Spooky Season

(A content warning for minor spoilers about the movie “Monkey Man” and for talking about calories)

Happy Halloween! The current moon phase is called “new” and it’s when the moon is completely dark, so that is a fun and appropriately creepy coincidence. My understanding of the New Moon is it’s a good time for rituals related to banishing, deconstruction and/or cursing, if you believe in such magical things. It’s very interesting to me, but I don’t “do” much with the information beyond taking notice. I love the vibe and decor of Halloween, I think about death and skeletons a lot throughout the year, and am thankful for this season when it’s shared more openly. It is also pleasing for me to know how many Christians are “left out” today or may be experiencing some sort of discomfort as Halloween seems so satanic and every year more widely celebrated.

I’m not dressing up in a costume nor expecting any trick-or-treaters within my apartment building, it’s not really a holiday I do much to celebrate. The candy focus is off putting (I am carefully tracking and restricting what I eat), and my only child is grown up with her own plans. There is a collection of costumes in a storage bin under my bed (for example a sexy bumblebee, ballerina outfits with tutu in pink or black, a skeleton unitard, a neon sweatshirt that says Bouncer, etc) but it’s not something I’m in the mood to look through! I thought briefly it might be funny to dress as Tonia Haddix the deranged main character from “Chimp Crazy” on HBO, she had such a strong personal style. I already have a stuffed monkey doll to carry (my inspiration) and enough pink clothes to make a full outfit of them. Buying a wig or changing my hair seems like the biggest obstacles but there’s a beauty supply store about two blocks away that sells hair extensions and wigs, I could visit if I change my mind (very unlikely). I don’t have false eyelashes nor tons of makeup like she wore, but I think having an exaggerated eyeliner and overdrawn lips could help the costume along anyway. In the show, Tonia often fed her pet chimpanzees chicken nugget Happy Meals with Gatorade which could be another cute prop, but the plush monkey doll makes me hesitate about carrying McDonalds as well, it’s too many things that becomes an armful. Please feel free to take my idea though, it’s short notice but maybe someone is still stumped for a costume.

My daughter celebrated her birthday a few weeks ago, she spent a few days with me and it was great to see her. She had requested having carrot cake, and I got two (from different bakeries) in case one was better than another. They both were fine, and delicious! We are almost out of Project Runway episodes to watch, but luckily there seem to be many spin-off series to dig into next. We watched two scary movies while she visited, they were called “Trap” and then the next day we watched “Monkey Man”. They were both good, and my opinion on most movies is, they are good! Monkey Man was extremely violent and bloody. There was a scene where someone was stabbed in the throat, and the knife was held in the killers mouth! Like he bit onto the knife handle, and he also stabbed with it, using his neck muscles. That was gross, but in some ways it’s also very funny!? The entire movie was overwhelming and weirdly amusing like that. There was another scary and gross part, I couldn’t bear to watch (I can’t even tell you what happened because my eyes weren’t on the screen!)- I asked my daughter if she’s ok, and how can she stand to see this violence!? She is so smart and helpful to remind me: a lot of artists made the movie, all the fights are practiced, the stab marks are make-up, the fake blood is probably syrup, etc. These are things I know, but it was reassuring to have explained as it happened on screen. Even as nasty as some images were, it was a good movie overall. The colorful lighting was really impressive. Every scene seemed to have a different and unusually colorful theme. There was a final boss fight that was fittingly illuminated with red. The ending was not “happy” and I really appreciated that. “Trap” was good too, maybe not as scary, but my daughter and I have watched so many of M. Night Shyamalan’s movies, we never want to miss a new one. They don’t really hold up to much plot scrutiny afterward, but while we’re watching them, it is a suspenseful mood. 

I got sucked back into listening to audiobooks of The Vampire Knitting Club series this month, it’s a very silly series of cozy mysteries. I might watch the new Salem’s Lot later. It’s so doubtful that any children might come to my door asking for candy, but I’ll probably buy a bag out of anxiety anyway! I hope however you’re enjoying the day goes great, and I’ll try to post again before too long.