Cocktail Recipe du Jour: The Jack-O-Lantern

Try this cocktail to ghoul it up this Halloween season!

1 ounce Hennessy VSOP Cognac 

1 1/2 ounces orange juice 

1/2 ounce ginger ale 

1/2 ounce Grand Marnier orange liqueur 

Orange wheel and lime twist for garnish

Frankenstein for President!

With Halloween approaching, and the Presidential election not far behind, I thought this was appropriate. Now I know who I'm voting for! Thanks to Plastic Pumpkins for this beauty.

Must-See Movie: I Married a Witch

I Married a Witch (1942) 
This fantasy romantic comedy is the perfect find for some classic Halloween fun!  The film opens in 1672, where two witches were burned by puritan Jonathan Wooley. We are told that before her burning, the female witch cursed all future generations of the Wooley family; she deemed that all the sons will marry the wrong woman and be miserable. A tree grows over the place where they were hanged, trapping the witches' souls.

Fast-forward to the 20th century, and a bolt of lightning frees the witches, Jennifer and her father, from the tree. Jennifer assumes corporeal form (Veronica Lake) and decides to track down campaigning politician Wallace Wooley (Fredric March). True to the curse, Wooley is unhappily engaged to a shrewish woman and is miserable.  Jennifer concocts a scheme to make Wooley fall in love with her, thereby ruining his wedding and making his life even more disastrous. Wooley is not easily swayed by her charms, so Jennifer has to resort to a love potion. Unfortunately the potion backfires, and comedy ensues.

The TV show "Bewitched" was influenced by this film and later "Bell Book and Candle."  This film also solidified the iconic Veronica Lake hairstyle, platinum blonde and long, with her right eye covered. Many women copied the style during this time, which caused problems since they were working in war plants and their hair kept getting caught in the machinery. Lake was asked to change her style until after the war. When she did, she lost her iconic look and her popularity soon faded along with her career.

Happy Halloween!

Horror Trailer Mashups

Halloween is coming, and I do like a good scare.  So let me take my childhood favorite movies and see how we can change them.  For example...What if "Labyrinth" was a horror movie? Not much of a stretch really.  I mean, The Goblin King stole a baby.  When I saw this as a kid I thought he was already kind of creepy... in a cool way.
 But then there's this one for "Mary Poppins" that is pretty well done.

Wednesday's This & That

I'm still preparing for my favorite holiday, Halloween!  So while I wait, let's see what's floating around the internet...

Apparently, we Americans are spending a boatload of money this year for Halloween, mostly attributed to the fact that it falls on Friday.  2.2 BILLION DOLLARS are predicted to be spent this year on candy alone.  If you're a dentist, it's time to jack up your prices, because you'll be getting a lot of customers by January 2015.

Halloween on a Friday also means more parties, more events, and a lot more people dressing up in costume. Studies show that "consumers this year are spending $1.4 billion on adult costumes compared to $1.1 billion for children's costumes."

As far as costumes you should probably avoid, there's the offensive (like the Ray Rice costume), the newsworthy (in a Hazmat suit for the Ebola scare), and the downright pointless (crazy Amanda Bynes).  Choose wisely, my friends!

Monday's This & That

So I'm getting ready for Halloween here at the Lounge...meanwhile, let's see what the heck is going on around the interwebs, with a special Halloween Costume Edition!

Do you dress up for Halloween? If so, what will you be?  It happens to be my favorite holiday, so I will of course be dressing up.  My closet is so full of costumes that the options are endless.  It looks like, for kids, "Frozen" is still holding the prize as most popular costume this year.

Subway is playing up on female insecurity in its new ad.  They say there was no ill-will intended, but the basic premise is that we all should be dressing slutty for Halloween, so their reasoning seems pretty paper thin.  I don't mind dressing up in a slutty costume (as my pictures have demonstrated), but I don't feel that you need to be a size 2 to do so.  And, by the way, Subway is one of the least "freshest" places to eat, so they really shouldn't be promoting any kind of fitness or weight-loss regimen anyway.  *end rant*

But for those of you who'd rather not whore it up for Halloween, there are plenty of alternatives for you!  I especially like costumes that you can make yourself.

...And just when you thought the Ice Bucket Challenge craze was over, there is -- of course! -- the Ice Bucket Challenge costume to stretch those 15-minutes even further.

Let me know what you'll be dressing up as in the comments!

Happy Halloween!!

Hope your day is DELICIOUS!

Thursday's This & That

We're ready for Halloween! This is one of our favorite days, and it's approaching fast!! What are you gonna be for Halloween?

Pixie was kind enough to adorn us with a wonderful Kreativ Blogger Award! Thanks, dearie! Now we just have to list 6 Things We Enjoy:

1. Halloween!
2. Drinking a Vodka Collins
3. Confusing Dyno
4. Procrastinating
5. Old movies with happy endings
6. Flirting

So do you think you deserve the Kreativ Blogger Award? How about our very own You're the Shit Award? (See both of these on the bottom right.) Leave a comment directing me to your blog, and I'll check it out! I love exploring new places!

Now stop staring at my gams and comment, dammit!

Getcher Music!

Time to start playing that Christmas music! Get some for free at Falalalala.com. Yes, we pointed this out last year, but that was a while ago now, wasn't it? And it's new all the time!

For all you obsessed Disney fans (like moi), you might want to check out Covering the Mouse. It talks about all the different Disney tunes that have been covered by famous artists. I happen to find Marilyn Manson's rendition of "This is Halloween" sinfully good. You can't download the music from the site, but you can listen to a sample and then are informed of where you can purchase it.

Halloween is Over

So another win at my company's Halloween costume party means I'm on a two-win streak. Last year I was Mia Wallace from "Pulp Fiction," and this year was Princess Leia. And yeah, guess what? I already know what I'm going to be next year. That's what keeps you ahead of the competition, my friends. Preparation!

Too bad these poor dogs won't be rid of this shame for a while.

Happy Halloween!

I know it's early, but a) I'm excited about it, and b) I'm going to be busy all day today and tomorrow. So make yours a safe and happy one!

Haunted Subway Car!

Halloween's coming and I couldn't be more excited! So to get us in the mood...here's a great experiment by Improv Everywhere. Thanks to them for making riding the subway even scarier!

Friday's This & That

Alrighty, let's see what going on in the world today...

Looks like GQ named their 50 Most Stylish Men in the Past 50 Years... among them is our beloved Steve McQueen...yummy. Also making the list are Elvis Presley, David Bowie, Paul Newman, Tom Brady, Johnny Depp, and Cary Grant. Some I strongly disagree with: Woody Allen, for one! I know style is different than attractive, but gimme a break.

Also...Halloween is coming, and I think Disney is always one of the first to jump on it. Today Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure kickoff the holidays with decorations, food, and events surrounding Halloween. I'm ready for Halloween: I've already got my costume -- then again, I bought it back in February.

I'll be out on Monday coming back from a long weekend in S.F. See you on Tuesday!

Happy Halloween!

Weekend Recap

If you couldn't tell by the lack of posts lately, I've been sick. I still am sick, actually. A nasty cold and cough. I don't understand... with all the stupid inventions and cures out there, there still is no cure for a dumb cold. I think there's something going around my work because half the office is out sick. They should just shut down the office, tent the building, and fumigate.

I did get to catch up on all my T.V. watching, and I found how really lame daytime television is. I caught Greg Behrendt's show one day, which I thought could be promising: he's the guy who wrote the book He's Just Not That Into You. However, the episode I saw he had a panel of "stars" talking about cheating. It was not only obvious but tedious.

T.V.'s Halloween offerings have brought me into a better mood. [Although the pumpkin I carved on Thursday is already rotten and moldy. Something is wrong with the pumpkin crop this year, apparently.] I watched a bunch of cooking shows for Halloween treats, as well as the Girls Next Door Halloween party, with their cute (yet slutty) costumes. I also watched a bunch of Most Haunted -- one of my favorite shows, and a biography of James Van Praagh, the psychic.

Dyno came over during the weekend. As he watched football, he didn't notice me giving him a full manicure. He finally realized what had happened when he smelled the nail polish. Seeing as how he doesn't own polish remover, he'll be stuck with nice shiny nails for a while. And maybe we won't fight over the remote anymore...

Weekend Recap

The weekend was rather uneventful. I had plans to get together my Halloween costume, buy my plane ticket for Thanksgiving, do laundry, play golf with Guitar Joe and his gal, and maybe watch a little football. The only thing I did on that list was watch football. Not like I sat around like a loaf all weekend, but still -- my To Do List is still as long as ever.

I did get to watch Plan 9 the other night, though, which is fantastic. My buddy Rocky is obsessed with Ed Wood, so he lent me the soundtrack (which is the entire movie in audio). He also is lending me a copy of a Ed Wood documentary, which I can't wait to see. I also Moxied Bride of the Monster which I'll watch this week sometime.

Rocky also suggested I go to Find A Death.com to read all the sordid details about Ed Wood's death. I also like the site because it shows pictures of some Hollywood hot spots with historical value. Very cool!

Set Your Moxies!

Halloween is drawing nearer and this weekend has some classic flicks for you to Moxi!

On Friday, October 13th, Ed Wood's infamous masterpieces Plan 9 From Outer Space and Bride of the Monster air on TCM back to back.

The following day I Married a Witch, the movie starring Veronica Lake that inspired the TV show "Bewitched," is on TCM.

Check the TCM website or your TV menu for the times in your area.

Halloween is Coming!

Yep, I'm one of those. That person that thinks up next year's costume on November 1st, the one who decorates her cubicle for every holiday. Ever since I was a kid, I've loved Halloween! And you only have a little over a month to get ready for it, too. Get in the mood starting today.

M&M's has a creepy game where you must find 50 horror movie references in a very dark Renaissance painting.

See how many you can get!

Scarier Than Halloween Itself...

I know I'm way out of season, but...

Retrocrush has compiled a photolog of The Worst Halloween Costumes Ever, all made from that cheap plastic with those horrible non-biodegradable polyfoam aprons. The ones that you dreaded because you could barely breathe in them. And the characters they portray are even worse than the quality of the costumes themselves.

Example on the left: the tacky "Baretta" costume.