Happy Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I know that a lot of you don't celebrate Halloween (and I don't really either, just trick-or-treat) but you can't ignore that Halloween in the worlds that we most like to escape to (the internet and fiction) is a very big deal. Let's start off with a bit of fiction.

Harry Potter

Hogwarts has an amazing celebration of Halloween, there's no denying it. There's pumpkins, candles everywhere, an AWESOME feast, and cave trolls. Cave trolls? Well, aside from the cave trolls and deceptive professors who let them in, the Halloween feast is a spectacular event. In year 1, there's the cave troll; year 2, Harry, Ron, and Hermione miss it to go to nearly-headless Nick's death-day party. The year following, it cheers Harry up after not being able to go to Hogsmeade. It's a great time and I've always wished I could go to it.

The Penderwicks

Though not well known, one of my favorite series is about 4 girls, the Penderwicks. In the second book of the series, The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, the girls celebrate by Trick-or-Treating in fun costumes. Rosalind and her friend Anna dress up as Greek Gods, toga and all; Skye dresses up as dark matter, which she has to explain to everyone; Jane dresses up in Tommy Geiger's old football uniform, and Batty dresses up as a dinosaur, just like every other year. After a raucous game of soccer in the cul-de-sac, Batty gets severely frightened by Bug Man, and the scary night comes to a close.

Charlie Brown

Though not really a book, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" is a classic and has been for years and years and years. Charlie Brown and his friends go out for Trick-or-Treat, and all he gets is a bag of rocks. Furthermore, he's not invited to any Halloween parties (even though we later see him in one) and his little sister stays in the pumpkin patch with Linus to see the Great Pumpkin. It's a disappointing night, but still fun and full of laughs.

(Sorry for all the gifs, I can't help it!)

Danse Macabre

So this isn't really a book either, but it is a French legend that is kinda cool, and there's an amazing piece of music by Camille Saint-Saëns to go with it. It's set at midnight on halloween - the 12 strokes of the clock ring (the harp) and death comes out, walking through the graveyard playing his fiddle. He calls forth the dead to rise from their graves to dance for him, and they dance until dawn at the crow of the rooster, when they go back to their graves to wait until next year. Kinda creepy, but it's just a legend, and it's got a very cool name - literally "Dance of Death."

Now we go over to the internet, that black hole of procrastination! I found only a few things, but I'm sure there's more.

Outlook

I don't know if you guys have outlook emails (probably not) but the online version of outlook has a Halloween theme. It's so cute! There's a pumpkin button in the top right hand corner that you can click to turn on the Halloween theme. The body of the emails turns black, the top strip is decorated with bats and trees. When you refresh the email, there's an adorable ghost with his tongue sticking out that's telling you to select something to read. Every time you type the word "Halloween," the word gets highlighted and when you hold your cursor over it, the word bursts with little ghosts, bats, and pumpkins. Overall I think it's a fun idea, very well executed. Good job, Microsoft!!

Google

Always a leader in celebration, Google has once again created an awesome doodle for Halloween. It's a YouTube video about a friendly little ghost who wants to trick-or-treat and make some friends, but every time he tries, he ends up scaring the trick-or-treaters away. Finally he is accepted by the children (we have seen some of them in previous Halloween doodles!) and can go get candy with them. I personally think it's adorable; come see it here or go to google.com.

Now to my part in this tale - Where's Waldo! As I told you guys before, I'm being Waldo for Halloween (I may or may not go out for candy tonight, I haven't made up my mind) with a homemade costume that definitely looks last minute. I also ran out of spray paint, so the back of my left arm looks like I killed someone. oops!

(I made a new one, because you guys have already seen the old one)

Random side note, someone in my Latin class dressed up as the 95 theses. Is that not awesome??? That is costume goals right there, especially on this the 500th anniversary of the Reformation!!!

Also, my mom asked me to find pictures of me and my siblings wearing a certain pumpkin costume when we were babies. I am going to find that, and maybe I'll post again later today with most/all of my costumes from past to present. But I challenge you (if you do dress up for Halloween) to send me pictures of some of your past costumes (or present if you wish) because I REALLY want to see them

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Have a fun/spooky night!