5 Things We Love: Halloween

During the holidays, I like to play some seasonal music on my piano. For Halloween, that means a collection of pieces that I’ve dubbed my “Moonlight Suite,” consisting of selections that in some way make me think of the moon. There’s Debussy’s “Claire de Lune,” a few Chopin nocturnes and, a more recent discovery, “Moon River” from the film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” My favorite, of course, is Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Opus 27 No. 2, “Quasi una fantasia,” otherwise known as the “Moonlight Sonata.”

To me, its slow opening movement is moody and sinister, and according to the book “Beethoven: The ‘Moonlight’ and Other Sonatas, Op. 27 and Op. 31” by Timothy Jones, it’s inspired many a spooky scene. The 19th-century music critic Ludwig Rellstab, writing a few years after Beethoven died, likened it to “a boat visiting the wild places on Lake Lucerne by moonlight,” which resulted in the name by which the sonata would forever after be known. Carl Czerny, a student of Beethoven’s known to piano students for his knuckle-breaking piano exercises, called it “a nocturnal scene, in which a mournful, ghostly voice sounds from the distance.” The composer Hector Berlioz saw in it a more pastoral, yet still ominous setting, writing that it conjured up the image of the sun setting over a church graveyard in Rome, where “no living being disturbs the peace of the tombs that cover this desolate earth.”

Though the “Moonlight Sonata” has become hackneyed and overplayed in the 220 years since it was composed — it was so popular even in Beethoven’s lifetime that he complained that people didn’t know his other works — it’s still the perfect accompaniment to a dark and stormy night. — Steven Mark

When beauty brand HipDot released its Game Night collection last month, I was immediately taken with its Ouija board eye shadow palette ($26). While I’ve had my share of spooky fun at seances with the actual board game, the ­array of color choices allows the imagination to conjure up myriad makeup looks for Halloween — or any time of year. From mattes to glitters, the vegan and cruelty-free eye shadows come with apt names such as Are U There? (olive green with gold sparkle), Paranormal (silver with sparkle), Summon (ivory shimmer) and GoodBye (blackest black matte).

Makeup mavens with a penchant for all things goth also will long for the newest HipDot x Addams Family collab, released earlier this month in time for All Hallow’s Eve and the animated film, “The Addams Family 2.” The lineup offers an eye shadow palette ($24), a “coven” (aka trio) of lipsticks ($24) and a collector’s box set ($58) complete with an enamel pin reminding everyone of Morticia’s mantra: “Black is such a happy color.” All items are available at hipdot.com. — E. Clarke Reilly

Ahh, there’s nothing like a holiday to inspire warm traditions — egg hunts, gathering around a turkey, cookie bakes. Or an annual visit to Haddonfield, home of masked, murderous Michael Myers from the “Halloween” horror film series. My sister and I got hooked as teens by the original, “Halloween” (1978), starring Jamie Lee Curtis as the terrorized heroine who spends 91 minutes screaming and fleeing Myers’ relentless pursuit.

Over the decades, we’d managed to watch it together every October. It was fun to get scared, and we invariably reminisced about small-kid time when we flexed our older-sister prerogative. Our poor kid brother never got a break from the horror, thanks to “phone messages” we incessantly left for him: “Michael Myers called. He’s looking for you.”

Sadly, in recent years I’ve had to go the tradition alone. It seems time has shifted my sister’s sensibilities. The shine of a scarefest has dimmed. However: The dynamic duo of Curtis and Myers is back in a new installment, “Halloween Kills,” now in theaters and streaming on Peacock. How can my sis possibly resist? Just like the “Halloween” franchise, I never say die. — Joleen Oshiro

No one thinks of dressing up their houseplants for a Halloween party, but the new Simply Garden boutique in Kahala Mall makes it easy with quirky little pots decorated in traditional orange-and-black designs. The four-inch ceramic pots go for $14.99 and are hand-painted by Kawaii Hawaii.

These pots are just one of many whimsical but practical items that plant lovers can buy for themselves or as gifts for friends with green thumbs. I’m smitten with the faux-moss-­covered planters shaped like high heels, purses and birdhouses, and the hanging planters made of ­macrame and natural fibers that would be ideal for orchids. Millennials will find a wide range of white and gray ­ceramic pots and a variety of greenery for that simple, elegant look.

The subsidiary of City Mill opened in March and carries artisanal merchandise ordered from small local and mainland vendors that wouldn’t be able to supply the larger chain store, says manager Lori Stevens. — Pat Gee

I was in elementary school, maybe third grade, when I found a copy of “Ghosts, Ghosts, Ghosts” in the school library. It was an anthology of 14 stories about ghosts and the supernatural collected by Phyllis R. Fenner and published by Franklin Watts Publishers Inc. in 1952. One of the stories that struck me most vividly was about two boys who helped the ghost of a murder victim find peace ­after more than a century. Other stories I’ve remembered through the years were about a salvage diver trapped in a sunken wreck amid the decomposing bodies of the ship’s crew, and a family that was cursed to be visited each Christmas Eve by a ghost who drenched everything around her with chilling water. And there was “The Devil and Daniel Webster.” It was my first encounter with the Stephen Vincent Benet classic that I would encounter again in reading assignments in my teens.

I was a kid who enjoyed reading, and the stories got me thinking. Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to help a ghost, or to have one as friend? Reflecting on the book many decades later, I’ll add that these stories were written from the 1920s through the first years of the 1950s. Though they may seem too old-fashioned for “the wiser youngsters of today,” maybe they’re not.

I bought a well-used copy online years ago. It is also available through the Hawaii State Public Library System (librarieshawaii.org). — John Berger