I have updated the IE Halloween Toolbar at http://www.halloweentoolbar.com .

I started updating the IE Halloween Toolbar.  There are a few new features that I intend on adding such as the ability to search multiple search engines/sites from the toolbar.  A couple of other features I do not want to mention yet as I am still working out the bugs.

Go ahead and install the IE Halloween Toolbar and it will automatically update once the new features are available.

Recently updated blogcrypt.com with new and improved features such as:

• Private Messaging
• Better Mailing Lists
• RSS Feeds
• Ban IP Addresses
• Improved Pinging Of Blog Directories
• More Templates
• More Control Of The Design Of Your Blog
• Improved File Uploading System
• New Image Upload Feature Directly On WYSIWYG Entry Composer
• More Storage Space
• Owners Can Add Other Members (Co-Authors)
• Improved User Profile Page
• New Member Search Page
• Have More Than One Blog Under One Account.
  
  
  

Probably won't be updating this until closer to Halloween.   For now I'm a tad addicted to Myspace.......damn cult!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  Well this one pretty much sums up the success of our 2005 Haunt, The House.  All the hardwork paid off in a big way!  Not so much in raising funds for our program, but in so many other ways.  I learned A LOT!  So much so that I could write a book. (I'm thinking about it....)  And out of all that I learned, I want to leave these few things with you:

*If you've decided to advance from a yard haunt to a walkthough, remember that if your scares are powerful and well placed, going into great detail to decorate each and every scene is not necessary.  Start them off with the first room fairly detailed since this is usually the room they will spend the most time in. (Waiting room/Rules room)  The second room will be looked at, as well since they will be wondering where the heck the scare is coming from.  Once their curiosity has been satisfied..BOOM...they're on their way!  And if your scares are powerful and placed correctly, they won't look back.  This was a lesson I learned in 2004 and carried it over to 2005 and beyond.  My second room this season doesn't have to be detailed at all since it's a Decontaminiation Chamber filled with fog and a red laser moving to the sound effects being played.

*It unnerves your patrons to hear a MAN scream inside the haunt.  LOL!  Think about that for a minute....

A man is suppose to be the strength ~ the backbone of a relationship, the family, etc..etc.  Well, everyone becomes quite uncomfortable and, well...scared, when they hear a man scream.  It gives the message that if it's horrible enough for him to scream, what is it gonna do to me??.  I learned this while video taping several people going through.  At a certain point, one of our male actors will scream in agony off in the distance.  They all felt as though he was a customer like them and thus, was afraid of what was ahead. 

I recently introduced a survey to MySpace friends asking ten questions, one of which was, "What would you like to see/hear while waiting in line?"  Several said, "Screams from inside the haunt."  I'm glad to know this since that's what we gave them last season and have planned for this season, as well.

Speaking of this season....

There are several changes taking place.  One of which being our name.  I have seperated the Nonprofit's name from the Haunt's name so the haunt is now an entity of it's own.  It will not longer be "ShadowBox Theatre Company Presents."  The haunt is now known as: THE SCREAM EXTREME. 

After searching around with polls on forums and chatting with friends, I came up with the name because that's exactly what we heard last season ~ Extreme screams!

Another change that's taking place is the way that I'm marketing our attraction.  I knocked myself out last year trying to get the word out about us only to have approximately 500 people to show up in the three days of operation.  Grant it, that's ten times as much as what we had the year before, but much less than what I had anticipated.  This year will be much more successful.  How?  Here's several reasons:

*Dinger, the Mascot of the Sacramento River Cats Baseball Team is coming here one night to sign autographs!

*Several local bands are coming here to perform!

*We're in Operation this season for three weekends plus Halloween ~ opening night being Friday the 13th!  That's a total of ten days!

*Opening night will be kicked off with the Yell Like Hell Screaming Contest. 

Prizes will be:

Hockey Mask signed by Kane Hodder, Jason from Friday the 13th

Autograph pictures from Elvira, John Carpenter, etc

And MUCH more....

Things are progressing quite nicely.  BUT, it's still quite stressful.  However, I feel all my hardwork will pay off in dollar signs this year.

And how is your day going....?

PEACE

HalloweenShopper.com has now been officially launched.   This site will enable consumers to search the database of multiple stores to find a costume, prop or other Halloween/Horror oriented product.

Check it out http://www.HalloweenShopper.com

Horray!   I finished the conversion of the CavernsOfBlood.com forum. http://www.cavernsofblood.com/forum/

The old script was fine for a small forum, but was just not keeping up. 

There are MANY new features in our forum. Make sure that you explore and make the most of it.

A few of the new major features:

* Private Messages: Send a private message to other members.

* Subscribe to Threads: You can be notified via email when someone replies to your post.

* Polls

* Much Much more.

We will be implementing other features in the near future. We will be working to replace some of the broken images etc. soon.

There will also be little "tweaks" here and there to continue to improve. 

CavernsOfBlood.com is my horror oriented site.   I will be soon upgrade the forum to a much better script in order to really make that forum kick-butt!!    The database conversion is the trickiest part about it. 

I am planning on launching HalloweenShopper.com in a few days.   There are some final touches before launch.   More features will be added  in time.  You can read previous entries in this blog for more info.

I moved http://www.costumemagazine.com from an ASP/Windows server to a linux server.   The growth potential was limited.  Right now the site has ideas for costumes and where to purchase costumes.   Hopefully will get a chance to greatly enhance this site later in the season.   I would be happy to accept submssions of content for the site.

Still working hard on HalloweenShopper.com

Getting some bugs worked out and hope to launch pretty soon.

I have been busy moving sites to new servers and preparing for the season.   This IS going to be the best Halloween season yet!

Announcing the beta-launch of HalloweenShopper.com.

We help Halloween consumers find the lowest and best quality products from
many Halloween oriented stores. We do not sell any products. We offer an
unbiased service that helps a consumer choose the right products with inexpensive prices and where to buy it.

To Online Merchants:
If you sell costumes, props, novelties or any other Halloween/Horror related merchandise then we would like to work with you. Our site will be similar to shopping.com and pricegrabber.com but specialize in Halloween merchandise. We will list your products at no cost (FREE). Please send an email to info@halloweenshopper.com as soon as possible for more info and/or to get started.

To Consumers:
HalloweenShopper.com will help you find the costumes and props that you are looking for and compare the prices from multiple stores as well as read and submit reviews. The site will be launching soon.

Let’s get ready for the 2006 season.

I rel-launched HalloweenNews.com.  HalloweenNews.com began providing relevant news in 2002. 
I  have moved the site to a new server, platform, and added abilities such as RSS, ATOM, and OPML.

You are invited to submit your Halloween and Horror related news by clicking here.

Visit http://www.HalloweenNews.com/

It is time!   I have started working hard on the network of sites for Halloween 2006.   All kinds of big changes.

Changed to a new banner/text ad system.  Added a server, migrated some sites from Windows to Linux (still a bunch more to do).

I just made 2006 advertising packages available at http://www.HalloweenAdvertising.com

I am currently working on CavernsOfBlood.com.   Going to do some major changes and additions for the season.

2006 is going to be a great year!

I removed all my entries from last year and am starting over fresh!  I'm also changing this from a "Halloween" blog to a "Gothic" blog as I would like to post on non Halloween related topics also.

To keep somewhat of a leash on my thoughts, all future entries will be open to 'friends only.'  So please just let me know if you would like to be added and I will!! 

Click here to see my Halloween Photo's!!

LOOK WHAT I CAN DO MA!:0) ha, TA DA!!!!

i JUST LOVE BEFORE AND AFTER.FOUND AT A FLEA MARKET FOR A DOLLAR. watch this!

I guess that I am not doing too much Halloween stuff myself this year other then online and the sites.

Many of you that know me or know of me know that I work really hard and really have not made much time for a social life.  I decided to make up for it.    I have been going out a lot and doing things to keep my sanity (yes, there really is some left). 

I actually got a chance to play around with decorating a little.   I was playing with the "Big Scream TV" stuff http://www.bigscreamtv.info

They sell a DVD to help make an illusion of a crystal ball.   With the help of the DVD, a TV, ball prop and plexi-glass.   It looks pretty darn cool.