Trick or Treat: Halloween comes knocking

Over the years, Halloween changes more than any other holiday. Gone are the ballet skirts and diamond tiaras. No more Bill Clinton plastic masks, no more white sheets. These days, there's nobody to stop you from eating up all the sweet treats you bring home from a night out.

It's no longer acceptable to be a sweet, beautiful angel. Costumes are suddenly a challenge, an art--and for some, a sex show. The clever and witty costumes--the girl who dresses all in pink, glues a sneaker to her head, and announces herself as "gum stuck to a shoe"--always turn heads, though we caution that Osama Bin Laden is now fully out of vogue. Sex sells too. Pimps (or P.I.M.P.s if you will), no doubt, will make major waves on the Halloween scene this year--50 Cent and Snoop Dogg will have their moment in the full moon. And you can be sure the night will be full of nasty ladies: "dirty angels," "bad cheerleaders," "wild cowgirls." It's college; it's Halloween; and it's Friday night.

Of course, no matter what your costume, it doesn't mean a thing if you don't have a good place to wear it. As sweet as it would be to walk the Durham streets knocking on doors asking for Mars bars, your safer option may be choosing one of these many opportunities:

1. Franklin Street

Franklin Street is great if you're a big fan of Mardi Gras, tight spaces and not knowing if the sweat on your arm is yours or property of the disgusting good ol' boy winking at you while he fondles your silky angel wings. You will see an amazing number of costumes and perhaps wander into a few fraternity parties where you might be one of the lucky few to witness a life-size Sponge Bob Squarepants urinating himself while others cheer with gusto. It's a known fact that Franklin Street is a must-see during your stay in the Durham area; for most of us, once is enough.

3. Shooter's

Shooters is the spot where four sororities have chosen to band together and offer Halloween, served Duke style. Yes, it is the same people at the same bar that you see every weekend. However, the variety of costumes and the unnecessary excuse of a holiday to get extra-specially intoxicated normally produces an exciting night filled with Odysseus-quality epics of adventure and promiscuity. What other night could you make out with a French maid, a nurse and Pippi Longstocking on the same dance floor. Besides, if getting creeped out is your goal on Halloween, this is just the venue.

4. Dinner at Elaine's

Who needs candy when you have a to-die-for three-course meal served up at one of Chapel Hill's finest eateries. This Halloween, Chapel Hill is leaving West Franklin Street open, and Elaine's on Franklin (454 W. Franklin St.) is offering a choice of three "spooky courses" on their special $30 prix fixe menu. Served up by Chef/Proprietor Bret Jennings: smashed pumpkin soup with goat's milk yoghurt, mint, toasted pumpkin seeds and pumpkin seed oil; pan-fried veal brains with black trumpet-sweet potato hash, bitter greens and a scuppernong ghastrique; spicy grilled voodoo pork tenderloin in a graveyard with tumbleweeds and an evil-rum jus; blood sorbet with eyeballs, candied apples and citrus muscles for dessert; and many others. Oh, and not to worry--costumes are encouraged.

5. Throw your own party!

Why rely on the tired antics of others when there's so much potential in the comfort of your own home/apartment/dorm? Halloween on a Friday night doesn't come around too often, so you have every excuse to go all out--pumpkin pies, scary ghost stories, jack-o-lanterns, apple-bobbing, shamelessly tacky decorations. You can force your guests to wear costumes, then chide them for their lack of effort when they arrive in jeans and a basebal hat and claim to be "a frat boy." Or, if you're like us, just say f-ck it and whip up a batch of Recess' own Halloween punch: 3 parts Fanta, 1 part Vodka, 1 part Peach Schnaaps. Now that makes for a Happy Halloween.