Chapter 11: 2Spoopy
It’s that time of year again; Spooky Season. October means a lot of my favorite things become trendy and I am labeled “Basic AF.” Pumpkin spice, Halloween candy, scary movies, haunted houses, etc. I love them all. October kicks off my favorite three-month stretch that includes 31 days of Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and my birthday (in that order). Halloween month is what I will be discussing in this blog because it is currently happening and at the front of my awareness.
Two years ago, on a whim, I decided to try watching a spooky/scary movie every day in October. I ended up having to double up on a few days because wrestling shows make it difficult to watch a movie on certain days so I started calling it “31 Movies in 31 Days” (a subtle reference to the incredible On Cinema at the Cinema; do yourself a favor and watch it) but I did accomplish the goal and enjoyed it so much that I decided to do it again the next year.
Doing a thing two years in a row pretty much defines a “tradition,” right? So here I am, just getting started on a very daunting year three of 31 Movies in 31 Days. As of this writing, I’m off to a good start. As I am typing these words, it is the 4th of October and I have checked a whole five movies off of my list. For this challenge, I try to watch as many new to me horror movies as possible so I take to social media for recommendations, as well as keep a list of movies I want to check out and where I can stream them, if possible. Despite being a big fan of the horror genre, there is a surprising amount of well-known horror movies/series that I haven’t checked out yet.
This time of year also means classes have started back up for a lot of people and will have started again for me by the time this comes out so I’m obviously writing this bad boy a little early due to the time constraints I will soon be facing. It’s going to be a lot of work to fit all the things I need to do into this month: classes, training, wrestling, writing poetry, writing this here blog, and 31 Movies in 31 Days, like I said, I’ve got a pretty good start.
So far, I was able to finally watch the Scream series, which I enjoyed quite a bit. I enjoy meta-humor and media being able to look inward and play on tropes that exist inside the medium. Some of my favorite comedy acts are on the “anti-humor” side, where they acknowledge joke structure and format and try to subvert that. That is also some of the wrestling I enjoy the most; acknowledging the tropes in wrestling and playing on them or using them to create new and different experiences.
Aside from all the things I listed earlier, Halloween month also means a lot of wrestling shows called “Halloween Hell” or “Fright Night” and costume battle royals that nobody enjoys. Dressing up is obviously a very big part of wrestling and dressing up in Halloween costumes allows for a chance to play another character in the ring…I guess.
It’s also a good opportunity to get new people a chance to be in front of a crowd in a low-pressure situation, probably with their identity hidden, and just get some experience. That said, as a note to new people, if you are making your debut in a battle royal do not let the so-called “veterans” give you any of that “welcome to the business, kid” BS. That is an ancient relic of wrestling culture that needs to die off just like the other stupid bullying/assault tactics that used to run rampant and the dinosaurs who committed them. Do not let anyone take advantage of you just because you’re new.
Is that enough wrestling talk to justify this autumn/horror movie-centric edition of Notorious Notes to exist on the lovely pro wrestling website that hosts it? I certainly hope so, because that’s all I’ve got. Join us next time when I’ll probably talk more about horror movies and maybe a little about wrestling. I told you I probably wasn’t going to talk about success this week. Maybe next time? Again, probably not. Really all this was to say that if you have any obscure horror movie recommendations (preferably available on streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Prime, and/or Shudder), leave them in the comments or shoot them my way on any of my social media platforms. And I’ll never be sad about people bringing me Reese’s Pumpkins at shows!
The world is your burrito!
Upcoming Dates:
- October 13: WCWC – Salem, OR
- October 18: 321 Battle – Seattle, WA
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