Exit Halloween, Enter...The Halloween Hangover!

Man, I had such high hopes for this month. Watch some unviewed movies, write some reviews here, really celebrate the run-up to Halloween. But life, as it so often does, just got in the way. Parental visit, prolific work on the workblog sapping energies for the House. Even the monkeys who cohabitate here were more diligent in celebrating horror movies in the run-up. Plus there was the additional weird juju on the streets of my (gentrifying massively but still beloved) City as the San Francisco Giants took the wild card spot and wound up winning the damn World Series. Always happy to see the black and orange do well (and I'm much happier that such success has smiled on the Baumgarner Giants than the Bonds ones). My only real objection to the post-season is its distraction from the weeks heading to Halloween; it's a key part of my autumn, and it makes me sad when the Giants steal its focus. I don't get mad at anybody over it, it just kinda saddens me.

And yet my appetite for cinematic and other spookiness is rarely sated come All Saints Day, and I often extend the celebration into November for a week or three. (Indeed, a couple of years back I had a great November experience at the Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto with the two-fer of THE WOLF MAN and THE MUMMY'S HAND, which I declared the real conclusion to the Halloween season.) And so, since the Castro Theatre has a nice 35mm two-fer of Don't Look Now and Daughters of Darkness on the 20th, the celebration of Halloween will continue here at the House of Sparrows until then, with the full intention to present more writing here. Chip away at the October Wall, report on some of the movies seen theatrically, etc.

Whether you're taking your costumed children out for candy, taking in a sexy party, or holing up with horror cinema, I wish you all the best the spooky season has to offer.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

101.

Jesus feckin' Christ, that last post took it out of me. That's what happens when you sit on pieces of writing - I note that this blog started up about two weeks after I saw SORORITY ROW theatrically, and I dug up a comment I posted around that time to Stacie Ponder in Final Girl about Mrs. Crenshaw. That comment may well be the seed from which this humble house bloomed.

So the thing's been worked on over the last two weeks (though all of the twenty-odd images from the film were grabbed last night), and since I wanted it to be post 100, I haven't had a chance to write about any of the awesome things I saw at the San Francisco International Film Fest. Or talk about turning 40 (which I did last week), though that particular milestone has informed my recent writing on a number of older characters, including the aforementioned Mrs. Crenshaw or former Detroit Tigers pitcher Billy Chapel or ongoing Missing Persons vocalist Dale Bozzio.

So I'm gonna end this rant here-ish, as the woman I love is about to grab me for the Eno-doc tonight at the Roxie, in keeping with this season of aging Taureans. More very, very soon.

Thanks for reading.

I bid you welcome....

Even your host isn't sure where this doorway leads.

Good Evening. My name is David Robson, and this is the House of Sparrows.

Though I blog elsewhere on other things (both professionally and personally), I'm opening the House here to give my thoughts on horror and fantasy film their own venue. This said, other topics will no doubt be covered, from live events in San Francsico to the kickass episode of Dark Shadows I just watched.

I'm still building the House and discovering/developing its voice, but I hope you'll feel comfortable enough to join me in the House's various rooms, and share your thoughts and comments with me.

In the meantime, I got a grimoire that tells me that today's a lucky day for spellcasting (and that Fridays are ideal for spells relating to arts, entertainment, and love). The House of Sparrows is open. Welcome.