Happy Halloween!
Did everyone watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"?
I watch it every year, and I never tire of it. But just once, I would love to see Charlie Brown get some love, as they say.
"I got a chocolate bar!" "I got a popcorn ball!"
"I got a rock."
Come on, people. Just because the kid fucked up his ghost costume doesn't give you the right to dog him out. Give him some love!
Anyway, watching that reminded me of the time when I was a child, and me and my friends would all get together for Trick-or-Treat. No one said what they were going to be on Halloween. When they showed up at the designated meeting place in their costume, we all had to guess who was who. After everyone was ready, we would proceed to hit the street with our pillow cases in hand and go trick-or-treating.
Little plastic pumpkin baskets with a handle? Nope! We were professional at this. And we were going to get as much candy booty as we could. That's why we had the big bags!
We would usually go around several blocks, and we would run into a few friends from school that lived on the next block. We would tell each other who was giving out the good stuff, and who was giving out money. Hey, a quarter could buy a soda or a pack of baseball cards back then.
Some people who were giving out candy would have their yards made up like a grave yard or a haunted house. I remember one year someone had a casket standing up by the front door, and a vampire laid inside. After you got your candy, that vampire would then jump out and chase after you.
Do that now, and the parents will slap a lawsuit on you for "emotionally disturbing" their child.
Like as if being chased by some guy in makeup and fake teeth is going to make someone distraught for the rest of their life.
As our feet began to hurt and our bags became heavy, we would eventually go in for the night. And as I sorted out the candy on the floor in front of the television, Frankenstein or Dracula would be providing the scares on the small screen. And Dad would always take a few Bit-of-Honey bars.
That's all right. Just don't take the Snickers bars!
Today, I do not have any children. But if I did, I would probably be going through the same ritual, walking them down the street in their costumes and saying hello to all the neighbors. And I would probably tell the children who is giving out what.
As for the small screen, not one channel is showing anything for Halloween. Instead of a good monster movie, I have to watch something like "America's Next Top Model".
What are they going to do for Halloween? Watch a model scream while someone holds a chocolate bar in front of her face?
Good thing I have a home theater system. That way, I can watch some scary DVDs at home. Such as "Planet Terror".
If you like the flesh eating zombie movies, this one is great. It is Robert Rodriquez' homage to the old zombie horror movies that you would see at the drive-in. And it has Rose McGowan in it.
I will caution you, though, it is really graphic. But it also has a lot of laughs.
Oh, and one last thing. I remember before we would go out for trick-or-treat, we would tell each other ghost stories. And every Halloween, someone would tell the story of "The Monkey's Paw."
I do not have enough time to tell it, but go to www.americanliterature.com, and you will see several headings for novels. Click on "Twenty Great American Short Stories", and then click the heading for "The Monkey's Paw". And just in case that is not enough, there are also some stories from Edgar Allen Poe.
Hope you enjoy it, and have a great Halloween.
