A (roughly) weekly maybe monthly round-up of what’s got in my head, up my nose and in my heart.

THE GOOD

I’m not a raving fan of All Hallows’ Eve or Halloween or whatever you call it in your part of the world. I don’t have anything against it … I just never felt the urge to participate or to grow a tradition around it for our family. But this could convert me. Despite a childhood almost devoid of Halloween references, My Girl (let’s say she’s in her late twenties) is today rocking a superb Wednesday Addams vibe for the big day. And it lifts my heart to see her channelling Wednesday’s distinctive view of the world.

THE BAD

Sometimes I think it’s the language around Halloween that puts me off. The marketing messages, the products, the motifs position it at a huge distance from anything Australian, but it’s the language that most raises my heckles. Catherine Deveny has captured that perfectly in this very witty piece  I Hate Halloween that sums up all that’s bad about Halloween. To my readers in the Northern Hemisphere, I apologise. This is unlikely to make much sense to you. For my Aussie cohort, it’s worth a big belly-laugh. It’s about the bad, but I love it.

THE BRILLIANT

And, despite all my misgivings about this Hallmark celebration, I find myself drawn to the images of ingenious Halloween dress-ups. It seems no age group (or pet!) is left out. This collection of twins in Halloween attire on http://www.wimp.com is brilliant. I’m a fool for a literary reference so have settled on this one as my personal pick:

Boo!