Spinnaker [Distributed: Wednesday, October 25, 2006]

Each year, people everywhere dress up on the last day in October for a spooky holiday that many spend weeks preparing for.

Halloween's origins date back to more than 2,000 years ago during Celtic times.

"On the night of Oct. 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth," according to The History Channel's Web site www.history.com.

Over thousands of years, Halloween has evolved into a celebration that brings a different meaning.

Halloween is about the creepiest decorations, the most creative costumes and the slimiest food at a party. After reading this, readers should hopefully be able to throw their own spooktacular party.

When throwing a Halloween party, the first things to think about are your partygoers.

If the party guests are children, then the scary decorations might need to be toned down. If adults are the guests, then scary decorations are fine but make sure no one will be too scared or they won't have fun.

The next step in planning the perfect party is to send out invitations in advance. Make sure to send out invitations early enough so people have plenty of time to find a costume.

Also, add to the invitation that there will be a best costume contest. This contest will motivate party guests to get creative so they can win.

When planning the costume contest, keep in mind one's own costume. The best costumes start with creativity. Search the Internet for some ideas, and think of something different that hasn't been worn by a friend on past Halloweens.

Another tip is to think ahead. Sometime costumes are sold out or take sewing and extra preparations to make them perfect. If you plan your costume ahead of time, you will have less stress when planning the rest of the party.

Decorations for a proper Halloween party are crucial to achieve the right ambience. Transforming a house or dorm room into a haunted place can give the party a spot in Halloween history for guests.

As mentioned earlier, start with the guests in mind. When buying decorations, think of Halloween colors; orange, black, purple, red, white and green.

Little steps taken when decorating will make a huge difference in the overall transformation of the house or dorm room. Start with covering any tables with a black table clothes. Any other furniture can also be covered. Try draping a couch with a black sheet or a chair with a red blanket.

Buy bags of fake spider webs and place them anywhere and everywhere. They are cheap and easy to use. Drape them over a mirror or around the front door to give the home a creepy effect.

Place fake body parts, fake road kill, tombstones, creepy music and other scary things around the house or dorm for extras. Decorations are endless so it is up to the party thrower's imagination.

Food will add the last touch of grossness to the Halloween party. If one wants to truly scare their guests, offer items like blood soup (tomato soup), pasta with green food dye or bloody brains (salsa and cream cheese).

Guests can also munch on classics like candied apples, popcorn balls, pumpkin seeds and of course lots of candy.

For more Halloween food ideas, check out the Food Network's Web site at www.foodnetwork.com.

When creating the perfect Halloween party, the most vital part is being creative. Guests will appreciate the effort of the creepy food and scary decorations.

Good luck throwing the best monster bash of your life!

'Flags of our Fathers': Powerful

The movie gives real depiction of the events at Iwo Jima

The chaos of war doesn't end on the battlefield. It spreads throughout a society as a confusion of purpose when the people are tired of combat, uncertain of the conflict's outcome, divided over whether to continue the struggle or stop the flow of blood and tears.

Clint Eastwood's "Flags of our Fathers" questions the way that the inconceivable savagery of warfare is transformed into mythology and legend for political ends. While it's flawed by a sometimes confusing timeline, it is a great achievement in American filmmaking, a haunting statement about the nature of violence and heroism.

The film is a story about three servicemen, and it flows along three streams. It begins in the recent past with aged veterans' memories of the battle of Iwo Jima. Then, it moves back to their youth in early 1945 during the assault on the Japanese stronghold and their chance appearance in the timeless photograph of Marines raising the American flag. Finally, it follows the three survivors of subsequent combat - "Doc" Bradley (Ryan Phillippe), Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) and Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) - as they are packaged as public relations heroes to literally sell the war at bond rallies.

The men, plucked from combat and lavished with adulation they feel they don't deserve, struggle with their guilt as their buddies continue to die in the Pacific.

Bradley does the best job of keeping his moorings, recognizing the necessity of the charade he's been ordered to play. Gagnon, who smiles easily for the cameras, hopes to parlay his fame into a postwar career.

The Native American Hayes is the film's tragic figure, crumbling into alcoholism under survivor's guilt and the continuous offhand racism of nearly every white he meets. Beach easily takes the acting honors, giving the intense role its full measure of sorrow.

The chronology is unsettlingly choppy as it loops between veterans' reminiscences, harrowing you-are-there combat footage and stateside hoopla.

Once you accommodate yourself to the film's unconventional structure, however, its themes develop enormous power. The combat scenes are brutally realistic, every bit the equal of the D-Day sequence in "Flags" producer Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan."

If the pictures that emerged from that battle focused on the appalling slaughter rather than the flag raising, the effect on the nation's morale would have been devastating. To fight on against the suicidal Japanese, America needed to focus on the Marines' triumph on Mount Suribachi.

"This picture says we can win this war, are winning this war," barks the abrasive Treasury Department official who shuttles the trio to staged public appearances around the country.

While this epic demonstrates that violence is not glorious or heroic, and sanitizing it for the folks back home is deceitful, it presents warfare as morally complex, not merely "wrong."

Inevitably, it prompts thoughts of Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman, whose combat experiences were clumsily distorted by the hero-hungry military and the media. Eastwood's skeptical film is respectful of the patriots who gave everything in the service of their country, but it pointedly leaves the flag-waving to others.

'Bench' asking the tough questions

Melissa Evans is a freshman majoring in special education at the University of North Florida. The Spinnaker approached her on the bench Oct. 23.

S: What brings you to the bench today?
M: Just studying outside because it's a nice day.

S: What is the last movie you saw?
M: Um, I just saw it the other day. It was the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre - The Beginning."

S: Do you think we should be allowed to go to class barefoot?
M: No.

S: Why not?
M: Because it's kind of gross walking around on the ground with no shoes.

S: What is your favorite thing to eat with peanut butter?
M: Probably a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

S: Do you have any piercings or tattoos?
M: No.

S: If you could have any super power what would it be?
M: Probably to be able to be in the place I need to be at the exact moment.

S: Have you gotten any parking tickets this year?
M: No.

S: If you could change the UNF mascot, what would it be?
M: I have no idea.

S: If you were me, what question would you ask?
M: What's the point of this survey?

S: What is the answer?
M: I don't know.

S: What is your favorite genre of music?
M: I listen to all different kinds.

S: What is your favorite class this semester?
M: Probably my sex, race and social class.

S: What is your favorite section of the Spinnaker?
M: I don't really read the Spinnaker. So, sorry.

S: If you're in it, will you read it.
M: Yeah, I will.

Time to get freaky on Halloween

It's the one time girls can throw away all rules regarding appropriate attire

It's almost Halloween - the only time of the year where it's OK to OD on candy corn and run around in just underwear. It's a nationally recognized holiday celebrated by the young and old - the only freebie to venture out in public half-naked.

Cary in "Mean Girls" says it best when she admits, "Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it."

For the most part this is true, because many girls who attend these parties leave most of their clothing at home - and no one does anything about it or seems to care.

What would our parents say if they knew their "babies" away at college, at their expense, were dressed like Fanta girls, rubbing up on guys on the dance floor and generally looking like they just emerged from a Victoria Secrets catalogue shoot?

They'd picture their little Betty, wearing her rabbit costume from high school, attending Halloween get-togethers in well-lit rooms filled with cookies and fruit punch.

In their minds, it would seem perfectly safe - minus the fact that on the ride home they'd be sharing the same roads with obliterated partiers.

Little do they know that little Betty is not a rabbit but a Playboy bunny and is surrounded by dirty devils, naughty nurses and bad cops as far as the eye can see.

In fact, at the Halloween party she is attending, they'd be hard-pressed to find someone dressed in more than just lingerie and plenty of makeup.

And they're drinking punch, all right, but it's punch mixed with watermelon vodka. And her and her friends dare not eat cookies; they might look too fat on the dance floor.

Parents would be unconscious on the ground if they ever caught sight. They'd blame themselves for letting their children out of the house, for allowing them to go away to college and for not teaching them how to be proper ladies. This is the exact reason they don't need to know. They just don't get it and they never will.

They don't understand that Halloween night is the one night where it's acceptable to let out all the dirty little kitty cats that have been hidden under those cashmere sweaters all year.

And unless one attends multiple Halloween parties, a girl only has four times in a lifetime to do it. After graduation it will be too late; it will be time to grow up and breakout those cardboard boxes or whatever old people wear.

But while parents hope their children will dress conservatively during these holidays, the industry does little to reinforce these hopes. Most costumes lining the walls of costume shops have related themes to being "dirty," "naughty," or "risque" and for the most part, shy away from the conservative look.

The costumes are made to fit slender teenagers and adults, so there's no surprise when young women show up to these parties as sexy devils.

Their little girls are still wearing those cashmere sweaters they got for Christmas to their classes and they're still studying in the library during the week. They're just using their free party card - a card they only get one night out of 365 - to be whatever they never could in real life and have a good time in the process.

This is what the holiday we lived for as kids has become. But who is it hurting? If college kids want to wear their underwear to a club one night a year, who cares? It's all in good fun.

The important thing to remember is not to take it too far. There are cops everywhere on this day, and chances are slim that you'll get to wear your cashmere sweater to class on Monday if you get caught drinking and driving. Just be safe and have fun. You're only young once.

A day in a Greek's life

Throught the Looking Glass

WELL DARLING, HAVE I MADE MY POINT?
A man in Williamsport, Pa., got so mad during an argument with his girlfriend that he stole a backhoe from a nearby demolition site, returned to the lady's home and used the heavy machinery to flip her car onto its roof. He was arrested.

IS THAT A CLASS D SUBSTANCE OR ARE YOU JUST GLAD TO SEE ME?
Police pulled over a driver for failing to signal a lane change on an Interstate in Georgia and wound up arresting him for marijuana possession because he decided to search the man after noticing a bulge in his crotch

HEY, LET ME HAVE ANOTHER LOOK AT THAT
A plastic surgeon in Germany enlarged the breasts of several women who bilked him out of payment by registering under fake names and taking off after the procedure was completed. So the doctor brought pictures of the women's new enormous breasts to the police station to be used as wanted posters in hopes that someone could identify the ladies in question.

SO HE WASN'T COMPLETELY DISHONEST
A thief stole a pair of pants from a department store in Sanya, China, but, when he got them home, found that they didn't fit. So he returned to the store and stole another pair. He did, however, return the trousers that didn't fit.

SURPRISED TO SEE ME? BUT WHY?
To get the day off from work, a man in Waterloo, Iowa, claimed his girlfriend's teenage son had died, and even submitted a phony obituary to the local newspaper. The scam fell apart when somebody saw the kid eating at a restaurant.

NO! WAIT! I'LL GIVE IT BACK! NO ... PLEASE! ...WHAP!
A man robbed a taxi driver in Martinsburg, W.Va., of $473 and fled the scene, but, unfortunately for him, encountered the reigning World Boxing Empire Middleweight champion of the world who was passing by and heard the cries of the cabbie. It wasn't pretty.

OK, WHERE IS SHE?! TURN HER OVER NOW!
A 17-year-old female elephant wandered out of the forest near Banta, India, fell into an irrigation ditch and drowned. Villagers promptly buried the dead pachyderm, a big mistake as it turns out. Agitated members of the female's herd have come looking for her, and have been raiding the village ever since in a futile attempt to find her.

MEDICATION? SURE, IF YOU CONSIDER WEED TO BE MEDICATION
Police in Rogersville, Tenn., were flagged down by a confused and disoriented man who asked them for a ride to "a house on the hill." Noting his condition, they asked him if he was on medication. He said he wasn't, but mentioned that he had been smoking marijuana. He was arrested for public intoxication.

HEY MAN, I THOUGHT WE HAD A DEAL
After a man's car was stolen in San Diego, he called his cell phone, which he had left in the vehicle, and spoke to one of the thieves, who agreed to meet him and sell the car back to him. But the guy sent the police to the meeting instead.

Zan on the Street

Welcome to the end of October. Everyone knows that the big event this week is the battle between Florida and Georgia. The two teams meet for another year at Alltel Stadium on Saturday. In the meantime, fans from both sides will be invading the Landing on the river and downtown to contribute to what has become the "largest outdoor cocktail party." If you haven't been down there yet, get ready for what is basically mayhem. Best to be careful and take a cab down there because driving just becomes a headache. In the past, there has been live music nightly and plenty of beverages flowing, and I expect the same for this year.

This week also marks the annual spooktacular event of Halloween where all forms of slutty witches and scandalous pirates wander the scene, which is always a good time. Unfortunately, we here at the Spinnaker will be working hard that night to print this high quality piece of media that keeps you up to date, so no spooking for us. OK, now on to the scene.

As for music, Freebird has a few shows this week. Thursday night, Little River Band plays, and tickets for that show are $25.

Saturday night at Freebird, Sublime cover band Badfish plays. Tickets for the show are $12 before the show day and $15 the day of the show.

On Halloween, Yankee Slickers hit up Freebird. Get in for $5, get a free beer (for those of you of age), and wear a costume for a chance at a prize in the best costume contest.

Also at the beach, roots reggae boys Scholars Word play at Ocean Club Friday night. The show is at 10 p.m. These guys are definitely a solid act and play all original music so if you are in the mood to skank the night away, check them out.

Catch the Doobie Brothers Wednesday, Oct. 25 downtown at the Florida Theatre. Tickets range from $42 - $59, and the show starts at 8 p.m. Also at the Florida Theatre, Subway spokesman and funnyman Jon Lovitz appears on Thursday night. Tickets range from $25 - $35, and the show starts at 8 p.m.

I must say, this has absolutely been one of the slowest and most slack fall semesters I have witnessed in five years here. Maybe December will be a better month

Meanwhile, in another part of town...

Guys and gals, winter is approaching and the holidays are sneaking up quickly. How about saving yourself some money, cleaning out your closet and getting new clothes in one trip? Visit Plato's Closet, a consignment shop where you can buy or sell clothes and receive cash right then and there.

If you want to buy clothes, just like any consignment shop, it has an assortment of clothing from many designer labels and some lesser-known brands of clothes.

Brands include Ralph Lauren, Polo, American Eagle, Abercrombie & Fitch, Express, Banana Republic, Gap and many more all styled for teens and young adults. Prices for clothes depend on how up-to-date the clothing article is, the brand and sometimes how much of your body the piece covers. For example, a pair of jeans will most likely be more expensive than a tank top.

If you want to sell clothes, simply bring in your clothes in a bag. First, make sure they're washed and folded before you put them in the bag. Once you have arrived, go to the counter where an associate will help you. The associate will look over your clothes and decide what articles will sell best.

Like most consignment shops, Plato's Closet will try to buy what's trendy. Associates know shoppers are there to buy clothing that is in style at the time. So, if you think your clothes are too good to donate, take them down to Plato's closet. The best thing about Plato's is that it will give you cash on the spot for your clothes.

Plato's Closet is not just limited to clothes. It also sells shoes, purses, accessories and body sprays.

And guys, Plato's isn't just for girls. The store buys and sells mens' clothing and shoes and also has men's designer clothing available. If you need extra money quick and have clothes you don't wear, take them to Plato's.

Plato's also lets you try on clothes before you buy them. If the original tags are not on the article, then the piece will probably not shrink or bleed in the washer or dryer.

Plato's Closet just opened up a second store in Orange Park off Blanding Blvd. That store is currently buying clothes. However, it isn't selling items just yet because it is trying to get inventory. So if you're thinking about selling, take your items to the Orange Park store. If you want to shop, check out their Atlantic Boulevard store.

Plato's Closet locations are 9400 Atlantic Boulevard, 854-0123 and Blanding Blvd in the Westland Park Plaza, 777-6989.

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Monster Mash: How to throw the perfect Halloween party