Well, my jack-o-lanterns survived Mischief Night. I can’t wait to try and scare some adults and a few older kids tonight for Halloween. I find that the little ones are unimpressed by my scare tactics.
Happy Halloween everybody.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, I suppose because I am a chocoholic. According to the online Wikipedia, the holiday, a Celtic tradition, was brought to the US with the Irish immigrants in the mid-19th century. Today in the United States, Halloween has become the sixth most profitable holiday (after Christmas, Mother’s Day, Valentines Day, Easter, and Father’s Day) for retailers according to Wikipedia.
I have a big jack-o-lantern, a blow-up spider and I dress up to scare as many children and adults as possible. I have had a jack-0-lantern of 300lbs., but this year is on the puny side, just 55lbs. I’ll post a picture tomorrow. The picture above is my 100-pounder from 2004.
I also enjoyed a round of haunted golf at the Congo Falls in Ocean City, which converted its indoor “Lost City” into a Halloween celebration with animated skeletons and a really creepy hanging body that looked real. Plus, I beat the pants off my nephew Garrett. Revenge is sweet; he beat me the last time.
I was bummed out last year when my jack-o-lantern was smashed on Mischief Night; I had only been in the apartment two weeks and thought that was very un-neighborly! My upstairs neighbor Debbie swears she will keep a hose handy tonight!!
Later

With Halloween coming up, if felt like the perfect time to compile a list of my favorite scary movies. I’m an old school fan who prefers suspense to shock, and the bravery of ordinary people in supernatural situations. And, as you’ll notice from the list, I’m a sucker for a good haunted house tale.
However, I’m a moviejunkie so I haven’t eliminated slasher movies entirely. I’ve updated the list over the years, although the movies that terrified me as a kid are still listed, since they helped shape my film critic soul. Here is my list of movies that would make for a terrific fight night marathon. They are in no particular order.

The Haunting (1963) Don’t let that horrible remake a few years back, keep you from checking out one of the best—and best acted haunted house movies of all time, starring Claire Bloom and Julie Harris.
Halloween (1978) John Carpenter’s revival of the slasher horror film still makes me jump.
The Changling (1980) George C. Scott stars in this under-the-radar haunted house flick.
The Ring (2002) The best of the horror film adaptations from Japan that makes you think of TV in a whole new light.
The Innocents (1961) Deborah Kerr is a nanny who suspects her children are being stalked by ghosts.
The Legend of Hell House (1973) The Innocents’ child star, Pamela Franklin, still has ghost problems a decade later.
The Others (2001) Nicole Kidman in the film that successfully plays tribute to The Innocents.
Carrie (1976) Even when you know the big scare is coming, it still gets you doesn’t it?
The Omen (1976) Again, don’t let the horrible remake keep you from checking out the original, which scared me more that The Exoricst.
28 Days Later (2002) The most terrifying bloody zombie movie ever!
Ghost Story (1981) Four elderly men have a secret they’ve kept buried that is about to be unleashed. With Fred Astaire.
Poltergeist (1982) Ordinary parents face extraordinary and terrifying circumstances.

As a major college basketball fan who views March Madness as the greatest event in sports, it was an absolute thrill to see the Atlantic 10 have its pre-season media day in AC. It jump-started my excitement over the fact that AC will have a nice chunk of March Madness to call its own when the A10 has its championship tournament at Boardwalk Hall March 7-10. The winner gets a guaranteed spot in the NCAA tourney, and most years the A10 has two or three other teams selected with at-large spots. It made me swell with pride to see new Temple coach Fran Dunphy take about taking over for legend John Chaney right here at Boardwalk Hall. Phil Martelli was also a popular draw for the Philly sports mob in attendance. Of course the A10 team that should rise to the top this year is Xavier, the reigning conference champions, with five returning starters from last season. Temple and St. Joe’s are in rebuilding mode, but maybe by March they will be building towards challenging the X-men.
I can’t wait for the college basketball season to begin.

In other local sports news, it should help the AC Surf to join the Can-Am League, since it runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day with 94 games instead of 140. Having 47 home games is a more manageable number than 70 home games, and should help the only pro team left in town to work its way to a profitable season.

My favorite new TV show is Heroes http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/, the best of the many new shows that are following the 24 template of episodic TV. I loved that we learned more about the mind-reading cop this week Matt (Greg Grunberg formerly from Alias) and that he is using his powers to get his marriage back on track. Adrian Pasdar’s corrupt-Congressman-to-be was really flying this week and I loved his encounter with Hiro. Claire was just being Claire and her creepy dad at least did a good deed this week with the rapist jock. Niki’s alter ego is going to be working overtime by the looks of the preview for next week’s episode. If Niki’s ex-hubby is indeed another “hero,” that means that Micah must be a superhero.

Here are my other favorite new TV shows:
Jericho (a low-key look at a post-nuke world)
The Nine (love those connective tissue flashbacks to the hold-up)
Ugly Betty (a guilty pleasure)
Six Degrees (the first few episodes were better)

Other shows I’ve sampled include Men in Trees (okay, but not as good as Northern Exposure), and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. The writing is sharp in Strip, but the backstage setting isn’t all that intriguing. I’ve got an idea, let’s take Christine Lahti’s character and spin her into her own series as a crusading reporter.

One of my favorite Jersey Fresh events during the fall is the annual Chatsworth Cranberry Festival http://www.cranfest.org in the heart of the Pinelands the third weekend in October. This area in central Burlington County is listed as having a population of 2,000 but at least 10x that many people show up for the Cran Fest to sample cranberry wine, cranberry sticky buns, cranberry bread and enjoy numerous food choices from the extensive food court. One of the best parts about going to the festival is the drive up. You can go the fast way up the Garden State Parkway (Exit 67) or you can drive to Egg Harbor City, turn right on Route 50/563 and follow that road all the way. The latter is a spectacular drive on a country road where you can enjoy the wonderful fall foliage and even see cranberry bogs along the way. I buy a crate of crannberries and freeze them to use for Thanksgiving and beyond. I even won a blue ribbon one year for my low fat/low suger cranberry-butternut squash bread.
Later

I received a request for some info on movies made in Atlantic City. Atlantic City, when it was known as the World’s Playground in the 1920s through 1960s, was referenced in numerous movies, including Citizen Kane.
However, when it comes to movies that were actually filmed here, the two biggest were Louis Malle’s magnificent Atlantic City (1981) and Bob Rafelson’s The King of Marvin Gardens (1972). Both looked at the city when it was on the ropes. In particular, The King of Marvin Gardens uses the town’s seedy and dying look to establish the uncomfortable relationship between two brothers (played by Bruce Dern and Jack Nicholson). The movie was filmed in town in 1971. During a break from my first semester at college, when Stockton made its debut at the Mayflower Hotel on the AC boardwalk, I watched Dern, Nicholson and Ellen Burstyn film take after take of Dern and Burstyn in a rolling chair meeting up with Nicholson.
Malle’s Atlantic City uses Atlantic City as the backdrop to show the transformation of the characters, through the transformation of the city. Set when casinos first arrived, Susan Sarandon is the ambitious young woman who wants to become a dealer. Burt Lancaster is an old low-level gangster who remembers when Atlantic City was noted for its illegal gambling joints. Kate Reid and Robert Joy co-starred. Joy, by the way, can currently be seen as the coroner on CSI: New York.
In more recent times, Atlantic City has been briefly used as the backdrop in the movies The Color of Money, Ocean’s Eleven and Rounders.
However, there is a little movie you might want to check out on DVD. Duane Hopwood (2005), stars David Schwimmer as a drunk trying to get his life back together. It was filmed in Atlantic City and Longport in 2004, and if you look closely, you will see a scene that features a copy of Atlantic City Weekly on a coffee table. I interviewed Schwimmer, an interview you can read by accessing the archives link for Nov. 17, 2005 on the www.acweekly.com web site.
Later

My favorite singer was in my hometown Monday (Oct. 16) so yours truly was in the house at the House of Blues AC to enjoy the blues legend Bonnie Raitt. I haven’t kept exact track, but I think I have seen her live about 20 times. I’ve been a fan since a friend turned me on her music in 1971. Hard to believe that was 35 years ago.
When her career began, Bonnie Raitt was a sassy California kid who worshipped the blues legends she wanted to emulate. All these many years later, she is a blues legend who in turn has inspired other artists. I had the great honor of interviewing her last year when she was in town to record a live show for VH1. She enjoyed the notion that she was the wily old veteran, and suggested that like her father John Raitt, she wanted to keep performing until she was 87. You can check out sound bites from that interview at www.acweekly.com (click on the audio link).

Her show Monday was vintage BR, a great mix of songs from her current release Souls Alike, selected favorite cuts going back to her first album, the big hits from her Grammy-winning years, and plenty of love for her band, including the amazing keyboardist Jon Cleary from New Orleans by way of the UK. Naturally Bonnie never performs a song exactly like the record, and as always, she slipped in a few plugs for the causes she is passionate about – biodiesel fuel, the Dixie Chicks and John Hall, running for congress in New York.

The set list:
1) Roadrunner
2) Two Lights in the Nighttime
3) God Was in The Water
4) Unnecessarily Mercenary
5) Matters of the Heart
6) I Will Not Be Denied
7) Nick of Time Mighty Tight Woman
9) Give It Up Or Let Me Go
10) Papa Come Quick (Jody and Chico)
11) Have A Heart
12) I Will Not Be Broken
13) Something To Talk About
14) Love Sneaking Up On You
Encore
15) I Can’t Make You Love Me
16) Not the Only One
17) Love Letter

Best songs of the night included “Unnecessarily Mercenary,” a duet with Cleary; “I Will Not Be Denied,” “Mighty Tight Woman” (from her debut album); “I Can’t Make You Love Me” (another fab Cleary solo); “Give It Up” (with a Dixie Chicks plug for recording it too) and “God Was In The Water.”
Bonnie gave props to Jersey girls for being hot mamas; dedicated “I Will Not Be Broken” to the late governor of Texas Ann Richards; dedicated “Nick of Time” to her late parents and dedicated “God Was In The Water” to the Katrina victims, declaring, “They are still waiting for the help they deserved a long time ago.”
She also revealed that she would be opening for the Rolling Stones in Las Vegas (Nov. 11) and at Dodger Stadium (Nov. 18). Can you imagine what the party will be like backstage?

Later.

I checked out the South Jersey Pumpkin Festival in Millville Friday night (Oct. 13) to see the giant pumpkins on display. I was a bit bummed out that I traveled all that way (70 miles round trip) to see the single pumpkin that was entered in the biggest pumpkin contest. This great white pumpkin (pictured below) weighed in at 357 lbs., quite a bit smaller than last year’s 817 lb. winner. The pumpkin was grown from a seed from last year’s winner but obviously didn’t quite live up to its predecessor. Oh well, I will be checking out a few more Halloween events before the season is over. I am definitely going to visit Ocean City to play some haunted golf at the Congo Falls’ indoor Lost City course, which is dressing up for Halloween. The Skullville Haunted Hayride is another fun holiday event.

I know I won’t be disappointed when I go see Bonnie Raitt tonight (Monday, Oct. 16) at the House of Blues. Bonnie was in town last year for a taping of the VHI Classics Legends show, which was great (Norah Jones, Ben Harper were on the bill) but they had to keep stopping and re-doing songs two and three times. I’m looking forward to hearing Bonnie and her band with no interruptions tonight. Naturally I’ll check back with a review and set list.

Later

For those of you who think a film critic spends most of his or her time in dark movie houses, think again. Only a few hours a week are devoted to movies; the rest of the time is filled with family, friends and good times out and about. For example as a big fan of Halloween, I’m headed to Millville this evening to enjoy the South Jersey Pumpkin Show. Thanks to my colleague Steve Angelucci’s Calendar of Events listing for this week I found out about the show in Millville, so it’s time for a road trip. I’m particularly interested in tonight’s (Oct. 13) giant pumpkin weigh-in. I’m a big fan of jumbo pumpkins and have had a 200 lb. jack-o-lantern myself for Halloween. It was a monster to carve, but worth the effort and the acclaim from neighbors. I’m planning to take pics of the jumbo pumpkins to post on this site Monday.

I was very sorry to hear that Johnny Callison has passed away. I had been a Yankees fan in the early 1960s but switched to the Phillies in 1964 at age 11 (great timing wasn’t it?). Despite the famous collapse of 1964, I was very fond of that team – Tony Taylor, Tony Gonzalez, Cookie Rojas, Bobby Wine, Dick Allen, Johnny Briggs, Jim Bunning, Clayton Dalrymple, Art Mahaffey, Rick Wise, Ruben Amaro and of course Callison. He was their best player and best clutch hitter. I remember feeling the pain of that late-season collapse for several decades afterwards, even when the details had long since slipped away. No doubt the Phillies class of ’64 will be reunited to give Callison a Phabulous send-off at his funeral.