Ghost Walk

Last night, Margee and I went on the Ghost Walk at the Arts Centre. It's housed in the old campus of the University of Canterbury. We toured the gothic study halls as our guide regaled us with stories of the university's past. Unfortunately, the history of Christchurch and New Zealand is completely unsordid. We were given battery-powered lanterns to carry as we wandered around the buildings. The actor leading the tour spoke too haughtily and choppily. He included the story of the two girls who killed their mother and whose story is the basis of Heavenly Creatures. I don't think they were connected to the university. There were some nice touches. An accomplice would move a doll to different locations for us to encounter. We'd see the accomplice's face peering from empty rooms. The tour ended weirdly with the guide faking a nosebleed and leaving us alone in the basement. Then nothing happened.

I haven't been in a Halloween mood this fall because, like duh, it's spring here. The days are getting longer and I'm thinking of the beach. Next Wednesday from 6-9 pm PST, the radio show The Roadhouse on KEXP is having its annual Halloween special. You can listen the show over the web and I highly recommend it. The music's scary enough to play in the background as the trick-or-treaters visit. The selection's range from old gospel dirges to modern rock, like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and The White Stripes. There's nothing freakier than Tom Waits singing What's He Building?

And the final bit on Halloween in this update. On Wednesday, we had another movie night in the math department. We watched On the Beach and Donnie Darko. I've wanted to see Donnie Darko since my last year in LA. I'd occasionally hang out with a group of people trying to break into the movie industry for whom Donnie Darko was the best movie ever made. Actually, they were fairly movie illiterate, if I recall correctly. Complete non sequitur. Why is The Shawshank Redemption number 2 on IMDBs best 250 movies of all time? I guess I'm out of touch or The Wisdom of the Crowds is completely and utterly wrong.