Inspired perhaps by this Call to the Bullpen of a particularly bloodless-looking Diablo Cody, and an accidentally stumbled upon image of the astonishingly well-stacked Mad Men star Christina Hendricks looking like she's about to crack open Peggy's skull and help herself to a handful of copywriter brains, we thought we'd collect some other photos of comely, zombie-like actresses for your Halloween-season titillation. There's more undead goodness after the jump!

Time for another one of those costume ideas/seasonal mini-mysteries you love so much! Hmmm...What do we have here? A shortsleeved collarless shirt, some black slacks, a screenwriting manual, and an odd suggestion to embed some popcorn in one's hair. Whatever could those daffy scientists at Defamer's Halloween Sciences labs be up to now? Wonder no longer: the finished product is after the jump!

The latest installment of Defamer's last-minute Halloween costume guide features an idea we guarantee you ladies will have all to yourselves come Friday night. Lucky you: This sultry get-up is in fact one of the hottest looks of the fall movie season, yet hiding in plain sight among action aficionados who will flock to see it next month at the multiplex. Don't let the opportunity pass you by, though — follow the jump to see how a cheap frock and a few other inexpensively obtained features can make you this year's overnight sensation.

On Saturday night, Allison Sarofim hosted her annual Halloween party at her West Village house, and the strict theme was Japanese anime. So how did social ubiquity Sarofim come up with such an inspired idea? You know, the same as anyone might: "I was at a dinner in Moscow for Larry Gagosian, and I was seated next to [Takashi] Murakami, and I thought, 'Oh, anime.'" If you were lucky enough to snag an invite, you'd have seen Allison herself as Japanese weapon-toting superhero DNA, Sony honcho Rob Wiesenthal covered in lights as comic book character Lightning, Cynthia Rowley as a Harajuku girl, and Chris Benz in six-inch pink platforms and a matching catsuit. (Other guests included Padma Lakshmi (left), Ann Dexter-Jones, and Jennifer Creel.) Hey, no one said that being on the A-list wouldn't involve some emotionally-scarring experiences.

It seems like it was only last Halloween when investment banks were considered economic bedrocks, former Fed chief Alan Greenspan's legacy was intact and debt securitization was a good thing. But Americans now blame evil bankers for their economic problems as readily as they once embraced no-doc, no-money-down mortgages. 60 Minutes recently did a hit piece on Credit Default Swaps (the tools never should have agreed to that interview!) and This American Life proudly revived a May segment slamming Collateralized Debt Obligations. And now, just in time for Halloween Friday, an entrepreneur is offering $80 Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson masks like the one above. The demonization of Wall Street doesn't end there, of course:

Still find yourself at a loss for a Halloween costume? Defamer is here to help. Sure, you could be a Texas Polygamist Bride, a Joe the Plumber, or a Sarah Palin, of which we saw several each on Saturday night. But what about something a little off the beaten path? A little...dare we say...Defamer? We'll be sprinkling a few ideas into the mix over the coming days. Every time, we'll arrange the various, fairly easy-to-find components above. Then mosey beneath the jump to find out what the sum of your costume parts will produce!

Candid presidential photography simply does not get any better than JFK and Jackie O. Let's face it — the guy just never looks bad, and his wife was one of the most photogenic women ever. We're praying for a reincarnation of the two's glamour in about nine days. Until then, click to see them candid or staged, and enjoy the nostalgic ride.Not to bring up Mad Men again, but tonight's finale takes place during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and SNL did have Jon Hamm as JFK. That's all the justification we need to revel in these snapshots:

Earlier this week, we asked for suggestions for current events-related Halloween costumes that wouldn't make your day editor want to slap you. (i.e. NO SARAH PALIN) Good thing we never revisited this topic until the end of the week, because the world's best costume didn't present itself until yesterday, when Ashley "Ol' B-Face" Todd carved a backwards "B" into her own face and called the cops and said Barack Obama and William Ayers robbed and molested and gently whittled her. Yes, Ashley Todd, American Hero, is your easy and cheap Halloween choice for Change. You guys had some other good ones too, let's look at them!

We're all trying to keep costs down during these turbulent economic times. And have you see how much costumes cost? We figured we'd do you a favor and set you up with your very own Halloween outfit. And for free, too! How does it work? It's simple. You pick a mask, you tell us where to mail it, and it's all yours. And you get to choose between seven exciting variations! Instructions, larger pictures of the masks, and a bit of helpful costume advice below.

Have you heard the one about the ghost who haunts the Bowery Hotel and makes the elevators go haywire every night at 1 a.m.? We hadn't either. But that's what a vampire expert is telling people, and just in time for Halloween, too! [HotelChatter]

So we all know that this Halloween there will be a million people dressed as Sarah Palin. These people are terrible and should be shunned. But some people will be a little more creative. Like maybe there will be some Levi Johnstons. Or Barney Frank! A "sad banker" or whatever is a bit generic, but why not Neel Kashkari? Take speed and go as Jim Cramer! Go as Nancy Pfotenhauer and declare your party to be outside of Real America. Or go as "the 'old' John McCain" and be really super honorable as you call your wife a cunt and befriend Charles Keating. We invite you to suggest, in the comments, your own news-based Halloween costumes that won't be terribly overplayed. We'll round 'em up and help you figure out how to put them together tomorrow.

New York was kind enough to follow up on our post on Tuesday about the most gruesome townhouse the Upper East Side has ever laid eyes on. A reporter headed over and knocked on the front door—and it turns out the place isn't owned by a crazy person after all! It belongs to financial adviser Richard Medley and his wife Dorinda who, along with their three kids, compete is some sort of Halloween decorating competition with Marc Lasry and his family every year. [NYM, previously]

Urbanite has some photos of the most ghastly Halloween scenes you're likely to find on the Upper East Side. The owner of a townhouse on East 63rd Street has decorated the exterior of the building with skulls, severed limbs (roasting on a barbeque grill), and a bloody, life-size pig hanging from a rope. We don't know for sure, but we're going to assume kosher-eating billionaire Ron Perelman is not all that pleased with his neighbor's sense of festiveness. More pics of the gruesomeness here.

Man, Halloween is going to suck this year. A hollow-eyed populace, hobbled by the Wall Street meltdown and unable to afford real costumes, will just wander the streets aimlessly, their kids draped in old bedsheets or festooned with cardboard cutouts in the rough shape of a pirate hat, begging their poverty-stricken neighbors for a boiled egg or a pinch of precious table sugar. Even the corporate bloodsuckers—who normally use Halloween as a marketing opportunity, to drain every last cent out of us in order to blow it on worthless Candy Corn futures—can see what's happening. The only monster this year is ourselves:

Everyone—even 6'5" dudes—is planning on being Sarah Palin for Halloween this year. We called up a Ricky's costume store, looking to see if they carried Palin costumes or at least had noticed an uptick in glasses-and-brunette-wig sales. "Who?" Sarah Palin. "Sarah... um, oh. No." But had the sales clerk noticed people buying more brown wigs and glasses? "Well, we got Obama masks, John McCain masks, Bill Clinton masks." But don't just throw on a wig and glasses—there are so many angles on dressing up as Sarah!The Definitive Palin: Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live. Do not attempt this.

Click to viewBoomp3.com Famed offspring Rumer Willis was spotted in ultra luxurious Bev Hills over the weekend sporting new crimson colored locks. When asked why she made the decision to embrace her inner big red, Willis explained it was for a string of upcoming Halloween parties. Wilis said, “This season, I’m going to go as two different people —Joan from Mad Men and Pam from The Office— and I didn’t want to wear a wig. So, I just dyed my hair and now I’ll alternate between the outfits from party to party.” Willis felt that she would go with the Pam costume when attending spooky shindigs associated with her family and the more vivacious Joan Holloway costume at other events. Willis added, “I assume that if I was dressed like Joan at my dad’s party, a lot of his friends would hit on me and I’m not sure if I’m fully comfortable with that just yet.” Also before jetting away, Willis practiced her Facebook & MySpace profile photo in the rearview mirror. [Photo Credit: X17] *A Call To The Bullpen is a work of fiction. Although the pictures we use are most certainly real, Defamer does not purport that any of the incidents or quotations you see in this piece actually happened. Lighten up, people ... it's a joke.

While The Dark Knight's box-office trajectory has leveled out a smidge since becoming the fastest film to $500 million, the marketplace for morbidly exploitive Heath Ledger nostalgia has caught a new wave of holiday momentum. So say the proprietors of something called "Mr. Costumes," which proudly notes today that varieties of its Joker outfits account for nearly half of its adult costume sales for this Halloween. "The popularity of the movie and the cultural effect of Ledger's death have propelled seasonal demand for the villain costume," states a press release recently crapped into our inbox, "while effectively boosting the sales revenues and overall popularity of MrCostumes.com, an emerging player in the Halloween Costumes market." Classy, right? At $160 per (and on backorder through next week), they'd better be. But what if the kids want to be a disfigured, lip-smacking serial killer as well? Lucky them — that's covered, too.Even your little guy or gal can get in on the trick-or-treat sociopathy, as pictured here. And failing that, there's always the tormented anti-hero get-up (with or without muscled chest) for maximum doorstep brooding — viciously murdered ex-girlfriend sold separately, natch.

In front of that vintage store Daha on the Lower East Side, around 11 p.m. last night, a couple was overheard having "the talk." He just didn't want to be in a relationship. She wanted him to be more emotionally transparent. He was wearing a Planet of the Apes mask. This was the day after Halloween.

We trust by now you've fully recovered from your Wednesday night Halloween activities—or, in certain cases, have yet to come down from what has quickly evolved into a three-day bender, your keys, wallet, and memory long gone and the last remaining threads of your Zombie Britney costume the only things covering your essential regions as you pound the hard streets in search of another hit of stale candy corn. Whatever the case, we think you'll thoroughly enjoy this music video of the WeHo Carnaval, compiled by crack Defamer videologist Molly McAleer.

It's the spookiest time of year: The time when you can't tell a horrifically dressed club kid from a terribly dressed but otherwise normal Halloween reveler. But we can! Your friend and ours Alex Blagg trolls the photo-trolls of Ambrel, Cobrasnake, Nicky Digital, and Last Night's Party to deliver the good news: Society is just a costume! (Deep, man!)