Welcome to Summerween

July is nearly over. We've already had several days over 100F (38C) in my area and two named storms in the Atlantic. I've been harvesting cherry tomatoes from my small tomato plant. Back to school sales are wrapping up and cute Halloween decor is popping up in all the home goods stores.

Well, some of it is Halloween decor. In between the (far too early) traditional spooky things that give my brain a dopamine hit are a few items where ghosts and skeletons are enjoying the sun with fruity drinks. I even saw a piece with a ghost riding a flamingo. The flamingo wasn't even a skeleton.

This mashup of summer fun and Halloween aesthetic is what is known as Summerween. 

You might have started hearing it on booktok (the book side of TikTok) or booktube (the book side of YouTube) where influencers are recommending horror books with a summer vibe. You might have seen art of ghosts hanging out on the beach or a watermelon carved to look like a jack-o-lantern on Instagram.  

Basically, it's a social media thing for people who want it to be Halloween. In the US, this time period seems to start shortly before or right after Independence Day (July 4th) and eventually transitions into regular Halloween. I particularly like the people who have a ton of skeleton decorations and pose them for non-Halloween related holidays and seasons.

You, dear reader, might be wondering how this new invasion of a holiday in the wrong season started. I mean, Christmas in July has been around for as long I can remember and is the halfway point for Halloween. People aren't celebrating Halloween around Easter, they're celebrating in the middle of summer. 

Well, the history of Summerween (or "lore" for those of you with children under the age of 18) is very recent. It started as an episode of the animated Disney show Gravity Falls. That's right, an animated Disney show is why we have Summerween.  

The 12th episode of the 1st season of Gravity Falls, titled "Summerween", exists because the show creators wanted to create a Halloween episode, but had to get creative when the show takes place over the course of one summer.. The town in Oregon, where the show takes place, has a ton of weird and spooky things happening all the time. The locals accept this (for the most part) and (per the show's explication) love Halloween so much, that they decided to have a second one in the Summer. This "Summerween" includes trick or treating, carving watermelons, and a cursed creature that will eat you if you displease it and can't get into the spirit of Summerween. 

This cursed creature, the Summerween Trickster, is loosely based off of No Face from the Miyazaki movie Spirited Away. The two main characters accidently upset it for various reasons and they end up needing to bring it 500 pieces of candy by the time the jack-o'-melons (get it?) in town go out or he'll eat them. The episode is really funny and I recommend the show in general. It's one of the few Disney animated shows that actually gets to the end of it's overarching story. But as a stand alone episode, it also works.

This is the origin of Summerween. 

Do I think Summerween will continue to be a thing? I have no idea. My theory on why this concept has recently gained traction (the show is over ten years old as of writing this post) is a mix of nostalgia (the kids who watch Gravity Falls now have grown up money), the increasing popularity of the horror genre, and the fact that it's too hot outside and people are over it. Most of the Summerween influencers are bookish young women and often include music from Hocus Pocus or Practical Magic while doing their influencer videos. 

I'm not knocking the demographic. I appreciate their passion. 

However, I am unlikely to participate in the consumer side of Summerween. I think the designs are cute (though there's a lot of AI being used) and I'm enjoying the movie and book recommendations. I don't foresee myself buying any of these unnecessary items (though I would accept them as gifts), though I might create my own art for the mashup season. It is also a fair point that I do leave out my regular Halloween decorations year round.

And that is Summerween. 

You might not have heard of it at all prior to this blog post or you might have seen ghosts and skeletons doing cute, yet random summer things on dishtowels. Maybe you already knew all of this and scrolled through the above to see if I had any media suggestions (for movies check out Midsommar or the original Wickerman from the 70s; for books I enjoyed "Meddling Kids" and there's witches running around in "Witchcraft for Wayward Girls").

Would you like to celebrate Summerween? Do you enjoy a spooky summer mashup? Let me know in the comments. 

Until next week. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me. 

Welcome to Tricks and Treats

My first Halloween at my house was so much fun. I’m glad Halloween fell on a Friday this year, so I could fully enjoy the holiday (next year it’ll be on a Saturday!).

I didn’t have a lot of decorations to put up, but a lot of houses in my neighborhood went all out with lights, inflatables, and giant skeletons (they are quite popular in this area). One house even had zombies “rising” up from the ground. I put up my door sign - though I couldn’t find the actual hanger so it was on the storm door’s handle - and carved a pumpkin to put on my stoop.

It’s a winky face!

Some of my neighbors set up a small bonfire and handed out candy as a group. A few dressed up or wore Halloween themed clothes. I found a headband shaped like cat ears, wore a “Hocus Pocus” shirt, and layered my original Busch Gardens Hallow-Scream sweatshirt. I chose to sit on my stoop and enjoy the ambiance of kids running around collecting their treat with a bag and a half of candy.

I did not buy enough candy.

I didn’t know what to expect from Halloween in my neighborhood. At the apartments I used to live at, only one had trick or treating and it wasn’t an annual thing. When I lived in the house in New Jersey, I only ever had one trick or treater. Every year, I’d buy candy and be left with too much to eat until January. I asked the previous owners of the house if they got trick or treaters and they said “not really”.

I don’t think the family put much effort in the holiday because there were tons of kids and families out and about. Trick or treating started promptly at 6:00, just as the sun was setting, and went until just after 8:00. I went inside right at 8:00 and had one last group of kids knock on the door at around 8:10.

My first half bag of candy quickly and realized that I could only give one piece if I wanted to stretch the amount I had into the night. I met a few witches, some Disney Princesses (Snow White was a nice surprise), grim reapers, and quite a few blow up characters of various designs (standouts include a giant rubber chicken and a hot dog being abducted by aliens; there may have also been a Pikachu). I even saw little angel. Family costumes were popular and I saw a mom and dad with their daughter as “A League of Their Own”. My least favorite duo were a duo of clowns (one had to have been a dad or older brother) who went around honking horns to announce their presence. It brought me back to the 2010s clown attacks.

I ran out of my traditional candy within an hour. I broke out my fancy pumpkin spice chocolates and tried to keep to one piece per kid. But I’m a sucker for the “my mom really likes this candy, can I have an extra for her?” puppy dog eyes. I don’t care if they were lying, they get an extra piece for mom.

The chocolates were gone so much faster than the original bags. I then approached my neighbors, looking to meet new people and moan about not having enough candy. They took pity on me (after exchanging names and some small talk) and gave me a refill of their candy. 

So, I went back to my stoop where I met a pair of teens dressed in black and clearly not in any costume, but begging for candy none-the-less. I complimented their “ninja” costumes and the teens seemed to appreciate me playing along. Then came a group of multiple families with all the kids in costumes of characters I wasn’t at all familiar with. I thought one might be a Pikachu, but I got a groan as a response. 

My knowledge of gen alpha’s favorite things is pretty much nonexistent despite having gen alpha cousins. At least I understood the two parents walking around with a balloon 6 and 7. I still have no idea who the kid in a yellow fur suit was supposed to be.

Refilled bag of candy ran out just as quickly and the neighbors gave me a second refill. They also told me to head inside at 8:00. I agreed with that deadline because it was getting colder. 

I did leave my pumpkin and porch light on, just in case there were a few late night treaters. There were a couple and I gave them a few extra pieces of candy from the second refill. I finally brought the pumpkin in and turned off the porch light around 10:00 (later than necessary, but I got wrapped up in a movie).

All in all, it was a fun evening. I’m so happy I finally had tons of trick or treaters. It reminded me of when I was a kid walking around my neighborhood with my parents or the years my dad would decorate his truck and drive around a group of us in the bed (we sat on hay bails and had plenty of supervision). My parents used to go all out decorating our house - complete with a graveyard, our skeleton (named Fred), and a fog machine. Mom usually passed out candy dressed as a witch.

I’m glad I’m able partake in the trick or treating traditions in my neighborhood. I hope to have more decorations next year and dress up a bit more. 

But that’s next year. This year, I made some nice memories to look back on.

Until the next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.

Autumn in France

For the record, I have never seen "Emily in Paris", nor do I want to. I know of it's existence and that many people find it hilariously inaccurate to the real experience of living in France - not to mention the stereotyping. My first trip to France certainly wasn't a reenactment of "Emily in Paris". My life might be an occasional comedy, but a romantic one, it ain't. 

This was my first trip to France. I went with a group of relatives and a friend. I took a ton of pictures, ate a lot of great food, and had a wonderful time seeing the sites (and shopping). I didn't drink any wine - my life has had to be alcohol free for almost a decade at this point and I don't miss it...much. I went to Paris and Bordeaux. 

Paris was filled with people - kind of like New York City. Paris occasionally smelled bad - kind of like New York City. Paris had a lot of cool things to do - kind of like New York City (you get the point). 

What makes Paris unique is it's history, architecture, and style. Often all three of these elements meet in the many churches, museums, and landmarks haphazardly scattered throughout the city. And though the Olympics had blown in over the summer, the only remains of the event were the interlocking rings children were climbing for pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower. 

Speaking of the Eiffel Tower, I don't think I've ever seen so many people taking selfies or with a professional photographer to get that perfect Parisian shot of the world's most famous tourist trap. Apparently, it's a big deal to hire people for those idealized Instagram shots to make you look like it's just you and an admittedly beautiful tower. You just have to navigate that sea of people and hope the well armed cops don't mess up your shoot.

Despite what the painters and photo filters might suggest, Paris wasn't all decked out in fall colors this October. Temperatures ranged from the 50s to 70s F (or 12 - 22 C for you non-Americans) and, though I did see some people bundled up, I was usually in a light jacket or simple long sleeves. The trees were mostly a shade of pale green to light orange and hardly any leaves were on the ground. It felt like early fall instead of the mid-season it should have been.

Many a French person commented that it was climate change to blame for the odd weather.

Halloween isn't really celebrated in France - at least not like how it is in the UK, let alone the US. There were a few decorations here and there in shop windows, but no one had their balconies done up. Pumpkin spice could only really be found in American chains like McDonalds and Starbucks. Speaking of Starbucks, their menu is so much more fun in France. They have a range of donuts that we don't have and I just barely missed out on the pumpkin spice flavor (it was already sold out).

Not that I was eating in American chains while in Paris (there was a stop at Starbucks in Bordeaux for a quick drink, but that was it).

Mostly, I ate in one of the many cafes that line the streets of Paris. The best (and cheapest) ones are typically further away from the main tourist attractions. Less people to watch, but a relaxing experience. And even if the food isn't great, you're still in Paris and it's better than eating back home - or so my family kept saying.

By the time we reached Bordeaux, I was craving a little something different and politely asked to try French Chinese food. Oh boy did we luck out with the cafe we found. I'd never tasted Mapo Tofu so fresh. It wasn't mouth tingling spicy like how we serve it in the US, but it had a lot of flavors. The dumplings were also wonderful and served with black vinegar instead of soy sauce.

Bordeaux could be much more easily be compared to Washington DC if DC had winding alleyways instead of large avenues. Bordeaux is a World Heritage Site City and has strict building codes to maintain its status. This means that many of the roads are made of cobble stone that are roughly the width of a single car, buildings aren't allowed to get much higher than Saint Andrew's Cathedral, and several old buildings that survived World War 1 and 2 have been converted into museums and art experiences. It is also home to the longest pedestrian shopping street in Europe - Rue Sainte-Catherine.

I found Bordeaux to be a little on the spooky side with it's winding alleys and dark cathedrals. St. Andre (or Andrew's in English) was very dark - only lit by candles and what remaining light slipped through the windows in the early evening. There were a few electric lights in one area for a late Mass, but the overall space was eerie. It probably didn't help that there was an organ concert going on while I was wandering around. 

Early morning fog rises from the river and blankets parts of the lower city - which is of course where the older sections are. It's an easy set up for a horror story about vampires or werewolves - maybe a cat person if the writer is feeling original. It's less crowded than Paris and the streets tend to clear out much earlier - with the exception of the houseless population and their dogs (I only ever say them keeping to themselves). There aren't a ton of street lights either. I think there should be more horror stories set in Bordeaux - with a romantic leaning of course (we're still in France). 

I was unable to see a lot of the city's green space since they had a fair going on in the main park near where I was staying, but when I left the city for a tour of the nearby vineyards (with wine I couldn't drink) it was clear that fall was just arriving to the region. Bordeaux is South of Paris - about 2 hours by the high speed train (can we please get some America) - and is close enough to the ocean that submarine factories existed on the river going through the city. 

Bordeaux is most famous for its Bordeaux wines. As the city and surrounding area are World Heritage Sites, the wine makers are under pressure to maintain the culture and practices that make the region famous. 

Unfortunately, climate change is throwing a wrench into the system. 

Yes, even wine is being threatened by what we humans have been doing to our planet. The heat that ripens grapes and makes them sweet, also make them more alcoholic. While that may not bother some people, it does change the composition of the wines being produced. This requires changes in harvesting, processing the grapes, and maintaining the health of the vineyard. For a region that's been making wine for over 2000 years, this is a lot of changes to juggle in a short amount of time.

Climate change is actually pretty well talked about in France. They openly acknowledge the changes and how its affecting everything from the weather to agriculture. A small comment on how warm the city is for October will sometimes lead a French-person to respond with "well, that's climate change". 

But the best spooky thing to do in France is to trek down into the Paris Catacombs. The were originally built because the city started falling into itself - a disturbing fun fact I was completely unaware of. The official city tour takes the curious well below the metro and sewers into an underground maze. Though the original purpose of the catacombs was to help stabilize the city, it quickly became clear that it was also a good place to store dead people. I say clear, but really I mean that one of the kings declared that cemeteries could no longer be within the city limits of Paris and dead people had to go somewhere, so into the stabilizing tunnels they went.

The audio guide tells visitors that there are millions of men, women, and children lying in rest under the city of Paris. Literally, the current citizens of the city are walking over the bones of their ancestors. This underworld even includes the French Revolutionaries that ended the monarchy. There are more dead bodies in this space than living above it.

And an underworld it is. The passage leading into one of the many viewing areas of Paris's dearly departed is etched with the famous phrase "Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here" in French. Past that entrance you'll find low ceilings, winding passageways, and human remains. 

What could be creepier?

Oh right, there's literally no barrier between you and those human bones.

Yeah, I was expecting the public area of the catacombs to have the actual human remains behind some kind of glass or plastic wall to prevent people from being able to touch them or accidently back into them - the bones line both sides of the walls and the passages are kind of narrow. They politely ask that you don't touch the bones, wear your backpack on your front, and have cameras everywhere. I still wonder how often someone accidently touches a dead person. 

At the end of the tour, the grand finale includes a brief description of a concert that took place in the catacombs in the late 1800s. I think it would have been pretty cool, until I remembered that they wouldn't have had electrical lights. Candle light, plus Mozart's Funeral March, plus dead bodies equals a nope situation for this adventurer. 

Autumn in France is very pretty. The food is excellent, the weather mild, and there's plenty of tourists around to people watch. I enjoyed my time back in Europe - it's been almost a decade since my last trip. Fall is a beautiful season to go. 

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a message. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you like hearing from me.

Welcome to the Kid’s Made For TV Halloween

 I honestly can think of a better title.

When I was still in elementary school (nearly thirty years ago…shivers), I took an early October trip to Disney World. This was before Halloween had really taken off into the phenomenon at theme parks it is today and Disney World was focused on its 25th anniversary celebrations (yes, I saw the Pink Castle).

While on that trip, I first road the Tower of Terror…and didn’t like it. I was pretty young and it was before Disney had changed the ride to its modern (less intense) setting. I much preferred the spooky Haunted Mansion.

However, since it was close to Halloween, Disney played its first (made for TV) movie about one of its park ride, The Tower of Terror (1997), on one of their channels. It starred Steve Gutenberg (whom I knew from Three Men and a Baby) and a very young Kirsten Dunst. Did it scare me? Yes. Did I enjoy it? Much more than the ride. 

For a long time I thought the movie was a fever dream. It was rarely shown on TV and might have become part of childhood lore without the advent of the Internet. In the early Wild West days of YouTube, I found someone who uploaded the whole movie - in multiple ten minute parts. It was eventually taken down (like many of those early YouTube bootlegged movies) and I struggled to find a copy, even through Amazon, until I found a bare bones DVD at Target. I grabbed a copy.

Guys, this movie still hasn’t been added to Disney+. 

The Haunted Mansion has TWO theatrical movies! Why can’t we get a new Tower of Terror. The ride has as much of a cult following as Haunted Mansion.

I digress.  

The Tower of Terror isn't the only made for TV movie that shaped my childhood. It especially isn't the only Halloween themed made for TV movie that I anxiously hoped to see year after year. So today, I bring you a list of made for TV and direct to video/DVD movies that shaped younger years during the month of October. 

This list will not include long episodes of shows (sorry "House of Villains" fans) nor will I include anything I can't fully prove existed (I guess this means I have to leave off the "Are You Afraid of the Dark" TV movie I swear existed). All of these movies were made in the 1990s to early 2000s. These are in no particular order. 

1. The Tower of Terror - since I started this post with a rambling explanation on my early memories and quest to find this movie, I might as well mention it first. This movie is spooky with a few intense scenes (spoilers: the elevator falls at a couple of points in the plot). Though there isn't any reference to the TV show "The Twilight Zone" - which the ride supposedly lives in - it keeps a lot of the same plot points in the ride's story. Kids over the age of 7 or 8 should be okay to see it. Sadly, Disney has given this movie the "Disney House of Mouse" treatment and pretends it doesn't exist.
2. Halloweentown 1, 2, and High - Nothing says Halloween more to a 90s and 2000s kid than one of the Halloweentown movies. I'm particularly fond of the first two movies (maybe because I really liked Marnie and Luke as a couple). I'm including Halloweentown High because it's one of my sibling's favorites. I'm glad Debbie Reynolds was in these movies as she brings a bit of cozy class among all the fun camp. No Halloween is complete without watching at least one of the movies. We do not acknowledge Return to Halloweentown. 
3. Don't Look Under the Bed - Disney Channel Original Movies are going to pop up a lot on this list and this is one of the best in their horror category. Though not scary for adults, this movie was eventually pulled from the October rotation because of parents complaining about how the movie scared their kids. There are plenty of intense scenes, especially when Boogeyman/Boogey-person shows up. This movie is primarily about how forcing kids to grow up too fast is bad for their emotional development (it's not explicitly stated, but it is heavily implied) and that children shouldn't have to step into an adult role when they are clearly not ready for it. It was one of my favorites as a kid and I honestly thought it was lost media until Disney+ finally added it to its library. 
4. Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman - if ever there was a love letter to the Universal Wolfman movies, this is that movie - which might surprise some of you. Alvin, Simon, and Theodor are in a school production of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", but when Alvin is banded from all things spooky due to nightmares, Theodor steps up into the Mr. Hyde role. At first timid, Theodor's attitude changes overnight after getting bitten by a "dog". Alvin and Simon visit Madam Raya - an Elvira like character - who tell them to bop Theodor on the head with something silver to save him. Luckily, their next door name, Mr. Lawrence Talbot, has a cane with a silver wolf head that was originally a bullet that killed his great grandfather. Are you seeing where this plot is going? I still enjoy this movie and watch it every year (I have it on DVD). The songs are kind of catchy and there's plenty of fun chaos with only a couple of intense moments. This is a good introduction horror movie to little ones. 
5. Scooby Doo on Zombie Island/Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost - technically these are two separate movies, but I'm counting them together because they are part of the four movie series that kicked off the 2000s revamp of Scooby Doo. They are not long episodes. They are stand alone movies that share a universe. Zombie Island is a straight up horror movie. As the name implies there are zombies roaming an island. Many a parent thought they were putting on a fun Scooby Doo movie only to scar their kid for life with Zombie Island. Witch's Ghost isn't as scary as Zombie Island, but this movie is all about the fall. It takes place in a small New England town haunted by a witch who reminiscent of the Salem witch trials. This movie also introduced the Hex Girls - an eco goth band with witchy vibes. Witch's Ghost takes some liberties with witchcraft as a modern religious movement (um, no Wiccans are not a hereditary group and popped up in the early 1900s). I'd recommend these movies for older kids. 
6. Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire - part of me still finds it funny that Mr. Sheffield from "The Nanny" played a vampire trying to date Sabrina the Teenage Witch's Aunt Hilda in this 2000 Disney Channel Original Movie. When a divorced mother of three is set up by two of her children on a date with a mysterious man to get her out of the house (because she had rightfully grounded them), craziness ensues when the mysterious man turns out to be a vampire. Lizzie McGuire's dad...I mean...Malachi Van Helsing comes to help the kids save their mom. I haven't rewatched this one recently, but I do remember being very worried for the mom while she was in a trance. Also, seeing all these actors I was familiar with from other shows I enjoyed was a lot of fun. Good for a family movie night.
7. Twitches/Twitches Too - I can't leave two of my favorite witches off this list. Tia Mowry and Tamera Mowry star as two long lost twin sister and heirs to a magical kingdom, sent to the non-magical Earth (our world) to be kept safe until they are unexpectedly reunited around their 21st birthday. Together they learn of their magical and royal roots while working to fulfil a prophecy that might turn deadly. It's a fun fantasy story that is light on the scares, but qualifies as a part of the Halloween lineup. Alex/Artemis was my favorite growing up because of her awesome writing powers and her association with the moon and all things nighttime. This movie is particularly good for your more feminine leaning kids. 
8. The Scream Team - apparently this movie was supposed to be a backdoor pilot to a TV show that was never picked up, which means I can include it on this list. Scream Team has a great cast including Kat Dennings, Eric Idle, Tommy Davidson, and the great Kathy Najimy. This movie is about death and accepting when a loved one leaves us unexpectedly. Idle, Davidson, and Najimy are ghosts helping two kids, who recently lost their grandfather, find their grandfather's ghost and get him to cross over to the next life - all while avoiding a fire welding angry ghost named Zachariah Smith. It's a heartwarming and fun take on a serious and sad subject. 10 out of 10, I recommend, though maybe for kids over the age of 7.
9. Phantom of the Megaplex - I love this Disney Channel Original Movie and was disappointed when Disney stopped showing it regularly in October. Not only is Micky Rooney a great addition to the cast, he brings a certain charisma and nostalgia for older movies that elevates the story from simply silly to meaningful. The movie roughly follows the plot of Phantom of the Opera (if you think of oldest brother, Pete, as the Christine of the story...that might be giving too much away). There's a phantom running around causing mayhem on the night of a major movie premiere. Siblings, Pete (who actually works at the Megaplex), Karen, and Brian are on the case to find out who the mysterious phantom is. Hopefully they can dodge the cinema sitter, love rivals, and actual responsibility to catch the phantom in the act. It's just a shame that Pete's manager is MIA for most of the night after "firing" the previous theater's owner, Movie Mason (he didn't actually work at the Megaplex, but "volunteered" to help with the premiere preparations). This movie is all about the love of classic cinema and how movies themselves are magic. One of my all time favorite lines comes from Movie Mason: "When we arrive in this world, magic is all around us. You simply have to see a baby discover a butterfly or a toddler splash in the bath for the first time. Yet, as the years pass, simple pleasures aren't quite so simple to find. Myths and legends fall away. Santa's secrets are revealed. Card tricks lose their fascination. True wonder is hard to come by. But there's always... magic at the movies". It's sweet and not really that scary. Good for kids all ages. 
10. It - Yes, I'm talking about the 1990 Steven King TV miniseries. Yes, I'm counting it. There wasn't a kid in the 90s or 2000s how didn't know someone who saw this movie way too young and swore it was the scariest thing they had ever seen. It was a staple of Halloween sleepovers and caused a generation of kids to be wary of clowns. But let's be real, the 1990 It isn't scary. The 2017 and 2019 movies are much, much better. The 1990 version is campy and funny. Not that I recommend showing a ten year old this movie (because that's how it's now advertised as). However, this made for TV movie was a staple of my childhood - not that I wanted my parents to know I'd seen it. I also didn't find it scary as a kid (probably because my first actual horror movie - which I was also way too young to watch - was Arachnophobia, which set the bar high for spider horror). I do think that it's a good intro horror movie for the more mature preteens to Steven King. Plus it has Tim Curry in it and he was a major part of any 90s kid's childhood.

Are there any made for TV movies you remember for the Halloween season? I have some vague memories of TV movies on ABC Family that I swear existed (like the "Are You Afraid of the Dark" movie), but can't remember the names or plots of - just that they were scary. Are there some modern TV/direct to streaming movies that you enjoy during the Halloween season? My sibling loves Under Wraps (2021). Let me know in the comments. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Until next week. 

Welcome to Some Cozy Horror

I recently finished reading Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynn’s Jones. I was familiar with the 2004 Hayao Miyazaki animated movie, but had never read the book. It was delightfully cozy - probably the coziest fantasy book I’d ever read. The book and the movie match maybe a third of the way through the beginning before both go off into their own adventures. Though, Calcifer does get the last word in about rain in both versions.

Typically, when I think of fantasy stories, I think of grand adventures, good versus evil, and epic battles (even when the stakes aren’t very high). Cozy fantasy was new for me and I loved it. Though, if I really think about it, a lot of Miyazaki films are fairly cozy in nature (like “My Neighbor Totoro” or “Ponyo”). Much the same could be said about Science Fiction, too, with the likes of “Castle in the Sky” or “Nausaicaä of the Valley of the Wind”. 

That got me thinking about other genres that occasionally have the cozy sub-genre attached to it.

 Mystery, is probably the best well-known genre to have a cozy sub-genre. There are a ton of cozy-mysteries out there (usually starring a middle aged female protagonist with a bookshop, a pet, and a cop boyfriend - though that’s not always the case).  My personal favorite was The Cat Who series by Lillian Jackson Braun (which starred a retired male newspaper columnist with his two cats 500 miles north of everywhere).

Romance might also have a lot of cozy sub-genre stories. I’m not super familiar with the romance genre, but I’d say that a lot of Jane Austin and the movie “The Princess Bride” are cozy romances. However, I’d probably have to ask an actual romance reader for their opinion on the genre.

Now horror seems like it shouldn’t have anything to do with the cozy sub-genre. Yet, I would argue there are several horror stories, films, and books that could count as being a part of the cozy horror sub-genre.

Gather around the campfire kids.

I’m not the first to ponder the cozy horror sub-genre. I’ve seen conversations on the-app-formerly-known-as-Twitter, posts on Instagram, and YouTube videos all discussing the idea. I identified a few children’s movies (mostly Disney or Disney Channel Original Movies) and books that could fit the bill. Think “Don’t Look Under the Bed”, “Phantom of the Megaplex”, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (the animated short), “Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman” (which has a lot of great callbacks to the original movie and Frankenstein book), “Over the Garden Wall”, R L Stein’s Goosebumps books, and Coraline (the movie and book). These stories may scare kids (and some adults), but they focus more on atmosphere rather than cheap jump scares.

A good balance of cozy mystery and spooky horror that usually spring boards kids into either adult versions of the genres would be Scooby Doo. Scooby Doo typically starts the mystery out with a spooky legend, curse, or ghost story that leads the gang on a merry chase looking for clues that culminates with the reveal that there wasn’t anything supernatural at all going on (minus movies like “Zombie Island” and “The Witch’s Ghost”).

During the Halloween season, “Hocus Pocus” and “Halloweentown” are fairly cozy movies - though, maybe, only “Hocus Pocus” could be considered a horror movie.

But what about the jump from children to adult horror. Sure adults can enjoy Scooby Doo and the animated or TV-movies of their youth, but are there any strictly adult cozy horror movies?

This Batman likes cozy horror.

Well, I think that depends on what we define as cozy. A quick Google search brought me to Kim Berkley’s 2022 blog post where she links readers to a 2021 Nightmare Magazine post by Jose Cruz where he lays out what defines cozy horror (I know that was convoluted, but it’s accurate to my search history). There are four basic components:

1. Familiarity

2. Sensuousness 

3. Distance

4. Fun

These four components, when applied to horror, allow people to have a safe space to explore all things spooky without causing true trauma. Much of this can be applied to children’s horror like the above named media. 

Cross stitch cozy horror!

It’s a lot harder to see how these apply to adult horror media.

Except, sometimes I do crave a spooky movie that’s not meant for children, but also mind numbingly scary. These might be “Practical Magic” (granted this is a bit of a romance, too), “Sleepy Hollow” (the Tim Burton movie that was described like being on a Scooby Doo movie set), “House of Wax” (the Vincent Price version), “Crimson Peak”, “The Woods”, “Willy’s Wonderland” (don’t ask), many Hammer Horror movies, and (probably most odd) “The Ring”. All can be scary, especially for the younger audience, but overall are just delightfully spooky after multiple viewings.

Books might be a little more difficult, but I’d argue that Abram Stoker’s Dracula, Mexican Gothic, and Kingfisher’s What Moves the Dead are good examples of cozy horror (I also recognize that two of those books mentioned prominently feature mushrooms). Why Dracula, you may wonder? There are parts of Dracula that are oddly quaint - once you get past the first third of Jonathan’s “wacky fun times” in Transylvania (that quote is from Overly Sarcastic Production’s summary of the book).

The manga “Another” and video games like Silent Hill (at least the first one) and Luigi’s Mansion would also fall under cozy horror - in my not so humble opinion. They are atmospheric, spooky, and, most importantly, fun.

And remember these are my opinions. What I find cozy versus what someone else finds cozy in the horror genre might vary greatly. It’s all subjective and relative anyway.

If you enjoyed this post (or if it really pissed you off), please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to Recommend Tree Houses of Horror

By accident, I started watching every “Simpsons” Halloween episodes. With how streaming services work, I became committed to finishing the infamous Treehouse of Horror episodes. Over the years, I’ve seen most of them - though there are large gaps in my memory - and my marathon rewatch has been both a treat and a bag of tooth paste and dental floss.

Some of the episodes still hold up. Others aged like milk left out on the Fourth of July. 

The fact that “The Simpsons” is still airing, is mind boggling as far as I’m concerned. The “golden years” of the series was definitely the first ten with occasional hits afterwards. That’s doesn’t mean these episodes and seasons aged well. It’s just when the series was the most relevant. 

I was mostly watching “The Simpsons” somewhere in the mid 2000s. Fox network reran older episodes at 5:00PM - a perfect post homework, pre-dinner time to watch TV for teenage me. However, my favorite episodes were the “Treehouse of Horror” anthologies. 

In recent years, I’ve kept my rewatch of the series to a few episodes I have on DVD - most are the Halloween specials with the addition of the Cape Fear parody from season 5 with Side Show Bob (which I feel is an honorary addition). Now that  Disney+ offers every “Simpsons” episode ever made for streaming, I can easily watch all of the episodes. I’m only doing this now because my sibling came to visit and we needed something fun to watch that was spooky and we both liked.

So here is my list of “The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror” segments I think are still watching. These aren’t full episodes (necessarily) because some of the shorts in one episode are great, while others are full on duds. Due remember that this list is my opinion and you are allowed to disagree - just know I have the right to ignore your wrong opinion.

So here’s my count down list:

Honorable Mention: “Halloween of Horror” - though not a true Treehouse of Horror episode, this Simpsons’ Halloween special is hilarious and has a great parody of the “Time Warp”. 

#13: The opening of Treehouse of Horror XXIV directed by Guillermo del Toro - there are so many references in this opener and some of the visuals make me jump. If only the rest of the episode was as entertaining.

#12: “Coralisa” from Treehouse of Horror XXVIII - I love the book and movie Coraline and Neil Gaiman makes a guest appearance in this middle segment. I love how the animation changes when Lisa first goes to the “other world” and meter her “other family”. The buttons in the eyes is still creepy, as is “other” Marge turning into her true form.

#11: “It’s the Grand Pumpkin, Mulhouse” from Treehouse of Horror XIX - it’s a spot on parody of a beloved classic. It’s funny and somewhat disturbing at times. I especially love the animation done.

#10: “There’s No Business Like Moe Business” from Treehouse of Horror XX - the Simpsons has done a number of musical parodies over the years (the one with Lisa spoofing Evita lives rent free in my mind), however this one is all Sweeney Todd. Moe using Homer’s blood mixed with beer to make Marge fall in love with him is disturbing and funny. My favorite part of this episode is the fact that it’s framed like a play with some backstage shots included.

#9: “Four Beheadings and a Funeral” from Treehouse of Horror XV - a mash up of From Hell and Sherlock Holmes. The Simpsons kids are investing the gruesome murders of Jack the Ripper’s victims. Homer and Marge play a small role in this and Chief Wiggum has a lot more screen time than usual. My only issue with the segment is that it all ends in an opium dream for Ralph. Why? It’s obvious that this isn’t part of the main Simpsons storyline. 

#8: “Heck House” from Treehouse XVIII - Ned Flanders having a connection to hell or the devil is a bit of a trope at this point in the Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror episodes. I enjoy this one for the parody of the movie Hell House and the tricks played the kids. Some people don’t enjoy this episode, but I think it’s pretty funny with some good horror imagery.

#7: “Easy-Bake Coven” from Treehouse of Horror VIII - if anyone was going to be a witch in the Simpsons, I would have guessed Lisa. Marge and her sisters being evil witches is also a good choice. It’s a fun take on how trick-or-treating started and the I like the many references to witches in folklore and popular culture.

#6: “Scary Tales Can Come True” from Treehouse of Horror XI - this segment reminded me of older Bugs Bunny parodies of fairy tales. I loved that the family lives in a pumpkin and the scene where Goldilocks dies is delightfully gruesome.

#5: “House of Whacks” from Treehouse of Horror XIII - I grew up with the movie Smart House and that movie scared me as a kid. Seeing a Simpsons parody of the movie with the voice of 90s 007 as the evil robot house was a lot of fun. I feel a little bad for the robot going to Patty and Selma in the end, but the ridiculous murder of Homer is a good laugh.

#4: “Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace” from Treehouse of Horror VI - this segment is amazing from the death of Martin to Willie showing up at the end getting off a bus. I will forever enjoy cursing out the “stupid Smarch” weather.

Okay so here is where I ditch the segments and list my top three episodes that I love watching every year.

#3: Treehouse of Horror IV - all three segments are gruesomely funny. This is the first episode Ned Flanders shows up as the devil and his ironic punishment of Homer after not getting his soul is perfect. The gremlin puns are great and may have inspired me in some of my creative works. By far the best is the last one “Bart Simpson’s Dracula” and is a great parody of the Coppola film. Mr. Burns’s hair is fantastic and when else was Bart supposed to go down the “Super Happy Fun Slide”?

#2: Treehouse of Horror V - This is one of the first Treehouse of Horror episodes that I got on DVD and have watched every year. From Willie dying in all three segments with an ax to the back to the near gruesome end to the Simpson children it’s an all around classic treat. If only Homer had stayed for five more seconds for his donut. Shh “you wanna get sued?”

#1: Treehouse of Horror I - the original is still my favorite and a classic. Special guest James Earl Jones is the highlight in all three segments. His reading of “The Raven” is one of my favorite things in animation (and may have introduced me to the famous gothic poet). It’s not perfect, but it is my favorite.

As of writing this post, I haven’t yet seen this year’s special (it’s a few hours before it airs). The segment parodying “Death Note” looks promising. I kind of hope there are potato chips (look it up on YouTube).

If you have a favorite Treehouse of Horror episode or segment, let me know in the comments. I’m still not sure why I did this to myself, but such is life.

End?

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to My Least Favorite Parts of Spooky Season

I have happily shared with you guys my love of the Halloween season. The beautiful colors of the falling leaves, the creepy yet fun decorations, and the wonderful things to eat are all wonderful. I'm fond of seeing all the little kids in their costumes and their excitement going trick or treating. 

However, I must admit that there are a few things about this time of year that either get on my nerves or cause me distress. It's not all sugar and spice and everything delightfully spooky this time of year and here are are a few of mine. 

Haunted House Mazes 

Some of you might be surprised that I'm not a fan of these pop up attractions - especially since I've been noted to enjoy Buschgardens Hall-o-Scream. Except I can't stand the sensory overload that is the haunted house (or haunted maze as my family always called them). From an overstimulation of noise, and overuse of strobe lights, to lots of fake fog to trigger my asthma, and the over use of jump scares, I just don't enjoy this experience. If I am somehow talked into (or blackmailed into) entering one of these monstrosities, I typically will be walking with my ears covered - much to the confusion of everyone but my family. These are great for some people, but not so much for me.

The only Haunted House I do enjoy is the one at Disney World/Disneyland.

Fake Chain Saws

Similar to Haunted House Mazes, these beyond evil noise makers never fail to freak me out. If you want to see me jump about a foot in the air, rev up a real chain saw in my general vicinity. I guarantee you a freaked out reaction. So if I can't handle the real ones, why would I like the fake ones often used in theme park scare zones or outside Haunted House Maze attractions. I hate them with the fiery passion of a thousand suns.  

Zombies

First of all, the modern "zombie" is actually more of a traditional ghoul. The origin of zombies comes from Haitian and Caribbean voodoo (or Vodou) which is an actual religious practice. Most depictions of Vodou zombies in western media are wrong and insulting to the practitioners of voodoo/Vodou. Depictions of the more ghoul like zombie freak me out and the fact that the US military has a plan in place for when a zombie out break occurs doesn't help with my irrational fears. I'm not sure if it's the amount of violence associated with zombies or the sheer mindlessness of their existence that cause my skin to crawl more. Zombies are a big no thank you.

Fun Fact: I was once asked in college if I'd survive a zombie apocalypses. Before I could answer and without skipping a beat, my college roommate goes: "they'd die." Alas, my college roommate is probably right.

Harming of Animals

Sadly, Halloween and spooky season is also associated with the mindless harm of animals - especially black cats. Some of my friends growing up had a black cat and their family always made sure to securely lock the kitty away on Halloween for fear that someone would harm her. It's not cool to harm animals on Halloween for a prank or try to commune with the devil. 

PSA - keep all cats and dogs inside on Halloween, especially if they have black fur.

Overly Sexual Costumes for Children

Why is this a thing?

Pumpkin Spice Flavored Hate

I get that it's everywhere. I get that some people are totally put off by it. But I enjoy it and I don't care if that makes me "basic". Pumpkin spice and everything nice is a wonderful part of this season. The haters can go have their hate party in another part of the Internet.

And Finally: The Glorification of Serial Killers

I have a question - are TikTokers who watch the glamorized dramatization "documentaries" of serial kills and claim that they weren't disturbed okay? No, seriously, are you okay? It's one thing to enjoy watching Freddy or Jason or Michael Meyers on the big screen. It's an entirely different can of worms if you can watch media on real life evil people and not want to vomit. Please stop encouraging the glorification of people who have done horrific things to other people. Families of victims don't deserve this. The victims of these crimes don't deserve this. I honestly wish that these people would fade away from public consciousness. We don't need any more of these "documentaries" dropping around Halloween time (or ever).

I love the Halloween season and enjoy some of the spooky things that come with it. But as much as I love "all things spooky", there are a few draw backs. However, I can (usually) avoid the things I don't enjoy. 

You can find me this season hanging out in a pumpkin patch or exploring a corn maze (I promise to only sacrifice one family to the corn). I also enjoy seeing the cool decorations - minus any loud noises or jump scares. 

What are your favorite parts of the Halloween season? Have any least favorite things about the season?

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Until next week. 

Welcome to Sleepy Hollow

 Not too far north of New York City, along the Hudson River, lies Tarrytown. It was while American writer Washington Irving was visiting an inn in Tarrytown, that he first heard the folk lore of the region - which included a certain headless horseman. Not long after Irving would publish the famous short story "Sleepy Hollow". 

The Sleepy Hollow town in New York today actually got its name about 30 years ago when the town of Tarrytown expanded to include the the area known as Slapershaven in the earliest years of Dutch colonialism in America. This name literally translates to "Sleeper's Haven" (according the village history page). 

When I lived in New Jersey, I lived about a half an hour from Sleepy Hollow, New York and spent some time enjoying the small town. It really takes it's legacy as the home Bram Bones, Katrina van Tassel, Ichabod Crain, and the Headless Horseman seriously. My personal favorite event was the annual pumpkin festival that included hundreds, if not thousands, of carved pumpkins lit up in festive displays. 

What Sleepy Hollow is not, is anything like the 1999 Tim Burton movie. 

Instead of a dark rural area with a forest to the west. Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown are bright urban areas with a giant river to the west. It's also really close to Manhattan Island - even on the commuter trainline. It might have taken the average New Yorker in the 1790s half a day to get to.

Also, that movie is a terrible adaptation of the original short story.

The original "Sleepy Hollow" story is considered an American classic. However, the legends of headless horseman go back to Europe such as the Irish dullahan - which is actually an evil fairy. Irving may have been influenced by the folklore of his Scottish family (which also have headless horseman legends) along with stories about the Revolutionary War and other folklorists that were his contemporary.

The interesting thing about the story of "Sleepy Hollow" is that Ichabod isn't really a hero - his more of our modern day "nice guy". In fact, Irving doesn't seems to even like his main character - often portraying his motivations and actions as being less than honorable. The object of his affection, Katrina van Tassel, is just that - an object. Whereas Ichabod's rival, Brom Bones, actually seems to care about the person Katrina is. Ichabod is more interested in Katrina's beauty and her father's property.

In fact, it's heavily suggested that the headless horseman ghost of the story is less of a ghost and is instead Brom Bones playing another prank on Ichabod (he does several throughout the story). Ichabod is well known for being superstitious, despite his claims that his education makes him superior to the "simple" people of the rural town. Ichabod believes that he brings culture to the sleepy little village...with some success with the ladies, while really annoying everyone else.

The Disney version (which can be viewed on Disney+ with Mr. Toad) comes the closest in the adaptations I've seen to getting the spirit of the story across. It's also got some great musical numbers. However, the Wishbone episode "The Legend of Creepy Collars" is probably the best direct adaptation of the story I've seen.

This weekend, my sibling and I went to a ballet adaptation of "Sleepy Hollow" at one of my local theater productions. It was a lot of fun - though I don't remember any witches in the original story. There were plenty of beats from the original story along with a few additions that were clearly influenced by the 1999 Tim Burton film - like a tree with skulls on it. 

The ballet was about an hour and half long with beautiful dancing. The ending of the story was also slightly changed to make the headless horseman real rather than a prank by Brom Bones and Katrina feel bad about Ichabod's prank - honestly I was a little confused by this choice. Otherwise, I enjoyed the performances (especially when the little kids came on stage).

"Sleepy Hollow" is a fun story that is often misinterpreted and has some language that raises eyebrows in the modern day (specifically around Native Americans and Black people). I'd love to see a reinterpretation or adaptation that centers around Katrina and Brom's relationship rather than Ichabod's creepy obsession with Katrina. 

If you have an adaptation of "Sleep Hollow" you enjoy or have been to the town of Sleepy Hollow, let me know in the comments. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to a Happy Halloween

 Today was quiet. Once again, not one trick or treaters at my apartment complex, but I could hear them the next street over. That’s okay because I still had a great Halloween.

I started with a pumpkin chocolate muffin with pumpkin butter and finishing my Halloween cross stitch project. I hung them up with care in one of my doorways.

I sent out texts to all of my friends and family I have in my phone’s address book wishing them a Happy Halloween. Most texted back and a few called. Pictures of younger family members were shared and my cousin managed to get her dog into a Harley Quinn outfit.

I had a lunch of pumpkin empanadas and watched The Haunting, then went for a walk to a small lake shopping center.

While enjoying a pretzel and hops tea at the local micro brewery, a man set up some music and his kids (dressed as Michael Jackson) danced to the joy of everyone at each of the restaurants. At about 2:30, a group of witches on paddle boards, kayaks, and a pontoon boat paraded into the docking area. A few of the witches had kids and dogs on their paddle boats. There was even a skeleton with a small graveyard on his board.

I then wandered a bit.

I spotted a fox sunning himself on a neighbor’s yard. I danced among some falling leaves on the wooded trail. I also pet several very fluffy dogs.

I returned home nearly two hours later to carve my first pumpkin in nearly a decade. I chose a sun and moon combo to represent the changing of the seasons. I had Over the Garden Wall on while I scooped the pumpkin’s guts out and drew the design on its face. 

My apartment filled with the scent of cinnamon and nutmeg as my soul cookies baked and I lit some pumpkin spice candles. I ate a silent dinner with the spirits on my balcony and wished a family dressed as black cats a “Happy Halloween”.

I rounded out the night with a pumpkin spice bath (with a bath bomb and haunted scented soap) to get ready for my spell casting. A good witch knows how to harness the wonderful energy of Halloween to work their magic. I built a fire and cast some bay leaves with wishes into the flames. The universe will hear me and guide me.

The cat especially loves the fire.

I plan on ending the night with some spiced hot apple cider and a tarot reading. Overall a simple, relaxing, and my kind of Halloween. 

I hope you all have a fun night, stay safe, and have a spooky time. This season passed by fast (though part of that might have been because I was deeply depressed for part of it). Know that how you celebrate during this time of year is up to you. Go to parties, commune with the dead, or watch some scary movies.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.

Welcome to my Halloween Music Playlists

 Because I can't just have one Halloween playlist. 

Though it may not seem like it, there are a lot of really good music that might be considered Halloween music. There are of course the classics like "Monster Mash", the theme to the "Addams Family", and "Grim Grinning Ghosts". 

However, I have a lot of fun finding new songs to listen to every year. 

One of the first playlists I found on YouTube was of nightcore remixes of some pretty spooky songs. If you’re unfamiliar with nightcore music, it’s typically a song that has been sped up and played at a higher pitch so the recorded singer’s voice becomes distorted. The list included "Secret” (the Pretty Little Liars opening theme), “You’re So Creepy”, “Creepy Doll”, “Discord” (which I swear was written by a My Little Pony fan band), and other amazingly creepy songs. There are numerous playlists already set up on YouTube.

Continuing with my exploration of fun Halloween music on YouTube, eventually I found playlists of Halloween music spanning multiple decades. Naturally the 80s list included songs like “Ghostbusters” and “Thriller”.

My personal favorite decades lists are the ones that include music from before the 1940s. Since there are so few surviving recorded songs from that era, the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s are typically lumped together. These songs are spooky and creepy. Part of it is that the recordings haven’t been cleaned or restored to perfection, so there’s some static and background noise. Plus there’s the whole thing that everyone who recorded the songs are dead. 

So, I’m listening to music about ghosts sung by people who are no longer alive. It ups the creepy factor.

Then there’s the femme fatale cabaret  playlist I stumbled upon. It’s all songs about murder, death, and ladies being devious. The song about serial killers is particularly chilling. The picture of a silent film actress staring into my soul that the uploader picked, is equally off putting.

I love it all.

However, sometimes I don't want any lyrics in the music I'm listening to. I have a few go to artists and movie soundtracks that I like. Nox Arcana is a fairly popular music group that you might have heard at theme parks or festivals that want a spooky edge. Adrian von Zieler is another artist that has a lot of Epic Halloween or Dark Fantasy music play lists that will put anyone in the Halloween writing mood - or if you just need something in the background that won't cause too many distractions. 

As for the movie soundtrack play lists, my favorites include the Silent Hill movie, Halloween, the VVitch, Dead Silence, The Fog, and Suspiria (the original Goblin soundtrack is on point). There's something to be said about a fantastic movie score to put you into the Halloween spirit.

And I can't forget the video game soundtracks. Silent Hill 1, 2, and 3 are all fantastic musical compositions to listen to during this holiday season. I'm also quite fond of the ending themes to all of the Fatal Frame games, but especially "Chuo", "Koe", and "Zero no Chouritsu". I also really like official sound track to Corpse Party (both the game and anime). 

But it's not just these songs that make for a great Halloween playlist. Sometimes I want something more contemporary and hard rock.

One of my play lists includes songs like the amazing "Welcome to the Black Parade", "Helena", "Wrong Side of Heaven", almost everything the band Evanescence has released, and a lot of Breaking Benjamin. I started this play list on Pandora under my "Nightmare Before Christmas". It also mixes in some music from the movie Coraline and Corpse Bride. 

And naturally, I listen to "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" multiple times during the spookiest season.

Now, these are just the songs and music I like to listen to to get me in the Halloween spirit. You guys might want to check some of them out or recommend some of your own favorite play lists. There's a lot of great music out there and I didn't even cover half the independent artists or all of the Disney villain songs I love to listen to at this time of year.

Let me know in the comments if you have any spooky recommendations.

Until next week. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Welcome to the Fall 2021 Experience

 Happy Fall 2021!

To start off your Fall 2021 experience you should start with a quick fall cleaning. Remove dust and clutter, put away summer decorations, and reorganize your kitchen. Trust me, you’ll be spending a lot of time there for your Fall 2021 experience.

Once your living space is clean (or cleaner - I’m not going to judge you), it’s time to put up the Halloween fall decorations. If you’re anything like me, the fall decorations are mixed in with your regular decorations. Now you’ll want to bring them to the forefront - maybe put them on a pedestal - and set candles everywhere. You can’t have enough candles in fall.

Speaking of decor, you’re color palette for the Fall 2021 experience is deep reds, golden wheat yellows, warm oranges, nutty browns, and (of course) black. Some purple accents are acceptable and a dash of neon green is okay the closer you get to Halloween.

Fall 2021is dedicated to peace, transition, and going to farms.

Don’t forget your Covid vaccine and Flu shot.

Visiting farms is a tried and true pastime in American culture. Fall is usually the best time to go as it is the harvest season - when the best fruits and veggies are ready to eat. I recommend looking for farms that feature apple picking, pumpkin patches, and corn mazes.

I’m fairly certain that corn mazes are a uniquely American (northern continental) phenomenon. They can vary in size and might require participants to carry a flag in case they get lost and need help (cell phone service is typically spotty). You shouldn’t fear entering a corn maze. The worst that can happen is you get lost for a few hours. There is nothing stalking the rows of corn…unless the farm and town are run by children and have scarecrows that look suspiciously like corpses.

Many farms will have some late night haunted attractions. These have become a staple all around the United States and may have an over arcing theme. If you don’t like loud noises, strobe lights, fog machines, or being scared in general - then these events are not for you. Don’t worry, the actors aren’t supposed to touch you. If they do, they aren’t actors. You might have stumbled upon something dangerous and that goes against our Fall 2021 experience guidelines - please run away.

Now that you’ve had your farm experience, it’s time to get to work in the kitchen. The Fall 2021 experience naturally includes a lot of baking, roasting, and cooking. Some of the best recipes are made with fall flavors. These flavors include cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, and anything else associated with pumpkin spice non-sense. Don’t feel basic if you want to try all the pumpkin spiced flavored things - this is normal. And noticed, it’s pumpkin spice flavored - pumpkins aren’t required, though greatly encouraged. They are a very healthy food.

I recommend trying apple or pumpkin scores recipes, baking bread, and a hearty meat strew. I’m looking forward to trying my hand at making a creamy mushroom soup this year. You of course can find ideas on the Internet, but for your Fall 2021 experience I recommend trying to find a local farmers market as they tend to have recipe recommendations with local produce.

Now that you’ve fully emerged yourself in the Fall 2021 experience, you can now start looking at what you can add on to bring this fall up from typical, to extraordinary.

First your movie list.

Horror movies are a staple for this time of year. There are some that just drip the fall aesthetic. I’m fond of House of Wax with Vincent Price, Halloween the original first three, and Sleepy Hollow the Disney animated version and the Tim Burton one (which is about as authentically American as cricket). 

If you aren’t into horror movies, there are plenty of spooky Halloween movies to chose from. I personally recommend Coraline, Halloweentown, Hocus Pocus, Paranorman (I always cry), The Addams Family, and Scooby Doo and the Witch’s Ghost. If you’re wondering why Nightmare Before Christmas isn’t included, that’s because it’s a November movie.

But if Halloween isn’t your thing, there are still plenty of media for you to enjoy. The best being Over the Garden Wall. It’s a series that just drips everything fall.

Finally, you might be interested in adding one final detail to your Fall 2021 experience.

Witchcraft!

Many a young witch (male, female, and non-binary people may all use the term) find their calling during the fall season. It’s a perfect time to learn and experiment. Most of your first spells will probably  to go well at all. I recommend starting small. Learn to combine runes to creat charms, put together sweet dream sleep satchels, or reading tarot. Leave summoning eldritch creatures for when you’ve been practicing for a while - they’ll be less likely to eat you when called.

I hope you enjoy your Fall 2021 experience. May it bring you peace, tranquility, and a brief encounter with the darker things in life (in a safe, controlled setting - naturally). Set up a bond fire, invite nine of your closest friends, and dance naked under the crisp fall moon as leaves fall around you. You might even find yourself flying amongst the stars.

It’s the perfect time for fun.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.

Welcome to Lawn Signs

Lawns have long been a place for self expression in the areas I grew up in. Holidays like Halloween and Christmas always had people out doing each other to see who could have the best decorations. Year round, I knew plenty of Catholics who had a statue of the mother virgin in their front yard. People hang flags, do amazing landscaping, and will put up political signs near election time. 

This year, political signs are everywhere. And no wonder, it's a controversial time in the USA. Which brings me to the reason I write this post.

This is a story about two neighbors - well, maybe three or more - and their epic battle of political rivalry using lawn signs.

Sorry guys, for safety sake, no actual pictures of the houses will be shown.

The Saga Begins in Mid-September...

Since moving back to Virginia, I have been driving Lewinsville Road quite a bit to visit my dad. It is on this suburban street - used to avoid Tysons Corner - that we have the prime example of political rivalry and epic pettiness. 

While driving, I would check out the neighborhood and fantasize about owning a home there (something I am extremely unlikely to achieve, even with a more modest house). 

I noticed these two houses early in my travels. Trump flags in Northern Virginia are a rare sight and this one was next to a house with a peace gay pride flag. 

My first thought was: they must get along swell. (Please note the sarcasm)

And for months after, that's all I thought about the two houses.

The September rolled around and political signs for our upcoming election begin popping up everywhere. The house with the Trump flag invests in one of those giant Trump/Pence signs that takes up half their tiny front yard. 

I was unsurprised by this, however my interest became piqued when the next week, the next door neighbors had moved their peace gay pride flag from the pole by the front door to hang from one of their trees right by the road, lit up with fairy lights.

An update on my thoughts: this might get interesting. 

Another week goes by and the giant Trump/Pence sign is vandalized (it's not the only one in this area). The Trump House - as I've taken to mentally calling it - puts up a dozen or so smaller lawn signs. Some say Trump/Pence, others are for one of the other Republican candidates on the ballot, and two handmade signs with arrows pointing at the giant sign saying: "is this law and order?"

The neighbors, at this point, seem to have had enough. They buy a dozen or so small signs for Biden/Harris to stick all over their front lawn. They also add more fairy lights.

As Halloween Draws Near...

It's now getting to be that point in October where most houses have Halloween decorations up. I must admit, the people in Mclean are fantastic decorators (can't wait to see what they do for Christmas). But between the humongous spiders and blowup ghouls are a few lawn signs thrown in for flavor.

Except at these two houses, who have now completely covered their lawns with political signs. The Trump House continues to have problems with vandals - though I notice that the smaller signs get replaced after awhile. The giant one continues to stand, spray paint addition et all.

This past week, I noticed two hilarious additions to the displays. The first isn't all that glamourous, but it did cause me to start giggling. The other next door neighbor to the Trump House put up their own handmade sign reading: "Republicans for Biden". It's got little blue and red stars dancing around the border. 

However, the truly magnificent addition to all this is a newly erected giant Biden/Harris sign that towers over the tagged Trump/Pence one. It's up on stilts and at the top of each is a pink flamingo looking right over the Trump House's.

It's amazing. Truly a chef's kiss.

Three Weeks Until...

We are three weeks from the election and I have no idea if things will continue to happen around these two houses. However, once the flamingos went up, I knew I had to tell this tale to you my readers. 

For this isn't just a tale of the political landscape in America (though it totally is), but the lengths people will go to out do each other in the most petty of ways.

If there are any developments in this on going saga, I will try to provide an update. 

In the mean time...stay safe, stay sane, and laugh as much as you can.

If you enjoyed this post, or it really pissed you off, please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to the Taboo Costume Ball

Halloween is on Thursday. Have you picked out your costume yet?

This weekend and next weekend are the defacto days to celebrate the season. Right after we get to skip Thanksgiving and go straight into Christmas decorating (as long as we are going by the decorations in the stores). However, for this last week, I get to bask in the creepy, macabre, and darkness of the season and no one can question me about it.

Halloween is one of the few times where it's okay to wear whatever you want...within reason. (Here's your annual PSA: Don't wear the clothing of another culture and call it a costume). You want to be a princess, be a princess. You want to be a witch, be a witch. You want to dress up as a slutty version of Crowley from "Good Omens", Neil Gaiman might retweet your costume on Twitter.

Don't think too hard about that last sentence, but yes, I really did come across that on Twitter earlier today.

I've never made it a secret that I love this season. I think it's the reminder that life eventually comes to an end and that there is a new beginning waiting for me when that happens, this year more so than most. I love the atmosphere, the sights and smells and tastes are all unique, but fleeting.

I don't really enjoy being scared, especially not in haunted houses, but the decorations and aesthetic are intriguing and different. It's a time for us to embrace the parts of life that we don't always want to acknowledge.

One of those things is the taboo.

Is it any wonder why sexy or slutty costumes are popular among some circles? Americans in particular continue to have a more conservative perspective on sex and sexuality. Not all Americans, but it is a distinct, if occasionally subconscious part of our culture. Halloween is one of the rare acceptable times that people can explore what titillates them and not be ridiculed for it.

This does sometimes go too far. I didn't need to know that a sexy handmaid's costume existed and sexy or slutty costumes depicting another culture should not be considered (PSA: please for the love of all that is sanity do not turn another culture's dress and make it a costume). Also children's costumes with the word "sexy" should not exist.

There are some things that should probably just not be done.

However, an adult expressing their sexuality is perfectly okay and Halloween provides a safe space for some people to do that.

I'm not one for sexy or slutty costumes. I prefer dressing up as something "dead" like a zombie or vampire. Death and the dead are another taboo topic that Halloween exemplifies.

Everybody dies.

It's what makes life worth living.

I prefer to spend the Halloween season acknowledging this part of the human condition. I like watching atmospheric movies and reading scary ghost stories. I don't really like being scared myself, I do not like haunted house attractions for example. I like being reminded that life eventually does end.

Halloween allows me to celebrate life while also acknowledging death.

And there's a certain amount of humor that goes with that. Horror and comedy are often two sides of the same coin. It's why movies like "Dale and Tucker Versus Evil" and "Scream" work so well as both horror stories and comedies. Sometimes we need to laugh in the face of what horrifies us.

One of my favorite actives during this season is to listen to spooky old jazz music from the early 1900s. A lot of the recordings are distorted and a little off putting. The songs about dancing with the dead or making deals with the devil can be both funny and spooky. But what really creeps me out is the idea that the people who I'm listening to, their recorded voices and playing instruments, they're all dead. Every single person in those recordings died years ago.

Yet, I feel connected to them. I feel like they could manifest themselves out of the music to dance with me in my living room. We dance together like in the "Danse Macabre".

Life is short, so around Halloween, I take the time to be myself as much as possible. I wear my favorite goth clothes and steampunk jackets. I wear make-up that distorts my face and do my hair a little different. I express myself how I want to without worrying about society judging me.

So enjoy Halloween . Take the kids out trick or treating. Go to a party. Watch a scary movie or explore a haunted house. Find a costume and be the person you never thought you'd be for a night.

It'll all be over come November 1st.

But seriously, don't dress up as someone else's culture.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week.