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Monday once again, and it's back to work after a packed weekend of horror-filled fun.

Friday night, my annual Halloween Horror Movie Marathon kicked off the weekend with a bang. It was a small but enthusiastic group this year, though that is probably ideal for a gathering such as this, where everyone was primed and ready for some hardcore movie watchin'. Not to mention, had any more people tried to pack into my studio apartment, seating might have become an issue. But anyways, I was very happy with the movie selection this year, as it was a nice mix of the weird, the campy, and the straight-up scary. Things started off the right way with the traditional viewing of a Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episode, and then as more people started to arrive, we segued into Lost Boys - a highly enjoyable but extremely 80's-riffic cheese-fest replete with mullets galore, two Coreys, a young Kiefer Sutherland, and hard-rocking vampire biker gangs. Suffice to say, some of the scenes and lines in the movie are just classic. As a few more people arrived, we got serious with the original Friday the 13th, highly appropriate considering Friday's date. Anyways, the movie was full of vintage scares and had some legitimate creepiness. Since my knowledge going in was fuzzy at best, I was surprised to find that this movie has no hockey masks in sight and Jason Voorhes, who later became synomonous with the franchise, only makes a cameo appearance in the original film. Oh well, it is easy to see how this, along with Halloween, became the prototype for endless slasher movies to come. Finally, as our eyes grew bleary and stomachs became full from pizza and candy, we settled in for the trip-tastic mind$#%& that is Donnie Darko - not quite a horror movie per say but plenty weird enough to make it appropriate for the occasion. While I've now seen it a number of times, I still get a kick out of trying to wrap my head around just what the hell is going on in this movie, and watching it with a group always leads to some interesting interpretations. So yeah, overall, it was another great chapter in the annuls of Halloween Horror Movie Marathon history.

Saturday there was no rest for the weary, as a group of adventurous souls shook off the cobwebs from the previous night's festivities and headed down to Buena Park for our second annual excursion to Knott's Scary Farm.

Again, I can't help but wonder -- why is it that last year so many people were game for a trip to Knott's, yet this year so few were up for it? I honestly don't get it - it's October, it's a once a year event, it's tons of fun at one of the country's best Halloween attractions. Why WOULDN'T one want to go? I just can't get over how lame it is that we couldn't get a good group of ten to twenty people together like we did last year. But in any case, our smaller group still went and had a great time - I just am of the opinion that for things like this, the more the merrier.

But yeah, Knott's was lots of fun - the haunted mazes were as crazy as ever, and for sheer comedy value there's nothing quite like watching scared-out-of-their-mind preteens running at full speed around the park to escape the clutches of chainsaw-wielding evil clowns in hot pursuit. Oh man ... hilarious. And yes, despite arriving late thanks to truly horrific traffic outside the park (and a somewhat shady dinner at Paul's, the only slightly-less-sketchy alternative to nearby Hoff's Hut ...), we still managed to hit up all the big haunts -- Lore of the Vampire, Hatchet High, Redbeard's Revenge, and Lost Vegas were just some of the places we braved in the darkness and fog-engulfed landscape.

And yet one other minor complaint - sure we were all tired and worn out after a few hours of haunted thrills ... but, why is it that in like 3/4 of all photos of me I end up looking like a total weirdo? Honestly, I had to immediately delete like a quarter of the pics I took because I end up looking like a complete freak in them. I swear, cameras hate me.

But in the end, Knott's was an awesome time, and a great bookend to a truly terrific weekend of terror.

Sunday continued to be busy, as I rested up from the late night Saturday and the nset out to meet my great uncle Josh and his wife for dinner in Brentwood. A nice time was had and it relaxed me for the week ahead ... But man, with all the Halloween-related excitement this weekend, it's hard to beleive that the day itself is still weeks away.

- Which leads me to a question ... the big Halloween bash (the spiritual sequal to last year's superlative Page-O-Ween, I guess ...) that was supposed to happen on pre-Halloween weekend is now postponed to the first week of November on order of its organizer! This means that, a.) that, like FOX's annoying habit of airing the Simpsons Halloween specials in November, the party now loses much of its seasonally-contingent luster, and, b.) I have no idea what I'm doing the weekend before Halloween. So, if anyone has ideas or is doing something exciting, let me know!

TV STUFF:

- Last week's SMALLVILLE was a very entertaining ep until the ultra-sappy last 10 minutes, during which I had to check to make sure I wasn't watching a Lifetime original movie. That ending sequence was just so long and pointless and awkward -- do we really need it spelled out for us that Lana Lang and Lex Luthor are now sleeping together? I hate when this show veers into semi-scandalous territory like this - it just clashes unpleasantly with the show's generally innocent and fun and all-ages-appropriate nature. I hate when this show goes for the cheap ratings boost by inserting extra skin and scandal. And it sucks, because aside from the ending, this was a really fun ep - lots of cool f/x with the villain of the week, and the notion that a bunch of alien badguys escaped from the Phantom Zone along with Clark is a fun idea and great fodder for future storylines. I thought the writing was especially sharp for most of the ep as well, with some great moments for the suddenly-likable Jimmy Olsen and Chloe, some interesting Ollie Queen stuff, and some long-needed pointed exchanges between Lex and Clark. But with my complaints being what the are, I can only give this otherwise excellent episode a grade of: B

- Finally watched last week's STUDIO 60. I continue to enjoy the character dynamics on the show but like many, I'm getting increasingly put off by way that the writing equates each little hurdle for the characters and show-within-the-show to the goings-on in, say, the West Wing. Too preachy and too self-important, I continue to feel that the show's best and most enjoyable moments are when it allows the characters and situations to be goofy and actually reflect the fact that it is about a sketch comedy show. Case in point - I thought Matthew Perry's baseball bat-through-the-window gag was the highlight of an otherwise way-too-angsty and pretentious lecture on plagiarism and the lengths that the show would go to to apologize for its error. Finally, I loved Christine Lahti on Jack and Bobby and was happy to see her here, but am wary of yet another hitch-up my bra-and-powerwalk female character on the show. My Grade: B -

- Anyways ...

That's about all I've got for now. Take it easy everyone - now quit readin' and get back to work.