Halloween=Pumpkin Time!

Adam and I have a little Halloween tradition: we carve pumpkins together. I am in charge of drawing and transferring. Adam scoops pumpkin guts and carves. I am not sure how equitable the division of labor really is, but I am happy with the arrangement. I hate getting sticky stuff on my hands so it really would take me twice as long to do it because I would have to take frequent handwashing breaks.

For our first Halloween we carved a MoJo JoJo (from "The Powerpuff Girls"). One little girl recognized the turbaned monkey and approached our door with trepidation. I heard her whisper "Mo. Jo. Jo. Jo" very softly while pointing. But she was brave and was rewarded with a load of candy. She got bonus bars for correctly identifying our carving.

Another year we carved Boots from "Dora the Explorer". I don't know why we have a thing about monkeys. I intend to try to avoid them in future; I don't trust monkeys.

We tried one of the ready-made patterns yet another year and it turned out okay, but it really wasn't as satisfying as building our own. We redeemed ourselves a bit by carving a Scooby-Doo. (Zoinks!)

This year we went for an "Avatar: The Last Airbender" theme. On the left is Aang, the main character, in the "Avatar state." On the right is the Fire Nation symbol. If you know the show I hope you can recognize them. If you don't know the show, what are you waiting for?

We learned about the show by watching a Podcast of TRS ("The Totally Rad Show"). Adam got the first few episodes from someone at CERIAS and then we were hooked. ITunes came through and we are viewing episodes on Apple TV.

"Avatar" is indeed "totally rad." It incorporates kung fu elements, nods to various Asian cultures, has a sort of Anime feel to it (though it is American) and it airs on Nickelodeon so there is no risk of raping tentacles (whew!). The balance of humor and drama is excellent.

The voice acting is first rate. Unfortunately, Mako, who was the voice of Uncle Iroh, passed away. But his character is still there and that is a good thing because he is one of my favorites. I love the kind of character who can take care of serious business, but whenever possible embraces life instead. He is powerful enough to understand the strength of peace (and a good tea with treats!). In fact, I like most of the characters in the series, but the lemur Momo and the giant flying bison Appa are especially fun. There are even some strong females which is always most welcome and all too rare. At any rate, the series is filled with adventure, humor, and many touching moments. If I had kids, I would definitely watch it with them. So making our pumpkins Avatar friendly seemed like a good idea.

Extra goodness: I successfully roasted the seeds from the pumpkins. (Wash and dry seeds. Toss with some olive oil, pepper, and salt. Put in 375 degree oven for about 7 minutes. Nosh!). I didn't burn them so they are crunchy, salty, and good, if a bit oily. Maybe I will stay out of the Halloween candy stash now.

Nah.

Boo! Baa! Ha, ha, ha!

I am a big horror movie fan. Adam not so much. This means that any time he watches a horror movie with me is definitely bonus time. Imagine my delight when he agreed to watch "Black Sheep" with me.



"Black Sheep" completely rocks its genre. Sadly, I suppose, the number of films in New Zealand horror is relatively small (though Peter Jackson's "Dead Alive" is formidable). As far as I know the sheep horror (or even general livestock horror) category is also quite small. However, films that blur the lines between comedy and horror are a lively bunch.If you are looking to be scared, then this film will probably fail. It can certainly elicit plenty of groans, ewwws, and maybe a shouted "Oh, that's just not right!", but not fear. But I laughed and laughed. And Adam did too. Any film that features repeated shots of bucolic fields of sheep---sheep grazing, sheep running with menace, sheep staring stupidly into the distance, sheep ripping and devouring flesh (complete with bloodstained wool)...well, that is a film that works for me. Throw in a few mutants, a border collie, and a short recitation from Robert Burns' "Address To a Haggis" and I am happy. The characters were pretty funny overall and the acting was fairly decent given the category. The special effects were actually well done, given what I assume is a relatively low budget. I guess having the WETA workshop people work on your film can't hurt. Overall, I had a good time watching this film.

What are my other favorites in this category?

I will always have a soft spot for the classic "Basket Case" (1982). This is another one of the films that Adam has watched with me. It is a traditional tale of a boy-man who moves to the big city to make his fortune, to find love, and to come to terms with his evil deformed twin who lives in a wicker basket. What moves this into the realm of the totally awesome is the choice to use claymation techniques. This is creepy, clayey, fun.

"Killer Klowns from Outer Space" (1988) is honestly hard to beat. If you hate clowns then this film is almost a must-see. The clowns are suitably messed up and their methods of dispatching humans are generally circus themed. I am particularly fond of the cotton candy cocoons. Our heroes include a couple of buffoons in an ice cream truck...who doesn't love an ice cream truck? And The Dickies sing the title song. Ah, the eighties.

I used to like to have this playing while I worked at the video store. On one memorable night I was busy working and then I noticed that a little kid was sitting in the beanbag watching the film. I certainly wasn't expecting a kid at that hour. So my thought was something along the lines of "Oh, snap! I am sooo busted." We used to have parents complaining about how the Strawberry Shortcake video traumatized their precious snowflake and here I am essentially exposing a kid to a clown who punches a dude's head off. The kid's reply to the scene? She says in this almost perfect deadpan: "That clown is ugly. I don't like him." And she gets up and wanders off. That kid? Will always rule in my memory.

The Evil Dead movies are cult favorites for a reason. I liked all of them, but Evil Dead II (1987) is actually my favorite. "Army of Darkness" (1993) was quite popular, but it did push the comedy perhaps a touch too much. That being said, "Give me some sugar, baby" and other lines do crack me up. Bruce Campbell is in many ways the king (quite literally in "Bubba Ho Tep"--great concept, but not all that) of this genre. He handles the horror and the laughs equally well. This series can actually deliver some scares.

Shaun of the Dead (2004) is brilliant. There is some real suspense in the film, but it is the laughs that keep me coming back. Sure, the initial conceit (we're all zombies) can be seen as a bit trite, but I think it builds upon the idea quite effectively. And as a buddy picture, this is just hilarious. If you like your movies British, then this may be the top pick. Adam likes this one and put it on for us to watch last Halloween.

Apparently, I could go on and on. "Slither" is gross and really funny. Though I may just be missing "Firefly." "Idle Hands" builds upon the great wisecracking zombie haunting of "American Werewolf in London" (perhaps one of the first movies of this kind that I saw) and it has Seth Green. "Reanimator" is genuinely creepy and icky in places, but it still has some scenes that make me laugh every time. I guess it may be more laughs of discomfort, but there it is. I am sure that I am forgetting a slew of titles.

It may be my love of the absurd and incongruity that draws me to this kind of film. It may be that I never quite grew out of my high school love of shock. It may be that I just like horror and the comedy is just a bonus. I suppose I could cobble together some case for catharsis. Why bother? Luckily, you don't have undergo analysis to put in a DVD. And with Halloween just a few days away it may be borderline socially acceptable.I hope that Netflix sends "Night of the Living Dorks" in time for the big day!

*UPDATE* Netflix did come through with the movie. It turns out that its actual title is "Die Nacht der Lebenden Loser." Yep, German B Horror. It started out with promise: a big "voodoo woman" torches a zombie with a flamethrower and pulls out a good old fashioned "mofo" line. But it went downhill from there. It was mostly a teen sex and bad stoner comedy with some zombie thrown in. The lead lust interest had a kind of jacked-up horsey face structure and a snaggle tooth (without the expected Uber-hot-bod to balance it). The nerds weren't all that sympathetic. The drug jokes were weak. So the only amusing part was a throwaway line during a brutal zombie rugby match about Germans never losing a war (Oh, that's right, they did). Yeah. It is that funny. Sigh. But it makes me appreciate the successful tries even more.

Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!

It has been awhile, I know. I have been meaning to write for some time, but distractions keep getting in the way. I should make it a bigger priority because I have been enjoying the experience and I am learning a lot about writing and this sort of space.

Just the other day I learned about something called comment spam or blam (blog spam). Initially I was excited because my mail showed a couple of new comments on "Indiana Adventures" waiting for moderation. I took a look at them and something seemed a bit fishy. The one word comments came with a link from a Chinese web address and carrying some sort of car name. I think that my favorite comment said "Sorry." I know that Indiana isn't everyone's favorite place, but I don't think we need that much sympathy.

So why the nonsensical comments? If I understood Adam's explanation correctly, this sort of spam tries to trick google into ranking their webpage higher than it should be because google looks for the number of sites that link to the page. Well, I for one don't intend to help them out. In fact, they can suck it. I doubt that any of my small readership usually frequents many car related websites with .cn in the address, but if you should be tempted, just "walk" away.

And don't give me any grief about "not got much spam in it" because "I DON'T LIKE SPAM!" (Is the song in your head yet?). I know that I probably won't be able to avoid spam entirely, but if Adam's theory about "unattended" websites is true, I know that I won't let so much time elapse between posts if I can help it.

My only other Spam story involves my friend Terry. When we were roommates, she would sometimes succumb to a craving for Spam and rice. She would open up all the windows so that eau de Spam wouldn't destroy me. It was certainly a very sweet gesture (and shows what a great roommate she was), but since I smoked at the time, it was probably not necessary. I would say that Spam smells much better than cigarette smoke.

Now Spam seems to be an ingredient that inspires passion, a real love it or hate it kind of thing. I honestly don't remember having tasted it. And now when I think about my culinary horizons (or wax nostalgic for my days in the Pastel Palace), I am sometimes tempted to rev up the rice cooker and then fry up some Spam. Just to see what the fuss is about, you know.

Or I suppose I could just go for spam egg sausage and spam.

*UPDATE* Okay, so it turns out that I did indeed misunderstand some of what Adam told me. Unattended websites are easier to spam if the comments aren't subjected to moderation before posting. Which, of course, makes perfect sense.

I still think that keeping up to date is a good thing, so I will roll with that sentiment.