when hinges creak in doorless chambers

(Mostly) Halloween-themed braindump for today:

Cryptonerds are going to laugh their Fe366-o1a:9 off at today's xkcd.

Last week's Games of our Lives was a monster-themed game called Monster Bash. This week, I continue and retire the scary Halloween theme with . . . Halloween.

Gameplay: As The Babysitter, your job is to get the children to bed so you can sneak your boyfriend in through the kitchen door and dry-hump on the couch. Unfortunately for both of you, there's a masked killer in the house, and the game doesn't have enough memory to animate your boyfriend.

Collecting the kids isn't simple, though. The lights frequently flicker off on the upper floor, and Michael Myers shows up—randomly and without warning, just like in the movies—to stab you with his knife. Your only defense is to run around or away from him, or find the house's only knife and stab him with it.

When you pick up and lead three children to safety, you'll move on to the next level, which we like to call Halloween II. Don't worry, there's no idiotic Halloween III: Season Of The Witch level.

Oddio Overplay has a very cool and spooky Halloween compilation out this year called Calling All Fiends. Unlike all the cool Frankie Stein and His Ghouls 1960's fun stuff that I have, this compilation is actually very creepy and occasionally quite scary. It sets a very nice mood that (I hope) goes with Room 302, my entry in the Mystery Hotel sweepstakes.

It's hard to find, but if you can track it down, get yourself a copy of the full ride recording of the Haunted Mansion. As a bonus, get the original (1964) release of Disney's Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House. If you can find a crackly recording (just like the ones we had when we were kids) it's that much better. The best starting point on the Intertubes for this quest is right here, at WFMU's Beware of the Blog.

Finally, I have a Halloween 2006 photoset at flickr that I'm updating frequently. I'm particularly proud of my family's jack-o-lanterns.