower, and you can also follow me on Twitter.

Most of the Halloween material I've collected for this month so far consists of Halloween-themed or spooky-themed cartoons, but my programming won't necessarily consist entirely of that. Unless a post states otherwise, this will largely be a family-friendly affair, so bring the kids along. Also, I likely won't be posting every day until Halloween, but I'll post as much as I can.

Lastly, please also check out the great Halloween posts of the past, as I have some pretty awesome stuff in the archives, if I do say so myself.

OK, enough talk, let the 2009 Halloween season officially begin!