Ooky Spooky

Happy Friday team. An extra spooky edition of the newsletter today to celebrate All Hallow's Eve. Hope everyone has a top notch true Halloweekend.

I'm Just Here for the Boos

With Halloween upon us, I felt it was pertinent to rank my childhood costumes for you all. Costumes are tiered based on their creative spirit, execution, and styling. Please enjoy this because it involved several people sifting through boxes of family photos.

7. Last place is definitely this freshman year of high school angel costume. I thought I was going to a giant rager house party and it turned out to be a 100% outdoor, gentle gathering of mostly couples. They made out by the fire all night and I froze. I do believe this was the fateful night where Minnie Mouse got with her boyfriend who turned into a stalker. Just girly things 💕

6. Second to last is this flamenco dancer. Obsessed with the pose, but she's lacking a little pizazz. Some jewelry, some makeup, little something to really sell the vision. This costume was hand crafted by my grandmother and the elastic holding the top of the skirt together did snap while I was bobbing for apples at an elementary school party and someones mom tried to pin it back together for me while telling me I must've had a tape worm. I think this was an attempt at a joke, but it sailed over my 4th grader head.

5. Next on the list, I think I'm a dragon here? My grandmother did sew this with her own two hands but it falls low on the list because I'm saying it's basic. Also I'm pretty sure we had to pin my tail to my back so it didn't drag down the street.

4. Dipsy is middle of the pack because it's objectively adorable but I'm a Po girl through and through.

3. We're getting to the good stuff now. '06 makes me 8 years old here, and as an 8 year old, this was the hottest I'd ever felt. I believe the concept was "undead bride" and with the veil + black lipstick combo - you couldn't tell me shit. For the record, I believe we were headed to my great Aunt's retirement home Halloween party. Also, I think this is the hardest Brooke has ever cheesed in a photo.

2. Taking second place is this witch number. I'm pretty sure this is Kindergarten where we had a costume parade that took up several hours of the school day for some reason. Grammy Jan also sewed this one and I was obsessed with the black brocade fabric and the spider web overlay on the sleeves. I was also really convinced that people would think the purple braids sticking out of my hat were my real hair. Alas, no one asked who my hair girl was.

1. Sitting on top of the pyramid this week is Glinda the Good Witch - NOT the Wicked version, but the OG Wizard of Oz (1939) character. That was definitely among my favorite movies of all time as a kid. Another Grammy Jan original, this was giving the full fairy princess fantasy I needed as a 4-year-old. Pretty sure this picture is blurry because I'm twirling my wand for the fans. As a bonus sign of the times, you can see my 2 year-old sisters being culturally insensitive behind me.

Would love to know what everyone's favorite costume they've ever had was.

The Reading Nook

This past week I finished up We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry. I was drawn to this book because the back cover sells this as a fun, witchy story of the 1989 Danvers High School field hockey team as they call upon their Salem Witch Trial ancestors to help them win their senior season. Seasonally relevant, spooky good times, right? I thought this was gonna have a The VVitch or Yellowjackets vibe, however, the book did not deliver on the witchiness like basically at all. In fact, this is mostly just a coming of age and the team captain happens to have the last name Putnam.

My actual critique of this book is that I have no clue who this was intended for because the summary and the cover suggested to me that this was a book for adults that happened to have high school characters. That it would be mature in content and kinda horror adjacent. In reading it, the content was very YA, but the writing style was so dense and meandering that I would never have chosen to continue reading this as a high schooler. Also, the ending jumping 30 years and being a 'where are they now' segment made me so angry.

That said, the portrayal of being a 17-year-old field hockey player in Massachusetts, I felt was scarily accurate as the former Bedford High School varsity field hockey captain (down to the whole team's periods syncing up for the season). In my search for Halloween photos, I also rediscovered some photos from my own field hockey senior night that I'd love to share with the class.

The Best of the Worst

For even more content in the spirit of the season, this is a list of horror movies that I have seen that have made me feel something. For one reason or another, for better or for worse these handful of movies made me a visceral reaction of some variety, I won't tell you what variety tho. If you need a rec for this weekend, look no further.

In no particular order:

Hereditary (2018) - Perhaps the most uncomfortable I've ever been sitting in a theater. I had no idea what this movie was before walking in and I felt changed leaving the Burlington AMC after it was finished.

The Thing (1982) - The spider head scene makes me physically recoil every time.

Thanksgiving (2023) - Patrick Dempsey! Addison Rae! Gina Gershon!

Mother! (2017) - I have no idea if this gets classified as a horror movie, but it should be.

Misery (1990) - All time performance from Kathy Bates in the worst way possible.

Malignant (2021) - The only time I have ever actually considered walking out of a theater.

American Horror Story: Murder House (2011) - Not a movie, but the only season of AHS that is worth watching all the way through.

Bye!

recs 4 u

a song i'm loving:

• Dracula - Tame Impala

a movie i watched:

• Frankenstein (1994). Had to prep for the 2025 movie. I fear this was so perfectly campy in a way that Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi could never.

a book i'm reading:

• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Until Next Time!

P.S.

Yet another seasonally appropriate message from The Oracle