Everyone knows that the Halloween spirit isn’t just confined to October 31st – it’s more like an entire two-week span that culminates with a huge, costume-filled celebration. (Editor’s Note: Two weeks? I’ve been planning my costume since last November!) That being said, the best place to celebrate the earlier part of the world’s scariest holiday is… on the couch.

Major TV networks often dedicate time slots (or entire days) to Halloween-themed episodes, specials, and movies… and I love every scary second of it. True, the power players at Fox suck and deemed the World Series more important than Halloween (RUDE!), but even though the annual Simpsons Halloween extravaganza has been postponed to November, there are plenty of sweet Halloween events on TV.

Check below for some of the best Halloween celebrations that don’t require a costume (but may require an adult diaper): Read More »

Is it enough already with the fangs?

Eclipse is out, True Blood is back and there’s a veritable smorgasbord of undead hotties floating around right now in all their pale, gorgeous glory. Vampires, much like leggings and giant purses, have pretty clearly been the trend of the past couple of years with rip-off series’ and cash-ins than you can shake a stake at, but now I’m starting to wonder, is it time to say enough is enough?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m an unashamed vamp fangirl from way back in the Buffy era (Spike, *sigh*) and have read more than my fair share of vampire novels from Dracula to Anne Rice to Twilight. Likewise, I’m not going to debate the artistic merits of the recent incarnations of the vamp craze. What I’m asking is, is it time to say our blood-sucking appetite is sated and maybe give something else a crack at the limelight, or are we still desperate for all things “children of the night”?

On one side, vampires are a part of our cultural heritage. Practically every culture on the planet has some version of the creature in it’s lore, and people have always been almost inexplicably drawn toward the idea. Since the birth of vamp fiction, readers have been pulled to the idea of the taboo, the danger, and yeah, the hot hot (or, you know, cold, undead) sex. Vampires have everything it takes to make for a theme that will always be in our psyche’s so to say that we’ve had enough of them is like saying we’ve had enough of handsome, heroic male leads – sure, it’s been done to death (ha!) but that doesn’t mean we’ve stopped loving it. Read More »

So lately I have, like the rest of the world it seems, been anticipating the release of Dan Brown’s “Angels and Demons” film. I’ve re-read the book (I have the nice copy with pictures!) and “The Da Vinci Code” in preparation and cannot seem to satisfy my historical-thriller appetite. So along with “The Reincarnationist,” here is another book that filled my need for some serious reading adrenaline.

“The Historian” by Elizabeth Kostova is a LARGE book. I have the hardcover copy and let me tell you, this thing is by no means dainty. At a whopping 642 pages, you’re in for the long haul with this one. But what a fast-paced, exciting and intriguing haul it is!

Kostova takes the classic story of Dracula and weaves it into a story about the hunt for the real man, Vlad the Impaler, who supposedly did discover a way to become immortal. With vivid descriptions of the majestic countries of the Eastern Bloc (if you’re ever been, you will be drooling with jealously) and scary dives into crypts and ancient castles, Kostova is sure to please a history or travel buff purely with her settings. Read More »