10/14/2007

Thanks to everybody who showed up at Great America yesterday-and, if you didn’t make it out there- never fear! More appearances are listed right here! Next up is next Saturday’s “Sven Day at Hyundai”- at O’Connor Hyundai- 8900 S. Cicero Avenue in Oak Lawn! I’ll be there from 1-3 pm, so plan to see me then! I’ll remind you as the week goes on…

I was reminded of an old “scary” game that rumor has it- conjures an evil spirit. Some tv show had an episode where, if you chant the name “Bloody Mary” while standing in front of a mirror, she will appear and kill you! Now, around my neighborhood, while growing up, the rumor was – you had to stand in a dark room, look into the mirror, and repeat three times- “I believe in Mary Worth”- and, if you did, she’d emerge from the mirror and scratch your eyes out! Even as a kid, I though this was stupid –why would you say something about believing in an old lady who was the busybody “star” of a daily comic strip in the newspaper- and why the heck was she intent on scratching your eyes out? How would you read her daily three panel exploits if you had no eyes? Needless to say, there were all the usual rumors that the cousin of a best friend of somebody did it- and subsequently was blinded-so, you knew it was true. Was there a variation on this ritual in your neighborhood? Let me know- just write me your version at svengoolie@wciu.com…

Let’s make today’s monstrous movie pick a flick that also utilized a variation of this story-and, was shot in Chicago to boot! “Candyman” had the lovely Virginia Madsen working on a thesis about various urban legends- including one about a hook handed killer who appears if you say his name 5 times, and slices you up. Scary stuff and local locations make this a great pre-Halloween film for folks in our area. Pop it into the dvd player, say “Candyman” five times- and hope that Willy Wonka doesn’t appear on the screen and force-feed you jawbreakers…