The Naming Of Pumpkins: Miscellany

Oooh, that orange background I used in the previous post is a bit stomach churning, isn't it? It also seemed to have the effect of making my normally blurry photos that much fuzzier... I think even the camera was a bit nauseous. Let's just stick with basic black from now on...

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Today's set of plastic pumpkins come to us without any sort of unifying element to tie them together... that's right, I'm working without a theme! So here are three completely random pumpkins, including the promised cameo appearance by a big-time star of classic literature, which I'm saving for the end of the post 'cause that's what you do with big time stars.

This first pumpkin is one of the favorites of my collection and not just because his unusually plump-featured face makes him look a bit like one of the Ghostly Trio. I like Wink (and despite my better intentions of not sticking him with such an obvious title, 'Wink' is what I always come back to) because he's so obviously been put to great use in his day. The plastic on his cheeks and eyebrows has been worn to a translucent sheen and his face-side is such a noticeably lighter shade of faded orange that I'm pretty certain Wink pulled front window decoration duty after his candy carrying days were done. He may not be an example of museum quality pumkin-ness, but he does possess a bucket load of character! He also ends up being one of the more realistic pumpkin pails I own owing to his faded front half suggesting the pale mis-colored side that many real pumpkins sport, that side that lay in the mud while on the vine and which you always turn to the back of your jack-o'-lantern. Wink wears his with pride!







This happy lass' features are not the most unique in all of plastic pumpkindom, it's what's stamped on her backside that makes her post-worthy-


-the maker's of this pumpkin went crazy with the Hallowe'en bling and branded her with all manner of seasonal imagery. Lydia not only has four more tinier pumpkins embossed on her posterior, but there's a huge black (I'm assuming) cat and the words 'Trick' & 'Treat.' No 'or.' Lydia's not an 'or' kind of a gal. She wants the tricks and she wants the treats and forget about trying to make her choose between the two. Nobody puts Lydia in a corner!

The stamp work on the back of the pumpkin is cool, but would have been a bit more effective if the manufacturers had slapped a little black paint onto the cat and the lettering to make them a bit easier to see. Cheap bastards...

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for... ladies and gentlemen- Mr. 'Boo' Radley!

Say "Hey, Boo" everybody.

Arthur 'Boo' Radley, reclusive and spotlight-shunning star of Harper Lee's seminal (I think I'm using that word correctly) classic To Kill A Mockingbird, makes a rare appearance and we're thrilled to have him. As you can see, Boo's shyness and hesitancy to leave the security of his house stem mostly from his being a plastic pumpkin bucket with the word 'Boo' stamped in the middle of his mouth. As accepting of plastic pumpkins as today's society may be, it was quite a different story back in the 1930's. Boo could never fit in comfortably in a small southern town of the time. In fact, once you realize the truth about Boo you come to see that Ms. Lee's entire tale of racism and unthinking persecution is deeply allegorical, using the sufferings of one discriminated against group of people to make a statement about the treatment of an entirely different minority, as well. In this way, To Kill A Mockingbird is a lot like The X-Men. Also, I think that Scout and Rogue are the same person. Think about it... they're both Southern. They both have an o and a u in their names. Scout's real name is Jean Louise, whereas Rogue's real name is Anna Marie which both sort of sound alike. Also, have Scout and Rogue ever appeared together in the same story? Well, there you go.

One and a half more plastic pumpkin entries to go before Hallowe'en! Be there or be rounded and orange!