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Dad showed his 10-year-old son E.T. and his emotional reaction is triggering Gen X nostalgia

Gen Alpha, phone home.

Photo Credit: Canva, Wiki Commons, Universal Pictures

E.T. is chilling in a basket. Elliott takes E.T. for a bike ride.

One can't fully be prepared for the emotional splash of waterworks that come with viewing Steven Spielberg's masterpiece E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (better known as simply E.T.). This is especially true upon seeing it for the first time. Nothing of its kind had ever quite been attempted and while often imitated as an homage to Spielberg, it hasn't been replicated.

The film, about an adorable extraterrestrial who befriends a boy named Elliott (played by Henry Thomas) after a spaceship accidentally leaves him behind, is a love letter to cinema. It won Oscars, broke box office records, and changed filmmaking forever, as many Spielberg movies tend to do.

For many Gen-Xers like myself, this film helped shape our childhoods. It gave us dolls, repeatable dialogue, and our own delicious candy (fun fact: Spielberg initially wanted M&Ms to be the treats Elliott leaves as a trail to lure E.T. to safety, but the Mars Company declined, so Reese's Pieces became iconic). For an extra layer of magic, I saw it the weekend it came out in 1982, at the exact age Elliott was in the film. It introduced me and many of my friends to the vastness of the universe and the importance of kindness across dimensions.

-A scene from Spielberg's film E.T. www.youtube.com, Universal Pictures

Now, Gen-Xers are showing it to their kids to get their reactions. On the Subreddit r/scifi, a self-described "ceramics guy" who loves nature, science, and sci-fi posted, "Just watched ET for the first time since I was a kid, with my son who is the same age now as I was then." Under this caption, he gave the experience a review: "10 out of 10 would absolutely recommend. What an incredible film. And getting to see my son watch it for the first time was even better than seeing it the first time myself."

Many commenters agree. One actually took their 10-year-old son to see it in the theater when it made the rounds recently. "I had the pleasure of taking my 10 yr old son and his best mate to see ET for the first time in our local cinema last year. It was magical and still absolutely holds its own, despite some scenes looking pretty basic with the CGI kids are used to now. Was great watching their faces and seeing them get totally hooked in emotionally. My son is a big fan of Stranger Things and he was loving the 80s vibes."

E.T., Spielberg, movies, Gen X E.T. looks up. Giphy GIF by MANGOTEETH

Lots of Redditors discuss the unabashedly earnest tear-jerking tactics. "One of the first movies I can remember as a tearjerker," one said. "I can remember being 6 or 7 and crying but not having the emotional maturity to understand why."

The film touches on friendship, but perhaps more than that—the idea of a touchstone. E.T. forms a beautiful bond with Elliott, but still longs for his home. So when he assembles a Speak & Spell as a communication device and starts muttering "E.T. phone home," there wasn't a dry eye in the theater. Spielberg threw in a seven-year-old pigtailed Drew Barrymore, a Golden Retriever mix, and a moonlit bike ride to cement the deal that we were all going to bawl. He showed no mercy.

The "I'll be right here" scene from Spielberg's E.T. www.youtube.com, Universal Pictures, MovieClips

Tod Perry, my colleague at Upworthy, also just recently watched E.T. with his child. He shared that they both loved it and openly wept. He further noted, "The big takeaways were the kids in that movie are so feral and unsupervised compared to kids today. Like Elliott stays home from school, alone. Normal then, criminal today. That and Spielberg pulls absolutely no punches, goes for the jugular with how emotional that movie is."

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A definitive guide to Halloween candy season for those of us with no impulse control

There's an art to this, fellow candy lovers.

Photo by Sebbi Strauch on Unsplash

Buying Halloween candy is a tricky business for people who love candy but don't want to eat it all.

Labor Day has officially passed, which means the seasonal aisles that have been filled with school supplies are now teeming with bags and bags of Halloween candy. Hallelujah.

If you're one of those people who can buy bags of fun-sized candy bars and let them sit unopened in the cupboard for a month, only pulling them the night of Halloween to hand out to trick-or-treaters, congrats. You're a giant among humans. More power to you.

This article is not for you.

I'm here for the folks who need a solid game plan to manage the nearly two months between Labor Day and Halloween when all willpower and impulse control get pushed to the brink every year. If you fool yourself into thinking you can have hundreds of pieces of chocolatey, nougaty, peanuty, toffee-y candy sitting in your home for weeks and not touch it, only to find yourself hitting the bag multiple times a day, alternating between justifying the consumption of obscene amounts of sugar and plunging into stomachaching regret, you are my people.

You don't have to dread the Halloween candy season. It's only taken nearly three decades of full-on adulthood to hone my strategy for September and October, but I've got it down. There's an art to this, friends. Allow me to pass along some of my hard-earned wisdom.

Do not, under any circumstances, buy any Halloween candy before the week of Halloween.

Nope, not even if it's on sale. No amazing deals. No buy-one-get-one-free gimmicks. Nada. You know you will eat that savings in a week and be forced to replace what you ate by Halloween, therefore spending more than you would've without the sale.

Trust me on this. You may think saving money in the moment will also save you from temptation, but it's lies. Fake news and lies. Repeat after me: Halloween candy sales are not our friend.

The only exception to this rule is if you buy a padlock along with your candy. Then, when you get home, immediately hide the candy in a cupboard with the lock on it and give someone else the key until the day of Halloween. It's a risky move—there is an entire car ride in which that candy bag will be staring you in the face—but it's the only way to feel good about purchasing sale candy ahead of time.

Four days before Halloween is the sweet spot. Use it to your advantage.

Apparently, four days before Halloween is when you get the best price on candy, according to an analysis from online shopping portal Ibotta. This is a good thing. For one, it gets you away from the idea that a sale long before Halloween is one you simply can't pass up. And two, having a clear number of days gives you a window in which to buy so you're not going at this all haphazardly.

Haphazard Halloween candy buying is just sugar-laden, calorie-bombing chaos, my friends. Don't do it. The key here is to look ahead, make a plan and stick to it. I like to make an absolute rule for myself that zero candy enters the house before the four-day mark, and then see how long I can hold out during those four days.

If you've got candy FOMO, don't. You won't miss out.

Sometimes we're tempted to buy candy early so that we make sure we actually get some before the Halloween season is over, but let's be real. There is no shortage of candy-filled bowls everywhere you go during these two months. Stop into pretty much any bank. Visit any informational booth. Make an appointment to see your kid's guidance counselor. Don't be shy. Grab that free Milky Way out of the bowl on their desk and go to town. No guilt.

Keep reminding yourself that candy is in abundance all around you. You'll have your own home stash soon enough, but not so soon that you'll make yourself sick on it. (Also, if you have kids, you can remind them that they have a roof over their heads and food in the fridge and the least they can do is share their Halloween trick-or-treating haul with the person who provides for them.)

Bottom line—you'll have plenty of opportunities to snag a Snickers here and there during the Halloween season without having to buy your own bag.

Buy candy that you hate or candy that you love, but nothing in between.

I'm not usually this black-and-white, but hear me out. There are basically three ways of thinking about what Halloween candy to buy for trick-or-treaters, but only two of them have a desirable outcome.

1. If you buy candy you hate, you won't be as tempted to eat it. I say as tempted because people who love candy can generally be tempted by almost anything, but most of us have a candy we simply won't touch. I could have a bowl of Jolly Ranchers for months and never touch them, for instance. That's a good trick-or-treater buy for me.

2. If you buy candy you love, you're definitely going to eat it. Maybe even a ton of it. But if you follow the above advice and wait until a few days before Halloween to buy it, you'll have less time to gorge on it but still be able to enjoy it. (Gimme all the peanut M&Ms, thankyouverymuch).

3. If you buy candy you like but don't really love, that's just trouble. You'll likely eat just as much of it as you would your favorite candy—that's the nature of having copious amounts of not-gross candy on hand—but it won't be nearly as satisfying. If you're going to eat candy, you should get the optimal amount of enjoyment out of it. Make it worth it.

Go for the chocolate and nuts. Ditch the candy corn and jelly beans.

As far as narrowing down your candy choices, there's a strategy here, too. Though you may assume they're the worst because they're so rich, nut-heavy candy like peanut M&Ms, Snickers and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are actually some of the best choices, according to two dietitians in Everyday Health. Nuts have protein and fiber and chocolate has antioxidants (the darker the better), so at least you're getting some nutrition along with the sugar. (It's a real thing! Dietitians said so!)

Chewy and fruity candies like candy corn and jelly beans are basically just pure sugar. They feel lighter as you're eating them, which in my experience just makes you likely to eat more of them, leaving you eating more sugar and feeling less satisfied. I love me some Skittles and Smarties, but they just don't hit like the Snickers and Reese's. Not worth it to buy a whole bag of them.

The key is to delay the inevitable as long as possible, not to eliminate it.

I'm sure some people would suggest not even buying candy at all, and for some people maybe that's wise. (There are some reasonable non-candy alternatives to give out.) But I'm not willing to forgo Halloween candy altogether. It's all about timing, setting some realistic ground rules and knowing what candy is worth indulging in. The idea is to enjoy the candy if you really want to, but delay gratification as long as you can.

Speaking from experience, Halloween is a lot more fun if you don't go into it having already gorged on candy for six weeks straight.

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31 Days of Happiness Countdown: the mesmerizing process of making chocolates. (Day 23)

Thanks for stopping by for Day 23 of Upworthy's 31 Days of Happiness Countdown! If this is your first visit, here's the gist: Each day between Dec. 1 and Dec. 31, we're sharing stories we hope will bring joy, smiles, and laughter into our lives and yours. It's been a challenging year for a lot of us, so why not end it on a high note, with a bit of happiness? Check back tomorrow (or click the links at the bottom) for another installment!

GIF by FoxADHD/Tumblr.

In the months between Halloween and Valentine's Day, candy is never far from my mind.

Eating it. Buying it. Gifting it.  Finding it in the bottom of fireplace socks. (How weird of a tradition is that?)

But despite my not-so-secret dream to give it all up and go to pastry school, I never gave much thought to how candy, specifically chocolate, is mass-produced.

The tiny, delicate chocolates on Great British Baking Show or Zumbo's Just Desserts, sure. But the millions of boxed chocolates produced by Russell Stover or See's? How on Earth do they keep up? And how do they get all of those creamy fillings inside?

The answer, like the smooth milk chocolate itself, is incredibly satisfying.

This wordless video by the National Film Board of Canada reveals how delicious chocolates get their centers. It is hypnotic, mouthwatering, and informative in equal measure — which is pretty much all you can ask for in a video.

And if you don't believe me on that mouthwatering part, let these borderline-pornographic GIFs do the talking.

First, you need to get that milk going.

GIFs via NFB/YouTube.

Then twist and turn the chocolate ... as one does.

Prepare your fillings. This one has cashews.

Allow the fillings to be draped in chocolate. I've never wanted to be a cashew so bad in my life.

Then fill 'em up, just for good measure.

And finally, roll 'em out.

To see more footage of this intoxicating process, watch the video in its entirety.

Bonus points if you make up your own dialogue. The National Film Board of Canada is basically asking for it.

More days of happiness here: DAY 1 / DAY 2 / DAY 3 / DAY 4 / DAY 5/ DAY 6 / DAY 7 / DAY 8 / DAY 9 / DAY 10 / DAY 11 / DAY 12 / DAY 13 / DAY 14 / DAY 15 / DAY 16 / DAY 17 / DAY 18 / DAY 19 / DAY 20 / DAY 21 / DAY 22 / [DAY 23] / DAY 24 / DAY 25 / DAY 26 / DAY 27 / DAY 28 / DAY 29 / DAY 30 / DAY 31
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