• Crochet Beret Pattern: http://tinyurl.com/26uv43 #
• Spiral Beret Pattern to crochet: http://www.baycrochet.com/patberet.htm #

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TaMara Gold took some spooky cemetery photos and sent them to me. She allowed me to publish them here:

It’s always nice to start October out with a good cemetery photo or two.

Happy Hauntings!

I got an email back in January:

This morning I googled “Tres Hombres” to find some information for work. I came across your “found” Halloween photo, and thus began a wonderful one-hour journey into your site: the Halloween subsection (I’m a huge Halloween fan), a short foray into Laurie Lipton, party photos etc, etc. I notice you’re located in SLC, as am I; then I came across your Halloween photos. The Norton’s photos surprised me as I’ve known David and Mary for several years. Wow…what synchronicity! I think when she was the kitchen witch in that photo she was wearing a hat she borrowed from me. =D

As you’re a costume aficionado I’ve included a couple photos of my own…and two photos I took at the cemetery in the Avenues for a photography class. I’m looking forward to future visits to your site and seeing more about our common interests.

Regards,

TaMara Gold

And what costume photos! They are totally AWESOME! Check them out here:

Tune in tomorrow to see her cemetery photos in their spooky brilliance!

Just a friendly “pet” to keep you company on your trip to Hell!

Here is a link to the original:

• Pick Me! » Sid Vicious: Demon Dog

If you notice, dogs in Hell don’t wear bandannas and they CERTAINLY don’t have rabies tags. I had to edit those out for this photo, which was far easier to do than to try to edit out those glowing green eyes.

• Impromptu Geek Dinner TONIGHT 6:30pm at My Thai: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1182951/ Come say hi to Sheri before she goes back to NY. #

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Ward Jenkins of Ward-O-Matic fame posted his costumes from his childhood here:

• The Ward-O-Matic: Ghosts of Halloween Past

I love this costume with him, a neighborhood friend and his sister. Doesn’t he look spooky?

I don’t have any photos from my childhood dressed up because we didn’t celebrate Halloween. I feel really jealous of Ward’s old photos from his Halloween past, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying them.

• Note to Self: Make a notebook w/paint chips: http://tinyurl.com/4efsk8 #

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Plaid Stallions has a photo of this awesome Dr. Who costume from the seventies:

• PlaidStallions: Rambling and Reflections on 70s Pop Culture

I loved Dr. Who as a kid and I would have actually liked this costume. Unlike a lot of the costumes at the time, it is trying to look like the person it’s representing. When I was a kid, most of the costumes just looked like pajamas advertising whomever they were supposed to portray. As an example, see Wil Wheaton’s Halloween in 1977.

This one is MUCH better!

I never got to wear a costume like this. By the time I was allowed to celebrate Halloween, I was too old for a mask and pajamas. I had to have a MUCH more elaborate costume than that to impress the junior high crowd. The first year I was able to celebrate Halloween, I was a cheerleader. Dr. Who was long gone from my memory and I wouldn’t have even considered dressing up like a guy.

Even now, I wouldn’t dress up like Dr. Who, despite how much I love him. I’d be perfectly fine dressing up as Ramona, however. Of course, it would be yet ANOTHER Halloween of “What are you again?”

Two people just to run the Jabba the Hutt costume, plus all of these awesome Star Wars bad guys! Here’s how they did it:

• Star Wars Crafts – Jabba the Puppet

Jabba looked great:

Via: Sheldon: News forum: Jabba Costume

Last year, there was just too much Halloween to fit into my blog, so I moved it to this year. Craftzine had a TON of costume ideas. Here are some of them:

• Craftzine.com blog: Tuna Nigiri Sushi Costume

• Craftzine.com blog: Bat Wings Tutorial: Use an old umbrella to get the articulation right. Great idea!

• Craftzine.com blog: Etsy Halloween Costume Contest Winners

• Craftzine.com blog: Last Minute Lego Costume: Great if you can convince three of your friends to come as Legos as well. A little bulky, though.

• Craftzine.com blog: Lego Costume Hack: Lighter weight costume that’s easily removable.

Get thinking about your costume NOW! Don’t be scrambling at the last minute.

• Note to self: Make your own boxes out of cardstock: http://www.craftleftovers.com/blog/archives/523 #
• Note to self: Make eggs like Bobka’s: http://tinyurl.com/3v2m2t #
• OMG! The cutest bat knitting pattern! http://tinyurl.com/46puyn #

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No matter what costume you’ve chosen for Halloween, there is probably some sort of hairstyle to go with it. Last year, I didn’t do a test run on my hair for the costume, so I ended up with my hair instead of the sixties bubble do that I wanted. I still don’t know how to make my hair do that (I’m sure back combing is involved), but at least I found an index to show me how it “should” look:

• Vintage Hair Archives

This year, I’m going to be something easy…

Via: Craftzine.com blog: Vintage Hair Archives

• Retweet: @blowmage: MountainWest RubyConf 2009 will be March 13-14, 2009 in Salt Lake City, UT. #
• Note to self: Feeling out of control sparks magical thinking: http://tinyurl.com/4axpzx #

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Here is a roundup of food ideas from Craftzine last year:

• Craftzine.com blog: Spooky Ghost Meringues Recipe

• Craftzine.com blog: HOW TO – Make Spider Cakes

Last year, I made Monster Cupcakes based on the Craftzine article:

• Pick Me! » Monster Cupcakes

I actually liked how mine turned out better. I used fruit leather to cut out the tongues (instead of taffy) and I used a pastry bag and tip to apply the frosting so it looked like fur. I had many Elmos, Oscars and Grovers for everyone to eat.

Note to self: Do not stay up until 2am the night before making four dozen cupcakes. People only ate one dozen (despite the fact that over 50 people showed up). There was so much food to compete with my cupcakes that not everyone got to try one.

• Retweet: @jantzie Utah folk! Verify you are registered to vote: http://ping.fm/qzhfj #

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Jerry submitted this photo to PlaidStallions. It looks like the perfect Halloween costume for a nerdy kid like me!

He didn’t say that this costume was for Halloween, but for me, it looks like the perfect Halloween costume.

• Note to self: Cheep Cheep Papercraft: http://tinyurl.com/3fcfdv #

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I can’t believe his dogs would sit still that long together. I can’t get Sid to sit in one place unless he’s sleeping. Even when he plays dead, his tail is wagging.

“Looks like someone took a light saber to yer, uh helmet there”

Via: Cute Overload! :)

Back in February of 2006, I went to Mount Olivet Cemetery to take some photos. I used some of them for Halloween 2006, but the rest just kind of sat on my hard drive. I decided to play with this one.

Here is the original:

Here is my Halloweeny version:

I like how it turned out. I don’t know why black and white is scarier than full color, but it is.

Why don’t you try your hand? Download the original from Flickr and play with it in Photoshop and upload it back to Flickr. Post the Flickr link in the comments and we’ll see what everyone can come up with!

• @justsomeguy Congratulations! You are finally a Utahn! #
• @TheDruidXpawX Good morning to you as well! #

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Next time you feel bored, make some of these fun papercrafty things:

• Papercraft World: Paper Trick Video | Paper Models | Free Papercraft | Printable Crafts | Paper Toys | 3d Card Models

• Papercraft Paradise | PaperCrafts | Paper Models | Card Models: Obama Papercraft

• Papercraft Paradise | PaperCrafts | Paper Models | Card Models: Super Mario: Toad Papercraft

• Papercraft Paradise | PaperCrafts | Paper Models | Card Models: VW TYPE 2 MICRO BUS Papercraft

I should make that Barack Obama Papercraft right now.

Jere Keys went on a Full Moon Tour of a cemetery in Cincinnati. You can see his creepy photos here:

• Night tour of Spring Grove Cemetery – a set on Flickr

I love his description of the tour from his blog: Blind Prophecy » Spring Grove Cemetery

Last night’s moonlight tour of Spring Grove Cemetery was fun, if over too soon. Jennifer, Jacob and I pretty much stayed at the back of the 150 person tour group where we didn’t have to listen to the lame tour guide and we could take lots of pictures.

I usually like to take photos of the cemetery in the light because it’s hard to take night photos. It has been a while since I’ve done that. Maybe I should go back and revisit Mount Olivet.

• Great WordCamp conference. THANK YOU @josephscott #
• @JesseStay If you had gone to UTOSC, Joseph Scott gave an EXCELLENT session on how to scale WordPress. First step, WP-Cache. #
• @JesseStay Here are the slides: http://tinyurl.com/4zphnz #

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I’m excited for Halloween this year. I love to have a good party EVERY year, and every year, I get excited at about this time. All those temporary Halloween stores have sprouted in the dying strip malls of the city and I want to visit every one of them. All my Halloween decorations need to come out of storage and be filled with batteries to make them screech and howl at inappropriate times.

AA batteries! I need to buy a huge supply of AA batteries!

Yes, Halloween is coming and I usually start the Halloween posts here on October first, but I’m tempted to start early this year.

I already did, I guess…

• @libel_vox @karmadude It was off-putting to me as well. Posting a photo of an LDS church leader in an industry setting is not the best intro #
• @humancell I think what karmdude was trying to find out was valid. An LDS person is less bugged by a religious intro to a professional talk. #
• @humancell He posted a quote from a religious leader about sharing your religious beliefs online. How is that not a religious intro? #
• Cameron Moll at #wordcamputah. Good Vs. Great Design #
• #wordcamputah THAT is how you introduce yourself when you work for a church. Good form, Cameron Moll, good form. #
• #wordcamputah Thom Allen WordPress and Podcasting Yeah, Thom! #
• #wordcamputah AshBuckles: SEO Marketing He’s going to answer questions from Twitter. Woot! #
• #wordcamputah Alex King The first thing you want to do when you’re writing a plugin is check if someone else has already written it. #

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This postcard from PostSecret made me cry.

It reads:

Dear Stranger,

I found the crumpled envelope containing the love letter you wrote for “Rachel” and didn’t send. I read it (sorry!) so I know just how much you love her.

The envelope was already addressed so… I mailed it to her.

If I were her, I’d love you back.

Long ago, I wrote a letter that I tore up and threw away in a public garbage can. Years later, I am so grateful that it never ended up in the addressee’s hands. Sometimes we throw letters away from a good reason.

PostSecret‘s beneficiary is the National Hopeline Network. It is a 24-hour hotline (1 (800) SUICIDE) for anyone who is thinking about suicide or knows someone who is considering it.

• I’m at the Geek Dinner saving tables for you all. #
• Note to self: Make cool bracelets: http://tinyurl.com/3j5yrq #
• Note to self: Have Mike make this cake for my b-day. http://tinyurl.com/2vusze #
• Baby hedgehogs: http://tinyurl.com/4smrae #

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I love this commercial for Swatch!

• Utah Blogger/Geek Dinner TONIGHT 09-25-08 6pm at Bajio: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1116777/ #

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Laughing at this one. It’s a mash-up of Where’s Waldo? and the Bourne Ultimatum.

Not quite laughing my butt off or laughing out loud or even rolling on the floor laughing, but just the normal kind of laughing.

Via: Where’s Waldo?: The Waldo Ultimatum – Geekologie

• @bradbaldwin I saw the Bodies exhibit in Las Vegas. I shouldn’t have gone into the dead babies room. If you’re sensitive, avoid it. #
• @TheDruidXpawX Wait to order the g1 until it comes out and everyone else works out the bugs. #

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I love this commercial for Ikea:

Via: IKEAN Blog – Have a laugh with IKEA commerical

• After 15 years, I’ve finally learned that anyone who says IMHO is rarely humble. #
• @ashbuckles Why do you think someone should be fired over this? It was a good explanation. http://tinyurl.com/3g6nej+ #
• @ashbuckles Anything that is observed is changed by the observer. It’s quantum physics, man. #

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I found this little guy on eBay and won it for only $20. The reason it was such a good deal is because it was missing its battery case on the back. I replaced it and gave it a new battery and it runs perfectly.

On a side note, this design is similar to the arms of Edward III. Flipped and colors switched and you have the same thing. The lions are more stylized, of course, but it looks very much the same. The funny thing is, it’s Richard I that is called Lionheart. His coat of arms is red with three lions down the middle, though. Edward III came two hundred years later.

I always liked the design of this watch, especially the fleur-di-lis on red. When I was in high school, my grandma gave me a huge pile of old costume jewelry that she had left over from her days running an antique store. I had a little collection of fleur-de-lis pins that I used to wear.

This Lionheart watch would have gone perfectly with those pins. Now that I’ve brought them out of storage, I think I’ll wear them all together this fall.

I saw it on eBay. It was a damaged Swatch from the 1987 Spring Collection:

Despite the non-original band and the missing battery case, the bidding was out of control. When I first noticed it, it was $35 and within a day it had jumped up to $63. I looked it up on Squiggly.

• Swatch X-Rated – Standard Gents – GB406 | Squiggly Swatch Watches and Straps

They were selling a new one in the box for $357!! What?! Why is this watch worth so much more?! My Mackintosh that I had just sniped on eBay was only worth $97 NIB (new in box), so why was this one worth so much more?!

I found an explanation on the Squiggly forums:

• Swatch Collectors Forum. :: View topic – I need swatch X-rated information

The Swatch X-Rated or more commonly know as the swatch X watch is in such high demand for one reason, Straight Edge, a Subculture closely tied with punk/hardcore music, Straight Edge, is a label / lifestyle in which a person chooses to live life for themselves free of addiction,and societal pressure its very large subculture fueled by music, Straight Edge people tend to be proud of their decision, and this is where the x watch comes in. the symbol for Straight Edge is the X, and this watch has become a collectors item among the community, popularized by bands. there are even knock off versions of this watch.

Drew was right. He included a link to the knock-off:

• Straight Edge – “X Watch” :: RevHQ.com

It all came flooding back to me in memories. Back in 1986, I had a friend named Doug who played in a band called Better Way. They were punk rock and played at the Spoken Word a couple of times. They were also WAY Mormon, so they didn’t drink, smoke or do drugs. All their songs were about leading a clean life.

Their band died the same death that a lot of bands in Utah die: all their members went on LDS missions.

I don’t know where Doug is today. I wonder if he ever picks up his guitar and remembers his old days. He was Straight Edge before Straight Edge was cool.

In the end, that Swatch on eBay sold for $92.05. I wasn’t the one willing to pay so much for a broken watch, so I’ll have to be happy with my memories.

I have been looking at my St. Germain Swatch for nearly twenty years now and I’m beginning to wonder what it means. What did Swatch mean naming it St. Germain? Sure, I know what the watch means to ME, but for the first time, I’m wondering what the designer of the watch was referring to.

There are a number of saints with the name Germain and many of them are French. Considering the words on the face are French, I thought there must be some connection there. But which saint would it be and what does any of them have to do with the images on the watch?

• Patron Saints Index: Saint Germanus – Nephew of Saint Patrick. Missionary monk in Ireland, Wales and Brittany. Bishop on the Isle of Man where several locations are still named for him.

• Patron Saints Index: Saint Germanus of Auxerre – Imperial governor of part of Gaul, based in Auxerre. Patronage: Auxerre, France

• Patron Saints Index: Saint Germaine Cousin – Born: 1579 at Pibrac, France – Daughter of Laurent Cousin, a farm worker, and Marie Laroche. Her mother died while Germaine was an infant. A sickly child, she suffered from scrofula, and her right hand was deformed. Ignored by her father and abused by her step-family, she was often forced to sleep in the stable or in a cupboard under the stairs, was fed on scraps, beaten or scalded with hot water for misdeeds, real or imagined. – Patronage: abandoned people and peasant girls

• Patron Saints Index: Blessed German Gardiner – Educated at Cambridge. Secretary to the bishop of Winchester. Martyred with Blessed John Larke for refusing to recognize the spiritual supremacy of the King of England.

Of all the references available, I believe Saint Germaine Cousin to be the best fit for this watch. She is the patron saint of abandoned peasant girls. What better visual representation of that than the lonely woman in the coat and the forest?

Then there is the lengendary Count of St. Germain, who is rumored to be immortal (or maybe even a vampire). He is represented quite often in literature, including Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.

One of the representations of the Count of St. Germain is a French television program called “Le Collectionneur des cerveaux” or the “Collector of Minds.” I found a YouTube clip of the movie that has been dubbed into German:

Chess playing robots and piano virtuosos aside, I don’t really believe that the Collector of Minds was the basis for my St. Germain watch. For all I know, they were merely referring to the city, St. Germain in Quebec. They speak French there, don’t they?

In fact, the closest representation of the watch from independent sources is this:

Here is St. Germaine of Cousin alone and cloaked under a sprawling, but leafless tree. Very similar to the St. Germain watch from Swatch. Am I close or have I been thinking about my watch for FAR too long?

Can anyone out there direct me to what Swatch was thinking about when they designed the St. Germain watch?

Update 11-10-08

I received this nice email from one of the readers and I think he’s totally correct!

Email Dated 10-14-08:

hi Laura

many thanks for featuring that classic French-style Swatch on your blog. I remembered my own one morning and googled “tu es hasard”, one of the few combinations I remembered (the other was “tu es vertige”) and yours was the single result.

I also loved my watch, which I owned from about 1989-92 I think. It seemed so expensive, classy, mysterious and pretentious. The original strap broke, and then it stopped working entirely.

It reminded me, back then, of Wim Wenders’ film Wings of Desire, and also of some academic theory I was reading at the time — and re-read today, which put me in mind of the watch. Jean Baudrillard wrote, in The Ecstasy of Communication, of the new cold universe, of “hazard, chance and vertigo”. It seemed more than chance and coincidence that those were two, or three (translated) of the terms on my watch, and it made the object seem even more “adult” and intelligent.

However! I think you have mistranslated, or I have always misunderstood the watch. I believe the watch is saying, with the small hand, “you are chance”, “you are vertigo”, and the long hand ALWAYS says “I want you”.

I don’t believe “je te veux espoir” and the other combinations are any kind of grammatical French, and that they do not mean “I want you hopefully” and so on.

That is, I think the watch can only say 12 things: “You are chance, I want you”, “You are hope, I want you”, “You are dreams, I want you”, and so forth.

But thanks again, because I really wanted to see that watch.

Email Dated 10-16-08:

hi Laura

Yes, I’d be very glad for you to include my thoughts about the watch., with my name if you like. The association with “Wings of Desire” is pretty tenuous as the watch evokes 1940s Paris more than 1980s Berlin (I agree with your correspondent that the name is meant to evoke the place, Paris St Germain, and probably a “Casablanca” feel), but I think it was the figure in the long coat, in black and white (or grey-green and white?) that reminded me of Wim Wenders’ film.

This photo may make the visual connection clear.

The parallel with the terms discussed by Baudrillard is also entirely coincidental I’m sure, but it added to my feeling that the watch was very adult, sophisticated and profound. In fact, I didn’t mention that my first serious girlfriend bought me that watch, perhaps for my 21st birthday — which is probably why it would not be fitting to have it again now, because it was something of that specific time and point in my life. I remember feeling that the watch face and strap were like a kind of romantic lost world, which I could immerse myself in by looking at them.

I also enjoyed your discussion of the Mondrian/”Studio Line” style watch, which is so wonderfully 1980s! I remember that advertisement well, and I also bought the product (specifically, the mousse) because of the advert and the Mondrian design. I’m sure if I smelled it now, the distinctive fragrance would immediately recall that time.

Like many things from the 80s, I think it may be better in memory, but your site provided some great nostalgia.

Please feel free to post this mail as well on your site, as it gives a bit more context to my experience of the St Germain watch, and the associations it had for me at the time. It is good to know that the watch meant so much to someone else, as well.

best wishes
Will Booker

Update 08-25-13

Here is another example of France in the Thirties that reminds me of this style of art.

Via: WIL WHEATON dot TUMBLR, ckck: Colonne Morris dans le brouillard. Paris,…

• I’ve been looking @ Swatches on eBay & uploading photos of my Swatches to Flickr until nearly midnight. Obsession, when will you release me? #

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The Swatch Club forums asked us to share one of our Swatch Moments. Here is one of mine:

Clark Edvick took me to the concert early. We waited for the Thompson Twins to take the stage. There was a HUGE Swatch hanging from the ceiling of the Salt Palace, counting down the moments before they would perform.

When they sang “Lay Your Hands On Me” we all threw our hands at the stage in unison. I had never seen the video, but Clark showed me how to do it. I watched the Swatch tick the evening away.

It was 1986.

P.S. Clark, if you’re out there, thank you for taking me to see the Thompson Twins. I hope your life is wonderfully full now and I’m wishing you the best that this world can give you.

This was a very popular Swatch when I was in high school. I loved my Sir Swatch and I knew I had made the right decision, but I always wanted this one as well. I thought that it would look so good worn with Sir Swatch, but it was always considered secondary to my beloved one.

The watch is named after the McGregor tartan. Here is a sample of what the McGregor tartan looks like, so they weren’t too far off the mark. Senior year in high school, I had a plaid mini-skirt that I kept closed with a kilt pin. I loved wearing Sir Swatch with it, but I think McGregor would have matched much better.

As much as I loved that skirt, I don’t have even one picture of myself wearing it. I still have the kilt pin, somewhere, but the skirt is long gone. It’s funny that someone else’s watch could remind me of all that.

I found this group of Swatches on eBay and they couldn’t have gone to a more happy home.

I bought a collection of watches for Golden Tan. New in the box, this watch is worth $250, so I was willing to bid pretty high for the group. I ended up paying ten bucks for all four watches, so I’m VERY happy with the set.

They actually photograph very well and look much better in person than they did on the eBay listing.

GoldenTan 1985 Spring/Summer Collection

Vasily 1986 Spring/Summer Collection

Spiga 1987 Fall/Winter Collection

This watch reminds me so much of my Beauchamps Place watch. They are both brown and I’ve put the Spiga in the same band and I used to have on my Beauchamps Place, so it’s hard for me to tell them apart.

Ibiskus 1991 Spring/Summer Collection

I still need to get an original band for this one, but for now, it looks good in this cheery yellow band.

It’s funny, but my favorite of this group so far is Ibiskus. I haven’t even worn the Vasily or the Golden Tan because I don’t want to hurt them. The least precious of the group has won my heart and I’ve worn it three times since getting these. Isn’t that ironic?

Update 09-22-08: I bought a brand new band for Ibiskus and it looks lovely. I took the time to photograph it. Here it is now:

Seeing it look so good made me want to stop wearing it and keep it in a box. Once I realized this, I took off the floral band and replaced it with a blue one. Now, I have no qualms about wearing it.