Autumn is awesome.
Today was the first day of autumn. Or maybe yesterday was, depending on when you read this. Either way, WE’RE IN IT NOW, chiefs.
Feels good. Feels so good. I mean, the stuff that came before felt good too, but between the switch of the seasons and the fact that it’s late September, this is the REALLY REAL DEAL Halloween season, now. Yes!
As most of you know, I’m also a nut for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and kind of lump them in with Halloween. So for me there’s that third of the year when everything is awesome, and then those two-thirds that are full of valleys and garbage. I love that I won’t have to face any harsh realities until stupid ass January.
But autumn, man… autumn is special. It still a bit hot now, but it won’t be long before it’s all hoodies and creepy winds and maybe those fingerless gloves that make me look 30% cooler. Hot cider and carved fruit and latex goblins and fun-sized Snickers. I could weep.
Tonight’s survey honors autumn’s arrival:
Name three “regular” things that are JUST BETTER during this season.
(I’ll go with big chain coffee, boxes of crayons, and the Food Network.)
House II: The Second Story.
First off, wanna apologize for the admittedly rushed nature of the last several After Dark posts. I mean, they’re meant to be short and sweet, but maybe not so obviously hurried!
*peels back curtain*
So the deal is that while I’m always working on the Funpacks in one respect or another, I have a few days each month when it’s SUPER HARDCORE Funpack assembly/boxing/labeling/shipping. I usually lose two “site days” to that.
This year, I really didn’t want to skip any weekdays for the Countdown for as long as I could conceivably stand it, so I gutted through this week even if it meant working (“working”) what could only generously be described as triple-shifts.
Tl; dr: By the time I finished my regular stuff, I barely had time to say “hi” before midnight.
Fortunately, I’ll have passed the storm as of tomorrow, so hopefully I can do a bit more than drop a YouTube video and run!
Speaking of which:
Guys, House II: The Second Story is AMAZING. Many of you have probably seen the original House, because it’s one of those quirky ‘80s horror movies that achieved cult status by sheer will of gleeful weirdness. Less celebrated is its sequel, which is so unfair, because it’s exactly to the original what Gremlins 2 was to Gremlins. That’s how much they turned up the volume.
Bonus points: It’s as much a sweeping sci-fi epic as a straight-up horror movie, and it ends up being a pretty sweet one, at that. The movie overachieved on every front and comes with my strongest recommendation. I’ve never met a person who watched House II in its entirety and did not like it.
Night of the Comet!
Tonight’s movie is Night of the Comet. It’s legit good, dudes. Some art to get you in the mood:
It’s been years since my last viewing, which is partly why I picked it. I’m way overdue. The quickest summary is “dystopian zombie movie,” but it’s much more charming than that — full of cheese and a little sleaze, but also plenty of heart. The weird, mutant kind of heart, anyway.
Enjoy!
PS: Watching this will be good for your street cred. Night of the Comet has a quiet but surprisingly large following. If you tell someone who likes Night of the Comet that YOU like Night of the Comet, you’ll have made a friend for life.
Chill out.
One of my favorite traditions during the Halloween season is to just ride around at night with the windows down, drinking hot-as-fuck coffee while listening to spooky-as-fuck tunes.
I did that tonight, actually. Proof:
(STARBUCKS DRIVE-THRU AT NIGHT, HOW SPOOOOKY)
It’s still hot during the daytime around here, but the air at night is much more autumnal. These dumb drives are my favorite way to relax during the Halloween season. (At home, my computer is too tempting a distraction, so it’s hard to just chill.)
Many of these drives last only a few minutes, but when I really need to clear my head, it isn’t uncommon for me to circle around for almost an hour. (Usually with just one random song playing on repeat, because it’s not like I can heavily fumble around with YouTube while driving. Yes, I just play music videos on YouTube, and yes, I know that’s not at all efficient.)
The drives are great now, but they’ll become doubly awesome in about two weeks, when everyone tosses Halloween decorations on their front lawns. My kingdom for cardboard tombstones.
I normally do this during reasonable hours, but I’ve done it super late at night, too. Like, 2-3 in the morning late. Neat thing about those drives is that the streets are completely dead, and naturally much spookier. Sometimes I pretend I’m in some dystopian horror movie. I don’t know why that relaxes me, but it does.
So, tonight’s question for everyone:
At this time of year, what’s your favorite way to just chill out?
