Pluto - What are we looking at?

This week several of my FB friends (well okay, three) have been excited about the pictures of the once (and future?) planet, Pluto. I was relieved when I saw the first pictures because at first I thought they were talking about Bluto,

and even though Popeye always managed to beat him at the end of every cartoon... that guy has always scared me.

Back to Pluto. As I understand it, the story goes like this.

Pluto was discovered in 1930 and was designated a planet. That must have been gratifying. I could look up the name of the guy that discovered it, but that sounds like work.

Then 76 years later, some other guy uses geometry, trigonometry and other stuff I don't understand to prove that Pluto was not a planet.

Tough break.

Then they felt bad, and decided to call Pluto a dwarf planet.

I'm not sure if it was before or after, but sometime in there, they cremated the first guy.

Science folk play for keeps.

They took the ashes of the first guy and put them in a space thingy to toss them out on Pluto.

Does that count as a manned flight?

Mayor de Blasio is monitoring the operation. Seeing as the ex-planet already has a litter problem, NYC has lots of garbage they'd like to throw on the pile.

But while they were exiling that freeze-dried space guy, they took pictures. That's what has my brainy, or nerdy (is there a difference?) FB friends all excited.

But not everybody sees these pictures the same way.

Wait, wasn't Pluto supposed to be the dog planet?

Walt Disney must have had great vision

We humans are pretty creepy

Not this creepy.  Maybe we shouldn't piss off Pluto

Though it's still not as scary as Bluto

   Here's a Pluto I can understand.

Jack the Magic Pumpkin

Maybe we have too much time on our hands...  Back in my day - nearly every jackolantern looked like this.

I say nearly because the ones I carved tended to look more like -

But suddenly, that's not good enough.  Jackolanterns have replaced Cadillacs and trophy wives in the search for status in modern suburbia.  Now these abused pumpkins must make a statement.  What's interesting is what statement they make.
Of course you have the traditional scary theme - though more skillfully rendered than my 'many holes of death' effort above.

Cannibalism is always a good choice.

Is this even a pumpkin?

Didn't I see this one on Scobby Doo?

Is the horror that he's trapped in a pumpkin - or that he's getting out?

Here's a Jack Jackolantern.  Red Rum.

Here's a whole tableau.  I wonder how many pumpkins they ruined cutting that hanging rope.

Some eschew (not sure what that word means, but I've always wanted to use it,) the horror theme and just concentrate on the art.

I suppose if you were a 10th century Britain this would be scary.

Oh No!  It's a Washington DC based sports franchise!

Sometimes the art goes overboard.

A plant mascaraing as a... different plant.

Do you have a job to go to?

Have you slept since August?

Have you even stopped to poop this month?

The cutesy theme has been involved in Halloween ever since we agreed to give toddlers candy - but maybe it's time to turn it down a notch.

No, really - it's the carousel from hell!  Look at the angry ponies!

I still don't know who this ubiquitous Hello Kitty is - but maybe it's time to put her in a shelter.

What do you bet some 7-year-old smashes this 15 hours of work with his light saber?

The rest of these came because FB friend SDN posted this theme this morning - Honest I was going to do jackolanterns anyway!   Is it nostalgia, or are the retired hippies looking for something to do?  How did this become a Halloween theme?

That's right - the micro-bus.

Guaranteed to break down.

Especially on the way to beach.

Or if you we silly enough to attach a trailer.

Now we come to the two scariest of them all.

I've got none to spare - put down that spoon!

The rabbit or Caerbannog.  Where's a holy hand grenade when you need one?

Here's a Halloween appropriate video from the people of College Humor