Night of the Joker.

Happy Halloween, everyone. While my Shaun of the Dead costume got favorable reviews last October, I’ve been entertaining vague notions of dressing up as Heath Ledger’s Joker this year. (And, as for Berk, my sister Tessa suggested something along the lines of this, which he’d probably prefer to Yoda again.) But, as it turns out, neither Berk nor I have any costume-oriented festivities on the social calendar, so we’ll just be sitting home in plainclothes doling out sweets. Still, if you’re up for it, the viral marketers at Warner Brothers have initiated a second round of Jokerish shenanigans (a la Comic-Con) over at whysoserious.com, which involves a photo scavenger hunt across several major cities. If you play along, watch out for Bats. Update: As per the norm, that didn’t take long. The hidden message, give or take a few letters, reads: “The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules.” So, what happens next? Update 2: Guess I should’ve made that costume after all. After revealing this new pic, the new site (http://www.rorysdeathkiss.com) asks for people to dress as the clown in question and take a pic in front of a famous landmark. Have fun with it, y’all.

Matt Daemon?

No, Mayra Daemon, as in Mayra the Hare, because I’m apparently “modest, humble, spontaneous, inquisitive, and solitary.” (Well, they got the solitary part right.) Discover your daemon at the official Golden Compass movie site, which does a decent job of trying to explain the basics of Philip Pullman’s world to non-readers. (And, sorry, Mayra m’dear, but I’ve already got a power animal…no hard feelings.)

Kibbles ‘n poison.

If you have a pet, I presume you’ve already been following this story rather closely. Nevertheless, here’s the current list of pet foods recalled as a result of high levels of aminopterin discovered therein. (The current death toll is 16 cats and dogs, with many more expected.) I was somewhat concerned to notice on Friday that Berk‘s brand (Science Diet) had been added to the list, but apparently the outbreak seems to be confined to their wet food line (and the cat line at that.)

A World of Addicts.

Love is a stranger in an open car…or is it just a much-needed dopamine fix? Somebody writes this story every Valentine’s Day. Still, I guess it’s something to keep in mind. (And sorry, Berk, you may be my Valentine again this year, but the same type of deconstruction applies to you. No hard feelings, bud.)

A World Without Lampshades.

Sheltie update: Berkeley (who thanks y’all out there for the well-wishes, by the way) is free of the Elizabethan collar that so marred last week, and his foot — while still occasionally bleeding after a long walk — is now definitively on the mend. And so, Berk is now back to his usual daily regime of spinning in circles and barking at miasmas of evil from his perch near the window. Welcome back, little fella.