SHOP
Tailgate in comfort
Tailgating isn’t a picnic, it’s a competitive sport, and this Hammaka Hammock provides a home-field advantage. The stand hooks on to any standard trailer hitch, and the chairs hang down for those leisurely post-bratwurst naps. Available at Art Mart, 1222 Pearl St., Boulder or at americantailgater.com for $299. There’s a free-standing version if you’re hitchless.
SEE
A cavalcade of Kulture
Hot rods. Pin-up girls. Tattoos that run from neck to toe. Even if those things aren’t in your personal style folder, they’re fascinating to gawk at. The LIVE FAST Kustom Kulture Show, a traveling extravaganza that celebrates the revved-up look, makes its first Denver stop this weekend. It ends today with the best event of all: the tattoo contest. Who knows, maybe you’ll get one. Bring $15 and some courage to the Sheraton Four Points, 6363 E. Hampden Ave.
READS
Call of the wild
“Bird Songs” (Chronicle, $45) is a must-have for your coffee table collection. Using the illustrated book’s built-in digital audio player, just tap in the number of one of the 250 feathered varieties – from the Olive-sided flycatcher to the ring-necked pheasant – recorded by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and you’ll soon be whistling along.
SURVEY SAYS
Blame Johnny Depp
Halloween continues to grow in popularity, and not just with kids. Just over 34 percent of adults will dress up in costume this year, according to the National Retail Federation’s 2006 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey. All told, Americans will likely spend $4.96 billion trying to look scarier than they do in real life.
Here are the top costumes for the year. Note that pirates are unusually popular this year, thanks to the success of the the “Pirates of the Caribbean” blockbuster movies.
Kids
1. Princess
2. Pirate
3. Witch
4. Spider-Man
5. Superman
6. Disney Princess (Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, Snow White)
7. Power Ranger
8. Pumpkin
9. Cat
10. Vampire
Adults
1. Witch
2. Pirate
3. Vampire
4. Cat
5. Clown
6. Fairy
7. Gypsy
8. Superhero
9. Ghost/Ghoul
10. Dracula
