happy halloweeeeeeen

Your coffin or mine?



Hello, Danny. Come and play with us. Forever...and ever...and ever.

how to make a halloween costume with little effort, some creativity and just praying that people watch as much television as you do

You have two days left to come up with a good costume. All of the Heisenberg's and the Daenarys's are taken and you need something clever in a hurry. RIGHT. Well I came across this photo on the Huffington Post's TV tumblr and it gave me a few ideas.



How easy/fun is that? Most people know the Cheers credits, and there are a few others out there you could replicate as well that would be fairly well known.



1. "Executive Producer Vince Gilligan" - since Breaking Bad is still hot right now and it's easier and more out there than just being Heisenberg. Unless you're a sexy Heisenberg.



2. "Executive Producer Dick Wolf" - who hasn't seen at least one variation of the multiple variations of Law & Order?

3. Why not just wear a black t-shirt (as seen above, but without the caption) and go as the infamous Soprano's ending? Just make sure you crank some Journey.

That's a good start, right? You can always get slightly more creative when it comes down to it.

4. Be completely animated in only 6-second intervals and just go as a Vine video. Namely a Chris D'Elia or a Batdad video because they are the best.

Okay step it up just sliiightly more.

5. Dress yourself in blue and be meth. Yes, I went there, be meth from Breaking Bad and extra points for crystalizing yourself in any way or wrapping yourself in a plastic bag. And if you have leftover plastic why not lend it to a friend...?

6. ...so they can go as a Dexter victim, even a sexy Dexter victim because obviously you're wearing plastic. More extra points for blood.

7. Why not just find something of a period piece and go as a victim of Game Of Throne's Red Wedding? Wait for it...OF COURSE EXTRA POINTS FOR BLOOD AGAIN!

8. Or the last one, the easiest of all of them. Print out a piece of paper that says "muggle". Wrap around neck. Easy enough, just don't blame me if someone dressed as Draco Malfoy calls you names. But you're an adult and you can take it, right?

9. And out of all of the wrecking ball costume attempts (including the pug we all love) this human variation may be my favorite.



This and other wrecking ball ideas found here.

it's friday, friday

One of my favorite spooky tracks I discovered this year. I've only liked a few versions of this song with all of the covers that are out there, and this one currently tops the list.

the treehouse of horror

This past weekend on my Halloween watching of random things adventures I settled on the Treehouse of Horror episodes of The Simpson's. These are seriously classics! That show has been on what, 20 years? 25? Before I was born!? Yeah, it has. And even though most of us Utahrds weren't allowed to watch it as a kid (with me being the exception much to the dismay of my grandmother) I grew up with these and looked forward to them every October.

The first official Treehouse of Horror aired during Season 2. It's probably one of the most notable, one, because it was on so long ago and The Simpson's has been in syndication almost as long as it's been on, and two, because of the amazing rendition of The Raven. I had a high school english teacher (RIP Mrs. Dubois) that was slightly nutty and slightly obsessed with anything literary that came from the cartoon.



I really enjoy one parody in Treehouse of Horror 3, Clown Without Pity. Seriously, demonic Krusty the Clown doll comes alive and terrorizes everyone. Krusty never really appealed to me as a kid. I was more enamored with Sideshow Bob (and later Frasier, obviously). And on occasion, Sideshow Mel (NILES!).



The next one worth mentioning is Treehouse of Horror 5, referencing my favorite movie ofalltime The Shining, though of course it's called The Shinning because Willey doesn't want to get sueeed. With so many references to the movie, honestly, it's brilliantly done and so hilarious. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" is spun into "No tv and no beer make homer something something". That something is GO CRAZY. And he does. And it's cute.



And who can forget the time machine toaster? How could you? Changing history by stepping on a fish? And my personal favorite, "...oh look, it's raining." Donuts! It's raining donuts!

There is also a slight play on Pink Floyd's The Wall will sending misbehaving children to meat grinder detention. They don't need no education.

Let's skip ahead to this years because in the last several there haven't been THAT many of note (ok, except the Twilight bit voiced by Harry Potter. That was gold).

This years couch credits was directed by the amazing Guillermo Del Toro. And they were creepy.



The cat in the hat sketch was rather cute even if it did ruin my thoughts on the children's book. Bart's severed head makes me never want to fly a kite again (if Mary Poppin's hadn't already done a number on me. Won't lie, wasn't a big fan of the last sketch. However, the ending ("...and that is how I met your mother") complete with closing credit theme music from actual How I Met Your Mother deserved a rewind. Twice.

I feel like this needs to become a tradition. Watch these every year leading up to the new one, and hopefully not being that disappointed (so far, so good).

and that weekend i watched the scream tetrology

Just so you know I had to google "if three is a trilogy what is four? and that is how I learned what a tetrology was. Could also be called a quartet, which should have been obvious, but I like the word tetrology, welcome to my vocabulary.

Random Friday night a few weeks ago, had the place to myself until Zack got home from work and I decided to watch Scream. Why? Because it is an absolutely brilliant cinematic adventure. It takes me back to fifth grade on my couch watching it with my four year old sister (who had already seen it AND knew who the killer was). I resorted to this because Hollywood Video had a huge wait list for it and somehow my sister was able to convince my dad to rent it. So that worked in my favor. It was one of the few summer days my mom had stayed home from work so we were all able to enjoy this epic horror adventure.

We watched, she gasped and screamed...a lot. We definitely did the title justice and I'm actually surprised I was able to watch the entire movie because I was still deeply scarred from Candyman.

Friday night than to re-live this moment of my youth. It was just as good as I remembered even if I can now obviously tell that the killers are Billy and Stu because obviously. Why stop there? Let's watch Scream 2.



Hell yes. Cameo's by Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Pacey (Joshua Jackson) and a really warped looking Portia de Rossi. Seriously, her eyebrows were gnarly and she totally played a sorority chick that hung out with Dylan McKay's wife. What would Ellen say? Randy died in the van and Courtney Cox had awesome hair. There were also a million Friends references that I truly didn't appreciate when I saw that in theaters. Also, the killers in this movie are really stupid. The dude from Justified and Jackie from Roseanne? It didn't make sense then and it still doesn't know, but the beautiful part is that it didn't NEED to make sense, did it? It just was.



So why not spend Saturday night watching Scream 3? MCDREAMY as a cop? Somehow I'm okay with this. Patrick Dempsey is stuck in between weird looking Dempsey and McDreamy Dempsey so it's a little precious to be able to witness that. Of course I've always been Team Noel when all things Felicity are considered so right on for him trying to kill everyone in this movie. Again, the story line is totally bonkers but I think the killer was much better than in the sequel. I had totally forgot that he was Sidney's brother, too. And Courtney Cox had horrible bangs and they really needed to go away. And why did Cotton Weary have to die? He was the best. And we have the same photo in our houses.

So I couldn't not watch Scream 4. This movie was awful, but not awful enough for me to not enjoy. Then again, I typically love awful things so it works. I saw this in theaters as well and it definitely took me back to a simpler time. Poor Gail Weathers, I actually finally felt a little bad for her in this one. I didn't like Heather Graham getting all up in Dewey's biznazz either. And Adam Brody and that guy from Kangaroo Jack that I met at Sundance that one time's time was cut way too short. They should have lived and saved the day, but no they had to die. Other than that, the movie lives little to care about except that Sidney doesn't get to die she just gets to electrocute her cousin killer with the help of a good portion of the original cast. Pretty good for a final film I would say but part of me is still really hoping that there is more.

Scream tertrology marathons are the best and now I want to have more of them with popcorn, face masks and all of the above. Probably one of the few non-cheesy cheesy horror movie grouping things of all the times.

be my victim - a victim of scary movies aka how i spent my weekend

Creepy, right?

So this weekend I did what any normal girl would do. I sat myself in front of my laptop and watched countless horror movies, some of which I've seen and some of which embarrassingly I haven't. It was an emotional event for me being that I often pride myself on being a lover of that genre of cinema but I came to the realization that I haven't seen a lot of movies that some would consider "classics". I hadn't seen Poltergeist or The Amityville Horror. Upon reading some lists about some of the best of the horror variety I was told I should watch The Strangers. I also gave my old childhood terror Candyman another shot, though it was daytime because there was absolutely no way I was watching that at night. I watched a few minutes of Cujo as well but decided early that there is no way I will put myself through sad dog movies, even for the sake of this blog post.

As for Amityville I would say of all I watched this weekend it was probably the best. The acting was fairly good and for a movie made in the 70's the cheese was definitely minimal (with the exception of that glowing-eyed pig thing that they never really did explain). It left me feeling the most uneasy which is a very good thing. There was a lot of really awesome bell bottoms and middle hair parts which I will not complain about either. And Josh Brolin sure can rock a beard.

I had much higher hopes for Poltergeist. Honestly, I was disappointed. I love me some Craig T. Nelson but this movie was the epitome of cheese and not in a good way. The little girl was really adorable though. Maybe I didn't pay attention enough honestly losing interest about halfway through, so it is possible I should give it another shot, but it will probably take some convincing and also, a shot. Of something strong.

The Strangers wasn't bad, but it wasn't good. Imagine a fictional world where Ben from Felicity and Cory from Empire Records meet, probably during Ben's summer vacation in Boston (it just seems like he would go there) and get engaged and hang out at his summer house only to be attacked by random, ahem, "strangers" that just picked them to prey on "...because you were home." Tell me where that makes sense? It did have quite a few jumpy moments but not enough to call it good. It was just...done. And I like awful scary movies but this would not be one of my favorites.

I watched Candyman during the day, and that in and of itself is a feat, I must say. That movie scared (scares?) the holy mother of lordys out of me, I kid you not. As an adult (and by the light of day) I have come to appreciate the fact that it's actually a really well-made movie. The plot is hardly cheesy which you wouldn't expect considering it's about a dude with a hook for a hand that appears when you call out his name five times and turn out the light. This was the only urban legend I believed in as a kid and you will never get me in front of a mirror repeating his name, I don't care how grown up I claim to be, it's not happening ever in this lifetime thankyouverymuch. That being sad, I survived and would like to give it a try at night time with several of my friends around me to be sure he doesn't come and gut me.

Now The Shining! THERE'S a movie.

And Cujo? Don't get me started. I remember it devastating me as a child and it devastates me now. Seriously a rabid dog? I have too much of a soft spot for animals, even the sick, infested ones, I watched about 10 minutes and realized that I will never watch that movie again.

I have a feeling in the upcoming weeks leading to Halloween (ONLY THE BEST HOLIDAY EVER) I will indulge in some Blair Witch Project, multiple viewings of The Shining and maybe Psycho because it's been an obscenely long time since I have seen it. Recommendations are always good as well considering I tend to just re*watch movies that I've seen a bunch of times, hence me really only paying attention to a few of these. Hey, I tried.

Last year I wrote a post basically about this same thing but it was more about movies I've seen. Like effing Candyman. Take a look, won't you? And the year before that, there was this gem.

I like scary things a lot, you guys. Even the ones that are lame.

can we skip september

?

I love October. I don't hate September but when this time of year rolls around (back to school, hooray for Target commercials) I would be fine if I could skip most of September, or better yet just have two months of October. That would be fine.

I love fall, I love Halloween, I obviously love to watch The Shining on repeat (I do this even in the summer time...and Christmastime, and all the time) so why can't we just have a really long October? I don't think that many people would be opposing.

It's the kick-off to the holidays which a lot of people love, I kind of don't love a whole lot but I don't mind the holidays. You have autumn and leaves and Halloween and all the scary stuff and then it's November and oh the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade that Aadi and I watch every year. Then food and Rebecca Black Friday and hopefully buying a Dyson pet vacuum. Then comes December, the month of my birth (and then the birth of Jesus as well, not that I'm trying to steal anyone's thunder or anything) and Santa and reindeer and snow (I HATE SNOW but I love snow until it SNOWS).

And then the new year. And then it's really boring until next back to school when I start to remember that IT IS ALMOST OCTOBER.

*Shoe photos from last year, all via my instagrammy.

workoween

Today we had our little shindig at the workplace. I was one of six people that were festive which is always fun and awkward. We did have some pretty rad food going-on's which I was all stoked about, so here is what I gathered for your viewing pleasure.







Shaileen made these super rad cupcakes, I refer to them as the "yip, yip, uh huh" cupcakes. She also made my work wedding cake, this gal rules.





Lindsay is my sweetie and these are her babies.




Now there are times at work when I get hot flashes at work and today was no exception. Usually between 4pm and 5pm and it's always massive. So I brought out my offensive shoulders (work doesn't usually enjoy shoulders but eh, it was either that or melt?)



Now I kept the headset on because it's really attractive and you also have to guess if I have food in my mouth or not. I honestly don't remember so we will see.

Oy, now my Halloween is going to consist of Dexter and tea and I'm almost out of candy so don't come to my house.

quothe the raven

I probably spelled that wrong, whatever. In my attempt to find an awesome clip of something spooky I found this ridiculously recorded-off-the-tv clip of The Raven from one of the two billion Simpsons: Treehouse Of Horror so I figured, "hey, why not give a literature lesson while I'm at it?" True story, my honors english teacher in high school would show this video in lieu of actually teaching us about Poe, and trust me it was way more fun.



Eat lots of candy corn!

halloweenie weekend

Alright, the long-awaited (by me, anyway) post recapping the weekend. Wahoo? Alright, ahem, cracks knuckles.

Friday was podcast night and we were all half asleep so I'm not even going to bother recapping it, but I will say that during a rousing game of "Guess this 8-bit cover song" I completely showed my musical genuisness. It was impressive to say the least.

Saturday after some amazing grocery shopping, we got all dressed up to head to the 101.9 The End party for Zack's work. I'm not even kidding it was like going to prom (or so I was told, I never went to prom...moving on). It was a lot of fun for the most part, there were some interesting costumes to watch and it got us out of the house in costumes. Considering how easy-going our costumes were, we looked spectacular.








Now as for Sunday, we spent our afternoon at our dear friend Randi's birthday. She turned the big 3-0 and we got to head out to ye olde Red Robin to celebrate. She had an "All About Randi" trivia quiz which Zack won and I came in second place! We left with a $25 giftcard to Red Robin and an amazing swirly straw which you know I'm going to rock every day at work. The party was, get this, hamburger themed. Oh Randi how I love you and when you go skydiving with your gift certificate, you let me know, I'm so there.


Zack will never take a normal photo...heh.

And Flickr is being a pain in the ass so apparently no photos of the birthday girl are going to make it into this blog. I promise to get them up as soon as Flickr stops hating me.

Afterward, I headed to Centerville to enjoy a movie with my dear friend Maddie as a nice belated birthday present. We went to the new Megaplex and I swear, no one knows it's open. I realize that it's Sunday in Centerville but it was still completely dead. That being said it's an exceptionally nice theater complete with d-box seats and a soda machine from the future (I snuck in a Tab). Um so yeah, the movie was better than the first. I was cowering in my seat quite a bit.

So after the movie, I come home to a completely dark house. Zack's car is gone and all the lights are off with the exception of the porch light. So I ran (yes, ran) to the porch, unlocked the door and slammed it. Alarm was on, good sign that Zack wasn't hiding in a closet somewhere. After walking through the entirety of the house and dead-bolting all of the doors I decided it was safe to take a shower. I positioned Aadi in the living room to watch the window and I positioned Moz by the bathroom door. I figured any odd movement and I'd know about it. Then I cracked the window in the shower so I could see Zack's car pull up if he came home and then I could finish up and get out before he had a chance to walk in and then hide in a closet before I got out. After what was probably the fasted shower I've ever taken (this coming from the girl who is in and out in 5 minutes including leg shaving time) I jumped out, got dressed still dripping wet and ran into the bedroom to finish getting ready...I was conveniently positioned on the bed when Zack walked in and made his scary voice. It was still slightly scary. And you know when you're home alone after seeing something scary, every...single...noise is a serial killer coming to murder you? Yep, I heard him, he's probably still hiding in the laundry room. I will find him and I will shove him in the dryer with the towels.

I feel better now, Zack is here and I'm not shaking though I'll probably have some nightmares about "Toby". He is a creepy mofo. And I get to dress up as Daria for work, that should be a good time.

This should be a good week, I just have a feeling. Night y'all.

happy sunday

Today was a good day. Full post later on the happenings of Halloween but for now I will leave you with a lovely little gifty Zack bought for me to bring out my inner nerd.



A mini Captain Picard and Commander Riker!


It's horrible how much of a Trekkie I have become. Speaking of random tv, we watched the return of Beavis and Butthead this afternoon and speaking of a completely non-fan of the old show, I have to say I laughed entirely too much during the new episode. I'm sorry but Beavis and Butthead ragging on Jersey Shore, Twilight and The Bachelor was classic.

Alright, off to a movie with Maddie and I'll post Halloween/Randi's bday photos upon my return.

Happy Sunday!

happy halloween

Tonight we get dressed up in our very best and hit...we're not sure yet. But, we look good regardless. I'm sure there will be more photos tomorrow but for now please check out Daria and Butthead, power couple (Beavis had a prior engagement).




Happy Halloweeeeeeeeeen.

i have a crush on scary movie villains

This may be true. Last week I was doing some research for the podcast on horror villains. I came across some youtube videos of some of the best lists according to the youtube video poster. I thought it was an interesting topic considering I'm really scared of scary movies yet I LOVE THEM. So I figured with Halloween on Monday, lets talk scary.

My top 10 list of scary movie villans:

10. Stuart and Billy from the original Scream movie.



This was one of the first "slasher" movies I ever watched as a kid. Yep, that's right. As a kid. Okay, I was eleven but that's still young. I wanted to watch this movie so bad, back when video stores had waiting lists for new releases...luckily my LITTLE sister brought it over when I babysat her one day and we sat on the couch and watched it. I still remember being more afraid than any of my younger siblings of these two, and when I see Matthew Lillard I still get the heebies. Out of all the Scream villians, these two were by far the best.

9. Room 1408 from the movie 1408



I am a recent watcher of this movie (meaning in the last year) and I have to say I thought it was pretty good. The room itself was extremely creepy and in no way would I want to spend the night there. I have a hard enough time with hotel rooms (which you'll see later in the list), and this one is just another one that I'm like....gah. SCARY.

8. Henry Evans from the movie The Good Son



Macaulay Culkin makes my blood run cold. Kid is really talented I swear, he can go from sweet bee sting kid in My Girl, to evil devil spawn child in this movie. Sometimes it is almost painful to watch such a cute kid be such a terror. It still creeps me out to watch this, I showed it to Zack a few months ago and surprisingly I think it creeped him out too, and he doesn't get creeped out often.

7. Alex from A Clockwork Orange



Okay, so I'll admit I've only made it through this movie a full time once. I know it's a classic but Alex absolutely terrifies me. Even now, seeing Macolm McDowell in Star Trek: Generations I had to look away from the screen periodically. Something about a droog running around murdering people and casually breaking into Singing In The Rain? Yeah, nothing messed up about that at all.

6. The Joker from the movie The Dark Knight



Heath Ledger is brilliant in this role, anyone will tell you this, it's no secret. And he was taken too early, some say this character drove him to his death, I'm not sure of my feelings on it, but it was clear he was extremely invested in this role. After this I would have loved to see more from his character.

5. Hannibal Lecter from the movie The Silence of the Lambs



Hannibal Lecter is the reason I am oddly obsessed with weird serial killers. Clearly I don't like them but I'm always intrigued with why they do what they do in the psychological aspect. For a while I wanted to be Jodie Foster's character. I wanted to get deep into the minds of these weirdos and find out what makes them tick. Hannibal was such a nice guy until he's eating your upper lip off of your face. Awkward.

4. Peter and Paul from the movie Funny Games



Two nice boys that are total nutjobs. They show up at a summer home and terrorize a family INCLUDING A CHILD. When scary movies mess with child I get a little weird. I don't like sadistic humor but for some reason it draws me in. Regardless of how messed up this is it's a brilliantly made film, at least worth viewing once. Polite murder is the way to go.

3. The Dragon from Faerie Tale Theatre: Sleeping Beauty



And she still is. My mother thought it would be fun to tape all of Shelly Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre's and it was a good idea until this one came along and I peed my pants watching it. I still have nightmares about her, and I know she's not technically a "movie" villian but I don't care, she is freaky. Watch this scene on youtube and you tell me if you'd let your kids watch this. Her voice alone is enough to make me pee and I will be interested to see if I am alone in this.

2. Jack Torrence/The Hotel from The Shining



*Lots of Simpson's Treehouse of Horror references up in here

I couldn't choose. Where Jack Torrence is a total creep, the hotel is just as freaky, if not moreso. Bloody elevators, rooms with naked women who want to make out with you, a ghostly bartender who looks like Odo from Deep Space Nine? That's enough to send me packing (told you, hotels freak me out). Apparently there is a lovely hotel in Colorado, The Stanley Hotel which Stephen King based The Shining off of, and is considered to be one of the most haunted places in America. I want to go to there.

If you know me at all, you shouldn't be surprised this is number one. Don't laugh.

1. Candyman from the horribly not scary but totally scary to an 8 year old movie Candyman



Thanks Dad for showing this movie to me when I was 8 and freaking me out for the rest of my life. When Zack tries to taunt me by yanking me into the bathroom and whispering Candyman in my ear I usually kick him before coiling into the fetal position on the carpet where I begin convulsing. Yes, I have THAT big of a problem with this hooked man, and even when he showed up as a Klingon brother of Worf's on The Next Generation I couldn't even like him because I knew what he would eventually become: the centerpoint of my inner-most fears. And to think, my grandma thought something titled Candyman was a children's move. Catholics are weird.

That took me so long to write, I hope it was enjoyed because wow...it was fun to make. Now go watch all of these movies and give me your opions on them.