It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

For better or worse (almost certainly worse) my mind works in a negative direction. When my eager Greenie companion asked me my favorite hymn, my immediate response was “I hate In Our Lovely Deseret.” And I do, it’s stupid. It’s hard for me to pick favorites, but easy for me to pick my least favorite. I was given a list of 10 options for my next rotation, and the only way I could pick what I want to do is to pick which 9 I didn’t want to do.

But Fall is my favorite season. And contrary to my normal M.O., I don’t have anything against Summer, Winter or Spring. I’ve got pretty good cold and heat tolerance and no allergies. There’s just something pleasant about Fall. Stepping out the door to 60 degrees and sunshine makes me happy in a way Summer just can’t understand. Perhaps it’s a laziness thing: the best season is the room temperature one. The leaves don’t do anything for me, so I don’t think aesthetics play a role. But I guess I like them better than the alternatives. Snow reminds me of shoveling, and Spring has an unpleasant moist connotation.

Fall may win (and although Autumn sounds more sophisticated, it’s not how I think of it) simply because of Halloween. I like candy, I like ghosts and I like misdemeanors. Can any other holiday compete? Plus Jim brings up a very good point for Halloween:

Jim talks about Holidays

In honor of Halloween being pretty much the best holiday ever, I’ve listed some of my favorite October movies. Do yourself a favor and pick a couple up for this holiday season.

For the kiddies (not R)
Tremors – good at any time of the year really.
Beetlejuice – my favorite movie for many years
Labyrinth – All hail David Bowie.
Ghostbusters – All hail Bill Murray.
Addams Family Values – better than the first one
Willy Wonka – Gene Wilder is freaky.
The Ring – pretty good the first time.
The Worst Witch – you’ll want to see it after this: Tim Curry singing his heart out
R (it’s hard to find scary PG movies)
The Orphanage – if I have a Halloween movie night this year, we’ll probably watch this.
28 Days Later – Believe it or not, there are great zombie movies.
Descent – pretty sweet.
Alien – Psychologically designed to be creepy.
Shaun of the Dead – Funny and scary. Twofer!
Silent Hill – creepier than you’d think.
Slither – similar to Tremors, though admittedly not as good.
Blair Witch – great once, and just once.


You could watch Gremlins, Edward Scissorhands or Nightmare Before Christmas, but I watch those around Christmas instead, to spread the morbidity.