Halloween Search Engine War!

Bing vs Google! Not sure if it's a "war" but I suspect it's a "one-upsman" type contest.  I've almost always enjoyed Google's "doodles" they do for holidays (except when they ignore Veterans Day) and wish they'd do more things like this.

The Bing page has an amusing, interactive tribute to Halloween; move your cursor around the page and click on objects around the room. I won't give too much away, but there are tributes to the movies Poltergeist, Halloween, The Amityville Horror, Friday the 13th, The Shining and Psycho. (Clickable arrows in circles will appear after revealing the things and take you to search results for those classic horror flicks.)

I've begun visiting Bing every day I can;  not only do you get points for visits, but also for using the search engine and for clicking around their fantastic interactive page.  (if I happen to miss a day, there's the option of cycling back through the previous week's offerings.) I've got quite a few points in my bank, but haven't used any of them yet; most of the redeemable items are entries into contests, usually for some Microsoft product.

Google's tribute isn't movie-related, but has some nifty interactive "games"; the ingredients you put into the witch's bubbling cauldron determines which one you'll go to, with a cool little flashlight-like application that will "scare you", another with a coffin-type "cups" game, a "whack-a-mole", only with hands erupting from a graveyard and others. (but I've already forgotten the rest)

Bing / Google

Halloween Dictionary

From the archives:

Halloween Dictionary 

Bobbing Apples: What happens when you leave your bra off while running.

Boogieman: Guy who passes time at a stoplight picking his nose.

Coffin: What you do when you get a piece of popcorn stuck in your throat.

Frankenstein: Hot dog and a mug of beer.

Full moon: What your repairman reveals when he bends over to fix your fridge.

Goblin: How you eat the Snickers bars you got for Halloween.

Invisible Man: What a guy becomes when there's housework to be done.
Also, see "Mr. Hyde."

Jack O' Lantern: An Irish Pumpkin.

Jack the Ripper: What Jack does to his lottery tickets after losing each week.

Mummy: Who kisses the boo-boo after you scrape your knee.

Pumpkin Patch: What a pumpkin wears when trying to quit smoking.

Skeleton: Any supermodel.

Vampire Bat: What Dracula hits a baseball with.

Witch: See "Mother-in-Law."

Zombie: What you look like before that first cup of morning coffee.

somnambulism

somnambulism som·nam·bu·lism [som-nam-byuh-liz-uhm, suhm-] noun

Also called: noctambulism, a condition that is characterized by walking while asleep or in a hypnotic trance

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I know people who do the same thing, only they're wide awake.

Daylight Savings Countdown

Breaking Bad Halloween

You may have already seen this photo; Aaron Paul posted it to his Twitter account and it's been discussed in several Breaking Bad message boards and other forums. Most people, such as myself, think it's cute and funny but as always is the case, *some* people were offended. "Dressing kids up as drug dealers? Horrible idea! Bad parents!" are the basic complaints. What I'd like to know is this:

Do these same people also complain when parents dress their kids up as Dracula, a witch, a zombie or the like? I asked that very question to someone who was up-in-arms over the photo and they said "But these parents are promoting drug use...and that's not cute!  People die every day from using or selling meth!!!"  I had to point out to them that vampires bite people, either killing them or, with the bite, sentencing them to an eternity of being a vampire as well, that witches in fairy tales captured and ate children and zombies...well, they just kill and then eat everyone, particularly their brains.

"But that's fiction!" came the reply.

Uh...and Breaking Bad wasn't?  Dressing your kids up as characters from a movie or TV show doesn't mean you condone whatever it was the FICTIONAL character did. 

Even with all the horrible things the characters in Breaking Bad did, that photo makes me smile.  *Some* people just want to go Breaking Butthurt and are more offensive than whatever it is they're protesting.

Growloween!