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I dig Halloween. It's probably my favorite non-religious holiday and probably the only holiday that I find myself anticipating weeks in advance. I even look forward to putting out my Jack-O'-Lanterns. (I usually dread having to put out Christmas lights.) I think one of the reasons I like Halloween so much is that it lets me know that fall has finally arrived. Fall is my favorite time of year. The weather is cooling, we spend more time outside, all the greens are turning to yellows and browns and oranges, it is the prime of football season...
Anyway, here's a list of things I like to watch around Halloween time to get me in the mood.
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown - Peanuts has always been one of my favorite comic strips (along with The Far Side, and Calvin and Hobbes). I'd say that this Halloween special is a great metaphor for steadfast belief in something even when it alienates you from the rest of your peers, but truth be told, the thing I like the most about this show is "I got a rock." I've always sort of identified with Charlie Brown, and getting a rock just sort of encapsulates that. Just like A Charlie Brown Christmas, I try to see this one every year.
Treehouse of Horror - While it may be true that The Simpsons have become stale in recent years (I wouldn't know, Mrs. Heavyarms won't let me watch it when the kids are awake), I have always enjoyed their annual Halloween specials. These little mini-trilogies are always good fun. Its frustrating that FOX's Major League Baseball contract usually means that Treehouse of Horror is shown AFTER Halloween, but the Simpsons are so easily found in syndication you can usually find one or two episodes to watch before Halloween.
Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery - For its first three seasons, South Park had a Halloween episode, Pinkeye, Spookyfish, and this one. KGPGM is a spoof on Scooby Doo, and probably one of the best SP episodes. From Cartman's mom's Antonia Banderas blow-up doll (which Carman thinks is a Christmas present for him), Kyle's dead grandmother being dug up and eaten by a stray dog (some grave watchers report the missing body to Kyle's mother and they graphically explain that she was probably stolen by a necrophiliac), a guest appearance by the band Korn (as a cheery mystery-solving team, "Form of...KORN!"), to Kenny's shitty ED-209 costume, this is a great Halloween episode.
Godzilla - Always leave room for a good monster movie, and this is the best one ever. Not that crappy Raymond Burr version, but the original version. I finally had a chance to watch this version a year or so ago...speechless. The ONLY monster movie where the monster is omnipresent, inexorable, inescapable.
Alien - This movie scared the shit out of me when I was 10 when I was at home, bored, and digging through all the rated R movies my dad said I couldn't watch. I spent the rest of the day with every light in the fucking house on. I started sleeping with the covers over my head, a habit I didn't break until...well, last year, I think. I've seen it 100 times, and it still scares the shit out of me. I know what's going to happen, I know WHEN its going to happen and it scares the shit out of me.
So there ya go. What gets ol' Heavyarms in the (Halloween) mood.
Happy Halloween!
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