I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: DEAD KENNEDYS “Halloween” (1982).

This Halloween song is also about Halloween.  It comes from Dead Kennedys’ final album.

It’s breakneck paced, snarky and full of socio-political commentary, as you might expect.

Because you’re still hiding in a mask
Take your fun seriously
No, don’t blow this year’s chance
Tomorrow your mold goes back on
After Halloween, after Halloween
You’ll go to work tomorrow
Shitfaced tonight
You’ll brag about it for months
“Remember what I did, remember what I was, back on Halloween?”

The body of the song is pretty simple musically (although the guitar gets to go a bit nutty here and there).  But it’s as the song reaches the end that it gets pretty intense.

Much like the way Ministry’s “(Everyday is) Halloween” mocked those for conforming, this song takes it one step further.

Because your role is planned for you
There’s nothing you can do
But stop and think it through
But what will the boss say to you?
And what will your girlfriend say to you?
And the people out on the street they might glare at you
And whadaya know, you’re pretty self-conscious too?
So you run back and stuff yourselves in rigid business costumes
Only at night to score is your leather uniform exhumed
Why don’t you take your social regulations, shove ’em up your ass?

So yea, this one is a but less suntle than Ministry (who would’ve’ thought anything could be?)

[READ: October 28, 2018] “Abraham’s Boys”

Just in time for Halloween, from the people who brought me The Short Story Advent Calendar and The Ghost Box. comes Ghost Box II.

This is once again a nifty little box (with a magnetic opening and a ribbon) which contains 11 stories for Halloween.  It is lovingly described thusly:

The Ghost Box returns, like a mummy or a batman, to once again make your pupils dilate and the hair on your arms stand straight up—it’s another collection of individually bound scary stories, edited and introduced by comedian and spooky specialist Patton Oswalt.

There is no explicit “order” to these books; however, Patton Oswalt will be reviewing a book a day on his Facebook page.

Much respect to Oswalt, but I will not be following his order.  So there.

This story presupposes a knowledge of the Van Helsing story.  I knew of Van Helsing, but I’m not well-versed in his story.  The abbreviated wikipedia nutshell says:

Professor Abraham Van Helsing is a character from Dracula. Van Helsing is an aged Dutch doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, a wealth of experience, education and expertise. The character is best known throughout many adaptations of the story as a vampire hunter and the archenemy of Count Dracula.

In this story we meet young Max.  He is looking for his younger brother Rudolf.  It is getting dark and they have to be home.

There’s some nice details in the story like that Max is older and was born in Germany, so his accent is strong whereas Rudolf was born in America and has no accent. Abraham also beliefs he has no respect for old country ways because he was born here.

Max arrives home just as the sun is setting. Abraham is waiting for him, calm but raging inside.  He can’t believe that Max has left his brother. Max says that he was at the neighbors’ helping the old lady with a spill.  But when Rudolf gets home a little later and he is questioned about the spill, their stories do not match up and there is going to be trouble.

Later in the story the boys are playing chase and Rudolf climbs through the window into their father’s study. This room is forbidden to both of them unless they are having a “a talk.” But the window was ajar so they both climbed in while Abraham was out.  While they are cleaning up the things they knocked over, Rudolf opens his fathers medical bag which holds stakes and holy water.  Meanwhile Max finds a picture of what he is sure is his father standing next to a dead woman who is naked from the waist up–pinned by ropes to a four-poster bed.

Of course Abraham catches them.  But he is not exactly angry.  He seems somewhat relieved.  Relieved that the boys found out about his calling.

The next night, Abraham wants to show them just what he does with the utensils in his bag. And he has a dead body to try it out on.  Rudolf freaks out and flees the room. But Max seems to be particularly gifted at the work.

The end of the story has a few surprises in store for everyone, including the reader.

Joe Hill is really a masterful storyteller.