Friday the 13th - The Weekend of Terror Begins

"There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone. "

Yes, today is Friday the 13th. And for me tonight kicks off a Weekend of Terror that begins tonight with my annual Halloween Horror Movie Marathon (early this year to coincide with the uniquely eerie date today), and continuing tommorow with a return trip to Knott's Scary Farm.
Kickass. I love this stuff ...

OTHER STUFF:

- By the way, Chag Sameach in honor of Succott. I miss the days at BU when we always had a good time at the anuual Hillel dinner beneath the Succah along Com Ave. That always seemed to be a time when you'd be guaranteed to meet new people and have some interesting adventures, even if it was always a pain to carry a wobbly tray stuffed with food down that narrow staircase of the old Hillel building and into the Succah, where we were all packed like rats into the enclosure. But it was nice to have somewhere to celebrate the holiday and fulfill the mitzvah of shaking the lulav and holding the etrog. Plus I always thought the various laws and rules pertaining to observing the holiday and building / living in a Succah were kind of interesting for how detailed and arcane they were. Then, of course, Succott culminates in Simchat Torah, which is a celebration that I never quite took to at BU - too crazy for me to be around so many drunk orthodox Jews dancing around with the Torah, but quite a sight to see nonetheless. I still smile when I think about me and Aksel walking by Chabad and encountering these crazy drunken Chasids, making a new l'chayim every minute or so, and randomly yelling at everyone who passed: "Are you Jewish?!?! Are you Jewish!?? Half Jewish?" Hilarious.

- Last night, I attended a dinner in honor of three NBC pages leaving the program - Kelly, Adam B, and Johanna. Very surreal, as these are almost the last remaining pages left who overlapped with my time as an NBC page. Sure, I've now met some newer pages at various parties and stuff, but it's not quite the same ... This is it - the end of an era. But I hope that this isn't the end of gatherings like last night, where a good 30 or so people came out for the occasion. Good times.

- Really looking forward to The Prestige next week. I love the theme of magic, I love the turn-of-the-century setting, and I love the casting of Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, David Bowie, and Scarlett Johansson. Mostly though, after Memento and Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan has yet to disappoint, and is one of the few big budget blockbuster directors to understand the importance of mood, character, and script. This should be great.

- Terrance Howard in Iron Man, as the man who will become War Machine? Awesome.

- Sascha Baron Cohen oppositte Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd? Also potentially awesome.

- That trailer for Robert Rodriguez's half of he and Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse, aka Planet Terror? Yes, once again, awesome.

- John Cena's first starring role as The Marine? Well the fact that it has had ZERO screenings for critics, and that the few early reviews have been horrid, does not bode well for Cena's prospects of being the next Rock. And this coming from a big Robert Patrick fan ... I mean he WAS Agent Doggett ...

QUICK TV REVIEWS:

- THE OFFICE - Yet another hilarious episode, I figure this one will be a crowd-pleaser since it had both a ton of random humor as well as an extra-helping of heart (heart perhaps layed on a bit too thick in the overly heart-string tugging ending). But overall this was another excellent ep, continuing a string of hilarious installments of The Office, currently establishing itself as the best comedy on TV right now. My Grade: A -

MY NAME IS EARL - Another fun if somewhat light-weight episode, especially funny since I love Ethan Suplee as Randy and find him pretty hilarious at times. Plus, as The Simpsons has shown us (and 30 Rock tried to), Cat Lady's are pretty inherently funny. My Grade: B+

- But hey between Ethan Suplee on Earl and Ryder Strong on Veronica Mars, Boy Meets World lives on! Now yank that girl who played Topanga away from her National Lampoon Dorm Daze movies and get her back on network TV!

- Have yet to watch Smallville from this week, but it seems promising ... Green Arrow!

Alright ... time to firmly plant one foot in reality, and the other in The Twilight Zone. Fun times ahead. Bwahahahahahaha ....