Great Halloween movies, Fringe & a little bit of Sanford & Son

Part of the reason I love this time of year is because there is an overload of scary movies. I LOVE scary movies.

When 30 Days of Night was released in theaters, I thought it would be cool to watch it on the big screen. But we didn't. We waited, as per our usual, to watch it on DVD. This Saturday, during Kyle's sleepover, it premiered on Starz. We watched it again (we being me & Kyle - none of the other kids had seen it. My niece & nephew love scary movies & apparently Kyle's friends do, too) - the kids who didn't want to watch had the option to go play downstairs.

The first time I sat through the movie, I wasn't all that impressed. Sometimes it takes a few viewings to make me realize how cool a movie is to me. I've watched it 2 more times since Saturday & I LOVE it.

For those of you who haven't seen it, I won't ruin any surprises for you. All I will say is that I enjoy the creepy way in which the creatures are featured. It's almost realistic in the way the story is told. It has an abundance of gore - true gore, so if you're not a fan of blood & uber nasty scenes of death, don't watch.

My niece & I call one of the creatures "Hey" because every time we see him in the movie he hisses that. We loved him for that.

The ending was AWESOME - though it does leave a few lingering questions. I love what had to be done & the fact that Josh Hartnett is in this film makes it that much more watchable for me. I know that critics may not have loved this film, but as I've mentioned several times, I am indiscriminate when it comes to movies. If I watch it & love it, I do - even if it's crap to other people.

Speaking of Halloween movies - what are some of your favorites? I love 13 Ghosts (the recent version). That is one of my all time favorite movies - ever! I love the ghosts - the special effects & cinematography are awesome. When I first saw previews of that, I thought it was going to be stupid & they made the mistake of promoting the fact that Shannon Elizabeth was in it, thus leading people to believe it was mostly about her. So untrue. If you love ghost movies with some humor mixed in and great special effects - see it! You shouldn't be disappointed. "Where's the lawyer?"..."I dunno, I guess he split.." Humor.

We recently rented Prom Night - thinking it might be a wicked remake of a fairly decent slasher film (at the time the original was made, it wasn't too terrible - just a little). No dice. It was one of the dumbest movies I've ever seen. There was no suspense & when I think of slasher film, I think blood & stuff. This didn't have that, not at all.

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Fringe is the Xfiles of the new millenium. For me, anyhow. I watch House & usually I'd just stop watching tv after it. This new show has me watching it, instead of shutting down the tube. At times, it seems too mysterious & misleading, not to mention confusing (once in a while) and I really hope that this mystery eventually leads to a nice finish. I'm also a little worried that it will be too much. That things won't fall into place quickly enough to keep me interested & watching. It's got ideas pointing to aliens & the paranormal, plus wickedly different things happening in each episode. For now, it's pretty interesting television - to me.

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Yesterday, I was taking the boys to school & my neighbors a few houses down had this wicker outdoor set with a sign that said "free" sitting on the sidewalk. Normally, I don't do this, but I don't have any furniture on my deck & Tony doesn't think it's a necessity, so we haven't yet bought any. On the way back, I grabbed it.

Why don't I do this more often, well, for one, I don't want to be known as "the garbage collector" (and that is what will happen in this house). I always feel weird if I take something that someone else is throwing out. I did that once with another neighbor, only they were close to us, so I called to ask first. Isn't that silly? The desk they were throwing out was in pristine shape, repainted & we still have it in Kyle's room. He helped me with that project & loves that he has a desk. We did this over 5 years ago.

This wicker set has 2 chairs, a table & a loveseat. I think the set has pretty much been weathered by the outdoors. Even so, the cushions are still in very good shape. I will probably replace those anyway. The table needs to have it's top redone. That will be something for next summer. Overall, the set isn't in too shabby shape. The paint is wearing off the wicker, so I can repaint it. It's dark brown right now & I'm trying to decide if I want a lighter color or if I want to stay dark. I'll do before & after shots once I've gotten it done.

In the meantime, everytime Dock man goes out & sees it, he calls me Fred Sanford. We're Sanford & Son now because I picked up someone's garbage. Plus, everytime I leave the kids toys in the yard, I am Fred then, too. Yeah, he's a dork. Really.