Monday Morning Commute: The Eye of Samhain

Samhain is upon us! Let’s scream paeans at the top of our lungs and imbibe pumpkin-elixirs and hand out candy to the ghoulish younglings terrorizing our suburban sanctuaries! This is the day we reserve to celebrate autumnal bliss!

Unfortunately, Halloween falls on a Monday this year. Which is lame. But as always, we can ward off the malignant spirits of the workweek by paying tribute to the MONDAY MORNING COMMUTE – this is the weekly post where I show you what I’ll be doing to entertain myself so as to survive five days of job-related drudgery. After you check out the treats in my pillowcase, hit up the comments section and share your own!

Let’s get to two-steppin’!

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Lovin’/Trick ‘r Treat

After watching it this weekend, I can say with confidence that Trick ‘r Treat is one of the best Halloween movies I’ve seen. Ever. The flick takes the viewer through four somewhat-interrelated shorts that take place on Hallow’s Eve in a suburban Ohio community. Making the most of its anthology format, Trick ‘r Treat covers some of the season’s most appreciated standards, with vampires and psychos and werewolves and slashers all being given their just due. In the same vein, the film’s various plots are all dedicated to the notion of giving Halloween the proper respect by adhering to its traditions, and accepting the consequences if you don’t.

Ironically enough, it’s mindboggling that Trick ‘r Treat doesn’t get the respect it deserves. After dancing naked in Limbo for two years, the movie was released straight-to-video in 2009. Since then, it’s been lauded by critics and has even generated a bit of a cult following. But a movie this well-filmed, acted, and scripted deserves more than what it gets.

Fill a bowl with candy, pop open a root beer, and watch Trick ‘r Treat.

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Rockin’/Mr. Bungle

Mr. Bungle’s eponymous debut is the perfect soundtrack for Halloween. If you’ve never listened to it, let me try to describe it: imagine if Rock’n’Roll and Jazz took a few hits of ecstasy, hopped into a bed full of Fruit Loops, turned on some calliope music, made sweet love, and then beat the shit out of each other with spatulas. Needless to say, it’s not for everyone.

But those brave enough to venture into Mike Patton’s pre-FNM mindscape will surely find the experience to be an original one. The album twists and turns, keeping the listener hooked into stereo sounds that sometimes don’t seem to make sense.

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Drankin’/Coffee.

Drinking lots of coffee.

I love it.

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So that’s my week. What’s yours?