I've been thinking I should post again for a while now (although I do occasionally update the CST blog, if you're for some inexplicable reason feeling that a lack of my rambling is adversely affecting the Internet), and as I sit here trying not to pay attention to the weird horror movie my roommate and his sort-of-but-sort-of-not-it's-complicated-and-baffling girlfriend are watching it seems apropos to get my cliche on and do this Halloween quiz I was sent today (here's Jaq's take on the same one).

Memes R Us!

1. What is your favorite work of horror fiction?

Hard to say. I've read quite a bit of Stephen King and enjoyed 'Salem's Lot quite a bit, but I'd have to give the nod to Poe's "The Raven" as performed by the Simpsons:



2. Who is your favorite monster?

Smaug. I'm a sucker for dragons.

3. What horror movie gives you the most chills?

I haven't seen many at all - I don't particularly care for the being-frightened experience and I have a runaway imagination - so this answer comes from a small pool. That said, I saw The Blair Witch Project in the theater and barely slept the next two nights.

4. Freddy versus Jason?

Never seen a movie with either of them (see above), so I'll say Jason because I have a buddy named Jason but no buddies named Fred.

5. Ghosts or goblins?

Ghosts. Goblins are wussy little one hit-die monsters while ghosts can only be harmed by magical weapons and age you 1d4x10 years just by you looking at them. Obvious answer, this one.

6. What is your scariest encounter with the paranormal?

One of my years at Wartburg I lived in the "haunted" dorm. There was a student at Wartburg in the... 70's, I think... who was brutally murdered and she'd lived in the dorm (indeed, in the room) I lived in. There were lots of stories that year about weird things happening in the dorm. They even brought in the campus weirdo to do a seance. My roommates and I laughed it off, though. Until one evening I was sitting in our room with Matt and Mark and our door suddenly swung open. "Hey now, Lisa," said Matt (Lisa was the ghost's name), "that's not cool. You can't just listen to our conversations."

And the door slammed shut again. We laughed about it, but we also found a reason to leave the room pretty quickly after that.

7. Do you believe in ghosts?

Dunno, I guess. Mostly no, but I do believe in the afterlife and ghosts seem like a pretty easy jump to make from there.

8. Favorite Halloween costume?

When I was a tot in Texas my dad directed The Pirates of Penzance at the local college as the fall play. That Halloween I got to be a pirate and walked around singing Gilbert and Sullivan songs and being given candy by strangers. The American dream.

9. If you had an unlimited budget, what would your fantasy costume be for this Halloween?

Interesting. A giant chinchilla, I think. And I'd stuff the suit with millions of dollars in cash.

10. When was the last time you went trick or treating?

Halloween 1996. I used to have a picture on this blog, but I think it was lost in the Great Server Transfer of '07.

11. What's your favorite Halloween candy?

I couldn't possibly choose a favorite. Anything that's neither mint nor coconut.

12. Tell us about a scary nightmare you had.

Scary spooky? I had a recurring dream when I was a little kid of being chased by a bear. Got to the point where I didn't want to go to sleep; I think I spent almost a year fairly regularly having the dream. Ironically, every time I've been in actual bear country on backpacking trips I've slept just fine.

Scary really disturbing and horrifying? A couple of times in college I had super real-seeming dreams where I was lying in a hospital bed, dying, and my parents came into the room to cheer me up by singing songs.

13. What is your supernatural fear?

I don't have any, really, but sometimes when I've been hiking by myself on the trails at EWALU at night my mind has wandered a bit.

14. What is your creepy-crawlie fear?

Claustrophobic situations. Just the thought of not being able to move my arms and legs gives me the willies.

15. Would you ever stay in a real haunted house overnight?

Maybe... there'd have to be some pretty significant remuneration involved.

16. Are you a traditionalist (just a face) Jack O'Lantern carver, or do you get really creative with your pumpkins?

Neither. I am a man completely without artistic skill, so I try to avoid subjecting pumpkins of the world to my non-talent.

17. How much do you decorate your home for Halloween?

Well, my roommate has a black cat who likes to sit in the window...

18. Do you think Halloween is too commercial these days?

No. I think Christmas is too commercial. I'm not nearly as attached to the meaning Halloween's supposed to have.