Your (Twilight) Zone Friday: Halloween!
Things we’ve done and things we like this week
The Zone office has seen its fair share of zombies and ghostly figures over the years – normally queuing for the coffee machine before 9am every Monday. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the tricks and treats we've had up our sleeves this week…
Three things we've done
Ghoulishly good gourmet stuff
“’Ere. Corr blimey. ‘Allo tiger.” No, that’s not the sound of an East End ghost tour. It’s the cockney chirpings of Jamie Oliver, who this week embarked on a culinary expedition around Great Britain for his latest hunger-inducing Channel 4 series. To promote the show, our frighteningly talented 4Food team made this Facebook app and this recipe page.
Spooky spokes
Here’s something that’ll have para-cyclists from all over the world spooked in just under a year’s time: how fast GB’s stars are on two wheels. This week our Channel 4 Paralympic guys got the inside track from a man who knows, team head coach Chris Furber.
Psycho?
Some people aren’t scared by things that go bump in the night. Take British snowboarding nut-job Dom Harrington, for example. As our Relentless team found out ahead of this weekend’s Freeze Festival at Battersea Power Station, he's not even afraid of jumping off a terrifying 32-metre ramp.
Beardstrokable infogram
This week’s data makeover
How terrifying will Zoners look in their favourite Halloween costumes this weekend? If BT Vision magazine editor Adam Mattera busts some dance moves to go with his Michael Jackson outfit, it could be spine-chilling. Here’s how they rate on the scare scale:
Zone hero of the week
Bats in and around the south Essex coastal region may be worried about getting their heads bitten off this weekend as our art director Jack Cole’s band Dungeon Master play Halloween dirge at a gig in Southend. Jack’s mum will be in the audience, although it’s unconfirmed whether she’ll be eating any winged mammals.
Tea or coffee? “In the office, black coffee. Before a gig, a goblet of human blood."
Geek of the Week speaks
Our tech team are on a mission to shed their nerdy reputation. We chart their progress…
Say hello to Marc Parnell, Zone CTO. In tech terms, he’s not cool – he’s sub-zero. Why? Forget a PC, this maverick prefers to do his coding on a Mac. That sound you’re hearing? It’s Marc stuffing the rulebook through the Zone shredder.
‘I made this’
Zone staff share their creative moments. This week:
Jo Woodthorpe-Smith’s cats love Halloween. Here’s one of our chief sub-editor’s moggies, Ralph, getting into the spirit by donning a flamboyant wizard costume.
NEWSFLASH!
If you’re baking some Halloween treats this weekend, upload a pic into Channel 4 Food’s Rate My Cake gallery, like our very own deputy editor Celia Plender did with this haunting graveyard cake.
Three things we like
The spooky video
Ghost in Neverland?
Check out this footage filmed in the aftermath of Michael Jackson’s untimely death. Is that a ghostly figure in the background? Turn up the sound and decide for yourself.
The scarily bad soundtrack
How to make The Omen less scary
With this theme tune at its start, no horror film would be quite as terrifying.
The gallery
Pimpin' pumpkins
Need some squash-slicing inspiration? Check out artist Ray Villafane’s disturbingly good pumpkin creations.
