I Always Feel Like Somebody’s Watching Me

So this is an old post that I retooled as it had many mistakes. This old post is one of the reasons why I gave this blog the name Jane Austen Runs My Life, because there are certain elements of my life that are similar to Jane Austen concepts. Such as:

Emma and Mr. Elton:

Scenario 1

        Me and Norman

In the story of Emma, Mr. Elton is the village Vicar who is handsome and single. Every girl has her eye on him, except Emma as she does not wish to be married. Elton has his eye on her as he likes her beauty, social status, and money.

Emma tries to set him up with her friend Harriet, never realizing that the whole time Elton liked her. When Elton declares his “love” for her, she rejects him. Thus making him go into ARGS (Angry Rejected Guy Syndrome), find another girl to make her jealous. Of course it doesn’t work on Emma, because she doesn’t like him.

Anyways as you will see later, this is a recurring theme with me. The first of the guys to do this was Norman. Norman fell hard for me, and am still at a loss why. Maybe it was because I was nice to him. Who know? But then and there he decided the two of us were going to go out.

Just like Elton he did all these “cutesy” things (not really), to try and get me to like him. The funniest thing about this was that he was trying to be really subtle about it, but everyone could see what was going on.

Like Elton he would try and get me anything I needed; drink, napkins, etc. And he always had to be by my side. EVEN when I was sitting with friends.

Let me just squeeze in between you two.

Some may find this adorable, but I didn’t. I didn’t like having him everywhere I went, always popping up, and trying to secure a seat next to me.

The worst of it was when he found out that I knew he liked me. His friend told me, but I told him that Norman was so obvious, of course I knew. Seeing as I knew, Norman decided to up his game. Instead of just hanging around me, he started FOLLOWING ME EVERYWHERE. If I went into the bathroom he would wait outside. If I was talking to friends, he would wait in the corner. Sometimes he would never even talk to me, just be constantly by me.

I’m not one who likes to have people suffocating me like that. And he was EVERYWHERE! I knew he wouldn’t do anything to harm me, let’s face it I could totally take him down, but I still felt like I was in a horror movie.

I always feel like somebody’s watching me

Now Norman wasn’t a psycho. He only followed me when I was out with friends (we had the same group of friends so we ran into each other a lot). But like I said before, it was suffocating. I couldn’t handle it. I knew the only thing I could do was be right out mean to get rid of him. [ I was 16 at the time. Please excuses my horribleness on the account of me being young.]

Now for anyone out there, there is one VERY fast way to get rid of someone who like you.

1.  Embarrass them.

I have used this method many times as it is so easy to do and always works. [Once again, I was young. I’m not that way anymore. It’s funny, as horrible as my ex-boyfriend Michael was in breaking my heart, he really made want to treat guys better. He thought I was the nicest person ever, and made me want to be nice.]

The first thing I did with Norman was wait until he a bunch of friends all around him. (This is crucial as it is not only important to completely crush his ego in front of all his friends but provides witnesses so that he can’t say something happened that didn’t.) [Once again I was young]

Then I asked him sweetly, smiling (it’s a clincher, it relaxes them and they don’t realize what’s to come), if I could talk to him, making sure we stayed in front of his friends. (All their attention was riveted on us. Everyone knew that he liked me and I think they were all waiting to see what I would say.)

Then I told him, (sweet tone gone)

“Norman, you are freaking me out! You need to stop following me around!”

Then I immediately  left the scene of the crime with all his friends sniggering behind me. (Also important! Don’t let them get a word in, be there, be mean, and leave.) [I am cringing as I reread this. I was a horrible person. Horrible! Thank goodness Michael made me want to be nicer. I can’t believe I used to do that. But it is effective if anyone wants to use in the future.]

Some may say it was cruel, and I agree it was, [I really do] but it worked. After that Norman hated me and wouldn’t go near me. He exhibited every bit of the ARGS (Angry Rejected Guy Syndrome), and immediately started paying all his attention to my friend Ruth. He tried to make me jealous, by always sitting with her, talking to her, etc. He wanted to show me he was over me and could “do better”, but I didn’t mind, I got the space I wanted, and peace of mind.

Unfortunately Norman didn’t learn from his episode with me and continued to follow those he liked, causing him to strike out with many, many, many times.

At one point he had a girlfriend, but this behavior which she had originally thought cute, ended up freaking her out too. He ended up moving away, and I don’t what happened to him or what he’s doing with his life now. I hope that as he’s matured and has changed his MO for ladies attention and is doing better in the dating pool.

After all we may like to sing Rockwell’s great hit, but no one wants to live it.

For more on Emma (jeez this has been a real Emma month huh? Guess I just have it on the brain) go to A Real Man

For more of my favorite songs go to It’s the Final Countdown

 

Everyone’s Entitled to One Good Scare: Halloween (1978)

It’s Halloween, everyone’s entitled to one good scare.

Let’s face it, you all knew this was coming. I mean how could I not end Horrorfest without ending on Halloween, literally.

I saw this movie during my quest to view the Big 3. I saw Nightmare on Elm Street first, which I was very disappointed in. Then I saw Friday the 13th, which wasn’t bad, but not super scary. Needless to say, when I got around to watching Halloween I thought it was going to suck. I had seen one of the many spanned sequels when I was flipping through channels, and that was absolute rot.

I LOVED Halloween though. I thought it was pretty creepy. I mean some parts are a little dumb, like the fact that you can’t kill Michael Myers, because “can’t kill the boogeyman”, but overall it was a very well done film.

The story is of a young boy, Michael Myers, who murders his sister. I hate how they never explain why he murders her. There are “theories”, but John Carpenter really should have given us a reason why Myers became a murderer. What was his stressor? What triggered him to this kind of response? I know you all think why I should care, but it concerns me as I took this quiz, Which Horror Movie Slasher are You?, and got Michael Myers.

Anyways he is sent to a sanitorium, where he is taken care of by Dr. Samuel Loomis. On October 30, Loomis and nurse Marion Chambers are preparing to take him off to be tried at court. Myers gets away and Loomis heads to Myers’ hometown Haddonfield to track him down.

Carpenter really liked Alfred Hitchcock movies, especially the film Psycho. He pays homage to the film throughout this movie; two of them being Dr. Samuel Loomis and Marion Chambers. In Psycho, Marion Crane is played by Janet Leigh, the poor women who ends up not living through her night at the Bates Motel. The man she loves and is hoping to marry soon, is Sam Loomis, played by the Very Handsome John Gavin.

We now are transitioned to the cute ’70s suburban town of Haddonfield. There we are introduced to straight A, good girl, Laurie Strode. Laurie Strode is played by Jamie Lee Curtis, and this was her first film and it really got her career going. The only reason why she got the part was because Carpenter thought it would be awesome to have Janet Leigh’s, the star of Psycho,  daughter be the star of his film. Janet Leigh had been knows as the “Queen of Scream”, a title that her daughter Jamie went on to also earn.

Laurie is planning on baby-sitting that night, watching scary movies, and carving Jack-o-Lanterns. Her two friends Annie and Lynda are much more wild and eagerly hoping to have wild nights with their boyfriends. While Annie’s plans fall through and she is going to be baby-sitting a girl down the street from Laurie, neither are as serious about it as Laurie.

From Laurie, we see that she has a problem connecting to others. She is quiet and reserved. She is also very wistful that she doesn’t have a date to the dance on that Friday, the night after Halloween. Her friends eagerly make plans for Friday, plans that get changed by Myers.

Laurie spends Halloween in a fog, as she keeps seeing someone watching her, but can’t tell if it is in her head or if someone is out there. No one else manages to see him, as just like in the Twilight Zone: Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, he always slips away.

I mean I totally relate to her in this film. When you are out walking around all the time like her, a lot of weirdos come around and you never quite know whether one is a safe weirdo, or one who might possibly do something.

Loomis meets up with the local sheriff, who is also Annie’s father, and the two search for Myers. They spend most of their attention focusing on the Myers’ old house. Neither is aware that Myers has already chosen his victims and is stalking them right now.

Laurie gets to the house and is a good baby-sitter, paying attention to Tommy Doyle. He is pretty much focused on the monster movie marathon. Two of the films he watches that night are The Thing From Another World (my favorite horror movie), and Forbidden Planet (my favorite scifi film). I recognized the scenes from them right away when I was watching it, and started screaming out their names. Carpenter redid The Thing From Another World, titling it The Thing. Kurt Russell stars in it as he was a fan of the original film. I thought the remake sucked! They changed EVERYTHING. But I’ll save that for another post.

Myers’ bloodbath begins! I don’t want to ruin the film for you guys, and say too much more as I think it should be watched. It is really good and has some definitely creepy music, which Carpenter wrote himself. I’m serious that music sends chills down my spines when I hear it. It totally creeps me out.

I will say one thing. I really liked how Laurie’s character fights back. She is pretty tough, and usually women don’t have that role in a horror film. Definitely check this out!

Also Carpenter references another Alfred Hitchcock film, Rear Window, when the boy witnesses something, but Laurie fails to believe him.

The only thing I wish we had to make the movie better is why Michael kills and why he choose those specific people to be his victims. Alas, we may never know.

When your done watching the film, watch this.

Sadly this ends my Horrorfest. There are now 31 Tales of Terror and Woe, which I suggest you read and watch.

I’m so sad that it is over, but it has been a lot of fun. I already can’t wait until next year to do it again.

Have a scaretastic, terrorific, horrifyingly amazing night. Eat candy, watch movies; just have fun. And be safe in anything you do. I just started getting readers and would hate to lose any of them. Happy Halloween! 😀

So this artist José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros did a series of disney mash-ups, my favs being the horror films. To see more go to Disnified Horror.

He’s climbin’ in your windows

Here’s a facebook cover page I made for my facebook as part of my countdown to Halloween.

To start Horrorfest from the beginning, go to I Don’t Belong in the World

For the previous post, go to When the Itsy-Bitsy Spider Is No Longer Itsy-Bitsy

For more on psychopaths, go to I Can Be Your Best Friend or Your Worst Enemy

For more slasher flicks, go to Camp Blood

For more films influenced by Alfred Hitchcock, go to Whatever You Do Don’t Fall Asleep

For more films that have spanned sequels, go to They’re Coming to Get You Barbara

For more on The Twilight Zone, go to Surviving the Worst