Top Five Movie Musicals

By Jemiah Jefferson

Find out how to win a copy of the soundtrack to Nine at the end of this article! The contest has now ended.

In light of the upcoming release of Nine (on December 18), starring everybody and Fergie, it’s time for a small countdown of my particular favorite movie musicals. Of course, this list probably won’t line up with yours (although you should remember to check the lists of runners-up at the bottom!), but these five films were instrumental in transforming me from a scowling punk who had nothing but contempt for movie song-and-dance to a glitter-afro-wearing, Twyla-Tharp-worshipping show tune queen.
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Top Five Holiday Tunes: By Laura L.

1. “Last Christmas,” Wham!

Yes, it’s full of ’80s cheesiness, but that’s what makes it so great. You can just picture George Michael and Andrew Ridgely performing this song in sweaters that would make even Bill Cosby blush.
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Top Five Alternative Holiday Songs

By Lisa Anderson

Carols are an inevitable part of the holiday season. Most of us have carols, whether sacred or secular, that we love, and others that we hate. It’s not unusual to end up sick of all of them by the end of the season, either—especially for someone who works in retail. I’ve decided to make a list of five of my favorite contemporary holiday songs. They all take a fresher and more realistic view of the season, as well as not being so overplayed that they barely register.
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Top Five Female Television Characters

By Noreen Sobczyk

1. Diana Rigg as Emma Peel in The Avengers, 1965 – 1968

When I was younger I wanted to be Emma Peel. Who am I kidding? I still want to be Emma Peel. She has a killer ’60s wardrobe, and for my money is the best dressed female character in television history. She’s intelligent, self assured, sharp, and sexy; a woman who can take care of herself, often rescuing her male partner John Steed. Using her wits as well as her martial arts skills, she solves crimes and fights villains, a great feminist character. (Earlier and later seasons of The Avengers held no interest for me as they did not feature Emma Peel.)
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Top Five Vampire Songs

By Lisa Anderson

As Halloween approaches, we start hearing certain seasonal songs like “Monster Mash” and “Spooky”; we may also dust off our copies of albums by supernaturally-themed acts like Rob Zombie. However, I would like to share my list of the top five vampire songs that aren’t really about vampires.

Some of these are from my vamp-loving early adolescence, but they all taught me that a song can be about more than one thing. They may be heard at any time of year, but scratch the surface, and they still remind me of everyone’s favorite children of the night. (The last one? Is just for fun.)
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Tatt-screwed! Top Five Wanna-Be Scary Tattoos

By Julie Finley

A few weeks back, I was out at dinner, and some guy walked by sporting a rather alarming tattoo on his arm. . . in blood-dripping scrawl, it read “Junkie.” My partner and I laughed to ourselves. We got in the car, and it got me thinking of other bad tattoos I’ve seen on various people who have passed my way.
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Five Things That Truly Terrify Me About Halloween

By Jesse Roth

5. There are strange phenomena known as “hell houses.”

Earlier this decade, I happened upon several articles and a rather interesting (and frightening) documentary dealing with a relatively recent Halloweentime event. Inspired by both the creative possibilities and horror potential of the haunted house, as well as their own ultraconservative evangelical beliefs, several churches across the southern United States were inviting the public to tour their “hell houses.” For a nominal fee (or sometimes for free), tour goers could navigate an otherwise typical but intricately decorated haunted house that substitutes ghouls and chainsaw assassins for graphic depictions of both biblical and modern “sin” (adultery, abortion, etc.). At the end of this joyride, members of the sponsoring church would invite members to absolve their various sins by committing their lives to Jeebus, and maybe some gratis candy and cider.
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A Taste Of Terror: Graphic Novels And Horror Comics

By Laura Thomas

October has long been associated with horror movies, Halloween outings, scary music and more, but what about graphic novels? Horror comics are a popular genre of graphic novels that have been popular since the 1940s. They have managed to survive to this day, despite the Senate subcommittee hearings of the 1950s that saw the end of many other genres of comics. In the last ten years or so, horror comics have exploded in the market with one-off graphic novels and ongoing comic book series. So strong is their hold that many movies are being produced based on these graphic novels and comics, and they are often greeted with great success at the box office.
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My So-Called Teen Movies: Five Fave John Hughes Moments

By Laura L.

Recently, the world lost a talented writer/director in John Hughes, who died of a heart attack at the age of 59. Hughes defined 1980s adolescent teen angst, writing and directing such movies as Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Yes, it’s true that the quality of his work eventually went downhill (Maid in Manhattan. No, seriously!), but those of us brought up in the ’80s—or, in my case, afterward—his high-school-era films really seemed to strike a chord. Here are my five favorite scenes from five John Hughes movies.
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Great Expirations: Top Five Deaths Under Suspicious (Or Nefarious) Circumstances

By Emily C.

5. Jimi Hendrix: Rock star

Manner of death: Victimized by his own vomit

On September 18, 1970, Jimi Hendrix joined the Great Rock Supergroup in the Sky when he died at age 27. It was initially assumed he probably died of a drug overdose, since he was a casual abuser of drugs; suicide was even bandied about as the probable cause of his death. However, the doctor who attended to him at the death scene concluded he had died because his lungs had filled with red wine vomit.
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