Happy Halloween.... mwhahahahaha!

I've never been huge on the horror genre... so in turn, I've never been huge on Halloween.  Definitely not to the level my brother-in-law takes it.  He's a Halloween nut :)  However, every year around the time of All Hallows Eve I do make sure to watch a few choice selections to get into the spirit on some ethereal level.  The following are my must watch Halloween films...

(In no particular order)

1. Ghostbusters - This one really doesn't need much introduction.  It's GHOSTBUSTERS! One of the all time greatest pieces of American cinema ever created!  It's an all year round classic, but it's subject matter gives it a little extra juice around Halloween.

2. The Monster Squad - If you grew up in the 80's, it's a safe bet you know that the Wolfman has nards!   Featuring all the classic Universal monsters, Wolfman, The Mummy, Frankenstein, the Creature and Dracula himself, this is a great fun flick if you're a kid or an adult.  No Halloween would be complete without it.

3. Vampire Hunter D - An anime created in 1985 that features a dhampir vampire hunter named D, a half-breed child of a vampire father and human mother.  He hunts down and kills vampires in a post-apocalyptic future earth.  It's a pretty awesome movie as far as monster slaying goes and was one of my "gateway" drugs into the wold of Japanese animation.  Probably not for little eyes as it's got some very gory scenes in it.

4. Spaced Invaders - This ridiculous movie holds a special place in my heart even though it's beyond hokey and corny! A group of Martians intercept a broadcast of War of the Worlds on earth and mistake it for the real invasion of the Martian enemy's home world of  "Arcturus". So these wayward invaders end up on Earth and hilarity ensues. ;)  It's cheesy, but it's tradition, and I get a kick out of it every time!

5. Bubba Ho-Tep - Elvis and JFK do battle with an ancient soul sucking cowboy mummy, seriously, what is not to love about this?!  Oh and it's got Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis in it, epic!

6. Blade - What can I say, I like seeing vampires die!  :)  Marvel's own comic book version of a dhampir vampire hunter was a great sleeper hit in 1998.  Vampires not only walk the earth, but they secretly rule (they're the 1% ;) meanwhile Blade, the half-man, half-vampire who has all of a vampire's strengths and none of their weaknesses seeks to eradicate vampires from the face of the planet for what they did to his mother.  As far as comic book movies go, this one is one of the better ones and features some pretty cool action scenes.

7. Army of Darkness - "this is my BOOM STICK!"  The 3rd installment in the Evil Dead trilogy is easily my favorite and the only one I make sure to watch in the month of October.   Again... Bruce Campell, the legend, need we say more? :)

8. The Blair Witch Project - I remember seeing this before it went mainstream at the Angelika on West Houston in the city.  Before it blew up, much of the background about how it was real was still preserved so you really didn't know what to expect going into it.  The movie as a whole isn't overly creepy or scary, but the final 5 minutes more than make up for it. Interesting factoid, the girl who's in the movie worked at my office and quit to make the movie shortly before I was hired. :P

9. Gremlins - One could argue that this is a Christmas movie, but this movie about little green monsters' rightful home is on All Hallows Eve... much like Ghostbusters, I don't think this one needs much in the way of introduction.  Just remember, no bright light... no water... and most important, do NOT feed after midnight!

10. The Burbs - This Tom Hanks cult classic about a quiet neighborhood that suddenly gets very strange new neighbors.  I love this movie, it's not your standard Hanks fare, but it's a great addition to any movie collection!  Plus it has Halloween perennial... Corey Feldman.

There's a couple others, but we'll stop the list at these 10.  If I can manage to watch these 10 and eat some candy, my Halloween happiness has been fulfilled and I'm ready for the Thanksgiving Day Parade!  Now, there are two halloween/horror movies that are on the absolute DO NOT WATCH list.

1. The Gate - I'm going to assume that if I watched it now, the movie really wouldn't be all that scary... but the indelible memories scarred upon my psyche from watching this movie in a creaky basement during a sleep over at a friends house when I was 10 years old have removed any and all desire to turn this one on.  Freaky story about The Gate, after that horrific night of nightmares and heart palpitations... I never thought about the Gate again.  I blocked off that part of my brain and quarantined it.  For 12 years it's existence was gone for me, and oddly enough I never heard a reference to it, never saw it on TV, it was literally wiped from existence.   Fast forward 12 years, I now a grown man of 22, hanging out late one evening at a friends house.  I believe it was close to Halloween actually... anyway, the group of people hanging out started talking about "what's the scariest movie you ever saw" and everyone's throwing in their opinions, your standard Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street answers are there along with some more insidious offerings (Boxing Helena IS f'in scary!).  While the majority of the group is deep in debate, one friend's girlfriend is flipping through the channels from the couch.  Finally I decide to unlock the quarantine from hell and offer up the one movie that scarred my childhood... "Mine is The Gate... " I say to the group.  One girl pipes up, "The Gate! That movie scared the $%^& out of me!" as we both say this, the channel on the TV flips over and what is on!?  THE F'IN GATE!!!  12 years of nothing, I mention it's foul darkness and it finds me!! The entire group looked at the television in unison.. you could have heard a pin drop in that room that lasted for what seemed like an hour.  After several moments, almost in unison... a collective sigh was released as the girl on the couch clicked off the TV.  "Ok, I think it's time to go" we all seemed to say at the same time.  One by one we left for the night, but I don't think anyone forgot that creepy evening...

2. Event Horizon - This movie.... if you've seen it, you know.  If you haven't seen it... view at your own risk... fist. mouth. w t f!

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

1 year... wow

So the other day was my kids birthday.  1 year ago they came into this world, one crying and peeing on the doctor, the other one holding onto a rib for dear life because she didn't want to leave her little nook.  It's been such a long and bumpy road to the 365th day, but it's also been a magical and enlightening one!  To see these two little monkeys not only survive, but thrive after that harrowing first 2 months of IV's, incubators, UV lamps, feeding tubes, glycerin drops and apnea monitors.  Taking them home in the middle of a December winter that was one of the coldest I can recall when they only weighed 3+ lbs.  Having the heat go out in the apartment and trying to keep them warm, waking up for 3am feedings, apnea false alarms, and random crying fits.  Those nights seemed like they'd never end... but then, before you knew it, they were over and the these two were recognizing sounds and faces, crawling, clapping, getting favorite tv shows, picking out favorite toy and most of all... they recognized and loved their mommy and daddy!

We had some family over and had a quiet party to celebrate our little miracles.  They cherished every moment, enjoying spending time with everyone while getting passed around like hot potatoes.  When it came time for cake... they had set before them, two gigantic cupcakes, almost as big as they were!  She took to the icing almost immediately, swiping large fistfulls and devouring them.  He took one big handful, got it all over his face, then proceeded to lick the icing still on his face instead of going back for more.  Waste not, want not... good job buddy!  Of course, daddy felt the need to interject and pull off pieces of the actual cake for them to try.  My little girl gobbled it up with a smile.  My little guy on the other hand started choking and gagging on it... great, I'm going to choke my own son on his 1st birthday! He got it up tho and had a smile back on his face in no time. Thanks for being so forgiving buddy. :)  By the end of the cake eating extravaganza, he'd gotten blue frosting in his hair, all over his face, on his clothes, the floor, the highchair... it was a war zone!  She on the other hand, got most of it in her mouth, good job pumpkin!  Then it was off to the bath for a quick clean up and then presents time!  They always say that kids spend more time with the box than they do with the toy... I'm pretty sure that was the case with me growing up.  With my own kids tho, granted during the opening of the presents the paper was all they cared about... but once all the gifts were unwrapped and the paper was cleaned up... they dove head long into their new treasures with reckless abandon.  They loved their new play things, so much so that long after our family had gone and it was well past their bed time... they wanted to play with their new toys in lieu of going to bed... thank you all!

But when I see their beaming faces smiling up at their mommy and daddy with pure joy between playing with each other and their birthday gifts, how can I be mad?  They've gone through so much to get here and they've earned their birthday celebration!  So clap and dance and wiggle all you want guys, you've earned it and mommy and daddy love you so much!

It's Friday!

That's reason to celebrate! (seeing my family this weekend is more reason to celebrate.)

Writers Block!

What to write about, what to write about... this blog thing can be frustrating!  Well, my little ones are going to be a year old in a few weeks!  The sheer magnitude of this milestone is overwhelming!  Considering that when they came into the world, they were 11 weeks early and only 2 lbs and change each.  Spending almost 2 months in the NICU unit under warming lights with feeding tubes, IV's and monitors hooked up to them. Now a year later, they're healthy, happy, thriving little monsters who fall asleep at 7:30pm, get brought up to bed by mommy, and then hear daddy come home and are suddenly filled with a rejuvenation tonic!  I slip into their room and looks who's wide awake, huge smiles on bright eyed faces, one bouncing on his bed while giggling, the other clapping gleefully while telling me all about her day.  It's one of the moments where you say "shhh, it's bed time" out loud, but inside you're thinking "yeah! daddy is the man! I love you guys too, let's play!"  After 15-20 minutes of sitting in their dimly lit room on the rocker quietly chatting with the two of them, we decided to give them a warm bottle to hopefully calm them down and get them nestled back to bed.  Yeah, that didn't work.  Daddy's home! Mommy's here! Let's go downstairs and play!  So instead of fighting with them, we brought them back downstairs and let them hang out for an hour.  Having no sports to watch and nothing dvr'ed worth sitting through, I decided to play some Mario Kart Wii online.  I always sit on the floor when the monkeys are up because I can act as a gate barring entry to the hallway, and to let them climb on me.  Well my boy wanted nothing more than my game controller, so I gave him one of the faux controller shells for the Wiimote.  Literally the second he got his hands on that, guess who wanted it?  They're not even a year old and if one has it, the other one wants it and will do whatever they can to steal it away!  The whole sharing thing is going to be a fun lesson to impart on them. :) 

In other news NYCC is this weekend, which I'm really looking forward to.  For the uninitiated, NYCC is the New York Comic Con, not quite as big as the media juggernaut that is the San Diego Comic Con, but still a strong up and comer over the last several years.  I'm going in my usual member of the press capacity as a photographer for a content relevant web-site so I should have plenty of photos and subjects to talk about over the next week or so.  Until then, Excelsior!

Strike Three...

And just like that, the New York Yankees season is over.  With a wimper.  It's weird though, I never got the vibe from this team that it was a championship caliber team.  Last night's loss, while disappointing, wasn't gut wrenching.  Maybe this means I'm focused on other priorities in life, maybe it means I just didn't have high expectations for the team.  Maybe it just means I can focus on Rangers hockey right from the get go!  Last season my 4 month old daughter would lock into hockey, she obviously had no idea what was going on, but when the game was on, her eyes were locked in.  Soon as there was a commercial break or intermission, she would look around, play with the dangling toys from her bouncer, maybe cry or fuss a little... but the second the ice was back, her head was glued to the television set!  It was hysterical to watch!  Now that she's going to be a year old, I'm curious to see how she reacts to the games again.  It's going to be so much fun taking my kids to Rangers games! Can't wait!  Now if only Staal would recover from the Crosbyitis and get back on the ice!