Hello all! I just wanted to take a moment to say thanks to everyone who participated in this year's countdown to Halloween. Every year I get bowled over by how many people join in, and how much richer the community is for it. We ended up with twice the number of bloggers from last year and I can't even imagine what the future holds. I hope everyone enjoyed the heck out of the season (as well as taken the opportunity to hit up some of the crazy discounted on Halloween goods and candy that went up today across the country.) I can't speak for everyone obviously, but I found a lot of new blogs to read and discovered all sorts of nooks and crannies of the holiday that I never encountered before. In fact, just like in years past, I'm still catching up on all of the wonderful content that was shared throughout the countdowns this month. I've got enough creepy, spooky, scary reading and watching tokeep me busy for months to come.
In the end, I hope this site helped, even a little, in exposing you to some great blogs or helped in keeping the whole thing a little bit more organized so that no one got lost in the shuffle. The list will stay up, so don't worry if you didn't get a chance to visit all the wonderful sites that participted. But I think it's time to slip into a comfortable hibernation for awhile. Until next year, pleasant screams...
Nov 2, 2009
Sep 30, 2009
The Participants
If you want to know which houses are giving out the good candy this year, then look no further than the list below. Remember when you stop by to say thank you by leaving them a comment for all the hard work they've put into making Halloween the greatest holiday of the year.
All sites are listed alphabetically. Keep checking back as updates will be made all month long. It's never too late to join in. Just let us know who would like to be included and send us a link.
All Eyes And Ears
All Things Horror
Anime Hell
Arbogast on Film
Armagideon Time
The Armchair Chef
Art After Dark
Art By Bubba Shelby
Atom Kid
AtomicFox
Azathoth's Abode on the Plateau of Leng
Azathoth's Abode on the Plateau of Leng: The Dungeon
B-Movie Star
Black Sun
Blackwood
Bliss Massacre
Bogleech
Branded In The 80s
Caffeinated Joe
The Captain's Ramblings
The Catalogue of Curiosities
The Cathode Ray Mission
Cavalcade of Awesome
Chuck Norris Ate My Baby
Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom
Cool-Mo-Dee
Crafty Lady Abby
Creature from the Blog Lagoon...in 3-D
Creepy Cupcakes
Creepy LA
Dartman's World of Wonder
Dave Lowe Design
The Davis House News
demonals
Dinner With Max Jenke
Distinctly Jamaican Sounds
Diversions of the Groovy Kind
Doo Wacka Doodles
Domestic Witch
Dr. K's 100 Page Super Spectacular
Draculand
The Drunken Severed Head
Eric M. Smith Illustration
The Fantastical World of Holidays (Folk Art)
Filmkunst
The Fin Tank
Final Girl
Frankensteinia: The Frankenstein Blog
Freddy In Space
Friday Nite Fries
Frog on the Pumpkin
The Gallows
Geek Orthodox
Geekus.org
The Ghosts of Halloween Past
Ghosts! Witches! Monsters!
The Gothic Tea Society
Gravedigger's Local 16
Halloween Addict
Halloween Hooplah
The Halloween Tree
Haunt Style
Hooked on Hypnocil
Horror Host Graveyard
The Horrors Of It All
I Wear Snark Upon My Sleeve
John Rozum.com
Kaedrin Weblog
Kafka's Sister
The Late Late Show
The Laughing Reindeer
Life as an Ewok
The Lightning Bug's Lair
Limerwrecks
Macabre Drive-In Theater
Magic Carpet Burn
Magikal Seasons
Mark Harvey's World
Me, You, and a Blog Named Boo
The Metal Misfit
Michael May's Adventureblog
Mr. Chicken's Yard Haunt
Mr. Macabre's Hallowe'en Celebrations
Monsters Cereal
Monster Crazy
Monster Land
Monster Movie Music
Monster Rally
Monster Spookshow Radio
Monsterland Ohio
The Moon is a Dead World
Moongem Comics
Mother Firefly's Faster Pussycats
Music You (Possibly) Won't Hear Anyplace Else
Musty TV
My Creative Life
My Ghoul Friday
My Life in Pumpkins
My Little World
My Monster Memories
My Two Yen Worth
Neato Coolville
NeedCoffee.com
Negative Pleasure
Negative Pleasure 2
Olympic Artichoke
One Cadaver, Two Cadaver, Three Cadaver, Four
Orange and Black - The Spirit of Halloween
Panic on the 4th of July
Paper & Plastic Please
Para Abnormal
PeanutGnome's World
Peter's Choice Awards
Plaid Stallions
Plastic Fetish
Plastic Pumpkins
Potato Blog
Psychobabble
Pumpkinrot
Puppatoons
Radiator Heaven
Random Acts of Geekery
Reanimated Rags
Redecorating Middle Earth in Early Lovecraft
The Retropolitian Presents: Tales to Astonish!
Retrospace
Roxana Illuminated Perfume
Scary Salt Lake
Secret Mountain Laboratory
The Sexy Armpit
Sexy Witch
SheWalksSoftly
She's Batty Designs
Shellhawk's Nest
Sketchup/Screw Up
Skull A Day
Spooky Laboratory
squelchbaker blogs.
Step Up to the Mike
Strange Kids Club
Super Blogliness!
Tedwrd
Ténèbres à la lumière
The Surfing Pizza
That Is So Queer
That Was My Foot
Thiel-a-Vision
Things That Don't Suck
13 Visions
This Guy Over Here
Thrill Fiction
Through the Patch
Tiki Ranch
Trick or Blog
Trixie's Treats
Two Thumbs, Eight Fingers...
Labels:
2009 List
So, What is this Halloween Countdown Anyway...
...and what do I need to do in order to participate?
These are the two questions I've been most frequently asked about this endeavor.
The Halloween Countdown is something of a virtual neighborhood to go trick or treating in. Imagine a neighborhood where all of the neighbors really got into the spirit of the holiday and went all out with decorating their yards and homes and on top of that also handed out the coolest treats whenever some kid in a costume rang their doorbell. Well, you are that kid in a costume, and the participants in the countdown are the neighbors with the cool houses and candy. When you visit their blogs, you will essentially be ringing their doorbell and shouting "Trick or treat." rewarded by a solid thunk at the bottom of your plastic Halloween bucket which is their post for the day. In a way that's even better than the actual Halloween (no way! I hear you saying) you get to ring their doorbell and trick or treat every single day throughout October. Not only that, but there is bound to be over 100 houses for you to visit each day as well.
As a participant, I suggest thinking of the Halloween Countdown as something of a virtual Advent calendar, only devoted to Halloween. Each day, throughout October, a blogger posts something new pertaining in some way to Halloween, or something emblematic of the season. This can be anything, photos of you as a kid dressed up in your Ben Cooper costume, recipes, crafts, horror movie reviews, holiday reminiscences, board games and children's books of the past, artwork, traditions, anything at all. The daily aspect of this is something to strive for, but is not expected. Veterans of the countdown will tell you how grueling it can be to put together a daily post without much advance preparation. The goal is to have fun, and if you're spending every spare moment composing a daily post, you won't have any fun, nor will you have time to see what everyone else is doing. Do what you can.
Whether you are a blogger participating with a countdown of your own, or someone who just wants to trick or treat without having to decorate their own home, all are welcome. If you are not on the list of participants, but would like to be, just let us know, and provide a link to your blog. If you have more than one blog you'd like to include (you're insane) provide links for both (or more).
Dusk is upon us, and the Jack O'Lanterns are lit and being set outside. Nows the time to put on your costume, grab your trick or treat bag and head off down the street to ring the doorbell of the first house. Happy Halloween!
Sep 28, 2009
Just a hop, skip and a jump away...
There are only three more days until the Halloween festivities officially begin! There are a bunch of sites on the list this year, so it's destined to be a full month of with a metric ton goodies for everyone's treat bags...
I thought I'd reiterate that it's never too late to be added to the list, well, unless you wait until the end of the month, but then there's always next year. We're going to do our best to update the list as we get any requests during the month. Also if you'd like to sport a button/badge on your site, you can find some here (with the corresponding HTML), as well as a fun video John K put together.
I can't wait to dig into the content. Look for the list October 1st, at midnight!
I thought I'd reiterate that it's never too late to be added to the list, well, unless you wait until the end of the month, but then there's always next year. We're going to do our best to update the list as we get any requests during the month. Also if you'd like to sport a button/badge on your site, you can find some here (with the corresponding HTML), as well as a fun video John K put together.
I can't wait to dig into the content. Look for the list October 1st, at midnight!
Sep 23, 2009
Promotional Video
Those of you who check out my main blog, "Random Acts of Geekery," probably saw the first version of this video a few days ago... since then, with this separate blog starting up to coordinate things, I've made a slight revision to the end of it to point people here.
Now, you'll notice if you watch it that I've got a logo calling it the "Halloween Countdown," instead of "Countdown to Halloween." That's because I started working on this back in June or July, and didn't know the "official" title at that time... and I kind of dig the logo I came up with. Of course, it doesn't really matter what you call it, so long as it counts down to Halloween, right?
Anyone who wants to post this video to their own participating blog, feel free to do so! And I promise, next year, if I decide to do a new promo video, I'll check with Shawn and John first to see if they've got any logos planned!
Now, you'll notice if you watch it that I've got a logo calling it the "Halloween Countdown," instead of "Countdown to Halloween." That's because I started working on this back in June or July, and didn't know the "official" title at that time... and I kind of dig the logo I came up with. Of course, it doesn't really matter what you call it, so long as it counts down to Halloween, right?
Anyone who wants to post this video to their own participating blog, feel free to do so! And I promise, next year, if I decide to do a new promo video, I'll check with Shawn and John first to see if they've got any logos planned!
Labels:
blogathon,
countdown to halloween,
Halloween,
Halloween 2009,
video
Sep 22, 2009
Halloween Countdown Calendar
When asked about the Halloween Countdown one of the ways I typically describe it is as something of an Advent Calendar for Halloween.
With that in mind I thought this would be of great interest to people visiting here. Inky-Dinky has produced a physical Halloween Countdown calendar, with great, creepy, artwork by John Littleboy. As you open the number for each day you will discover behind it, a story about one of the macabre cast you see before you. You can order a copy here . Make sure you tell them where you found out about it.
Sep 12, 2009
Just a quick note on spreading the word...
Hello again to all of you creepoholic constituents out there. I thought I'd take a second to address some of the shocking options for those of you who would like to spread the good word about the Countdown to Halloween. Again, the idea behind this site is to simply act as a resource for the growing number of blogs participating in the seasonal fun of writing about all the frightening facets of this wicked holiday.
If you'd like to feature a button/badge on your site...
Banner #1 (200 pixels wide)
Copy and paste the following html onto your site:
Banner #2 (200 pixels wide)
Copy and paste the following html onto your site:
Pierre Fournier of the wonderful Frankensteinia also created a third, more Halloween-centric banner on a black background for anyone who'd like to use it.
Banner #3 (200 pixels wide)
Copy and paste the following html onto your site:
Or if you'd like a slightly smaller version for three column template blogs: Banner #3 (170 pixels wide)
Copy and paste the following html onto your site:
Also you can follow the Countdown to Halloween on Twitter via the halloween_blogs account.
As John mentioned in the last post, the list is being compiled and will appear here on October 1st. I can't wait for the festivities to begin!
If you'd like to feature a button/badge on your site...
Banner #1 (200 pixels wide)
Copy and paste the following html onto your site:
Banner #2 (200 pixels wide)
Copy and paste the following html onto your site:
Pierre Fournier of the wonderful Frankensteinia also created a third, more Halloween-centric banner on a black background for anyone who'd like to use it.
Banner #3 (200 pixels wide)
Copy and paste the following html onto your site:
Or if you'd like a slightly smaller version for three column template blogs: Banner #3 (170 pixels wide)
Copy and paste the following html onto your site:
Also you can follow the Countdown to Halloween on Twitter via the halloween_blogs account.
As John mentioned in the last post, the list is being compiled and will appear here on October 1st. I can't wait for the festivities to begin!
Sep 10, 2009
Reminder to Participants
There are now less than 20 days left before this year's Halloween Countdown begins. If you are planning to participate, and have not contacted me, please do so. I'm compiling a list of links to the participating blogs and websites and want to make sure no one is overlooked. You can always be added to the list, even as the countdown is in progress, but why wait? It's no fun creating well thought out posts if no one knows to go look at them.
The list of participant links will be posted here at midnight, October 1st.
Sep 2, 2009
About the Countdown to Halloween...
Alright kids, no fooling around. There are four solid weeks left to work on 2009's Countdown to Halloween. That's 28 days of hard work and research to slough through until the party really begins.
A quick note on the intention of Countdown to Halloween. Basically, over the last three years I've noticed an amazing trend in some spooktactular holiday spirit when it comes to the celebration of all things Halloween. There have certainly been those (like Matt at x-entertainment.com) that have been spreading the good word for awhile, and there are a plethora of wonderful sites out there dedicated to making every day of the year a little bit more orange and black, but in the last few years there has been a surge in fiendish fun around the month of October that really gets this dried up and dusty ticker of my beating again. In particular, in the past two years there has appeared a list, usually cobbled together by a couple of swell guys John Rozum and Jon Knutson, that gets passed around from site to site and really makes the whole experience fun and exciting. For one, it provides a virtual vault of horror, a crypt of terror, a, um (well geez, I guess EC Comics should have come up with another great title for me to lift from), oh wait I know, a tomb of dread, a virtual cornucopia of amazing stories, photos, comics, reviews, crafts, toys, songs, radio plays, jokes, and general commentary on a holiday that a lot of us hold dear. This list also serves as a centerpiece for a spur of the moment community, a virtual meeting place, and the type of communal experience where the internet is the perfect forum.
Countdown to Halloween is a home for this list. Note, it's not the home. Part of what makes this season of creepy blog-a-thons so special is that there is no expectation, no rules or guidelines, but all the same I think it would also be beneficial to have a place to point to, a hub. This isn't a union, it's intended as a resource.
So if you're planning on another year of terror inducing blogging during the Halloween season, or if this is your first time trick-or-treating alone, feel free to let your intentions known. You can either comment here at this site, you can add your voice to the comments on Mr. Rozum's blog, or you can @ or follow Halloween_Blogs, on twitter.
A quick note on the intention of Countdown to Halloween. Basically, over the last three years I've noticed an amazing trend in some spooktactular holiday spirit when it comes to the celebration of all things Halloween. There have certainly been those (like Matt at x-entertainment.com) that have been spreading the good word for awhile, and there are a plethora of wonderful sites out there dedicated to making every day of the year a little bit more orange and black, but in the last few years there has been a surge in fiendish fun around the month of October that really gets this dried up and dusty ticker of my beating again. In particular, in the past two years there has appeared a list, usually cobbled together by a couple of swell guys John Rozum and Jon Knutson, that gets passed around from site to site and really makes the whole experience fun and exciting. For one, it provides a virtual vault of horror, a crypt of terror, a, um (well geez, I guess EC Comics should have come up with another great title for me to lift from), oh wait I know, a tomb of dread, a virtual cornucopia of amazing stories, photos, comics, reviews, crafts, toys, songs, radio plays, jokes, and general commentary on a holiday that a lot of us hold dear. This list also serves as a centerpiece for a spur of the moment community, a virtual meeting place, and the type of communal experience where the internet is the perfect forum.
Countdown to Halloween is a home for this list. Note, it's not the home. Part of what makes this season of creepy blog-a-thons so special is that there is no expectation, no rules or guidelines, but all the same I think it would also be beneficial to have a place to point to, a hub. This isn't a union, it's intended as a resource.
So if you're planning on another year of terror inducing blogging during the Halloween season, or if this is your first time trick-or-treating alone, feel free to let your intentions known. You can either comment here at this site, you can add your voice to the comments on Mr. Rozum's blog, or you can @ or follow Halloween_Blogs, on twitter.
Aug 26, 2009
It's just around the bend!
Another quick reminder to all of you Hallonauts out there in trick-or-treat-land. There are only 35 days left to prepare for the onslaught of ghoulish fun during 2009's Countdown to Halloween. Seasonal store displays are soon to pop up, so start stocking up on candy, costume materials, scary movies, pictures, podcasts, quotes, and musings. Halloween will be here before you know it!
Labels:
countdown to halloween,
Halloween,
Halloween 2009
Jul 22, 2009
Halloween is coming!
Alright boils and ghouls! Halloween is coming. It's just around the bend. Time to start thinking about tricks & treats, costumes and make-up, and the 2009 countdown to Halloween blog-a-thons. So start thinking about themes, it's only 70 days away...
Labels:
blogathon,
countdown to halloween,
Halloween
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