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A Night for Devils
It's that scariest weekend of the year and I'm playing it surprisingly low key. Today, I have donned my favorite "No Fat Chicks" shirt. My costume is Irony; and that is hilarious. Tomorrow is the NaNo gathering. The Finster Effect promises to kick-ass. The little meet-and-greet thingy is at Pizza House. Even though I've been eating their food for years, I've never actually been there. This will be followed by writing and TV--new Dexter and The Walking Dead premiere.
Watched most of the rally on TV today, except I got up late. I tuned in* just in time to see Sam Waterson give a speech, then Cat Stevens, Ozzy, and the O Jays (the non-murderous ones) singing variously themed songs about trains. Then I watched until the end, surprised that it was over by 3pm. How reasonable! I was bummed I forgot to DVR it, but I presume they'll be selling DVD's of it soon enough--with the profits going to charity, no doubt. *Do people still say that? I'm not actually tuning anything.
In my part of the world, it's Devil's Night. For some reason, I'm going to be headed toward the fires etc, instead of remaining in Ann Arbor--where "fun" fires are pretty much unheard of outside an actual fire pit. So, play nice out there kids. And if you simply MUST vandalize something or set something ablaze--please make sure there are no people inside. We don't want a repeat of...well, every other year since I was a wee Wednes.
Saw a post from some person who is a decade or so younger than me. It was all about the "good old days" of Halloween and how it's all commercial and ruined now. Most of it is written with the same ignorance of people saying whatever decade they were a pre-teen in is the "good old days" instead of simply recognizing that things seemed simpler to us when we were children. Apparently the costumes, decor, and candy is all infinitely worst than it was in, I guess, the 80's or 70's or whenever this "International ... Novelist" grew up.
Most hilarious is the idea that "now" you can't give away homemade treats because "these days" people put poison and razor blades in them. Pardon me, but the razorblade-in-the-apple has been an Urban Legend since at least the 1950's, and plenty of people give homemade treats to kids. I suppose these new-fangled sidewalks and 23-skidoo street lamps are ruining everything too. And OMG there are more kidnappings on Halloween!!1!--which has no basis in actual statistics (I checked) but why the hell not say it anyway, right? Halloween *is* all about scaring the shit out of people, I guess...
And of course, the evil corporations that "jack up the prices" of scary things--as opposed to Blythe dolls and other non-scary things that people pay ridiculous amounts for. Please. Stores exist to make a profit. That's got nothing to do with Halloween or the "good old days." My mom was furious that my crappy plastic costume from K-mart was $12--and that's when you could still get a Snickers for a Quarter. Seriously, she sounded like a conspiratorial crank--except not remotely old enough to keep saying "in this day and age."
Personally, I managed to get some awesome holiday swag for well under $20. I skipped the Snickers.
Happy Halloween, kids!
Watched most of the rally on TV today, except I got up late. I tuned in* just in time to see Sam Waterson give a speech, then Cat Stevens, Ozzy, and the O Jays (the non-murderous ones) singing variously themed songs about trains. Then I watched until the end, surprised that it was over by 3pm. How reasonable! I was bummed I forgot to DVR it, but I presume they'll be selling DVD's of it soon enough--with the profits going to charity, no doubt. *Do people still say that? I'm not actually tuning anything.
In my part of the world, it's Devil's Night. For some reason, I'm going to be headed toward the fires etc, instead of remaining in Ann Arbor--where "fun" fires are pretty much unheard of outside an actual fire pit. So, play nice out there kids. And if you simply MUST vandalize something or set something ablaze--please make sure there are no people inside. We don't want a repeat of...well, every other year since I was a wee Wednes.
Saw a post from some person who is a decade or so younger than me. It was all about the "good old days" of Halloween and how it's all commercial and ruined now. Most of it is written with the same ignorance of people saying whatever decade they were a pre-teen in is the "good old days" instead of simply recognizing that things seemed simpler to us when we were children. Apparently the costumes, decor, and candy is all infinitely worst than it was in, I guess, the 80's or 70's or whenever this "International ... Novelist" grew up.
Most hilarious is the idea that "now" you can't give away homemade treats because "these days" people put poison and razor blades in them. Pardon me, but the razorblade-in-the-apple has been an Urban Legend since at least the 1950's, and plenty of people give homemade treats to kids. I suppose these new-fangled sidewalks and 23-skidoo street lamps are ruining everything too. And OMG there are more kidnappings on Halloween!!1!--which has no basis in actual statistics (I checked) but why the hell not say it anyway, right? Halloween *is* all about scaring the shit out of people, I guess...
And of course, the evil corporations that "jack up the prices" of scary things--as opposed to Blythe dolls and other non-scary things that people pay ridiculous amounts for. Please. Stores exist to make a profit. That's got nothing to do with Halloween or the "good old days." My mom was furious that my crappy plastic costume from K-mart was $12--and that's when you could still get a Snickers for a Quarter. Seriously, she sounded like a conspiratorial crank--except not remotely old enough to keep saying "in this day and age."
Personally, I managed to get some awesome holiday swag for well under $20. I skipped the Snickers.
Happy Halloween, kids!
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Is that person really younger than you? She sounds older than me! How lame.
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And yeah, that gif totally kicked my ass!
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In addition to the points to take issue with:
"Centuries ago, Halloween was considered a religious day among the Pagans and Druids with costumes that kept them safe from the dead yet disguised them for receiving spooky treats."
o.O
1) Don't capitalize pagan. Not in that context, anyway.
2) Samhain was a harvest festival. There were no "spooky treats".
3) The "spooky" bit actually comes from Christianity. Nov 1 is All Souls' Day, making Oct 31 All Souls' Eve. Pondering the dead gave people an eerie feeling, and ... well, I guess Dia de los Muertos is the most intact remnant of Christian All Souls' Day ritual.
The Christians noticed the people who followed the Old Religion (aka "pagans") having bonfires and festivals and all around celebrations rather than being scared around that night, so they made some rather silly assumptions about the Old Religion and Samhain and the Devil and the dead. Because really, what kind of God-fearing person wouldn't be scared out of their mind on All Soul's Eve?
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