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Home » It’s Halloween, and you know what that means

It’s Halloween, and you know what that means

The New Neo Posted on by

Candy corn.

I’ve already had my annual fix of the stuff. When I went to the market to buy it, I noticed it’s far more expensive than it used to be. A fairly large bag of candy corn always seemed to cost between 99 cents and $1.99, and that was for the primo brand, Brachs. Now it’s between $3.99 and $4.99. Not exactly going to break the bank, but it makes one stop and think.

For a moment, anyway.

Happy Halloween.

Comments

It’s Halloween, and you know what that means — 47 Comments

  2. Candy Corn going up isn’t going to break the bank, since it is a once a year luxury. Now though basic food stuffs going up every day is a different matter.

    We don’t and haven’t had Trick or Treaters for years. Country Subdivision, dark streets, few kids. I miss handing out the candy. Yes, I was a sucker for the older kids that came late.

    Happy Halloween

  3. Inflation is something else. Today I bought a chicken bowl at Chipotle and it was $10. It was only $7 not long ago.

  4. For Halloween I’m doing a Dracula retrospective.

    The other night I watched the 1931 Bela Lugosi version. It holds up marvelously well. I can’t believe how well shot those old B&Ws are! The ending was a bit lame, but top marks for the rest, especially Lugosi’s mesmerizing stare.

    Lugosi got hooked on opiates from war wounds and his later life was sad. Still, a legacy.

    Last night I watched “Renfield” (2023) which centers on Renfield, Dracula’s pop-eyed mad assistant from 1931 (also the book). It’s a weirdly sympathetic film — a mash-up of “Dracula,” “Fight Club,” and “Zombieland.” I wouldn’t say it’s for everyone’s taste, but it kept me entertained, which is more than I can say for most 2020s films.

    Playing Dracula, Nicolas Cage is at his most over-the-top Nic Cageyness. The man is a national treasure.

    It was fun that “Renfield” took place in New Orleans without explicitly mentioning it. New Orleans is much bigger than I recall from the 70s when I lived there.

    Now I’m watching the film of Anne Rice’s “Interview with a Vampire,” much of it also in New Orleans. (Did you know that Rice RIP bought a whole city block of New Orleans after she hit the jackpot as a writer?)

    Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt are wonderful as vampires. They may be two of the last real Hollywood stars we have left and here they are young and in their prime.

    Boo!

  6. I remember a Halloween back in ’97, my first wife had just left me and I was spending the evening by myself at home. Around 9 o’clock – way past time the little kids had come and gone – there was a knock on the door. I opened it, and it was a young woman, maybe 17 or 18, trick-or-treating by herself. I never quite got what was going on. Had my ex sent her to try to trick me into doing something dumb? Or was she casing the joint, looking for an opportunity to come back and break in later, maybe with a few male friends? I never did figure it out.

    P.S. This was Surf City USA, a/k/a Huntington Beach, CA. Not an area known for crime back then, but it was (and is) a big city and had plenty of big city problems, especially for those who lived near the pier and Main Street.

  7. Re: Huntington Beach

    Sgt. Joe Friday:

    I was a gremmie (beginner) surfer in the late sixties. The Huntington Beach Pier was the site of the US Open Surfing championships. Legendary for the break and the contest. I envy you.

    Don’t know about your trick-or-treater. Perhaps she was alone, sad, and trying to recapture a happy moment from her childhood.

    Could be.

  8. I have a bowl of Reese’s peanut butter pumpkins sitting in a bowl on the porch, but no takers so far. It’s cold and rainy, and the kids mostly grew up, alas.

  9. It’s an interesting coming-of-age moment in one’s American youth when one decides not to trick-or-treat again.

  10. I didn’t get to choose. Being a girl, my dad outlawed it when I showed signed of puberty.

  13. Ray Bradbury was my man, or one of them anyway, when I was seduced by science fiction as a kid. His novel, “Something Wicked This Way Comes,” is still the ultimate Halloween story for me.
    _________________________________________

    First of all, it was October, a rare month for boys. Not that all months aren’t rare.But there be bad and good, as the pirates say. Take September, a bad month: school begins. Consider August, a good month: school hasn’t begun yet. July, well, July’s really fine: there’s no chance in the world for school. June, no doubting it, June’s best of all, for the school doors spring wide and September’s a billion years away.

    But you take October, now. School’s been on a month and you’re riding easier in the reins, jogging along. You got time to think of the garbage you’ll dump on old man Prickett’s porch, or the hairy-ape costume you’ll wear to the YMCA the last night of the month. And if it’s around October twentieth and everything smoky-smelling and the sky orange and ash grey at twilight, it seems Hallowe’en will never come in a fall of broomsticks and a soft flap of bedsheets around corners.

    But one strange wild dark long year, Hallowe’en came early.

    –Ray Bradbury, “Something Wicked This Way Comes” (1962)
    _________________________________________

    The title is from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, but the rest is sheer Bradbury. I consider this book a key influence for Stephen King.
    _________________________________________

    By the pricking of my thumbs
    Something wicked this way comes.

    –SHakespeare, “Macbeth”

  15. Aaaargh! Due to that invitation from Chiplar I declined earlier this year, I still can’t have candy.

    Heh. Maybe I’ll buy a bag and freeze it.

    Go look at it every couple months.

  16. PA Cat:

    Well, I wish Olive well. She’s doing okay in her new home, but I think she was happier with Gerard. He loved that cat.

    Olive was very jealous of me. But she should have thanked me because I actually made her life better. She used to try to sneak outside whenever Gerard’s apartment door was opened, and I suggested a way to stop that and she was a lot happier after that.

  17. As far as entertainment this weekend, I just wrapped up a binge of “The Tenth Kingdom”, one of my favs. A great blend of a number of fables.

    Recommend, although it takes a full day dedication. Five episodes @ 1hr plus each. Hallmark.

  18. What Halloween means to me…

    About a week ago while web surfing, I came across an obscure LEGO set 6373603 Ulysses Space Probe. The remarks said “LEGO VIP members had an opportunity to acquire this set on April 14, 2021 but many were unable to.” What caught my attention was the fact that the Ulysses is modeled atop the IUS, a rather obscure spacecraft.

    Last night was the 41st anniversary of the first flight of the IUS.

    Weeks ago, I started a tale of my adventures on the space program. I told about my short disastrous marriage to the opera singer wannabe and how I dropped out of school, quit my job, and spent the better part of 1979 trying to challenge death with suicide by motorcycle.

    I also introduced a mystery woman whom I have given the nom de guerre Flying By. The salient portion repeated here:

    That same spring of ’79, in the east, at the Goddard Space Flight Center, a young computer scientist made the hardest decision of her life when she told an equally young Australian geophysicist, the only man she had ever romantically loved and the only man who ever romantically loved her, that she would not join him in Australia as previously planned now that his NASA assignment was complete and he had returned to his university job.

    That summer Skylab fell to Earth … on Australia.

    By the fall, that very sad young woman was on her way back to the Pacific Northwest to a new job on a new spacecraft. She was a Portland girl who had unexpectedly found herself going to college in the east, getting a degree in an unexpected major and working first in Texas and then very unexpectedly at Goddard. She had been gone for a long time and she just wanted to go home to the city she loved, The Rose City, the city where most of her family lived. Seattle wasn’t home but it was close enough.

    By the end of the year, the U. S. Embassy in Iran had been overrun and the Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan. I had bottomed out and was climbing out of the abyss. I wanted to return to school but I needed money. I had been working construction but after the weather turned, I was looking for something better.

    After the new year, 1980, everything changed for me. I got a job interview for a menial technical support position on the space program. One Friday in February the USA defeated the CCCP in the “Miracle on Ice” hockey game. The following Monday, I started my new job in the IUS Systems Integration Lab (SIL).

    In Act I, which takes place in 1980, I was a nobody who worked in the middle of the night, with no human to interact with save the mysterious Flying By. I saw her briefly and was smitten but I never saw her again. Then my job changed and I wouldn’t be reminded of her anymore but her brother shows up. At the time it didn’t seem strange but in retrospect, a brother and sister working on the same classified space project is probably a bit unusual. Anyway, she didn’t know my name or that she had seen me face to face. I didn’t exist to her.

    In Act II, which takes place in 1981-1982, I become someone and solve a difficult technical problem for Flying By. This time, it is she who is smitten. So smitten in fact that she avoids me. This I incorrectly interpret as dislike and I dislike her right back.

    Principle Characters
    Me Data Processing
    My Father Mission Planning
    My Mother Baker Extraordinaire
    Flying By Telemetry
    Her Brother Flight SW and launch support

    Act III follows
    Cameos by

    Tip O’Neill Speaker of the House
    George Thorogood Rock Musician
    The Challenger Seven Ill-fated Astronauts

  19. Act III “Equinox” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgUznI7Wg6Q
    My Third Encounter with Flying By.

    Finally, we flew. The first flight (IUS-2) was in the wee hours of the morning on the day before Halloween. We flew on the maiden flight of the Titan 34D rocket carrying two military COMSATs, a DSCS-II and a new DSCS-III. This should have been a classified mission but because of the high interest in both IUS and the Titan 34D by NASA, the Air Force and the people who built them it was quasi-classified.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_34D#/media/File:DF-SC-83-03173_cropped.jpeg

    That night I went to a Halloween party. I am not a party person and definitely not a dress up in a costume party person. I hadn’t been to any parties since high school other than wedding receptions. But this costume party was being given by one of the women in the Guidance, Navigation and Control group. It was very important to her and she had invited me in person. I didn’t want to be rude so I went.

    I was in the kitchen chatting with one of the few people I knew at the party (most of the guests were non-work friends of the hostess) when someone said Flying By was here and that I just HAD to see her. Even though I thought we didn’t really like each other at all, I wanted to say ‘Hi’. I had not seen her in months. I was stunned when I saw her across that room. She was dressed in a provocative outfit and was a knockout. I wanted to talk to her but she was dancing with someone. Several someones. I had to wait my turn. One of these fellows was really pushed out of shape when she turned him down for a date. After she had shooed away the competition, I saw my opening and walked over. She was headed for the door.

    Flying By: “My friends had dressed me in a leopard print sheath, black lingerie, fishnet stockings and four-inch heels. I had drawn a lot of attention and was feeling like I was giving out the wrong vibes. I wanted to leave. Then I saw Chases Eagles. I recognized him right away across the dance floor. I said to myself ‘That’s Chases Eagles. What is he doing here?’”

    We danced. We danced again three more times. It didn’t matter what the music was, we danced slow, in each other’s arms, her face aglow, and her eyes sparkling. Before that night I had not danced with anyone since the eighth grade. I was costumed in Vietnam fatigue shirt and pants and jungle boots. I had not expected any dancing. She had kicked off her high-heels. I kept stepping on her bare feet in my big clod hoppers. I monopolized her time until she told me she had to go. She had an out-of-town friend waiting for her at her condo. She got in her green Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite that was nearly as old as me and drove off. We had only spent about 30 minutes together. Prior to that dance, I hadn’t the slightest idea that Flying By had any interest in me whatsoever.

    Flying By: “I was so happy. Seeing Chases Eagles at that party and dancing with him was my dream come true.”

    Austin Healey ‘Frogeye’ Sprite – Flickr – exfordy – Austin-Healey Sprite – Wikipedia

    I was at a loss. I thought we didn’t like each other at all and we held each other in our arms. I do not hold women I hardly know in my arms and can barely hug my own female relations and I held her in my arms. And the look on her face while we danced, it was bliss personified. I was very confused.

    To be continued…

  20. Neo–

    I’m sure you do wish Olive well. I also have a sense of how much Gerard loved her because of the comments he made in a number of posts after he adopted her. And given the fact that Olive rode shotgun when the two of them fled the Camp Fire only weeks after he adopted her, that experience probably made for a close bond too. I’m glad to hear she’s at least doing okay in her new family– perhaps she’ll warm up to them as time goes by. Some of the cats I’ve had down the years took awhile to get used to me and the other cat(s) in my household– I’ll just say that good-quality food and lots of catnip toys helped! And I’ll add– never expect a cat to thank you for anything– Olive was just being a typical kitty in that regard.

    There is a joke I came across many years ago on Beliefnet about the difference between dogs and cats in their respective views of humans. Brief summary of the first part: Adam is lonely in the Garden of Eden and God creates Dog to be a companion for him. The problem is that Adam develops a swelled head from Dog’s uncritical affection, and Adam’s guardian angel reports the problem to God.

    And the Lord said, ‘No problem. I will create for him a companion who will be with him forever and who will see him as he is. The companion will remind him of his limitations, so he will know that he is not always worthy of adoration.’ And God created Cat to be a companion to Adam. And Cat would not obey Adam. And when Adam gazed into Cat’s eyes, he was reminded that he was not the Supreme Being. And Adam learned humility. And God was pleased. And Adam was greatly improved. And Dog was happy. And Cat didn’t care one way or the other.

    I expect Gerard would agree with that part of the joke.

    Full text here: https://www.beliefnet.com/entertainment/jokes/general/a/and-god-created-dog-and-cat.aspx

  21. @huxley, I hope your retrospective is going to include the adaptation of ‘Salem’s Lot’, made for TV if I recall, and featuring the dark, cultured, quiet menace of James Mason, as the vampire’s mortal supplicant. I think David Soul was in it too, shortly before his career crashed due to a sexual abuse case.

    @Neo, I guess inflation and Brach’s have brought you Trick and Treat this year!

  23. @Aggie:

    Ah yes, 1970’s “Salem’s Lot”: James Mason could look menacing even when he was standing still, doing nothing. He would have been a perfect vampire. Unfortunately, the powers that be decided he was too old, and demoted him to vampire assistant/ vampire whisperer to a Nosferatu puppet.

    1970s SO had a lot of…interesting choices, like turning the little boy hero into a rather clueless teenager. And poor David Soul apparently stakes vampires so often that he seemed to be making a sandwich instead defeating the Big Bad.

  24. Kate–

    The version that I heard of that saying is that dogs come when they are called; cats take a message and get back to you.

  25. Halloween’s a pretty big deal around here – rather posh, but densely packed, Chicago suburb. Had 150 full size candy bars ready to go. Our record giveaway was 120. Then we got hit with a high of 37 degrees and snow. Have about 60 left – ugh.

  26. Mike Plaiss, is it evil to think the best Halloween candy strategy is to buy lots of the particular candy that I love but kids hate? And to then have about 60 left – YAY!?

  27. 6 lbs is the over/under on how much weight I gain by the end of the year. Vegas getting hit heavy with the “over” I hear.

  28. By the way, if one ate a pound of fudge, wouldn’t they gain more than a pound? physicsguy?

  29. Mike, it’s not a simple calculation. Sugar contains about 4 calories per gram, so if the fudge were pure sugar, 4 x 453 g/lb = ~1812 calories. Supposedly, a pound of body fat is in the neighborhood of 3500 calories, so by that simple calculation, 2 pounds of fudge = ~1 pound of body fat.

    However, there are 2nd-order effects, such as the state of hydration before and after, and the effects on GI absorption which becomes less efficient the more rich its nutrient load, and conversely more efficient the more one starves. That’s why losing weight becomes progressively harder, for a given caloric deficiency per day over many days. Your GI tract says, “I see what you’re doing, and I’m against you.”

  31. Shirehome, Happy Birthday! My husband turns 77 in 3 days.

    Neo, re: candy corns. LOVE THEM, and I noticed the Brachs cost a lot more this year, as does EVERYTHING. Went to get Great Value (Walmart) brand diced tomatoes yesterday. They used to run around $0.58 to $0.68, and they were $0.96!!

  32. Re: Prices.
    Short road trip on Saturday AM. Stopped for gas then drove through the adjacent McD’s. Ordered a Breakfast biscuit and a small OJ. $11.85! Why, I can remember…oh, never mind.
    As a friend would say: “It ain’t useta wuz anymore”

  34. @ Kate – the maxim I’ve seen is “dogs have family, cats have staff” but either form works.

    My favorite depiction of the canine-feline distinction:
    https://www.susangabriel.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dog-cat-diary1.jpg

    Or for an illustrated version:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrqWZw3oNeU

    @ PA Cat > “dogs come when they are called; cats take a message and get back to you.”

    Indeed.

    However, cats have always been appreciated for many of the same qualities often lampooned.

    https://poetryarchive.org/poem/my-cat-jeoffry/
    By Christopher Smart,
    A great poem, by a prize-winning poet, but be advised:
    “Christopher Smart was born in 1722 and is best remembered for his religious poems A Song to David and Jubilate Agno, both of which were written during his time at St Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics, London. He believed that God created the universe using language, and therefore considered that the work of poets forges a direct connection to the Divine.”

  35. @ Chases Eagles > “To be continued…”

    Fiend.
    Please finish the story for us by Thanksgiving at the latest!
    I’m already story-boarding the Hallmark movie. 😉

  36. I love candy corn and I’m the only one I know who does. I can’t get away with buying candy though because we never ever get trick or treaters so I can’t even justify one little “just in case” bag. Sigh.

  37. “By the way, if one ate a pound of fudge, wouldn’t they gain more than a pound? physicsguy?”

    I’m pretty sure you’d hafta factor in the ton of calories spent on chewing that stuff.
    And then the calories spent on trying to digest it.
    Come to think of it, if one ate a pound of fudge, one would probably LOSE weight.
    (One would also have to consider the weight loss caused by accompanying medical complications—nausea, regret, sugar-rage, etc.)

    Move over Qzempic…as we present the “Chocolate Fudge Diet”….
    (FDA-approval coming soon…)

  38. Dogs will lament your passing.
    …
    Cats will play with the toe tag as they wheel you out.

  39. It sounds like some of you are giving out unwrapped candy. My childhood was marred by busybody scare campaigns about that (although to be fair it was New Yawk City). I welcome the return to Free Range Childhood.

    Haven’t seen candy corn since moving to Israel. Halloween here is largely limited to the club scene in Tel Aviv.

  42. I usually skip comments as long as those by Chasing Eagles, but I really enjoyed them and am looking forward to hearing the rest of the story.

  43. Just want to suggest visiting the store the morning after the holiday (Halloween, Easter, Christmas, Valentine’s) and seeing if they’ve marked down the leftovers.

  44. I have weird tastes, in that I like a lot of things that many other folks don’t: yes, candy corn, but also black licorice, ginger snaps and Necco wafers. I didn’t realize this for a long time, but in talking to my brother a few years ago, I found out that he had exactly the same likes. (I now buy him a bag of my favorite ginger snaps to tuck in with Christmas presents.) He was kinda sheepish about it, because so many other people seem to think all of those things are awful, but I caught him somewhat surreptitiously eating some candy corn, and it came out. I thought for a long time that my tastes were just due to nostalgia for the sweets from my youth, but now I think they might be genetic. How strange is that?

  45. I would like to make it clear that, although I currently have a dog who is treated like a child of the family, I love cats.

  47. We did when we had cats, Bill K. Sadly, in the course of having one of my daughters have a severe asthma problem and allergy testing, we discovered she is allergic to cats. I can now tell, without testing, that I am, too. When I go into a house with resident cats I begin to have respiratory problems, not serious, but enough to avoid getting another kitty, sadly. Since our last kitty now has been sleeping in the back garden for nearly two decades, I haven’t had a case of bronchitis, which used to be routine for me.

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