Petites gâtastrophes

J'ai tout récemment fait des gâteaux de l'Halloween avec petit loup. La recette vient d'un magazine de l'Halloween que j'ai acheté il y a cinq ans. On y trouvait notamment, parmi les recettes de desserts, celle de petits gâteaux "toile d'araignée". On recommandait du chocolat blanc et noir pour faire les toiles, mais comme je n'avais pas de chocolat pour faire fondre, à part les pépites de chocolat pour les gâteaux, j'ai fait du crémage, avec du colorant orange en tube. L'orange, c'est supposé faire les fils des toiles. Je sais, c'est gatastrophique. Plus de l'eauage que du crémage, comme l'a dit PJ. Cela dit, petit loup a beaucoup aimé et nous les avons tous mangés, alors je ne les ai pas fait en pure perte.

Whatever happened to the Hobgoblin?

For today's countdown to Halloween's post, a very sad story, which I hesitated to blog about, as it upsets me so much. My readers know how much I love Wychwood Brewery's Hobgoblin. For the beer of course, its taste and its nice ruby colour (well, the original ruby one, as it has a blonde variety). Now Hobgoblin is also the officious beer of Halloween, or has been for years. And every year, they come up with a new design for the beers sold around October. Design that has jack o'lanterns and other seasonal things on them. I love Hobgoblin's label designs, during Halloween even moreso. But last year, they updated their label design into something... Well, something blah. You can see a picture of the new design at your right. Absolutely horrible.

And because of this, there was no seasonal design for Halloween last year and there has been none this year either, as far as I know. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to find at reduced price (£4.00 for a bunch of four cans, a bargain) cans of Hobgoblin from the previous year with the good old seasonal design, so Hobgoblin remained last year my beer of choise for the season. But this year, well, I don't know what to do. I know I can and (if i put myself into it) will find suitable beers for Halloween, heck every year for the countdown I blog about a spooky beer or two I discovered. But in the end, it will not be the same. Because I have equated Hobgoblin with the beer of Halloween for more than ten years now. It is hard to see it with a label that reminds me of an old Labatt or Molson. It is just so very sad. Well at least my glass still looks good, with the witch on it. Still, why can't we have the old seasonal design back?

Gasgantuesque citrouille

Photo prise en 2018, le lendemain de l'Halloween, alors que je faisais ma promenade de midi à mon ancienne job (marcher durant ma pause était l'un des rares moments de ma journée que j'aimais). J'ai vu cette citrouille, absolument gigantesque. La photo ne lui rend pas justice. Malheureusement, je n'ai jamais pu la voir allumée. Elle devait être bien impressionnante. Mais je crois que je fais de meilleurs designs que ça. Et, ça peut paraître un peu bête comme considération, mais je trouve qu'elle a l'orange un tantinet pâlot. Cela dit, j'aimerais bien en trouver une aussi grosse que ça pour cette année, même si creuser et sculpter une citrouille de cette taille, ça doit être de l'ouvrage.

The Tomb of Dracula (a memory)

I pride myself of being one of the few people who first discovered Dracula pretty much by reading the original novel, which is still my favourite horror novel. For the story of experience please read this post from 2018. The following autumn, so in 1990, I was eager to read as much horror as I could, especially things related to vampires, so a friend lend me his ownibus volume of The Tomb of Dracula. the first story was Death Rides this Train. While I enjoyed the atmosphere of this particularly story enough, if for no better that it was set in a train, I was never impressed by the whole series. Even as a teenage boy, I was smug enough to say that it was a cheap rip off a great novel and that it was a superhero team comics in disguise. I could not honestly say that I disliked it, I mean there were some nice moments and some nicely spooky images, but I always thought this Dracula lacked bite. Still, I read the omnibus volume in two or three evenings, and it was nice enough a read in the weeks leading to Halloween. I would get my hand on a few comics of ToD just for fun. Maybe I would enjoy them more now.

Le sourire sinistre de la citrouille

J'ai pris cette photo à Sundown Adventureland. Je la publie aujourd'hui pour deux raisons. La première, c'est que le parc d'attractions est l'un des rares endroits en Angleterre à souligner l'Halloween aussi tôt qu'en septembre, le mois où j'ai pris la photo. Il y avait tout une boutique dont cette fenêtre était la vitrine qui avait une exhibition de l'Halloween. ensuite, parce que j'adore le sourire sinistre de Jack O'Lantern. Je disais récemment que je n'aimais pas trop les sourire trop doux ou chaleureux de certaines citrouilles. Celui-ci est délicieusement maléfique et sinistre à souhait. Je vais essayer d'en sculpter un semblable cette année.

Halloween Gnome

Sometimes there are things I wish I could have bought and carried home when I saw them. It happened last year when I walked to the Morrissons near my then working place in my previous job (it seems like ages now). I used to like that Morrissons, in fact going there was often the only thing I liked about my working day. It always had a thing or two to discover, whether it was food or, well, something else. So anyway, last October I walked into Morrissons and the first thing I saw next to their flower bouquets was that garden gnome. Except that it was a Halloween Gnome (the Halloween Gnome?). I did not buy it, albeit at £30.00 while not cheap it was not grossly out of price and I kind of regret it. I could go back there and check if it is still on sale, but I fear I could bump into one of my ex colleagues and I'd rather avoid it. But what a very cool gnome.

Marches d'automne

Mon père m'a envoyé cette photo il y a deux ou trois jours. Il l'a prise au lot de mes oncles, ce sont les marches du campement dans le bois. Le courriel avait pour titre "Marches d'automne". J'ai trouvé le titre excellent, la photo est excellente aussi et vraiment jolie, elle campe bien l'atmosphère des automnes québécois (les plus beaux au monde, et je suis quasiment objectif), alors je la partage ici aujourd'hui.

The Shooting of Achnaleish

I thought I would quickly give a reading suggestion for everybody here who is doing the countdown to Halloween. This is a short horror story (or ghost story as they were labeled back then) by E.F. Benson, a writer I am slowly starting to discover and so far I am really impressed. I can even say that I have been pleasantly spooked. So anyway, one of the horror stories I have really enjoyed of him is The Shooting of Achnaleish. Without giving too much away, it starts with Englishmen and women going on a hunting trip in mysterious and eerie Scotland. Well, in a mysterious and eerie part of Scotland, the small village of Achnaleish. Things quickly take a dramatic turn. The story is a proof that you do not need a big monster with fangs and claws to create terror. Sometimes, all you need is a few superstitious and suspicious villagers, some old folklore about witches and... black hares. Anyway, tell me what you thought of it in the comments.

La crise d'octobre a 50 ans

C'est un anniversaire dramatique et sombre aujourd'hui, mais je me devais de le souligner: la crise d'Octobre a 50 ans. Vous pouvez lire la chronologie des évènements ici. Je l'ai manquée de sept ans, étant né en 1977, mais c'est quand même étrange de penser que c'était la décennie de ma naissance. J'ai bien entendu lu sur le sujet, sans doute pas assez, vu bien des documentaires et surtout Les Ordres de Michel Brault, qui m'a beaucoup marqué. C'est sans doute LE film de la crise d'Octobre. Enfin bref, je ne sais pas trop ce qu'il reste de la crise d'Octobre dans notre mémoire collective, mais comme je le disais plus haut, je me devais de le souligner.

And now for some Danse Macabre

As it is a tradition on this blog during the countdown Halloween I share on this blog a version of  the Danse macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns. I decided to do it on early in the month and on the stroke of midnight, for dramatic effect. To accompany this post, some decoration from a nearby farm, which my wife and Wolfie visited back in October 2018. As for the Danse itself, I found this old animated version recently. Not very animated, but the images are simply gorgeous in theie eeriness. I never get bore of this tune and I am amazed at how inspiring it has been over the years.

Le sourire des citrouilles

Tout d'abord, un mot sur ce à quoi va ressembler Vraie Fiction pour ce mois-ci: il se peut que je mette beaucoup, beaucoup de citrouilles en lampion, que je passe beaucoup de photos prises lors d'Halloween passées. Maintenant, une observation: je trouve que trop souvent le sourire des citrouilles ne sont pas assez sinistres. Comme celle-ci par exemple, prise à l'Halloween 2016. J'en ferai peut-être une question existentielle un jour, mais une citrouille de l'Halloween ne devrait-elle pas avoir l'air un peu effrayante et non pas joviale? Mais parfois c'est peut-être aussi la taille et la  forme du potiron qui déterminent qu'on lui donne un sourire plus chaleureux.

Dark Harvest

For today's countdown to Halloween post (there might be more if I have time and get inspired) another reading suggestion: Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge. Which is a fairly recent horror classic as it was published in 2007. I must confess, I did not enjoyed it as much as I wanted to. Maybe I was expecting a "proper" horror novel. Instead it is a dark fantasy with horror elements. I am not sure if I make sense, but I don't want to give anything away and the novel has its fair share of twists (albeit you can see them coming). This is not to say that it does not deserve to be called a brilliant seasonal read. Just maybe not what I was in the mood for. So anyway, without giving anything away, this is a very dark tale involving a monster (the punpkin headed October Boy) and a ritualised chase, where we do not know for sure who is/are the hunter(s) and who is/are the preys. Like in many horror stories, evil has a human source and this makes the story all the more horrifying.

Bavette et frites

Mon père a fait des frites maison récemment et a eu la brillante idée de les manger en accompagnement d'une bavette. Avec des petits pois. Ça fait des années que je n'ai pas mangé un steak qui a de l'allure, littéralement. Ça n'existe pas dans ce pays. La bavette est loin d'être ma pièce de viande préférée dans le boeuf, mais c'est quand même très proche d'un steak frites et ça a l'air délicieux. En plus il y a de la verdure. Un peu.

Frankenstein

For today's countdown to Halloween post, I want to make a reading suggestion. I am talking of course of Frankenstein, where Mary Shelley. It has been one of the very first horror novel I discovered when I was twelve or so and have been wanting to come back to it for a while. Well, I bought it a few weeks ago, read it within a week and decided that it would be my first reading suggestion for the countdown. So here it is. I might be one of the few people who first read Frankenstein before seeing any of its numerous adaptation, so maybe I have a different appreciation of it. I never took the novel as pure horror, for me it is more a tragedy with macabre elements. A tragedy in the right sense of the word: with the two main protagonists never completely innocent, nor completely guilty. It is a far more intimist story than most of its adaptation, both the creator and the creature spend a lot of time in solitude and most their interaction are far from human eyes. Some people say it is one of the first science-fiction novels, but I do think the science is more a mean to an end: it is barely mentioned and the method to create the monster is never explained, nor dwelled upon. The imagery and the inspiration is pure Gothic supernatural. Anyway, you know at least some of the plot to a degree, so I will just point out a few misconceptions about the story: Frankenstein is not a doctor, in fact he is still a student when he creates the monster, and the creature is not made of pieces of corpses. Although we know Frankenstein uses something of human corpses, it is not specified that he uses full limbs and sewed them back. In fact, Frankenstein implies that he shaped the body himself, almost ex nihilo, something of corpses as a sculptor would use marble. A lot more could be said about this classic, let's just say that you should read it and forget about what you think you know.

Mafalda en deuil

Triste nouvelle qui date de deux jours, mais que je voulais souligner malgré tout: Quino, le père de Mafalda, est mort le 30 septembre. À 88 ans, ce n'est pas une mort tragique et il aura pu s'enorgueillir (quoique je ne l'ai jamais cru orgueilleux) d'avoir vécu une vie bien remplie et enviable, mais c'est quand même triste. Tout lecteur de Quino sait à quel point ses bédés étaient thérapeutiques et Mafalda demeure quand à moi le meilleur personnage féminin de bande dessiné jamais inventé. Si son père est mort, on peut se consoler en sachant que Mafalda est immortelle.

Countdown to Halloween

It is the first of October, which means of course that the Countdown to Halloween has officially started! Even tough I officiously start my own countdown in August, sometimes (often) even late July, because one month is not enough. To kickstart the month, a picture of last year's Jack O'Lanterns. Like every year, Vraie Fiction will be for the month of October almost exclusively about Halloween. As usual this year, I am a Cryptkeeper, so I will also be visiting other blogs about the holiday and hopefully will get a few new readers who will stay. To everyone, happy countdown and happy upcoming Halloween!

Vampires en pire

C'est le premier octobre, je vais donc commencer le mois de l'Halloween avec un billet sur des histoires d'horreur. Je ne sais pas si les gens de ma génération se rappellent de la série de romans pour la jeunesse John Sinclair, chasseur de spectres. On les trouvait partout à la bibliothèque municipale et à celles de l'école. En tout cas à l'école secondaire. Je ne sais pas à quel point les romans étaient populaires, mais il y en avait vraiment partout. C'était paraît-il traduit de l'allemand, l'auteur était il paraît anglophile et avait inventé son héros, un flic de Scotland Yard (ben évidemment) qui passait plus de temps à chasser les monstres et les démons que les vendeurs de drogue, les meurtriers professionnels et les bandits en cravate. Je n'en ai jamais lu qu'un seul: Vampires en pire. En secondaire 2 ou 3, je crois. Et, même si j'aimais la prémisse, je n'ai pas trouvé ça bon du tout. Parce que j'avais déjà lu quelques grands classiques de l'horreur, dont Dracula, alors j'étais rapidement passé à travers Vampires en pire en trouvant ça beaucoup trop naïf et pas effrayant du tout. C'était aussi assez mal écrit. Malgré cela, j'aimais bien la violence et l'ambiance n'était pas si mauvaise. J'en relirais bien quelques uns par curiosité.

Your Favourite Things about Autumn

Sometimes I think Facebook, just like Amazon, Google and YouTube really knows me too much. Or maybe this is just a coincidence. Be that as it may, I recently saw this image on my newsfeed. The first thing I noticed, apart from the obvious seasonal colours and very appealing imagery, is that they used the term "autumn" and not "fall". I think it is localised. So facebook is asking us, or at least people like me, what we prefer about autumn. My answer would be another question: "Can I say everything?" Warm clothes, earlier evenings, hot tea, dark beers, hearty food, a nice fire, cool mornings, walks in nature, the wind blowing strongly, the colours... What not to like about autumn? But even though it is difficult to remain short in the answer(s), it is still a question worth asking, especially since they are so many autumn worshippers reading this blog. So what are your favourite things about autumn?

Les tournesols du voisinage

L'une de nos voisines (ça pourrait être l'un de nos voisins, mais je crois comprendre que c'est une voisine) a planté des tournesols dans sa cour avant. Ils ont fait une forte impression sur petit loup, qui les aime vraiment beaucoup. Je ne sais pas trop pourquoi. J'ai blogué sur les tournesols en 2016. Ce que je n'ai pas dit à l'époque, c'est que c'est une des plantes que j'associe à... l'automne (hé oui, c'est encore un billet automnal), notamment parce qu'on les voit souvent dans les dessins et les décorations des centres de jardinage avec des épouvantails quand l'automne arrive. Peut-être est-ce une fausse impression, mais il me semble qu'on en voit surtout une fois l'automne arrivée. Dans tous les cas, ceux-ci sont magnifiques.

The black bears and the apples

For today's autumn chronicle post, I am sharing a rather impressive picture to comment on. My father sent it to me very recently. I thought at first it was taken from a surveillance camera on the land owned by my uncles, but he found it online. Apparently, humans are not the only animals interested in harvesting apples. It turns out black bears are also quite fond of the fruit of autumn. I think the apples were placed there by hunters trying to attract deers and mooses. And guess who showed up. I have never seen so many black bears in the same spot. I do find them very cute, especially hungry like this, but I always keep in mind that they are not only fruit eaters, even if its the main part of their diet. Be that as it may, what a lovely bunch of bears.