I have always been somewhat ambivalent regarding Halloween and all the nonsense about demons and pumpkins, hell houses, and it being the celebration of Satan. The event seems – to one who looks like that all the year round – to be a very serious case of amateur night on any level you care to chose. It ain’t the Day of the Dead by any manner of means, and no Beltran fires burn. All too often it appears little more than an excuse for the squares to pretend they aren’t. Being raised in England also didn’t help. When I was a kid, October 30th meant being in full anticipatory mode for Guy Fawkes and November 5th -- Bonfire Night – when we got to run riot with legal fireworks and pyromania became an artform. The day found me planning later mayhem, not trolling the streets in a plastic costume begging for Milky Ways.
I used to enjoy Halloween more when I lived in Lower Manhattan, if for no other reason that the costumes on Christopher Street were outrageous in the extreme, and you could see nothing like them this side of Venus. The Boys’ Town parade here in LA just can’t compare, and it also turns the my neighborhood into one vast, cop-controlled parking lot which is damned irritating. My other problem – aside from ever cable channel being jammed with Saw movies that I really dislike – is that Halloween is a so firmly attached to Christianity and candy that it simply cannot qualify as the kind good hearty pagan death-rock Saturnalia for which I would have every sympathy.
But click here anyway for the clip from Zombie Strippers.
I used to enjoy Halloween more when I lived in Lower Manhattan, if for no other reason that the costumes on Christopher Street were outrageous in the extreme, and you could see nothing like them this side of Venus. The Boys’ Town parade here in LA just can’t compare, and it also turns the my neighborhood into one vast, cop-controlled parking lot which is damned irritating. My other problem – aside from ever cable channel being jammed with Saw movies that I really dislike – is that Halloween is a so firmly attached to Christianity and candy that it simply cannot qualify as the kind good hearty pagan death-rock Saturnalia for which I would have every sympathy.
But click here anyway for the clip from Zombie Strippers.
The secret word is Boo!
Not enough kids around. Up here in Nor Cal exurbia I got to see tons of kids in really brilliant costumes. It restored my faith in something, I'm not sure what.
ReplyDeletewe don't get trick-or-treaters in the canyon, but i saw a lot of christians on hollywood blvd yesterday afternoon, in front of hollywood & highland with big yella signs urging all to repent and informing them of their state of non-grace.
ReplyDeleteinterestingly, none of these folks was positioned anywhere near spider-man, bart simpson, and the other costumed regulars who inhabit that stretch.
I have to say, what's been bothering me about halloween this year, more than anything else, was Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI go into the fucking super market & Xmas already had more isles than the candy & costumes. The fucking shit was out before halloween even started... what's worse is that my fears were confirmed by late night TV showing 'a miracle on 34th street' @ about 4 AM or so last night. If this is a sign of things to come, I expect to approach the brink by December 25th.
I have to ask, is this a corporate plot & effort to expand the "holiday shopping season" in the hopes of generating profits akin to better economic environments? This can't be American culture doing this, can it? It seems too early for the common folk to be jumping into the mix, but this shit has been out since the end of September, so I'm feeling a bit unsettled. It's like Lewis Black was 100% spot-on in his rant about Christmas & the shit is going to take up the entire fucking year eventually.
You're right and Lewis Black is right. It's fucking absurd. Also, as soon as the kids open the swag it's all over.
ReplyDeleteI saw "A Miracle On 34th St." listed and thought WTF. Then I saw it was also a 1994 remake. Damn.
ReplyDeleteBack to the pagan solstice. It's the only way.
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