Play time, boys and girls — Friday the 13th Edition.

Ooooooh ... scary. Unless, of course, you’re Italian.

Italians believe that 13 is lucky which is sooooooo true; after all, this girl was born on the 13th — what could be luckier than that? As always, your answers in the comments, if you please.

1) While we’ve already touched on your favourite Hitchcock films, let’s return with a bit of a twist. Name the Hitchcock film that scared you the most and why.

2) Favourite femme fatale and why.

3) First concert you ever attended.

Me first.

1) Turns out my answers are one in the same ‘cause The Birds is my favourite Hitchcock film and it’s also the one I consider the most frightening. As I’ve said before, I think it’s the whole concept that’s so startling — birds go crazy and start attacking people for no reason. Come on ... birds? It sounds ridiculous but sweet dancing Jesus, did he make it work. The way he filmed the birds perching ominously on the wires and the play structure as Melanie hurries past with Cathy absolutely freaked me out the first time I saw it. Or the scene with the birds relentlessly pecking their way through the walls and ceilings {{shudder}} ... I’ve seen that movie countless times and it still has me on the edge of my seat every damn time I watch it.

2) Brigid O'Shaughnessy as portrayed by Mary Astor in The Maltese Falcon ... ‘nuff said.

3) Aaaahhhhh ... my misspent youth. The first real concert I ever went to was The Clash when I was about 14 or 15. They came to Ottawa in the spring right after my birthday and played at the Civic Centre. And, even though Mick Jones and Topper Headon had left the band by that point, Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon and some other guys put on quite the show in this girl’s eyes. I even got pulled up on stage to dance ... which mortifies my mother to this day.

And now a little edumacation — wherein LuLu explains the origin of Friday the 13th and its supposed bad luck (as learned in Catholic school, of all places). Via Wikipedia:

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Latin: Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici), commonly known as the Knights Templar or the Order of the Temple (French: Ordre du Temple or Templiers), were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders. The organization existed for approximately two centuries in the Middle Ages. It was founded in the aftermath of the First Crusade of 1096, its original purpose to ensure the safety of the many Europeans who made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem after its conquest.

Officially endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church around 1129, the Order became a favored charity across Europe and grew rapidly in membership and power. Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles each with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades. Non-combatant members of the Order managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom, innovating financial techniques that were an early form of banking, and building many fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land.

The Templars' success was tied closely to the Crusades; when the Holy Land was lost, support for the Order faded. Rumors about the Templars' secret initiation ceremony created mistrust, and King Philip IV of France, deeply in debt to the Order, began pressuring Pope Clement V to take action against the Order. In 1307, many of the Order's members in France were arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, and then burned at the stake. In 1312, Pope Clement, under continuing pressure from King Philip, disbanded the Order. The abrupt disappearance of a major part of the European infrastructure gave rise to speculation and legends, which have kept the "Templar" name alive into the modern day.

Anyone want to know the date that Philip ordered the arrests of the Templar Knights in France on trumped-up charges of heresy? Friday, October 13, 1307. And yes, I’m perfectly aware that many people feel that this is, in fact, not the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition but like I already said, this is what I was taught. And this is what I’ve always believed.

Conspiracy theorists, on the other hand, believe that the Templars, who were a monastic order of warrior priests and seemingly incorruptible, were persecuted and disbanded by Philip and Clement V because they knew too much.

Knew too much about what you may ask. Well, that is an interesting question, isn’t it? If you believe, like I do, that the Church is capable of anything in order to protect itself ... well then, the possibilities are endless.