I just discovered the <I>World Passport</I> podcast at ethnomusic.podmatic.com, which has tons of cool Calypso, Kompa, Highlife, jazz, and Kinshasha guitar music for your delectation and delight. I've been listening to "J'Ouvert Morning Calypso"&mdash;classic old-school Calypso&mdash;all morning, which is coaxing me out of my first-cold-of-the-winter funk. "Suck Me Soucouyant," indeed.

Michael Chabon on the liberating properties of genre fiction.

"<B>Antiheroine Skin Rule:</B> In a Horny Teen-ager Movie, the 'bad girl' who is the object of the hero's desire will always expose more flesh than the girl whom he ends up with at the end of the film, despite equal sexual activity. If the 'good girl' is shown topless in a love scene, it must be accompanied by slow music. In a Dead Teenager Movie, the girl who exposes the least skin is inevitably the only survivor."

Forget the usual suspects, says ACD. For real Halloween chills, read Henry James.

<I>The Telegraph</I> picks the scariest movie scenes.

As <I>Stereophile</I>'s Equipment Reports Editor, I get a <I>lot</I> of calls from readers asking how we choose the gear we review, and from manufacturers asking how to get their products reviewed. So I told JA to take the month off from writing this column so that I could talk about <I>Stereophile</I>'s Equipment Reports section.