Hello, Sidney.
Happy Halloween!
My original intention was to post a “scary” type story every week leading up to Halloween, where I’d have one big scary one, or a few scary ones. Well, I dropped the ball on that one. The last story is half finished, and I’m at the mercy of a blinking cursor right now. And I just can’t not do a Halloween entry.
So, in honor of the day when the fabric between the living world and dead world is at it’s thinnest, let’s talk about scary movies.
What’s yer favorite scary movie?
When I say scary movie, I’m talking about leave-the-lights-on, sphincter-puckering, pit-in-your-stomach, what-kind-of-sick-fuck-am-I-that-I-enjoyed-that-movie kind of scary.
I have about four, I think, that, throughout the course of my life, have really gotten to me.
#4: Incident at
You have not heard of this. Mostly because it was a made-for-TV movie on UPN in the 90s. It was filmed “Blair Witch” style, in that a kid was filming his family’s reunion when aliens landed and attacked. The end shot was him entering his dark bedroom, turning around, and seeing an alien RIGHT BEHIND HIM. The camera dropped to the floor and that was the end.
The lights in my room were on for days.
It’s freely available now using Google Video, and I’ve re-watched bits and pieces. It’s not as scary, mostly because now I realize how cheesy the acting was. But at the time, damn…
#3: Signs
I don’t recall leaving the lights on or wondering about my sanity after seeing it, but the pit in my stomach was there for the entire length of this movie. Without the music this movie wouldn’t have been as scary, but what really got to me was that the aliens were there the entire time. One scene had them looking up at the clear blue sky, and we later find out that they were RIGHT THERE, you just couldn’t see them. (This comes up in one of my stories about the alien in the guy’s bedroom: sometimes you can only see them with the lights out.) People usually think of blue skies and sunny days as safe, happy times. That’s not necessarily so.
#2: The Ring
Originality had a lot to do with this one. Never before had I seen a girl CLIMB OUT OF THE FUCKING TV. As a child I used to be scared of the TV, because I thought I’d see faces in it watching me even as it was turned off. I didn’t like having a TV in my bedroom because of that. But did it ever occur to me that a girl could CLIMB OUT OF THE FUCKING TV? No. And even if she did, I would have never imagined that she would run up on you in a terrifying stop-motion fury. The imagery, dream sequences, and especially sound effects really disturbed me for a few days.
I’ve seen the Japanese version, Ringu, and it’s pretty good, too. Scary in different ways, I suppose, but not as much for some reason.
#1: The Blair Witch Project
This one meets all of my requirements for a scary movie. This is the only movie where I’ve ever really questioned my own sanity after seeing it. And I’m not ashamed to admit I cried at the end—out of sheer terror.
If memory serves, we skipped a day in high school to see this. I remember one of my friends (hello, Candace!) breaking down at the end, crying and yelling “
I couldn’t sleep that night. When I did, I had to leave the light on and the TV at full blast. To this day, I can’t look at the word “Blair” without getting this really awful feeling of dread.
So what are your top scary movies?
What Halloween monsters give you the c r e e p s ??
Why do all female costumes have to be ’sexy’?
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Exile
Once, when I was little (I’m not sure how old, maybe third grade?), I had notebooks of lined paper. I didn’t like the elementary style notebooks so I always insisted on buying the college ruled ones. I can’t remember how many I had, but on my desk it seemed like there was always a few.
I didn’t have access to a computer or typewriter at that point so back in those days I’d hand write everything. Most of the stories revolved around things I was reading, usually aliens or other mysterious things, like RL Stile or Bruce Coville. Their books had illustrations so I decided that mine should, too.
I remember one particular notebook pretty well. I filled up half the notebook, and I had decided the story was halfway complete. I filled the margins with illustrations. I remember spending hours writing the story and working on the illustrations, mostly on the weekends at my dad’s house because there was little else to do.
My dad would always read them—it was something I really looked forward to, working on a story and then having him sit and read it out loud so that my brother could hear it, too. Sometimes I would write things just to hear him say it out loud later on. Back then we’d all get up before the sunrise (it was a farm, after all), and after breakfast we’d sit around the wood burning stove as he read. They’d listen. They’d laugh at the parts that were funny and they’d express surprise as the story developed.
I’d often share them with my grandpa and grandma, too, after they came over, usually on Saturday nights for dinner. One time my grandpa said “this should be published.” That meant a lot to me because I knew he appreciated a good story. We used to watch The Animated Adventures of Batman together, and he’d defend it when people would poke-fun at the fact we were watching a cartoon. He’d say it had a great story.
Most of the time my uncle and aunt came over, too. One day, I remember handing that particular half-filled, illustrated notebook to my uncle. He opened it up, and I decided to give him some time to read it.
He was talking to my grandma and grandpa, just the kind of casual conversation adults had back then. I didn’t mind, my story could wait. About a half hour later, I went up to him and said “did you read any of it?” expecting him to say “no, I’ll have to get to it when I have time,” or “not yet.” I wouldn’t have been upset, I mostly just wanted it back because I had an idea to continue the story.
But instead, he closed the notebook and gave it back to me. “Yes, very good, Adam, it’s really good,” he said, without even looking at me.
It was the first time I knew someone lied to me, because I had been watching him from across the room the entire time.
For some reason the notebook lost it’s value after that, and I don’t know what happened to it. It might have ended up in the wood burning stove. Either way, that was the last time I remember being so passionate about writing.
Every now and then I’ll get on a writing kick and really start to enjoy it again, and then I’ll start to hear this little voice in the back of my head telling me that people have better things to do than sit and read my weird stories.
I try my hardest not to focus on that. Instead, I try to hear my dad’s voice reading the words on a Saturday morning, the warmth from the wood burning stove on my back, knowing how much fun it was to have somebody listen.
So to those who listen, thank you. You mean the world to me.
Reasons Why I Love Lost
The premiere of Lost is on tonight and so I thought I’d share some of the reasons why I think this is a good thing. Never have I been so wrapped up in a show since Deep Space Nine and Voyager were on the air back in high school. Sometimes I feel like a loser because I like it so much. Hopefully I’m not the only one.
My mom made me watch it.
Okay, so she didn’t make me watch it. But at the beginning of season 2, she said, “you should watch this, I think you’ll enjoy it.” She’s never really said anything like that to me, and I ended up really liking it (obviously) so it’s nice to have that kind of bond with her. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that it was my first year out of college, and I wasn’t working the night shift then so it was really the first time since I was, like, 3, that we’ve been able to sit and watch a show together.
(Obviously I can’t anymore, cuz I live in an apartment and everything, but you know…)
It helped me loose 40 pounds.
I was fat after college. Last fall I lost a lot of weight. I get hungry very easily. Watching the first season on DVD was a good distraction…. made me forget I was hungry.
So this is kind of a funny one, but it’s true, nonetheless. Plus, you gotta stay in shape incase one day you crash on an island! 
I can’t predict it.
So many shows now are so dull and predictable. Even in the ones I mentioned before, Star Trek, you already knew what the ultimate outcome of every episode was going to be: everyone’s going to be fine. Captain Sisko just got kidnapped by a rogue group of hell-bent aliens!… tune in next fall to see the outcome! Well, we already know the outcome. He’ll be fine. But
It’s sci-fi.
It is.
It’s not just sci-fi.
Some of my favorite stories are stories that don’t fit into a particular genre and have a little bit of everything. It’s a drama, a tragedy, a romance, an action/thriller, a mystery, and a sci-fi all rolled into one.
It’s extensive, only if you want it to be.
Do you know who the DeGroots are? The Hanso Foundation? What’s wrong with the
Six Degrees.
It’s a new show (made by the same people). But it was a theory before that. Everyone’s connected. Characters crop up into other character’s flashbacks in the strangest ways.
Second Chances.
The character of Locke was a supervisor at a box-manufacturing company before he crash landed on the island. He was depressed, lonely, and (literally) paralyzed in his life. But when he landed on the island his natural talents emerged and he’s one of the heroes. Point being: you’re never really sure what can happen tomorrow. Today you could be nobody. Tomorrow, the world could depend on a talent you don’t even know you have.
Evangeline Lilly.
No disrespect. Just sayin.
The music.
Award winning.
Story arcs.
It’s essentially one, big, 48-hour (so far) movie. No episodes are stand-alone.
More than meets the eye.
My brother, who was once watching an episode with my mom and I, said, “Wait… I thought this was a show about a bunch of plane crash survivors on an island?” Yes, it is. But if you watched the recap episode that was on last week, you might have said, “damn.” That’s just the “tip of the iceberg,” as they say.
Everything happens for a reason.
This is quickly becoming my religion. Not because of the show (because that would be crazy.) In other words: the show tapped into something I believed before I knew what it was. The more I experience things and the more I think about life, the more I think that there really are no coincidences. I’m not talking about some supreme being guiding our actions, I’m saying that every little thing that happens has a direct influence in your life. You stub your toe? Hobble around, maybe step over an ant that you would have otherwise accidentally stepped on. That ant is carrying back a food scrap so his hive can survive. Obviously there are better examples but that’s all I can think of at the moment.
I went to college for a reason, I got this job for a reason… I may not know what it is, but something later on in my life will call on an experience I had at this job, and that will make all the difference.
Anyway, that’s enough. If you’ve never seen it, the re-cap episode that will tell you everything that’s happened so far is available for free on iTunes. Or you can read all about it here. (Look at the wierd promo for it in the UK on my main page.)
Tonight at 9:00… I’ll make the (air-popped) popcorn.
Namaste, bitches.
