The origins of Halloween are quite different than how it is celebrated these days. Here’s an excerpt from History.com about its early traditions.

Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).
The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death.

In the 1800s immigrants from Europe brought their Halloween traditions over to America and towards the end of that century there was a movement to shape Halloween in to more of a holiday involving community and neighborly bonding rather than spooky ghost stories.

As you know, Halloween is now a mix of all the traditions of previous generations, and has been cleverly monetized by candy/chocolate companies as well as costume shops. You can discover more about the holiday on Wikipedia.

I’ve compiled a bunch of Halloween tips, tricks (obviously!), fun, and spooks. Enjoy!

Nalts (subscribe) made a collaboration with Iggy35 and DavideoDesign about some tips to make your Halloween extra spooky. (Pay attention to the subtitles.)

More Halloween cuteness, tips, and fun after the jump.

One of our very own staff, Jeff Johns (friend him up!), chats with his daughter, Anya, about what she’s doing for Halloween. I’ll warn you now: The cuteness meter is off the charts!

As with every holiday, Awkward Kids (subscribe) have created a masterpiece of comedy that rivals the top comedians on the planet. Well, that’s my thoughts about sophisticated zombies from England. You can form your own opinions.

All week Molly from Rocketboom (subscribe) has been turning in to a zombie (yes, she was bit’). In the following video she is towards the end of the cycle. It’s getting a little worrisome! Here’s a story about one of the best Halloween costumes ever.

Care to see Molly go all-out ferocious and start eating limbs? That video is here.

While Jill (friend her up!) was in Las Vegas recently she partied a little too hard and wants to know what’s the most trouble you’ve ever gotten in to in Vegas (or on Halloween). Leave your comments below.

If you have a community event you would like featured on the our Community Spotlight, then don’t hesitate to send me a message or leave a comment on this post.

If you’re someone that happens to leave things until the last possible minute, well I’m giving you a couple days to get some decorations together. Kmart Design (subscribe) has a quick and dirty (depending how much glue you cover yourself in) tip on how to make a mini pumpkin bat in a few simple steps. Awesome for the kids; big and small!

What fun crafts do you create for Halloween?

Remember: If you’d like to suggest a video to feature on the Viddler blog and front page, then please send me a message, link it up in our forums, or just comment on this post.

woot (subscribe to their shenanigans) runs several websites that offer just one product every day. Typically, said product sells out before most people arrive at work because new offers are available at midnight (U.S. Central Time) and there’s a lot of people awake at that time (especially in Europe and Australasia).

So what’s on offer? Well, today (October 9th, 2009), there’s the Breville 15-Bar Die-Cast Espresso & Cappuccino Maker with Knocchi Knock Box. That’s about the same amount of syllables as the average Starbucks order.

That’s not all though! Steak knives! Nah, just kidding. As I said, woot operated a slew of one-day offers. There’s also shirt.woot, wine.woot, kids.woot, and sellout.woot. Each offers a unique item each day in the category of the subdomain. sellout.woot is essentially the same as woot.com — just a different product and it’s sold in partnership with Yahoo! Shopping.

woot doesn’t just offer great discounted products. They also want to offer stupendous customer service. Recently, they have started offering video product reviews and tests so that you if what you bought on woot was really worth it. Or, well, what you might buy on woot. I digress; watch the video.

Alright, so that was more entertaining that helpful. Hopefully you didn’t purchase that camera back in 2006. How about testing the Energizer Hardcase Tactical Flashlight? Watch the video. It puts that flashlights to tests even MacGyver would be proud of.

The easiest way to find out what the latest item available on woot’s websites is to follow the respective Twitter account: @woot, @wootshirt, @wootwine, @wootkids, @wootsellout, and for the exciting Woot-Offs there’s @wootoff.

Enjoy yelling “woooooot!” when on your next woot purchase. Gosh, I’m wooted out!

Remember: If you’d like to suggest a video to feature on the Viddler blog and front page, then please send me a message, link it up in our forums, or just comment on this post.

You may recall a few months ago (May 2nd, 2009, to be exact) when some people were posting “Viddler cures baldness”^[1][2] quotes on Twitter. That’s the result of Rob Sandie’s (Viddler’s president – friend him up!) presentation at Ignite Philly 3.

What’s Ignite Philly? It’s a style of presentation where participants are allowed fine minutes to speak about an idea and are accompanied by 20 slides. Each slide lasts about 15 seconds. Ignite Philly is the version of this presentation localized to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Yes, Rob presented the idea of how using Viddler can cure baldness. For real.

Continue for a presentation by Unbreaded and information about the upcoming Ignite Philly 4.

Another delicious idea at Ignite Philly 3 was one presented by Ben Kessler and Jeff Vogel (Founders of Unbreaded). They presented the idea and advantages of the sandwich. Be careful. You might crave a sandwich after the first minute.

Check out sandwich reviews and resources at Unbreaded. (@unbreaded on Twitter)

The next Ignite Philly (see speakers) is coming up on the 13th of October, 2009, at Johnny Brenda’s from 7pm. More info…

Ignite History

The very first Ignite was held in Seattle in 2006 by Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis (friend: brepettis). Now there are many cities with their own localized version of the event where ideas flow and people know. There’s a list of individual city sites, and you can keep up to date with all Ignite events at ignite.oreilly.com.

If you made it this far, then here’s another video from IP3 where Rob showed some mad Rock, Paper, Scissors skills:

Thanks to Geoff DiMasi (friend him up!) of P’unk Avenue for this video.

Remember: If you’d like to suggest entertaining and informative videos (like those you just watched) to feature on the Viddler blog and front page, then please send me a message, link it up in our forums, or just comment on this post.

In 2008, WORLDwrite (a UK-based education charity – subscribe) completed production on a documentary titled Flush It. It promises to bring developing countries to the forefront of peoples’ minds in regards to their aspiration for water provision and sanitation of the quality seen in Western societies.

Thames Water (supplier of water in the Greater London and surrounding areas in the UK) hasn’t had the best reputation over the past few years (so I’m told), but they have some great ideas to solve the problems at hand. In the following video the Research & Development Director for Thames Water, Tony Rachwal, takes you through a waste water treatment plant in which some innovative ideas are being implemented. This clip didn’t make it in to the documentary, but it’s still very interesting.

Desalination plants are being invested in quite heavily in developed countries; after a decade of drought in Australia, Sydney has decided to build one as the result of a depleting fresh water supply. I was fascinated by that device they use to check the quality of the underground pipes. I’ve always wondered how underground infrastructures were monitored.

Here’s the trailer to the film. You can find out more at the Flush It website. Read on to discover more about Flush It and WORLDwrite.

I absolutely love learning about different cultures through documentaries. They tend to give you a big slap across the face, and inspire me to discover the places featured. I hope you were effected by these videos.

Also, note that Flush It (you must check out the multitude of information on their website) was created on a budget of next to nothing; everyone involved volunteered. You can support the creators by purchasing a DVD (region-free – also on Amazon) of the full length documentary.

More about WORLDwrite

Here’s your chance to volunteer!

Founded in 1991, WORLDwrite is an education charity based in London, England, that aims to advance the education of young people aged from 13 to 25. Though their education spreads to all ages when shared via the Internet. For years they offered international youth exchange programs in subjects such as culture, geography, history, politics, international affairs, and various languages.

Now the charity is film-focused. WORLDwrite encourages young people to critically examine the world and to understand and support their peers using film and new media technologies. The various documentaries created are beginning to make a significant impact, winning numerous awards, and being screened at countless locations around the world.

Practical life skills are also taught to assist young persons to develop in to mature individuals and members of society. (I find this last point extremely important; too often do I meet college graduates with little common sense.)

You can find out a ridiculously-awesome amount of information about WORLDwrite and its productions at worldwrite.org.uk.

Become a volunteer for WORLDwrite now!

To stay up to date with WORLDwrite you should watch the WORLDbytes program (subscribe here on Viddler). They also have a Facebook group.

Remember: You can suggest a video and/or community story as awesome as this one to be featured on the Viddler blog and front page. If you’d like to do so, then please send me a message, link it up in our forums, or just comment on this post.

Theatrefolk (subscribe) is a resource started in 1994 by playwright Lindsay Price and actor Craig Mason. It contains original playscripts aimed at students in elementary school all the way up to high school. They’re not restricted for school performances though. Any non-professional theatre group can purchase the rights to practice, perform, and video record a playscript. Of course, professionals would just have to negotiate a different license.

There’s also a vast series of free tips on how to write playscripts, monologues, and other material, as well as directing those writings correctly. Theatrefolk is a great resource in general for all things theatre.

In this video Lindsay and Craig share their thoughts on Lindsay’s play Agatha Rex — an adaptation of the play Antigone, written by Sophocles around 442BC. It modernizes the story for the present day.

I must admit, that colorful background of published plays sure looks cool on video!

About the play

Agatha is a girl who stands up for her beliefs, regardless of the consequences. As student council president at Thebes High, she vigorously defends a student who is unfairly punished. Based on her actions, she could be expelled and lose an important scholarship.

Become a fan of Theatrefolk on Facebook and/or follow them on Twitter: @theatrefolk.

Remember: You can suggest a video to be featured on the Viddler blog and front page. If you’d like to do so, then please send me a message, link it up in our forums, or just comment on this post.

David Moore, known on the Internet as MacDavid, has a little obsession with Apple, Inc. He — as many of us do — loves their products, philosophy, and omg-it’s-shiny-I-want-one-now.

David resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. There, he teaches music, studies video production (have you seen some of his hilarious videos?), and he tweets. Obviously.

While he’s not hustling his creative juices in music and video he’s launching projects like the How iMac Project — which launched last week. Note: This is not a project about Apple iMac desktop computers; it’s about how artists, bloggers, businesses, designers, sportspeople, and more use Apple’s products and technology in their lifestyle.

The best part about the project that it’s a collaboration between David and the user across the Internet: a user records their experience with the Apple products they own, the video is sent to David, he uses his fantastic skills to piece the videos together, and then he sends the video back to the user with the intention of them displaying it proudly on their website or blog.

Let’s use a real example. The first ever episode features the team at Tatango — a company founded by 24-year-old entrepreneur Derek Johnson.

Tatango started out as small-time text messaging service for his college fraternity brothers at the University of Houston that has since gone through a few facelifts as Derek’s vision for the service grew. In fact, at age 23, Derek dropped out of the Entrepreneurial program at U of H to focus purely on the growth and development of what we now know as Tantago.

The company uses Macintosh computers exclusively, and five members of the six-person team explain how they Mac in their various roles at Tatango.

So, How Do you Mac? Get involved at How iMac Project.

You can discover more about the services Tatango provides and who they are at Tatango.com. Obviously, both @Tatango and @MacDavid are on Twitter.

Remember: If you’d like to suggest a video to be featured on the Viddler blog and front page, then please send me a message, link it up in our forums, or just comment on this post.

Since 2007, NaNoWriMo participants have been vlogging their progress on Viddler. All the videos are added to the NaNoWriMo group — which is a superb place to find support among your peers as well as motivation and encouragement before, after, and throughout the month of November.

NaNoWriMo was created by Chris Baty in 1999. Only 21 people participated back then. Now over 100,000 people join in each year. Yes, that also means it’s the 10th anniversary this year! Their birthday wish is to have 10% of Wrimos (lingo for you) to donate in order to keep the site and project (and more) running. They’re already at 6%, so donate what you can to help them get up past their goal/wish.

Long-time NaNoWriMo participant and super-duper-member of the Viddler community, Brandice (friend), recently published a book of poetry. She loves engaging with others during community-driven projects like NaNoWriMo.

The following videos are a from a few experienced NaNoWriMo writers that are gearing up for this year.

First up, there’s Joanna (gamwyn) with her ideas for NaNoWriMo this year.

Next up, Nathanael (patricius) explains how he didn’t think he’d be able to participate this year, but as November nears it’s too tempting to resist.

Lastly, Craig (craigsoup) dishes his thoughts on why he recently discovered that he’ll have time in November to join in the NaNoWriMo festivities for 2009.

Of course, there are plenty more enthusiastic writers in the NaNoWriMo group and on the official website. Remember, this is a community event and everyone is there to support everyone else. We all want to see these amazing writers get past 50k!

No doubt there’s a local group of writers in your town. Seek them out and bunker down for some solid writing sessions in November!

For more updates on NaNoWriMo stay subscribed to the Viddler Blog and follow @nanowrimo on Twitter.

Remember: You can suggest a video to be featured on the Viddler blog and front page. If you’d like to do so, then please send me a message, link it up in our forums, or just comment on this post.

Thanks to everyone’s votes she’s in the TOP 10 semi-finalists! Now it’s time to keep voting! Daily! Tell your friends!

Share on Facebook | Rank on Reddit | Stumble This | Digg!

Watch Michelle’s entry again. Because it’s just so awesome!

Luckily, most of us eventually get time to keep the project alive and kicking. One such kicker is T-Rave (subscribe). His daily variety vlogs were — nay, are — loved by many and on a Tech Tuesday back in March he posted his last video… until now.

Here’s an update from the good ol’ Travis himself. He mentions what he’s been up to, including working for the KC Chiefs, and to expect more videos very soon. I can’t wait!

Make sure you check out Travis’ work with the KC Chiefs; @cameramanT_Rav.

Keep in touch with T-Rave on Twitter, Facebook, and his website.

Leave a comment welcoming T-Rave back. He’ll love the encouraging words!

Remember: If you’d like to suggest a video for a feature on the Viddler blog and front page, then please send me a message, link it up in our forums, or just comment on this post.