Whatever happened to my Transylvania Twist?
October 19, 2020 4:32 PM Subscribe
Halloween looks different this year. Across the U.S., cities and towns have gotten creative to celebrate the holiday during the covid-19 pandemic.
Our history center is doing socially distant scavenger hunts in a local cemetery.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:13 PM on October 19, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:13 PM on October 19, 2020 [2 favorites]
Didja ever stop to think that "The Monster Mash" is a song about a song that we never hear?
Anyways, I'm sure there is a cover out (or coming) called the Monster Mask
posted by nubs at 5:27 PM on October 19, 2020 [2 favorites]
Anyways, I'm sure there is a cover out (or coming) called the Monster Mask
posted by nubs at 5:27 PM on October 19, 2020 [2 favorites]
I always thought that the song “The Monster Mash” was talking about people doing a dance called “The Monster Mash,” which they could have been doing to a different piece of music.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:39 PM on October 19, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:39 PM on October 19, 2020 [4 favorites]
The scene was rockin', all were digging the sounds
Igor on chains, backed by his baying hounds
The coffin-bangers were about to arrive
With their vocal group, 'The Crypt-Kicker Five'
They played the mash, they played the monster mash
The monster mash, it was a graveyard smash
They played the mash, it caught on in a flash
They played the mash, they played the monster mash
Its probably both, Underpants Monster, but that bit is what Im thinking about
posted by nubs at 5:41 PM on October 19, 2020
Igor on chains, backed by his baying hounds
The coffin-bangers were about to arrive
With their vocal group, 'The Crypt-Kicker Five'
They played the mash, they played the monster mash
The monster mash, it was a graveyard smash
They played the mash, it caught on in a flash
They played the mash, they played the monster mash
Its probably both, Underpants Monster, but that bit is what Im thinking about
posted by nubs at 5:41 PM on October 19, 2020
Anyway, they’re all doing the Svengoolie Stomp nowadays.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:45 PM on October 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:45 PM on October 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
Ahhh, I could never make out the word “played” before. I suppose they could have been playing a live instrumental version before the song with vocals was recorded, but that’s probably thinking about it more than I ought to.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:47 PM on October 19, 2020
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:47 PM on October 19, 2020
Came in to link the Svengoolie Stomp, underpants you beat me to it, so here's Kendra Pfaler and her Halloween song instead.
posted by vrakatar at 5:54 PM on October 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by vrakatar at 5:54 PM on October 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
Another online costume contest - the one sponsored by Take Back Halloween, which is a site devoted to DIY costume ideas for women that are better than the "sexy crayon" costumes you often find in stores. They try to keep the sewing to a minimum, so their costumes ideas are more devoted to which kind of specific pieces to assemble - which wigs, which props - and then they give advice for how to pin, drape, or tie things on to make yourself anything from the goddess Artemis to a Valkyrie to Amelia Earhart to Calamity Jane to Medusa to Bouidica to...
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:08 PM on October 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:08 PM on October 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
I feel a bit sorry for the College undergrads, usually around this time of autumn Halloween parties they get to dress up and randomly explore alternate identities, and this year has Halloween falling on a weekend with a full moon and a time-change, this year their party scene might be more complex...
posted by ovvl at 6:46 PM on October 19, 2020
posted by ovvl at 6:46 PM on October 19, 2020
Our town is doing a ticketed drive through trick or treat, and some pop-up drive in spooky movies that I was too slow to get a ticket for. We wound up going to a pumpkin patch/corn maze with limited capacity on a weekday, which was probably as much autumnal festiveness as we're getting this year. It sounds like the usual scenic spots around here, like Great Falls, Harper's Ferry and Shenandoah National Parks, are even more slammed than in normal Octobers. If it doesn't rain I might make a backyard bonfire for Halloween night. But no trick or treaters, which was my favorite thing about buying a house. We are taking little goodie bags around to drop off on neighbors' stoops since the pandemic stopped us from actually meeting any of them.
Still, shit timing - the next full moon Halloween won't be for another 19 years. And on a WEEKEND. Man.
posted by bowtiesarecool at 7:49 PM on October 19, 2020 [2 favorites]
Still, shit timing - the next full moon Halloween won't be for another 19 years. And on a WEEKEND. Man.
posted by bowtiesarecool at 7:49 PM on October 19, 2020 [2 favorites]
Things are bad enough in Toronto that T&T is entirely cancelled this year
posted by scruss at 5:40 AM on October 20, 2020
posted by scruss at 5:40 AM on October 20, 2020
The businesses in my neighborhood are having an outdoor, daytime sidewalk sale on Halloween, which will hopefully give some folks a chance to show off their costumes and let their kids get some candy. But yeah, it's pretty dismal. I love Halloween, and I've barely done anything for it this year.
(to make matters worse, for a few years now my go-to costume has been Professor Sprout, which has also been ruined.)
posted by nonasuch at 5:56 AM on October 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
(to make matters worse, for a few years now my go-to costume has been Professor Sprout, which has also been ruined.)
posted by nonasuch at 5:56 AM on October 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
Halloween is on in our township (southern NJ, Gov Murphy has been on top of all things COVID except I think restaurants shouldn't be open but that's another topic) and I'm thrilled.
I bought little drawstring bags and will fill them with candy. I'm going to set up a decorated table at the end of the driveway, plop the bags on top, and let the kiddies grab their own bag while I sit a good distance away and wave.
posted by kimberussell at 6:43 AM on October 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
I bought little drawstring bags and will fill them with candy. I'm going to set up a decorated table at the end of the driveway, plop the bags on top, and let the kiddies grab their own bag while I sit a good distance away and wave.
posted by kimberussell at 6:43 AM on October 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
Hey, Ontario has cancelled trick-or-treat completely for the four most populous regions -- yep the same ones that say it's okay to have 30+ kids sitting in windowless schoolrooms all day.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:46 AM on October 20, 2020
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:46 AM on October 20, 2020
Didja ever stop to think that "The Monster Mash" is a song about a song that we never hear?
The Monster Mash is so vain, it probably thinks the song is about itself.
posted by Foosnark at 8:03 AM on October 20, 2020 [3 favorites]
The Monster Mash is so vain, it probably thinks the song is about itself.
posted by Foosnark at 8:03 AM on October 20, 2020 [3 favorites]
Traditional trick or treating is not recommended, but not explicitly forbidden here this year. The county does suggest some safer alternatives to traditional trick or treating (treats that can be sanitized, treat bags lined up at the end of a driveway, etc.) I've turned my house into a castle complete with a marauding dragon and will be catapulting treats at the kids. I'm also planting "dragon eggs" in the front yard for the littler/less coordinated/more timid kids. I'm thinking about markers on the side walk/driveway to encourage distancing, and what kind of mask policy I want to enforce.
posted by natabat at 9:15 AM on October 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by natabat at 9:15 AM on October 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
I'm planning to put a few treat bags (we don't usually get many trick-or-treaters) and if anyone else leaves some out, my daughter can have some. But mostly we'll walk around looking at Halloween decorations and have a flashlight candy hunt in the yard. (I'm hiding candy and I made the rule that you must have a costume to hunt, so my spouse is dressing up this year.)
My daughter and I have both decorated black face masks to have cat faces, which I think may actually look better than face paint. And I've already been enjoying the decorations neighbours have made. My favorite has two large inflated dragons, which I'm going will eventually become Christmas dragons. They're the best.
posted by Margalo Epps at 5:27 PM on October 20, 2020
My daughter and I have both decorated black face masks to have cat faces, which I think may actually look better than face paint. And I've already been enjoying the decorations neighbours have made. My favorite has two large inflated dragons, which I'm going will eventually become Christmas dragons. They're the best.
posted by Margalo Epps at 5:27 PM on October 20, 2020
I love Halloween, and I've barely done anything for it this year.
I'm notorious for making my own costume, but there is absolutely no point in my doing it this year to be home alone :(
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:33 PM on October 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
I'm notorious for making my own costume, but there is absolutely no point in my doing it this year to be home alone :(
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:33 PM on October 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
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A: It's now the mask.
posted by not_on_display at 5:12 PM on October 19, 2020 [10 favorites]