Episode 37 : Haunted Conversations: Halloween Traditions & Horror with Rodney Barnes

[00:00:09] Talk To Me Michele.

[00:00:27] Welcome back to another episode of Talk To Me Michele.

[00:00:30] I am your host, Michele, and I know everybody is doing well. You know why?

[00:00:34] Because today is Halloween, my favorite holiday.

[00:00:39] And Halloween resonates with me because I love everything about the fall.

[00:00:44] The autumn season just does it for me.

[00:00:46] The cool weather, the crisp air, the leaves crunching under your feet, you know when you went trick-or-treating as a kid.

[00:00:53] It's a holiday where you can become anyone you want.

[00:00:57] And for me, nine times out of ten, that someone was a witch.

[00:01:07] And if you know me, you understand why I connect with that.

[00:01:11] Today's episode is a very special treat because when this was recorded, it was on my birthday, which is October 3rd.

[00:01:18] And I decided to treat myself on my birthday, booking none other than the wonderful, fine-ass Rodney Barnes.

[00:01:29] You know, he's a creative genius.

[00:01:32] He's behind projects like My Wife and Kids, Everybody Hates Chris, and one of my all-time favorites is the Boondocks.

[00:01:39] Rodney isn't just a TV icon.

[00:01:41] He's major in the comic book game.

[00:01:43] He's a big horror buff.

[00:01:45] And he is also the voice behind the podcast, RunFool.

[00:01:49] A must-follow podcast that I highly recommend for all my fellow horror fans.

[00:01:54] His narration, his voice, just hits different.

[00:01:59] And yes, he is quite fine.

[00:02:02] All right?

[00:02:03] Which you may have picked up on if you caught the last couple episodes we had together.

[00:02:07] There is a little flirting that we do partake in.

[00:02:11] Now, I'm a Libra.

[00:02:12] After all, we can't help it.

[00:02:14] You know, so that's my excuse.

[00:02:16] My Libra energy just blossoms every time I have him on as a guest.

[00:02:19] But Rodney and I are going to dive into a great conversation about Halloween traditions, favorite spooky films, and more.

[00:02:27] Let's get into the spirit and get spooky.

[00:02:32] Hey!

[00:02:34] Hey, how are you?

[00:02:35] Is it your birthday today?

[00:02:37] Today.

[00:02:38] Happy birthday.

[00:02:39] Thank you so much.

[00:02:40] Oh, I got to record that.

[00:02:42] Yeah, I would start singing, but people would leave.

[00:02:45] It wouldn't be good.

[00:02:47] You could just announce it one more time and I'll be good.

[00:02:50] Happy birthday, Michelle.

[00:02:51] Whew!

[00:02:52] Okay, I'm good now.

[00:02:53] So thank you very much.

[00:02:55] You're very welcome.

[00:02:56] I did it in the run full voice.

[00:02:58] Yeah, yeah.

[00:02:59] You know what?

[00:03:00] That is, that is major.

[00:03:02] Because I was thinking when I listened to the part two episode you left us hanging on the cliffhanger for last time.

[00:03:07] I said, man, if he would say happy birthday to me, that'd be my day.

[00:03:11] Yes, Libia's part two.

[00:03:13] Yes.

[00:03:14] And I enjoyed the follow up of that episode.

[00:03:17] It was very intriguing.

[00:03:18] It definitely put me in the twilight zone.

[00:03:21] Okay.

[00:03:21] All right.

[00:03:22] I was very fond of that episode.

[00:03:24] Some of the second part, sometimes you worry when you do a two parter, will the second part live up to the first part?

[00:03:31] You know, because the first part is the setup and then come back, you got to deliver.

[00:03:35] So I think it did.

[00:03:36] I don't think you've ever done a two parter that has not had a great follow up.

[00:03:42] I appreciate that.

[00:03:44] Yeah.

[00:03:44] Writers are fantastic for us.

[00:03:46] So very, very fortunate.

[00:03:47] Yeah.

[00:03:48] And matter of fact, this is my girl Jules, who's also a major fan of yours.

[00:03:51] Hey Jules.

[00:03:52] Morning Jules.

[00:03:53] Yeah.

[00:03:54] We just, we discussed it when you have a two parter, like, man, did you see how he left us?

[00:03:59] So we do have conversations, but they're good follow up.

[00:04:02] So you're not doing bad at all.

[00:04:04] Thank you.

[00:04:05] Thank you very much.

[00:04:06] But you know, we're here to talk about my favorite holiday, which is Halloween.

[00:04:11] Yep.

[00:04:11] It's one of my favorites too.

[00:04:13] I would say it's my favorite.

[00:04:14] But this period of time is different on the West Coast because it doesn't actually get cold.

[00:04:20] But back on the East Coast, I would love that whole Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, like that whole period.

[00:04:26] And that was always kind of my favorite.

[00:04:30] Hey, you know, that's what I do miss.

[00:04:31] Cause I'm living in Texas where it's like summer 99 point time of the year.

[00:04:36] And I miss the East Coast, whether the fall, the leaves, the change of colors, the nice little spooky ambiance that the East Coast can give you.

[00:04:45] So I'm gonna have to go back just for that time of year.

[00:04:49] But with Halloween being both one of our favorites, I definitely want to discuss some of the traditions that you like to do on Halloween.

[00:04:55] Or if you even have time, maybe back in the day stuff that you used to do for Halloween when you were a kid, that was just had you excited.

[00:05:04] It's not, it hasn't really changed too much.

[00:05:07] I mean, I think, yeah, work gets in the way.

[00:05:09] So you can't have, can't have too much fun.

[00:05:14] But usually movies, you know, living in LA, we have a lot of vintage theaters out here that show older movies just like they're new.

[00:05:23] Right.

[00:05:24] So the Exorcist, all the stuff from the seventies and eighties I talk about on Instagram, I go to see, you know, they usually have like Halloween.

[00:05:33] I have a Halloween series or something like that, where the movies is typically my thing.

[00:05:38] I don't do too many.

[00:05:40] Like we have Halloween horror nights here and those types of things.

[00:05:44] And, you know, if I get invited to something, you know, from because of the show or something, I will go.

[00:05:50] But more often than not, you know, kids dressed up chasing me around.

[00:05:54] I think I've passed, I think I've passed that age of climbing, running through the haunted house in the woods.

[00:06:01] I'll watch other people do it and have a wonderful time.

[00:06:04] But for the most part, it's about movies, TV shows, maybe a good book.

[00:06:09] If Stephen King seemingly has a new book every four months, three months, I will revisit something, an audio book that I'll listen to in my car.

[00:06:18] Yeah.

[00:06:20] Those things.

[00:06:20] Yeah.

[00:06:21] And my favorite, when I was younger, I lived in Teaneck, New Jersey for a number of years.

[00:06:26] Osley brothers.

[00:06:26] Yes.

[00:06:27] Osley brothers, all type of history there.

[00:06:29] Yeah.

[00:06:30] But they had a theater on Cedar Lane.

[00:06:32] I've got the name of the theater, but it was a weekend event, the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

[00:06:39] You know, that used to take place in New York, but Jersey had their own style of doing it.

[00:06:44] So that was one of my favorite traditions, getting dressed up as your favorite character.

[00:06:48] We've seen this movie a hundred times.

[00:06:50] It's not really scary.

[00:06:52] It's a musical, but it's got the Halloween ambiance to it.

[00:06:55] So that was one of my favorites to do.

[00:06:57] So now you're grown and got things to do.

[00:07:00] We can't really get to those traditions as often as you use them.

[00:07:03] No, it's not the same.

[00:07:04] It's like all of these holidays are really built for younger people, except Thanksgiving.

[00:07:08] Thanksgiving, you can eat and go to sleep.

[00:07:10] So and watch a football game.

[00:07:12] But the other ones are a lot more.

[00:07:14] Thanksgiving is a sedentary holiday.

[00:07:16] The rest of them, you got to move.

[00:07:18] See, that's why we had to switch up our things again.

[00:07:20] We can't do the heavy food.

[00:07:21] It's got to be all seafood.

[00:07:22] So we do all.

[00:07:23] Yeah.

[00:07:24] So that way we can sleep.

[00:07:26] There you go.

[00:07:26] Because I would like to be awake for the rest of the day and watch some of the game.

[00:07:30] But you mentioned in a previous reel, you put up some of your favorite top Halloween

[00:07:36] movie recommendations.

[00:07:37] And when you let it was a monster squad.

[00:07:41] Yes.

[00:07:42] And I said, dude, monster squad was like, if you were back 80s kid, you understand the

[00:07:48] impact of monster squad because it was scary.

[00:07:51] But then it wasn't scary.

[00:07:52] It was fun.

[00:07:53] Yeah, it was a fun scary and it had a good suspense.

[00:07:56] Why do you think that movie resonates so hard with you?

[00:08:01] Well, I think it is sentiment.

[00:08:03] You know, a lot of what I talk about, certainly in the Instagram stuff and even the run full

[00:08:07] series.

[00:08:09] They're very sentimental stories.

[00:08:11] You know, it's the past.

[00:08:12] It's how these things made me feel when I was younger.

[00:08:16] And we tend to remember good feelings.

[00:08:19] So any of these movies that sort of stoked those fires, if you think about monster squad,

[00:08:26] they were kids.

[00:08:27] You know, it was the classic universal monsters for the most part.

[00:08:31] You know, creature of the black lagoon, wolf man, Dracula, Frankenstein, the mummy.

[00:08:36] You know, there weren't it wasn't so much like the horror recent modern day horror where

[00:08:41] it's sort of mean spirited.

[00:08:45] And it played into the stuff that made me remember Fangoria magazine or the models I

[00:08:52] used to put together as a kid and all of that stuff.

[00:08:55] You know, anything that takes me back to childhood in a good way tends to resonate, you know, especially

[00:09:02] if it's well done.

[00:09:02] I thought the movie was really well done.

[00:09:04] No, it was well done.

[00:09:06] And I can still watch one of the other classes that you mentioned, which is John Carpenter's

[00:09:10] Halloween.

[00:09:11] And nothing hits like the original, even though they had remakes, they've had sequels.

[00:09:16] It's always the original film.

[00:09:18] I go back to Michael Myers still holds a big impact in today's horror culture.

[00:09:23] Why do you think he's such a outstanding character that people still want to represent?

[00:09:29] I think characters like Jason, Freddy, Michael Myers, you know, the predator, alien, those movies

[00:09:40] sort of change the way we looked at horror.

[00:09:42] You know, whether some people call Halloween a slasher film.

[00:09:48] But they were the first of their kind, or at least done in such a way that they left an

[00:09:54] impression.

[00:09:55] They left a mark.

[00:09:55] It's hard to find something.

[00:09:59] It's hard to make something new.

[00:10:02] Because it seems like everything under the sun has been done.

[00:10:05] But those movies when they were done, sort of set a precedent for what the future was

[00:10:09] going to be.

[00:10:10] So Michael Myers being the relentless slasher that had to be connected to some supernatural

[00:10:16] something because he got shot.

[00:10:17] He fell out a window.

[00:10:18] He did all types of things that a regular human being wouldn't be able to do.

[00:10:23] So that extra element took it out of the slasher like Psycho, you know, the films that up to

[00:10:31] that point had a knife involved where somebody was after someone.

[00:10:35] Yeah.

[00:10:35] This sort of added that element of movement and the suburbs and just different themes that

[00:10:43] were under the film.

[00:10:44] And to me, that just made it so evergreen as hard to get it out of your head.

[00:10:49] And then you see other people mimic things, aspects or elements of it that remind you of

[00:10:54] the thing.

[00:10:54] So you can't get it out of your head anyway.

[00:10:56] Right.

[00:10:57] Because they go, oh, they did that in Halloween.

[00:10:59] And then that makes me think of Halloween.

[00:11:01] Yeah.

[00:11:02] So it's hard to duplicate or top the thing that started the whole movement.

[00:11:08] It is.

[00:11:09] And I see so many films that are trying to help take that element and twist it.

[00:11:14] But regards on how they twist it, you know where the religion originally comes from.

[00:11:17] Well, I like the newer some of the newer horror films like Trick or Treat is my yearly

[00:11:23] must watch every Halloween.

[00:11:25] I'm not sure if you've watched Trick or Treat.

[00:11:27] I have not yet.

[00:11:28] I have not yet.

[00:11:29] Oh, you have got to watch Trick or Treat.

[00:11:31] It has.

[00:11:32] I haven't seen that.

[00:11:32] I haven't seen Smile.

[00:11:33] I can go down the list of all the ones.

[00:11:35] I watch more older ones and it's hard even when I do my videos.

[00:11:39] It's hard to talk about the new stuff because all I see is the old stuff.

[00:11:43] But I'm sorry.

[00:11:43] Continue.

[00:11:44] No, no, no.

[00:11:44] You're good.

[00:11:45] But I understand because, you know, when you come from a genre where horror was just

[00:11:49] so original and now we coming into almost like a bootleg type of culture, I hate to say

[00:12:19] this last night.

[00:12:20] And every time I watch that movie and movies like it that were crafted so well, I always

[00:12:25] see something new.

[00:12:27] I always see something.

[00:12:27] And I've seen that movie hundreds of times.

[00:12:30] But as I get older, you understand what they were trying to say a little bit more.

[00:12:36] You know, when I was a kid and I first saw it, all I remember was Reagan, you know, little

[00:12:40] girl jumping up and down on the bed, throwing up.

[00:12:42] Yes.

[00:12:42] And then as I got older and became a parent and, you know, it's, you just see it completely

[00:12:48] different.

[00:12:49] You see the themes differently.

[00:12:51] So, you know, I tend to still go backwards more so than go forwards.

[00:12:55] And I understand because when there's something I've checked out new, I usually go back to the

[00:12:59] old school, but I will highly recommend Trick or Treat.

[00:13:01] That is something that-

[00:13:03] I will see, but because you recommended it.

[00:13:05] It's on you now.

[00:13:06] The pressure is on you because if I don't let-

[00:13:09] Sir.

[00:13:09] You know.

[00:13:10] I have no pressure.

[00:13:12] Okay.

[00:13:12] All right.

[00:13:13] I know that Houston, I know y'all tough in Houston.

[00:13:16] So I'm not going, you know.

[00:13:18] No, I have no pressure.

[00:13:19] When I put a movie recommendation out, that's how much a movie buff I am.

[00:13:23] Okay.

[00:13:23] I could have been a movie critic professionally, but watch Trick or Treat and you will be, Michelle,

[00:13:30] you were right.

[00:13:31] That's a good modern day film.

[00:13:33] I saw Salem's Lot, the new one.

[00:13:35] It was funny because I put a post up and everybody was saying, oh, you recommended it.

[00:13:41] So I'm going, I'm like, oh, I never said I recommended it.

[00:13:44] I'm just sharing.

[00:13:45] What I said was, it was fun.

[00:13:48] Right.

[00:13:48] Because you're going to go there expecting something that I didn't say was in there.

[00:13:51] I'm just saying that I had a positive experience.

[00:13:54] And part of that positive experience was being able to disconnect from the thing that I loved.

[00:13:59] I disconnected from the book.

[00:14:01] I disconnected from the 1978 miniseries slash TV movie because they, it was two versions

[00:14:07] of it that came out.

[00:14:09] Right.

[00:14:10] 2009 when I wasn't as much of a fan of, but yeah.

[00:14:14] I enjoyed myself based on, it reminded me of the greatest hits of Salem's Lot.

[00:14:19] It wasn't like an Academy Award one film in my opinion, but I thought it was well crafted

[00:14:24] and well done for what today's movie going audience and pacing, you know, is into this

[00:14:30] movement and sound.

[00:14:32] It's, they did some creative things.

[00:14:33] Um, cinematically, I thought, you know, it was really well crafted for today's type of

[00:14:39] movie.

[00:14:39] But if you go thinking that you're going to go back to the other thing, that's not what

[00:14:42] it is.

[00:14:43] And a lot of people think that's what it should.

[00:14:46] It's like going to see the new Exorcist movie.

[00:14:48] Do I expect the Exorcist movie of back in the day?

[00:14:51] No, they don't make movies like that anymore.

[00:14:53] Not that they can't, but very rarely do you have a slow burn.

[00:14:56] I was watching it last night when I was watching it.

[00:14:59] You know, I was thinking to myself, it took 45 minutes from the beginning of the movie.

[00:15:03] And I was thinking to her peeing on the floor and saying, you know, that like in between

[00:15:09] today's audience, many might say nothing happened, but a whole lot of character stuff happened.

[00:15:15] Yeah.

[00:15:16] And then once that happened, you know, and she started the transformation, everything

[00:15:20] picked up from there to the end.

[00:15:22] But in today's world within the first five minutes, something has to happen.

[00:15:26] It's got to be loud.

[00:15:27] Somebody's got to jump out.

[00:15:28] You know, something's got to in quotes happen.

[00:15:31] That jump scare.

[00:15:32] I can't, you know, cause my, my son's a big five nights at Freddy's fan.

[00:15:35] And I was like, how do you, and I try, I watched the movie with him and I was like, dude,

[00:15:39] this is, this is motherhood in full effect.

[00:15:42] And I did not realize sting and I had the same birthday.

[00:15:46] So I'm a, and I am a police and sting fan.

[00:15:50] And you got a project coming up with him.

[00:15:53] I do.

[00:15:55] I want to hear about this.

[00:15:56] If you can talk about it.

[00:15:58] It's a novel and a graphic novel based on something, one of his works.

[00:16:03] That's the most that I can say something that he's written.

[00:16:06] One of his works as being turned into a novel feature length, full length novel, and a graphic novel.

[00:16:18] And who knows what it'll become, if it'll become something after that.

[00:16:21] But yeah, certainly because I have, I can track my life to where I sat at sting song, sing concerts as to where I was in life.

[00:16:29] And I remember in the early eighties, in the capital center and DC or land Landover or yeah, Landover, right outside of Laurel that I sat damn near on the roof of the capital center to see the police.

[00:16:44] And then as life has gone on, I've gone closer and closer down to the stage.

[00:16:48] So I've seen sting over 367 times, I think over the course of my life.

[00:16:58] If you ever were in my home, you would see lots of pictures of me and sting in different poses and things all properly family oriented poses, of course, but just posing because I love me some sting.

[00:17:10] No, I used to listen. I think I wore my police album, Ghost in the Machine.

[00:17:16] That was like that. I wore the, that's when I had the cassette tapes and I promise you that that one popped on me and I was devastated.

[00:17:22] But let's get back to our horror, our horror conversation. I want to tap on that.

[00:17:27] But you are recommending some other movies, but what about urban legends?

[00:17:31] Cause you know, when I think about urban legends, I think of things such as we had Candyman for an example and Cabrini Green.

[00:17:40] We have so many different things like boo hags.

[00:17:44] That's one of the things that you brought to your podcast and was one of my favorite episodes because I've heard so many different stories of boo hags.

[00:17:52] Why do you think that particular myth registers with people?

[00:17:58] Um, I mean, I think that one, that was the one way they sit on your chest and take your breath, right?

[00:18:05] Yes.

[00:18:06] I mean, we've all had sleep paralysis, you know, many people have had sleep paralysis.

[00:18:10] And so you're relating on that level to what street sleep paralysis is.

[00:18:16] So that's where you're starting.

[00:18:17] You know, I think anything that you can relate to your life or have some semblance of empathy for connection to emotionally, it's easier to scare you.

[00:18:26] There's an entry point.

[00:18:27] There's something that's there.

[00:18:28] And then if you can add myth and legend and all of that stuff to it, it becomes more relatable in something that, um, even if you think about Freddy Krueger, the fact that he gets into your dreams.

[00:18:40] We got a dream, you know, in the first movie, when they try to do a sleep study and all of that, you know, what's wrong with her?

[00:18:46] And then at a certain point, all the kids try to stay awake, you know, just that idea of a primal way of fighting and a primal way of approaching a nefarious entity.

[00:18:59] It's a universal thing that I think you don't have to be of any specific group or idea to be able to have an entry point to it.

[00:19:08] So that would be my thing.

[00:19:10] You know, it's we all have the, you know, any of the ills that come to a lot of inner city communities, drive-bys and murders and all of that type of thing.

[00:19:21] You know, they don't necessarily make the best horror stories because they feel there's not that extra part to it.

[00:19:27] You know, there's just the anger and the action and the homicide.

[00:19:31] But when you add some story to it, you know, Candyman coming back from slavery and, you know, having some myth and being connected to the land and all of these things.

[00:19:42] And he was after her and it becomes a story now.

[00:19:45] It becomes something that's layered.

[00:19:47] It becomes something that is a little bit more intriguing and interesting.

[00:19:51] So that would be my theory.

[00:19:53] And I like the fact that you said when movies are layered, I prefer movies that are layered.

[00:19:58] It's not just in your face.

[00:20:00] It is more of a concept and there's a storyline behind it.

[00:20:04] And actually, it may make you, it intrigues you to go to Google to see if there's any reality to it.

[00:20:09] Yes.

[00:20:09] Storyline is that good.

[00:20:11] Because you do have different Candyman myths out there.

[00:20:15] I believe Houston has one.

[00:20:17] Matter of fact, of a man who had a candy factory and children started coming up missing.

[00:20:23] So I always think that there are little bits and points of reality when we have these horror stories.

[00:20:29] But when it comes to the horror traditions of Halloween, you've heard the myths about black cats, witches, pumpkins.

[00:20:38] I mean, do you have any walkaway theories from that?

[00:20:42] Or have you heard of any of these myths when it comes to those items?

[00:20:46] No, I mean, I've been around these things for a while.

[00:20:49] And I'm old enough at this point where I got a lot more to be scared of than those things.

[00:20:55] So I don't give them a whole lot of, yeah, I'll put a whole lot of stock in those things.

[00:21:01] I think the things that scare me are more man-made, not so much supernaturally made.

[00:21:08] Right.

[00:21:09] That's today.

[00:21:10] But tomorrow you might get a different answer.

[00:21:12] You know, some could go boo in the middle of the night and I get, hey, we got to do another podcast so I can tell you about how I'm scared now.

[00:21:19] Well, we don't want you to get too scared because that means you may not want to do the genre any longer.

[00:21:24] So we don't have too many myths because you see black cats.

[00:21:27] And I've actually seen people in reality freak out if a black cat walks in front of them.

[00:21:32] Right.

[00:21:33] And I'm like, is this myth or is there a history behind it or is this just something affiliated with what you've heard?

[00:21:40] So there's some people that hear myths, don't research it and just take it to heart when they experience anything.

[00:21:47] But from what I hear, pumpkins are supposed to ward off even.

[00:21:54] Okay.

[00:21:55] Yeah.

[00:21:55] You'll find that to be the one.

[00:21:57] I try pumpkin pie to see if that worked the same.

[00:22:00] But yeah.

[00:22:01] Well, I don't know about the pumpkin pie, but I do know that the movie I recommended, Trick or Treat, that plays a very valid role in the movie.

[00:22:10] Like garlic to vampires.

[00:22:12] There you go.

[00:22:13] There you go.

[00:22:14] So we got all type of mystical characters, traditions that we do.

[00:22:20] But why do you think that some people frown on Halloween, the festivities?

[00:22:25] I mean, because there's different ways.

[00:22:26] I think Christianity.

[00:22:28] I think Christianity.

[00:22:29] I think if you were to look at it, look at it head on, you know, the idea.

[00:22:39] And it's how you define Halloween.

[00:22:41] You know, some people go to us worshiping the devil or it's mixing other pagan religions into Christianity or bringing them into your life.

[00:22:52] It's like, you know, I understand that if you go to fundamentalist Christianity or certain other things, why people would be apprehensive or, you know, that type of thing.

[00:23:04] I don't think I look at it that literal.

[00:23:06] I don't think I ever had.

[00:23:07] Right.

[00:23:08] I remember Michael Jackson.

[00:23:09] There was a point when he was doing Thriller that he was saying how his parents were against it because being Jehovah's Witness or something that I read like that in an interview.

[00:23:19] And I remember growing up in the same thing, you know, with my family.

[00:23:23] My grandmother's like, boy, everything got to be about the devil.

[00:23:25] And I was like, it's a ghost story.

[00:23:27] It's this.

[00:23:28] It's whatever.

[00:23:28] And so, you know, she accepted it after a while because I wasn't stopping.

[00:23:33] If this is the worst that I'm going to do is read scary stories and make models of monsters, it's a lot worse things I could be doing.

[00:23:41] But I think it's mostly that.

[00:23:44] I think it's mostly Christianity.

[00:23:45] I think there's also a sense of unknown, a sense of dread.

[00:23:51] When you get into the more darker elements of it, like anything, it's it can be depressing.

[00:23:56] It can be sad.

[00:23:58] It can be negative.

[00:23:59] I think being able to see the fun in it and I stay in the middle, you know, even things for me, things that are incredibly mean spirited or gory or, you know, guts for the just for the sake of it.

[00:24:11] It's no real story.

[00:24:12] It is just like how disgusting can we be?

[00:24:14] I've never really been attracted to that type of thing anyway.

[00:24:17] I think zombies, Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, those movies grabbed me because they were Night of the Living Dead because you were talking about race and you were talking about it was like the changing of cultures.

[00:24:32] You're coming out of the 60s where Vietnam and civil rights movement, so many things are happening that this movie seemed to have its finger on the pulse of that.

[00:24:41] But Dawn of the Dead did the same thing in the mall with commercialism that, you know, we're running away.

[00:24:46] This idea of things can make you happier and safe, you know, but the world is going to hell.

[00:24:53] You have to you can't ignore the world and you can't ignore certain things in the name of commercialism.

[00:24:59] So even though you had the gory stuff and you had that all in there, you had a story as well.

[00:25:04] And I think sometimes short of that, you just got a spectacle.

[00:25:09] I've never been big on that.

[00:25:11] Yeah.

[00:25:12] Yeah.

[00:25:12] And I definitely feel you.

[00:25:14] But I do have one additional question from Mr. Tuggle.

[00:25:17] Let's see.

[00:25:18] Would it be considered?

[00:25:19] Let's see.

[00:25:20] I got to get my glasses again.

[00:25:21] Yeah, I was thinking Day of the Dead.

[00:25:22] I just couldn't remember it at the time.

[00:25:24] I knew it was something else.

[00:25:25] I'm getting old now.

[00:25:27] Would I see it as the same?

[00:25:30] I don't know if it's the same because it's something that goes into people seem to embrace

[00:25:36] tradition differently.

[00:25:38] I don't know if the African-American community en masse has ever celebrated Halloween in the

[00:25:45] traditional sense in the same way that in the Latin community, you have the Day of the

[00:25:49] Dead.

[00:25:49] Yes.

[00:25:50] I don't know if we have that.

[00:25:52] I know that a lot of us do celebrate Halloween as far as dressing up, trick or treat, go to

[00:25:57] parties, that type of thing.

[00:25:58] But as far as having a Day of the Dead dynamic to it, I don't recall ever having that.

[00:26:05] Right.

[00:26:06] I mean, because they do have that Day of the Dead along with some other traditions that

[00:26:09] go along in different parts of the country.

[00:26:11] But I know, like you say, I agree with you wholeheartedly that some Christian views sometimes

[00:26:17] are not as accepting, knowing it's just a theme or that there's an actual passion for horror.

[00:26:24] It's nothing evil.

[00:26:25] No.

[00:26:27] No.

[00:26:27] And even Caribbean cultures that have their forms of Christianity that's mixed with more

[00:26:35] African-themed voodoo and different things, like in Haiti and different stuff.

[00:26:42] I think sometimes that mixes over into pushing away Halloween.

[00:26:49] I think about movies like The Serpent and the Rainbow and just voodoo in general and how,

[00:26:55] you know, we turn our backs on a lot of that stuff, too, for the same reasons.

[00:27:00] That's true.

[00:27:00] Because a lot of people, when you even bring up the topic of voodoo, the first thing that

[00:27:05] comes to mind to most people that don't know it is, oh, it's bad.

[00:27:09] And I'm like, well, won't you do your research because you'll be very interested to find that

[00:27:14] that's not bad.

[00:27:15] Okay.

[00:27:16] Yeah.

[00:27:16] Okay.

[00:27:17] So I'm just glad that, you know, we're waking up.

[00:27:19] I try to be respectful to the various religions and traditions that everybody has.

[00:27:24] We all come to where we're going to go to in our own way.

[00:27:27] And I don't have the right to judge anybody based upon that.

[00:27:31] Look, as long as I have my peace, that's all I need.

[00:27:34] Okay.

[00:27:34] That's I just need peace.

[00:27:36] And, you know, we all have different opinions.

[00:27:37] So let's just agree to disagree on those notes.

[00:27:40] But other than that, do you have any final finale words about Runful?

[00:27:47] Because I know you're about to bring this season to a close.

[00:27:51] Yeah, I think either it's Halloween week or Halloween night, we have a special hour long

[00:27:57] Runful that is told in real time.

[00:28:02] I've already recorded it.

[00:28:04] If you can think about Orson Welles' War of the Worlds, well, you don't know whether

[00:28:07] or not it's real.

[00:28:08] It's really happening.

[00:28:09] You know, was there an alien invasion in that instance?

[00:28:12] We have an apocalyptic story that's told, like I said, in real time.

[00:28:17] I'm in the studio.

[00:28:18] Something could be happening that could have world implications connected to it.

[00:28:23] And it's the most ambitious Runful yet.

[00:28:27] Mostly we cut these things in half when we're doing it, but you get the whole thing at one

[00:28:32] time.

[00:28:33] And I think it's one of my best performances.

[00:28:36] You know, the scripts are always good.

[00:28:38] If they come, anything that comes up short on Runful, you can put it on me.

[00:28:42] Everybody on our team is fantastic.

[00:28:44] And I'm just trying to do my best to make, do my part to hang with them because they're

[00:28:50] the stars.

[00:28:50] Well, I appreciate the collaboration because it's a great production.

[00:28:54] I've been telling everybody, if you've not subscribed to this podcast, you are so missing

[00:28:59] out on such good stories, myths that we've all heard of, self-sabotage, monsters.

[00:29:05] It's all in this podcast series.

[00:29:08] So I've been looking for it.

[00:29:09] You can vote for us too.

[00:29:10] We're up for a Signal Award.

[00:29:11] If you go to my IG page, you can see where you can vote for us to win a Signal Award for

[00:29:16] the show.

[00:29:17] So we're up for a few awards right now, but right now, this is the one where you can

[00:29:20] interact and actually vote and help us out.

[00:29:24] You guys go vote.

[00:29:26] Even if you ain't listening to an episode, I say go vote.

[00:29:28] Do it for me.

[00:29:29] Just do it for me.

[00:29:30] Okay.

[00:29:30] I expect the city of Houston to come out en masse and vote for Runful.

[00:29:36] Oh, so now you're going to put that on me.

[00:29:38] I'm putting it on Houston.

[00:29:39] We don't want to go to Houston.

[00:29:40] Everybody else came out except Houston.

[00:29:42] So I'm just saying, you know, that's how I'm going to feel.

[00:29:45] You're going to make me say something.

[00:29:47] I'm just going to keep it to myself.

[00:29:49] Not on your birthday.

[00:29:50] Not on your birthday.

[00:29:50] You got to act right on your birthday.

[00:29:52] Because people are here looking at you and looking for support and all of that.

[00:29:55] You're a leader.

[00:29:56] I'm a leader, but people who follow me know the kind of leader I am.

[00:30:01] I'm going to say what I got to say.

[00:30:03] I understand.

[00:30:04] I understand.

[00:30:05] I understand.

[00:30:06] But, you know, again, as a prominent leader and influencer in the city of Houston,

[00:30:11] I'm expecting all of your audience to follow and support Runful and vote.

[00:30:17] That's just my expectation.

[00:30:18] But I've been let down a lot.

[00:30:19] You just don't worry about it.

[00:30:21] Because I was going to, like I said, I was going to say something.

[00:30:23] I'm going to leave it alone.

[00:30:24] I'm going to make sure you get the support you need from H-10.

[00:30:26] That's what I need.

[00:30:27] That's what I need.

[00:30:28] I've always looked for that support all over the course of my life.

[00:30:31] Just for somebody to say, I'm going to make sure.

[00:30:33] Anything after that, you know, usually it's negative.

[00:30:35] I'm going to make sure you get beat up.

[00:30:37] I'm going to make sure they come and get you.

[00:30:38] But if you're going to make sure that, you know, we get some votes, then I'm good.

[00:30:42] You know what?

[00:30:43] You are so tempting me to be the real, you know, because this is host.

[00:30:46] This is host persona.

[00:30:48] This is a family show.

[00:30:49] No, it's not.

[00:30:52] We're anti-family now.

[00:30:56] We're real family here, okay?

[00:30:58] This is why they won't follow Halloween, because of us, because of these conversations.

[00:31:03] You're not going to put that on me, sir.

[00:31:05] You are not going to put that on me.

[00:31:07] I'm going to go watch Joel Osteen.

[00:31:09] I'm going to go watch Joel Osteen right now online to make up for this conversation.

[00:31:14] My face is about to crack.

[00:31:16] Okay.

[00:31:17] I'm going to...

[00:31:18] Don't make it.

[00:31:19] Not on your birthday.

[00:31:20] Not on your birthday.

[00:31:22] This is your special day.

[00:31:23] Well, it's a special day.

[00:31:25] I am enjoying my special day.

[00:31:26] It couldn't be any better besides, you know, I'm taking my day off from work.

[00:31:30] I got family.

[00:31:32] I got a dinner waiting for me this evening.

[00:31:34] And I get to talk to you.

[00:31:36] So that's, you know, best Rodney Barnes interview and interaction on my birthday ever, ever.

[00:31:43] But I'm going to make sure...

[00:31:45] We have to make it a regular thing.

[00:31:45] We have to make it a regular conversation.

[00:31:47] This is our time to be able to have this conversation.

[00:31:50] It's your birthday.

[00:31:52] Do you see...

[00:31:53] Y'all see how he said that?

[00:31:54] Do y'all see...

[00:31:55] That was in my wrongful voice, too.

[00:31:57] That's what I told...

[00:31:58] That's what I told you.

[00:31:58] It was a level of sincerity within my ability to convey my emotions.

[00:32:03] Dude, you don't want to play with people's emotions right now.

[00:32:06] No, no, no, no.

[00:32:08] I just...

[00:32:09] I understand what you mean to the city of Houston and, you know, America at large.

[00:32:15] And so I'm just trying to do my part to make sure that you're appreciated.

[00:32:18] And the way...

[00:32:19] Well, I appreciate you being...

[00:32:21] I'm appreciative of you being appreciated, okay?

[00:32:23] Everybody going to appreciate up in here.

[00:32:24] But I mean, this has been awesome because I don't want to hold you long because I know

[00:32:28] that you got mad stuff to get to and projects...

[00:32:31] I won't be as interested when I'm homeless because I'm not doing my work.

[00:32:35] You know, that's behind the...

[00:32:36] I won't have Wi-Fi.

[00:32:37] That's a behind-the-scenes conversation.

[00:32:40] I'm going to behave.

[00:32:42] Rodney, I already said I wasn't going to flirt too hard to just go around.

[00:32:45] So, you're going to make me break my word.

[00:32:48] I'm trying to be professional.

[00:32:50] It's your birthday.

[00:32:51] It's your birthday.

[00:32:52] Mm-hmm.

[00:32:53] Okay.

[00:32:55] Well, on that note, you guys, go vote for RunFool.

[00:32:59] Definitely well worth the listen and the subscription.

[00:33:02] You guys have got to check out all his upcoming projects.

[00:33:05] And if anything, on my wish list, if you redo a horror project, one horror project,

[00:33:11] I don't know if you're aware of it, called Cosmic Slop.

[00:33:14] Oh, I remember Cosmic Slop.

[00:33:16] Aha.

[00:33:17] Cosmic Slop.

[00:33:18] The Heser Brothers, HBO.

[00:33:19] Yes.

[00:33:20] And nobody...

[00:33:20] Call it to the Bell.

[00:33:21] That.

[00:33:22] And nobody, like me and my sister, think like we're the only two people on the planet that

[00:33:26] saw that series.

[00:33:27] I saw it.

[00:33:27] So, I wish that that was a remake, especially with the aliens taking us brown folks with

[00:33:33] them.

[00:33:33] That was scary.

[00:33:35] Yes, it was.

[00:33:36] Yes, it was.

[00:33:37] Okay.

[00:33:37] They did some good work.

[00:33:38] They did some great work.

[00:33:39] So, Mr. Barnes, I appreciate you coming back on.

[00:33:42] And I definitely will try to see if we can get you back on for another topic.

[00:33:46] Or like I said, you can always hit me up.

[00:33:47] Let me know.

[00:33:47] I need to promote this.

[00:33:48] I got this going.

[00:33:50] Can I get on?

[00:33:51] Anything for you.

[00:33:52] I do this for you.

[00:33:52] It ain't about me.

[00:33:53] It's not about me.

[00:33:54] It's about you, Michelle.

[00:33:56] Okay, Ronnie.

[00:33:58] I want to make sure you're supported.

[00:34:00] It's not about me.

[00:34:01] I'll be all right.

[00:34:03] See, y'all don't understand the energy I got going, but I'm not going to even discuss

[00:34:08] it because like he said, we're trying to be a family show.

[00:34:11] We are a family show.

[00:34:12] We need some positivity in the community.

[00:34:15] And right now, we try to bring some positivity to the community.

[00:34:17] This is positive.

[00:34:18] This is us working together as people.

[00:34:20] When you see us interacting, it's a good vibe.

[00:34:24] It's positive.

[00:34:25] Okay?

[00:34:26] It's positive.

[00:34:27] It's positive.

[00:34:29] Thank you so much, Mr. Barnes.

[00:34:30] I will be in touch.

[00:34:31] Okay?

[00:34:31] All right.

[00:34:32] We'll talk soon.

[00:34:33] All right, then.

[00:34:34] Happy birthday.

[00:34:35] Thank you so much.

[00:34:36] And Jules, I don't need the wet wet in the damn comments.

[00:34:38] Okay?

[00:34:39] I see you.

[00:34:40] You're talking about a family show.

[00:34:41] Okay, then.

[00:34:42] All right, then.

[00:34:42] Thank you, Mr. Barnes.

[00:34:43] You're good, Jules.

[00:34:44] Talk to you later.

[00:34:45] All right.

[00:34:45] Thank you.

[00:35:05] Michelle, I hope you enjoyed the conversation about all the horror and Halloween traditions

[00:35:10] with the incredible Rodney Barnes.

[00:35:12] If you already haven't done so, make sure you subscribe to the Run Full Podcast for more chills and thrills.

[00:35:19] And don't forget to follow, like, and subscribe.

[00:35:22] Talk to me, Michelle, so you never miss an episode.

[00:35:24] Also, if you have time in your day, good people, I'd appreciate it if you would just leave me a podcast review on whatever platform you tune in on.

[00:35:32] Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel, turn on your notifications, and you can support the show as well as purchase merchandise on buymeacoffee.com backslash talktomemichelle.

[00:35:43] And that's going to do it until the next episode.

[00:35:46] So, until next time, peace.