For the past month or two, I have been hinting over on twitter that I was working on something special for Halloween this year. Halloween has come and gone and here is what I have been working on. With everything that has been going on lately, like this little trade show called LDI and huge amounts of work, I found time to put a little light show together lighting up my house.
I quickly ran out of time putting this together so I didn’t get to write any time code to music for the lights which still irks me a little, but over all, I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Apparently I won best decorated house in the neighborhood… I didn’t know there was a contest! I think it was just recognition, I wish there was some prize money!
The F100 fogger really made the house look spokie and awesome, I just wish it kept working for the video and photos. Sorry guys. But the best part of the night was a kid dressed in a spider man costume. He kept getting “stuck” on the spider webs on the ground for the source 4. I still laugh to myself when I think of that, so original!
Anyways, have a look, let me know what you think. I included a bit about how I controlled the entire rig in the last 2 minutes for us control geek/nerds.
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I love this time of year! Not only is it cooling off, but there are some fantastic holidays and celebrations in the fall. First up is HALLOWEEN! Now I am not into dressing up but give me some LEDs and time to light some stuff up! I’ll have a special wrap up of what I am doing early this week. It’s shaping up nicely.
To hold you over, here are some Halloween Lighting projects from around the web. Have a safe and happy Halloween everyone!!!
On this the day before Allhallow’s day or better known as All-Saints Day, (November 1), we take a moment and carve out pumpkins to help scare of Stingy Jack and wandering evil spirits on this Halloween night. Here is a little more history of Stringy Jack and the tradition of pumpkin carving.
People have been making jack-o-lanterns at Halloween for centuries. The practice originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed “Stingy Jack.” According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. True to his name, Stingy Jack didn’t want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form. Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul. The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree’s bark so that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for ten more years.
Soon after, Jack died. As the legend goes, God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell. He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with it ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern,” and then, simply “Jack O’Lantern.”
In Ireland and Scotland, people began to make their own versions of Jack’s lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them into windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits. In England, large beets are used. Immigrants from these countries brought the jack o’lantern tradition with them when they came to the United States. They soon found that pumpkins, a fruit native to America, make perfect jack o’lanterns.
via: The History Channel