This is Halloween, this Halloween!

Yes, the holiday of witches, goblins, and ghouls has arrived, and there’s a lot of great deals out there to take advantage of on this glorious day. Check out today’s offerings, including some low-priced movie rentals!

As I was compiling this list, the first “Lightning Deal” at Amazon went up, so I’m adding it quickly to the top of this post so you can see it before it runs out at 9am PST (or while supplies last before that): Zombie Bundle: Day of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Evil Dead II on Blu-ray.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game – Slimer Edition

First up, the Gold Box deal of the day over at Amazon is Ghostbusters: The Video Game – Slimer Edition for Xbox 360 for only $44.98 (that’s 36% off the list price of $69.99). This deal is for today only while supplies last [...]

The Twilight Saga: New Moon Soundtrack CD is out today and the album has been streaming pre-release for free on MySpace for the last few days.

Now, Amazon is offering up the MP3 version as their MP3 deal of the day for only $4.99.

That’s means, no waiting — get it right this minute!

The soundtrack features songs by Muse, Death Cab For Cutie, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, The Killers, and more.

Grab this deal while you can, these usually last one day only [...]

Yes, that’s right, Sirius XM Radio will be starting a brand new channel on Friday, and it will be 100% fully dedicated to the many works of Monty Python. The channel will start the day after the five remaining members — John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin — are in New York to receive their Outstanding Contribution to Film and Television award from BAFTA (Read: Monty Python’s Flying Circus Officially Turns 40).

The new channel is being put on the air for the comedy troupe’s 40th anniversary celebration, and it will feature 24-hour a day Python songs and clips from their many different skits and popular movies. Members of the gang will show up from time-to-time to reflect on their many classic contributions to comedic history, and some of the clips and songs aired will be introduced by different celebrity fans.

Sadly, good things never last forever, and fans of Monty Python will have to get their fill. The Monty Python channel will only be available for a depressingly short 10-day period. [...]

Some more Twilight Saga news today, this time regarding the New Moon soundtrack, the first image from Eclipse, and images and video from star Taylor Lautner’s Rolling Stone magazine shoot. First up, is the big breaking news from Twilight on Twitter…

“Due to overwhelming demand, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON soundtrack is being released this Friday!”

NICE!!! I’ve already pre-ordered it so be sure to check out my review shortly after its release. You can pre-order The Twilight Saga: New Moon – Soundtrack right now!

Also, The Twilight Saga New Moon: The Score, composed by Alexandre Desplat, will be released on November 24th and is available for pre-order now for $16.99.

Now, 39 days before the premiere of New Moon, a first look at Eclipse is out in the form of a People magazine New Moon special edition issue [...]

Everyone loves a great underdog story (Rudy! Rudy!); and the story of Canadian heavy metal band Anvil is one of the better ones we’ve seen as of late. Their documentary, Anvil! The Story of Anvil has received almost purely raving reviews (98% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), and has re-entered the band into the public eye, where they surely deserve to be.

In their re-acquired fame, the band — consisting of Steve Kudlow, Robb Reiner, and Glenn Five — have found themselves playing festivals and shows again, recording a new album, and appearing on many different popular talk shows. Better yet, they’ve apparently even netted themselves another movie gig: a cameo appearance in Seth Rogen and Michel Gondry’s The Green Hornet adaptation. As it turns out, Gondry is one of the many fans of the band and brought them in to film a brief scene where they actually explode while playing a rock club — likely to be the work of a villain that the Hornet will have to pursue and apprehend. [...]

At the end of last month, the entire soundtrack for Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are by Karen O was up to listen to free of charge (Read: New ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ Images Set To The Full Soundtrack). You can still head over there and listen if you have not yet done so (it’s very good), and now you can peek at an equally good little video showcasing the making of said soundtrack.

The feature talks about how Jonze always had Karen O in mind for the music, and how her work with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs always had a that childlike innocence to it. You’ll see the movie’s young star, Max Records, in the studio to do some small voice recordings for the tracks; a peek a what looks like a really beautiful snowy scene using a Daniel Johnston (The Devil and Daniel Johnston) cover song; as well as their use of a children’s choir in some of the recordings. [...]

In honor of the fact that I’m about to go get rocked at tonight’s KISS concert at New York’s Nassau Coliseum, I thought I’d pass along the news that Mars Direct Inc has created a special KISS® Blend of their popular M&M’s candy.

All four current members of the rock band — Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Tommy Thayer, and Eric Singer — each have their iconic KISS in make-up faces on the colorful chocolate candies.

The MY M&M’S® KISS® Blend features four customized packages and is available for a limited time only, exclusively at Walmart locations nationwide with a suggested retail price of $6.00.

KISS is pretty much known to stamp their name and faces on anything that will make them an extra buck (hence the reason why they’re still rolling in it 35 years after their musical debut). They even have a KISS Koffin! So, adding their faces to a popular candy is not so shocking [...]

The soundtrack for Twilight: New Moon hits stores on October 20 featuring artists such as Muse, Death Cab For Cutie, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, and The Killers.

The video for Death Cab for Cutie’s “Meet Me on the Equinox” has been released and it contains exclusive footage from New Moon. Watch the video, which shows the band performing cut with scenes from the upcoming film, here below.

Vanity Fair recently interviewed a few of the lesser-known bands on the soundtrack [well, lesser known to me at least] — Sea Wolf, OK Go, Bon Iver, and St. Vincent — asking each performer if they knew during which scene their song would appear, along with other questions about their career and their thoughts on Twilight.

Some of the musicians did know where their songs would appear; one in particular — Sea Wolf’s “The Violet Hour” — will be during a house-party scene. (We can guess which house party this is, right?) [...]

Anvil! The Story Of Anvil
Directed by Sacha Gervasi
Starring Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow, Robb Reiner, Chris Tsangarides
Release date: October 6, 2009

In the big hair and spandex-filled summer of 1984, a huge music tour took Japan by storm. A collection of the world’s biggest metal bands like Twisted Sister, W.A.S.P., Scorpions, Whitesnake, and Bon Jovi were on the bill. Also sharing the stage was Anvil, a young band gaining notoriety and respect thanks to their incredible musicianship and a lead singer who enjoyed playing his guitar with a dildo. After this tour the bands involved continued their ascent to rock stardom each selling millions of records and playing sell-out tours. All, that is, except Anvil. For them it didn’t work out and never again would they reach those heights.

In Anvil! The Story of Anvil metal icons like Scott Ian (Anthrax), Slash (Guns n Roses), Lars Ulrich (Metallica), and Lemmy (Motorhead) talk about how highly they rated Anvil. In the early 80s, Anvil was the band they wanted to emulate, the band that made them perform better, and afterwards the band that they couldn’t believe didn’t make it. But, as Lemmy says here, “You’ve got to be in the right place at the right time.” Anvil never was. After Japan Anvil could have given up playing, content to live off their 15 minutes of fame, ready to tell the grandkids about that brief moment in time they were rock stars. But no: In the decades since, the band has continued to play live shows, record albums and attract new fans. Anvil! The Story Of Anvil documents the band as they continue to try and ‘make it’ and record their 13th studio album, This Is Thirteen [...]

It’s just about that time: Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are is about to finally be released in theaters on October 16, 2009. It’s been a while since the trailer was released and our excitement was at an all-time high, so right here and now you can listen to the entire movie soundtrack free online. Even better, while listening to the music that shall accompany this beautiful film, you can also check out a bunch of new images from the movie and its production. The soundtrack contains original songs by Karen O And The Kids — Karen O as in the singer of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

As you all likely know, the movie has endured a battle to get to our eyes, with rumors at one point claiming that the movie had been entirely scrapped and Jonze taken off the job by Warner Brothers because it was too dark and they wanted it more aimed at kids. Thankfully it was decided that the original vision was obviously the best, and things moved forward as planned.

Where the Wild Things Are is based on the novel by Maurice Sendak about a young boy named Max (Max Records) who becomes angry with his mother and travels dangerous seas to mystical lands inhabited by large creatures known as the Wild Things who decide to make Max their king.

Click on over to the other side to listen to the soundtrack and check out the images. The soundtrack was also released yesterday on CD, MP3, and vinyl. May I suggest throwing on the music before enjoying the pictures. Sets the tone quite nicely. Head on over to io9 for more images [...]

Today’s MP3 album deal of the day over at Amazon today is The Wizard Of Oz: Original Soundtrack for only $3.99.

This deal coincides with the upcoming release of the 70th Anniversary of the film on Two-Disc Special Edition DVD and its first time on Blu-ray with the Ultimate Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Box Set (both scheduled for release this Tuesday, September 29, 2009).

The MP3 album comes with 17 tracks, all of which are the original performances from the 1939 classic starring Judy Garland as Dorothy, the young girl from Kansas who one day finds herself in the merry old land of Oz. “Over the Rainbow,” the Munchinland sequence, and “We’re Off To See The Wizard” are among the many songs on the album [...]

One of my favorite things about the USA Network’s series Psych is all of its throwbacks to ’80s music and culture.

Oftentimes, the show’s main characters, childhood friends turned ‘psychic’ detectives Sean (James Roday) and Gus (Dule Hill), will put on their old ’80s duds and bust out a song by the likes of Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Wham.

Tonight’s new episode, titled “High Top Fade Out,” will feature a version of the show’s catchy theme song “I Know You Know” as performed by ’80s boy band sensation Boys II Men. You can check out the video of tonight’s special opening credits here [...]

The MP3 deal of the day over at Amazon today is the album Absolution by the band Muse for only $2.99.

This is the third album by the UK band and contains two of their American hits “Time Is Running Out” and “Hysteria,” and a total of 15 songs. Muse is current the support band on U2’s tour.

Another worthy MP3 mention is the FREE download of the song “Perfect Stranger” by The Donnas from their recently released Greatest Hits album (a deal in and of itself at $8.99 for 16 songs) [...]

Fucking ecstatic does not begin to adequately describe how happy I am that the dark period of music socialization is over. And in case you aren’t sure the time frame I’m speaking of, it’s the period in which people had to really work in order to discover and share new music by listening to FM radio, buying overpriced albums at a retail store or my *least* favorite, speaking to a group of self important douchebag music snobs. None of those options were ideal for the sake of discovery, but they were even worse for the sake of sharing.

Technology has ushered in so many new (legal) ways to socialize about music, none of which involve an abundance of black t-shirts or $5 covers at the door.

Blip.fm

If you’ve ever had the urge to communicate solely through notes and lyrics, then blip.fm will become an addiction. It’s by far my favorite new way to socialize about music. Blip.fm is a service that allows you to listen to virtually any song by “blipping” it to your own personal stream — similar to Twitter. Also like Twitter, each song you blip is accompanied by an optional 150-character message. Users “listen” or “follow” other people’s blips, which are aggregated in real time to a custom feed that acts as a playlist. However, if you get tired of this playlist you can always navigate to someone else’s [...]

Until the emergence of Adult Swim’s Squidbillies, never had there been an animated program that so eloquently embodied the life of an alcoholic talking squid and his illegitimate son in the rural foothills of Georgia.

Such is true of the voice acting for Squidbillies’s hillbilly squid Early Cuyler, who routinely provides a plethora of thought provoking philosophical quotes such as his dinner table prayer:

“Dear lord… please allow this dangerous combination of hair spray, bat slobber, and D.O.T. four automatic transmission fluid to excite my mind, occupy my spirits, and enrage my body, provoking me to kick any man or woman in the back of the head regardless of what he or she has or has not done unto me.”

Lines of dialog like that can only be delivered effectively by one man, Stuart Daniel Baker a.k.a. the legendary Unknown Hinson. And long before becoming the voice of Early Cuyler, Hinson made a name for himself as a Rockabilly musician who is still touring. His songs are exactly how you’d imagine them to be (ridiculous and offensive). Actually, the amount of ridiculous shit that comes out of this man’s mouth is pretty much exactly like his Squidbillies character.

For proof I’ve provided videos of Unknown Hinson’s performance at the Dragon*Con 2009 Squidbillies panel…

Today’s Goldbox spotlight item of the day over at Amazon is the Led Zeppelin Definitive Collection Box Set for only $99.99 (that’s 50% off the list price of $199.98).

This CD collection contains all 9 Led Zeppelin studios albums, as well as a remastered edition of the two-disc film soundtrack The Song Remains the Same, including bonus tracks. The Led Zeppelin 40th Anniversary Cardboard Sleeve Reissue Series features advanced cardboard sleeve replicas of the original UK E-style album jackets, plus six bonus cardboard sleeves including five alternate jackets for In Through The Out Door and one alternate jacket for Led Zeppelin I utilizing the original ink. From what the reviews on the site say, Led Zeppelin III even has the spinning wheel!

So, that’s 10 albums — with one double live album — for basically 10 bucks a piece, and with that you get the bonus tracks and the awesome packaging. And do I really need to convince you that buying a Led Zeppelin box set is a good idea? C’mon now. In case you didn’t know, they’re only one of the greatest rock bands of all time. All of their albums have all of their original members on them (and what a line up it was) — Robert Plant (vocals), Jimmy Page (guitars), John Paul Jones (bass, organ), and John Bonham (drums) [...]

If you got the reference in the title, you’re awesome and we’re putting you right up on the fridge.

Many of us cool kids are children of the ’80s, and as such, one of the greatest forms of entertainment ever to be created, is the Muppets. The Muppets are a creation of the late genius Jim Henson, who built an army of funny and lovable puppet characters who appeared in a countless amount of TV shows, specials, movies, music videos, cartoons, and everything in between. As life moved on and new generations of kids showed up, the Muppets faded off slowly, but never completely disappeared, making delightful cameo appearances on shows and events from time to time. But now, thanks to the massive Disney D23 Expo, we’ve learned that the Muppets are coming back in a big way, and their ready to take over the world again!

Back in March of 2008, we learned that we would finally be getting a brand new Muppet movie, with Forgetting Sarah Marshall team Jason Segel and Nick Stoller joining the Jim Henson Company to write and direct a new movie. [...]

Another significant announcement made by Disney at their D23 Expo was a confirmation to rumors that director Robert Zemeckis would be writing and directing a remake of The Beatles’ 1968 animated movie, Yellow Submarine.

The 1968 cartoon followed the legendary band as they traveled via the bright-colored submarine to Pepperland, a beautiful world inhabited by friendly, music-loving people that has tragically been taken over by the music-hating Blue Meanies, who have frozen all who live there and destroyed all of the beauty and music. The Beatles are employed to help out and use their music try and take Pepperland back and bring joy to the people once again. Yellow Submarine certainly has to be in the discussion of the most trippy movies ever made.

Instead of the cartoon style they used in ‘68, this new version will be in true Robert Zemeckis stylem using the motion-capture technology that he’s found so much success with in previous movies like The Polar Express and Beowulf, as well as the upcoming A Christmas Carol. [...]

Today’s MP3 deal of the day over at Amazon today is the soundtrack to the movie Singin’ In The Rain for only $2.99.

I know, some of you are kneeling over in shock that I’m writing about music that isn’t metal (hey, that’s not even rock!), but I am still a movie lover, and let me tell you, I LOVE movie soundtracks and scores, especially if they’re from a musical.

This one is a true classic movie and one of the greatest musicals ever. I’m planning on listening to the soundtrack all night and think about my dearly departed loved ones who introduced me to classic movies like Singin’ In The Rain as a child (excuse me, I’m getting verklempt just thinking about it) [...]

The MP3 deal of the day over at Amazon today is Joy, the new album by the band Phish, for only $3.99.

Joy, which is also available audio CD for only $7.99, is the rock band’s fourteenth studio album and their first after their break-up and subsequent reunion shows.

From what I’ve read, the songs on this albums have been played out live already; Joy has 10 new songs, along with a live version of one of them — “Backwards Down The Number Line.” [...]