Imagine What Halloween Is Like

NaNoWriMo.
(Originally written 6/16/2008)

Yes, I know that looks very weird, but allow me to explain.

So I picked up this book by a guy named Chris Baty called No Plot? No Problem! The purpose of the book is to help aspiring writers to write a full length novel, of 50,000 words or more, within the time span of 30 days. Sounds pretty cool huh?

Apparently, he and twenty of his friends did this in July of 1999. Out of the original 21, only 6 finished. Baty was so pumped after finishing a full-length novel that he began to make National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo... get it?) an annual thing. He changed the actual month to November, as a way to beat the shitty weather blues, and he gets tens of thousands of people signing up for this thing.

He can add one more to the roster.

I think I'm gonna do this in November. I have some cool stories that I would like to get out there and write. But the problem is I never find the time to write them. One of the things he talks about in the introduction of the book is that having a deadline helps to push you to get work done. And being busy helps even more, which I believe completely. There are plenty of times that I have all of the time in the world to do shit, but I putz around and don't get anything done. Then I get pissed off at myself. But if I absolutely have to do that, then I finish this up first. Makes sense.

Anyway, if any one else is interested in learning more about this check out the National Novel Writing Month website. And, hey. Sign up if you want. It would be cool to go head to head a few of you people out there in internet-land.

Genesis: Chapter 4

The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D!

(Originally written 10/28/2007)

So I took my girlfriend and her little brother to see the 3-D version of the Nightmare Before Christmas. This is one of their favorite movies and I was surprised to see that is was playing here in New Jersey.

Needless to say, the 3-D effects were fantastic. I was not expecting it to look nearly as good as it did. I guess I thought it would be like the last 3-D movie that I saw in the theaters, which was Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. It was nothing like that. No red and blue glasses here.
But the cool effects are not the purpose behind this post. I am really writing this to explain what I noticed about the film, a concept that I didn't pick up on when I saw it in the past.
I am talking about the irony of Jack's character.

Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, seems like a decent "guy" throughout the beginning of the film. Then he seems to have an identity crisis, not wanting to do the same things day in day out. He stumbles upon Christmastown and his prayers are answered.

This is where Jack goes from protagonist to antagonist.

Jack's actions after he decides he wants Christmas makes him the bad guy. He suffers from delusions of grandeur and does his best to implement this plan, going so far as to recruit a group of nasty kids to kidnap Santa Claus, all so that he can run Christmas. Granted, he tells to kids not to harm Santa in anyway, but what if the reason behind this was so he could ransom him off if the Christmas thing didn't pay off for him? It's possible.

Then, Jack takes another turn, but only after he takes a cannon shell in his sled after wrecking havoc on innocent lives. Pretty severe. He then rushes back to Halloweentown to help Santa, only to find him in the clutches of Oogie Boogie. Now, most people will probably say that Oogie is the bad guy in the movie, but he is just a degenerate gambler who took advantage of a fortunate event. Oogie Boogie is who he is, but, from what we witness in the film, he never resorted to kidnap. Sure, he played with Santa's and Sally's lives, but that situation never would have arisen if it weren't for Jack's actions earlier in the film.

I admit, the Nightmare Before Christmas is a damn good movie. However, people need to realize that it is not how the may have realized. Jack Skellington is evil, pure and simple. I wouldn't trust him.

(Edit: I had some stuff here about an auction I posted to eBay. Since that auction is no longer active, I removed this portion due to irrelevance.)

Genesis: Chapter 3

The Impending Arrival of All Hallow's Eve

(Originally written 10/21/2007)

As I type this there is a mere ten days left until the pagan holiday of Halloween arrives. And, man, I couldn't be more excited.

I have always loved Halloween. Maybe it had something to do with the free candy (I was always kind of the fat kid). Maybe it was the dressing up in costumes and pretending to be something other than myself. But, either way, I always thought of Halloween as being "the shit."

Now that I am an adult, things are a little different for me, but I still like Halloween. Just yesterday, my girlfriend and I went pumpkin picking. (If you are in the area of Hackettstown, NJ, I suggest checking out Donaldson Farms. They have an awesome set-up there.) We got a few pumpkins ranging in sizes and we plan on carving those puppies up. The best part about carving pumpkins is not making the scary, funny, or cute little faces, but making pumpkin seeds. Anyone who has had pumpkin seeds knows how good they are, especially with a little Molly McButter salt. Mmmm, mmmm.

That's not all we do for Halloween. When we got home from the farm, I hung the lights out on the porch. I know it sounds corny, but I like coming home from work to see the ghosts and pumpkins and bats hanging out side my apartment. Especially now that it's dark when I finally get home, I can really see them well.

I also plan on constructing the Halloween-town set-up that my girlfriend and I got from Michael's, the arts and crafts store. We purchased most of the stuff last year, but we also picked up a few of the new 2007 additions. It looked very cool last year and I expect it to be better now.
Most people say that Halloween is a holiday for kids. I really won't argue this point because, to be quite honest, I still consider myself to be a kid. So my love for Halloween could not be classified as a thing of "immaturity," but is merely me acting my age.