Happy Halloween!

I'm an old fart now, but back in the day, before marriage and kids, I was known for my rather notorious Halloween costumes... I would go all out, finding professional threatrical makeup and sparing no expense to create characters that were in as poor taste as possible...

One year, I was Elvis. The old, corpulent near-death Elvis... I found an Elvis costume in a store, bought in a size too small on purpose, and wrote "Hunk O' Burnin' Love on the back in glitter...


The year before that, I found professional blackface makeup, put a "Bears" hat on my head, bought a Bear's jersey and became William "The Refrigerator" Perry.

The makeup worked so well, that when I went out to pick up pizza for our party, the guy behind the counter at the pizza place - who was African-American - did not detect my whiteness - until I handed him the money with my yet-to-be made-up fingers...

Alas - even I have a sense of shame... I do have one more even more tasteless costume that I was going to post, but I guess maturity really does kick in at some point... or perhaps it's just paranoia. It was the hit of the party 23 years ago... but 23 years ago, I had a job - and no one had ever heard of political correctness!

Tell you what - if you want to take a peek, drop me an email and I'll consider showing you! Happy Howling!

Better Off Dead?

Could it be that my best career move at this point would be to develop a major drug dependency and then keel over dead on the toilet? Hmmm....

Elvis Presley, Snoopy creator Charles Shultz and recently deceased actor Heath Ledger headed Forbes' Top-Earning Dead Celebrities for 2007, having netted a combined 105 million dollars, the magazine said Tuesday.

Thirty years after he died aged 42, the King of Rock 'n' Roll last year pulled in 52 million dollars, dwarfing living music stars like Justin Timberlake (44 million) and Madonna (40 million), the magazine said.

Elvis topped the list for a second year running due to the 30th anniversary extravaganza in Graceland -- his home in Memphis, Tennessee -- that in visitors and merchandising generated more income than his 2006 earnings of 49 million dollars.

Shultz, who drew Snoopy and the "Peanuts" gallery of characters into existence, died in 2000 at 77. His heirs last year penned an agreement with Warner Bros. studios moving him up a notch in Forbes' list, with posthumous earnings of 33 million dollars.

The Australian heartthrob Ledger, who died at 28 in January from overmedication, made an estimated 20 million dollars in earnings from his cut in the latest box office smash hit Batman movie "The Dark Knight," in which he played the Joker.

The father of relativity, Albert Einstein, was fourth on the Forbes list. Even though he passed away in 1955, his "Baby Einstein" toy franchise brought in a cool 18 million dollars.

Television producer Aaron Spelling, who died in 2006, followed with 15 million dollars in earnings last year, chiefly from royalties of reruns of his popular shows.

"Dr. Seuss" children book author Theodor Geisel (d. 1991) made 12 million dollars for fifth place, and Beatle John Lennon, shot to death in 1980, dropped from second to sixth place with nine million.

Listed 8, 9 and 10 were Andy Warhol (d. 1987) with eight million dollars; Marilyn Monroe (d. 1962) 6.5 million, and actor Steve McQueen (d. 1980) with six million.

Actor Paul Newman, who died last month at 83 years of age, pulled in five million dollars, tying with the late James Dean (d. 1955), who also earned five million.