16 days to halloween

ah too much irony can thicken the blood and stop us up, dead in our tracks. what's a little childish wonder now and again? go on, admit it, you have anti-pomo loves and desires. perhaps you really do love the music of the carpenters. or maybe you have the complete filmography of rob reiner sitting in your dvd collection. whatever the case, we all have them. call 'em guilty pleasures. call them an ironic stance on anti-irony, much like how a lot of hipsters seem bent on '80s shlock rock re bands called journey. 'don't stop believing now' now, okay.

whatever the rate, i have a goodly amount of affection for the haunted mansion at disneyland. that's disneyland in anaheim, because it's the only disneyland i've ever been to. did visit epcot center in florida way back when -- it was boring. disneyland is not. forget anti-brand posturing disneyland is a lot of fun and a damn site of cool shit. particularly the haunted house.

the haunted house is open all year round but this time of year, all thru christmas, the gang at disneyland transforms it into a nightmare before christmas, jack skellington, affair. what happens when two holiday collide, halloween and christmas? a whole helluva lot of funky goodness. when we visited disneyland last year at halloween time we toured the haunted mansion 3 or 4 times in a row. it's that good.

and it's popular. there is a fan site dedicated to the haunted house doom buggies and a stream cast of music, like the grim grinning ghosts song, and a lot of other stuff at live365.com. it's perfect for the season of candy-corn-stuck-in-the-teeth.

there are many vids touring the haunted house up at youtube.com but i couldn't find a short advert for when two holidays collide. i settled on the commercial below which is a taste of the year-round decor of the haunted mansion, and is still, i think, a great way to celebrate pumpkin day.



happy halloween!