House of 1000 Corpses

I have been listening to Halloween music for a few days now trying to put the party playlists together. It has started to get me in the mood, but I needed something else. I read a tweet from someone yesterday talking about The Devil's Rejects, so I felt like I needed to watch a horror movie. I knew I wanted to watch either of the first two Rob Zombie movies. After looking at the cases for both, I chose House of 1000 Corpses.

I turned off all of the lights and asked my wife if she wanted to watch it with me. She declined, so I settled in and turned it on while Meg was in the shower. I am not a big fan of traditional horror movies, but I do like this movie. There enough freaky characters and situations that make this movie fun and entertaining. I love the Captain Spaulding character and his gas station/tourist trap/fried chicken road side attraction.

I had forgotten that Chris Hardwick and Rainn Wilson were in the movie. Chris was the host of the show Singled Out on MTV along with Jenny McCarthy. And of course, Rainn Wilson is Dwight Schrute on the office. The movie also features Rob Zombie's wife, Sheri Moon as Baby. I did not know until today that Rob Zombie got the names for his villains in the movie from Groucho Marx movie characters.

This is a good horror movie and it really put me in the Halloween mood.

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Halloween Playlist 2

For the evening festivities, we can get a little more creative, and macabre, with our song choices. It will feature some songs from horror movies mixed with some from The Nightmare Before Christmas and others. We might even enjoy Thriller by Michael Jackson. Here is the playlist:

Whispers - Midnight Syndicate
Howdy Folks - film track
Welcome - Disney's Haunted Mansion
Dead Man's Party - Oingo Boingo
Halloween 1 - Theme Main Title - John Carpenter/Alan Howarth
Blackest Rose - Midnight Syndicate
The Omen Theme - Jerry Goldsmith
Halloween Montage - John Carpenter/Alan Howarth
El Phantasmo and the Chicken-Run Blast-O-Rama - White Zombie
Walt Disney World® - Disney's Haunted Mansion
Myer´s House - John Carpenter/Alan Howarth
Fantasia for Strings - Hans Werner Henze
No One Lives Forever - Oingo Boingo
Living Dead Girl - Rob Zombie
Tubular Bells - The Exorcist Original Theme - Robert Miles
Dead Girl Superstar - Rob Zombie
Bonus- Jason's Hack Track - Harry Manfredini
A Mother's Love - Harry Manfredini
Oogie Boogie's Song - Ed Ivory/Ken Page
Everybody Scream (Theme from Dr. Wolfenstein's Creature Double Feature - Rob Zombie
Prophet Of Doom/Introduction to Horror - Friday the 13th Main Theme - Harry Manfredini
He's Alive - Harry Manfredini
Run, Rabbit, Run - Rob Zombie
Dr. Satan - film track
This Is Halloween - Danny Elfman
Call of the Zombie - Rob Zombie
Amityville Horror Theme
Born of the Night - Midnight Syndicate
Transylvanian Transmissions, Pt. 1 - Rob Zombie
Nightmare On Elm Street -Freddys Coming For You
Little Piggy - Rob Zombie
Thriller - Michael Jackson
Goodbye-Goodbye - Oingo Boingo

This playlist should set the scene well for a night of trick or treating and a birthday fiesta. I think there is enough diversity here to satisfy the kids and the adults. It will just be background music, but I know some of the songs will catch the ear of people. It should be fun.

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Halloween Playlist 1

Since Meg is having two different parties on Halloween for her Birthday, I need two different music playlists. Her official party will be in the afternoon for her school friends. This is really the first party she is having for school friends, so it is a big deal.

We need background music for the party, and the kids may even start dancing on the back patio if they feel it. This playlist will feature the entire Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack as well as some other songs. We may even have to put on some Miley Cyrus or other dance music. Here is the playlist

Welcome - Disney's Haunted Mansion
Thriller - Michael Jackson
Walt Disney World® - Disney's Haunted Mansion
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor - Johann Sebastian Bach
The Addams Family Theme - Vic Mizzy
Halloween Dance Macabre Organ
This Is Halloween - Danny Elfman
Otherworldly Music - Disney's Haunted Mansion
Overture - Danny Elfman
Opening - Danny Elfman
Jack's Lament - Danny Elfman
Doctor Finklestein/In the Forest - Danny Elfman
What's This? - Danny Elfman
Town Meeting Song - Danny Elfman
Jack and Sally Montage - Danny Elfman
Jack's Obsession - Danny Elfman
Kidnap the Sandy Claws - Catherine O'Hara; Danny Elfman; Paul Reubens
Making Christmas - Danny Elfman
Nabbed - Danny Elfman
Oogie Boogie's Song - Ed Ivory/Ken Page
Sally's Song - Catherine O'Hara
Christmas Eve Montage - Danny Elfman
Poor Jack - Danny Elfman
To the Rescue - Danny Elfman
Finale (Reprise) - Catherine O'Hara/Danny Elfman
Closing - Danny Elfman
End Title - Danny Elfman
[Untitled Hidden Track] - Danny Elfman
Beetlejuice Theme - Danny Elfman/william Ross

I don't want to get to morbid with the kids, since I don't really know them or their parents. Speaking of parents, I don't know if they will be staying for the party or not. Last Saturday we had 17 kids at our house before the Harvest dance and we ended up with about 10 or 11 parents as well so you never know. My next post will be the playlist for the night gathering.

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Halloween Music

I have been attempting to put together a soundtrack for Meg's birthday party on Saturday, which is Halloween. I have been digging through all of the "standard" Halloween music and I must say that I am disappointed. Most people consider songs like "Purple People Eater" as Halloween classics. I don't consider most of these songs Halloween at all.

I am disappointed with the creativity of Halloween songs. I have always thought that "Dead Man's Party" by Oingo Boingo is a great Halloween song and that it would make a great party theme. Meg is too young for that, but when she is older we will definitely use it.

Today I took a major turn in my search and went to horror movie songs and I am much more satisfied. They have the sound I associate with Halloween. The Silver Shamrock commercial jingle from Halloween III is one of my favorites. I think it just has that sound of a kids song, but there is something sinister behind the sound that makes it work. Another great song for Halloween that is along the same lines is "This is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas. While it is not from a horror movie, it is a great song by Danny Elfman who is formerly of Oingo Boingo.

Of course the Friday The 13th and Halloween theme songs are classics. I am a little disappointed that there aren't any original songs from the Rob Zombie movie The Devil's Rejects. There is however some good Rob Zombie music in the movie House of 1,000 Corpses.

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Halloween

I have been really busy updating our decorations for Halloween, and Meg's birthday which are one in the same. I find most of the Halloween decorations to be either ugly or just cheap looking. Most people have no problem with this, but I really do love this time of year and am very particular about what I buy.

On our last trip to Disneyland, we added a few items from the Nightmare Before Christmas movie. We bought a Jack Skellington bobble head and two Jack tea light holders. They are just Jack's head. In addition, my sister bought Meg both a Jack doll and a Sally doll for her birthday.

I mix in my collection of Dia de los Muertos items and masks from Mexico along with our Halloween docorations adn they go great together. I am more partial to creative Halloween items rather than just the horror type items a lot of stores sell. It is really hard to find stuff, so this will be a collection that grows as the years go by. Maybe at some point I will just start creating my own items. Who knows?

I can't wait until Meg is ready to go to her first haunted house/forest/attraction. The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland is just not scary at all.

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El Dia de los Muertos

I really love the idea and imagery of Dia de los Muertos, the Mexican celebration of loved ones who have passed away. Many people may see the sugar skulls and Catrina dolls and think that this is a morbid holiday. It is quite the opposite.

For Dia de los Muertos, grave sites are decorated very elaborately with marigolds, sugar skulls and the favorite food and beverages of the departed. Pan de Muerto bread is eaten and the life of the person is celebrated. It is celebrated on November 1st and 2nd in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints' Day, which occurs on November 1st, and All Souls' Day, which occurs on November 2nd.

The celebration can be traced back to an Aztec ritual to honor the deaths of ancestors. The festivities were dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl, known as the "Lady of the Dead." This is the origin of the modern Catrina dolls.

I have collected a few Catrinas on my trips to Mexico. I really like them and what they stand for. They are very traditional and the good ones are extremely delicate. I have spent many days gluing fingers back onto the dolls after they have been broken in transport. I don't think I have one that has not been broken.

Two of the best Dia de los Muertos celebrations take place in Tzintzuntzan and Janitzio in Michoacan. I have really wanted to visit there for the holiday and will make it there sooner than later.

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First Prius Review after Trip

One of the main reasons we decided to go to Disneyland was to take the Prius for a drive. I really wanted to see how it would handle the Grapevine on the way to Southern California. The car was great on the trip.

I averaged 50.9 miles per gallon on the trip down to Los Angeles. I found myself mesmerized by the data that was being displayed on the dash. I was constantly watching to see how many miles per gallon I was getting at each moment. I was also watching to see how well I was doing on the trip as a whole.

On the trip home, I realized that most of the way is up hill slightly. I also realized that the trip over the Grapevine from LA was more uphill than downhill. I only averaged 49.6 miles per gallon on the trip back home. The entire trip was 444.4 miles and was done on one tank of gas. Not bad!

We really got a chance on this trip to play with the navigation, audio system and interior features. Tina loved the heated seats on the trip home. Sirius' sattellite radio offerings are very limited. There was not really a good choice of current rock music and I could not get the Sunday night NFL game on the trip home. I will definitely not keep the sattelite radio when it expires. The navigation system worked very well on the trip. I can see that it will be very usefull in the future. The seats are not as comfortable as you would expect and the road noise is louder than it should be, but overall the Prius is a great car.

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Disneyland Trip Summary

We really had a lot of fun at Disneyland. Teet and Unk Timmers ended up meeting us there, they were actually there before we were. On Friday night we met up with them in Downtown Disney. Cheeseball got bored really fast, so we went to a store called RideMakerz. It is a great concept based on Build-A-Bear. You pick out all of the options and build a car. Cheeseball and Chachi both enjoyed building their remote control cars. They were expensive, but it was a lot of fun.

We started in Disneyland on Saturday morning. We got fast passes to Space Mountain and got in line for Indiana Jones, The Queen's favorite ride. We rode Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean and went through the Haunted Mansion. We went to California Adventure for lunch and then got Cheeseball on California Screamin' for the first time. I rode with her and she was scared to death and cried for most of the ride. She said that she would never go on it again. We made our way to the Tower of Terror and then to Soarin' Over California. We then headed back to Disneyland for our Space Mountain fast passes and the fireworks show.

Space Mountain we renamed Ghost Galaxy for Halloween, but the change was not that impressive. Space Mountain is a great ride, but the decorations were not that great. We rode some other rides and then headed to Main Street for the fireworks show. It was a good show. Not very Halloween themed, but a good show. We walked back to the hotel to get ready for Sunday.

On Sunday we went to Toontown first, then back to Indiana Jones. It was busier Sunday than on Saturday. We got frustrated with the crowds and decided to go back to California Adventure. Cheeseball, Unk Timmers and I watched the High School Musical 3 show. She made a deal with QTRHT that she would ride California Screamin' again if we could ride Tower of Terror again. We ended up getting a fast pass to California Screamin' and getting in line for the ride. Cheeseball had fun on the ride this time, even though she started out not liking it. Ofter getting off of the ride, we walked around some and got some Ice Cream. We went back and rode California Screamin' again and then waited in line for Tower of Terror again. We did some shopping and then left for home. It was a very fun trip.

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Weezer - Raditude

I am a big fan of Weezer and cannot wait for their new album to be released in a few weeks. I have been listening to the two singles that have been released, "I Want You To" and "I'm Your Daddy" and they are getting me excited for the new album. They are both pretty strong songs.

I saw Weezer in concert several years ago at Selland Arena in Fresno. I really enjoyed the show, even though there were not very many people there. My wife and I were able to walk down onto the floor to get a great view. I would really love to see them again on their current tour.

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An Epic Battle in South Bend

USC vs. Notre Dame on Saturday! This should be an epic battle pitting their offensive strength against the USC defensive strength. This game scares me a little as the streak has to come to an end sometime. I just hope that Matt Barkley, the stable of running backs and receivers can put everything together and break out this week.

The game is in South Bend, so I expect some shenanigans again. I expect that their grass will be a little taller than usual to try to stop the speed of USC. Who knows what else Charlie will come up with to try to save his job? I believe that he is really on the hot seat this year, especially if he cannot beat USC.

Charlie has recruited well during his tenure at Notre Dame. He has had his guys in place for a few years now, so he has no excuses for them to underperform. JC is his quarterback and has three years of experience now. He has a good group of wide receivers to throw the ball to, even with the injuries. Their defense should also be improved with Manti working his way onto the field.

I think the USC defense can contain ND’s potent offense, but I do have some doubts. I hope the USC secondary can just shut them down and force them to run the ball. I think the front seven can contain their running game very well. I am just afraid that the secondary may let JC pick them apart a little bit. I hope I am wrong.

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Crazy Weather

We are having some crazy weather recently. It rained earlier in the week and today it is warm and sunny, but humid. This weekend it is supposed to reach into the low 80s and then drop back down into the low 70s for next week. It is also supposed to be foggy tomorrow.

I personally like the rain very much. I don’t necessarily like to be out in it, but it sets a great mood. I just learned that Meg also likes the rain. She does not like it when there is thunder and lightning like I do though. Rain cleans out the air and makes everything smell fresh. It also makes you feel a little lazy so you can lounge around and eat soup.

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What is Love

I don't think that many people today truly understand what love is. I am not saying that I know for sure, but I think I have a good idea. First off, most people think love is going to be something like you see in fairy tales. This is absolutely false. Love is not easy, it takes a lot of hard work.

Love is something that you know. You may feel it or you may not, but you know it is there and that it really does exist. Just because you love someone does not mean that you are always happy with them, after all we are all humans so we cannot be totally happy all of the time. But we do always know in the back of our mind that we love that person and that they love us.

Love takes work. A lot of work on both people's part. And you do this "work" because you love that person and you like to see them happy. You anticipate their needs and you do your best to try to meet them. You may fall short some times, but at least they know that you tried to do your best to make them happy.

It love was easy, everyone would stay married for their entire lives. It is not easy and most people do not know this. Most people, including me, are very selfish. You have to put that aside and try to be there for the person(s) you love. This may mean making dinner for your spouse, including dessert. It may mean walking to the mailbox together. It may mean going for a bike ride with your children or playing a game with them. And sometimes it even means sending flowers to your spouse. But most of the time it is just the little things you do that make them smile. This is the "work" that love requires.

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Anticipation Part 2

Anticipation also applies to human interaction and this is where I need to work harder. If you anticipate where people will be and what their needs may be, you will be a better person. Anticipation will make you more attentive to the needs of those around you.

A classic example is that when a man sees a woman approaching their seat, stand up and offer your seat to the woman. This is an example of chivalry and is very much appreciated.

I believe anticipation and attention to detail work hand in hand and may even be one in the same. It seems to me that people who pay attention to detail also anticipate very well. I think both traits can be learned to a certain extent, but attention to detail may be much more difficult to teach. Most people today have very little patience which will make them less detail oriented. It takes a patient person to learn how to pay attention to detail.

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Anticipation Part 1

Anticipation is the key to a successful life and it is something that can be learned. Athletes are taught to anticipate their opponents moves. Chess players are taught to anticipate the moves of their oponents. I believe that anticipation is the key to life and may even be the meaning of life.

I was taught anticipation at a fairly young age when my dad was teaching me how to play racquetball. When playing racquetball, you must anticipate where your opponent will hit the ball and position yourself accordingly. You must also anticipate where your opponent will be on the court when you are hitting the ball so you can position your shot.

More on this topic and how it applies to life in my next post.

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The Happiest Place on Earth

Meg is very excited that we are leaving for Disneyland after school today. She practically jumped out of bed this morning when I woke her up.

I am looking forward to the trip, but I am still recovering from my trade show. We are meeting up with Sharon and Tim, so it should be fun. I hope we can make it to our hotel by 8:30. By that time, Sharon and Tim may be filling fine.

Disneyland is always a challenge for me. I don't like the fact that the kids and parents have gotten pretty rude. It is difficult to get a photo of my kids and a character without other kids crowding in. For me, it is not usually the happiest place on earth.

I am really going to have fun this trip. This is our first visit while the park is decorated for Halloween. Meg will really enjoy it. I may even get a chance to blog while in line for a ride.

- Posted from my iPhone

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Back from Vegas

I just returned from a business trip to Las Vegas late last night. I really dread my trips to Vegas every other year for a trade show. The show alternates between Chicago and Las Vegas every other year. I really enjoy the trips to Chicago much more.

I don't gamble, so Vegas is wasted on me. I also don't like to be trapped in smoke filled buildings with sad, desperate people who are giving their rent money away. Granted, there are some really great things to do and see in Las Vegas, but the whole vibe of the city just feels wrong.

I checked into the Treasure Island hotel on Sunday evening and looked out the windwo from the 29th floor. I was overlooking the pool...and a whole lot of rooftops and concrete. Not the best view in the world. I headed off to a meeting at the Hilton, which looked much nicer than the last time I was there. After my meeting, I met up with my boss and some coworkers at the Wynn. That is a very nice hotel and casino.

I woke up on monday morning and was feeling fine. By Tuesday morning, I looked like I had been out all night on a drinking binge, but I was in bed by 10:00 the night before. My eyes were puffy and red. My throat was sore and when I blew my nose the tissue was full of blood. The dry desert air and smoke filled casinos really did get to me and some of my coworkers felt the same way.

Tuesday night one of our vendors had a reception in the Voodoo Lounge in the Rio Hotel. I think it was on the 51st floor. It had a pretty nice view of the city. That was probably the hightlight of the trip.

It is great to be back home. The only problem is that my throat is still a little sore, my eyes hurt and I am very tired. I need to get rested for our trip to Disneyland

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Definition of Prius

I was thinking about the word "prius" just yesterday. And when I start thinking about something, I need to hit the internet and find the answers to my questions. I spent a little bit of time doing my research and found what I was looking for, that is if you can believe what you read on wikipedia.

The word "prius" is a Latin word. It is a comparative adjective or adverb with meanings "ahead, in front, leading, prior; before, previously, first." Latin has gender divisions for some plurals. The masculine for prius would be prium, the feminine would be prieau (pronounced Pre-ay). There is a quote on wikipedia from a Toyota spokesperson who stated that "Toyota chose this name because the Prius vehicle is the predecessor of cars to come."

That is all fine, but what is the plural of Prius? I did some more research and found a quote on a Prius owner's forum. The state that they, asked a Toyota executive in charge of the initial Prius rollout how his people refer to more than one Prius. His response was "Prius". Since Toyota built and named the car and they refer to more than one as a "Prius", that must be the plural form of the word. Some people do like to refer to more than one as "Prii" and I even saw an arguement that said that if we say two "geniuses" it would follow that we say two "Priuses'.

I still don't know what I will call more than one Prius, but I do know that I am happy with my purchase so far.

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