Waxy and Wacky

The first part of this blog post is "waxy" and the end is where things get more "wacky" :)

After considering in the last post which Barbie faces were spot on, I got to thinking about the process sculptors go through in getting facial features just right. When thinking about a creation that should look exactly like who it is based on, Madame Tussauds wax figures come to mind. Not that every one of their creations is perfect, but many of them look pretty similar to the celebrity they're based on!

I wanted to share a few wax figures that would appeal to the readers of this blog. I found a Flickr account full of great wax figure photos. The photographer's collection of wax movie monster photos can be found here:

Brechtbug's photos of wax museum monsters

Here is one of my favorites! I think this is a pretty lifelike Bela Lugosi. Check out those eyes! 

There is also an awesome Alfred Hitchcock Wax Figure in Madame Tussauds Hollywood Museum. You'll want to check out this entire site. There are excellent wax figures in Madame Tussauds museums all over the world!

A morbid trivia fact about the real Madame Tussaud is that in 1793 she was imprisoned with her mother in the notorious La Force Prison, Paris. On her release she was forced to prove her allegiance to the French Revolution by making death masks of executed nobles and her former employers, the King and Queen. Eek!

Oh, and now on to the wacky part of this entry...I got such a kick out of this video. Ozzy Osbourne pretending to be his own wax figure:

Barbie's Darkside

Thank you to HollyHorrorshow for letting me know about all these great dolls! It turns out that there are plenty of Barbie dolls based on characters from movies and tv shows. Here are some that should appeal to the readers of this blog:

The Munsters

 

The first picture is a close up of Lily Munster. I think these were designed pretty well. They actually look like the characters from the show. If there are Barbie versions of any other characters, like Grampa Munster, I didn't run across them.

The Addams Family

 

A close up of Morticia and Gomez and then the two of them together. Well, they got the clothes right, although I'm not sure about their faces. The Gomez doll looks like Ken with a mustache. If other members of the family were made, I'd love to see them!

Samantha from Bewitched

This doll looks somewhat like Elizabeth Montgomery, and certainly looks more like her than the original doll did! The first Samantha doll just has a vintage Barbie face and a witch costume.

Twilight

The first picture is of the doll versions of Edward, Bella, and Jacob. I think they did really well on Bella's face! Maybe the designers at Mattel are getting more advanced? I actually ran across quite a few Twilight themed Barbie dolls. I didn't want to post them all, but I had to include the last picture because I thought this doll was beautiful. That one is the Barbie version of the Victoria character.

So what do you think of these dolls? Which look most to you like the real people they're based on?

If you guys know of any other Barbies with a spooky theme, let me know and I'll post them here!

Killer Trivia about "The Birds"

Last weekend I watched "The Birds" for the first time. I can see why this movie is a classic! Hitchcock took something so everyday as a flock of birds and made me think of them as little murderers! I think the most frightening things are the believable ones, and a flock of crazed birds is much more believable to me than a classic movie monster.

Tippi Hedren runs from some crazy crows

I ran across this awesome Barbie version of Tippi Hedren - complete with birds! It's pretty funny because some of the people I watched this movie with commented that Tippi looked like a Barbie doll!

I wanted to learn more about this movie, so I googled "Trivia from The Birds" to find a little info...Turns out there is a lot of info! So here are a few of my favorite pieces of trivia:

1.) Tippi Hedren's daughter is Melanie Griffith!

2.) Tippi wore six identical green outfits through the filming since her clothing got so beat up (on account of those killer birds scratching at her).

3.) To get the seagulls to fly into the camera, ground beef was put on top of the lens and the gulls would swoop in to eat it. 

4.) Most of the birds used in the long shots of the birds perching were cardboard cutouts or stuffed birds. Live birds were interspersed with the fake birds to give the scene some movement and make the fake birds look alive.

5.) Suzanne Pleshette who plays the school teacher in The Birds, would go on to play Bob's wife on The Bob Newhart Show.

6.) This film had an all electronic soundtrack. (Meaning an all synthesised sound with no real instruments).

7.)  In real life, on August 18th of 1961, residents in the town of Capitola, California, awoke to find Sooty Shearwater birds (similar to Sea Gulls) slamming into their rooftops.  Their streets were covered with dead birds. News reports suggested shellfish poisoning as the cause. According to a local newspaper, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, Alfred Hitchcock requested news copy in 1961 to use as "research material for his latest thriller".

The following video clip, in my opinion, is the most eerie part of this movie! I think what makes me feel so uneasy is the tension being built up gradually.

Crows on the Playground
The Birds at MOVIECLIPS.com

Howl at the Moon

Last night should have been a big night for all you werewolves out there! A "Super Moon" that appeared 14% larger than a normal full moon rose in the sky. We haven't seen it looking so large in 20 years!

For those who are interested in all the details of last night's moon, NASA posted a great article on their web site: NASA Science News Article

Skeletons on the Runway

Last week was Paris Fashion week. The show ran from March 1st to March 9th. French designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac designed the very cool dresses below. If you would like to see more of his designs, here's his web site: http://jc-de-castelbajac.com/

Deadly Decoupage

I just found a very cool and simple craft on the Woman's Day web site.

The glass plate pictured above was spookified using patterned fabric and decoupage. I have tried using Modge Podge with paper in the past, but not fabric. This sounds fun to try! Here are the basic instructions:


Directions:

1. Thoroughly clean and dry plates.
2. Cut fabric into circles with a diameter 1inch longer than plates.
3. Brush decoupage medium onto back of plate; center fabric, face down, on plate, smoothing from center out to remove air bubbles and folds. Let dry.
4. Using craft knife, trim fabric along plate edges.
5. Apply several coats of decoupage medium to back of plate, covering fabric edges; let dry after each coat.

If you would like to print these instructions, here's the web site where I found them: Decoupage Skull Plates

You should be able to eat off one of these, so long as you glue the fabric to the back of the plate.

I suppose you could use any kind of fabric for this project, but I think the skulls are pretty rockin'. :)

Thrilling graveyard dance

I wanted to share a video I ran across a few days ago where pre-school age kids are dancing to the song "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. I couldn't find that video, but I did run into this cute one.  I got a kick out of this seven year old kid dancing in a graveyard of all places. He's pretty good too!