Billed as "The magazine lover's best friend", Time Inc. is readying the launch of their new web venture, Maghound.com. Maybe readying is a strong word. It won't hit the web until about September, but it's something to watch for.

A kind of Netflix for magazines, you'll be able to pay one monthly fee, choose three magazines from a list of hundreds, and change your selections anytime you want. If you get tired of one (which can happen after a few issues with some mags), switch to a different one. No wasting a year's payment until your sub runs out.

Click here to register to be notified when the site goes live.

American Gangster opens this Friday, and with Denzel Washington and Russel Crowe starring, and Ridley (Blade Runner/Gladiator/Black Hawk Down) Scott directing, it's looking like it'll become a classic.

In honor of the opening, I am giving away an American Gangster Gift Pack to one lucky reader. The winner will receive a movie poster; a black, 100% cotton t-shirt with the movie's logo screened on the front in white and red; and a black baseball hat with the logo embroidered on the front.

All you have to do is click here to enter (don't worry, I'll never share your email address with anyone), and I'll pick someone at random on Friday, Nov 2. Meanwhile, you can check out clips from the movie on the official movie site, AmericanGangster.net

It's not nearly as popular as the winter holidays, or even most of the "Hallmark Holidays", but Halloween holds its own in terms of parties, decorating, and of course, merchandise.

To give you an idea of what we Americans will do and spend this year, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel did some research and rounded up a few interesting stats about this haunted holiday:

- 28.3% of us will either throw or attend a Halloween party. (Meaning 71.7% will stay home to keep their house from getting egged.)

- 18.7% will visit a haunted house. (Not counting you married guys who live in a haunted house. All. Year. Long.)

- 73% will hand out candy, with the most popular among trick-or-treaters being chocolate bars with a huge 68%. Lollipops (9%), gummy candy (7%), gum (7%), and "other" (9%), round out the also-rans.

- One third (33%), will take a child trick or treating. (And dig through their bag after they go to bed looking for the best stuff.)

- Almost half of Americans (48%) will decorate their home or yard. (The rest will have it decorated for them by bands of drunken high school kids.)

- 43% will carve pumpkins. (No stats on how many will accidentally plunge the knife into their hand.) ...More

Japan just announced the winner of their "Best Bottom" competition, and it's 18 year-old Kaho Watanabe, proving the Japanese judges do not agree with Sir Mix-A-Lot.

Ms. Watanabe's slender and very understated backside (come on, Mary-Kate Olsen has a better ass), will compete against the best butts in the world later this month in the global finals to be held in Munich, Germany. I hope for her sake, Keyra Augustina doesn't show up.

Ever been watching the game and thought, "Damn, the Minnesota Viking looks like Hulk Hogan"? So have the guys over in the Rival Room at Rivalfish.com. They've compiled a list of the 14 top celebrity sports mascot lookalikes, some of which are double-take inducing. My favorite? The Wake Forest Demon Deacon and Christopher Lloyd. [Pictured at top]

See the whole list here.

You've heard it dozens of times over the years in movies, video games and TV shows: a guy gets shot, thrown, falls, or gets blown up, and he lets out a scream. You've probably never realized that most of the time it was all the same guy screaming. "The Wilhelm Scream" has had a cult following among Hollywood directors and sound editors since it was first used in the 1950's, becoming something of an inside joke among filmmakers, especially George Lucas and Skywalker Sound, who've used the scream in every Star Wars movie made.

Originally used in the 1951 film Distant Drums when a man crossing a stream is bitten by an alligator and dragged underwater (a perfectly good excuse for a guy to scream), the sound effect got its name from its second use two years later when Pvt. Wilhelm takes an arrow to the thigh in The Charge at Feather River [pictured]. The scream has been attributed to actor and singer Sheb Wooley, most known among people not in The Business for his 1958 song, "Purple People Eater".

According to HollywoodLostAndFound.net, Ben Burtt, creator of sound effects for Star Wars, noticed the effect reoccurring in a lot of movies while a student at USC. He later adopted it as a personal sound signature, including it, not only in every Star Wars movie made, but all the Indiana Jones films as well, starting the tradition that continues today.

Many sound editors and directors have also become fans and have found ways to work the scream into their projects. Not surprisingly, Quentin Tarantino is a huge fan and The Wilhelm can be heard in Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill: Vol 1, among others.

Over the last 55 years it has been used in over 135 widely diverse projects, including ...More

TV guides are fine to let you know what's on that week, but what if you want to know if, when and where a movie you and your buddies were quoting last weekend is being shown on cable? Or what if, since reading that Charlize Theron was named Esquire's Sexiest Woman Alive, you want to see if any of her movies are showing soon? (The Devil's Advocate, for example.)

LocateTV.com can tell you. First, enter your zip code and cable or satellite provider to personalize your search. Then type a TV show, movie or actor into the search box and it'll return a list of dates, times and stations where that show/movie/actor is playing. It also lists the top five most searched shows, movies and actors, in case you're looking for some suggestions. Or none of Charlize's movies are showing.

www.locatetv.com

JibJab.com, the humor website that famously skewered Bush and Kerry during the elections with "This Land", now has the technology to let you do the same to family and friends with their Starring You! feature.

Just upload a jpg of your - or someone else's - face, drag a circle around their head, and select who you want to play what role in one of two movies, or seven dance videos. A few seconds later, you're saving the city from bad guys, massacring a bunch of kids at math camp, or dancing your ass off, while hilarity ensues.

There's also several "public heads" you can use, in case your buddies threaten you with bodily harm if you continue to use their images.

www.jibjab.com