EPISODE 629: IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN'S REALLY IMPORTANT MOMENT OF SELF-REALIZATION, CHARLIE BROWN
The scene where PigPen is consumed by his cloud of dust is a high point in animated horror for children.
POP CULTURE SPIRIT WOW
Last year at this time I spent most of the month watching Halloween movies, which was kind of great. Iβd never seen Halloween, Friday the 13th, any of the Evil Dead films.
I was planning to do more of the same this yearβIβve never seen Hocus Pocus!--but after about a month of people saying, βHey have you seen Midnight Mass?β I finally broke down. I decided Iβd watch a couple episodes at 9pm on Saturday. At 3:30am Sunday I was still watching. Β
Β Itβs a show that you want to go into without knowing too much. Basically the premise is that a guy who has been in prison for four years comes home to the poor fishing island heβs from at the same time that a Catholic priest comes to temporarily replace the aged pastor (all right before Lent begins). And he preaches that resurrection is coming.
And then⦠things start to happen. (Including things sung by Neil Diamond, which is amazing.)
There were times watching the seven-part miniseries that I felt really uncomfortable about the way that the show works with some important Catholic stuff, which Iβm not going to reveal because I donβt want to spoil anything. At the same time each episode has these incredible moments where characters talk about God and death and life that are profound. And the endingβ¦well, it definitely invites a lot of thought about whatβs in your life.
I highly recommend it, but you really need to let it take you on the ride it has for you. If youβre anything like me youβll have at least one moment that you donβt want to go on. All I can say is, the guy creating this knows what heβs putting you through, and it has great rewards.
For me personally, the ending had me randomly thinking a lot about people that have been there for me in the last six months, and the unexpected gifts Iβve been given, like the chance to live back in New York again with guys that are really wonderful and to work at America, which is a pretty incredible group of people and jobs these days.
And itβs funny, the way the ending of Midnight Mass is structured, itβs almost like it invites you not to burrow into any specific memories or relationships but just to see the overall vista, and to let all the pieces and people be just that, these blessed and beautiful things that Iβm lucky to have any contact with at all. Itβs an invitation to see how you are a small part of something wonderful, really. Maybe even the bad stuff becomes okay and a blessing from a distance. Β
THREE TWEETS
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Click on this to see one of those great moments on Twitter where someone asks about something that you think is common sense and discover it is most certainly not:
Yeah Succession is back. I guess. I donβt know. Why do we watch this show again?
TWO VIDEOS
I love this for not telling us where itβs going at first and then finding a wild way out.
And this is just amazing.
ONE ARTICLE
So apparently horror themed restaurants are popular right now, and not just for Halloween. I donβt know how that makes sense but to me it somehow does.
Thereβs one of those Halloween shops near my house. Suddenly this weekend the line to get in stretch around the block. Itβs kind of wonderful to see all of that happening. No doubt next weekend will be certifiably insane in my neck of the woods, but itβll be nice to see something so normal happening again, and probably with most of us acting like we werenβt, like, locked in basements the last few yearsβ¦
Itβs a short one this week. Midnight Mass really consumed my brain (as did a couple articles I did about talking about sex in the confessional and the musical Hadestown, which I really loved).
And speaking once more of Midnight Mass, Iβm going to leave with you with this song, which runs through one of the eps, and has now taken up residency in my head.
Have a great pumpkin! :)