Jen impressively summed up the whole idea of 'days of the week surveys.' Although I agree, sometimes I feel uncontrollably drawn to answer the surveys anyway!
1. What is your favorite scary movie?
Director Lucio Fulci's The Gates of Hell (also known as City of the Living Dead) (1980) is by far one of the most frightening films ever. Close runners up are Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968), The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974), The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980), Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper, 1982), and House (Steve C. Miner, 1986) (too bad so many people never saw this classic). Recent films including The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, 1999), Jeepers Creepers (Victor Salva, 2001) and The Ring (Gore Verbinski, 2002) also have their scary moments.
2. What is your favorite Halloween treat?
Crack.
3. Do you dress up for Halloween? If so, describe your best Halloween costume.
My all-time favorite costume was a punk rocker in second grade, circa 1987. Denim jacket, black miniskirt, leg warmers, bangled bracelets, ankle boots, pink hair dye, and enough hairspray to make Motley Crue jealous.
4. Do you enjoy going to haunted houses or other spooky events?
It was certainly disturbing that I paid $10 to see Ghost Ship tonight. Is that spooky or what?
5. Will you dress up for Halloween this year?
Maybe, if my punk rock costume from 1987 still fits.
Cheese fries. I could be a jerk and claim that only Philadelphians can make them correctly (yo Philly), but instead I will attempt to give the benefit of the doubt to a number of New York establishments that at least make some sort of attempt to prepare them in a somewhat-edible manner.
Pluck U, East Village
Although this joint gets the job done, I feel as if the cheese fries are not really prepared with love. The coat of cheese is too-thinly spread atop the pile of fries, not allowing for thorough saturation of cheese on potato. Not to mention, the fries are often limp and zest-less.
Cooper Diner, East Village
Don't even get me started on the major good-tasting-cheese-fry-lackage in this place. Although I adore the egg / cheese / bacon bagel sandwiches here, their idea of cheese fries seems to be placing a slice of American cheese on a plate of fries. The cheese is barely melted when the potatoes hit the table. This is not good.
Bendix, East Village
It seems to be a trend that restaurants in the East Village consistently fail to prepare delicious cheese fries, hmm? Bendix probably tops them all off in this area. First of all, cheese fries entail a nice base - the fries part, that is. The big, yucky fries at this establishment are not good. It is adding insult to injury when the cheese is also not good. This is one place that also does not prepare the dish with love.
Johnny Rocket's, East Village
Okay. The fries are alright -- that is, as long as you dump a truckload of salt on them -- but the cheese here almost makes one wish that Wisconsin was part of Canada instead of the United States. I cannot stress enough that it is very difficult to screw up cheese, but this place succeeds. Can anyone explain the reason for this bad-cheese-fry behavior?
What is this world coming to, anyway?
Now on the other hand, Nifty 50s in Philly consistently makes some of the best-tasting cheese fries in the tri-state area. Especially the spicy cheese fries. Goddamn, I said goddamn. The fries are a wonderful melange of crispness, shape, and freshness, and the cheese is so tasty that it makes me super-proud that Wisconsin lies within the United States borders.
Duran Duran, Pop Trash
Gary Numan, The Pleasure Principle
Cyndi Lauper, She's So Unusual
Alphaville, Forever Young
The Vaselines, The Way of the Vaselines
Juliana Hatfield, Only Everything
P.J. Harvey, Is This Desire?
The Rolling Stones, Hot Rocks
Frente, Marvin the Album
Destiny's Child, The Writing's on the Wall
The Cars, The Cars
The B-52s, Cosmic Thing
Duran Duran, Arena
The Doors, The Soft Parade Saturday Night Fever soundtrack
L7, Hungry for Stink
The Dandy Warhols, The Dandy Warhols
The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds
Ace of Base, The Sign
The Waitresses, The Best of the Waitresses
Belle & Sebastian, Lazy Line Painter Jane
The Fad, The Fad The New Wave: Pop Music of the Early '80s
Goodbye Girl Friday, Mr. & Mrs.
Naked Highway, Hyperbollocks
Duran Duran, Pop Trash Classic Alternatives: '80s 12" Extended Rare Mixes
Phil Collins, Hits
Genesis, Turn It On Again: The Hits
Ladytron, Light & Magic
Ladytron, 604
The Go-Betweens, Before Hollywood
Beck, Midnight Vultures
Duran Duran, Seven & the Ragged Tiger
Abba, Arrival
The Cardigans, Long Gone Before Daylight
The Psychedelic Furs, All of This & Nothing
Air, Moon Safari
The Knack, Round Trip
Blondie, Parallel Lines
The Psychedelic Furs, Forever Now
The Donnas, Spend the Night
Nancy Sinatra, California Girl
Tatu, 200 KMH in the Wrong Lane
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Organisation
John-Manuel Andriote, Hot Stuff: A Brief History of Disco
Bret Easton Ellis, The Rules of Attraction
Tom Wolfe, The Bonfire of the Vanities
Jean Kilbourne, Deadly Persuasion
Nick Hornby, High Fidelity
Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho
Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation
