Friday, October 31, 2008

Halloween Reads

Yes, tonight is the night, when all the little ghosts and goblins come to your door and demand candy. You comply, because cleaning egg off your windshield is no way to spend a Saturday morning.

I loved Halloween as a kid. When I was too old to go door to door, I became the one who decorated the house and gave out the candy. In university, October became the month when I would rent bad slasher flicks, eat lots of junk, and read strictly horror novels.

This year I thought I would share some of my favorites with you all, and request you share your favorites with me. These are not nessessarily the scariest books I have ever read, but they are the books that I remember best. They have a certain magic to them.

  • Salems Lot, Stephen King's dark homage to Dracula. Some really great scenes in that one. The kind that linger in your mind long after you turn off the light.

  • Moon Dance, by SP Somptow. There are relatively few books about werewolves out there, but there are even fewer that don't come off as comic like and childish. This one works well.

  • Vampire$ , by John Steakley. The book is a fun ride that reads like a movie. Sadly, John Carpenter turned it into a movie and it sucked ass.

  • The Exorcist, by William Peter Blatty. Scared the crap out of me. Movie is even more powerful. It could have something to do with the fact I was raised Catholic, or the fact that I have an overactive imagination, either way, this one gave me nightmares.
Got any suggestions for me?

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Do not bother.

Awhile back I ranted about Telemarketers, and I spoke about the Do not call service that was in the works. Well, it was launched, unsuccessfully, yesterday.

Unsuccessful is is a bit of an understatement.

According to the Globe and Mail, demand was so high the CRTC had to publish a note on its site advising people to try later.


Local radio stations and media outlets have been allowing consumers to rant and rave about the inability of the site to handle the load, and question the effectiveness of the program. That aside, I have to wonder, would it not be easier to have everyone on the "Do not call list" by default- and only those interested in receiving calls should sign up on a "Go ahead call me, I've got no friends list".

Surely that would be easier than the clusterfuck that was yesterday.