This year, I remain undecided what I'll watch from the laptop. I've already watched "Ghostbusters" today, whilst carving pumpkins, and hopefully I'll be able to convince a certain someone to watch "The Exorcist" tonight. It is tradition, after all.
It's been a weird fall for the state of horror in film, "The Thing" didn't play so well (I haven't made it out to see it yet, either), and "Paranormal Activity 3" dominated the competition, leaving few studios to release anything. "Fright Night" came out in August, inexplicably, and while it got great reviews and was an absolute riot, it just didn't catch an audience. Alas. Some argue horror is dying, I simply argue it needs to be done right. "The Walking Dead" and "PA3" are perfect examples. If it's worth watching, they will watch. Anyway, enough soapboxing.
The pumpkin roster this year got downright dirty and ambitious. A total of 10 (!!!) pumpkins were carved with care today. Jess crafted a Tinkerbell pumpkin and a Stitch pumpkin, and I do think the Stitch is undoubtedly the best. I myself carved Sam's Face from "Trick R Treat" again (it's a classic as far as I'm concerned, watch it!), Jack Skellington's Pumpkin King face, a classic Jack O Lantern, Autobot and Decepticon logos (sibling requests), music notes, a spooky tree and pumpkin, and the classic Jaws poster! I'm going to figure out how to put pictures up here ASAP.
Candy selection remains relatively simple, the Nestle variety pack (smarties, kit kat, coffee crisp and aero) with a Reese/Hershey variety pack thrown in too. Classic.
3...2...1... Blog.
6:28 - Early birds. I hate early birds. I'm trying to put the pumpkins out, dammit! It's my brother's friend and his little brother. They dressed as General Grievous from Star Wars (decent costume, storebought) and the three year old was Mario (not storebought, kid was cute as hell). That's 2 so far.
6:37 - One little girl, maybe four years old, dressed as a witch. The costume had lots of layers and pieces, really solid stuff. She probably could have had her face painted, but I'm not losing any sleep over that, face paint is uncomfortable!
6:45 - Two boys, friends of my brothers, one is our next door neighbour. They both dressed as mummies to varying degrees of success. Costumes were home made, props for that, but they did allegedly steal the idea from my brother. Bad karma, boys... Ryan had to go as a rock star instead.
6:58 - FOUR boys, all around 10-11. They were, and I quote: "A ghost, a zombie with an afro, a robber on vacation and... Him." "Him" was some sort of grim reaper type thing. Good for them, they're having fun. We are already at 9 kids. Lookin goooood. (Knock on wood.)
SIDE NOTE - Plenty of compliments on the pumpkins, particularly Tink, Stitch and Jaws. Gotta love it.
7:12 - Five dudes, all my brother's friends. Why he didn't go out, I'll never know. Anyway, they were: The guy from "Minecraft", Mr. Potato Head, a green morphsuit (so lazy... he wasn't even Green Man!), Ghostface from scream, and my brother's friend Braden was "Brad, from our school. Ask Kyle. Brad's the worst." He was dressed as a bro'd out douche, so I guess that's what Brad is. These boys were all around 14, which coincidentally is how many people we've had already!
7:14 - Two girls with their mom. One girl was Hermione, I didn't notice the wand at first, she was wearing a GAP sweater over her robe too, and had glasses... Whatever. Her sister was Belle from Beauty and the Beast, but a zombie version. The older girl was Hermione, maybe 10, the Zombie Belle was like... 5 or 6. Respect. SIXTEEN PEOPLE!!!
7:28 - Two more girls, one a sorceress and the other a Skeleton-Bride. Points for more complex concepts than witch and ghost. They were with their father, who had a dog hat on. Solidarity, pops.
SIDE NOTE #2 - We may be going for a record year here. It's not even 8, and I'm already at 18. 23 is the magic number, let's hear it for 24! BIG MONEY! Also, just figured out how to upload images direct from my iPhone to imageshack, therefore putting them IN THE BLOG LIVE! Here's for genius!
7:39 - Two more little girls, 7 and 3, I'd say. Both witches. Wearing hoodies. I guess it IS chilly out... Witches are out in full force this year. 20 kids. We're going for gusto. Almost used up a full bowl of candy!
PUMPKIN INTERLUDE:
7:55 - AND RECORD BROKEN! A little girl being carried around by her parents, she's literally a baby in a ladybug costume, her parents dressed up too: a foreman and a witch (how many witches is that now?)! RECORD BROKEN! BROKEN! YAY!
7:56 - THE STREAK CONTINUES! My brothers came back to deposit candy and warm up, and brought a friend, Sebastian, who is now the RECORD SETTING 25TH TRICK OR TREATER OF 2011! CASA DE PEDRICK IS ON FIRE! He's dressed as a Shopping Bag, and it's pretty funny. HOT DAMN.
8:18 - Two more girls, maybe 10 and 4? The older one was a vampire, the younger one a monkey. Complimented the pumpkins again (love that the work pays off), perfectly nice. Mom said thanks. 27 kids, what a year. Not expecting to see many more though.
8:35 - The robber on vacation and "Him" from earlier (brother's friends) came back. I expressed my displeasure for their faux pas, and awarded them singular pieces of candy. Not classy.
EDITORIAL INTERLUDE
It's odd to see Halloween ebb and flow like this. The holiday seems more commercial than ever, how many costume stores did you see pop up over town this year? Tons. It's becoming a whole season, and it should always be about the scares and the fantasy of things that go bump in the night.
Halloween gets a lot of flack from conservative religious or uptight folk, but any real ties to sinister nature are long gone. Halloween is about fun, and that's why it's marketed to kids. It doesn't "promote violence" or anything of the sort. I don't think any of my costumes were ever inherently "evil", and I always had a good time.
The night of Halloween shouldn't differ for kids when it's a weekend or a weeknight. I really think it should be a statutory holiday, and parents should embrace the sense of community around them, and their kids should go out and get that candy till they can barely walk. I know that up here, it's cold and what not, but a night like tonight? Very little wind, no snow, BUNDLE UP AND TRICK OR TREAT, DAMMIT.
Pumpkins are essential, and I'm saddened to say that while I think every house on my cul de sac is offering candy, only two of us could be bothered to carve pumpkins. It's not very appealing to glance down our street, we don't look festive at all. If I had planned ahead, I would have carved many, many more (not all complex) to lure people down the road on to the pathway to my glorious pumpkin patch. But hindsight is 20/20.
The concept of making your lawn an event is something that attracts me, and I think parents like the idea of simply driving around to these few showpieces. It makes the night seem bigger, and it ends up being less work. It's truly North American for us to find a way to make a night about getting free candy become less strenuous and exercise like, but there it is.
Did we work harder for the candy as kids? I seem to think so. The sheer ground covered by myself and others in the past is testament to it. You go out as soon as night falls, and dammit, you stay out until people take their pumpkins in. Some houses in our neighbourhood used to hand out cotton candy (FRESH STUFF. They made it right there in their garage.), and a huge house on the corner handed out chips and cans of pop. I actually remember waiting in a LINE for those houses. I don't know if they still do, I haven't been out in years. If they get as many kids as I do, it hardly seems worth it.
It seems like in the age of the internet and social awareness being as slanted as it can be, the sense of community that should come with Halloween is lost. People don't wander around their neighborhood with their kids because THEY DON'T KNOW THEIR NEIGHBORS. And that's a damn shame.
I don't want to see Halloween die. My parents don't like it, and I guarantee, unless I convince a brother below me to take up the mantle, when everyone here is of age, no pumpkins will be put out, and no fun will be had. It's not their thing. Why? I don't know. My father deems the whole affair needless, but if that's true, that mindless fun for the sake of fun is needless, then why do we bother with anything? The whole Christmas season is so removed from whatever it meant to any religious denomination at any point, that to call it worthwhile would be a severe stretch and an insult to Halloween.
I get more and more in to Halloween every year. This year I did 10 pumpkins. Next year? I'd like to do double that. I want to become an event house, people driving up to it, because it's about creating that sense of wonder for kids, and hell, even adults. People like my pumpkins, it's impressive. I want to make something that is fun for me to do, and more fun for people to see. Everyone deserves to have a little fun. Especially on Halloween.
9:00 - One guy, just dressed for cold weather. He was probably about 15, out by himself. He had a snowboarding jacket on, and I said "What are you dressed as, make it up..." and he snipped back "A rainbow." Sure enough, flashy Quiksilver coat it was, I laughed. Also, props for going solo and not backing down, and FURTHER props for not ringing my doorbell, which too many people did this year. He simply shouted Trick or Treat outside my door. Mad respect.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Well, it's been a record breaking year. I can't really complain, can I? Halloween still isn't what it used to be, but I think people are recognizing that now, and maybe, just maybe, bringing it back. 28 kids is nothing to shake a stick at, it's almost DOUBLE last year (13....), but if the night is right and the weather is consistent, it's a good time. Do your part though, carve a pumpkin or two, and let people know you're down to Hallow. This is my favorite part of fall, and this year was a gooder. Hopefully I can coax Jess in to watching SOMETHING... End Halloween Live Blog 2011.
PUMPKIN INTERLUDE #2
I'm enjoying your enthusiasm. :) Good to hear that people are finally trick-or-treating in St. A again. The last few years have been rough.
ReplyDeleteBless you, Butler, you're reading my blog.
ReplyDeleteI'm really bored at work.
ReplyDelete