Times are rough the world over. Here in the States, they (MSM, YouTubers, politicians) tell us that times are really bad today. That may be true for certain families, certain folks. I don't see it like they show it, thank God, but then I'm just a dude making less than the national average annually, so I tend to keep a low profile. I try to remain optimistic, and I don't spend a lot. But if you open your ears, you can hear the plight all around you. People all over this great nation of ours are discussing the world falling apart daily. You know what can help us all? Christmas! Christmas can and will help us get through it, and together. This wonderful holiday brings us together with family and friends and strangers alike and instills in us all that ubiquitously American trait of giving. Through the act of giving we can find joy in sacrifice and altruism, looking out for our neighbors and one another. And a lot of us do not give to get brownie points with the big man in the c...

I finally found, in the wild no less, the vinyl I've once and future owned, the Halloween sounds album from my childhood. I listened to Sounds to Make You Shiver (1974) quite a bit in Octobers of yore. Yore being the equivalent of approximately 36, 37 Octobers. Yeah, 10-year-old me would sit beside the stereo late at night when my parents were asleep and I would spin this up, fantasizing I was a vampire. I also had to grab this all-Halloween episodes Roseanne DVD. I have the complete show on DVD from Mill Creek, but to have all of the Halloween eps on one disc was just too good to pass up! This was something I've wanted to add to my collection for years... No more first-world disc-changing problems for me, sir! And with this we wind down Halloweentober. Gale winds are ushering the harvest season out and it's beginning to feel more like winter than autumn. With that the spooky season fades away, like the morning fog in the bright sun. My final surviv...

Once again, I would like to point out that the jack-o'-lantern is a wonderful symbol of the harvest season, and as such, Thanksgiving. Before the smiling jack became the icon of Halloween, we were using it as a ward during autumn. The pumpkin has long been associated with Thanksgiving, of course. Pumpkin pie is as ubiquitous to the holiday and autumn as it is Halloween. It makes for one of the most beautiful displays sitting atop a bale of hay, with corn stalks and colorful mums. But to spice this up a bit transform some of your pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns deep into November. Keep the Smiling Jack alive this and every autumn! Not personally much of a poem guy, one of my favorites however is from John Greenleaf Whittier. The Pumpkin (1850) touched on the jack-o'-lantern during Thanksgiving. Check it out:  Oh, greenly and fair in the lands of the sun,  The vines of the gourd and the rich melon run, And the rock and the tree and the cottage enfold, With broad leaves all gr...

  This particular Halloweentober has flown by! It's the same old story, the older I get. But I went with the flow, watched a ton of movies and Halloween specials, ate more than my fair share of junk food, and enjoyed the Autumn season. I only managed to carve one pumpkin this year, transforming the gourd into a magical, mystical totem to ward off dark spirits. Here it is below. This past month I read a bunch of my Halloween short stories books, such as The End of Summer , by J. Tonzelli. And This is Halloween , by James A. Moore. I also picked up the book A Season with the Witch , by J.W. Ocker, while in Salem and briefly read through it. It's a great love letter to the Witch City. During the day T and I watched a bunch of spooky and funny Halloween movies, from Sleepy Hollow and Casper and Hubie Halloween to a few slashers and some Roseanne specials. We gorged on cheesesteak and ice cream (not at the same time, of course). It was an absolutely gorgeous Halloween today, with s...

Here's a link . This is a quick little read about Halloween and its development in the "New World". I've been a stanch believer that Halloween in America today is well and truly crafted here, though very much of traditions from the "Old World". But the conglomeration of the holiday is well and formed here in the States, from the carving of the first jack-o'-lanterns to trick or treating as a homegrown manifestation. A lot of these Halloween traditions were simultaneously developed up north with our Canadian cousins too, I'm sure. But with the bigger population Halloween became larger here in the States. And this story gives us some insight into the idea that while Halloween has some traditions that date back to pre-Christ times, what we celebrate here today in America is very much a melting pot of our own construction. This is important to me as this holiday is very much a part of the American experience and identity. If I have to say it aloud, I hav...

We just returned home from Salem, and I...enjoyed it. I did. We did. But I have to say that I fell for the trap that movies can do to your perception of a place sometimes. Watching Hubie Halloween or Hocus Pocus a dozen times had prepared me for a Salem that only exists in imagination and fiction, or in my head. I'm an adult, I should know better. But we are still at the mercy of our imaginations. But the place was genuinely beautiful. And it was still fantastic to see the places and homes from some of my favorite movies. Arriving in Salem I expected a town where every house was decorated for turbo-charged Halloween. I thought every home would look like Hubie's, but what we found was that Salem, at least in the neighborhoods, and while unofficially the town of Halloween in America, looked just like home. Every home was not decorated, nor were half the homes. It was more like 1 in 10. It was sad, at first, until I realized I am a nearly 50-y...

As a vampire aficionado I have always enjoyed the 1979 miniseries Salem's Lot . But over the past several years I've grown to Love this series. First off, before we really get into the meat and potatoes of this miniseries, we have to give props to Count Barlow. This Master vampire is the real deal. He is one of the coolest and eeriest vampires in television or film. Barlow's rat-like teeth, and like Nosferatu's Count Orlok's generations before him, strike an uneasiness down your spine. Recent rewatches of Salem's Lot I noticed just how scary the master really is. Watching this back in my younger days I sorta felt like Barlow was an imposter from the days of disco. Today however I think he completely instills fear in these characters and it's easy to see why. When we see the Master come through the kitchen window and kill the boy's parents, before his face-off with the shaman, the priest, Barlow's disgusting and horrific countenance are striking. Th...