Hurry up it's Halloween...

It's two days to go for this rediscovered festival.  A pagan ritual we'd all but forgotten about and passed off as silly American 'holiday' has, during the last couple of years, grown larger and larger a new generation (or perhaps my generation re enacting our own childhoods).  Despite calls from certain pockets of the church and community for Halloween to be subdued or eradicated from whence it came (despite pre dating a certain religion or two) it looks like it's here to stay.  Cable/Satellite telly has helped somewhat – with a raft of 'paranormal' channels and kids channels showing a whole host of 'spooky' outpours it's hard not to bump into the odd ghoul or two.  And of course commercialism had piled in like there's no tomorrow: I'm a little unsure as to whether my local sainsburys is a supermarket or a ghostly bazaar at the moment.

Still, I have to admit to enjoying this – I did as a kid and I now I have my own (kids) they too have a smile on their face this time of year.  An excuse to throw a party just as the UK hibernates under the dark and cold should be compulsory.

So therefore, I've been looking at knocking a bit of a costume together.  With Michael Myers being my 'favourite' screen villains I set about organising my costume.  A quick search online should surely reap a host of places I could purchase a mask from?  Not so apparently.  As the original mask was based on Captain Shatner's face, his 'people' have denied permission to mask manufacturers to carry on making this mask.  Hence a raft of dodgy looking bunch on sale.  However, during my searches I came across an American based site that discusses the specialisation of authentic Michael Myers masks: there a cottage industry based on this and it's pretty fascinating stuff.  The folks on there, for the main part, make these themselves in small art studios in the states.  They, of course, carry a fairly hefty charge ($300 mark - £200 or thereabouts)  but the quality is pretty special.  I was looking at spending a few quid on mine, certainly nothing like the prices shown in this site (have a look at this ) but it's sparked something inside my head (loved the original Halloween film as a kid and into adulthood)...a new hobby perhaps...maybe next year I'll have the mask I've always coveted and I can cast my Asda Dracula plastic one aside.