'Tis the night before Halloween
And all through the house
Some creatures are stirring
Including a mouse!
I just finished watching the classic 1968 psychological horror movie Rosemary's Baby, which remains chilling and unsettling as it celebrates its golden anniversary. I'm home for my favorite holiday—for the second consecutive year—and taking full advantage of the occasion, eating far too much candy corn and binging on scores of my favorite scary movies on DVD (and, sometimes, the ones that just happen to be playing on television).
A mouse scurried out from under the couch as Mia Farrow was nearing the apex of her paranoia. That is not a joke, and it's actually the second time I've seen the little critter since my return. It was a discomfiting supplement to the film itself. "We don't have any traps at the moment," my dad explained to me, "so just leave him alone. He won't hurt you." Well, I guess it's appropriate for the season, but he better be gone by the time It's a Wonderful Life flickers across the television screen in six weeks.
Yes, with All Hallow's Eve officially here tomorrow, it's actually been a solid month that I've been getting in the macabre mood—both in Hong Kong and New Jersey. I landed home last Thursday, more excited than I've been in awhile to return to the Garden State, anxious for fall leaves and crisp autumn air. But, in fact, I couldn't even wait for October to arrive before I marked my first spooky celebrations.
On Saturday 29 September, my friend Gabriella snagged free tickets to Ocean Park's iconic Halloween Fest, and invited me and our buddy Omar to join in the fun. Considering this is my ninth ride on the Hong Kong merry-go-round, I suppose it's ironic—because I simply love Halloween and Ocean Park's creepy bash is one of Hong Kong's signature autumnal attractions—to confess that this was my first time participating in the event. But it sure was a great day!
From haunted hospitals and cornfields to wandering ghouls and zombies, roller coasters and cable cars to panda bears and walruses, Blue Girl beer and traditional Cantonese snacks to juicy burgers and a pumpkin churro, Ocean Park's Halloween Fest was an amazing experience. We spent some time that afternoon savoring the park's signatures—the rides and the animals—but by the time darkness settled in, it was all about the frights!
The next day, I just couldn't help myself. I had vowed to wait until October to decorate my apartment, but now I was in full Halloween mode, and the temptation was just too great to festoon my flat with pumpkins, scarecrows, mummies, monsters, witches and vampires. I whipped out a precious bag of candy corn, too, that I'd brought back with me after my summer vacation and stashed away in the wardrobe for safekeeping until a more appropriate time. It did not last long, and my life has been pretty much all Halloween since then.
Hocus Pocus is the perennial first screening of my Halloween film festival, so after the decorations were all in place, I popped it in and sat back. Shockingly, this movie that I literally grew up loving is also hitting a major milestone this year: its silver anniversary! Realizing this fact certainly makes me feel old, but nothing can dim the sheer bliss I experience every time I watch Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker tear up the screen as a trio of seventeenth century witches brought back to life in 1993 Salem. (I actually just switched it on again, and am half watching it as I write this.)
There were a few non-horrific October events of note, that I feel compelled to record for posterity before switching back to the grotesque, including the return of my old friend Hayley to Hong Kong. We managed to meet up on a Monday evening, for dinner and drinks, and it was like 2010 all over again. Now living in Singapore, Hayley was back in town for a weekend with friends, and accidentally booked a Monday evening instead of morning flight, giving us the time to catch up!
My friends Christina and Clement also threw a lovely engagement party in Hung Hom to celebrate their pending nuptials. Christina selected the theme of "Love is Sweet," and instructed everybody to bring their favorite dessert to the event. Earlier that day, I had indulged in an incredible Sichuan lunch at Red Pepper, so I was happy to wallow in the sweets on offer. My contribution came in the form of delectable rum-and-salted-caramel mini-cupcakes, freshly baked by my friend Illiana, who operates a side business crafting these and other alcoholic morsels. Let's just say, they were a big hit—and so strong! Illi wasn't kidding when she described them as "the bomb" as she was listing the various flavor combinations she bakes, which also include minty mojitos, strawberry daiquiris, rum with fresh mint and Amaretto chocolate!
The next day was the annual blessing of the animals service at Saint John's Cathedral, so I brought Fredric to church with me and we hopped on the ferry to Mui Wo afterwards to gorge on delicious Turkish food in the open air. This is such a special day each year, and I look forward to marking many more of these Sundays in an identical manner as time wears on.
If you asked me back at the end of September if I thought I had enough Halloween decorations to effectively deck out my apartment, I'd have answered with a resounding affirmative. However, each October, I always take the occasion to visit Morning Sky, a delightful home goods shop on Flower Market Road in Prince Edward to buy a few additional items. This year, I think I went a little crazy.
I visited the shop no fewer than four times, and spent an obscene amount of my disposable income on some pretty darn fantastic knickknacks that have really taken my apartment to the next level. My new favorite is either the rather large ceramic head of Frankenstein's monster that I placed on the landing outside my front door, or the quartet of metallic heads—a cat, a witch, a pumpkin and a ghost—that lend an amusingly eerie air to my beloved rooftop.
I also picked up a pair of candy corn boxer shorts at the Ladies Market. Hannah had mentioned to me that she spotted them during her and Alex's visit last month, and I went back to pick them up in Mong Kok on one of my several treks out to Prince Edward. (If you can't tell, I'm obsessed with candy corn and am delighted with my new apparel. Thanks, Hannah, for the head's up!)
Proud of my decorations and wanting to show them off, I hosted a couple of rooftop gatherings as well, and it was great fun—as always—to while away the evening in the company of good friends and a few drinks.
I also visited the library across the street from my apartment in search of October-appropriate literature. I checked out a collection of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories, which always make for great reading material this time of year, in addition to Bram Stoker's Dracula, which I'd never actually read, in spite of having consumed cinematic and theatrical versions of his story countless times over the years. I must admit, it's a terrifying novel, and I'm glad I can now say I've read the original version of so iconic a work.
However, about three weeks into my Halloween-ing, I read an article about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein that mentioned the novel was celebrating its bicentennial this year, having first been published in 1818! Of course, I made sure to return to my local library to check out additional reading material, and, having finished Dracula a few days ago, I am now making my way through Shelley's classic. So it looks like 2018 will linger in my memory as my introduction to the literary origins of my two favorite Halloween icons, Count Dracula and Frankenstein's monster.
I also attended my first puppet show in years one Saturday a few weeks back, based on a trio of works by Poe: Annabel Lee, The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Black Cat. Staged by Spanish troupe Teatro Corasrio, the performance—part of a series of adult-themed puppet shows currently programmed by Hong Kong's Leisure and Cultural Services Department—was recommended for audiences aged sixteen and above, so you can bet it wasn't typical child's play!
The show opens with eager Edgar and valetudinarian Annabel—a pair of lovebirds whose relationship is in peril due to the objections of her mother—getting frisky in a grave yard. After a gorilla escapes and wreaks havoc around town (i.e. violently murdering Edgar's grandparents), a policeman investigates, inadvertently stumbling into a home where a drunkard has just murdered his wife. Once Edgar also arrives at the house, he works with the man to dispose of the body at sea, before once again meeting up with Annabel as death comes to take her away.
It was an absolutely mesmerizing show, and the fascinating question-and-answer session with the actors afterwards was as enlightening as the show had been entertaining. It might sound funny, but I'll be closely monitoring the rest of the series, and maybe puppet shows will become one of my new things.
Another standout event of this Halloween season was my friend Natasha's birthday party at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, which was a murder mystery dinner! Natasha and her boyfriend Justin asked me if I would host the event, which involved gathering a group of suspects at the reading of a millionaire's last will, giving everybody their own individual clues and knowledge, and then "stirring the pot" so that by conversing with one another and analyzing the evidence, the motive and identity of the murderer can be discovered.
I met with Justin and Natasha at the Yacht Club one week before the event to run through the logistics of the evening, and I spent a lot of time preparing the characters' clues and evidence, but everything worked out perfectly in the end. Everybody was e-mailed a description of their character in advance, and most people played their roles to the hilt! Capped off with drinks at ritzy Cafe Gray Deluxe, the night was utterly unforgettable, and I made some good new friends among the suspects, though I'll have to learn their real names since I only knew them in the guise of their characters for most of the evening!
I awoke the next day with a fairly decent hangover, but I had made plans to explore some so-called ghost villages in the New Territories with Gabriella, and managed to summon the energy to bring the objective to fruition. We met at Fanling a bit later than originally anticipated, but it turned out to be a fantastic day.
The "ghost villages" are really just a series of abandoned and semi-abandoned Hakka settlements in a rugged area of Hong Kong, but they are truly atmospheric, with their broken windows, encroaching vines and hair-raising isolation. Situated near the border with Mainland China, the string of villages are connected by hiking trails, and it was great fun to wander between them and explore the ruins up close.
Buffalo meander on secluded paths and waves lap up against mangrove swamps, and Gabby and I kept remarking on how incredible it was that the megalopolis of Hong Kong can coexist such a short distance from such remote peacefulness. Some of the homes still contain artifacts attesting to their former life, like couches, framed paintings and other eerie relics.
I'd been to this area once before, over two years ago, but to visit just before Halloween was surely a treat. Because of our late start, we had to cut two of the more remote villages out of the itinerary, but Gabby and I both vowed to return at a later date to finish off our tour.
The next few days in Hong Kong whizzed by in a frenzy, with a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks and a few more horror movies, namely The Others and The Mummy, before I boarded the Cathay Pacific flight to Newark. The only Halloween-appropriate fare I could find among the in-flight selection was The Rocky Horror Picture Show, so after sleeping to my heart's content, I switched it on as we neared our destination.
Trusty Danielle was on hand to pick me up, and soon I was home in New Jersey none the worse for wear. Early the next morning, I was feasting on a pork roll, egg and cheese bagel sandwich, which is among the things I miss most from home when living halfway across the world.
One of the first things I noticed when I settled in was the Frankenstein and Dracula mugs overlooking the bed in the guestroom where I normally sleep while home. I couldn't help smirking at the appropriateness of these two monsters keeping watch over me during the witching hour, and I slept soundly thanks to their vigilance.
I stocked up on autumn beers over the next couple of days, like pumpkin and maple harvest varietals you just can't find in Hong Kong. And I've continued my horror movie festival—including the Bela Lugosi version of Dracula (while feasting on some precautionary garlic knots for protection) and the Boris Karloff version of Frankenstein—while sipping on these great brews.
I also loaded up on the candy! Think normal candy corn, maple candy corn, Sour Patch candy corn, Russel Stover chocolate pumpkins and even Cadbury "Goo Heads," which are just Creme Eggs in monster head wrappers. Hey, I'll take it! They're delicious!
Although I missed the first two games of the World Series, my dad and I watched the final three at home, and although neither of us were terribly vested in either the Red Sox or the Dodgers, the Series is one of those late-October American traditions I relish when I'm lucky enough to return home at the right time.
I made Danii and my old man wait for my return to see the new Halloween sequel, as another horror classic celebrates an important anniversary this year, with the authoritative slasher flick turning forty—appropriately its ruby anniversary, as many reviews have pointed out!
The original 1978 Halloween still gets my vote for all-time scariest movie, and although not every sequel has lived up to its forebear, the rave reviews and box office returns for 2018's follow-up left little doubt in my mind that I wanted to see this one.
We went to watch it the other night at the Hazlet multiplex where my dad and I caught Halloween: H20 twenty years ago, in 1998. And we even squeezed in dinner at the neighboring Bertucci's, a real throwback to my childhood when many a movie screening was accompanied by brick oven pizza.
My sister and I just loved the movie, though my dad wasn't as impressed. Still, even he had to admit that spending the evening together just like old times was a great way to kill a Sunday night.
So, yes, it's been a pretty phenomenal pre-Halloween thus far, and I'm obviously excited for the main event tomorrow, which will entail trick-or-treating with my cousins in Brooklyn and heading into Manhattan for a more adult celebration afterwards. I still need to figure out my costume, but hopefully Party City has got me covered. Happy Halloween from New Jersey, everybody, and I hope you all have a ghoulish day!
A mouse scurried out from under the couch as Mia Farrow was nearing the apex of her paranoia. That is not a joke, and it's actually the second time I've seen the little critter since my return. It was a discomfiting supplement to the film itself. "We don't have any traps at the moment," my dad explained to me, "so just leave him alone. He won't hurt you." Well, I guess it's appropriate for the season, but he better be gone by the time It's a Wonderful Life flickers across the television screen in six weeks.
Yes, with All Hallow's Eve officially here tomorrow, it's actually been a solid month that I've been getting in the macabre mood—both in Hong Kong and New Jersey. I landed home last Thursday, more excited than I've been in awhile to return to the Garden State, anxious for fall leaves and crisp autumn air. But, in fact, I couldn't even wait for October to arrive before I marked my first spooky celebrations.
On Saturday 29 September, my friend Gabriella snagged free tickets to Ocean Park's iconic Halloween Fest, and invited me and our buddy Omar to join in the fun. Considering this is my ninth ride on the Hong Kong merry-go-round, I suppose it's ironic—because I simply love Halloween and Ocean Park's creepy bash is one of Hong Kong's signature autumnal attractions—to confess that this was my first time participating in the event. But it sure was a great day!
From haunted hospitals and cornfields to wandering ghouls and zombies, roller coasters and cable cars to panda bears and walruses, Blue Girl beer and traditional Cantonese snacks to juicy burgers and a pumpkin churro, Ocean Park's Halloween Fest was an amazing experience. We spent some time that afternoon savoring the park's signatures—the rides and the animals—but by the time darkness settled in, it was all about the frights!
The next day, I just couldn't help myself. I had vowed to wait until October to decorate my apartment, but now I was in full Halloween mode, and the temptation was just too great to festoon my flat with pumpkins, scarecrows, mummies, monsters, witches and vampires. I whipped out a precious bag of candy corn, too, that I'd brought back with me after my summer vacation and stashed away in the wardrobe for safekeeping until a more appropriate time. It did not last long, and my life has been pretty much all Halloween since then.
Hocus Pocus is the perennial first screening of my Halloween film festival, so after the decorations were all in place, I popped it in and sat back. Shockingly, this movie that I literally grew up loving is also hitting a major milestone this year: its silver anniversary! Realizing this fact certainly makes me feel old, but nothing can dim the sheer bliss I experience every time I watch Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker tear up the screen as a trio of seventeenth century witches brought back to life in 1993 Salem. (I actually just switched it on again, and am half watching it as I write this.)
There were a few non-horrific October events of note, that I feel compelled to record for posterity before switching back to the grotesque, including the return of my old friend Hayley to Hong Kong. We managed to meet up on a Monday evening, for dinner and drinks, and it was like 2010 all over again. Now living in Singapore, Hayley was back in town for a weekend with friends, and accidentally booked a Monday evening instead of morning flight, giving us the time to catch up!
My friends Christina and Clement also threw a lovely engagement party in Hung Hom to celebrate their pending nuptials. Christina selected the theme of "Love is Sweet," and instructed everybody to bring their favorite dessert to the event. Earlier that day, I had indulged in an incredible Sichuan lunch at Red Pepper, so I was happy to wallow in the sweets on offer. My contribution came in the form of delectable rum-and-salted-caramel mini-cupcakes, freshly baked by my friend Illiana, who operates a side business crafting these and other alcoholic morsels. Let's just say, they were a big hit—and so strong! Illi wasn't kidding when she described them as "the bomb" as she was listing the various flavor combinations she bakes, which also include minty mojitos, strawberry daiquiris, rum with fresh mint and Amaretto chocolate!
The next day was the annual blessing of the animals service at Saint John's Cathedral, so I brought Fredric to church with me and we hopped on the ferry to Mui Wo afterwards to gorge on delicious Turkish food in the open air. This is such a special day each year, and I look forward to marking many more of these Sundays in an identical manner as time wears on.
If you asked me back at the end of September if I thought I had enough Halloween decorations to effectively deck out my apartment, I'd have answered with a resounding affirmative. However, each October, I always take the occasion to visit Morning Sky, a delightful home goods shop on Flower Market Road in Prince Edward to buy a few additional items. This year, I think I went a little crazy.
I visited the shop no fewer than four times, and spent an obscene amount of my disposable income on some pretty darn fantastic knickknacks that have really taken my apartment to the next level. My new favorite is either the rather large ceramic head of Frankenstein's monster that I placed on the landing outside my front door, or the quartet of metallic heads—a cat, a witch, a pumpkin and a ghost—that lend an amusingly eerie air to my beloved rooftop.
I also picked up a pair of candy corn boxer shorts at the Ladies Market. Hannah had mentioned to me that she spotted them during her and Alex's visit last month, and I went back to pick them up in Mong Kok on one of my several treks out to Prince Edward. (If you can't tell, I'm obsessed with candy corn and am delighted with my new apparel. Thanks, Hannah, for the head's up!)
Proud of my decorations and wanting to show them off, I hosted a couple of rooftop gatherings as well, and it was great fun—as always—to while away the evening in the company of good friends and a few drinks.
I also visited the library across the street from my apartment in search of October-appropriate literature. I checked out a collection of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories, which always make for great reading material this time of year, in addition to Bram Stoker's Dracula, which I'd never actually read, in spite of having consumed cinematic and theatrical versions of his story countless times over the years. I must admit, it's a terrifying novel, and I'm glad I can now say I've read the original version of so iconic a work.
However, about three weeks into my Halloween-ing, I read an article about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein that mentioned the novel was celebrating its bicentennial this year, having first been published in 1818! Of course, I made sure to return to my local library to check out additional reading material, and, having finished Dracula a few days ago, I am now making my way through Shelley's classic. So it looks like 2018 will linger in my memory as my introduction to the literary origins of my two favorite Halloween icons, Count Dracula and Frankenstein's monster.
I also attended my first puppet show in years one Saturday a few weeks back, based on a trio of works by Poe: Annabel Lee, The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Black Cat. Staged by Spanish troupe Teatro Corasrio, the performance—part of a series of adult-themed puppet shows currently programmed by Hong Kong's Leisure and Cultural Services Department—was recommended for audiences aged sixteen and above, so you can bet it wasn't typical child's play!
The show opens with eager Edgar and valetudinarian Annabel—a pair of lovebirds whose relationship is in peril due to the objections of her mother—getting frisky in a grave yard. After a gorilla escapes and wreaks havoc around town (i.e. violently murdering Edgar's grandparents), a policeman investigates, inadvertently stumbling into a home where a drunkard has just murdered his wife. Once Edgar also arrives at the house, he works with the man to dispose of the body at sea, before once again meeting up with Annabel as death comes to take her away.
It was an absolutely mesmerizing show, and the fascinating question-and-answer session with the actors afterwards was as enlightening as the show had been entertaining. It might sound funny, but I'll be closely monitoring the rest of the series, and maybe puppet shows will become one of my new things.
I met with Justin and Natasha at the Yacht Club one week before the event to run through the logistics of the evening, and I spent a lot of time preparing the characters' clues and evidence, but everything worked out perfectly in the end. Everybody was e-mailed a description of their character in advance, and most people played their roles to the hilt! Capped off with drinks at ritzy Cafe Gray Deluxe, the night was utterly unforgettable, and I made some good new friends among the suspects, though I'll have to learn their real names since I only knew them in the guise of their characters for most of the evening!
I awoke the next day with a fairly decent hangover, but I had made plans to explore some so-called ghost villages in the New Territories with Gabriella, and managed to summon the energy to bring the objective to fruition. We met at Fanling a bit later than originally anticipated, but it turned out to be a fantastic day.
The "ghost villages" are really just a series of abandoned and semi-abandoned Hakka settlements in a rugged area of Hong Kong, but they are truly atmospheric, with their broken windows, encroaching vines and hair-raising isolation. Situated near the border with Mainland China, the string of villages are connected by hiking trails, and it was great fun to wander between them and explore the ruins up close.
Buffalo meander on secluded paths and waves lap up against mangrove swamps, and Gabby and I kept remarking on how incredible it was that the megalopolis of Hong Kong can coexist such a short distance from such remote peacefulness. Some of the homes still contain artifacts attesting to their former life, like couches, framed paintings and other eerie relics.
I'd been to this area once before, over two years ago, but to visit just before Halloween was surely a treat. Because of our late start, we had to cut two of the more remote villages out of the itinerary, but Gabby and I both vowed to return at a later date to finish off our tour.
The next few days in Hong Kong whizzed by in a frenzy, with a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks and a few more horror movies, namely The Others and The Mummy, before I boarded the Cathay Pacific flight to Newark. The only Halloween-appropriate fare I could find among the in-flight selection was The Rocky Horror Picture Show, so after sleeping to my heart's content, I switched it on as we neared our destination.
Trusty Danielle was on hand to pick me up, and soon I was home in New Jersey none the worse for wear. Early the next morning, I was feasting on a pork roll, egg and cheese bagel sandwich, which is among the things I miss most from home when living halfway across the world.
One of the first things I noticed when I settled in was the Frankenstein and Dracula mugs overlooking the bed in the guestroom where I normally sleep while home. I couldn't help smirking at the appropriateness of these two monsters keeping watch over me during the witching hour, and I slept soundly thanks to their vigilance.
I stocked up on autumn beers over the next couple of days, like pumpkin and maple harvest varietals you just can't find in Hong Kong. And I've continued my horror movie festival—including the Bela Lugosi version of Dracula (while feasting on some precautionary garlic knots for protection) and the Boris Karloff version of Frankenstein—while sipping on these great brews.
I also loaded up on the candy! Think normal candy corn, maple candy corn, Sour Patch candy corn, Russel Stover chocolate pumpkins and even Cadbury "Goo Heads," which are just Creme Eggs in monster head wrappers. Hey, I'll take it! They're delicious!
I made Danii and my old man wait for my return to see the new Halloween sequel, as another horror classic celebrates an important anniversary this year, with the authoritative slasher flick turning forty—appropriately its ruby anniversary, as many reviews have pointed out!
The original 1978 Halloween still gets my vote for all-time scariest movie, and although not every sequel has lived up to its forebear, the rave reviews and box office returns for 2018's follow-up left little doubt in my mind that I wanted to see this one.
We went to watch it the other night at the Hazlet multiplex where my dad and I caught Halloween: H20 twenty years ago, in 1998. And we even squeezed in dinner at the neighboring Bertucci's, a real throwback to my childhood when many a movie screening was accompanied by brick oven pizza.
My sister and I just loved the movie, though my dad wasn't as impressed. Still, even he had to admit that spending the evening together just like old times was a great way to kill a Sunday night.
So, yes, it's been a pretty phenomenal pre-Halloween thus far, and I'm obviously excited for the main event tomorrow, which will entail trick-or-treating with my cousins in Brooklyn and heading into Manhattan for a more adult celebration afterwards. I still need to figure out my costume, but hopefully Party City has got me covered. Happy Halloween from New Jersey, everybody, and I hope you all have a ghoulish day!
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