scratching on the outside of the casket

I love Halloween so dang hard.

Unfortunately, for the past two years I've found it to be excruciatingly exhausting. We hit the climax of all Halloweendom two years ago. May as well read old archives of the sheer spectacle of it all. Would you believe I'm actually too lazy to provide the link right now? I'd rather just keep typing words instead of code. Check out the archives of October and November 2005 over on the column to the right to read about Halloweens past.

Anyway, the point is I'm stressed out. I'm running out of time to fully enjoy the holiday. We're here on the last weekend and I've hardly accomplished any of my Halloween duties. Here's the list:
1) finish the Jon Madsen/J.R. Fillmore Halloween 2007 Halloween cd (almost done)
2) hit up Frightmares at Lagoon
3) hit up Nightmare on 13th
4) buy nine packages of candy
5) see several scary movies
6) do a movie commentary on a scary movie (probably Lost Boys)
7) since it's the middle of the night right now, number seven is devoted to the unknown Halloween activity that slips my mind
8) and oh yeah of course, make another horror movie
9) read a few appropriate novels
10) actually PICK A HALLOWEEN COSTUME

Every year Kaila and I go to a haunted house. Starting last year, Maria has joined us for obvious reasons. We still need to make time for that.

I actually meant to do a commentary on The Lost Boys ever since the middle of summer. I was totally going to preface the whole thing with "I know this may seem like a Halloween movie, but I consider it a really great scary summer movie, 'cuz that's what it is." Yeah, I was going to do that LONG before Halloween and now I've procrastinated enough to quite possibly not finish IN TIME for Halloween.

My video camera went on the fritz in Hawaii, so I probably couldn't make a scary movie even if I had anything in my head. I fear that I'll only have one horror film under my belt by the end of my life.

I'm reading the teen vampire infatuation-fest Twilight right now. Kind of sad that in Halloweens past I've started Dracula, Frankenstein and even nearly finished Interview With the Vampire, but Twilight might be the first of all those I actually finish.

Have you seen it? Watch it on youtube right here. As long as we're talking about media events, may as well listen to the Abel Hour Halloween broadcast from last year featuring Scott Johnson from Myextralife. Strangely this particular Abel Hour is still online.

Anyway, I really have picked out a costume, but it's not quite as original as some of my past endeavors. I'm not saying what it is yet, but at least I'm not a girl. I asked my friend Kristi what she's going as and she said a slut, which was very surprising. She's not that kind of girl. When I questioned her choice she simply said, "It's all the costume store had left." Funny. True, though.

Pretty much all I have done is watch J.R.'s October pick of the month -- Lady in White. I think both of us agree that a better, scarier movie would have been far more apropos for October.

The point is, I get the same sort of holiday stress this season as many people do during the Christmas season and now it's down to the wire and I won't accomplish or really enjoy any of it.

Speaking of, I think it's a really good thing that Halloween now is now probably the second-most popular holiday in this country. It's the last bastion standing in the way of the Christmas season extending back into July.

And therefore, we need a Halloween grace period. I need it to go all the way to November. Since the Mexican Day of the Dead is the day after Halloween and The Simpsons Halloween Special always comes after Halloween, I think we have some pretty favorable precedents. Halloween should go to Thanksgiving.

If I get nothing done this year, maybe I'll try something different. Maybe on Halloween night I'll simply stay inside and play Silent Hill or something. That's gotta be pretty effective.