As incredibly difficult as it is to
believe, it's November. We've already gone through one of the great
holidays and are on course for even more. I'd wanted to return to you
all on Halloween night with something to help boost the collective
spirit of the holiday yet as you're about to find out I was busy with
so many things that ended up making this Halloween one for the record
books.
Since my last update I took to
enjoying plenty of comfy time basking in the glory of decorations and
horror films. Last Friday night however, things had to step into
overdrive as we made a special trip out to the Unicorn Tavern in
Lansing. You see the 28th was the 15th
anniversary of my grandmothers passing, and as the Unicorn was pretty
much her go to hang-out for countless years we decided to pay tribute
by sitting down and taking in a few drinks accompanied by her old
photos.
The Unicorn is something of an oddity
for old town Lansing. While many of the bars there have been slowly
converted to hipster holes with micro-brewed specialty liquors, this
place is still straight up dive with crap beers on tap, loud music,
and bathrooms fit for a horror film. Combined with some cheap
Halloween decorations and it felt like a fine inclusion to our
festivities.
Truth be told it was extra sad when my
gramma passed so close to Halloween. She used to love coming over on
that night to watch us hand out candy and what not. Paying tribute to
her felt like the right thing to do this year so I'm really glad we
all managed to find the time to get together for that.
The following day I had to work, which
is already enough responsibility for my lazy butt that close to
Halloween. That wasn't the only duty for the day as I had to host a
Q&A about an hour after my shift ended. You all my recall that
the local Freakshow Film Festival I reported on for Dread Central
back in July asked me back for a special after party for the premiere
of a local made short film. So yes after eight hours of guarding I
had to rush to get gas, go home, clean up, and head downtown.
I arrived to find the show had begun
later than planed so I passed the time in the lobby chatting with
both clown hosts, Molotov was apparently on his way out while Dr.
Colonal Nutjob was settling in as the new host. Also in the lobby was the lead
actress from the short who didn't want to watch the original
Halloween as she wasn't into horror films. This statement came across
rather oddly from a person who you've seen devoured by a vampire,
especially one who later praised the crazy Japanese horror flicks
like Uzumaki.
Once the movie was over we headed down
to a local event hall called, wait for it...The Hall. Maybe a fifth
of the film attendees took in the after party which made it slightly
easier for me to do my thing. Thankfully the the crew I was
interviewing got pretty talkative after the first few questions
leaving me the responsibility of standing there and not looking
terrified. I plan on going into greater detail in a new dread central
article so keep an eye out for that.
After the questions I actually got to
hang around the party and socialize for a while, take in some booze
and pizza. I was out until 3:30 in the morning which left me no time
to clean pumpkins that night. On the plus side, I'm now the owner of
a sighed poster and DVD for a pretty weak twenty minute vampire
film.
Sunday came around and guess what?
More work, followed by a night of endless pumpkin carving. That
second part is nothing new as I've marked Devil's Night as the
official carve-a-thon for the past decade. It wasn't my best line-up
of lanterns, though it was a massive improvement over last year when
many of my pumpkins had preemptively rotted. If you've ever cleaned
out moldy, rotten fruit guts you know what I'm talking about.
At last, the night I dream about all
year long was here and man did it go over smoothly. Everybody pitched
in and contributed to the celebration. The weather was so nice that
our usual stash of nearly 300 baggies wasn't enough and we had to
send out my brother for more. My mother helped hand out candy, my
nephew helped scare people, even one of the nieces went trick or
treating so we'd have some Starburst of our own. Everybody played a
part and it went over so well. Complete strangers were taking
pictures with us or of our pumpkins and decorations. It's that one
magical night when my house becomes a hot spot and I savor it like
fine wine.
Before I forget, have a look at some
of our masks. I was able to snap up some real goodies. My best find
by far was that a line of masks called The Nightmare Collection had
been put on clearance allowing me to get both the Amphibious Alien
and Grim Jester for a steal. The alien weighs a ton and practically
takes a pit crew to put on but overall it worked well. My fat head
won't fit into the jester so that will be modified or turned into a
decoration.
My brother got a mask from Trick or
Treat Studios Krampus collection. He'd actually ordered the less
expensive window peeper mask because this one was out of stuck,
obviously the order got messed up at some point so let's call that a
fine bit of luck. Sadly the thing is so heavy that the one pathetic
strap doesn't hold it in place making it more of a decoration. Also
want to point out it had tags for how to care for a latex mask.
Jesus, Trick or Treat, get your shit together.
My nephew wore the animotion scarecrow
mask which worked out great. I've tried get one of these before but
they never fit my head quite right. The kid didn't have that issue.
You may also notice a devil themed luchador mask I get in straight
from Mexico City for anyone who needed a quick costume.
The rest of the night while a bit more
quiet than I would have liked but was still good. Took in some new
spooky flicks, ate crap tons of pizza and pumpkin ale. When I
consider all the adventures and new goodies I experienced this year,
it was definitely one of the finest seasons in recent memory. There
were a few extra items I wish I'd fit it but it wasn't for a lack of
trying. This was a jam packed Halloween which after all the work I've
had this year, this was the kind of celebration I needed.
Currently I'm in the midst of the
great undecorating spree. There's a good 8 or 9 totes overflowing in
the basement with more items still waiting to be taken down. Not to
mention I still have my Luigi's Mansion to beat, the Fury of Dracula
board game to play, and excess horror flicks to fill my Saturday
nights for weeks to come. As if that wasn't enough to keep me
occupied, I visited Barnes and Nobel and splurged on their Criterion
sale, now I've got 25 Zatoichi movies to work through.
As for the site I've got several
articles planed and lining up for you all. First I've gotta catch up
on Zyuohger recaps, then I've got the newest Star Wars novel to talk
about, and let's not forget about all that fine seasonal food hitting
the aisles.
I hope Halloween treated you all well.
Even if it didn't live up to your expectations we're still in the
heart of the holiday streak. There's a giant turkey followed by a
jolly fat man charging our way. Plenty of opportunity to have some
fun. Talk to you all soon.
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