So, is the Vodkahome being costumed as a giant olive?

What are your decoration plans?

I've always loved Halloween, too. It's also my birthday, which I used to think was a reason to hate it (twenty years of lame-ass "take off the mask" jokes will do that to you. No longer. Now I love it, and not just because I get presents in addition to everything you just mentioned. Now I look forward to it more than any day of the year, because for a few hours, I can be someone completely different. And the fact that now I have kids just adds to the fun in a way you'll not be able to appreciate unless you have them yourself.

So, I'll be distracted right along with you for the next three weeks or so. And when the big day rolls around, I'll be thirty-four, just in case anyone's interested in hoisting a Halloween Martini for me.

Vodkapundit: vicarious living at its finest!

We need photos. Lots and lots of photos.

That gives me over three weeks to fantasize about your costumes; you're so wicked!

My recent memories of Halloween are from my alma mater (read my email address and you'll know) which has the reputation of being the Halloween capital of the midwest, if not the eastern United States.

The sad part? Unless you're in a frat or perpetually drunk, the students hated it. It meant draconian measures to get into your own dorm, crowds everywhere, cops everywhere, and a huge spike in the number of drunken idiots everywhere. Students who knew what was good for them got out of town and read about the arrest and crime report in the paper next week.

I think the last time I dressed up was 1995 or '96 in high school where I tossed on some BDUs and went as a soldier. Of course, that kind of thing gets you kicked out of school or shot by jumpy cops these days...*sigh*.

Halloween? Gracious, aren't we supposed to refer to it as the 'Fall Holiday' nowadays?

For those who're interested in travel, one of my best Halloween's was spent in New Orleans. While Mardi Gras can be fun, Bourbon Street at Mardi Gras is full of very drunk--and very stupid--20 somethings. The Quarter at Halloween has an equally drunk, but not so stupid, crowd. About the only bad thing about N.O. at Halloween is that it appears to be the annual pilgrammage of all those Goth Kids. While they think they're all so deep and dark, they're really pretty harmless, especially after you yell at them "So. You Hate Your Dad. Get The Fuck Over It." It worked for me.

Hell, I jus drank a gallon o white mule an' turn over some outhouses! Maybe set Granny on fire if thangs is slow.

The MOST wonderful time of the year, bar none. I, personally, have a pumpkin thingee ~ I use any excuse to paint them, have tons of creepy, vintage look Jack-O-Lanterns all over the house, concrete JOL's that spend the whole year outside and on and on. But no fresh pumpkins are murdered for Jack-O-Lanterns. They spend their days on table tops, get lights for Christmas, icky pastels for Easter ~ it's frickin' amazing how long you can keep the damn things, as long as they're cool and dry. I know any obsession is unhealthy, but hey. Keeps me from, say, drinking and driving. Or voting Democratic.

The best part of Halloween is - hands down - the adult women dressed in schoolgirl costumes. (Did I just say that out loud?)

Mardi Gras still has it over Halloween due to that whole beads-for-flashing dynamic. If Halloween could ever absorb THAT tradition it'd take the #1 spot from Christmas.

I'm not on my computer, but there's an - interesting -- pumpkin site, I think it's called extreme pumpkins.

"I thought I'd outgrown Halloween. And even if I hadn't, well, I'd been shipped off to military school. They didn't let us dress up at all."

HA! Senior year at The Citadel you were allowed to dress up an go around to the freshmans rooms. I dressed up as a nun with sword and shash and went as "Our Lady of the Battalion".

Love Halloween best of all. Now I sit in the driveway in a mask and old clothes with a bowl of candy and a sign that says "take one". Anyone over 12 gets a scare.

Hoooo, Halloween! It was always extra special for me growing up because of my birthday, too (happy birthday, Doug!) Most of my parties were costumers, and trick-or-treating was still "safe" in my early years. When in high school,I worked on and in a charity haunted mansion-in a real creepy creaky old place. My zombified sister had made such an art of staring down the people waiting in line, girls would scream and bury their faces in their dates shoulders to get away from that unrelenting gaze. It was delicious! Have fun with your little kids, have fun as a "big kid"-it doesn't have to mean anything but an escape from our everyday lives!

I know what you mean about Halloween. It's an unscripted holiday - you roll your own! Last year I started thinking... how about a flying saucer for Halloween. In February...

The garage was co-opted. The American Science & Surplus catalog became a GOOD Friend. And you'd be SURPRISED what you can mock up out of tinkertoys, foam board, pipe, aluminum foil and surplus neon stuff. Plus a "Stitch".

We ended up with a heck of a story line. One saucer crashed in our yard, with suspicious holes in it. A hazmat crew came out, cordoned off the area and bagged the dead alien. The pilot of the other one isn't talking, and there's a third alien kind of ghosting around...

Come take a look! Halloween - Be a Kid again!

J.

Stephen:
You naughty, naughty boy.

;-)

I HATE cats, but I LOVE women dressed as cats.

Oct 29th is my birthday! You need to invite me along. PLEASE?? Oh well. Halloween is the best time of year. You can just go nuts with the costumes. I remember when I was a kid, I dressed up as Luke, Vader, and a couple other Star Wars characters which I can't recall at the moment. I'd really like to go all out as Optimus Prime or Megatron now that I can afford to actually make a costume that doesn't suck. It may take me a couple years to make it, but isn't that what Halloween is all about?

(My daughter wants to dress up as a Japanese Hime (princess) complete with the hair, face makeup, etc.. It's either that or dressing up as T-ai from Transformers: Robots in Disguise. God love her. :))

> And in my mind, presents are the only reason birthdays and Christmas get billing over the Big Scary.

Sounds like a bug worth fixing....

The thing I've loved about Halloween in my adult years is the light shows. I've always been around warehouses -- or, at least, trucks -- full of big rock gear. Touring crews' parties always look & sound the best. Fog machines, industrial-grade strobes, the Lee color catalog shot with as many PAR-64's as the wall sockets can handle (that's if we don't start distributing serious power)... sigh.

The kids love it.

The thing that could break my heart, though, is the miserable condition of the LSD market, these days.

That's a damned shame.

Several years ago me and a group of friends went to a party as the characters from "Clue". We found all of our costume components at Good Will, including a hideous yellow tweed jacket for Colonel Mustard

Mike M. wrote:
"My recent memories of Halloween are from my alma mater (read my email address [Ohio State?]and you'll know) which has the reputation of being the Halloween capital of the midwest, if not the eastern United States."

Easy there Mike. I think the reputation of being the Halloween Capital of the Midwest belongs entirely to Madison Wisconsin. The student population more than doubles. State street is packed like an undergrad bar from the Capitol to Bascomb hill. Sports Illustrated ranked Madison's Halloween party among the top 100 things to do before you graduate:
"#45. Put on your best drag, join the masses of raging Wisconsin students and spend Halloween on Madison's State Street."

UW was also ranked the #3 party school (also #2 for most beer and #3 for most booze)by the Princeton review in part because of its biggest party.

As far as Halloween in college towns goes, we're second to none.

It's not just Halloween. The entire month of October rocks for many reasons. Autumn is the best season of the year, with the combined uptick of energy, and the decay of death as the year fades. Cooler crisper weather. The baseball playoffs and World Series. Lotsa Baseball. Also college and NFL football reving into high gear. Every four years the excitement of elections. Kids in school, and grownups raising hell. Life doesn't get any better than this.

I am so happy I found others who think like me that I could cry!

Vodkapundit -- I wish I had known you in Halloween 1977. I had long brown hair, and not much of a budjet. So, I braided my hair, pinned it in swirls, and used an old sheet. Voila -- Princess Leia.

I only wish the new Star Wars series was as good as the Classic trio.

Anyway, autumn is totally the best time of year. Halloween -- all the decorations and none of the stress.

I am raising my son to love Haloween as much as me, and it is such a treat to experience the season anew.

Vodkapundit -- thanks for the best blog topic I have seen. I will think of Darth Vader when I pull the lever for Bush this year -- he was always the best character anyway.

Consider spending Halloween in Hawaii! The city of Lahaina on Maui throws an annual bash considered the Mardi Gras of the Pacific: www.visitlahaina.com/halloween.html

Well, Mr. Green, perhaps I'll see you there. I won't go platinum, but if you mingle among the plebes...

I'm on the 8th Annual Pumpkin Carving Party. You're all welcome to drop in. Being more of a beer person myself, you might want to bring your own martini fixings, though.

Another Halloween birthday boy here. In addition to the "take off the mask" line, there is the equally tiresome "So, were you a trick or a treat?"

And, yes, Steve, you may buy me a beer or forty to celebrate.