Halloweening

Went to a grown-up Halloween party last night. As usual, I dressed up as a vampire, only this time, I got these great fangs that I customized, so they clicked right in place and stayed. I wore all black and my hair was long and stringy and I wore red contact lenses, which really looked creepy. MyMan wore fake bite marks on his neck and lots of blood dripping down his t-shirt. On the back was written: When she said she wanted to suck me, this isn't quite what I had in mind.
HO HO HO.

The hostess was, as she called it, a slutty pirate, but she just looked very cute, with her short outfit and poofy detached sleeves and pirate hat. Oh yeah, and she had a whip. A really tall man came as a pirate and he looked great, wig and all. There was a penguin, a goth chick, that football player who crashed his motorcycle while drunk (I don't follow football), a choirboy, a cowgirl fairy, and um....that's about it. Why people go to a Halloween party and don't dress up is beyond me. One guy said he didn't get the whole dress up thing about Halloween. Huh? It's all about living the fantasy! Bringing out your alter ego. Make believe. Going out in public and freeing yourself of YOU. It can even be about making a statement. Or scaring people. Or entertaining them.

Maybe it's just the actor in me that has always loved dressing up. Or maybe it's the child in me. Most children love to dress up and pretend, don't they? If you want to strip it down to the bone, that's pretty much what actors are doing. I mean, it's really a lot more complex than that, but that surely could pass as the simple explanation.

I guess it's also a way to be creative. I really appreciate it when I see a costume that took some time to create, or a unique idea. Like MyMan's t-shirt...easy to make, but a great idea (his). I heard about this one couple - the husband came as a baby being born, his head coming out from between two fake legs, and his wife was dressed in medical scrubs! At one party, there was a guy who made a great Moses. He brought cardboard tablets and had the other guests write their own commandments on them. The funniest thing about that night was that he ended up hanging out with another guest who had come as Satan! Satan and Moses hanging out, smoking a blunt outside. That was a sight, let me tell you! One of my favorites from my own past Halloween partying was a pregnant girl scout (I wasn't "prepared"). Also, Casper's friend Spooky. I wore a huge sheet, tie around my neck, freckles, and a derby. It's a lot of fun when no one can tell who you are!

I remember hearing about one guy who came to a party wearing nothing but roller skates. He was a pull toy. Hmmm...urban legend...or TRUTH!? You decide.

Another idea that was funny (but rejected due to the fact that it would hinder any fun for the wearer) was wearing black and white splotched sweats and an udder and lying on his side all night. He'd be a ......tipped cow! A new one this year for a group - everyone dresses up as items you can no longer carry onto planes. My old standby is a vampire, because a) it's easy, and b) I love all things vampiric. I won't go down that road, I'll be here all day.

So, what are your ideas?

November Movies!

But first, a few for Halloween: The Grudge 2, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, and Saw III. I saw Saw 1 and it was excellent. Not as gory as you would think...more a psychological thriller. Oh, and Night of the Living Dead...in 3D!!

NOVEMBER

Deja Vu, directed by Tony Scott. A sci-fi thriller about an ATF agent played by Denzel Washington, who uses the sensation of deja vu to help lead him to clues. It was the first film shot in New Orleans after Katrina. Also starring Val Kilmer and Jim Caviezel.

The Fountain, written and directed by Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, another one you should see), and starring Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz, Ellen Burstyn. According to EW, it's "a trippy meditation on love and death."

Candy, with Heath Ledger. A love triangle between a free-spirited poet, an art student and heroin.

Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny. For Jack Black fans - searching for a guitar pick that has rock-god-giving powers.

The Return, with Sarah Michelle Gellar and Sam Shepard (sigh). Eerie thriller.

Fur, with Nicole Kidman (love her), Robert Downey, Jr. (love him). It is a fictional account of three months in the life of photographer Diane Arbus.

For Your Consideration, by that crazy gang who were responsible for Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind. This time it's about an indie, Home For Purin, that unexplainedly starts picking up Oscar buzz. Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Harry Shearer, Parker Posey. Can't wait!

The Santa Claus 3: The Escape Claus finds our hero (Tim Allen) fighting Jack Frost (Martin Short). Loved the first two...good family shows that are fun for the parents, too.

The Hoax is based on a true story about a con man who convinces publishers that he has obtained exclusive access to the reclusive Howard Hughes for an autobiography. Richard Gere, Marcia Gay Harden. Gere is quoted in EW, "It's this weird mix of serious drama and real humor, and it has a kind of Beatles-esque quality to it."

In Stranger Than Fiction, Will Ferrell tries his hand at dramady. His character hears a voice and realizes that a woman is narrating his life. Also with Maggie Gyllenhall, Dustin Hoffman, and Emma Thompson (one of the greats). This is one I'm really looking forward to.

Ali G fans will like Borat, which also stars Pamela Anderson. Sacha Baron Cohen brings his Kazakhstani TV personality, Borat, to the big screen.

and in DECEMBER...

Dreamgirls, a film adaptation of the 1981 Broadway musical, which is loosley based on the Supremes career . Beyonce Knowles, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy.

The Good German, directed Steven Soderbergh. George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Tobey Maguire. Black and white. According to EW, set in devastated post-WWII Berlin, "the murder mystery traces an American journalist (Clooney) assigned to cover the Potsdam conference between Hurchill, Stalin, and Truman.

Rocky Balboa. Um...'nuff said.

The Good Shepherd, with Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, and Robert DiNiro, who also directs. A Cold War spy tale.

Okay, last but not least, a remake of the 1974 slasher flick, Black Christmas, opens on Christmas day. I saw this movie, with Olivia Hussey and Keir Dullea, in a drive-in in New Hampsire that was basically a field surrounded by woods. It was SOOOOOO scary. At the time, it was called Silent Night, Evil Night. If it's at all as scary as the first one, it should be a great one to go to with your best friend or S.O. and clutch each other and scream to!

link-a-dink

As you may or may not know, I've become hooked on youtube lately. It's truly amazing what people will put online for the world to see. A lot of it is simply dreadful or boring, but there is also quite a lot that is hilarious. My current favorites are listed below. Enjoy!

Where the hell is Matt? this video was made by a guy from Australia who saved up for a few years, quit his job and went around the world. He recorded himself dancing in every country. This is somehow very uplifting. Please check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNF_P281Uu4

Remember the guy who played Biff inthe Back to the Future movies? He's a stand up comedian, too. Here is a hilarious song he performs about everyone bugging him with questions about the movies. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwY5o2fsG7Y

These two guys are brilliant. This isn't the BEST sample of their video antics, but it's the best short one. Look 'em up on youtube under "nobody's watching."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af5E1uLbbx0&mode=user&search=

Watch the car in this very closely!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QATfpcCYqG4

He tenido bastantes

I am SO SICK of having the "option" of dealing with my bank/store/whatever in either Spanish or English. This is the USA! Our language is ENGLISH! I am a descendant of Italian immigrants. They came here, became legal citizens and learned English. And come to think of it, since my ancestors are all from Italy, I don't "owe" anything to the Native Americans or descendants of slaves. My ancestors didn't have anything to do with you. They weren't in this country until the turn of the century. And come to think of it, even if my ancestors had cheated the natives or owned slaves, I’ve never been on to believe in the “sins of the father” being paid for by his descendants. So unless anyone out there can give me a reeeeeeally good reason why I should feel otherwise (I have a fairly open mind, even on subjects I feel strongly about), that's where I stand.

Lets be clear about this. I have no problem with immigrants...even more, I welcome them, enjoy them, learn from them. This is my country. As hard as it may be to do at the moment, I still love it. If anyone moved here and became legal citizens, paying taxes and contributing to the pot from which we withdraw social services (and into which they dip so frequently and deeply), I'd welcome them with open arms to enrich our country. I love the mix of peoples and I have never been one for "pure blood." Everyone knows that mutts are saner and healthier than purebreds. :)The main complaints for me are, when you leave your homeland to make a life in a new country, learn the language. It's English here. It is very simply the right thing to do to learn the language and customs. Keep your language and customs in your own home if you want and share them with whoever you want, but "when in Rome..." and 2) pay taxes like everyone else! ESPECIALLY when you are taking advantage of the programs we have set up for the less fortunate!! There has got to be a way to deal with this.

Nostalgia

I was driving home today from visiting my daughter today and found in my car a CD of 70s tunes. I popped it in and was immediately transported back in time. Todd Rundgren's "Hello, It's Me." I was 20 years old, hanging out at Hot Dog Beach with my boyfriend, Andy. That song will always remind me of him. That whole summer revolved around him. Funny, I just remembered thinking, in my early 20s, that summer was for me a period of lots of experience impacted into a short time, so I thought I did most of my emotional growth during the summer. I don't know if that was true, but it's what it seemed like when I was much younger.

Simply Red's "Holding Back the Years" is another song that brings me back to another boyfriend, one who relentlessly persued me until I broke down and fell for him, and then cruelly broke my heart. I still feel a wave of melancholly when I hear those two songs. It's not that I wish I could go back in time or even that I wish I could be with either of them...it's just that I associate those songs with times of bliss, then ultimately heartache. It's a strange power that music has. And the music that we like becomes the soundtrack to our memories.

The only thing that can bring me back in time like that is scent. Sandalwood and patchouli, pine trees, certain perfumes (or men's colognes)...they all have that power to send me back in time. It's like scratch'n'sniff memories! Who says time-travel is impossible?!

The song that brings me back to my wedding day is Van Morrison's "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?" Not Rod Stewart's boiled down bland version of Van the Man's composition. Van had strings and brass and such full and beautiful orchestration.

What about you? What songs serve as your own personal time machine?

A New World

I am not, by a long shot, considered a youth anymore...just stillbarely middle-aged. So it's probably not a suprise that I've only just discovered youtube.com. It is the world of videos...video blogs, video parodies, video everything, and mostly inhabited, it seems, by teens and 20-somethings. So, it was also not a surprise that I have just discovered lonelygirl15, a video blogger on youtube. Her earliest blog was this past June. An adorably cute young girl who goes by the name of Bree and is 16, homeschooled, and "very religious." I couldn't get enough of this kid's videos. Even as I was watching them, I wondered, "Is this all for real? Is this some kind of hoax?" She talked about how she was selected for this secretive religious ceremony, a huge honor and so exclusive that her parents wouldn't even be there. She talked about sneaking out of the house to go to a party ("my first!"). She shared the drama of her first boyfriend, who seemed like a creep, but who seemed to be trying to get her away from what sounded more and more like a cult-ish religion.

Well, it was NOT real. Two guys (funny, it never occurred to me that SHE might have invented lonelygirl15) held auditions that they posted on craigslist, hired her, and began this series of video blogs. As a matter of fact, my suspicions were confirmed online, when an interview with her on the Jay Leno show was posted, along with another interviews of her and one of the creators of the "show." He said that the plotline was developed based on the input from viewers who got caught up in the angst of this young character. All I can say is GENIUS! It's unfortunate that they came clean, because the whole mystery of is she or is she not for real added to the enjoyment of the blogs, but I'll still tune in to see what happens. It's a new art-form, beyond reality shows...audience interactive drama."

I also like youtube because it's so interesting to see what people will share about themselves on video to the world, and for the hilarious videos...go there and search "cats" and be prepared to laugh hard and long.