Thing of the Day: Halloween

Halloween is number two or three on my list of top five fave holidays (1. New Years Eve, 2/3. Halloween/4th of July, 4. Chrismakkuh, 5. Thanksgiving) and now that I have gotten back from fall break I have finally gotten sufficiently excited enough to begin adequately preparing. My apartment has been decked out in pumpkins and other seasonal fruits/vegetables (among my very few faults, being unable to destinguish between what is technically a fruit and what is considered a vegetable is moderately high on the list) for the majority of October, but seeing that we have a mere week left until the holiday, I have broken out the pumpkin cups and spider accessories. Sorry roomies. The other, considerably more important thing that I have broken out is my costume. I clearly can't reveal what I am being until the day (or in college, days) of Halloween, but it involves fake money, green fishnets, and a very LBD.

It's funny to me that all the holidays we used to get terribly excited for as children for very wholesome reasons (candy on Halloween, staying up all night on New Year's Eve, turkey on Thanksgiving, fireworks on the 4th of July, presents and cake on birthdays) are, for young adults, simply reasons/excuses to get excessively drunk. I come to this conclusion because every single person who I suggested come trick or treating with has responded either with a flat out "no," or an "only if we pregame." I am one of the founding members of pregaming's fan club, but for once, cannot see the purpose. What about putting on costumes and getting candy from strangers requires one to be intoxicated? Another thing that alcoholic friends refused to join me for this week was pumpkin carving at my sorority house. This time, pregaming wasn't suggested--probably because nobody should be wielding a knife and that close to accessible food in any state of inebriation--and I was flat-out greeted with "you're a loser." (In a twist of great hypocrisy, we will be hosting a Halloween/22nd roomie birthday party on Friday, complete with orange beer, spiked cider, and a plethora of unhealthy candies and revealing costumes).

In several other pieces of completely unrelated news:

1)Fall break was great and debaucherous. Charleston is a ridiculously cute city and I want to go back.

2)Does anyone know where I can get a Google Wave invite? I know its ridiculously geeky but I want this technology so badly. The 2 adorable Danish brothers who created it (Lars and Jens Rasmussen-duh. In my 4 months in Denmark, I learned that Danish people only eat three foods: fish, bread, and cheese, and that they only have three names: Lars, Jens, and Hans) just did a CNN interview about it and I want it on my desktop now.

3)Glee is officially my favorite show on television. After last Wednesday's mashup of "The Thong Song" and "I Could Have Danced All Night," I am officially denouncing both Gossip Girl (by the way, for those who watch Gossip Girl, check out this phenomenal GG Recap blog by the people at NY Magazine (Hire Me!). I am considering imposing this point system onto my own life. Thoughts?) and Greek in leiu of a wiser, funnier, better sounding teen dramedy. And, oh, Mr. Schuuuu.

Trick o treat lovers and friends.

Thing of the Day: Roller Derbies (and the month of October)

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Whip It with a good friend--the movie was exactly what I would expect of a Fox Searchlight film--great music, bizarre sex scenes, quirky characters, and losers who become winners. Ellen Page was adorable and talented as usual, although it still wierds me out that she's 22 and looks 16, but supporting roles (Kristen Wiig as Maggie Mayhem and Ari Graynor as Eva Destruction) took the cake.

I first fell in love with Ari Graynor in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist as Norah's blackout best friend, Caroline. This girl perfected the sloppy-drunk acting manuever. As someone who finds herself around inebriated and otherwise toxified persons at least five out of seven days per week, I always get really angry with actors who play drunk/stoned/enjoying other substances poorly. In fact, I can only think of a few instances (the episode of Friends where Rachel drunk dials Ross to tell him shes over him, the episode of Friends where Rachel and Ross get married in Vegas, the Knocked Up on-shrooms-at-Cirque-du-Soleil in Vegas scene, the Mean Girls Lindsay Lohan vomiting on crush scene...although chances are Lindz was on all sorts of shit) in which I was impressed with drunk/high acting to the point where I wondered if there was any chance the actors actually were boozing (which, by the way directors, would be a phenomenal idea--and certaintly provide for some wonderful ad-lib and contented actors). Anyway--Ari Graynor is either an alcoholic or a terribly talented actress, and the scenes in Nick and Norah where she fishes her cell phone out of a vomit-filled toilet in Penn Station as well as those in Whip It where she plays a delightfully butch roller derby rockstar are hilarious. I hope to see this chick in so many more movies--she'd be perfect as a supporting actress in a f-ed up HBO Original Series.

In addition to fueling a girl-crush of massive proportions, Whip It prompted me to Google "roller derby," and to my surprise and delight, not only do roller derbies actually exist but there is one in Nashville THIS WEEKEND. I have never been more devasted that it is Homecoming this weekend nor have I ever considered skipping a game more, but in the end the desire to drink with beloved graduates won over the desire to see blue-collar shemales beat the crap out of each other on skates (but come on--some teammate names: "Britches and Hoes," "Olive Turmoyl," "Maulin Monroe"?!). I am sinking into a deep depression at the thought of missing this cultural event.

But, alas, other fun events are of course on the calendar--this weekend, my friends from Copenhagen are coming to experience Vandyland. We have planned various festivities, like brunching to the point of nausea, a self-led bar crawl through the honky tonks in dowtown Nashville, and perhaps an afternoon of pumpkin picking and spiked cider drinking. I am a sucker for any sort of holiday-themed activity and have already come home with corn, pumpkins, gourds, and limited edition(a double sucker for anything limited edition) "Fall Scents" Febreze spray. My roommates choke every time I attack our family room with the overly-pumpkin spiced odor, but I will have our apartment smell like October, damn it! I can't wait to get cobwebs and/or spiders for our foyer (roomates--thoughts?), plan a group excursion to a haunted house, have an excuse to go cold-weather clothing shopping, and start working on our Halloween costumes which, obviously, are sexy, but also moderately, if not terribly, clever. Seriously.