On Today’s Show
➢ It seems like every old theater in the world is haunted but the Regent Theatre in Picton, Ontario isn’t haunted . . . yet. They’ve never found a ghost there even though it’s been around for more than a century.
So, they’re making an offer: You can pay $25 to enter a contest and on Halloween, they’ll draw one name. That person will win the rights to haunt the theater as a ghost after they die.
The theater has been closed because of the pandemic since March, so they’re hoping this contest will help bring in some money. And maybe get them a cool ghost too?
➢ A woman near Houston named Angela Nava put up some pole-dancing skeletons in her yard for Halloween this year, and her homeowner’s association wasn’t happy about it. They told her to take it down, but people seem to like it. So she’s sticking to her guns and leaving them up.
➢ A Canadian woman’s bizarre burger order has left people in splits. A woman named Katie Poole in Toronto was hungover when she called McDonald’s for a hamburger. However, she went too far with the modifications and received only two packets of ketchup from the fast-food chain. It is tough to place the blame on McDonald’s for this mess-up, given that Ms Poole specifically requested that her burger be made with “No bun, no mustard, no onion, no pickles and no patty”. There’s a receipt to prove that this baffling burger order was actually placed. It was shared on Instagram by her husband Jody Poole, who wrote, “So we had a few drinks last night @katievandemark decides a McDonald’s hamburger will cure her hangover.”
➢ It sounds like Amazon is going to follow Netflix’s example and be a little secretive with their numbers. But they said that “Borat 2” was streamed by, quote, “tens of millions of customers” during its debut weekend.
Fans of “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” have raised over $100,000 for Jeanise Jones, the grandmother who appears in the film and is hired to babysit Borat’s daughter, Tutar. This comes after Jones revealed that she was paid just $3,600 for her time. Though The New York Post quoted her as feeling “betrayed” by Baron Cohen and the filmmakers, she clarified that she felt safe while filming her scenes and blames herself for not fully reading her contract.
➢ As close as she is with Snoop Dogg, Martha Stewart says she hasn’t had a joint since 1972. (She was talking to Chelsea Handler.)
TODAY IS……………….
- “Candy Corn Day”, celebrating the traditional Halloween candy that resembles corn kernels and can’t be resisted until you’ve finished off the entire 2-lb bag. About 9 billion pieces are manufactured each year.
SUNDAY-
• “The End of Daylight Saving Time”, as Standard Time officially returns at 2 am. Don’t forget to set your clocks back an hour (remember: ‘Spring forward, Fall back’).
- “Movember” begins today, the annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men’s suicide.
1938 [82] A radio broadcast of H. G. Wells “The War of the Worlds”, narrated by Orson Welles, causes mass panic
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COUNTRY MUSIC NOTE
Martina McBride’s contribution to the Runaway Bride soundtrack, “I Love You,” hit No. 1 in 1999.
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FOUR RANDOM FACTS
✓ The Michael Myers mask used in “Halloween” was actually a ‘Captain Kirk’ “Star Trek” mask.
✓ The sounds of stabbing in the “Halloween movie” were made by a knife being plunged into a watermelon.
✓ Pumpkins are classified as a fruit, not as a vegetable.
✓ Tombstones were originally put over graves so that the dead could not escape.
GOOD NEWS
A guy in the U.K. wanted to cheer up his dad, who’s a former music teacher with dementia. And getting him to play the piano usually helps.
So, he asked for an old party trick the dad used to do. If you give him four notes, he’ll improvise a song around them.
The song he came up with was so good that the son posted a video, which went viral. Then someone arranged it for other instruments . . . and members of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra played along to it from their homes.
The single goes on sale next week, and the proceeds are going to charity.
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BIRTHDAYS
[75] Henry Winkler, actor (‘Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli’ on “Happy Days”)
[69] Harry Hamlin, actor (“L.A. Law” 1986-1991, “Mad Men” 2013-2014)
[42] Matthew Morrison, actor (‘Will Schuester’ on “Glee” 2009-15)
Science Says That the Scariest Movie of All Time Is . . .
“Sinister” stars ETHAN HAWKE as a true crime writer who moves into a house where a family was murdered and . . . stuff happens. It came out in 2012.
So how was this decided? Someone chose 50 horror movies, then had 50 people sit down and watch them all . . . and their heart rates were monitored the whole time.
Fifty movies isn’t exactly a comprehensive overview of the horror genre, but they chose them based on their ratings on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes. And the list did include many of the supposedly scariest films of all time.
“Insidious” came in second. The test subjects reacted to both of the top movies with an average heart rate of 86 beats per minute. “Sinister” won for keeping their hearts pounding for the entire movie, while “Insidious” got the biggest jump scare.
- (tie) “Sinister”and “Insidious”, 86 beats per minute.
- “The Conjuring”, 85 bpm.
- “Hereditary”, 83 bpm.
- “Paranormal Activity”, 82 bpm.
- “It Follows”, 81 bpm.
- (tie) “The Conjuring 2” and “The Babadook”, 80 bpm.
- (tie) “The Descent”, “The Visit”, and “The Ring”, 79 bpm.
- (tie) “A Quiet Place” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, 78 bpm.
It’s interesting that everything in the Top 10 came out within the last 20 years. THEN you start seeing more classic stuff.
It’s kind of amazing that legendary flicks like “Halloween”, “Chainsaw”, and “The Exorcist” don’t even make the Top 10, but tastes change. I mean, people were terrified of the old “Frankenstein” and “Dracula” movies when they first came out in the ’30s and ’40s.
Some other classic movies that appear further down the list include “The Omen”, “The Shining”, “Alien”, “The Thing”, and “Friday the 13th”.
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PUT THE GAME INN:
Atari is opening gaming-inspired hotels around the US. The company, forever linked with iconic games like Pong and Centipede, first announced the plan in January, and has now announced that the first hotels will be in Phoenix, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada, with plans for future Atari hotels in 6 other US cities.
What could one expect to experience in a “gaming-inspired” hotel? According to Atari, they will be styled with ‘retro-futurism’, pop culture and nostalgia themes. They will feature themed restaurants and retro arcades with classic Atari games, plus more recent gaming innovations, such as Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality.
Some locations will also have venues for esports tournaments and studios for influencers to produce content. Each hotel will also have a nightclub and speakeasy bar for adult guests.
Two-Sentence Horror Stories To Freak You Out
Sometimes, less is more. Here are some of our favorite very short horror stories that will haunt you all day:
I begin tucking him into bed and he tells me, Daddy check for monsters under my bed. I look underneath for his amusement and see him, another him, under the bed, staring back at me quivering and whispering, Daddy there’s somebody on my bed.
The doctors told the amputee he might experience a phantom limb from time to time. Nobody prepared him for the moments though, when he felt cold fingers brush across his phantom hand.
I woke up to hear knocking on glass. At first, I though it was the window until I heard it come from the mirror again.
They delivered the mannequins in bubble wrap. From the main room I begin to hear popping
.
My TV keeps turning on by itself. It’s annoying, but what’s more worrisome is how it only shows footage of me standing in my living room.
As I played in the basement, Mother called me upstairs. From behind me, She whispered, Don’t go up there.
The Three Words That Brought Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher Closer During Quarantine
Isn’t it nice to hear about celebrity marriages that are doing well?
In a recent interview CARRIE UNDERWOOD said she and MIKE FISHER have gotten even closer during the pandemic. She pointed to one moment in particular.
Quote, “He kind of summed it up one night. We were a couple of months in and had been very much in quarantine just with each other [and] he said, ‘You know what? I like you.’ I was like, ‘What does that mean? You like me?’
“He was like, ‘I know I love you . . . we’ve been married ten years this year and have two kids together. But this experience has shown me I like you, too.'”
Then she left him hanging. Just kidding. She adds, quote “I said, ‘I like you, too.'”
FRIDAY OCTOBER 30TH
- Denny’s plans for the Halloween blue moon, going back to the office, Harley-Davidson’s new electric bike, and the man who fell into the sinkhole filled with rats. (From Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers on Thursday, October 29, 2020.)
- Unlike three of their other games this season, the Atlanta Falcons held onto their fourth quarter lead, and beat the Carolina Panthers last night with a last-minute interception. (Here’s the play, and final call. From “Thursday Night Football” on Thursday, October 29, 2020.)
- This is time change weekend so remember to move your clocks back one hour before you go to bed on Saturday night.
- Here’s another classic Halloween bit from Jerry Seinfeld. (When he got a Superman costume as a kid, the box said that you shouldn’t attempt to fly in the costume.)
MIRANDA LAMBERT WANTED TO SHOWCASE HER ‘HAPPY PLACE, HAPPY PERSON’
The new video for Miranda Lambert‘s latest single, “Settling Down,” follows the singer and her husband, Brendan McLoughlin, at home in Tennessee. Miranda’s horse, Gibson, as well as one of her many rescue dogs, Delta Dawn, also have cameos.
Miranda tells us the idea for the clip was hers. [“I came up with this concept because of the lyrics of the song, I wanted to shoot something at my home, my farm, preferably with my husband. I just feel like it was very intimate and kind of set up the lyrics. So we talked to Trey Fanjoy, our favorite director and friend, and she made it this beautiful fairytale, but also very down-home and down to Earth. It was shot at my happy place with my happy person, so it was a really good day.”]
In other Miranda news, she had to say goodbye to her beloved golden retriever, Waylon, last week. She shared the sad news on Instagram with a series of pictures of Waylon writing in part, “Today I lost one of my best friends. My old pal Waylon . . . For almost 13 years. He was a rock in our family and always held down the fort. I’m so thankful for the time we had with him . . .” Miranda still has Waylon’s sister, Jessi.
OLD DOMINION’S TREVOR ROSEN RECALLS MUMMY COSTUME FAIL
Old Dominion‘s Trevor Rosen recalls one Halloween during his childhood that was a total fail. He tells us that his homemade costume didn’t hold up to the night’s conditions. [“I had one Halloween where I waited too long to think of anything, so I told my mom, I was like, “I got it. I’m going to be a mummy.” I didn’t have a costume, so I took toilet paper, and she was like, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” I just rolled toilet paper all around me to become a mummy, and shortly into trick-or-treating it started to drizzle. (Geoff Sprung) Oh no. (Matthew Ramsey) *laughs* That’s disgusting. (Trevor) And by the time I got back to the house I mean I just had little pieces of toilet paper mashed to my body. (Geoff) I bet you still got candy. (Trevor) I did still get candy, so it worked.”]
FAST FACTS
Earlier this week, Old Dominion was nominated for Favorite Country Duo or Group at the upcoming American Music Awards. The show will air on ABC on Nov. 22nd.
They are also nominated for Vocal Group and Album of the Year for Old Dominion at the CMA Awards, taking place in Nashville on Nov. 11th and airing live on ABC.
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MATT STELL’S MOST MEMORABLE HALLOWEEN COSTUME
As Halloween costumes go, Matt Stell says there’s one that definitely stands out in his memory. It was related to a very high-profile news story back in 1995. He tells us: [“One costume that sticks out to me from my childhood was I decided to go as Judge Lance Ito, who presided over the O.J. Simpson trials, as like a whatever-grader I was. I don’t even know why I thought that would be a good idea, but my folks helped me execute it I guess. I wore like a graduation robe and carried a hammer.”]
FAST FACTS
Matt’s new EP, Better Than That, was released earlier this month and is available at all digital platforms.
