• Oct. 31, 2006 | 6 a.m. PT

Scariest things in the world, according to me

I've long been a fan of the scary and the creepy. In honor of Halloween, here's my own personal "Fear Factor," a very subjective list of the scariest pop-culture choices in the land.

Scariest TV show: Showtime's "Masters of Horror," featuring one-hour movies by some of the genre's most famed directors — John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, and Dario Argento among them. The stories feature a creepy ice-cream man, a cursed black cat, the dancing undead and more. One of the episodes, Japanese director Takashi Miike's "Imprint," was judged too disturbing to air, and so will be released only on DVD.

Scariest movie visual: Everyone has his or her favorite (here are 10), but for me it comes in the Japanese version of "The Grudge," where the main character is riding in an elevator with a partially see-through door. She's oblivious, but the audience can see that the famed creepy little boy who meows like a cat is huddled outside the elevator on every single floor.

Scariest movie dilemma: In "Evil Dead 2," a super-creepy demon (who's taken over the body of a character's mother) is finally trapped in the cellar of a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Then and only then do the characters discover that the book they need to recite the spells to put things back to normal is down in the cellar with the demon.

Scariest book (recent): This summer's "The Ruins," by Scott Smith, had me almost wanting to abandon plans for a vacation. Smith's characters think they're going to relax and have fun in Cancun but once things start to go wrong, they go wrong stunningly, horribly fast. As in Smith's first book "A Simple Plan," the characters face a problem by trying to do A, which seems perfectly understandable at the time. But A somehow leads to B, which runs face-first into C, and all hell's broken loose by D. A wonderfully creepy read.

Scariest book (classic): If you've seen the movie version of "The Shining" but haven't read the Stephen King book it was based on, you're in for a keep-the-lights-on-for-weeks treat.

Scariest short story: It's an oldie, but a goodie: "The last man on earth sat in a room. There came a knock on the door."

Funniest twist on a horror-movie staple: In a recent "South Park" episode, the boys test the old urban legend in which saying "Bloody Mary" three times into a mirror summons a face-scratching demon. But instead, they say "Biggie Smalls," and the dead rapper shows up looking to pop a cap in the kids for preventing him from going to Satan's big "My Super Sweet 16"-style Halloween party. As Butters would say: "Aw, hamburgers!"

Have your own favorite scares? Send them in.

MORE ENTERTAINMENT LINKS
• The late Steve Irwin is such a hot costume this Halloween that at least one zoo gift shop has been selling out of stuffed sting rays. (Via Deadspin.)
• Paul Stanley of KISS has a new solo album out, and its title track, "Live to Win," was memorably used in the montage scene of the "World of Warcraft" episode on "South Park."
• Best Halloween line on a TV show goes to "NCIS," for a scene in which an investigator is told "Nice Halloween costume, but you spelled 'CSI' wrong on your hats."
• How did I miss this for Multi-link Monday? Carve your pumpkin online. (Thanks to Molly for the link!)

• Oct. 30, 2006 | 6 a.m. PT

Halloween links

Thought I burned all my Halloween links last Monday? So did I, but apparently the World Weird Web never runs out of the spooky, the freaky, and the chilling. Want to contribute to the link madness? Just send in your suggestions for links to use in upcoming weeks.

• Remember your favorite Halloween costume? Matt from X-Entertainment does, and it was from the year he desperately wanted to go as Alf, but couldn't find the right mask, and instead went as Alf's cousin, Ralph. You've just got to read it. I hope he adds more photos soon.

• If you know Joe Bob Briggs, this next link needs no introduction. If you don't, check out his wonderfully hilarious reviews of drive-in movies, complete with dead body and bared breast counts. If you've ever heard anyone refer to a gory horror-flick death as [insert weapon here] fu, as in "chain-saw fu" or "metal death-mask fu," you've stumbled upon a Joe Bob fan. Check him out -- you'll definitely get some great ideas for Halloween movie rentals.

• Martha Stewart has some great Halloween ideas. I love the candy wreath, eyeball highballs, and even the pun-based costumes. But I'm telling you right now, there's no way I'm dressing up my baby as a roast turkey. Or pie, or lobster. (Thanks to Lisa for the link!)

• What's the ultimate Halloween song? Some may disagree, but I think it's gotta be "Monster Mash." And believe it or not, the spooky song has its own Web page (warning: spooky audio). The page design is pretty annoying, but the site lets you download the song for your iPod or cell phone. It also informs visitors that "Bobby 'Boris' Pickett is available year-round and can be dug up to appear and sing a medley of his hit." It's a graveyard smash!

• Keep yourself updated on all of Halloween's creepy urban legends so no nosy relative can claim that psychos are regularly out there poisoning the fun-size candy bars. My favorite urban legend about the holiday is sadly untrue, but is so good it should be true: It claims that there's a haunted house so scary no one has successfully made his or her way through it.

• Oct. 26, 2006 | 6 a.m. PT

Dissecting ‘Grey's Anatomy’ feud

In the same way that you might strain to hear snippets of an in-office argument in the cube next door, I'm embarrassingly fascinated with the recent "Grey's Anatomy" fight.

First, it was reported that two hunks from the show, Patrick "McDreamy" Dempsey and Isaiah Washington, were physically scuffling on the set of the hit ABC drama.

Then, actor T.R. Knight, who plays Dr. George O'Malley on the show, announced that he was gay. This seemed pertinent only because the first story let slip that Washington had said something insulting about Knight at the same time as he and Dempsey fought.

And now, Washington has publicly apologized for using a homophobic slur to describe Knight, which is supposedly the reason for the fight in the first place. Apparently Knight was late to filming, Dempsey wanted to wait for him (what was the other choice, write him out of that scene?) and Washington reportedly uttered the anti-gay slur. (Please note: Although I have been on the "Grey's Anatomy" set — just had to get that in there — I wasn't there at the time of the spat, obviously, so am going on only what's been reported.)

This is a juicy story for so many reasons. Few shows are hotter than "Grey's" right now (have you taken our trivia quiz about the show?), and the thought of two of its hottest hunks punching it out is to some of us what a good ol' Joan Collins-Linda Evans catfight used to be in the long-ago days of "Dynasty." There's an "is this really happening?" aspect to it, for one thing. Dempsey's character had a scripted scene where he punched out Dr. Mark "McSteamy" Sloan over the love of a woman, but this was for real.

The story's also interesting because it seems to run so counter to the "Grey's" attitude. The words "colorblind casting" are a cliche in TV -- few shows really do it, but they'll all tell you they do. But "Grey's" really does appear to hire the best person for each role, from major to minor parts, regardless of race, gender, or age.

Parents of patients show up at the hospital, and they're a mixed-race couple, and no one bats an eye. Just as it should be in real life. The bartender at the doctors' favorite watering hole, the Emerald City Bar, is gay and has a male partner, and it's never been an issue.

Washington's character, too, contributes to the feeling that diversity is welcome on this show. He plays Dr. Preston Burke, a gifted African-American surgeon who's dating Dr. Cristina Yang, who's Korean and Jewish. Each member of that couple has certainly had numerous slurs thrust at them in their lives, and would seemingly be ultra-sensitive to holding such prejudice against others. Burke is presented as a noble doctor and a reasoned, unprejudiced man, who treats all people with an innate fairness. Burke the doctor would have taken knowledge of someone's sexuality in stride, we assume. A homophobic slur would have sounded jarring coming from him, and we assume that the actor is the character. As the old joke goes, they're both the same height.

Who knows why Washington said ... whatever it was he said? Mel Gibson's certainly the poster boy for celebrities who claim they said things they don't believe in the heat of the moment. Maybe it was an isolated incident that won't be repeated and doesn't reflect his true feelings. But I'm one of many who believes it's impossible to force your lips to form a slur if you don't relate in some way to the cruel meaning behind the words.

A friend wonders if Washington's character will eventually be written off the show due to this spat. Not because of the way viewers will look at him, but because the other actors might keep the slur always in their minds and feel uncomfortable working with him. Show creator Shonda Rhimes would disagree with that — she calls the fight 4 1/2 seconds of one day in three years," saying "we've already moved on."

Maybe, maybe not. It would be nice to think so.

OTHER ENTERTAINMENT NEWS:
• Why is ‘Grey's Anatomy’ beating ‘CSI’? (Via TV Tattle)
• Children of the Eighties alert: "Facts of Life" third season is out on DVD. Better than the first two seasons, but with a bit too much Geri Jewell and boring Bates Academy boys for this fan.
• How did I miss this 1970s show in which siblings carry around a talking disembodied head in a box? This might just replace "Manimal" and "My Mother the Car" as weirdest show concept ever.

• Oct. 24, 2006 | 6 a.m. PT

Multi-link Tuesday: Haunted Halloween linkage

I bumped the link randomosity to Tuesday so I could write about Jane Wyatt on Monday. For newcomers, Monday is usually the day when we kick back and toss around five fun links--online games, contests and quizzes are big, but we also enjoy weird pop-culture products and foods, entertaining articles and just plain weird sites. Want to contribute to the link madness? Just send in your suggestions for links to use in upcoming weeks.

• Let's get into the Halloween spirit a little early. Every year I swear I'm going to make some super-creepy Halloween treat and thrill/gross out my guests, but I never do. This page of great scary recipes is inspiring, though. I love the brittle meringue bones and the disgustingly real witch-finger cookies.

• Still more creepy cuisine: Rexanne's Halloween offers links to everything from skull punch bowls and cute coffin sandwiches to zombie meatloaf.

• Very cool page detailing some amazing Halloween makeup effects that actually sound doable. Warning: Not for the weak of stomach, especially the axe-to-the-forehead effect. Talk about a splitting headache that even Advil won't cure.

• I've linked to this in the past, but it's so worth another look: Retrocrush collects photos of those old-style Halloween costumes, with the oxygen-sucking plastic masks. My favorite remains, now and forever, the ridiculously 1980s Rubik's Cube costume. Says Retrocrush: "How many poor kids that got stuck with this one had to hear, "Hey Rubik, how about if I rearrange your face?"  This very well may be the least popular costume of all time, 2nd only to the failed Parcheesi costume of 1974."

• Ben and Jerry's offers a fun variety of Halloween links. The Flavor Graveyard lives on their site year-round, but the Halloween-specific links include E-cards, online games, screensavers and more. I recommend Whack-a-Ghoul!

• Oct. 22, 2006 | 5 p.m. PT

Remembering ‘Father Knows Best’

Jane Wyatt's death was reported this weekend. The actress was 96, and had enjoyed a long life by almost anyone's account. That doesn't mean she isn't still mourned, and it also doesn't mean the show that made her a household name, "Father Knows Best," isn't worth remembering.

Usually, when an entertainer dies, especially one of the fame level of Wyatt, not only are they remembered in the rosiest possible light, but so too are their contributions to the entertainment world. It was different with Wyatt's passing. Oh, no one said anything bad about the actress herself, nor am I suggesting they should.

But even the quotes from Wyatt herself that were used in her Associated Press obituary were more honest-sounding than those seen in most tributes. Wyatt was quoted as commenting on how she always had to deliver bland lines such as "Eat your dinner, dear," and also flatly announcing that some of her years working on the show were tough, in particular calling the sixth season "hell."

And she wasn't the only one who offered blunt commentary on "Father Knows Best."

In the Wikipedia entry about the show, actor Billy Gray, who played Anderson son Bud, is quoted as saying "I wish there was some way I could tell kids not to believe it -- the dialogue, the situations, the characters -- they were all totally false. The show did everybody a disservice. The girls were always trained to use their feminine wiles, to pretend to be helpless to attract men. The show contributed to a lot of the problems between men and women that we see today. ... I think we were all well motivated, but what we did was run a hoax."

Those are powerful words, from someone who obviously spent a lot of time thinking about the show he starred in, and its influence on the culture. I don't know about you, but I find it a little shocking and a tad refreshing to see a show actually viewed over time with the wisdom of years. So often we put everything from our past on a pedestal -- it was a classic when we were younger, and we don't want anyone to suggest that our memories could be questionable.

Yet I also feel as if Gray is blaming himself too much. So his show didn't solve all our cultural problems, so it sustained some of the cliches of its day -- so what? There are so many bits of the past we might change if we could look back with today's knowledge. Our entertainment reflected the times, or how we wanted to think of the times. Change came slowly, and not without a fight, and once it did, entertainment changed right along with everything else.

"Father Knows Best" was just kind of background noise for me. I watched it occasionally, but if you're talking black-and-white shows about happy nuclear families, I preferred "Leave It to Beaver." Yes, both shows offered a whitewashed (and white-centered) view of our world. Yes, if they were made today, they'd no doubt offer episodes about divorce and drug abuse (Wikipedia claims "Beaver" had a divorce episode, but I don't remember it).

As a girl in the 1970s, watching this kind of show 20 years after they were made, I never felt inspired to pretend to be helpless or use my feminine wiles to attract men because of that or any show. That wasn't the world I lived in. Watching these shows was like flipping through an old photo album, but never having any desire to wear spats or leg o'mutton sleeves. Instead I took from "Father Knows Best" and its ilk a more basic plotline: That families, at their best, love each other no matter what, and stick together when the world is confusing and cold. In my own home, Father and Mother knew best together.

Share your memories of Jane Wyatt, or your thoughts about "Father Knows Best" and similar shows, in our   online discussion.

• Oct. 18, 2006 | 6 a.m. PT

Still more mourned shows, 'Deadwood' to 'Everwood'

Oh, the list of TV shows, canceled too soon, it never ends. But those of you who wrote in naming "Friends"? I don't think you understand the concept. "Friends" had a good, looooong (decade-long!) run. Did we really need it to stay around longer? Was there really any life in the whole Ross-Rachel break up-get back together-break up plotline?

The shows wer're talking about here were underappreciated, and, for the most part, never really got a chance to develop an audience. Not all of the shows below would make my personal "shoulda been saved" list, but somebody out there is still mourning them.

AUSTIN STORIES
“Thanks for bringing up Austin Stories. It was a great show that got treated badly by MTV. My mom and I still quote Howard talking to Chip about Chip’s recently-inherited Buick every time we see a Buick on the freeway.”    --Kristen

BROTHERHOOD OF POLAND, NH
“My husband and I watched The Brotherhood of Poland New Hampshire. It was sort of quirky, but very us, we really enjoyed it, it lasted maybe 5 episodes. He still quotes it from time to time.”    --Melissa

DEADWOOD
“What about “Deadwood”? It was the best written and had the best acting in any show I have ever seen. It is a disgrace that it was cancelled by HBO, which did it for money, certainly not because there weren’t enough viewers.”    --Anonymous

EVERWOOD
“Everwood! I refuse to watch the new cw network b/c such a brillant show was cancelled. I just graduated High School in June, and the fact that the Everwood Series Finale was the following Monday, I think made me cry more than graduation... it was like, my “life support” through high school. so to see it cancelled for 7^th Heaven, when the only reason the ratings on its Series FINALE were high. was b/c we all wanted to see how it ended.. okay, a little anger at the end, but that’s exactly how I feel.”    --J

INVASION
“Invasion was the best show on tv last season and I will miss it. I have never gotten into any tv show like I did that one. It had great writing and acting and the idea was fresh.”    --Jane

MY SISTER KATE (OR EILEEN?)
“Betcha my missed show goes back the furthest in time! Back in the mid-60’s there was a show set in the Twenties about a young girl whose older sister was a flapper. I think it was called “My Sister Kate,” as in the song “I’d Like to Shimmy Like my Sister Kate.” What was so interesting was the conflicts between older sister and their Victorian-era mother, who still thought showing one’s ankle was shocking. It was a window on a bygone era that echoed some of the conflicts of the 60’s decade. And the old-fashioned Victrola was delightful! Glad you asked the question!”    --Mary
Editor's Note: Do you mean "My Sister Eileen" from 1960?

SURFACE
“Why NBC canceled SURFACE is beyond me. I watched it every week and to leave us all hanging at the end of the season was really cruel.”    --John

TWIN PEAKS
“Twin Peaks. It was a sign of the show’s true perversity that David Lynch and Mark Frost ended the show on a cliffhanger when they knew darned well it probably wasn’t going to be renewed.”    --Joshua

GIVEN UP ON NEW SHOWS
“I have given up on watching “new” shows. Too many times I find one that is intelligent and captures my attention only to find out it is axed after 2 weeks. You hardly have time anymore to find the new shows and get interested in them before the networks are yanking them off the air. They are too hasty in bringing out the hook on the new series now and I have surrendered to watching the old series I still like and reruns of the old shows that are worth revisiting.”    --Gina

NOTES FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT WORLD
• Christopher Glenn of CBS News has died. As a 1970s kid, I'll never forget his reasoned voice narrating "In the News," the kids' news show that ran in-between Saturday cartoons.
• Rumor: Next "Amazing Race" to be an all-star season. (Thanks to Andy for the link!)
• Contest: Customize "Simpsons" promo, win trip to 400th episode. (Wait, Kodos is female? Who knew?)

• Oct. 17, 2006 | 6 a.m. PT

Shows you still miss

Last week I offered up my list of the top five canceled shows I still miss. I'm obviously not the only one still wondering if Angela and Brian Krakow would ever have gotten together on "My So-Called Life."

I can't possible list all of the shows you miss, but here are a batch of your comments on some of the titles that were most frequently mentioned. I'll share some more tomorrow.

Also, for those of you writing in about NBC’s “Medium,” it hasn’t actually been canceled. It was set to come back in January, I heard, and now that “Kidnapped” has been canceled, it will reportedly take that show’s Wednesday time slot once new episodes are ready.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
“The funniest show to EVER be on television — beautifully written and wonderfully executed- was Arrested Development. While I understand that much of the humor was hard to follow if you weren’t a die-hard fan, I’m still amazed that it didn’t do better. If only it could come back...”    --Heather

DEAD LIKE ME
“I miss Dead Like Me something awful. It was like they pulled the plug on a show two seasons too early. It had just reached maturity and was gone without any kind of fruition. It was good to watch George becoming a mature person in death, achieving what she was too immature to achieve in life, waiting to see at what point she reached catharsis and moved on.”    --Eric

FIREFLY
“Yes, “Firefly” was genius. I use the movie “Serenity” and some episodes of “Firefly” to teach storytelling elements and use of dialogue in my high school English classes. Even my students wonder why the show went off air after they’ve seen it.”    --Haley

And a dissenting opinion...: “Firefly? This show had was good in concept but terrible in execution as it attempted to incorporate all of modern societies social questions in its cast. You would be better off watching old, or even new, episodes of Dr. Who.”    --Thomas

HIGH INCIDENT
“High Incident first aired 3/4/96 and was an early Dreamworks SKG production. The show was created by Steven Spielberg, Michael Pavone, Eric Bogosian and Dave Alan Johnson. STEVEN SPIELBERG! The show got a raw deal by getting switched from timeslot to timeslot. I was so disappointed when it went off the air. And I have never seen reruns, I guess it wasn’t on long enough for them to run them.”    --Brian

HOMEFRONT
“I miss “Homefront”, where we first saw Kyle Chandler as the younger brother of a WWII soldier. It was on for a couple of years in the early 90’s. Ken Jenkins (Dr. Kelso on “Scrubs”) was also on that show. “Homefront” was a quality look at life at home during World War II. Excellent acting and realistic situations.”    --Linda

JOAN OF ARCADIA
“I’m usually OK when shows are cancelled. Usually the writing’s on the wall...but one that caught me off guard and I desperately miss is Joan of Arcadia. I really felt this show was innovative. Joan was cut short long before her time. I still miss her.”    --Amanda

TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL
“Put Touched by An Angel back on television with new series each season, you were stupid cancelling it because most of America enjoyed this godly series, yes, we believe in God.”    --Anonymous

GENERAL COMMENTS
“Forget having ever watched them....I’ve never HEARD of these shows....obviously, someone made good choices!”    --Ese

NOTES FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT WORLD
• In November, Cinemax will show all six "Star Wars" films in high-def.
• EW investigates the ‘Project Runway’ rule about pattern books
• Hiro on "Heroes" won't quit his day job (via TV Tattle)

• Oct. 16, 2006 | 6 a.m. PT

Multi-link Monday

We'll get back to canceled shows we're still mourning tomorrow, but let's take time out for beginning of the week linkage. Remember, you too can contribute to the Monday madness: just send in your suggestions for links to use in upcoming weeks.

• I adore this cassette-tape generator. Type in a song, band, and publisher name and it creates an image of a cassette with that info. (Remember when those clear cassettes were all the rage?) At first it may sound silly, but after sending a few to friends with inside jokes as the song titles, I decided it was a great online find. And it reminds me of my many shoeboxes full of cassettes, molding in the basement, stuck in that time warp between technologies. (Found via Siftin.)

• Wunnerful, wunnderful: Lawrence Welk is no longer with us, but his show lives on in reruns. This Weblog takes us back in time to those days when accordion players and champagne music reigned on everyone's grandmother's favorite show.

• Who hasn't occasionally (or, regularly) checked your horoscope? But have you ever heard of horoscopes especially for dogs and cats? My pets' horoscopes should be pretty much the same every day: "Today is a great day to loaf around, eat, and pester your owner for more treats." (Thanks to Denise for the link!)

• D'oh! It's never too early to start that holiday shopping, especially if a Talking Homer Simpson cookie jar is on your list. (Via Simpson Crazy.)

• Reader-submitted link o' the week: Jeanne sends in "A fascinating and fun site if you are interested in visual phenomena, optical or visual illusions. ... Something to consider, as long as you don't get dizzy in the process."

• Oct. 11, 2006 | 6 a.m. PT

Canceled shows we still mourn

It's official: Ray Liotta and Virginia Madsen's "Smith" is the first new show of the season to get the axe (although I technically still award that honor to the on-hiatus "Happy Hour," mostly a far worse show). BrilliantButCanceled is maintaining the canceled-show death watch. Follow their fabulous blog here.

Not many folks are going to argue that "Smith" or "Happy Hour" were brilliant shows that should have been saved. We've compiled here before our own list of Brilliant But Canceled shows, those little gems that made you feel only you were watching. Reader Sandra thinks we should do it again, and I agree.

Says Sandra: "Here's my list of the cancellations that were personally gut-wrenching:

1. NBC's Friday Night "Thrillogy": The Pretender, Profiler and Sleepwalkers, all canceled to make room for Extreme Football (which lasted less than a season).
2. American Dreams
3. Firefly
4. EZ Streets
5. Angel

Thanks for letting me share! The tedium of most sitcoms and reality shows currently on TV make me long for the days of well-written dramas. (And I couldn't agree with you more on "Everybody Loves Raymond"!)"

Sandra's on to something. I know that the minute I commit this list to the screen, I'll think of five others that should have been on it, but my current top five brilliant but canceled shows would be:
1. Austin Stories
2. American Dreams
3. My So-Called Life
4. Freaks and Geeks and Firefly (tie)
5. Relativity

You know the middle shows, I'll wager. Please note that I left off last season's "Reunion" for space only -- I'm still irked that they never wrapped up the murder, even though I think making the killer Sam's daughter, Amy, would have been a stupid cop-out.

"Austin Stories" was a true treasure, despite running on soul-killing MTV for just 12 episodes in 1997-1998. Austin comedians Howard Kremer, Chip Pope, and Laura House played versions of themselves, just hanging out in Austin, eating tacos and going tubing. Laura was perhaps the most inspiring, confident women of non-model-size woman to ever appear on the network, Howard was a con men who loved the ladies, and bumbling Chip ... well, let's just say we still quote Chip when we're trying to comfort a friend who's still mourning a broken relationship. ("All communication with Angie must cease!")

"Relativity" was kind of the Gen X-"thirtysomething," produced by that show's creators and running only in 1996 and early 1997. Kimberly Williams and David Conrad played a pair of star-crossed lovers, and the excellent supporting cast included Devon Gummersall and Adam Goldberg. It was one of the first shows for which I recall there being an active fan campaign to try and save it. The Internet felt rudimentary then, but somehow fans organized and sent cans of Raviolios (Goldberg's character's favorite food) to ABC in protest. Yeah, didn't work.

But even though none of these shows could be saved, it felt kind of cathartic to write about them. Send in your lists, and I'll share some of them.

NEWS FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT WORLD:
• USA Today on how ABC uglifies "Ugly Betty"
• "Top Model" Monique blames everybody else
• They're bringing back Menudo. Oh, great. (Via Reality Blurred.)

• Oct. 9, 2006 | 6 a.m. PT

Multi-link Monday

The random linkage just never stops. Remember, you too can contribute to the Monday madness: just send in your suggestions for links to use in upcoming weeks.

• Numerous readers have sent this one in, and it's well worth it. Remember all the fun (and frustration) we had with the Virgin quiz, where you had to find band names hidden in a picture? M&Ms has a similar one for Halloween, where you have to find "dark" movies (promoting their new dark-chocolate M&Ms). In this one, you get some instant gratification by typing in the name of the film you're guessing. Your answer turns green if you're right, red if you're wrong. Really addictive! Try to get them all before Halloween.

• Remember Quisp, the cereal with the smiley little space alien, who competed for your taste buds against brawny Quake? Quisp isn't easy to find these days, but some folks will do almost anything to get it. Now you can order it online. (Quake fans, you're on your own.) Via Metafilter.

• If Dr. Seuss had written legal opinions, they might have looked a little something like this.

• How cool are these multi-color Pantone dishes, based on samples that traveling china salesmen carried around in the 1940s and 1950s? So bright and pretty. This site also sells airline flatware, which I find just fascinating. Think of the places these forks and spoons have seen. (Via the wonderful LJC.)

• For comic-book fans only: The top 10 dumbest secret identities. My favorite is #6, He-Man/Prince Adam, but I'd also like to nominate Jem/Jerrica Benton, from Jem and the Holograms. Yeah, no one could tell you were both people, thanks to wicked cool super holographic computer Synergy and that pink hair. Last week's Test Pattern