It's coming this way!! Is this "violence?" Or just menace? This was my entry for Renderosity's Halloween contest. It didn't turn out quite the way that I saw it in my mind. Oh well. Congratulations to all the winners! There was some great stuff this year, and if you haven't looked yet, give them an eyeball. Maybe a newt eyeball... As for Halloween around here, it was relatively quiet. (More than expected: I have about 100 pieces of candy left over.) The weather was quite uncooperative, so the most common costume I saw was "raincoat." I had an idea: why not choose a costume where a coat is part of it? Like... Inspector Gadget or something. Or Mary Poppins with an umbrella. The other day I heard a girl saying loudly, "I want to be Pinkie Pie!!" But, I saw no such costume at my door. I did see several (wet) Ninja Turtles and one Elsa. Only one "Scream" mask this year - maybe that's FINALLY going out of style since that movie came out a generation ago. I am still waiting for the day when one of the moms shows up as Sailor Moon. I might get a little befuddled at that. And, I always keep a rock handy in case a kid dresses as Charlie Brown. No takers yet. So the philosophical question is: when a child wears a coat completely obscuring their costume, is it more important to the child that they are wearing the costume, or that anyone can actually see it? I hope everyone had a good Halloween! Now, straight on through New Year's...