It must be the pagan in me but I love Halloween. My house is decorated for the holiday including an 8ft. blow-up spider and a 100lb Jack-O-Lantern. Since I just had weight loss surgery, I’m not going to be raiding the candy cauldron too much this holiday, but one peanut butter cup won’t kill me. I also hope to scare a few parents with my grim reaper routine. One minor complaint: kids these days tend to forget to say trict or treat. They just hold out their bag and expect candy. When they come to my house they better remember to say trick or treat or they might not like the results!
For the history of Halloween go here.
Here’s hoping you have a terrific fright night!!!!

While I was away having surgery, one of the great movie stars passed away, Deborah Kerr (rhythms with star) at the age of 86 from Parkinson’s disease.
Naturally her passing made me think of my favorite Kerr movies topped by From Here To Eternity, and including a movie on my all-time favorite scary movies list, The Innocents. Go here for my complete list.
The Kerr canon also includes four films with her all time favorite co-star, Robert Mitchum. The Hollywood tough guy and the genteel English lady were an unlikely pair and that is what made the teaming so divine in such classic flicks as Heaven Knows Mr. Allison and The Sundowners. They also acted together in The Grass Is Greener (with Cary Grant and Jean Simmons) and in the 1985 TV movie Reunion at Fairborough. Said Mitchum of Kerr: “The best, my favorite…Life would be kind if I could live it with Deborah around.”
One can’t talk of her career without mentioned An Affair to Remember and The King and I. In the category of a guilty pleasure is the 1967 comedy version of Casino Royale. Kerr played the superspy Mimi opposite David Niven and has mentioned that she enjoyed the part because it gave her the rare opportunity to use her real Scottish brogue. She was typecast as a gentle Englishwoman early on and her real life class meant that the typecasting stuck despite the versatility of her screen career. Check out the NYTimes obit.
One of the true legends is gone.

The idea began in February and culminated with surgery Oct. 18.
After spending more than half my life morbidly obese, I had gastric lap band surgery on Oct. 18. Anyone who thinks this is the easy way to weight loss is totally insane. (See my post-tummy picture as an illustration that it is painful at first.) It took a major commitment to understand that I would have my stomach physically altered in order to reach the finish line of my weight loss goals.Ten days post surgery and I am down 20lbs already, thanks to a liquid diet that includes dairy products and protein shakes. The weight loss will now slow as I begin to eat a bit more food, and the true restriction of the lap band follows in a few weeks with my first fill, which will tighten the ring around my stomach.
I am confident already that I made the right choice—getting into a pair of jeans this morning that has been on my shelf for 15 years was a great motivator. This is certainly not the right choice for everyone and I am sure I will have bumps along the way. However, if you are interested on info on the lapband, band2gether is a great site, featuring people who have been through the surgery talking about every aspect of the procedure. For a general website on bariatric surgery visit here.

Phillip’s Seafood Managers, Merritt Dworkin (left) and Kristopher Diemar (right) sample the appetizers that Chad Shaver prepared at the restaurant’s 1st Anniversary Party at the Pier at Caesars on October 18th.
(photo by Lew Steiner)

Although it’s only Oct. 19, it’s never too early to start making your Halloween plans — especially when there are so many tasty options in the area to choose from.
While next week’s edition of Atlantic City Weekly will give you a run-down of all of the local events — from haunted hayrides to dance club parties to bar bashes — here are a couple of events to keep on your radar.
First, each of the Borgata’s three night spots — mixx, mur.mur and Gypsy Bar — will have a separate Halloween bash on Saturday, Oct. 27. The one at mixx (entitled “Haunted House”) will feature A.C. favorite DJ Skribble and guitarist Dave Navarro.
Skribble spoke recently to AC Weekly columnist Ray Tyler about the event. Look for it in next week’s “The City Beat” column. There will also be audio excerpts from the interview on our ever-expanding audio page.
Also on Saturday, Oct. 27 — which seems to be the night for Halloween parties this year since the holiday falls on a Wednesday — there will be a Halloween party at the new dance club Providence, located at the Tropicana Quarter. This one will feature the popular DJ Reach.
Should be a lot of boo-gie-ing going on next weekend.

Wednesday night, the 52 members of the Atlantic City Democratic Committee selected three possible candidates for position of Interim Mayor. They are AC Business Administrator, Dominic Capella; Democratic Committee Chairman, Battalion Fire Chief, Scott Evans and former Atlantic City Council Woman, Barbara Hudgins.
At the start of the meeting these three names were put up for a vote. Councilman Marty Small made a motion to add more names, but his motion was rejected by Evans. The Committed voted on the three names.
After the vote, a second motion was made to reconsider the first vote but it failed and the three names will be submitted to the Atlantic City Council. It will be up to City Council to select an Interim Mayor by November 9th from the three choices. The interim Mayor will serve until a new Mayor is elected in November of 2008.
If the AC City Council does not select one of the three proposed candidates, a special election could be held within 45 days.

Ivanka Trump, the beautiful 25 year old daughter of Donald Trump visited the Taj Mahal last Thursday night to give invited guests an opportunity to see the new $14 Million Penthouse Suites atop the Taj Mahal. Ms. Trump, also hosted an exclusive showing of the new Ivanka Trump Jewelry Collection including the Graduated Pave Diamond Bead Necklace, listed in the catalog for $350,000.
Ivanka Trump is a member of the Trump board of directors and serves as vice president of development and acquisitions of the Trump Organization LLC. She has been expanding the Trump Brand in the states and into the global market including Chicago, West Palm Beach, Las Vegas, Atlanta,Jersey City, Hawaii, Central America, Toronto, Scotland, and Dubai and the Trump SoHo in New York City, their downtown Condominium Hotel Project.
Ms. Trump, a former runway model and a regular on the Apprentice TV Show, was just featured in Harper’s Bazar under the headline, “The New Queen of Diamonds.” She has appeared on the covers of The Evening Standard/UK, Forbes Magazine and Golf for Women. The Ivanka Trump Boutique is located in New York City.
(Photo by Lew Steiner)

I’m so glad to see that the Rockies are still hot. It really wasn’t that the Phils weren’t good enough, they were facing a team that was in the zone. In between watching Grey’s Anatomy and ER, I saw the Diamondbacks (who know their western division rival very well) not able to hit against the Rockies starters and relievers. On the other hand, those pesky Rockies delivered clutch hits once again. My colleague Jeff (from Boston) doesn’t want to hear this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Rockies take the World Series from the Sox, assuming they both make it to the Fall Classic.

As of this morning, it looks like summertime has finally left the Jersey Shore region and fall has arrived. The ocean temps are still high, but the weather forecast calls for crisp and cool temps this weekend.
What to do this first real fall weekend? Go get a pumpkin. Or check out a couple cool festivals taking place in the area.
First, in Atlantic City on Saturday (noon-4pm), there’s an Oktoberfest party at Gardner’s Basin, which will feature a Steel Pier Reunion with Ed Hurst and music by Jim Craine and his five-piece band.
That same day in Smithville, there’s an Irish Festival with live music, plus a Celtic Market and Irish dancers. It takes place from 10am-5pm. Wait to do the raking; have some fun this weekend.

Going Forward:
William Speedy Marsh new Acting Mayor of AC
City Council President, William Speedy Marsh was sworn in as the new Acting Mayor, a few hours after Bob Levy resigned as Mayor of Atlantic City.
Marsh told NBC TV 40, “We have to convince people that this is over. We are starting new and we have to do the things that residents expect us to do as elected officials to move the city ahead.”
Marsh will remain as Acting Mayor until City Council picks an Interim Mayor. The Interim Mayor will serve until a new Mayor Is elected in a special election next year.
The Democratic Committee will submit three names to the City Council and it will be up to City Council to select an Interim Mayor within 30 days. If they do not select one of the three proposed candidates, a special election could be held within 45 days.