Oren Peli made his supernatural thriller, Paranormal Activity, with no budget, no time and a crew of three. The 99-minute film became a standout feature at this year’s Screamfest, lauded by horror veterans, such as Andrew Kasch of Dread Central.

A young couple suspects that their house is haunted by a malevolent entity so they set up video surveillance to capture evidence of what happens at night as they sleep. Their surveillance and home videos have been edited into the 99 minute feature film “Paranormal Activity.

DreamWorks has since made a deal with Peli to remake his original film, which will be included with the remake when it comes out on DVD, after the theatrical release. As of this date, there is no planned schedule or script. But you can get a taste of what the film is about by watching the trailer below. Based on that, I found Paranormal Activity very reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project.

Paranormal Activity Trailer

My former colleagues raved about this show last year. While I was intrigued by the first episode, I was skeptical about the show’s longevity. Also, I had become so disappointed with the neverending flashbacks of Lost that I wasn’t willing to devote more time to another TV show that I felt would have the same fate.

The kudos evidently made an impression because when I saw the DVD set at Best Buy two weeks ago, I decided to get it, along with Ghost Whisperer. My husband and I sat in front of the TV the entire weekend, watching all 7 discs. Heroes kept us that intrigued.

While Heroes has plenty of action scenes and special effects, it centers on the emotions of these supernatural characters. How would you feel if you:

1. Woke up lying on an autopsy table with your ribcage exposed, after dying several times before?
2. Heard what people really thought of you as you walked through the grocery store?
3. Saw the future in the paintings you had created while high on heroin?

These otherwise ordinary people are faced with an awesome responsibility when they learn that someone is going to blow up New York City. “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World” becomes the mantra of this series as these people position themselves to defeat a vicious killer who is out to collect all their powers, as well as a secret agency that wants to keep them hidden from the world.

Heroes contains so many storylines and plot twists that you have to pay attention if you want to catch every clue. Sometimes I was able to figure out what was going to happen next, while other times I was surprised. I’m looking forward to watching Season 2, when it finally comes out on DVD. I’m not sure when that’s going to happen. But in the meantime, I can watch the bonuses, which inclue behind-the-scenes featurettes, mini-documentaries, 50 deleted scenes, select episode commentaries, the original pilot (w/commentary), and a character map.

This shot, taken by NASA’s explorer vehicle, Spirit, which landed on Mars four years ago. I agree that the stone formation looks remarkably like a woman, with her arm outstretched. From this distance, the formation looks like a hand-carved statue. If only Spirit had had a human pilot to steer it in for a closer look.

Source: DailyMailCo.uk

I once watched this talk show, although I forget which one it was, where people faced their worst fears. A woman somewhere in her forties confessed that she was terrified of clowns and had been since she was six years old. I’ll never forget the way she cried and whimpered when the host brought a clown on stage to help her face this fear. She was telling the truth when she said that she didn’t like clowns.

A British survey conducted by the University of Sheffield quizzed 250 children between the ages of 4 and 16 about how they felt about clowns. The vote was unanimous: every child in that survey was afraid of clowns.

The researchers determined that clowns are “universally disliked” by children, and that some kids find them “unknowable.”

I disagree with the above statement because I’ve always liked clowns, even the scary ones on Killer Clowns from Outer Space and the one in Stephen King’s It. Curious, I asked my boys how they felt. The older one shrugged with indifference, while the younger one felt that they were stupid. I feel much better knowing that I hadn’t given them permanent nightmares when I hired a clown for my oldest’s fifth birthday party.

Both literature and movies have depicted clowns as evil creatures that lure children to their doom, whether portraying them as mythical monsters or sickos. It’s no wonder that children and adults are terrified of them.