Looks like another trip to the movies is coming up. Actually, two trips. All that and more in today’s High 5:

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: OK, I am going to have break down and go see Paranormal Activity, which has just surpassed The Blair Witch Project to become the most profitable movie ever. The box office hit that was made for less than $15,000 had grossedaround$70 million heading into the weekend. Now that’s a profitable bottom line. I remember during the Blair Witch phenomenon I held off and held off and held off seeing it, feeling it would not be worth by time — but once I broke down and saw it scared me to death. Paranormal Activity, here I come!

SPEAKING OF MOVIES … : We’re about three weeks away (Nov. 20) from the release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon. I saw the first trailers for the film this week on television. This flick is going to give another entirely new perspective to the werewolf film genre.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO?: Phoebe Cates. (Yes, a Fast Times at Ridgemont High reference.)

TOP COSTUMES: Time magazine is tracking the most popular Halloween costumes nationwide. Michael Jackson, Balloon Boy, Octomom and David Letterman have been the most popular. Wow, Balloon Boy. Now that surprises me. Never underestimate the influence of the media, eh? I also found interesting that Balloon Boy was the most popular in Illinois by a wide margin, followed by David Letterman.

YOUR 15 MINUTES ARE UP: George Lopez. (Please, please, please, please stop those commercials!)

Rod Stewart’s new CD is already getting better with age … that and more in today’s High 5:

STILL EARNING: According to Forbes magazine, the richest dead celebrity isn’t Michael Jackson. Although the King of Pop‘s estate has been big news since his death in June, the top-earning dead celebrity is French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent. According to the magazine, Laurent earned $350 million in the past year. Laurent died of brain cancer in June 2008. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein rank second with combined earnings of $235 million, followed by Jackson with $90 million, Elvis Presley with $55 million and J.R.R. Tolkien with $50 million. Charles Schulz, John Lennon, Dr, Seuss, Albert Einstein and Michael Crichton round out the top 10 list.

PEOPLE I WOULD LIKE TO MEET: Manny Acta, Charlize Theron, all of the Judds (but especially Ashley), Phil Jackson, Mitch Albom.

Rod Stewart

BETTER AND BETTER:

I have been listening (almost non-stop) to Rod Stewart’s newest release, Soulbook, for about three days now … and it keeps getting better and better. If I had to pick my top three songs at the moment they would be Same Old Song, Let It Be Me (with Jennifer Hudson) and Higher and Higher.

YOUR 15 MINUTES ARE UP: Tim McCarver. (At one time, he was my favorite baseball analyst, but I’m convinced at this point in his career his primary goal each telecast is to simply to hear himself talk. I’d still like to sit and talk with him for an hour or so, especially about his relationship with Steve Carlton.)

SONG THAT SHOULD BE A CLASSIC BUT ISN’T: “Shame, Shame” by the Magic Lanterns.

Cuba’s upset with the United States. That’s a shame, a cryin’ shame. All that and more in today’s High 5:

COULDN’T SHE JUST WATCH ON TV?: A lawyer for a Philadelphia woman charged with offering sex for World Series tickets says she is “a nice lady overcome with Phillies fever.” Lawyer William J. Brennan says Susan Finkelstein, 43, was trying to score tickets online, as she had in the past. Finkelstein was arrested after meeting at a suburban bar with an undercover police officer responding to the ad.

Hulk Hogan

HULKAMANIA’S RUNNING WILD — AGAIN:

Pro wrestling legend Hulk Hogan is coming out of retirement to join TNA Wrestling (Total Nonstop Action), the company behind Spike TV’s Thursday night series TNA Impact. His specific role will be “announced in the near future.” “Hulk Hogan is one of the world’s top pop culture icons and the biggest superstar in the history of professional wrestling. We are truly excited to welcome him into the TNA family,” said Dixie Carter, president of TNA Wrestling. Maybe the Hulkster can win the AARP belt.

PEOPLE I WOULD LIKE TO MEET: Belinda Carlisle, Carson Palmer, Arnold Palmer, Billy Joe Royal, Billy Ray Cyrus, Ray Lewis, Madeleine Stowe.

HERE’S A QUARTER: The U.N. General Assembly this week overwhelmingly condemned the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba, an annual ritual that highlights global opposition to the policy. It was the 19th year in a row that the General Assembly has taken up the symbolic measure, with Washington steadily losing what little support it once had. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez ticked off a long list of grievances in his speech before the world body, saying the 47-year-old embargo — which the Cubans refer to as a blockade — had cost the island’s fragile economy tens of billions of dollars. “The blockade is an uncultured act of arrogance,” Rodriguez said. He likened the policy to “an act of genocide” that is “ethically unacceptable.” My thought? The line from an old Travis Tritt song seems rather appropriate: “Here’s a quarter, call someone who cares.”

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO?: Phil Collins.

If you were a TV viewer in the early 1980s you’re probably as hesitant as I am about the remake of V. That opinion and more in today’s High 5:

LAMBERT’S COVER: The cover of American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert’s debut album has been revealed. I’m not sure mainstream America is ready for this. I’ll let you be your own judge. For Your Entertainment comes out later this month.

MY PICK: I’m leaning toward the Yankees to win the world Series, which opens tonight in New York. A couple of weeks ago here I predicted the Yankees and Cardinals in the World Series, but then Chris Carpenter forgot how to pitch and Matt Holliday opted to play left field like … ummm … me.

YOUR 15 MINUTES ARE UP: Carl Edwards. (Well, at least for this year.)

HMMMM … : I’m a little skeptical of the much-hyped V series coming to ABC early in November. If it’s anything like the original it will be a tremendous disappointment with viewers as it progresses. I won’t ruin the ending if you are not old enough to remember the original, but let’s just say I wanted to put my shoe through the television set back in 1983. Four episodes of V will air in November, and the series will resume in March 2010 after the Winter Olympics. By the way, “V” stands for “visitors.”

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO?: Juice Newton.

With a new Rod Stewart CD in the stores, shouldn’t today be a holiday? The High 5 thinks so:

AU REVOIR, BIG MAC: The Big Mac has become the latest victim of the world wide recession. Iceland’s three McDonald’s restaurants — all in the capital Reykjavik — will close at the end of the month, due to falling profits. Costs have doubled over the past year because of the fall in the krona currency and high import tariffs on imported goods, making it impossible for the owner of the three restaurants to raise prices further and remain competitive with competitors that use locally sourced produce. A Big Mac in Reykjavik already retails for 650 krona ($5.29), but the 20 percent increase needed to make a decent profit would have pushed that to 780 krona ($6.36). That would have made the Icelandic version of the burger the most expensive in the world, a title currently held jointly by Switzerland and Norway where it costs $5.75. I certainly hope there’s a  Burger King there.

ROD THE MOD: My all-time favorite singer, Rod Stewart, has a new CD now out in stores entitled “Soulbook.” Rod the Mod, now 64 but sounding great as ever, rasps his way through a collection of mostly soul classics, including The Four Tops’ Same Old Song. I have listened to most of the recordings online and on a scale of 1 to 10 I’d give the CD an 11. This month is the 38th anniversary of his beakthrough CD, “Every Picture Tells A Story,” reaching No. 1 on the U.S. charts.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO?: Katrina and the Waves.

SONG THAT SHOULD BE A CLASSIC, BUT ISN’T .. but it’s close: Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves.

STILL THE ONE: Titanic remains the No. 1 grossing film of all-time, having taken in almost $601 million. Any ideas about what films follow right behind? The rest of the top five are The Dark Knight, Star Wars, Shrek 2 and E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. What, no Saw movies in the all-time top five? I demand a recount.

Will baseball season ever end? Keep reading for my opinion in today’s High 5:

BETTER THAN EXPECTED: I saw Law Abiding Citizen over the weekend and it was much better than I was expecting. Sometimes I wonder what critics base some of those reviews on — are they watching the same film as the rest of us? Will this movie win an Academy Award? No. But Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler are well worth the price of admission and it will keep you on the edge of your seat until the credits start rolling. I warn you, however, there are a couple of extremely gruesome scenes that would do Saw proud. But I will also tell you the violence is mostly implied, unlike the Saw movies where it is graphically detailed. 

WHAT WAS PLAYING OVER THE WEEKEND IN THE STEVEMOBILE: The Little Woman and I were listening to a 1979 American Top 40 countdown on XM. A little Anne Murray, a little Brenda Russell and a lot of Casey Kasem.

SONGS THAT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED CLASSICS BUT ARE NOT: “Little Girl” by Syndicate of Sound and “Midnight Confessions” by the Grass Roots.

THIS IS BEYOND SPORTS: One of the most emotional pieces I saw all weekend was during the NASCAR Countdown show leading up to Sunday’s race in Martinsville. Its subject matter was the five-year anniversary of the death of 10 family and crew members of Rick Hendrick Motorsports, who were killed in October 2004 plane crash on their way to the Martinsville track. We sometimes forget athletes are human beings, too. Team members had to try and manage their grief, yet forge on in a matter of days to the next race in Atlanta. When asked how that was possible, Hendrick team member Ken Howes said, with his voice cracking, ”We race … that’s what we do.” Owner Rick Hendrick, who lost several close family members and friends in the crash, including son and aspiring driver Rick Jr., was unable to return to Martinsville (where NASCAR runs twice a season) for several years.

YOUR 15 MINUTES ARE UP:  Baseball season. (C’mon, it’s almost November! And the World Series has not even started yet. I love baseball and it’s far and away my favorite sport, but this is ridiculous. The NBA regular season opens before the scheduled start of the World Series. In the words of old friend Mike Pasley, “That’s not r-i-i-i-ight.”)

Let’s be “friends” … see how in today’s High 5:

THIS GOES BEYOND SPORTS: Did you see what happened prior to the opening kickoff for the Connecticut at West Virginia football game on Saturday? Both coaches met at midfield and embraced, and so did players from both teams. It was a tremendous show of sportsmanship — and simple human outreach — following the death of Connecticut player Jasper Howard. Howard was stabbed to death Oct. 17.  Connnecticut coach Randy Edsel and the entire Huskies team will be going to Miami, Fla., later this week for Howard’s funeral.

SAW VI: I took in Saw VI on Friday night and let me just say …AWESOME! It is head and shoulders above Saw V and equal to — if not better — than Saw I and Saw IV. It was so good I found myself shaking several different times during the film.  The Saw franchise is known for its make-you-think endings, and this one is no exception. Watch and listen closely, that’s all I can say..

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO?: Ali MacGraw.

PEOPLE I WOULD LIKE TO MEET: Joe Namath, Drew Barrymore, Kate Winslet, all of the Kardashians, Meat Loaf, Mickey Rivers, Mickey Rourke, Kim Basinger.

JOIN THE FUN: Some regular readers of this blog are becoming “friends” of mine on Facebook. Join the club. Look me up and become part of the family!

How could they have had a world Monopoly tournament without me? Find out in today’s High 5:

UGLY PEOPLE: I ran across this online poll seeking votes for the “ugliest” celebrities. These were some of the top vote-getters: Carrot Top, Perez Hilton, Michael Moore, Courtney Love, Steve Buscemi, Amy Winehouse, Lyle Lovett, Kelly Osbourne, Howard Stern and Tori Spelling. I have two immediate thoughts: 1. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder; 2. I can’t argue with any of those picks.

NEW OUTLOOK: I received a Facebook post from my son, Geoff, the other night that read: “I no longer want to make a difference. I just want to eat and watch sports.” I love that kid.

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS … : A 19-year-old Norwegian, Bjorn Halvard, won the recent Monopoly World Championship in Las Vegas. Halvard won $20, 580 in real money, which is the total amount in the bank of a standard monopoly game. Forty-one countries were represented in the two-day competition. No. U.S. player has won the title since 1974. I knew nothing about this event. Why didn’t someone call me? And I sure as heck don’t want to miss the World Scrabble Tournament.

YOUR 15 MINUTES ARE UP: Kanye West.

PRICE HIKE: Major U.S. airlines have launched a $10 round-trip domestic fare increase, marking the fifth industrywide fare hike in 2009. Well, good for them. Just another reason for me not to fly. (Sorry about that, Deb!)

In case you were thinking about give me a free round-trip plane ticket to somewhere … umm, don’t. To know why, just read today’s High 5:

EXCITING DAY: “Saw VI” hits the theaters today. This is like a cinematic holiday. I love the “Saw” franchise. Absolutely love these movies. If you have never seen one, do NOT go to this one. You need to start at the very beginning when the world is introduced to Jigsaw.

SHE’S NO TWIT:  Kelly Clarkson, David Cook, Kris Allen, Jordin Sparks and every other winner of “American Idol” is on Twitter, except for one — Carrie Underwood. “It just sounds like organized stalking to me,” Carrie told country music Web site The Boot of Tweeting. “I talk to my fan club members and I blog, and they know what’s going on.” Underwood said she has a “very good reason” for not joining the social networking service – she wants a personal life. I think the Twitter phase will pass, but Facebook is here to stay.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO?: Bronson Pinchot.

WELL GROUNDED: I’ve never tried to hide the fact I don’t like to fly. In fact, I don’t fly. Not now, not ever.  And here’ss another example why: Two Northwest Airlines pilots failed to make radio contact with ground controllers for more than an hour and overflew their Minneapolis destination by 150 miles before discovering the mistake and turning around. The Federal Aviation Administration said the crew told authorities they became distracted during a heated discussion over airline policy and lost track of their location, but federal officials are investigating whether pilot fatigue might also have played a role.

PEOPLE I WOULD LIKE TO MEET: The Poker Brat, Kate Hudson, John Kruk, Brett Favre, the Oak Ridge Boys, Michelle Beadle, Colbie Caillat, Lem Barney, Michelle Pfeiffer, Meg Ryan, Edward Burns.

Sarah Palin’s back in the news … and someone please get me a Kim Jong II mask. All in today’s High 5:

GET READY: Sarah Palin and Oprah Winfrey, who are probably not exchanging Christmas cards this year, will finally cross paths. Former GOP vice presidential candidate Palin and talk show host Winfrey will meet face to face on Monday, Nov. 16. That’s when our favorite hockey mom is due to appear on Winfrey’s show to promote her new book, “Going Rogue: An American Life,” which is due out Nov. 17, the day after her Oprah appearance. The hardcover was already No. 2 on Amazon.com’s best-seller list as of Tuesday. The appearance comes after months of accusations that Winfrey, a proud supporter of Palin’s Democratic presidential rival Barack Obama, was refusing to interview the former Alaska governor. Winfrey was heavily criticized by those who felt that her loyalty to Obama was driving her decision. This could be interesting.

PEOPLE I WOULD LIKE TO MEET: Ron White, Tim McCarver, Kelly Ripa, Rod Blagojevich, Todd Palin, Kurt Warner, Rocky Colavito.

SCARY THOUGHTS: A Time magazine report says Michael Jackson costumes for Halloween are the No. 1 seller nationwide this year. Other hot choices include North Korean dirtball Kim Jong II, Michelle Obama, Sarah Palin and David Letterman. I would absolutely love to see someone dressed up as Kim Jong II.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO?: The Octomom.

SONGS THAT SHOULD BE CLASSICS, BUT (sigh …) ARE NOT: “Blame It On The Rain” and “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You” by Milli Vanilli.