It recently occurred to me I am not one person. I am really two people existing in the same body.
If failures in life make you stronger, I should be superhero level strong by this point. My latest failure: Halloween.
I love reading. But I'm a busy gal. I likely won't be able to work my way through Stephen King's expansive horror collection before Halloween. What is a girl to do then? Lightbulb! Podcasts!
There is very little "Renaissance" in a Renaissance Festival. A better description is Middle Ages meets Middle Earth with a lot more retail stores and a lot fewer boils and sores. That's not to say I don't love a good Renn Fest!
It's finally Halloween! My house didn't get egged or TP'd last night. So I guess my neighborhood had a quiet Mischief Night. Now comes the fun part! I can't wait to watch all the kids suit up and threaten to play tricks on people unless they give them treats. It's a weird sort of custom when you think about it. (So I try not to think about it.) Since it's Halloween, here are my 13 (seemed like an appropriate number) favorite Halloween costumes based on literary characters.
It’s Mischief Night! If you watched the latest episode of ‘Blackish’, then you are familiar with the night before Halloween. Although hopefully no one is really taking it to “purge” levels (funniest episode ever). If you aren’t familiar with Mischief Night, it’s a night of mild vandalism and pranks, typically perpetrated by teens. (Think TP houses, egging cars, smashing pumpkins, etc.) Mischief Night, infamously also called Devil’s Night, specifically in Detroit, has turned up in TV, movies, literature and music over the decades.
Halloween is so soon. And what would my 13 days of Halloween blog be without at least one ode to undead bloodsuckers? From literature to TV to film, the popularity of these pervasive mythical monsters is unstoppable. I am not only a vampire fangirl. I also do my part to continue this cultural fondness for the fang. I’ve even sired a new vampire story fan—my 11-year-old daughter, who recently sank her teeth into ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ reruns. (While she thinks Buffy kicks butt she also keeps asking my why that Angel guy never wears his shirt.) Where did my fang-tastic obsession begin?
Why do we read scary books and sit in dark rooms watching horror movies? Are we just morons? Let's assume in general we're a smart species. If that's the case, what draws us to haunted houses and movies about ax murders? Why are writers like Stephen King and R. L. Stein so popular? I think to understand that, we need to take a lesson from psychology.
K.L. Kranes 