10/31/2006

We’ve made it! Halloween! The day when you’re actually ENCOURAGED to falsify your identity (not with credit cards, doofus!) It’s always fun to see people who wear costumes to work…do you really want to buy your lunch from some clown (uh…that’s McDonald’s…sorry) or get your hair cut by a zombie ( mine already looks like a zombie cut it.) There are so many more rules these days than when I was a kid- they discourage wearing masks, going trick-or-treating at night, going to houses where you don’t know the people…it’s kind of sad that the world has gotten to the point where you HAVE to protect your kids with those rules. Hopefully, it doesn’t make the day –and night- less fun. Hope you’ve stocked up on treats… nothing is more embarrassing than running out of goodies, and resorting to handing out frozen waffles, little containers of coffee creamer, or Tums…even worse, handing out stuff like anti-static dryer sheets, those perfume ad cards from magazines, or autographed Sven pictures.(EDITOR’S NOTE: Trick-or-treat , Sven! We just pranked you!) Words of wisdom- always get candy that you like, but that ISN’T your favorite – if it’s your favorite, you’ll be tempted to keep snagging some- if it’s stuff you like, if you don’t get enough trick-or-treaters, you won’t mind having the excess around. As I’ve said, when Halloween is during the week, it’s more of a day for the younger folks…so, watch out for them, and don’t scare the smaller ones too badly. My Halloween story? Years ago, at my folks house, I dressed up like a scarecrow dummy, and sat motionless on the front porch for a while. Kids came and went, never expecting that there was a real person there. The payoff came when a local brat and his brother came by, and he said with a snicker “let’s kick the dummy apart!” All I did was just move forward- and someone decided to leave in a hurry without his treat! So- before you get any nasty ideas tonight- make sure that dummy ain’t breathin’! And- let’s finalize our “Countdown to Halloween” scary movie suggestions with an appropriately-named film- perfect for tonight! It’s the 1978 John Carpenter modern classic “Halloween!” Truly the blueprint for most modern horror films, It’s the story of Michael Meyers- that cute kid in the clown suit- who saw his sister fooling around with a boyfriend- then picked up a knife and hacked her to death- and was institutionalized. He escapes and becomes known to “Halloween” fans as “the Shape”- appearing out of nowhere, seemingly unstoppable and unkillable, his mask (in reality a William Shatner mask!) a blank and terrifying expressionless face of evil. Jamie Lee Curtis, in her first film role, couldn’t be more effective. The horror just keeps on coming, leaving you physically and emotionally exhausted by the end of the film. In spite of the fact that Carpenter never wanted to do any sequels- there’s a load of them. Ignore them, and watch the original tonight!!! And- sleep well…wait- did you just hear the door open? MwooAHAHAHA… okay, I’ll stop. Have a great Halloween. Thanks for coming by every day this month for the blog. Should I continue to write every day ? Let me know- svengoolie@wciu.com. Gotta go- someone- or something- is ringing the darn doorbell…somebody get me my scarecrow costume!!! # # #