Life On the Wicked Stage: Act 2

Spooky Door at the Bottom of the Stairs

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Death By Spoon

The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon. I guess this makes as much sense as many slasher flicks do. Even with a dull edge.

Via The Daily Dish

Tech Obssessed Trick or Treating

Interesting and sad observation or no?

Click for a larger view.
Via Make, AllTop and others. Some interesting commentary on this here.

Pumpkin Pyrotechnics and Other Halloween Science Fun

Just some pumpkin fun with science for Halloween.

Via Make

Dancing With Masks Can Be Dangerous

Be careful out there if you’re going to put on a Halloween mask and go dancing.

Knit Hat Stabs You with a Spike If You’re Not Smiling

Yikes. We’ve got a number of knitters at Wayside Theatre. Here’s hoping none of them get an idea to make some of these things. It’s a knitted cap that has a device in it that detects whether or not you’re smiling. If that smile fades, you get poked in the head with a spike.

happiness hat from Lauren McCarthy on Vimeo.

Yeah, that’ll keep you smiling.

Via BoingBoing

Evil and Fun Laughter Scaring You Silly on Halloween from Bill Gates, Robert Scoble, and Yours Truly

Yes, it’s that time of the year again. Halloween. Time for spooks, trick or treating, and demonic candy. It’s also time for this annual feature here on Life on the Wicked Stage. Several years ago, intrepid blogger TDavid put together a sound track (laugh track?) of spooky, loud laughter featuring Bill Gates, Robert Scoble, Todd from Geek News Central, and myself.

I can’t speak for the others but I know my very loud and obnoxious laugh has been know to make children cry, but I’m guessing from the sounds of things, these others have turned a few heads or so as well.

Anyway, here's the link to download the laugh track.  Here the's the link to TDavid's post on the Helloweeen Trick Mix #5. And here's a link to just my evil laugh.

Have a Happy Halloween!

OMIGOD: Witches Have Contaminated Halloween Candy and We’re All Going to Hell!

I’m sitting here munching on some candy corn, and a candy pumpkin or two. Then I find out, that witches and demons have contaminated all sorts of candies as a way of getting evil into our lives and those of our children. They did this by praying over it. Pat Robertson and his CBN say so, so it much be true.

Well, it is actually a guest writer, Kimberly Daniels, who is putting out the alert. Now we know where the evil really is: the candy companies. I’m only hoping that the armies of good rise up and shut those candy companies down. Think of it. We’ll also put some dentists out of work in the bargain.

I do find it suspicious though that the CBN pulled the original post from its site. I think that’s evil stuff at work there too. Or maybe its just some of those candy company CEOs reminding Pat where his cookie is doughed.

Be careful out there.

Economy Growing Headlines and Local Anecdotal Reports

Headlines this morning say that the GDP grew 3.5% over the last quarter and everyone is shaking their heads going "huh"? Guess that only proves that headlines do nothing but keep us in a perpetual state of confusion. Of course job creation is still down and that buts a damper on any positive news.

I pay attention to what is happening nationally and locally because of my business concerns here at Wayside Theatre, so I'll welcome the news that things are up, at least until the next headline puts the kaboosh on this news.

But locally I'm seeing some anecdotal that things are improving a bit as well. Here are some examples.

On a recent errand run, I talked to a few store managers I know about business. They all are reporting significant increases in their comparisons day to day from a year ago and some are reporting the same thing from two years ago. One store is seeing a 24% increase.

Our local Volunteer Fire Department hosts a Turkey/Oyster dinner as a fundraiser each October. Last year's attendance was miserable. The year before was down but not as much. This year they had lines stretched through the parking lot and it was raining. Traffic was tied up in town due to the event.

Our sales at Wayside Theatre have seen a dramatic rise from this summer when we were in the doldrums. We expected some of that rise, but we're a bit ahead of our projections, which is very encouraging. Our Christmas show advance is bigger than it has been for the last few years.

Again, all of this is anecdotal, and I'm sure it could all change any minute, but the signs (if that is what they are) do look encouraging.

Boob Tubing: CNBC Screws Up MSFT Stock Info

This is one of those stories that just makes you think. If you have a mind to. Let's see. Microsoft releases its Windows 7 OS on Thursday. Big news. Then on Friday, CNBC reporter Jim Goldman incorrectly states on air that Microsoft had lowered its yearly guidance on revenue. Microsoft's stock and the entire NASDAQ took a huge hit. CNBC kinda, sorta, corrected the info, but so far has not issued an apology.

So, where does the thinking part come in? How many folks lost money on this mistake? How many others just like it, or similar to it, have caused stocks to tumble? Why do folks who play the "smart game" of Wall Street listen to these bozos if they can make errors, without doing some checking themselves? How do these people keep jobs? We complain about market manipulation all the time by the high and mighty, how about some dish on those at the lower end of the food chain?

Really interesting when you think about it.

Via Silicon Alley Insider