cup of coffee.
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• There's an interesting conversation going on about the use of prompters by theater actors, owing largely to a situation with one Matthew Broderick.

• Popular online video site Hulu was the subject of some mass hysteria last week after a metaphorical game of telephone led some outlets to treat "we're going to have to start charging for at least some things at some point" as "beginning next year, everything that's free now will require a paid subscription" and throwing their readers into a panic. You will recall that we discussed the fact that nobody actually said that. And now, Hulu is reminding everyone that nobody actually said that.

• You know, I'm not sure I'm prepared to acknowledge the giant iPhones in this YouTube video as "Halloween costumes." They're awfully literal. Aren't they just giant iPhones with guys wearing them? (Hat-tip: Mobile Content Today.)

An amazing pumpkin and the battle between good and evil, after the jump. You heard me.

 

• The USA Today Pop Candy blog is gathering photos of pop-culture pumpkins. By far, my favorite of these is the Death Star, which is beautifully done and very clever.

• Chuck, the Little Show That Could, has had its third-season order increased from 13 episodes to 19. Many suspect that suggests a return in January instead of March, as was originally planned. I have no idea whether its ratings are going to improve, but if I were NBC, it would be one of the only things on the schedule I felt even mildly excited to show, so maybe they just want to put something on that people will say nice things about.

• Oscar season is the hockey season of the entertainment world, in that it lasts so long that it's hard to even call it a "season." Right now, there's a lot of speculation about what the expansion of the Best Picture field to ten nominees will bring, and Variety has a pretty good overview of what folks are thinking.

• Buried in this article about the "need for fame" that supposedly comes from reality television and Facebook, you will find the statistic that the percentage of people polled who believe being famous is the most important thing in life hasn't changed in the last 40 years. Of course, it's about 2 percent of the population, meaning that you have roughly six million people in the United States who are fairly desperate to become famous, which is plenty to fill a multi-channel cable lineup without difficulty and make it seem like fame hogs are everywhere you look.

• And, of course, the Phillies — also known as "good" — beat the Yankees — also known as "evil" — in last night's first game of the World Series. It is possible that growing up outside Philadelphia left me not entirely unbiased, however.