I am so grateful to YaYa for her YouTube videos showing me easy hairdos. I tried this hairdo: Heat Free Dolly Curls in Five Minutes.

I followed the directions and it really only took about five minutes and it turned out pretty well. I used Biosilk for my anti-frizz serum.

Sleeping in the curls was just as easy as sleeping without anything in my hair. I was surprised how easy it was to toss and turn at night. The curls basically held, but this morning, I wasn’t so sure they would turn out as well as YaYa’s.

They ended up looking pretty good and it took almost NO effort:

I can’t wait to try her other hairdos!

Update 12-03-11: I still absolutely ADORE this hairstyle. I can do it much better now than that first day and I’ve learned to adapt it for my hair.

• I use hairspray: When I used this technique, the curls looked stunning when I first took them out, but within a couple of hours they would straighten and look messy. Now, I spray down my hair to make it moist, but then I add two spritzes of hairspray to each curl before I roll it up and then a third to the outside of the curl. The hair stays curly all day long and after sleeping on it all night, it’s not crunchy and stiff like it would be if I spray my hair with hairspray right after I take out my curls. I use Aussie Catch the Wave Sprunch Hair Spray.

• I curl the top curl backwards: In the video, she curls the top curl away from her face. My hair works better if I curl towards my face.

• TUCK IN THE ENDS: She says it in the video, but I can’t stress enough how important it is to tuck in the ends. The curls stay nice and tight if you make sure that the ends are tucked in. If you look in that first photo, I didn’t get my ends tucked in properly. I get much better results when I do.

• Sleeping is easy: Since the curls are positioned at the sides under my ears and the top, I have absolutely NO trouble sleeping in them. Unlike other curlers, I have no neck pain in the morning.

• I wash my bangs every morning: If I don’t wash my bangs every day, they look REALLY greasy, so I put on a shower cap over the sock curls in the morning and wash just my bangs in the shower. The rest of my hair gets really dry, so it doesn’t need to be washed every day, but my bangs are different. Wearing a shower cap makes me feel like a total dork, but I have a really cute shower cap, so that helps a bit.

• Biosilk is your friend: I use a dime-sized dollop of Biosilk for each curl when I untie the socks in the morning. It makes my hair shiny and keeps the fly aways from flying away.

I love this hairstyle and in five years, I’m sure I’ll look at all the photos from this time and laugh at the constant presence of dolly curls, but I don’t care. I’ve never had a hairstyle look this good and take such little time. I’m sticking with it until it becomes so reviled that it’s like wearing a mullet.

And even then, I might still wear it…

I love this video of an orca trying to communicate with the motor on the boat, but the entire time, I was worried to death that she would try to do it with the motor running and end up getting hurt by the propeller.

She’s safe in this video, but I hope Luna doesn’t get hurt the next time she encounters a motorboat.

Via: VIDEO: Luna the Orca Talks to a Motorboat – Lolcats ‘n’ Funny Pictures of Cats – I Can Has Cheezburger?

If you haven’t heard of Nyan Cat, here is a video explanation:

I don’t quite understand Nyan Cat. It was a funny little thing that was conceived by a few people, but for some reason, it showed up everywhere for a while. I found it kind of bizarre and wondered if it was one of those strange messages that the government uses to activate sleeper agents like in the movie Serenity.

This cartoon, however, brought a tear to my eye.

Absolutely PERFECT storytelling in one minute and forty-six seconds. Lovely!

Via: MemeCats: A Meme Dream Come True – Lolcats ‘n’ Funny Pictures of Cats – I Can Has Cheezburger?

Update 10-05-11: It looks like Nyan Cat has a happy ending after all.

I adore this video. If you think it’s lasting too long, just wait. It’s good right up to the end.

Via: My sister, Stacey, sent this to me!

This video is supposed to be the reaction of children to the “Luke, I am your father” line in Empire Strikes Back.

I’m calling bullshit. The boy LOOKS at the camera for approval right before he makes his face. The little girl was almost believable, but it’s obvious that this was set up and the kids were coached to make a surprised face when the proper line was said.

I watched the original trilogy with my half-brother, Robert. It was the first time he had seen any of the Star Wars movies, and the only time he reacted was when Obi Wan saved Luke from the Sand People. He literally said, “Maybe it’s that Ben Kenobi guy!”

The whole “Luke, I am your father,” thing has been parodied so much that it wasn’t a surprise to Robert. It was a shock to me as a kid, but I saw it back in 1980. It can NEVER be the shock to kids today the way it was for us. Probably because of Zork and Toy Story more than anything.

I absolutely LOVE this photo of two guys who are VERY excited about their Slayer cake. I have no idea who these guys are, but I can imagine how the afternoon went quite readily.

Jeffery, the guy with the glasses, is so proud of his work baking this cake and decorating it with the Slayer logo. Baptiste is not quite as excited about the cake as he is a ham and loves it when Jeffery’s little brother takes pictures of their escapades.

The rest of humanity is represented by Jeffery’s older brother in the background. He’s not quite as convinced as the other two. I imagine him saying, “Yeah, it’s hard core, I guess. You DO know it’s a chocolate cake, right? How hard core can baking a cake be?”

Of course, the Jeffery immediately starts smacking him with a cutting board. As his unenthusiastic brother wipes the small trickle of blood from his lip, Jeffery screams, “How hard core am I NOW?!”

Both of them look at their littlest brother and ask, “Did you get a picture of that?! THAT was hard core!” But the smallest brother is cowering on the other side of the kitchen, scared.

Baptiste says, “Things just got weird, man. I’m goin’ home.”

Photo via: YIMMY’S YAYO™

There was a time in my life when I used to sit on the couch and just hit the channel button over and over, getting two or three seconds from each channel. It was a way to cleanse my mind and helped me get over my stressful day as a teenager.

Someone has so graciously recreated that experience for me and made it even better:

• GIF.TV – Addiction at its finest

Now, instead of entirely RANDOM bits of TV, I get to see all the funniest and strangest animated GIFs out there. AND I even get to hold the remote!

Via: best reaction to a zombie, ever – Imgur

I love this photos of pumpkins at the kitten tasting party.

I know if we had a pumpkin big enough, I’d catch Elvis doing the same thing!

Via: Meanwhile, at Bob and Helen’s Annual Halloween Kitten-Tasting Party… — Cute Overload

Here is an animated GIF of a very clean skeleton.

It seems ever so slightly pornographic to me and I don’t know why, but I thought it was interesting none the less.

Animated GIF via: YIMMYS YAYO™

Here are a couple of links to instructions on how to do scary makeup.

• Instructables: zombie makeup
• Gelatine recipies for normal prosthetics and zombie skin. – HauntForum

This year’s Halloween theme is Scary Monsters, Super Creeps, so I’m going as a mummy and I’m looking for makeup techniques that will look like I have thousand year old skin. Hopefully some of these links will help me.

Update 10-26-11: I tried to the liquid latex and toilet paper method. It didn’t look good on my first try and I probably could have learned how to make it work with a few more trial runs. Unfortunately, my face reacted to the liquid latex. It was itchy, red and sore for a couple of days afterward, so I abandoned that idea for my costume.

The directions for the liquid latex recommended that I do a test on my forearm before using it, which I did, but I didn’t have a reaction. My face, apparently, is FAR more sensitive than the skin on my forearm. Don’t be stupid like me. Do a tiny test on your FACE before spreading that stuff all over. Give it at least thirty minutes to see if there is a reaction at the test site before doing your test run for your Halloween makeup.

Via: MemeCats: Just in Time for Meowloween – Lolcats ‘n’ Funny Pictures of Cats – I Can Has Cheezburger?

Alfred Hitchcock was the all-time best suspense creator!

Years ago, I went as Tippi Heddren in The Birds.

I developed that costume myself. I found the dress at a thrift store and made the head dress out of an angel’s halo with the fluff removed and craft store birds on strings. You can actually BUY a costume like it now: When Birds Attack Costume at Amazon.com

I wouldn’t recommend that costume, however. The Halloween party was a never ending barrage of “What are you supposed to be?”

I had never seen the movie, so I rented it so I could analyze her dress and hair. The creepiest scene however didn’t have Tippi Heddren in it. It’s here:

Those broken tea cups hanging in the kitchen caught my eye and filled me with dread. This Halloween, grab some movies by Hitchcock and enjoy the tense suspense!

Hitchcock photo via: YIMMY’S YAYO™

Check out this haunted house made out of Legos. It makes me want to break out an old Lego set and get creating!

Via: Incredible Old Victorian Houses Made Out of LEGOS! – News – GeekTyrant

Here are a couple of links to Halloween Podcasts that has some things that you normally wouldn’t hear.

• Retrospace: Retrospace Podcast #22
• Retrospace: Retrospace Mix Tape #16: 2011 Halloween Mix

Here is the list of music and clips from Retrospace Podcast #22:

• “Night Gallery” theme (7 seconds only)
• Halloween III TV promo
• “Cthu Thlu” – Caravan
• “Visiting Hours” movie Radio Spot
• “Horror Movie” – Skyhook (1975) – (portion of song only)
• Woolworth Halloween radio commercial (1978)
• “Kolchak – The Night Stalker” TV theme
• “Halloween” soundtrack clip (1978)
• “Werewolf” – Gary Warren
• “H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N Spells Halloween”
• Bobby “Boris” Pickett WCOP Boston radio spot
• “The Munsters” TV theme
• Clip from “Young Frankenstein”
• “Docteur Jekyll Et Monsieur Hyde” – Serge Gainsbourg
• Clip from “Scary Spooky Stories” LP 1973
• “Rosemary’s Baby” theme as sung by Mia Farrow
• “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” clip

Here is the list from Retrospace Mix Tape #16:

• Jacula – Soul Satan 1979
• The Duponts – Screamin’ Ball (At Dracula Hall) 1958
• Movie Promo The Haunted Strangler
• Bo Diddley – Bo Meets The Monster
• Billy Demarco & Count Dracula -Drac’s Back 1962
• Revels – Midnight Stroll 1959
• Virgil Holmes – Ghost Train 1961
• Buchanan & Goodman – Frankenstein Of ’59
• The Verdicts – The Mummy’s Ball 1961
• Hollywood Flames – Frankenstein’s Den
• The Nu-Trends – Spooksville 1963
• Milton DeLugg & The All-Stars – The Munster’s Theme 1964
• Thomas Newman – To The Shock Of Miss Louise 1987
• John Zacherle – Coolest Little Monster 1960
• Five Man Electrical Band – Werewolf
• Bill Doggett – Monster Party 1959
• Johnny Fuller – Haunted House
• The Jayhawks – The Creature (From Outer Space) 1957
• The Kac-Ties – Mr Were-Wolf 1962
• Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – Feast Of The Mau Mau
• Allan Sherman – My Son, the Vampire 1964
• Bobby Please And The Pleasers – The Monster 1959
• Redbone – The Witch Queen Of New Orleans
• The Fiends – Theme from The Addams Family 1964
• Johnny Otis Show With Marci Lee – Castin’ My Spell
• Billy Lee Riley – Nightmare Mash 1963
• Sonny Richard’s Panics With Cindy And Misty – The Voo Doo Walk 1962
• Swingin’ Phillies – Frankenstein’s party 1958
• The Monotones – Legend of Sleepy Hollow 1958
• Howlin’ Wolf – I Ain’t Superstitious
• Jackie Morningstar – Rockin’ In The Graveyard 1959
• Buchanan & Goodman – Frankenstein Returns (Part II)
• Morgue And The Ghouls – Morgus The Magnificent
• Orvin Yoes – The Vampire 1960
• Combustible Edison – Bewitched 1995
• Combustible Edison – Coven of Witches 1995
• Trax – Watch Out For The Boogie Man 1977
• Nosferatu – Willie The Fox 1970
• The Vamps – Disco Blood 1977
• Saxon – Princess Of The Night 1981
• Jack Malmsten – Satan Takes a Holiday

Enjoy this campy Halloween fun!

A school originally founded in 1873, but rebuilt in 1959 was photographed recently by Tokyo Times. It was abandoned after a typhoon wiped out the settlement, but the school administrators check on it regularly to assure it has not been damaged and ready for reuse if necessary.

The result is an incredibly creepy time capsule of a school from the late Fifties.

• An abandoned but perfectly preserved Japanese school — Tokyo Times

It’s surprising how quickly a building can change from loud and vibrant to silent and creepy. If my home, with its Xbox and comfy chair were abandoned and preserved for half a century, would it be just as eery?

Last year, there were a bunch of good costumes on television. You can see some of them here:

I especially love Halloween episodes on How I Met Your Mother. They are so much fun. Here is why Barney loves Halloween:

Here is the Halloween Walk of Shame Parade:

I love this one, too. Flight Suit Up!

I love Diamond Rings because his videos totally remind me of the Eighties (totally!), but this video holds a special place in my heart because he portrays Halloween.

The costumes are a lot of fun to spot in this video, especially the haunting visage of Hunter Thompson at the 4:12 mark. The lyrics to Wait and See don’t have anything to do with Halloween, but I love the song anyway just because of the video.

I really recommend Special Affections, the album Wait and See is on. It reminds me of an early album by New Order. You can buy it here:

• Special Affections by Diamond Rings at Amazon.com
• Special Affections by Diamond Rings [iTunes link]

Note to self: Next time you’re feeling sad for no reason, read this again.

• Hyperbole and a Half: Adventures in Depression

It will help, I promise.

I never knew that “I’m dead inside” could be so liberating.

I love this video of Liberace playing with skeletons! It’s great for getting in the mood for Halloween!

Here is a slideshow of the photos from this year’s Halloween Party.

The theme this year was Scary Monsters, Super Creeps and it was AWESOME!

Here are the winners for Scariest, Funniest, Sexiest, Beast of Show and Best Potluck: