Happy Halloween!

It's Friday. It's almost Halloween, and many of us will be celebrating tonight by dressing up, acting like children, and drinking adult liquid candy (a.k.a. beer).

So in order to help you get through the day (and let's face it Fridays aren't any good for getting work done anyway - it's just not in their DNA) here are some enjoyable tidbits I've gathered from around cyberspace.

First, the funky new Daft Punk single, "Derezzed," from the upcoming film Tron: Legacy. It's not their best work, but it's fun, and danceable as always.

As for scientists' previous views that earth-like planets were probably very rare, well, they may have been mistaken. So, in other words, we have no idea whatsoever.

This summer there was some discussion about a certain NBA free agent - Lebron Something-or-another. Well, if there's any doubt about the financial impact one person - particularly a sports star - can have on a city, consider this news from Miami, that a pair of tickets to this weekend's Orlando Magic match-up sold for $25K. That's three zeros, folks.

No news on Sky Net Watch, but there is this from NPR's always-fun-to-listen-to Andrei Codrescu, who claims to have "conquered his fear of robots." Foolish man.

 For fans (like myself) of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, there's news out now of a graphic prequel to the saga. Bugger Wars. Nice.

And just in case you find yourself on the top of Mt. Everest any time soon. Fear not! You will still be able to connect to a 3G network.

As for this weekend don't forget that AMC's The Walking Dead premiers on Sunday at 10/9C. I know where I'll be.

Seafood Vending Machines, Farmville, and Scary...Muppets?

So, hey, if you're reading, consider clicking the "Follow" button. Leave me comments, and make suggestions for future posts! Thanks!

I heartily endorse this delightfully quirky video from Nick Cave's side project Grinderman. It's a little freaky, a little funny, and probably NSFW. Hat-tip to my friend, Jeremy Nyhuis, for this one.

My guess is that you must have a pretty deep love of crabs to enjoy them fresh (read: live) out of the vending machine. However, this is precisely what a Chinese company is banking on. More surprising, however, is that they're not even the first to do this. The Japanese have been on the live-crab-in-a-box  bandwagon for a while now.

Bad idea: making another Ghost Rider movie. Worse idea: recasting Nic Cage as Johnny Blaze. Worst idea: cutting the original film's budget in half. This cannot end well.

Think Farmville, Mafia Wars, and all those Facebook games are a huge waste? Think again. According to a recent stock valuation, the company's stock is now worth more than storied game producer EA.

And in news of the tremendously unsurprising, the Scyfy Chanel has announced that even-less-popular-than-its-unpopular-parent-show Caprica has been canceled. Effective immediately.

Just in time for Halloween, Underwire brings us a well-rounded list of the 25 Best Horror Films of All Time.

Speaking of horror movies, Monkey See contributer, Glenn McDonald has this list of this year's top horror flicks which are available now on DVD.

Finally, just to round out the day with some more Halloween-y bits, Best Week Ever continues its costume lists today with terrifying Sesame Street costumes. Unexpected? Yes. Disappointing? No sir.

Every day is a good day for zombies

I really wanted to save this for Friday, but Hump Day is just as good, I think. It's a video of 4000 still images taken over a two week period in Morocco and Spain. It's not what you might expect. It's gorgeous. And absolutely worth your time.

In the ongoing debate about whether freely accessible online content hurts print sales, consider this story, in which a yet-to-be-published comic was illegally posted online. Its creator, instead of flipping out and condemning the action, supported it. Now it's a hit - in print.

Following up on one of Monday's items, the Worldwide Zombie Invasion stunt, coordinated for this Sunday's premier of AMC's Walking Dead seems to have gone over rather well. There's news about it all over the place, but this video is a nice three-minute-ish clip-fest from across the globe. Not as cool as Morocco and Spain (which you need to watch first if you haven't yet), but still. Zombies!

Not to get political or anything, but President Obama will be appearing tonight on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show. Stewart is in Washington, D.C., all week in preparation for the combined "Rally to Restore Sanity" and Stephen Colbert's "March to Keep Fear Alive." I only mention it because having a sitting president on a satirist's show kinda seems like letting the fox into the hen-house, no?

If you love complex graphic representations of relationship situations that are often taken for granted, check this out from Jezebel.

And, one final note: it would seem that the government of New Zealand will have to change its laws in order to make sure The Hobbit gets made there. An entire government conforming to the demands of a movie? Maybe it's dramatic, or maybe it's a really, really good idea. The creation of 20,000 jobs, $35million kind of idea.

Hobbits, Robots, and Octopi, oh my!

Crazy weather about the Indianapolis area today.

So what better than surfing the web?

Yesterday I mentioned hobbits, so it's appropriate to begin today with news about Elijah Wood's new project called Wilfred on FX, but I know Archer, and the much talked about It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, so I'd definitely take a chance on this Australian import.

In news of the "Who is paying for this?" variety, researchers are trying to prove the reality of near-death experiences by installing pictures in hospitals facing the ceiling. Because, obviously, all disembodied spirits are fascinated by decor.

Perhaps you remember Paul the octopus's amazing streak of eight straight correct World Cup match predictions for this summer's games. That record will remain untarnished as Paul has joined the big aquarium in the sky.

Sky Net Watch continues today with the news that robots may be coming to your home. To play with and teach your children. Look, if the next generation of humans has been conditioned to love and idolize robots, Sky Net will have already won. I'm just sayin'.

Perhaps you remember the film Snakes on a Plane, starring Samuel L. Badass. It was about, uh, yeah, you know what it was about. Well, apparently, certain other reptile species are jealous and want there own movie deal.

And today's winner of the "Why am I not surprised?" award goes to...Sodas!

Rotten bits

Back from Texas! What a whirlwind! It always is, and it's always worth it.

Now back to work! And blogging, which is not work, but should be (as in, I wish I was getting paid to do this, because obviously that would be sweet).

Onto the bits of rotten goodness that you should not let slip into the blogosphere without watching, reading, or noting for later consumption.

Let's begin with one of my favorite topics: zombies. As you should know, I love me some corpsified-flesh-munchers. They are by far my favorite of the "classic" monsters: vampires, werewolves, those guys. So it should be no surprise that I find myself more exited for the beginning of AMC's The Walking Dead than I have been for any premier I can possibly remember. Will it live up to my expectations, or to its own hype? Only time will tell. But until then, I hope to enjoy what's sure to be one of the best-remembered stunts of this year: a "worldwide zombie invasion."

"Sky-Net Watch" continues today with this update: Apparently, they can now make us pancakes. Delicious, can't-wait-to-overthrow-the-human-race-pancakes. This isn't too concerning in and of itself, but when they start butchering animals for us...wait, this just in... They did what!?

And because in America, where enough is never quite enough, ScyFy chanel execs announced recently that there will be yet another, yes another, Battlestar Gallactica spinoff-prequel-thingy.

As for another extremely well-loved series, the Peter Jackson directed adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkein's The Hobbit, has finally found itself a Bilbo.

Rotten Bits

How about it? "Rotten Bits" Little bits of goodness that rot your brain? I dunno. We're going with it for now.

Remember Anita Hill? The woman who nearly ruined Clarence Thomas's nomination to the Supreme Court? Well, she's back in the news after Thomas's wife, Virginia, left Hill a voice message asking for Hill to apologize. When asked about it, Mrs. Thomas said she was only "extending an olive branch." Yeah, an olive branch with a big fat piece of crap on the end.

Apparently, humans can now make music with their minds. How? Glad you asked. By modding a Hasbro toy.

Here's a fantastic short film from Bruce Banit, called "World Builder." Imagine Minority Report meets Inception. Hat-tip to Underwire for both this and the brain music.

This new un-gadgety-gadget for the iPod proves that you just can't beat good old-fashioned physics.

Blankety Blanks

The above title is being used until a more suitable one can be found that appropriately addresses the timeliness, humor (?), and brevity of these link lists. (Note: Link Lists would be totally weak, so that's not even on the table. OK?)

To begin:

If you follow football at all, you know there's been a lot of talk about helmet to helmet collision this season, and last Sunday in particular. One of the "villains" of last week was James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers who's known for his big hits. On Sunday, Harrison actually caused two concussions; one was ruled legal (on Josh Cribbs) but he was fined for the second (on Mohamed Massaquoi). So here's the news: Yesterday it was reported that when he plays he tries to hurt people. Now that he's been fined he says that if he can't play football his way he's gong to have to consider retirement. Only one thing to say about that: cry baby.

In news that "you wouldn't expect to see outside the nineteenth century," apparently the pirates are winning! Hat-tip to JJ Sutherland at The Two-Way.

Because you can never be too concerned about the advent of Sky Net, I feel it is our duty to disseminate information of this sort. I know it's only Legos, but harmless little building blocks are just their first, lulling step!

And, on the brighter side of things, here's a fabulous video interview with two of my current favorite creative minds: Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá, the writer/artists (or is it artist/writers) of the just concluded (and incredible!) Vertigo title Daytripper.

Oh, and maybe you've heard of Christine O'Donnell, the "Tea Party favorite," and not a witch, running for Deleware's Senate seat. Yesterday, she made news after a debate in which she basically showed off her ignorance of the Constitution. Today, following a Jon Stewart comment, comparing O'Donnell to Elvira (you remember her!), Elvira has struck back.

WHOA!

Yeah. Whoa is right. It's been like a million years since my last post.

Totally got stage fright.

Anyway, I'm going to steal a little idea I got from my favorite blogger, Linda Holmes, at Monkey See Blog on NPR.org, and for the time being, or until I get bored, I'm just going to post up some links I find out there in the vastness known as cyberspace.

I think I'll need a name for this type of post. A post of links and pithy comments on said links that, perhaps, only I really find amusing.

If you have any ideas, share away. I always need ideas.