everyday is halloween

i needed nyquil.  we were out of nyquil.  i walked to rite aid.  it was oh i dunno about 8:00 pm.  lovely evening.  it was second saturday.  every second saturday of the month midtown opens its shops, art galleries, restaurants and drinking establishments.  second saturday used to only be an art walk.  now it has gotten big.  very big.  with a huge attendance with businesses and city leaders scrambling to cope the sorts of troubles, including violence, that attend such public events.

8:00 pm on a second saturday.  the first thing i heard was a woman crying her eyes out and screaming something as she bolted out the door of rite aid.  i have no idea why.  a security guard was beside a young man.  the young man turns to the security guard and says, thanks.  the young woman hopped on a skateboard and disappeared into safeway parking lot.

rite aid has rearranged itself.  i can't find the aisle with the cold remedies.  they've got to sell nyquil, right?  they do.  i find it comparing the pros and cons of cold&flu nyquil vs. cough nyquil.  is there that much of a difference?  i settle on the cold&flu version and make my way to the cash register.  there is a line.  before me are two women buying candy and ice cream.  i see that one of the women has a tattoo on her right forearm.  it is text.  i can't read it.  there is another couple looking at the tobacco products that are behind the counter.  they lean over the counter to read the ads of the varied cigars, cigarettes, pipes and rolling papers.

i decide to leave the line and walk thru the store.  eureka!  rite aid put up their halloween items.  a whole large aisle devoted to candies, decor and costumes.  the packaging of the candies make me swoon.  bats, monsters, full moons, trees void of leaves.

then i think.  wow.  this is like totally commercial.  for reals.  then i think again.  when hasn't halloween been a boon to capitalism?  well.  are we living in a late-capitalist era?  i've read reviews of david cronenberg's latest movie based on a don delilo novel, cosmopolis [2012], about a day in the life of a twenty-something asset manager.  the cool bearing of the billionaire married to the sleek interior of the limo where most of the action takes place contrast with the grittiness of the street and the graffitti [i'm guessing the graffitti is similar in spirit and tone to the occuppy movement].  i've not seen the movie but garnered a bit from the trailer and the reviews.  here it is cronenberg's vision of late decaying capitalism.

is it?  are we in decline?  the world is i think restructering itself.  life in the late 21st century will be much different than life in the early 21st century.  the 20th century was one of dilation.  the 21st century is one of contraction.  what will it give birth to?   

in the meantime, there still is trick or treating to be done, candy to distribute and eat, costumes to choose and wear.  rite aid is selling it.  are you buying?

boo