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As Thanksgiving approaches, stores are beginning to gear up for their big holiday sales and “Black Friday”—one of the biggest (if not the biggest) shopping days of the year. With the economy slowly starting to recover from the recession, retailers are hoping for a prosperous shopping season, and shoppers are looking for a great deal.

If you’re not interested in battling the throngs of shoppers that flock to the stores on Black Friday, perhaps waiting for “Cyber Monday” is more your speed. Similar to Black Friday, Cyber Monday refers to the first Monday following Thanksgiving, when many shoppers return to their offices and click online to continue their holiday shopping. Many e-tailers offer free shipping, online discounts, and other deals on this day to lure shoppers to their websites.

With just 22 days until the start of Hanukkah and 36 days ’til Christmas, the holiday shopping season is nearly here. (Looking for a Black Friday Survival Guide? Stop by Shine for a few tips on how to weather the sales!)

Do you typically go shopping on Black Friday? If so, do you make it out for the early sales or do you visit the stores later in the day? Or, do you avoid the stores altogether and wait for Cyber Monday? Tell us your holiday shopping habits by leaving a comment!

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Recently, the rock band Aerosmith announced that it was “positively” seeking a new lead singer to replace Steven Tyler. Immediately following the news, sites like Yahoo! and Twitter saw a spike in searches for Steven Tyler, Aerosmith, and their hits. Joe Perry, lead guitarist for Aerosmith, vows to continue the band and is considering replacing Tyler with another lead vocalist. Then, a few days later, Tyler and Perry announced that Tyler was simply going on a two-year break.

Whatever Steven Tyler and Aerosmith’s future holds, for many bands, replacing the lead singer is the “kiss of death”—a sign that the end is near, because the lead singer often lends his soul to the band. Without him, the band often falters. But for some bands, changing the lead singer can signal the start of something new.

What do you think the future holds for Aerosmith? And can you think of a band that succeeded after the lead singer left? What about one that failed? Please be sure to tell us why you think they failed (or succeeded) when leaving your comment!

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I’m a sucker for a good disaster movie.  Films like “The Day After Tomorrow,” “Children of Men,” and “Independence Day” were all fascinating and disturbing, but ultimately safe and cathartic ways to examine our fears about the end of the world. There’s a new disaster flick to add to the list, and if the pre-opening buzz is any indication, we’re in for quite a ride with “2012.”  The new film by Roland Emmerich focuses on the interpretation of the Mayan calendar which predicts that the current life cycle will end on December 21, 2012, speculating that a worldwide apocalypse will ensue.

Let’s face it — though scary, most “end of the world” prophecies are easy to dismiss.  I mean, so many have come and gone throughout history with nothing to show. Just within the last decade, there have been a handful of predicted apocalypse scenarios.  According to Nostradamus, we weren’t supposed to make it past 1999, and even if we did, Y2K was sure to do us in.  Why should  the 2012 prediction be any different?

Well, for one thing, the Mayas were different from, and perhaps a bit more knowledgeable, than some other doomsday foretellers. The Mayan calendar is almost as advanced as our own at predicting astrological phenomena like eclipses and alignments — a pretty amazing feat considering that they didn’t have access to telescopes, satellites, and the other advanced technology that we have at our disposal.  The Mayas chose 2012’s solstice as doomsday based on astronomical observations predicting a squaring-off between the powerful forces of Pluto and Saturn — a phenomenon that, according to my understanding, will indeed occur around that time.

But, to be fair, this same cosmic occurrence has happened many times before, most recently between August 2001 and May 2002, and we came through it just fine.  Much of the hype about 2012 is actually just that: hype.  Even modern Mayas are discounting the validity of the interpretation of their ancient calendar. But no one can deny that we, as a society, love a bit of suspense.  Fueled by Internet speculation, sensationalist authors and scientists, and, of course, the upcoming Hollywood blockbuster, anxiety about 2012 is certainly on the rise and will probably continue to pervade popular culture…at least until 2013 and the next big apocalypse prediction.

Do you believe in the Mayan prophecy regarding Dec. 21, 2012?   And if you knew it were true, how would you like to spend your next (and last) 3 years on earth?

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Thanks to everyone who submitted a Halloween Yamster or Avatar image during last week’s outage—we loved going through everyone’s submissions and had a hard time picking just one winner. As a result, we’ve chosen one Grand Prize Winner (congratulations, Cameron!), and three category winners.

Thanks again for your patience during the outage and for all the great submissions.

If you didn’t get a chance to submit a Yamster, or want to take a look at some of the other nominees, be sure to stop by the Flickr pool, found here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/answershalloween/pool/

Grand Prize Winner – (500 points)

Cameron

Category Winners – (100 points)

Spookiest, X-Ellen-X

Best Effects,TechOfAJob

Best Classic Costume, ☸ ☥ ♡ ☮ ☯,

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Photo by King Chimp

I love a good scare.  I get especially excited about a well-crafted horror film and, lucky for me, movie theaters and TV channels are teeming with them around this time of year.  In recent weeks we’ve had a couple of great ones (both Zombieland and Paranormal Activity totally lived up to the hype, in my opinion) and a few duds (Pandorum and The Stepfather immediately come to mind), but the interesting thing about horror films is even when they’re bad, they can still be great fun, provided they deliver on a few scares.

My personal preference tends toward ghost stories and hauntings, but I’ll pretty much watch anything from vampires to zombies to slasher flicks.  The only ones I avoid are those extreme torture films which seem to have found a large audience in recent years.  The first Saw was good, but I kind of lost interest after that.  I only made it about half-way through Hostel and there’s no way I’m watching The Audition.

In the spirit of Halloween, I thought I’d share a list of my top 5 horror movies (as well as a smattering of honorable mentions):

–The Haunting (1963) – This classic black & white film from 1963 is based on the Shirley Jackson novel “The Haunting of Hill House.” It was remade in 1999, but I think the original is much scarier.  Like the current hit Paranormal Activity, The Haunting is light on special effects but still manages to scare the snot out of you.  Creaking doors that breathe (literally), frighteningly loud noises, and a truly compelling story supply the chills in this one and it’s a great ride.

–Let the Right One In – Overshadowed by that “other” vampire film (you know, the one with the kids that sparkle), last year’s Let the Right One In passed under most people’s radar.  This Swedish film, based on the book by John Ajvide Lindqvist, tells the story of the friendship between a down-trodden 12-year-old boy and the little vampire girl who lives next door.  It’s beautiful and creepy and funny and sad, all at the same time.  I understand they’re shooting an American version (why are people afraid of subtitles?), but I highly recommend the original.

–The Shining – Is there anything more frightening than Jack Nicholson chasing Shelley Duvall and that poor “redrum” kid around that spooky hotel?  Stanley Kubrick’s seminal thriller based on the Stephen King novel is not only a great horror movie, it’s a great movie period.

–Poltergeist – I was 10 years old when Poltergeist came out in the theater.  I begged my parents to take me, to which they reluctantly agreed.  I’m sure they still regret that decision. I didn’t sleep for 2 months after seeing that film…neither did they.

–The Exorcist – This terrifying tale of demonic possession is hands down the scariest movie I’ve ever seen.  It takes awhile to get going (almost nothing scary happens in the first hour or so), but the second half of the movie should not be watched alone.  Loads of pea-green vomit, spinning heads and flying furniture, and a teenage girl having a very, VERY bad week–this is and will always be the grand-dame of horror movies, if you ask me.

–Honorable Mentions:  The Birds, High Tension, Candyman, The Amityville Horror (the original, skip the Ryan Reynolds remake), Alien, Silence of the Lambs, and, more recently, Drag Me to Hell.

Now it’s your turn to share.  Do you relish a good horror movie or would you rather hide behind your popcorn?  What are your favorite horror movies and what is it about them (or the genre) that you love?

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