Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday

Today is Shrove Tuesday, or, as it is known in the French speaking world and sometimes elsewhere, Mardi Gras. I was not sure what to share today about it, so I just thought instead of just picture of pancakes (by the way I refuse to call today Pancake Day), I would share one page from Charlie Brown's Fourth Super Book of Questions and Answers. One of the best sources of information I had as a child, before the internet, even though a friend of mine had the on people and culture. Anyway, so there is more info on the next page, but all the same, here is some interesting facts about today.

The Lost Skull Mask

This photo dates back from... 2007. It is a picture of me, and don't tell me I looked much better then. No, but jokes aside I had bought this book on the cheap in a shop, as I was waiting for my visa to arrive. I first wore it when my wife and I went out to an evening of scary stories telling and enactment outdoor. It was great fun. Then I have been using the mask ever since on Halloween. I sed to put it on for trick or treat. Until last year, that is, as I lost it when I accompanied Wolfie trick or treating. I must have dropped it somewhere. As we walked a lot, I could not find it afterwards. I hope it was not picked up by an homicidal maniac or an evil spirit. I think there is a horror story to be written about this lost skull mask. I just need to work on it at some point.

La Mi-Carême pour bientôt

Si Google ne se trompe pas, la Mi-Carême aura lieu dans moins d'une semaine, le jeudi 27 mars. Le festival lui-même, tel qu'il est encore fêté (pas dans beaucoup d'endroits, on s'entend), aurait lieu du 23 au 29 mars. Je ne connais pas grand-chose à la Mi-Carême, sauf que l'idée de s'amuser la nuit et de porter des masques de carnaval a quelque chose de délicieusement sinistre. Mais je sais qu'elle n'existe pratiquement plus. Cela dit, le site que je ploguais en 2016 semble encore exister. Mais sinon,il y a quelqu'un qui l'a déjà célébrée parmi vous? Des lecteurs des Maritimes, peut-être?

Werewolf Mask

For today's countdown to Halloween post, another post about werewolves. I did some rambling about them in 2018, so I might repeat myself here, sorry if that is the case. Anyway, I saw this werewolf maks (for half the face) in the local toy shop and it kind of inspired me. As an amateur of traditional, classic horror stories and trope, I am surprised that I read fairly little werewolf fiction. Most of the time, I stumbled upon werewolf stories. I will try to find more, partially because I love wolves in general, but also because I might try my hands on a horror story or two featuring lycanthropes. I would like to use elements that we don't see anymore, like people becoming a werewolf through something else than infection after being attacked by one. Although I don't know how to proceed from there. But hey, I think we need more werewolves in spooky stories. Don't you? Let me know in the comments.

Jewellery Thefts

 Sometimes, I read crime news just for kick. Also, I love crime fiction, I try to write some and I think reading crime news is good for inspiration. So two bits of crime news came to my knowledge recently. The first story about a bungled burglary of a jewellery where the thief still managed to steal £23,400 worth of gold. The content of one tray. That's what caught my attention: the large amount of money that represented a fairly small quantity of items. The second story was about two brothers robbing a jewellery in Essex. They used masks of old men, which I thought was an interesting MO. I am reminded of two principles reading about these two stories. One, that jewels always make for great MacGuffins. They have been from the beginning of crime fiction and it is for a reason. And two, that jewelleries are great settings for crime drama.

Wolfie's New Mask

We went to not one, but two birthday parties last weekend, forchildren in Wolfie's school. Forthese cocasions, they have giveaways for the children: sweets, crayons, that sort of things. And they were also provoding a... mask. A black one that you had to decorate yourself. Wolfie never liked disguises much, but for some reasons he really enjoyed this one and wore it half the time he was there. He also added a lot of colours on it, as you can see. I'm just surprised he got so fond of it, given that he rarely if ever wanted to wear disguises.

Creepy Scarecrows

We saw many scarecrows at the Scarecrow Festival. Some cute, some ugly, some very inventive, some sort of tacky, and some downright creepy. Like this one of two little children with weird masks. I look at them and think there is a horror story or two to be written about these scarecrows. I am not only talking about the two children, there were many others, some were willingly meant to be scary, with skulls instead of head or things like that. I am not sure if this was intentional with these two. I have read many horror stories around Halloween time, quite a few of them feature scarecrows. I guess they are natural tropes in an autumnal setting. I still think there is room for at least one more.

Crazy Bear Mask

For today's countdown to Halloween's post, I have decided to speak about a mask I stumbled upon last year during our grocery shopping at Tesco. You can see it here: the Crazy Bear Mask. A creepy teddy bear, with razor sharp teeth and bloodied buttons for eyes. I find it deliciously creepy. Generally speaking, I am not the biggest fan of modern horror, I prefer old fashioned Gothic imagery and disguises for Halloween, but this mask I really like for some reason. Maybe because it channels primal children fears? Be that as it may, Wolfie thought the mask was hilarious and he even tried to put it on.

Hooded Outlaw

During our last English holidays in September, when we visited the family of the childhood friend of my wife and especially her son Uber who is Wolfie's best friend ever, we spent a day at Sundown Adventureland, a theme park for young kids. The kind of place that can also appeal to daddies who never quite grew up. There were many fun rides. We did not try them all, but we enjoyed a few, including the Rocky Mountain Railroad, which was basically a western setting. It was a goldmine full of gold diggers and also bandits attacking the convoy we were one. I took a few snapshots, including this one which I think is pretty neat. A menacing hooded outlaw (and what a hood!) gunning down on us. With the light, it almost looks like a desperado in a real ambush.

Masks for Christmastime?

I took this picture last year, right before Christmas (I believe it was literally the 24) in a nearby garden centre, right in the Christmas section. Masks. I have to say, they intrigued me, because one would not expect party masks, these kinds of party masks, for Christmastime. Then again, I thought, maybe you could. It reminded me of the scene in Eyes Wide Shut showing a, ahem, secret ceremony. I looked at them and wondered if there was such... special events, on invitation only, where masks and anonimity were de rigueur. Especially since the garden centre was very near the hotel where my brother PJ and parents stayed during their time here. A hotel which reminded PJ of EWS. Since I saw these masks, and as I associate the film with Christmas (see my post here), I can't help wondering how people with lots of money do to celebrate Yuletide...

Origins of Halloween Traditions

For today's (first?) countdown to Halloween, a meme I found on a friend's Facebook page. I knew pretty much all of it, but thought it looked so nice and it was educational enough to share it here today. Only one day to go now. I am both excited that Halloween is at last upon us and yet sad that it will end soon.

Question existentielle (352)

Une nouvelle question existentielle sur l'Halloween, que je crois (j'espère!) n'avoir jamais posée jusqu'ici:

-Quel est le meilleur, le plus typique déguisement pour l'Halloween et pourquoi?

The Mask of Jack O'Lantern

For today's countdown to Halloween post, I have decided to blog about a simple disguise I found yesterday in Morrisons. It's only £5.00, a cheap plastic mask with a hood to hold it on the head, yet I really loved it. Because it's a big, nasty, demonic pumpkin head, with fangs in the mouth. I mean how cooler can you get? I asked my wife if I should buy it, she said no, that it looks far too nasty. And she did not add that it would scare Wolfie, but I'm sure she thought about it. All the same, there can never be too many Jack O'Lanterns for Halloween and this one would be great.

Rambling about werewolves

I took this picture in Morisson's. Not the best image to accompany my post, but there you go. So I was recently thinking writing a post on werewolves, when it struck me that I have not read that many stories about them, and most stories I read are fairly recent. Werewolves seems to be the poor relative of all the Halloween and horror critters. He has been overshadowed a long time ago by the vampire and more recently by zombies. Even the way a human becomes of werewolves in modern fiction is rather reductive: it is more often than none through contagion, by the bite or clawing of another lycanthrope. In folklore, there were many different ways to become one and contagion was not even one of them. A werewolf could owe his condition to a curse, the alignment of stars in the sky at birth, to witchcraft, to a magic ointment, etc. It would be interesting to revisit this character of horror stories and these methods of infection. The werewolf could benefit from a bit of variety.

The mask of Jack

In the quiet little down where we live, we used to have a fancy shop that sold and rent suits and dresses for special occasions, as well as fancy masks for masquerade balls and so on. Going in there at any time, you felt like you were in that shop in Eyes Wide Shut and that you were there for the same reason as the Tom Cruise character: for some shady business that was both decadent and occult. During the Halloween time, the place looked even more shady and one would feel even more strongly its darker atmosphere. Even looking at the window display could give you the chill. And thus, this is where I saw this paper mask of Jack O'Lantern, with a very devilish look, smiling wickedly like some fiend from hell, its pumpkin skin a fiery orange. I regret not buying it, although it might not have been on sale and if it was, it was most likely out of price for a paper mask. Still, it is a very scary one and it gives me the chill every time I look at it. Pleasant chill of course. The shop shut down not too long ago, which is a shame. At least I took this picture. I hope I can find the mask again somewhere else.

Masque mystérieux (de théâtre?)

Je n'ai jamais mis les pieds à Berlin, mais déjà je commence à découvrir la ville grâce aux photos que mon père m'envoie. Je ne connais pas toujours le contexte et les détails, mais il y a là des images saisissantes. Comme cette sculpture de masque, envoyée aujourd'hui. On dirait un masque de tragédie grecque, le genre qu'on portait à une certaine époque sur scène. Il est assez impressionnant et j'ai voulu le partager ici.

"Histoire de héros"

Je regarde assez peu le site officiel de la Saint-Jean, je ne sais pas si c'est à cause de la distance ou si c'est parce que mon patriotisme est plus personnel (est-ce que ça a du sens ce que je dis?), mais j'ai quand même pris la peine d'y jeter un coup d'oeil. Et je trouve la thématique pour 2018, Histoire de héros, assez mignonne merci. Je me demande bien à quel héros québécois mon petit loup pourra s'identifier quand il sera en âge de les découvrir. Anecdote: nous avons déjà eu des masques un peu comme ceux-ci, bleus avec des fleurs de lys dessus, mais le lys étais au centre du masque. Je ne sais pas si c'était pour la Saint-Jean ou non, mais je m'en rappelle encore.

Scary mask

I took this picture at the York Castle Museum. It is another relic from World War 1: a gas mask. More like a hooded mask really. Like many old relics, I am fascinated by it. I know it is meant to be utilitarian, but it looks quite scary nevertheless. Like a villain's mask from the old childhood games we had: the round eyes, the featureless, faceless face... It's not ugly, but not beautiful either. Terrifying even without the context of its use.

Sensuel (la photo du mois)

Ce fut difficile de trouver une photo pour ce thème, choisi par Lau* des montagnes. J'ai finalement opté pour une photo d'un tableau dun peintre argentin Fabian Perez. On peut pas faire plus sensuel que ses peintures, je trouve.

Pour ce qui est des autres expressions de sensualité, les voici:

Akaieric, Alban, Alexinparis, Amartia, Angélique, Aude, Autour de Cia, BiGBuGS, Blogoth67, Brindille, Calamonique, Carole en Australie, Chat bleu, Chiffons and Co, Christophe, CécileP, Céline in Paris, Danièle.B, DelphineF, El Padawan, Escribouillages, Estelle, Eurydice, Evasion Conseil, François le Niçois, Frédéric, Gilsoub, Gine, Giselle 43, J'habite à Waterford, Je suis partie voyager, Jess_TravelPicsAndTips, Josette, Josiane, Kellya, KK-huète En Bretannie, Koalisa, Krn, La Fille de l'Air, La Tribu de Chacha, Lau* des montagnes, Laurent Nicolas, Lavandine, Lavandine83, Lilousoleil, Luckasetmoi, Lyonelk, Madame Rêve, magda627, Mamysoren, Mirovinben, Morgane Byloos Photography, Nanouk, Natpiment, Nicky, Pat, Paul Marguerite, Philae, Philisine Cave, Pichipichi Japon, Pilisi, Renepaulhenry, Sous mon arbre, Tambour Major, The Beauty is in the Walking, Tuxana, Xoliv', écri'turbulente.

La Mi-Carême

Tiens, je l'ai pesque oublié: nous sommes en pleine Mi-Carême. Alors il ne reste plus que la moitié pour arriver à Pâques. Youpe-lai. J'ai blogué sur la Mi-Carême ici, ici et ici. J'en sais toujour peu sur la célébration, sauf les bribes que j'ai lu sur le site du Centre de la Mi-Carême. Enfant, je connaissais son existence et je trouvais que ça avait un nom sinistre, surtout que je savais que la fête impliquait des masques. Quelqu'un qui me lit a-t-il/elle fêté la Mi-Carême? Faites-moi part de votre expérience.