Halloween countdown is on! But what do I wear?

Frost! There's frost on the ground! And I'm not even ready to winterize my car yet. Oh, the humanity. What's a fella to do when he's feeling blue? Surf the internets, of course. And would somebody mind helping me with a Halloween costume? My sisters imposed a musical theme on the costumes, to which I say phooey. It's difficult enough finding a costume when there aren't restrictions. But I'd rather find a costume than have to explain myself. So, what'll it be?

Oh, that's just my Halloween pumpkin. It was supposed to be Mordecai from Lackadaisy, giving a dark, smoldering, "Valentino" look. He doesn't get it.

-   Halloween? That means two things. One, how exactly is All Hallow's Read coming along? I still think it's a good idea to give out scary books at Halloween. Two, this is Halloween.


Of course, the best* song from The Nightmare Before Christmas is What's This?

*As determined by the unofficial jury in my head.

-   Way, waaaay back in early May, Allie, the person behind the awesome Hyperbole and a Half posted that she was going to publish a book with Simon and Schuster. And then... silence.

Nothing.

For five and a half months.

So it was with some surprise that looked over at my handy dandy roll of blogs I subscribe to (over on the right hand side of this blog), and noticed a new post called "Adventures in Depression." Thinking that was an odd title for a post, I clicked anyway. What followed was vintage Hyperbole and a Half, and the realization that she wasn't kidding about having depression. It felt unkind to laugh, despite her fabulous MS Paint pictures. Nonetheless, I think you should read it, because even though her breakthrough wasn't a Hollywood-like epiphany, complete with an inspirational montage of doing things to conquer demons, accompanied by music from James Horner or perhaps some suitably cheesy pop song--even so, it's heartwarming to read about.

Overcoming depression because of late rental fees and because a video store didn't carry Jumanji? Apparently it can happen.

-   Poor Ringo. He never gets any respect. Like in the video for Help, he just holds an umbrella and tries to be seen. I can just imagine the instructions as the cameras were set to roll.

"John, you play the guitar and lip-sync. Paul, you sit behind John, play the bass, and lip-sync as well. George, you sit behind Paul, play guitar, and... oh, what the heck, you can lip-sync too. Ringo, play this umbrella."

He's probably back there thinking: "I wrote a song about an octopus!" (Via Reddit and its clever comments.)



-   Have you ever wondered what someone wandering around a transit station in the cold cold night looks like? Trench coat, hair cut like a rooster, and a raspy voice.

-   I’m actually impressed by this piece of action. It’s ridiculous, but filming and choreographing something this ridiculous is still a lot of work. (And if you want to see what I mean by clever Reddit comments, this is what I mean.)

-   Yes, I thought the Rod Stewart video was random too.

-   Song of the Week: Like the taste of cold lemonade on a scorching summer day, this song is so refreshing that it actually brought a smile to my face the first time I heard it. Listening to the radio can be a depressing experience when all any station plays is amiable pop tunes from one derivative band after another. You need something with a bit of an edge to give everything else a jolt. Well, this song slapped my ears in the face.

It might be better to listen to the song without watching the video, because the dancer in the video is so good that he's distracting. Imagine Carlton Banks, 20-some years later, but better. The dancer, by the way, is Derrick T. Tuggle, a 48-year-old actor/musician/security guard who did the video in one take,* but almost didn't get the chance at all.

*When I hear anyone talk about doing something in one take, it makes me wonder what everyone does afterwards. Does someone on the crew say, "Oh, we got it. I guess our work is done. Gee, if we return this camera fast, maybe they'll only charge us for an hour instead of a day." I imagine they'd move to the next item on the shot list, but when it's a one-take music video... what what do they do?

Without further ado, here is the song. From the forthcoming album "El Camino," it's Lonely Boy, by The Black Keys.


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Yes, that's all very nice, but I still need a costume for the musical-themed Halloween party. What am I going to do? Dress up as Rod Stewart??? Find out next week. Happy Halloween!