Ah, Halloweentown, Disney Channel's silly little series of TV movies... some fun. I've seen the first few, and for the past couple years or so, I've been thinking I should rewatch them at some point and write up little reviews for my Halloween TV movies page. Well, last night I taped the first one and watched it today, and wrote a review for it, or more of a summary, anyway. The second one is on tonight, but I won't have a chance to watch or tape it. Still, I'm sure it'll be rerun over the next couple weeks, along with all the movies. Hopefully I'll catch the other two at some point, as well as the fourth movie in the series, which is premiering this month. We'll see....
Oct. 19
As I'm sure you'll all be well aware, ABC Family has an annual event called The 13 Nights of Halloween, which begins on the 19th. Tonight I watched "The Corpse Bride" for the first time, on that channel. Been wanting to see that since... well, before it was in theaters. And I've been thinking of getting the DVD... it has a red dot at Movie Gallery, so that means it's just $5. But, on TV it's free. So, I watched it. And I guess I liked it, just not nearly as much as I'd hoped. I put the review here, though I can't say I won't move it to a higher tier someday. I will say I have no immediate plans to buy the DVD, but I'd probably like to see it again. Someday. Anyway, speaking of necrophilia, on tonight's Supernatural, some guy brought a dead girl he liked back to life, and uh... she started killing people who had wronged her, so Sam and Dean had to stop her, of course....
Oct. 24
Today I read an article in the October issue of Anime Insider that I've been holding off on for awhile. In honor of Halloween, the staff reviewed some Japanese candy. Which was cool. But I haven't really got anything useful to say about it. Anyway, I really have to catch up on reading the rest of that issue now, because the November issue already came the other day....
Meanwhile, I just read a Boondocks comic online, which is pretty cool. I do like the strip, and I like Huey, and I like Jazmine. Usually I think Huey is right about most things, and the sanest, most intelligent and reasonable person in the strip. But not always. And I usually don't really care for the way he talks to Jazmine. But in this one, I think she pretty neatly won....
Oct. 25
Well, for the past few months I've been watching reruns of "Dead Like Me" on Sci-Fi Channel. Always wanted to see that show, but of course I never had Showtime, so it was nice to have a chance to see it now. And last night, the final two episodes aired, and I watched them this morning. The last one was set on Halloween. Fun. Well, I'll miss the show....
Also watched South Park. Satan threw a "super sweet 16" Halloween party. And people wer summoning Biggie Smalls by saying his name three times in front of a mirror, but he just wanted to get to the party. There were also a bunch of Catholic priests or whatever who wanted to get into the party. And in the end Satan learned a lesson about... not being self-centered, or whatever. Well, it was fun. Oh yeah, and he ordered a Ferrari cake, which was supposed to be picked up by three serial killers who were in Hell. But they had some Three Stooges-like misadventures.
Oct. 26
Today I got a Halloween card in the mail from my grandparents, with a $10 check inside. This shall prove most helpful....
Oct. 28
Had a bowl of Count Chocula this morning. It's always nice to get a monster cereal for Halloween, though it can be hard to choose. My favorite is Boo Berry. But this year, Cartoon Network is using Dracula (from "The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy") as like the host for a bunch of the programming they've been doing recently. Actually, he's like a puppet or something, that looks like the cartoon character. Anyway, I've only ever seen him in one episode, and I'm not sure I've seen the whole thing. I don't watch that show much anyway, so he may have been in other episodes. Whatever, I like the guy, because he's black, but they don't call him "Blacula" or anything, just plain old "Dracula," which I think is cool. So... I thought in honor of the character, I should get some Count Chocula this year.
In other news, today Jetix is airing the episode "W is for Witch" of the series "W.i.t.c.h." It's out of sequence. This season, every episode is named for a letter, and the last one was "S is for Self." Which means they're skipping three episodes, here. And the only explanation I can see is that this is a Halloween episode, and they wanted to air it close to the holiday. Which would be fine if the show were in reruns... well, not fine, but at least acceptable. But for the first run? Unacceptable. This is just an insult to the viewers and to the show itself. It's as if the network just doesn't give a crap about story continuity. So I'm not watching the episode now, I'll wait till the next three episodes have aired. And they better play it again after that and before the following episode. If not, I reckon I'll just have to download it.... Anyway, this really pisses me off.
Um, what else? Yesterday I bought that cereal, and also some Pepsi Jazz black cherry/French vanilla soda. Not sure how Halloweeny that is, but I needed soda, and it seems like Mountain Dew doesn't have any Pitch Black out this year.... And... well, that's pretty much all I can think to say right now. Doubtless there'll be more later....
Later: I watched "The Initiation of Sarah" on ABC Family. Check my review here. Laterer: I watched "Hellboy: Sword of Storms" on Toonami. It was pretty cool, though I don't really think of it as Halloweeny. But I could understand if others (perhaps including Cartoon Network) might think so. Anyway, my review is here. Later still I watched a few shows on Adult Swim: Trinity Blood, Bleach, and Eureka 7. Not Halloweeny (even if one is about vampires and the another about Soul Reapers who fight evil spirits called Hollows), although the start of the lineup moved from midnight to 11:30, and I missed the first few minutes of Trinity Blood, I guess. Nothing important, but imagine if I'd missed the whole thing! That'd be pretty scary, ne? Anyway, after that I watched a tape of The Emperor's New School, an episode about Kuzcoween. It was a holiday Kuzco invented when he was a little kid and went from hut to hut demanding candy. Since then all the kids have started doing that, but Kuzco is getting too old for it. Meanwhile, Yzma wants to ruin Kuzcoween, or start a new holiday, Yzmaween, so she Grinchily puts up scary decorations all over the place... And just like chocolate and peanut butter, it turns out that free candy and scary stuff go surprisingly well together. Who woulda thunk? So Kuzcoween gets a makeover. The episode had another story, about Kuzco and Kronk both wanting to ask Malina to a Kuzcoween masquerade ball, but then she's asked out by a secret crush. Not a very Halloweeny story, but it was okay.
Oct. 29
This morning I downloaded a few songs from Limewire: "This is Halloween" by Panic! At the Disco, another version of "This is Halloween" by Marilyn Manson, "Sally's Song" by Fiona Apple, and "What's This" by Fall Out Boy. Yes, remakes of songs from "The Nightmare Before Christmas." You can buy the album at iTunes, but... I wanted to check out the songs, and... they're good, but I prefer the originals. So I don't want to get this special edition album, I guess. And I'm gonna delete the mp3s I downloaded.
Oct. 30
This morning I watched a tape with various things on it. One was a Halloween episode of Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, which I only watch occasionally. This time, Ned (dressed as a vampire), Moze (a ghost), and Cookie (a werewolf that looked more like a sports mascot) all had to work on organizing a school Halloween party. In the next story, everyone in school really were monsters or whatever... their costumes from the first story were real. Anyway, it was fun. And I'm sure I'll have more to say later....
Well, I finally finished up my "Bela Lugosi's Dead" Avatar AMV. I put it on Megaupload, so... it'll disappear once no one's downloaded it for a month or whatever. Hardly any point in even putting a link here. Oh well. Later I watched some TV, nothing Halloweeny, then did some stuff online, like decorating my board for Halloween. And also I'm listening to the Halloween mixdisc I made a few years ago. I thought I might watch a DVD, but it's getting late. Maybe I'll just go to bed soon....
Oct. 31
Well, the big day is here! I had a bowl of Count Chocula this morning, of course. And I watched "Pumpkin" on DVD. It has nothing to do with Halloween, of course, or even pumpkins, for that matter. But still, it's called Pumpkin, so what the hey, right? It starred Christina Ricci, and... well, it taught me that just because she's in a movie, is not necessarily adequate reason to watch the movie. Not that I'll ever truly learn that lesson, I'm sure. Oh, and I also watched a Halloween episode of WonderPets. They rescued a black kitten who was hiding in a dog house, scared of a ghost. Linney was dressed as a pirate, Tuck was a jack-o-lantern, and Ming Ming was a queen bee.
Anyway, I went to my place of employment, Ruby Tuesday, to get my paycheck. I also ate a hickory chicken burger for lunch there. It had garlic mayonnaise, which I figure might come in handy if any vampires stop by tonight. What else? Um, I got a caramel apple cider at Coffee Express. They didn't technically offer it, but when I asked if they had it, they said they could put a shot of caramel in the apple cider. It wasn't bad. Then I bought myself everyone's favorite Halloween treat, a new toothbrush and toothpaste! Hurrah! And then I got some Pumpkinhead Ale from Shipyard. I shall report more upon that later....
When I got home and checked the mail, there was a Halloween card from Mom with a check for $20, which shall come in handy. Oh, and I also meant to mention that today I'm wearing a new orange shirt for the first time...
Later! I tried my hot apple cider tea for the first time. It was good. And I tried my Pumpkinhead Ale. It was good, though it never got me drunk. I had the beer and some popcorn while watching "Cursed." Yes, another Christina Ricci movie, but I liked this one better. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad. Here's my review. Now watching Veronica Mars. It's supposed to be around Halloween during this episode, but nothing Halloweeny happened in it at all. Oh, we got one trick-or-treater tonight. More candy for us! I hope I'm not forgetting to say anything. Oh yeah, I've heard the song "Lil' Red Riding Hood" a couple times recently, once, I think in the movie Red Riding Hood, and again tonight in "Cursed." Each one had a remake I think, but still, tonight I downloaded the original, by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. Watched "Boston Legal." There was a costume party at the end, and throughout the epsidoe Denise was trying to track down the various body parts of her recently deceased fiancee, and apparently his head was at a haunted house in Salem....
Nov. 3
Watched most of the 1978 version of "The Initiation of Sarah" on Nov 1, but I didn't have time to finish. So, I finished it today, and wrote a review here. And I guess that's all for now....
Nov. 5
Last night I finished up my Count Chocula (mixing it with peanut butter rather than milk). And on the back of the box was a picture of the Count, with the words "I vant you to stay out!" I cut that out and tacked it on my bedroom door. Which when you consider I'm 31 years old, is kinda scary, eh?
Anyway, also yesterday I watched one of the Extremes on my "Three... Extremes" DVD, and I watched the other two today. And I put a review here. Also tonight is the Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror, which I'll be taping while at work. Maybe I'll watch it when I get home tonight. Or maybe not till tomorrow. But once I do, that's it, of course. Halloween is officially over. Sigh.
Okay, I watched it when I got home. Um... first there was an opening like "Tales From the Cryptkeeper" with Mr. Burns. Then there was a story with Homer as a blob eating people. Meh. There was one with a golem killing people and stuff. That was a little better. I liked one line when there was a female golem made out of clay, and the first golem said "Is she for me?" It was very Frosty meets Crystal, y'know? And there was a story set in 1938 during Orson Welles' War of the Worlds radio broadcast. It was nice to hear Maurice LaMarche as Welles. The end with Kodos and Kang invading and the allegory to the occupation of Iraq fell a little flat, I felt. Seemed tacked-on to me. And really, all of the stories sort of seemed to me to end abruptly and not really go anywhere. They felt unfinished. But whatever, I've probably seen worse years for Treehouse of Horror. Definitely seen better ones, though. And now.... I guess all that's left to say is see you next year....
2007
ekt's Halloween page