Fright Fest For The Wuuut?!

I can sum up the Nickelodeon Fright Fest in three words:  What. The. Heck.

Oh, Nickelodeon, you shouldn't have given us the most splendid time last Halloween.  Now, you've brought out expectations up so high... only to be dragged down in a sad puddle of inconvenience and boredom. :(

This year's Nick event --dubbed Fright Fest-- was held indoors.  I'm assuming this is a safety precaution after last Halloween's Planet Scream being rained on.  Sure, I embraced the airconditioning, but nothing beats the bigness of the great outdoors.  Nothing beats the feeling of freedom.

Speaking of which, Fright Fest had strict rules.  Oh, yes.  You can't play in this game booth unless you've lined up and played in this other booth.  You can't get sweets here unless you line up there.  Big bouncers were deployed everywhere to make sure you stayed in your line.  Organization is cool and all.  Until it zaps the fun out of the holiday, ya know.

Last year's venue layout was better, too.  All the booths surrounded the main area.  So even if you're lining up for candies or playing at the booths, you can still turn around to see what's happening on stage.  It was more giving.  Not much this time though.

Then there was the entertainment.  This is a personal ish, but last year's hosts were more entertaining than today's.  There were more production numbers now, but they weren't that kiddie.  I mean, a laser show to motown music?  Hmm... I dunno.
There were 4 mascots.  Which I thought was a cool thing.  Other than that, the show dragged for my boys.

Trick or Treating became such a hassle that we decided to just buy sweets on the way home.  Fright Fest managed to sell us some merchandising though.  There were no lines there.

I know, I know... it's not a good review.  It's just that Nickelodeon's Planet Scream so nailed Halloween for us (and I bet for a whole lot of people!) that we expected an encore.  Maybe next year again, huh, Nick?

Quick and Dirty Creepy

It was such a hectic couple of weeks that I was so sure we wouldn't have time for Halloween this year.  And with our family... THAT IS SO NOT DONE!
As early as September, Miro's already planned to come as Richtofen, dastardly doctor of Call of Duty.  Kenji dilly-dallied a bit but was firm last week that he just had to trick or treat in the ominous persona of the Slender Man.

But work continued to pile up that we barely had time to make costumes.  And with our family... we just have to MAKE costumes.  Geez.

My husband to the rescue!
Thank goodness Jing lives for resourceful creativity and insane deadlines!

In just half a day (hours before the Halloween event I've finally booked for us was expected to start), he's transformed Miro into Richtofen.  With my old coat, his old belt, Alpha's leash, a couple of acrylic aquarium edge guards, and cardboard.  I did try to borrow the office guard's hat for tighter authenticity, but he wouldn't let me. :P
Oh, and we purposely revised the swastika a bit because Miro didn't want any trouble with the government.  Lol!

Now Kenji's costume was a lot easier.  IF we had a suit.  Which we didn't.  So Jing had to modify Miro's old cardigan, borrow a tie, wrestle an alligator for gloves (ok, not really) and then slash a pair of nurse-type pantyhose to make Slender's mask.
To this, Kenji asked, "Do I smell like fart?" :D

But what really made these unprepared costumes work was how our boys worked them.  Every Halloween, these guys just get into complete character as soon as they don their cosplay duds.  Miro, at the Halloween event, stayed shady --because that's what cold-blooded killers do.  Kenji never smiled.  He floated!  Because that's what grim reapers do.

So there's our Quick and Dirty Halloween costumes.  Our boys say it was a success.  
After all, if there's anything this family knows how to pull off even in such short notice with very little to work with, it's Halloween.

Hotel T to a T

Oh, we did check in!  And it was a fun time for the boys.  I mean... vampires, werewolves, zombies, Frankenstein... what is not to like?!  The original concept of a monster get-away was cool, too.  Why, Hotel Transylvania screamed future theme park and every kid in that movie house had their fingers crossed!

The flick didn't really get to run away from some tried and tested formulas though.  Scary monsters presented as wacky folks --kids eat that kind of stuff up.  The usual father-and-daughter trust issues --which I suppose was meant for the teen slice of the market pie. The falling in love for the first time bit (what they call 'Zing!') with someone not of your kind --must be for the Twilight fans out there.  It even had Pixar's 'struggling single parent' routine.  That always worked. 
So on the overall, I'd say the movie was ...just right.

But what we really liked was the awkwardness of Dracula.  No matter what you do, Dracula just doesn't do awkward.  Now we see him in a whole new different light.  And it didn't even feel forced at all!  In fact, this fun characterization made up for the movie's semi-lagging editing and the long drawn out jokes. :)

The film closed with the characters belting out song numbers.  Another cliche ending.  But this one used up-to-date dance music and a whole lot of auto tune.  Now my boys want to buy auto tune mics --which sadly was nowhere to be found in the merchandising.  Oh wait, there wasn't any merchandising.  And there was great potential for that.  Oh well.

Hotel Transylvania, topbilled by Adam Sandler and Selena Gomez, is still showing in theaters near you.  It's fun, it's light, it's just right.  Check in for the weekend, why doncha?

Eye Love Thee...

First off, I would like to make one thing clear.  This is not an attempt at shifting into beauty blogging.  I never write about my personal superficial finds.  Although I do keep them high up on a pedestal when they do me good.  Which is very rare.  I'm a bad shopper.

But lo and behold, I got lucky this time.  Three for three!  Yes, that's huge for me.  And so a-blogging I will go!

Enter Styli-Style!  This has been on my list of favorite things for a couple of months now.  Its thin eyeliner does great line work --clean, sharp, dark.  Its Smokey Eyes pudgy version does wonderful coverage.  Just one swish and you get an even lid coat.  And it's matte gray.  None of that shimmering nonsense.  At Php600 a pop, that's value for your money.  That is, if you like it dark and heavy.  And no, kids, it's not an emo thing.  Geez.

The best thing to go with this pair is the Styli-Style Sharpener, of course.  It's winged.  It sharpens thin liners on one end and thick liners on the other.  This P220 baby sharpens like a boss, too!  It doesn't eat your liner whole and it says goodbye to splinters in your eyeballs!  It gives you a clean surface and a soft, rounded tip for easy smudging.

Now, Styli-Style is water-proof, sweat-proof, stress-proof (makes you wonder why I fell in love with it, huh?)  So it does take a lot of effort to get it out of your skin.  Until this bold, new discovery, that is --Shu Uemura Skin Purifier!  It's a cleansing oil to die for.  No, really!  It easily strips away every bit of make up and leaves your skin with that lovely, healthy glow.  And you don't end up an oily mess either.
One itty bitty factoid:  I do get carried away when I blacken my crease line and lids.  I love it when my eyes pop out and when I look scarier than I actually am.  Haha!  So Shu Uemura is perfect for this kind of psychotic setback.
PS.  Shu Uemura being Shu Uemura, this should be pricey.  But yeah, I got it for free.  *cyber fist bumps*

And there it is!  My perfectly lined eyes in a terribly angled photo.  Like I said, I'm not aiming to be a beauty blogger.  But you do get my point.  These eyes stay on for the whole 9 to 5, by the way.  I do retouching only once.  But only because I live in a tropical country.  These babies should stay on for like weeks in colder climate.  Woohoo!

Since I'm feeling generous today. I'm throwing in a fourth fab find into the mix.
Itty bitty factoid two:  I love sculpting my hair and defying gravity.  Must be my inner Anime geek seeping through.  David's Salon's Holding Clay serves as a reliable accomplice for this kind of rebellious feat.  Just a little smidgen of the clay and your hair will flip, spike, stand as much as you like, longer than planned --for only Php120!  It's not greasy or leaves your hair as unglamorously hard as stalactites.  My hair is incredibly soft in this clay.  It's held, but soft.  It's a mystery.
And no, kids, it's not a K-Pop thing.  Geez.