Six Days Into October

Yes, we are only six days into the wonderful month of Halloween.

Yet, I have already finished In the Stone Circle (which I haven't read for years, but it still scared me at parts and I still cried at the end). I have already made a sizable dent in The Graveyard Book. I perused my bookshelf for more potential October reads. Here is what I found:

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, by Josephine Leslie aka R.A. Dick, which is not spooky, but it is still a ghost story.
Practical Magic, by Alice Hoffman, which I started about three years ago and never finished because it scared me. If the book is good enough, I will return to it, even after a few years. I'm odd that way.
Plum Spooky, by Janet Evanovich. It is a Stephanie Plum In Between the Numbers book. It should be silly. I haven't read it before.

If you are interested in following my reading journeys, you can find me on GoodReads. I love that website.

I put all of my Halloween music on my iPod and iPhone and have listened to everything at least once.

Today I babysat my niece and we watched The Addams Family and The Haunted Mansion. These are the first Halloween movies I have watched this season. And my sister lent me The Munsters movies which I haven't actually seen before (or if I have, I don't remember).

And here is an awesome picture of my niece that her mama took:

 Aww! I love this picture. She totally belongs in our family.

I also had to take this:

Aww! Halloween rattie picture! You know I can't resist.

In non-Halloween related news, my sister and I got to go see Cavalia Odesseyo on Saturday (thanks for the tickets, Mom!). Here is their website: Cavalia. It was awesome! I saw it last time it was here, which was four or so years ago, I think. And I remember some of it, but I wasn't in a good place (emotionally and mentally), I think, and I don't remember as much as I should...

Some of my favorite routines didn't involve horses at all. There was one with a carousel that gymnasts danced and performed on. They are so strong! And the carousel went around and some of the poles went around in circles or moved up and down. It was very neat. Another favorite was the gymnasts who swing on and do tricks with the big rings up in the air. They looked like fairies!

One of the gymnasts on the ring. Picture from www.calgaryherald.com

More ring gymnasts. Picture from www.edmontonsun.com

The carousel dancers! Picture from www.rockinmama.net

Kema and I really enjoyed it when the people led the horses (without any tack or halters on). Then they joined up to form larger groups until one person was leading 3 to 4 horses. Despite having many groups out there, the horses stayed with their person. That takes serious training and dedication, I think. And Kema and I decided that we want to have horse shadows, so we each need a couple of horses... but that's beside the point.

One guy leading his four horses. Picture from www.tomonair.com

The point is, that the show was awesome, and we really enjoyed it! Also, their music was all live and absolutely amazing! I kind of want the soundtrack. If you have the chance to see it, I hope you take it!

So far, October has been pretty awesome. And Blood of Olympus comes out tomorrow! Not that I'm excited...

More Halloween and October posts to come!

All Hallow's Eve

Happy Halloween everyone!

My very favorite holiday of the year. This is how I went to my classes today:

Freckles from 101 Dalmations!

Luckily, I was not the only person dressed up! I saw several fun costumes and masks around campus. And I got lots of compliments!

I have a few last-minute Halloween-y things to share.

Here is a great site by a master pumpkin carver. He has done several nerdy jack-o-lanterns, which I love, of course. Check it out; he's amazing! The Pumpkin Geek.

And, of course, I have been busy re-blogging and re-pinning Halloween things on Tumblr and Pinterest.

You know those people who do elaborate Christmas decorations to music? Well, here is one for Halloween! Halloween Light Show 2011: This is Halloween.

My favorite song to listen to has been Werewolves of London. Not sure why, I just am really feeling it this year.

I am reading the Halloween book that I decided that I should read every year around this time: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I love it and highly recommend it. And it isn't a scary story, for those of you who, like me, don't like horror.

I always like to share my favorite Halloween memory: 10.31.2012: My Favorite Halloween Memory.

I hope you all have a great Halloween!

Essential Halloween Music

More Halloween! This time it's about music. This is my personal Halloween playlist with some other stuff thrown around. All the songs have links so you can listen on YouTube before you purchase songs you've never heard.

For those of you who go for the scary Halloween movies, you can probably find most of those soundtracks. Since I don't, that won't be included here, but if anyone has good resources and suggestions, feel free to share.

Also, much of the Halloween music is sort of alternative or indie style, which is not a whole lot of what I listen to, myself.

You can also buy those spooky sounds CDs, but those aren't for easy listening.

I tend to think about the Harry Potter soundtracks around this time of the year. Practical Magic's soundtrack is also good. Basically any soundtrack from a Halloween-y movie is going to work. (For a list of Halloween movies, see my last post!)

1. Rock Lobster by the B52s. Why is this a Halloween song? Not sure, but many Halloween mixes include this song.
2. Witchcraft by Frank Sinatra. Classic.
3. Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr. "I ain't afraid of no ghosts."
4. Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell.
5. Monster Mash by Bobby Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers. Essential.
6. The Munsters. One I couldn't find a video of. I am not sure which version I have. None of the ones I found. It sounds like the original theme but has words as well. I got it on The Complete Halloween Party Album.
7. The X-Files Theme Song.
8. Little Shop of Horrors Prologue. Awesome. Or just about any song from this musical.
9. Thriller by Michael Jackson. Of course.
10. This is Halloween from Nightmare Before Christmas. "I am the who when you call 'who's there?'" Gives me goosebumps. Nearly any songs from this movie, really.
11. Beetlejuice Theme Song. Many people also include Day-o (Banana Boat Song) by Harry Belafonte.
12. Purple People Eater by Sheb Wooley. "Purple People?!" Not the best quality, but it is old.
13. I Put a Spell on You by CCR. Though I actually like this version better (shock...): I Put a Spell on You from Hocus Pocus.
14. The Twilight Zone Theme Song.
15. Time Warp from Rocky Horror Picture Show. "I was walking down the street just-a havin' a think when a snake of a guy gave me an evil wink..." (Sorry about the odd subtitles in this one, but most of the others didn't have the movie clip with the dance AND good sound so...)
16. The Addams Family Theme Song.
17. Bewitched Theme Song.
18. Spooky by Atlanta Rhythm Section.
19. Poor Jack from Nightmare Before Christmas.
20. Love Potion Number 9 by The Searchers. Potions are Halloween-y, right?
21. Here is a gem: Anything Can Happen on Halloween by Tim Curry. "Has anybody seen my tambourine?" Tim Curry! Awesome, right? It's from 1987 so cut it some slack. From a movie (I don't think it's from the show) called "The Worst Witch," which I still need to watch... Sadly, this one is difficult to find for purchase. It is not on iTunes nor Amazon as far as I could tell.
22. The Headless Horseman Song by Kay Starr. While I generally love Bing Crosby, I found that I don't go for him for my Halloween music needs. If you are interested, he did this song: The Headless Horseman by Bing Crosby from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow as well as: The Halloween Song by Bing Crosby and Boris Karloff.
23. Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon.
24. Grim Grinning Ghosts from the Disney ride Haunted Mansion.
25. Little Red Riding Hood. My version I bought from iTunes says it's by The Coasters. This one says it's by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. They sound the same, tho.
26.  Sex and Candy by Marcy Playground. Not really Halloween, but I think it was in one of those many Foreign Werewolves in Other Countries movies and the song is creepy and have you seen the video? Scary!
27. Werewolf by The Frantics. I got this from another blog here: Nerdist: 13 Required Songs for Your Halloween Party Playlist etc. They have some good stuff there. And I liked the part about "That's right, you just listened to Twilight," but I didn't think the second song was Halloween-y enough and I hated the third for that combo. You'll see what I mean if you visit.
28. Witchy Woman by The Eagles.
29. The Closing from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Not in the movie as far as my friend, Veronica, and I could tell.

So there you have it: my Halloween playlist. I hope you find something worth listening to. And please feel free to share your Halloween favorites!