Boo!

Do you like a good scary movie? You'd better, because it seems that's all they're playing on TV, right? Since Halloween is this weekend, E! News put together a list of 31 interesting facts about horror movies. Here are 17 of our favorites:

1. "The Exorcist" is the first horror movie to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It lost out to "The Sting".

2. In "The Exorcist", Linda Blair's character was supposed to vomit on Father Karras' chest. But the tube they used misfired, and it hit him in the face. So the look of disgust as he wipes off the vomit is genuine.

3. The vomit used in "The Exorcist" consists mostly of pea soup.

4. The blood used in "Night of the Living Dead" is chocolate syrup. Of course, the movie was in black-and-white. (This was actually common in black-and-white films. It was used for the shower scene in "Psycho" as well.)

5. The color red is present in almost every shot of "The Shining".

6. Due to his experience as a volunteer firefighter, Jack Nicholson took down the prop door with the ax in "The Shining" too quickly. They had to switch it with a real door for that scene.

7. While filming "Scream", the actors were never allowed to see the man who voices Ghostface. Director Wes Craven thought it would make their performances more realistic, and so the guy, Roger L. Jackson, would hide on set and actually make the phone calls during scenes.

8. Sissy Spacek slept in her bloody clothes for three days while filming the "Carrie" prom scene in order to maintain continuity.

9. None of the actors and actresses who were playing high school students in "Carrie" were actually teenagers.

10. The original title for "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" was 'Head Cheese'.

11. The original title for "Halloween" was 'The Babysitter Murders'.

12. Church the cat in "Pet Sematary" is played by seven different cats.

13. The story for "Final Destination" was actually an abandoned idea for an "X-Files" episode.

14. "Saw" was filmed in only 18 days. There are no exterior shots because they couldn't afford them.

15. It only took eight days to film "The Blair Witch Project".

16. To make the tension between the actors authentic in "The Blair Witch Project", the directors gave them less and less food each day.

17. You may have heard this one before, but it's still pretty amazing: "Psycho" was the first American movie to show a toilet being flushed. That was in 1960.

Let's Be Careful Out There!

If you're letting your kids go trick-or-treating with friends this year, here are three free smartphone apps to help keep them safe. They'll have to have a phone with them, but a lot of kids have their own phone anyway now. And even if you're going trick-or-treating with them, you might want them in case you get separated:

1. Family Locator. It uses the GPS on their phone to show exactly where they are in real time. You just log in on your phone, and it pulls up a map. Or if they need you, they can press an S.O.S. button that sends you their location.

2. Red Panic Button. It's basically like the S.O.S. button, but simpler so it's good for little kids. All they have to do is push a big red button, and it automatically sends you a text with a link to a map that shows where they are. And you can put multiple people on the contact list, so more than one person gets it.

3. Life360. Again, you can see where they are on a map in real time, and they can message you if there's a problem. But the cool part is you can also set boundary limits. So you get an alert if they go too far away, or cross a street they're not supposed to.

Bloody Good!

If you wanna up your Halloween game with some fake blood this year, you don't have to go out and buy it. You can make buckets of it with just four ingredients that you might already have in your kitchen. Here's what you need: Eight ounces of water - 16 ounces of powdered sugar - a one-ounce bottle of red food coloring - and a tablespoon of cocoa powder to make it a nice DARK red. That'll almost fill a pitcher, so cut it down if you want to make less than that. But if you mix those four things together, you should end up with something that looks just as realistic as the stuff they sell at stores. Plus it's non-toxic, so you don't have to worry about your kids eating it. And even if you have to buy everything, it shouldn't cost more than ten bucks to make.

Now, if you still need help, here's click here for a video on how to make it!

12 Scary Moments From Kids Movies

Looking for a family-friendly movie that's still scary enough for Halloween viewing? "Rolling Stone" put together a list of the 12 Scariest Moments in Kids' Movies. Here it is, in no particular order -

1. The Flying Monkeys in "The Wizard of Oz". As a kid, I actually had a nightmare or two about the monkeys ripping the straw out of the Scarecrow.

2. "Night on Bald Mountain" from Disney's "Fantasia". I always thought this was more "cool" than "scary".

3. The boat ride from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". The 1971 GENE WILDER version, not the Johnny Deppremake. Technically the Depp version is closer to the book. But the first one is still better.

4. The Field of Blood from "Watership Down". It's a cartoon movie about rabbits, they said. It'll be cute, they said. I'm still in therapy.

5. The kitchen scene in "Gremlins". That's the one where the mom battles Gremlins with a blender, a knife, and even a microwave. It's a beautiful thing. But it's not really a kids' movie in the first place.

6. Large Marge from "Pee Wee's Big Adventure". This scene traumatized a generation of kids, and still plagues those few women left who have the misfortune of being named "Marge".

7. Judge Doom in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". This is the scene where CHRISTOPHER LLOYD's character is revealed to be a "Toon", rather than a real person. Oops. Spoiler Alert.

8. The final battle with Ursula in "The Little Mermaid". Ursula steals King Triton's powers and super-sizes herself.

9. ANJELICA HUSTON reveals her true self in "The Witches".

10. Sid's creepy creations in "Toy Story". Especially that one-eyed baby doll head on the spider legs, am I right?

11. Voldemort returns to life in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". The movies got darker and more intense as they went along, and this is the moment where they really turned the corner.

12. Coraline meets her "other" parents in "Coraline". If you haven't shown this movie to your kids or read them the book by Neil Gaiman . . . do it. It's a modern classic.

How About Just Saying You're Sick?

Career Builder just released its annual list of the craziest excuses people have used for calling in sick to work. Have you used any of these:

1. A guy claimed his grandmother poisoned him with ham.2. An employee said they couldn't make it in, because they were stuck under their bed.3. A guy's sandwich fell on the floor, and he broke his arm trying to catch it.4. A guy claimed the universe was telling him he needed a day off.5. A guy's wife caught him cheating, and he had to get all his stuff out of a dumpster.6. A woman said she was brushing her hair, and poked herself in the eye.7. A guy couldn't come to work, because his wife put all of his underwear in the wash.8. A guy was too embarrassed to come in, because the food he'd made for an employee potluck didn't turn out well.9. A woman said she had to go to the beach, because she needed more vitamin D.10. A woman said she couldn't come in, because her cat was stuck in her dashboard.

The survey also found that 38% of us have called in sick this year when we actually felt fine, which is up from 28% last year. So what's the craziest excuse you've ever used to get out of work? Drop me an email: john@kicks1063.com

Get The Popcorn Ready!

We all have at least one movie that we can watch over and over and over and over again without getting the least bit bored. According to an online survey, the most  rewatchable movie is "Star Wars". Here's the Top 25 . . . well, 26, thanks to a tie at #25:

1. "Star Wars"2. "The Wizard of Oz"3. "The Sound of Music"4. "The Lord of the Rings" series5. "Gone With the Wind"6. A tie between "The Godfather" and "The Princess Bride"8. "The Shawshank Redemption"9. The "Harry Potter" series10. "It's A Wonderful Life"11. A tie between "Forrest Gump" and "Grease"13. "Dirty Dancing"14. A tie between "Pulp Fiction" and "Titanic"16. A tie between "The Lion King" and "Pretty Woman"18. "Casablanca"19. A tie between "The Matrix" and "The Notebook"21. A tie between "Finding Nemo" and the 2009 reboot of "Star Trek"23. "Goodfellas"24. "Pride and Prejudice"25. A tie between "Caddyshack" and "The Avengers"

      For just women, the most rewatchable movies are "The Wizard of Oz", "The Sound of Music" and "Gone With the Wind". For men, it's "Star Wars", "The Godfather" and "Lord of the Rings". One thing about the list thats interesting: only one Disney animated flick made the Top 25, "The Lion King".      So what's the one movie you could watch over and over? For me it's the "Lord Of The Rings" series. Drives my wife crazy, by the way. Drop me an email with your pick: john@kicks1063.com.

Oh, The Stress!!!

I'm not sure I can trust a list of stressful things at work if it doesn't include "getting an email from your boss that says 'we need to talk.'" But here you go. A new survey found the real top five things that stress people out at work. Check 'em out:

1. Having to wait for other people to get the info you need to work on something.2. Not knowing which tasks should be priorities.3. Unrealistic expectations and goals for projects.4. Moving deadlines.5. Bosses not quite making it clear exactly what they want.

The survey also found that 34% of people go to at least six meetings a week. So what stresses you out at work the most? Drop me an e-mail: john@kicks1063.com.

The Great Pumpkin Might Just Really Be Gone!

Pumpkin mania is spreading like a virus -- and that could cause some problems this year. Apparently, the pumpkins can't quite keep up. And that means we could have a shortage of pumpkin pie mix by Thanksgiving. About 90% of the pumpkins in America come from central Illinois, and the crop is down almost one third this year because of records amounts of rain in June. Meanwhile, demand is as high as ever. So if you want to make sure you can bake pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, you might want to stock up on some cans right now.

Libby's is the biggest pumpkin pie mix company in the country, and they think they should have just enough inventory to get everyone through the holidays. But if you want a pumpkin pie on a random day next spring, forget it. A spokeswoman says, quote, "Once we ship the remainder of the 2015 harvest we'll have no more to sell until harvest 2016."

What About Bonanza!?!

Do you find TV theme songs memorable? They don't really do memorable ones as much these days, but Billboard did a list of TV theme songs that actually climbed up the charts. Here are 18 of them, along with their peak position on the Hot 100:

1. "I'll Be There for You" from "Friends", which stayed at #1 for eight weeks
2. "How Do You Talk To An Angel" from a show called "The Heights". The song was #1 for two weeks.
3. The theme from "S.W.A.T.", which was #1 for one week.
4. "Welcome Back, Kotter", which was #1 for one week.
5. "Miami Vice", which was #1 for one week.
6. "Greatest American Hero", #2
7. The original "Hawaii Five-O", #4
8. "Happy Days", #5
9. "Cops", #8
10. "Peter Gunn", #8
11. "Hill Street Blues", #10
12. "Party of Five", #16
13. "Batman", #17
14. "Bonanza", #19
15. "Magnum P.I.", #25
16. "Mission: Impossible", #41
17. "The Wonder Years", #68. The theme song was Joe Cocker's version of "With a Little Help from My Friends", and was on the charts back in 1968, not when the show ran from 1988 to 1993.
18. "iCarly", #100

But some made charts other than the Hot 100. For instance, the themes from "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "The Dukes of Hazzard" made the Country charts.

 "Those Were the Days" from "All in the Family", and the theme from "Cheers" both made the adult contemporary chart, and the"X-Files" theme was apparently a hit in dance clubs.

"I Got A Rock"

We've all got weird stuff for Halloween, right? Like from the old lady down the street who used to give you pennies! Weird and a little creepy. Well, Buzzfeed just asked people to share the weirdest things they ever got trick-or-treating. Here are nine favorites . . .

1. "Potato salad in a plastic bag."
2. "One year I got an actual cat. I still have him 17 years later."
3. "A gingerbread cookie in the shape of a penis."
4. "Pamphlets about why Halloween was a celebration of Satan."
5. "A Christmas crossword puzzle."
6. "I got a small plank of wood."
7. "A pack of cigarettes for my dad, who was with me."
8. "Live goldfish, not even in plastic bags . . . they just dumped fish into our bags."
9. "Hotel toiletries and Mary Kay samples."

So what's the weirdest thing you've ever received trick-or-treating? Drop me an email: john@kicks1063.com.

Boo Boo Is Right!

It just happened. Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson has recorded a song. It's called "Movin' Up", and it's as horrific as you'd expect. There's also a video. It's just Alana and her family, including parents Mama June and Sugar Bear, dancing in the studio. So yeah, it's just as horrific as the song. Take a look and listen...if you dare!

The mastermind behind this is a guy named Adam Barta. You might remember him because he also helped Tan Mom, Farrah Abraham and the Octomom make "interesting" music.