TIME FOR HALOWEEN WARS !!!!

My all time favorite thing on Earth is back…. That’s right people it’s time for Halloween Wars on Food Network!! This is such a uniqe and fun take on a “Halloween” special that I look forward to it every year. I LIVE for new episodes every Sunday. As I type this up I’m watching a replay of last years Halloween Wars cause I missed it that much. Incase you haven’t heard of this amazing wonderful thing Halloween Wars consists of a Pumpkin Carver, Candy Craftsman and a Master Cake Artist (AKA rice Cereal Treat Artist) who team together to create a cohesive show piece that wows the judges and keeps them in the game. It’s a 4 part series and this will be the 5^th season of the show. I truly hope it NEVER ends. Each episode, each year is so different because the competitors are different, even when contestants come back for a 2^nd time they have a different team which changes everything. Did I mention the winning team gets $50,000?

http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/halloween-wars.html

The 2015 Teams:

Maroon–Spell Binders (Kristen Lovulla, Joseph Yakovetic and Charity George)
Orange– Scream Team (Robert Teddy, Adam Bierton and Darci Rochau)
Purple – Morbid Morticians (Renay Zamora, Rebecca Wortman and Doug Goodreau)
Green– Gore Mayhem (Heidi Trelstad, Rocio Varela and Dean Murray)
Yellow– 2 Ghouls and a Guy (Diane Fehder, Jeff Munchel and Bridget McCarty)

Learn more about the teams here…

http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/tag/halloween-wars-interview/

The setup of an episode:

Each episode has 2 rounds…. Round 1 is the Small scare challenge (45 minutes) in which the winner gets an advantage going into round 2 known as the Spine Chiller challenge (5 hours) which includes a tasting element for the judges and could be the difference in staying or going home. Each round has a specific theme that the teams have to focus their displays on. At the end of each episode a team is sent home.


L-R Brian Kimney, Shinmin Li, and your new host Rossi Morreale

Judges:

The series is judged by 2 main judges who remain through all the competitions and a guest judge who is a fresh pair of eyes every week. The main judges, who return for another season, include Shinmin Li, a pastry chef, and Brian Kinney a make-up artist known for the movie Dark Skies. 

Guest judges for this season include: Episode 1: Robin Atkin Downes (The Strain). Episode 2: Benjamin Papac (Walking Dead). Episode 3: Bex Taylor-Klaus (MTV’s Scream). Episode 4: Elvira (if you don’t know Google or Bing her & you'll fall in love with her).

NEW HOST!!!!

I’m sad to report that my buddy Justin Willman will NOT be the host for this year’s War as he has gone back to his day job. He’s a comedian/magician if you didn’t know. Check him out cause he’s awesome but that’s a post for another day.  

However, I digress….. as I said the new host is Rossi Morreale a former college football player at the University of Arkansas and is now an actor/producer/TV host. He appeared on the 2^nd season of “Temptation Island” and was the host of Junkyard Wars on TLC. He’s was listed in People Magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" edition. He’s also hosted shows on G4, TBS, Extra, and On Air with Ryan Seacrest. I look forward to getting to know him better as this series progresses.

Follow Rossi on twitter @rossimorreale and welcome him to the War :D

Weekly Themes for the Spine Chiller Round include:

Week 1 – Infestation
Week 2 – Hybrid Horror
Week 3 – Grave Robber
Week 4 – Undead Dinner Party

Each team has a “leader” but all 4 have to come together to make it from week to week. There is a ton of chatter on Twitter each week so join the conversation by Tweeting #HalloweenWars and also hit @FoodNetwork so they will continue this event next year and for years to come.

It’s fascinating seeing these guys take these highly different mediums and get them to all work together to create a fantastic show piece. I love how each showpiece is so different even though they all have the same theme. The creativity of it is just awesome! Sometimes there are EPIC wins and other times epic fails but watching the steps it took to get there is great getting to see their creativity come to life and how working as a team affects the end result. One wrong move from one of them could ruin them all and send the team home.

This awesome show is on every Sunday with a new episode 9/8c. It’s only 4 weeks so jump on the bandwagon now and hopefully we’ll be back next year and for many years to come.

-Marcy (@beaslma)

Halloween is near....

This is NOT the post you are looking for ….

So earlier today I started a piece of fiction. Yeah that’s right I’m writing again. I’m still pretty medicated and after reading it again decided it wasn’t ready to post. It’s far too long, and way more ramble like than I’d like for it to be as it goes onto the interwebs for anyone to find. So I’m going to keep working on it and will share it with you all one day, just not today, maybe not tomorrow and frankly maybe never. However if it’s not this piece it will be another, that’s the thing about writing as you write it you either get a good vibe from what you wrote or you delete the file and pretend it never existed. That’s the great thing about writing. IF I don’t tell anyone I’m doing it then no one is disappointed when I don’t produce. Mental note to self don’t tweet that you are writing cause then the pressure and expectation is on and writers block takes over.

Since Dragon Con I’ve been sick, not as bad as Golden but then I’m not a Medical Marvel. Between my cough medicine, the 4 shots, and the 3 antibiotics I’m on it’s amazing I can even string a sentence together. I’m felt more human this weekend than I have in the last two weeks. I had to get up this Saturday and run some important errands which wore me out by the end of the day. This sickness is getting old. Like Golden as of Sunday I was still looking at suitcases with un-worn clothes still in them, I just haven’t had the energy or time with a crazy work schedule to get them unpacked. I did do laundry this weekend and changed the sheets on my bed so that’s a win for me.

As I said I also ran some errands … and what did I discover as I ventured back out into the world … HALLOWEEN had sprung. Ok sure most of it was CANDY but still I like candy. Walmart had some costumes out, ironically some of the adult sizes. Nothing was on the floor yet, everything in a neat and tidy place cause little hands hadn’t found the isle yet. I also discovered the Spirit store is set up and has started loading all their Halloween goodness into the stores. That’s a small parking lot, it’s going to be a nightmare and I can’t wait for it. I haven’t ventured to Party City yet, the mecca of all things costume but yes I can feel that trip coming and coming soon.

What I’m most excited about is that TV Networks are starting to post their October plans. I’m looking at you ABC Family, AMC, and Syfy. I LOVE IT! This is the earliest they’ve revealed this information. Usually this time of year they are focused on their season premier week and promoting their “new shows” hoping they will be the next big thing. Truthfully with no How I Met Your Mother premier who cares what’s coming on. However last night …. FOOD NETWORK HAD A COMMERICAL FOR HALLOWEEN WARS!!!!! It returns October 5th !!! It's by far my most favorite thing on earth. It’s a pumpkin carver, a sugar artist, and a cake decorator who will work together to make a cohesive design for the given theme of the week. IT’s by far the best reality competition show on TV seriously … watch it…fall in love with it. It doesn’t hurt that Justin Willman is the host of the show, he’s awesome and fantastic. BTW he has a new show coming up on Comedy Central Sleight of Mouth but don't worry i'll tell you all about that when he does. It too will be must see TV!

So why all this interest in October TV, cause I create a Halloween TV schedule. It’s funny cause it started out as something I did for Golden and myself, then I gave it to my Sister In Law for my nephews, and she gave it to a few people and then they gave it to a few people and now there’s an huge email list of people this thing goes to. People who I work with send me an e-mail asking about it, people I used to work with who send me e-mails reminding me to put them on the list. Heck Golden starts asking about it in August. Ha! It’s a mixture of Movies, Halloween themed TV shows, cartoons both classic and new and a little adult/kid mix. I also make one for Christmas but it’s gotten insane with Hallmark and Lifetime doing everything they can to extend the season well before Halloween.

So stay tuned cause this year I’ll be posting it here so that you can enjoy it, if interested. There are rules…as always but we’ll deal with those later!

Happy Monday! Have a fantastic week! - Marcy