misspulga's Poetry Corner

The crisp and cold November dries
My lips.
The leaves fall off the trees -
Eclipse 
Of day, the nights grow long
As darkness slowly sings its song.

This night the Heavens dance for me,
While stars
Shine bright for all to see
And snow-
Flakes spark upon the ground
(Their silence in itself, a sound).

My heart, embraced, sets free my mind.
My soul,
It soars through space and time...
While cheeks
Are numbed by glacial air
And icy winds wisp through my hair.

I wait: The Earth, so peaceful, stirs...
The sky -
Dark palette; color smears
And warmth
Upon horizon seeps
To meet the frozen diamond peaks.

My circumstance becomes more clear
Through eyes 
Still fogged by winter tears...
I catch
Myself adrift below;
A vessel on the melting snow.

Toronto Zombie Walk, 2012

"Zombiachis", a.k.a. Mariachi Zombies

The Vampire and I attended the Toronto Zombie Walk on October 20th. This year was the walk's 10th anniversary, and was organized in support of the Heart & Stroke Foundation. To promote this partnership, the Heart & Stroke Foundation released an extremely clever public service announcement: "The Undeading"... The tagline of their campaign is "CPR Makes You Undead". Check out this awesome video below!

Despite the weather being crappy, the rain held off and the walk was a success (more about that to come later in this post). The Vamp and I needed sustenance in order to fulfill our zombiefied journey, so we started the day off at Fancy Franks - a gourmet hot dog restaurant a few blocks west of Spadina on College. The restaurant has a funky atmosphere and their food is out-of-this-world delicious!!! We highly recommend this restaurant - 5 skulls out of 5! :-D

Exterior of Fancy Franks Gourmet Hot Dogs (photo taken from The Grid TO website)

misspulga's meal: "Frank's Got Seoul", with hand-cut fries

Frank's Got Seoul (rib meat, kimchi, green onions and sesame seeds)

The Vampire's meal: Frank's Fancy-aano (prosciutto wrapped dog, arugula, 
parmigiano reggiano and balsamic dijon mustard)

Once fully nourished, the Vamp and I headed southeast to Nathan Phillips Square for the main event. There were lots of fantastically imaginative costumes, as well as an ample amount of the requisite moaning and lurching that one would expect. Overall, we enjoyed ourselves immensely... By far, however, the highlights of this year's Zombie Walk were the following:

• The Heart & Stroke Foundation gave away free tickets to their Guinness World Records CPR event and Hallowe'en Haunt, which took place at Canada's Wonderland on October 25th. Not only was this extremely generous of them, but they also did a great service to Toronto by instructing CPR to so many people... It was especially great to hear that so many young people participated! ***Everyone should be trained in CPR.***      (Update: The Heart & Stroke Foundation smashed the previously held USA record and ended up training 5,020 people in CPR during this event! Amazing!)

• Grand Marshals John Russo and Russ Streiner (Writer and Producer of 'Night of the Living Dead') made a guest appearance, and helped judge the costume contest!!! Who better to officiate this event? Not only are these gentlemen legends in the film industry, but they also happen to be really cool guys with a great sense of humour.

• A bloody casket was made available for gruesome photo-ops. Whoever came up with this idea is a genius. :-D

• The vendors were cool... I especially enjoyed the booth with all the juicy brain jewelry! As soon as I find out the name of the artist, I will post it here so you procure some of her ghoulish creations for yourself!

• Everyone who came out to support the event... You're all awesome! I was so impressed by the time, energy and creativity that people put into their costumes (we love you, Zombiachis!)... It was definitely for a worthy cause! :-D 

Please enjoy our photos from the event (below)...

Awesome skull attire!!!

"Come closer, I just want to give you a hug!" >:-)

Bloody Casket: Greatest photo-op idea ever!!!

"I'm-a Mario! I'm-a gonna eat 'cha!!!"

Resident Evil Umbrella Corporation Employee

Looks like the mascot got picked clean!!! :-O

Take-Out Brains for All

Epic Zombie Jewelry - artist name coming soon!!!

Well aren't you precious?

Toronto Zombie Walk Grand Marshals:
 John Russo & Russ Streiner (Writer & Producer: Night of the Living Dead)!!!

The Main Stage

"Look 'Ma! No Legs!!!" - Winner of Toronto Zombie Walk (2012) Costume Competition

More fabulous costume entries! Little Red Zombie Hood and Frida Zombie looking hot! :-)

Franken-dog!!! :-D

Just going for a stroll...

"Bella, you are more beautiful now than the day we met!!!"

Celebrating Our Fans!!!

Wow... What a crazy month!!! Thanks to all our blog fans and readers from around the globe for making October 2012 SSWC's most epic, record-breaking month yet.... The stats are in, and we've amassed 5,005 page views for October alone!!! :-D

Let's hear it for the Top 10 countries who brought the highest volume of traffic to our site... Without you, we wouldn't have been able to set this new record!!!

1. United States
2. United Kingdom
3. Canada
4. Germany
5. Italy
6. Russia
7. Netherlands
8. Spain
9. Greece
10. Belgium

The British Invasion is here!!! The U.K. has overtaken Canada, bumping us into 3rd place... Jolly good!!! Looks like we've got our work cut out over here across the pond in order to reclaim our previously held position in the rankings. ;-)

A warm welcome to newcomers Russia, Greece, and Belgium... We're happy you're now part of the Planet Obscura and SSWC family!!! :-)

510 million square kilometres. One global community.
There's a little deviant in all of us.

Josh Ramsay Pumpkin Carving - "Josh-o'-Lantern"

Josh Ramsay - a work in progress

The finished "Josh-o'-Lantern"

Josh-o'-Lantern, brighter, showcasing blue hair

For my pumpkin carving design this year, I chose Josh Ramsay of Marianas Trench.  It wasn't easy, but it was *SO* worth it!!  Special thanks to Josh for the perfect model-looking head-shot, to misspulga for providing the carving environment and supporting me during the carving process, and to Gwartzmans Art Supplies for the blue acetate!