The 5 Greatest Halloween TV Episodes

Halloween is quickly approaching, so it's time to reveal my all time favorite Halloween TV episodes. These aren't ranked in any type of order because having to decide which episode is #1 gives me too much anxiety. Let's do this!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: "Halloween" 

While there are several classic Halloween episodes of Buffy, I think the second season's is the best. In this episode, Buffy and the Scooby gang are all forced to take the neighborhood kids trick or treating by the Principal, but the night has other plans for them. Ethan Rayne, the douchebag of chaos, comes into town and takes over the costume shop, magically turning everyone's Halloween costumes real. Hilarity ensues with Xander becoming a real Army dude, Willow turning into a ghost, and Buffy transforming into a noblewoman. This is the first we see that Ethan Rayne is actually the old friend/enemy of Giles, and he takes him down in good ol' Ripper fashion. 

Bonus: My absolute favorite part of this episode is when Willow, who was self-conscious about her costume so she wore a ghost sheet over it, abandons her sheet and her fear, and walks down the street in her revealing outfit. It's then that Oz, or the adorable Seth Green, sees Willow for the first time and utters, "Who is that girl?" Swoon. 

Boy Meets World: "And Then There Was Shawn" 

  

It's not Halloween until you've watched the Halloween episode of Boy Meets World. Quite possibly one of the greatest Halloween episodes, it revolves around all of the BMW squad having detention together....or so they thought. It's really just an entire episode mocking all of the popular 90's scary movies like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. Jennifer Love Hewitt even makes a cameo. I don't know that I'll ever get over seeing Mr. Feeny murdered, but watching Cory, Shawn, and the gang run around the high school hallways does make it a tad easier. 

Parks and Recreation: "Meet N' Greet" 

In this Halloween episode, April and Andy throw their first Halloween party and it's quite the rager. I hope my Halloween party will be as cool as theirs. One can dream. April dresses up as a deflated sumo wrestler (awesome) and poor Ben learns to express his annoyance with the fact that April and Andy never asked him about throwing the party in the first place. 

The Office: "Costume Contest" 

I'm probably biased because I love this show way too much, but this season seven episode takes the cake. Pam gets everyone all excited for the prize of the costume contest, a gigantic coupon book. Everyone dressed up in their best costumes, except for Jim. He's usually not the type to dress up, but at the end of this episode, he dresses up as Pop Eye for Pam and their daughter, like the adorable character he is. 

How I Met Your Mother: "The Slutty Pumpkin" 

This show has some impressive holiday episodes, and Halloween is one of the best. In the first season of How I Met Your Mother, Ted goes on yet another quest to find a long-lost lover. This one happens to be the "slutty pumpkin," aka the girl dressed as a slutty pumpkin at the rooftop Halloween party. Apparently, Ted looks for her every year since he met her, and blames Lily for throwing away the candy wrapper that she wrote her number on. Get it together, Lily. 

So, those are a few of my favorite Halloween episodes! What are yours? Tell me in the comments below! 

Rambling Reads | Dorothy Must Die

It's been awhile since I've done a Rambling Reads review because I haven't been able to actually finish my book in so long. Life, man.

However, I managed to finish my latest read, Dorothy Must Die, this past weekend and here are my thoughts.

Dorothy Must Die tells a much different story than the traditional Wizard of Oz tale. While I'm usually a huge fan of fairytale retellings, this one wasn't my favorite. It's almost like Danielle Paige, the author of the novel, did too good a job writing the book in the perspective of a teenage girl because I wanted to pull my hair out like 80% of the time while reading.

The tone of the book is immature and Amy, the main protagonist, isn't a character you are rooting for. By the end of the story, I could have cared less if she defeated Dorothy or the Cowardly Lion bit her head off. Too much of the story was centered around Amy's all-too-quick infatuation with Nox, one of the witches in The Order, a mysterious group of Wicked witches trying to revolt against Dorothy. More adventure, less googly eyes. A young adult series that does a fantastic job of creating an empowering, young female protagonist is Cinder. This story is a twist of several different fairytales, and takes you on a journey of action, adventure, and the appropriate amount of romance.

Now, don't get me wrong, there were a few redeeming qualities of Dorothy Must Die. I did somewhat enjoy the twist of the traditional story. The book goes that Amy, a lonely girl from Kansas, is swept up in her motor home to the land of Oz. Upon her arrival, she finds that Oz is nothing like the storybooks say. The reason for this sad, depressing version of Oz is Dorothy. She isn't the sweet, innocent girl everyone talks about apparently. In this tale, Dorothy returns to Oz because she can't handle the boring, non-magical world of Kansas. Oz makes her a princess when she returns, and everything goes downhill from there.

She takes over Oz and magic consumes her. She sucks all the magic dry, making Oz a wasteland. Enter Amy. This annoying, immature, and relatively selfish young girl will be your hero for the next 500 pages. Enjoy. I would have to say that the only scene in the book I genuinely connected to was when Amy uses a magic mirror to see her mother in Kansas. She finds her attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and telling a friend she wished her daughter were here to see her now. Amy then goes on to think how much she misses her mother and how proud she is of the change she has made. However, she also is angered by the fact that it took her leaving for her mother to get help, and I found that reaction to be extremely real.

There are so, so many young adult books that revolve around retelling traditional folklore and fairytales that sometimes you can find a dud. This is the case with Dorothy Must Die. I can't say I'll run to the bookstore and look for the next book in this series. Sorry Danielle Paige.

Well, that's my take on Dorothy Must Die, what was yours? Did you enjoy the book? Let me know in the comments. 

#WhyIWrite

Today is National Day on Writing, and to celebrate, the New York Times, along with the National Council of Teachers of English, and the National Writing Project, have teamed up to create the hashtag, #WhyIWrite.

Inspired by a classic essay by the infamous George Orwell, this hashtag has been around since back in 2011, and it's been going strong. The New York Times attempted to live-blog the trending hashtag, but it was so successful that they couldn't keep up. Thousands of timeless authors, and unknown creative authors, participated and inspired us all to keep our creative juices flowing.

The #WhyIWrite hashtag can really be anything. You can post your thoughts, ideas, work, memories, photos, or videos to join the conversation. It's just a fantastic way to express your admiration for writing.

Personally, I think this is an inspiring thing for Twitter to do. Most of the time, I sign onto Twitter and I'm instantly bombarded with meaningless hashtags and entirely too enthusiastic One Direction fans, but this means something. Writing can be a way for so many people to express their innermost fears, joys, and even feelings they are afraid to talk about. It's an incredibly cathartic experience to write out one's emotions, and it's a big reason I enjoy it so much. In the spirit of this National Day of Writing, I'll give a few reasons #WhyIWrite.

Sometimes, that can be extremely difficult. I have always been the kind of person that enjoys sharing my memories and life stories with people, so I've personally never found it very hard to write down my experiences. However, expressing a specific emotion or feeling can be tricky. Usually, I only write when I'm feeling an emotion pretty intensely. Writing isn't something I can just do with the drop of a hat. I've found that my ability to feel very deeply is because I love to write. It's been a thorn in my side in life, but in writing it only gives me the advantage. To feel deeply makes you an easy target, but when I'm writing it makes for a wonderfully cathartic journey. I can start out feeling an overwhelming amount of sadness, and the words will ooze out of my fingertips, and onto the page, making them raw, real, and no longer my burden. What can I say, it's cheaper than therapy.

I also write to pick myself up, which is similar to what I wrote above, but it's important to realize that it's okay to cry shit out. Whenever I'm having a terrible day. I go to my laptop, open up a blank Word document, and just type. It doesn't really matter what I'm writing, just the action of writing is soothing, and emotional for me. Sometimes you just gotta cry onto your laptop (or journal) while you listen to The Civil Wars. It allows you to have the feeling and then move on from it. I've always been a firm believer in owning your emotions and moving past them.

Being a human being can be hard. Especially when we have to do it every day. We are constantly comparing ourselves to others and living in our minds. I know I do. I don't think my brain is capable of a mute button. Believe me, I've tried. Writing helps me focus my disconnected thoughts, and it also gives me motivation to try and connect with other people. When I write, I'm writing for myself but also in the hope that maybe just one person reads just one sentence, stops for a second, and thinks, "I know that feeling." Because really, we all want that connection. We may not admit it, but it's something every person is craving.

My Papu, Greek for grandfather, was always my cheerleader in my writing. Every Christmas, he would only ask for all the copies of everything I had written that year and every year I would make him a little book, and he would sit next to the tree and read it. While I always wanted to honor him, it was his passing away last March that truly motivates me to honor his life and his influence on mine. I have a goal for next year to write a children's book about him. It's a comforting feeling to know that by writing about the people you have lost, they are still alive.

This is probably the most important reason. I write for myself, no one else. I have very much learned, from years in college and creative writing classes, that people aren't always going to like what you write. They can actually really hate it. But guess what? Doesn't matter. You didn't write it for them. Own your words and no one can hurt you. This ideology comes from years of writing groups and coming home from class crying because some latte drinking chick in a beanie and glasses told you the story you wrote about your grandparents is "too cliche." You gotta go through those moments to get the thick skin I've developed in my writing. Everyone feels it, and they live to tell the tale. It will make you stronger, and a better writer.

Well, those are the reasons I write. I want to hear your #WhyIWrite! Leave them in the comments below, or write your own blog post!