Archive for October 2nd, 2008
Halloween Desktops by Stardock
October 2nd, 2008 | 
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Fresh from the grave, Stardock delivers Halloween straight to your desktop. Our macabre desktop is packed full of ghoulish icons, unearthly visual styles, wicked gadgets, and a haunted wallpaper sure to send shivers through your bones.
Stardock Rest in Peace (RIP) 2007
Some of us decorate our houses, some of us decorate our office, and most of us decorate ourselves. But let us not forget the desktop. We look at it for hours on end, day after day. And instead of it inspiring fear and dread in a bad way, it should inspire fear, dread and loathing in a good way.
Behold the power of Windowblinds! With the click of a button you took can have a stylish a ghoulish desktop complete with graveyards, pumpkins, bats and ghosts. It’s not just enough to add a desktop wallpaper, I need dark windows, scary icons and the whole experience. Considering I just renew my subscription to Object Desktop for the new few years, customized desktops are always in fashion with me.
If you have Windowblinds then there is plenty you can do to make your desktop more enjoyable for the holidays. Right now, I’m running the Rest In Peace (RIP) 2007 MyColors theme. It’s a nice black theme with pumpkin and web covered icons. You also get a skinned calendar, clock and weather widget. It’s a nice theme that has a really cool look to it.
Not in the mood to buy a new theme? Still not a problem as Wincustomize has plenty of excellent free ones to choose from. Here is a pretty good list to get started with.
http://islanddog.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=165352
Some of my favorites:
RIP 2007
My Halloween (Cool swampy green suite)
Check out this page for themes, wallpapers, logins and everything you need to completely redo Windows is a total Halloween theme!
Technorati Tags: halloween, desktop, stardock, windowblinds, themes, suites, decorations
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Halloween Soundtracks – Midnight Syndicate
I heard the music from Midnight Syndicate about 4 years ago now and thought it was some of the best stuff I’ve heard. Unlike other Halloween style CDs which are more sounds effects such as rattling chains and creaky doors, or perhaps a CD full of memorable horror move sound bites, this is actual music. And not music like Monster Mash or some other silly song, this is “mood” music’ or rather, it tells a story. Written like the score of a movie or as an excellent soundtrack each CD tells its own story through music.
For example, in The 13th Hour you arrive at the house in a horse drawn carriage. The floor creaks as you wind your way through. Each room offers its story and mood through an eerie recounting of the events that took place there. The past comes alive with haunting music and sounds that bring your right into the story. It’s a complete tour of the house set to music.
If you want to get yourself in the mood this Halloween or you’re looking for great ambient music to play as the trick-or-treaters come around then this is definitely what you need.
The collection is increasing with two new CDs added to the collection. I grabbed a copy of “The Dead Matter” from Party City last night. I was only able to give it a quick listen last night, but it’s just as good as their other offerings. The music unfolds to tell you a story and guide you through some dark and unfamiliar places.
I haven’t purchased a copy yet, but there is also the “Rage” soundtrack which Midnight Syndicate put together. It goes along with the movie “The Rage” which is that old bedtime story of the mad scientist who creates a formula to seek his revenge on the humanity who has wronged him and now that it’s been released it goes completely out of control. I know nothing of the movie but the soundtrack gets excellent reviews on Amazon.
The one disappointing thing is that Amazon doesn’t offer these CDs as MP3 downloads. Considering “Rage” was released at the end of 2007 and “The Dead Matter” just a month ago, it’s very annoying that Amazon doesn’t have them available as a download. It would just be so much more convenient.
But even still, you should do what you can to get a copy, they’re great.
The Dead Matter:
Beyond the cemetery gates, the dead do not rest easily. An ancient Egyptian relic, vampires, and the living dead lurk amongst its shadowy crypts. Midnight Syndicate beckons you into the dark world that inspired the upcoming motion picture…
The Rage:
Midnight Syndicate’s score to Robert Kurtzman’s drive-in/late-night horror show thriller, The Rage. Menacing ambience and signature Midnight Syndicate dark soundscape mixed with high octane action and chase themes guaranteed to get your blood pumping.
A winding cobblestone road meanders its way deep into the thick forest blanketing the hillside. Up ahead, you can make out several spires rising above the treetops, signalling your arrival at Haverghast Asylum – your new home. As your horse-drawn carriage comes to a stop before its imposing front gates, you catch a glimpse of something scrawled across one of the otherwise-pristine windows high above you. “Turn Back” it says. Just then, a guard emerges from beyond the gate to escort you inside. Haverghast is said to be a place of healing for wayward minds, but there have been whispers of other things as well. Things that are too terrible to speak of…things that, if true, could make your nights here rather…unpleasant…
Unleash your darkest nightmares as you enter the world of the Vampyre. Echoing from ancient crypts, these haunting symphonies call forth the horror, mystery, and passion of the night that awaits you . . .
The past does not rest easily… The 13th Hour draws listeners into the halls of a haunted Victorian mansion, through the sinister history of the Haverghast family (Gates of Delirium). A truly interactive listening experience for those ready to take a journey into the dark side of the supernatural.
Before the Haverghasts, before the haunted asylum and the Crypts of the Foresaken, there was Arcacia, a ruined village by the sea with a dark past and a mysterious link to an ancient tower hidden away among the cliffs of the Northern Jarls. Out of the Darkness (Retrospective: 1994-1999) features re-recorded and re-mastered horror music classics from Midnight Syndicate’s Midnight Syndicate, Born of the Night, and Realm of Shadows as well as four previously unreleased tracks.
CDs Out Of Print:
Born Of The Night (the first disk I happened to listen to)
Realm Of Shadows
Technorati Tags: halloween, halloween music, haunted house, movie soundtrack, the dead matter, midnight syndicate
Halloween Haunted House
It’s time to get started on Halloween
And first up is this great haunted house desktop wallpaper. I found this picture last year and it’s one of the best I’ve seen. The detail is fantastic, the color is superb and the overall feel is wonderfully atmospheric. I already have this set as my background image. I will be dressing up the rest of the desktop with some Windowblinds Skins (namely RIP 2007), but this is a great image to creep out your desktop with. There is a ton of detail to look at; the dead trees and shrubs, broken stairs, crumbling headstones in the graveyard, and if you look carefully you might see a face or two in the windows. At least I do.
This image was created by Daniele Montella and can be found at the following websites:
http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=2634
http://www.dan-ka.com/Images/MansionMatteS.jpg
Actually, if you do a Google image search for “haunted house” you find this image pretty easily. There are a couple of different size variations so you might be able to find a good one to tinker with.
The image is a little small to use as wallpaper, but a quick run through the resize function of Paint Shop Pro and I scaled it up nicely. I did it in small increments and I think the “jaggies” and “halos” are kept down to a minimum.
Daniele Montella maintains all copyrights to this image. I have simply made it a little larger to be displayed on a computer screen.
To download the full sized image click here:
http://www.8×10gallery.com/images/haunted_house.jpg
Technorati Tags: halloween, haunted house, haunted mansion, graveyard, desktop wallpaper
