It is Halloween time again! I can remember my earliest memory of Halloween costumes that really were like wearing a trash bag. Remember those? Even scarier, I recall the Fat Head...
What Would Lucy Do? – The Oscar Edition [Piping Hot Nerd]
posted by Patrick Connolly
With the Oscars approaching and my hair receding, I reminisce. The Oscars are a must see event for me annually. It can be a special night with friends and food and comfy chairs, hoping to win the office Oscar pool. When you live in Los Angeles, as I did for years, you are “right there.” People watch this awards show all over the world and in Los Angeles we know we are only a vintage Armani’s full length away from the event. I always liked feeling as if I was part of it. I was a seat-filler at the Emmys once, but never hit the heights of becoming a seat-filler at the Oscars. Many years ago as an undergrad at UCLA, I hosted an Oscar viewing party in my apartment in West LA. After the show was over I said to my guests “Hey we are minutes from the Beverly Hilton where the Oscar party is!” There was a collective “So?” “Well let’s go and watch the stars come in. It will be a great memory, trust me.” Though I was entirely directionless personally and professionally in college, I knew it was important to rack up memories. I got my friend Laurette on my side by promising that she would see Jack Nicholson walk in. The others just followed. East on Wilshire Boulevard we went, got parked and stood behind the velvet cord to watch the stars make their way into the Grand Ballroom. It was exhilarating seeing major stars like Ginger Rogers and Daryl Hannah walk by all smiles and dyed feathers. Then the whole thing turned on me. I hated being behind that velvet cord. I wanted to be one of the people at the party. I was so talented at something;...
Tim Mitchell Sold His Soul to Halloween [Fierce Anticipation]
posted by Tim Mitchell
FIERCELY ANTICIPATING: HALLOWEEN I’m a horror film fan — of course I’m looking forward to Halloween! This is the one time during the year where many of the things that make my freak flag fly–ghosts, skeletons, giant spiders, zombies, tombstones, and haunted houses–are not only considered acceptable decorum in both public and private settings, they are actively encouraged. I’ve lost track of how many spur-of-the-moment stores I’ve seen pop up this time of year to sell masks, costumes and all sorts of props, and some companies have even launched lines of Halloween tree ornaments, which opens up all sorts of new possibilities for eerie self-expression. It’s almost as if the horror sections of bookstores, libraries and video rental businesses break out of their (ab)normal dwellings and seize control of the public sphere for a few weeks. It’s glorious. (Of course, I never let seasonal restrictions stop me from indulging in ghoulish glee. My wife and I put up two gargoyles in our front lawn for one Halloween. Not only did we never take them down, we went out and got four more, and our gaggle of gargoyles is still on display to this day. I also picked up some eyeball ornaments but since we don’t put up our tree until December, they go up with the rest of the ornaments then. Thus, if you ever see our Christmas tree, don’t be surprised to find it staring back at you.) No one is required to subject themselves to anything scary on Halloween, but to me there’s something very refreshing and genuine about a holiday that openly combines fear and fun. We live in a scary enough world as it is, and sometimes the best way to cope with that is to actively engage the most...