I wrote about the Halloween preparations in my new neighborhood. It turns out that my neighbor may have exaggerated just a little about how much candy they gave out last year. She had spent about $80 total, plus had some homemade goodies That still sounded like a ton of candy to me! I had a bin, about the size of a laundry basket, filled with cheap candy ready. I set up a table on the porch and had plenty of chairs for socializing. I had a fresh pot of coffee and a bottle of Southern Comfort (of which I only took one shot). I enlisted the help of a friend (at least I hope he considers us friends wink wink). I put my witch hat on and grabbed the camera. At 6PM sharp, the hordes arrived. There was a steady procession of princesses, clowns, superheros, witches, and Hannah Montanas for two hours straight. I early abandoned any plans to count them, but I would guess several hundred. After the regulated trick or treat period, we had stragglers for another hour until it just got too cold. At the end, I had a little bit of candy left! Hooray! My neighbor crossed over and said this year was light, only about half as many as last year. She speculated that the local football game kept some folks away. Hmm.. next year, Halloween will be on Saturday night. That's going to be a party!

I posted more pictures at Miss Cellania.

Phil Rossi lived a few doors down the street from me growing up. He was the first person to unleash horror films on me, such as Aliens, Predator, The Gate, etc... Though I didn't realize it at the time, but Phil was a connoisseur of the macabre. Even at the age of 10. Halloween was a particularly good time to have Phil as a friend, as his ghost stories blew all of ours away. So I wasn't surprised to learn that Phil poured his talent into an online (and soon to be hardcover and film) novel called Crescent. If you're looking for a good scare this Halloween, I suggest heading to the site and taking a listen.

Some places are far darker than deep space. Places where the shadows smile. Where men go mad and lovers go missing. These stygian corners of existence are where reality is stretched thin and something hungry is waiting just outside the corner of your eye.

Carved by Ray Villafane, a sculptor for DC Comics, who won the recent Food Network Pumpkin Carving Challenge. The show's being rerun tomorrow afternoon if you want to catch it.

Having featured previous year's Halloween Costumes, I thought it only fair to share by outfit today. More below.

Check out the premiere episode of BEARDO, Pitchfork.tv's new show by Tim Harrington (a.k.a. the frontman for Brooklyn freak-rockers Les Savy Fav.) This one also stars the supremely awesome Kristen Schaal, of "Flight of the Conchords" and "Daily Show" fame. Thanks to Sean for forwarding me this.

Happy Halloween!

Above: No, YOUR costume won't be anywhere near this nice, but hey, at least there'll be one less motherfucking pirate this Halloween.

Gentlemen, we've all been there before: you weren't going to do anything for Halloween this year besides turn off your porch light and scarf down that bushel of fun-size Snickers all by yourself, but your bro just called to tell you to get your ass down to this raging bash that's got two kegs of your favorite beer and is brimming with "talent" dressed as the "sexy/slutty" variety of every profession/creature known to man, including 11 sexy cats and 6 slutty nurses. (Wait, that last slutty nurse was actually a slutty angel -- just noticed the wings.)

The catch? You MUST wear some sort of costume, or you can't get into the party. But even if the costume store were still open, you're broke as a joke. You can't sew, you don't have any cool props lying around, and you've used up all your creativity on your last sick day excuse at work. (Glad to hear your Dengue fever has cleared up, by the way.)

So what's a cheap, lazy, procrastinating horndog to do? Check out these suggestions, which meet (barely) the legal definition of "costume," are mostly comprised of stuff you already have lying around your home, and require only slightly more effort than scratching your balls.

There's a storm brewing on the other side of the Atlantic about a series of prank phone calls Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross made to veteran comedy actor Andrew Sachs. After a series of complaints to the BBC regarding the calls, Brand quit his show and Jonathan Ross has been fined $2.4 million. Above is the audio from the pranks and I'd love to know if you think the performers went too far, or the BBC and public went too far in punishing them.

Growing up, there was a rumor that my home state of Connecticut was the most haunted state in the country. How they get these figures, I'm not sure. I'm assuming this was hopeful speculation on me and my friends' parts, wanting to believe that the woods, buildings, and harbors we played in were crawling with ghosts, apparitions, and goblins. The following is a collection of Connecticut's more famous haunts.

This Tarzan doll has its own priorities.

http://break.com

"Zack and Miri Make a Porno" *** (out of four): After an exhausting dry spell, Kevin Smith finally scores with "Zack and Miri."

Once upon a time in a land far, far away, called the '90s, Kevin Smith churned out memorable, uproarious films such as "Clerks" and "Chasing Amy." Then for a long stretch, he lost his way, getting plowed by the sentimentality train ("Jersey Girl") and forgetting that louder doesn't necessarily mean funnier ("Clerks 2"). Devout fans have been waiting, patiently, for the writer/director to return to form, and their wish has finally been granted with "Zack and Miri Make a Porno."

Read more on BigPictureBigSound...

After hearing about the inaccessible second story at my new house, Brother Bill loaded an extension ladder and drove an hour and a half to investigate. Curiosity is a powerful force. He set the ladder up to one side of the house, where the second story window is flat against the outside wall. Once up there, he found that the windows were not painted and you could see inside! What he saw was a vast expanse of dark... just enough to make you want to get in there. He convinced me to climb up and see.