hocus pocus

I visited the pumpkin patch last weekend and totally massacred a 30 lb. pumpkin and feasted on its flesh, so I am officially in the Halloween spirit. Luckily, there's a crapload of TV to help sustain my ghoulish mood. TV Tango has compiled a pretty comprehensive list of Halloween-themed programming starting today and going through the rest of the month.

Some of the highlights include a Moonlight marathon starting today on SyFy, as part of their "31 Days of Halloween" programming. On Sunday, The Simpsons is airing their 20th "Treehouse of Horror" episode, while Monday has a some good kids' fare, with Halloween-themed America's Funniest Home Videos on ABC Family, and Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie on Disney.

Why can't certain news networks do an obituary of someone without adding on some political, personal dig?

Case in point, this Kurt Vonnegut obituary that FOX News ran recently. Sure, Vonnegut was no doubt a lefty (his last book of essays would tell anyone that), but the entire tone of the obit is pretty shitty.

"By the late 70s, Vonnegut was rich and irrelevent." Really? I think a lot of people, including me, got to know Vonnegut's writing in the 70s and 80s, and that a lot of his work rings true to present times. And why the comment about "being rich?" Oh, yeah, those damn liberal elitists and their money! The reporter also says that Vonnegut "failed at suicide" (that's a clever dig, not only mention a suicide attempt but that he FAILED at it), had writings filled with "mumbo-jumbo," and had "scatalogical humor." Using Vonnegut's own words (the part about male writers being past their prime at 55 and then the reporter saying "but Vonnegut kept at it," as if he should just quit his work) against him.