Let's Talk: "I Ate Your Halloween Candy"

So I recently watched the video being passed around the Internet that's a supercut of parents taking all of their kids' Halloween candy while they're asleep, hiding it, and then telling the kids the next day "we were hungry, so we ate it all."

While recording it.

I'd link the video, but honestly, I don't want to get it any more views.

Here's the part that bothers me:

The parents in these videos are, quite simply put, monsters.  Not the terrible monsters of people who abuse their kids, starve them, or do other things that leave kids in therapy for the rest of their lives...but seriously.  Who gets enjoyment from making their own children cry?

A Personal Halloween Story

I mentioned this event back in May, but felt it needed to be expanded upon.

The first time I was allowed to go trick or treating by myself was a pretty huge deal.  For years, I was going along with my little sister (and often one of the foster children my parents took in), and while it certainly wasn't a bad experience (getting candy as a child is never a bad experience), being trusted with the responsibility of being out without needing a parent right beside me was a pretty huge deal.

I felt completely grown up for that brief moment when they told me I could go ahead of my sister.  There were lots of parents and other children around.  It was the 80s, so nobody was really paranoid about anything bad happening.  I knew where the limits of where I could go were.

And then...it all went wrong.

The First Movie/TV Show That Really Scared Me

I cannot prove this film or TV show actually exists.  I have scoured the Internet since the late 90s for any other mention of this existing.  Every now and again I'll get a "that sounds familiar" or a "I think I remember something like that" but nothing ever comes of it.

It's the first time I ever screamed in fright at something on television (also possibly one of the only times I've ever screamed in fright at the television).  It was a goofy, dumb program with an obviously rubber mask.  I was watching it with one of my best friends, a girl who lived three doors down from my house at the end of a cul de sac.

There are no pictures for this post, because again I can't prove this program ever existed, but I have recently enlisted the help of I Remember This Movie... to help me figure it out.

Because seriously, if they have someone who remembers episodes of Bone Chillers, they should be able to help me with this.

Halloween Month: Prelude

I. Love. Halloween.

I'm not sure why, because for years after I was too old to (justifiably) trick or treat any more, I couldn't have cared less about the holiday.  I might give out candy to kids, and I would be polite and compliment their costumes, but I never did Halloween parties.  I think I only ever bobbed for an apple once in my life.  I'm not even a huge fan of scary things.

Well, let me amend that statement.  I like psychologically scary things. I like being on the edge of my seat, my breath caught in my throat, not sure if I what I just heard was something the character on screen heard, if only I heard it, or if I just imagined it myself.

A movie whose only purpose is to take a mixture of red food coloring and corn syrup and pour it all over the place while finding more and more creative ways to induce gory, screaming moments from previously healthy young people is not my cup of tea.  Jacob's Ladder is a great movie.  The Hostel movies were not.

But I digress.

These days, I find myself getting more excited for Halloween than almost any other holiday.  I constantly look to see what's new in decorations, costumes, pumpkin carving patterns, everything.  I ponder costuming months in advance.

So, in honor of this build up to such a great holiday, I'm focusing each day of this month to something  Halloween-themed.  Sure, it might be a loose connection, but the connection will be there.

So, tomorrow expect my first post as we dig in to Halloween month and uncover something Hollywood is determined to make us believe are scary:  puppets.

Frankenstein Comic Special

Hey, folks, nothing much to see here, it's been another fun Halloween, and I figured I'd just share a link to one of my favorite examples of how comics can get away with story lines that used to thrive in campy movies and bizarre Twilight Zone episodes.

At the following link you'll find a story I wish I came up with:

Frankenstein in "Rescue From Ghost Planet X"

Enjoy.

Ask Erik: Episode Thirty-Nine

Here at Ask Erik we've spent a lot of time reading novels and comic books, playing video games, and watching television and movies in order to amass a deep vault of pop culture knowledge.  While constantly trying to still gather new information, it only seems prudent to share some of what we have learned to help solve some of the world's greatest questions.

What's your pumpkin carving technique?  What's the real origins of Halloween?  Why does anybody even bother giving out Milk Duds when they're such an inferior Halloween candy?

Once a week Erik tackles a question asked to him and tries to answer it in a method that handles the topic with the respect and attention it deserves.  Failing that, he'll at least try to make it funny so you don't regret reading it.

Pumpkins!

For so many years I could not be bothered with Halloween.  During my high school years I couldn't be bothered with even handing out candy.  I didn't dress up in any costumes, I didn't go anywhere, I didn't even really eat any candy.  The one single thing I looked forward to every year was the fact that in the evening the local NPR station would broadcast the original airing of War of the Worlds.  I'd sit in a large easy chair and listen, doing my best to imagine the people panicking over a radio show and the power that these simple words had over masses at the time.

Now, to be fair, the Internet has stuff like that happening every day, except I don't think anybody would ever call Orson Welles a troll.

Once I got into my twenties, I started to appreciate the holiday a bit more.  I still didn't dress up, though that partly came from disgust at the fact that even though I was so deeply into anime, I couldn't find a single character I could cosplay as because there just weren't that many tall guys with glasses in the programs I saw who didn't have costumes way outside my price range to assemble.

Yes, before you ask, I did have to look like the character, I wasn't going to try to dress as someone I looked nothing like because I wanted to capture the character.

These days, I'm more into the holiday.  I own a few costumes (a few that I put together myself), I hand out candy, I watch the specials on TV (I swear, one day the Great Pumpkin will show up!), and I find myself volunteering at places to be the one to help decorate or be in charge of buying items for groups.

There is one thing, however, that I've done every year of my life but has only really become a true passion in the past few years: pumpkin carving.

These are a few of my carvings over the past few years.