DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

   The Ghost City – an apocalyptic inspiration for filmmakers for as long as I can remember. There is nothing more surreal than witnessing an abandoned city, and writers through the ages have grabbed hold of this fact with both hands. Introducing us to all forms of abandonment. From the 1948 Ghost-Town-Western ‘Yellow Sky’ starring Gregory Peck, to the deserted London streets of Danny Boyle’s ’28 Days Later’. The frightful tension associated with popular 90′s video game ‘Silent Hill’, to the post-apocalyptic nothingness of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer-winning novel ‘The Road’. The theme is well-trodden, everywhere you may choose to glance. An excellent backdrop to any form of entertainment, whether it be film, literature or anything else for that matter.    There is however some degree of foundation to this surreality. The ghost town is common among the Americas, especially in the Central and Southern states. Surveys suggest that there are around 6,000 aband...

   The Canadian Tulip Festival , now in its 59th year, has grown to become the largest Tulip Festival in the world. It preserves the local heritage of Canada’s role in freeing the Dutch during World War II, and the symbolic tulip; a gift in perpetuity to the Canadian people for providing a safe harbour to the Dutch Royal Family at that time. The festival’s mandate is to preserve this heritage and celebrate the tulip as a symbol of international friendship by engaging local organizers, volunteers, artists, performers, tourists and festival-goers in what has become an annual ritual of spring and one of Canada’s best loved and well-known cultural events. Princess Juliana of the Netherlands   In the fall of 1945, Princess Juliana of the Netherlands presented Ottawa with 100,000 tulip bulbs. The gift was given in appreciation of the safe haven that members of Holland’s exiled royal family received during the World War II in Ottawa and in recognition of the role whic...

1.   The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) was played by two stuntmen. The subsurface Creature was Ricou Browning in a suit, noted for his ability to hold his breath for up to four minutes underwater, an important benefit if you don't want bubbles or a bulky aqualung to ruin the effect. Instead, Browning had access to an oxygen tube available nearby where he could take a breath Besides the suit, Browning also had to wear heavy weights strapped on to him. 2.   It took five hours each day to make Lon Chaney, Jr., up for The Wolfman (1941), his favorite role. The various appliances, including the yak hair for his fur, were applied bit-by-bit for transformation scenes during time-lapse sequences with Chaney remaining in one pose from shot to shot until the change was complete. Boris Karloff underwent four hour makeup sessions for Frankenstein (1931) and seven hours for the more detailed makeup scheme for The Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Shooting had to be d...

  The oldest mention of the present procession is to be found in a charter of the Unloaders'Guild (1291 ). From it we learn that the guilds of Bruges were obliged to participate in the procession. Probably the Holy Blood was exhibited in the chapel on the Burg before 1291. And it is presumably from this custom that the procession originated.     From 1303 onwards one hears of a Holy Blood procession going round the city walls. Because the relic was town-property the procession was, of course, a civil and an official occasion in which horsemen, guildsmen and artisans, marksmen, city councillors and, naturally, the clergy, in all their splendour march with the relic.    In 1310,  Bruges' city council decided to combine the festivities around the Holy Blood,  its procession (May 3rd) and the two-week ceremonies, with the annual fair (April 23rd until May 22nd). As a result the numbers of those assisting at the procession and the devotio...

   Golden Week (Gōruden Wīku ), often abbreviated to simply GW and also known as Ōgon shūkan ( "Golden Week") or Ōgata renkyū  ( "Large consecutive holiday") is a Japanese term applied to the period containing the following public holidays:    April 29 Emperor's Birthday (Tennō tanjōbi), until 1988 Greenery Day (Midori no hi), from 1989 until 2006 Shōwa Day (Shōwa no hi), from 2007 Perhaps a little kite flying during this holiday    May 3 Constitution Memorial Day ( Kenpō kinenbi) May 4    Holiday (Kokumin no kyūjitsu), from 1985 until 2006    Greenery Day (Midori no hi), from 2007 May 5    Children's D ay (Kodomo no hi), also customarily known as Boys' Day (Tango no sekku) Heading out to a movie or dinner for Golden Week History    The National Holiday Laws, promulgated in July 1948, declared nine official holidays. Since many were concentrated in a week spanning the ...

Dragon Boat Racing History    On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month every year, Chinese communities worldwide celebrate the Duanwu Jie festival , which commemorates the death of the Chinese patriot/poet Qu Yuan .    As a rival state conquered his home kingdom, Qu Yuan committed suicide, drowning himself in the Miluo river on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.    His countrymen paddled swiftly out to the middle of the river to retrieve his body, while others threw packets of rice in the water to distract the fish from eating the poet's body.    These two acts, it is said, are the origin of the festival's two main preoccupations - the glutinous rice dumplings known as zongzi, and the dragon boat races. Dragon Boat Racing in Modern Times    Dragon boat racing, despite its roots in ancient tradition, are as exciting a sport as they come. Two or more boats compete against each other in heats spanning distances of...

"Out of all of the horror movie genres, which one has been the most successful?"    There are three ways to answer this question. It all depends on what someone considers to be successful. Since there are different ways to measure success, I will answer the question in three different ways.    There is one genre that could be considered the most successful because of the amount of movies that have been made out of it. One genre would be considered as successful because the main character is in the most movies. The third way to measure the success of a horror movie genre is to see how much money the movies in a particular genre made compared to the other horror movie genres. Dracula    Vampire movies have always been a fairly successful genre of horror movies. There is a subcategory to vampire movies in the fact that there are so many Dracula movies. The character of Dracula has been portrayed in one way or another in over 200 movies. There...