This post is brought to you in partnership with Life of Dad and AVG.

With the fall season officially here, the calendar has flipped to my favorite season of them all. The crisp autumn air comes with shorter days that make way for earlier, and seemingly darker nights that are filled with mystery. There’s just something about fall that brings a feeling that you never know what might be lurking in the shadows... especially as Halloween nears, and if superstition is to be believed, the lines between good and evil grow perilously thin. In the virtual world, there can also be unsavory creatures lurking in the depths of our devices, those who slipped through the cracks during visits to the internet that could’ve been better protected. Thankfully, the folks at AVG have a full suite of products available to protect your valuable gear from unseen evil…

As I predicted, Disney's THE BFG is coming home for the holidays. Disney and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Walden Media, made the announcement today that the fantasy adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg will be released on Dec. 6 on Digital HD, Blu-ray™, Disney Movies Anywhere, DVD and On-Demand (pre-order). Check out my review of the theatrical release here, and get all the details on the in-home release below!

As my boys from PRODUCT OF HATE (I've been working with them since 2010) prepare to hit the road next week for the 2016 Hammer Out the Hate Tour with their Napalm Records labelmates, HAMMER FIGHT, the band is unleashing a preview of what to expect with an all-new music video filmed on their last tour. "...As Your Kingdom Falls" (Tour Edition) re-visits a fan-favorite song from their debut album, BURIED IN VIOLENCE (a lyric video cut by yours truly was previously-released), set to footage shot and edited by Josh Apple of Monobloc Studios during PRODUCT OF HATE's spring 2016 tour with MUSHROOMHEAD, MADAME MAYHEM and SUMO CYCO, the video is a taste of what a PRODUCT OF HATE live show is like. Check out the new video below!

On November 23, Walt Disney Animation Studios' 56th feature film, MOANA, will hit theaters, presenting a new tale of adventure set against a beautiful South Pacific backdrop. Today comes a look at just four of the many books inspired by the film that will be making their way to retailers over the next few weeks, a sampling sent to Rock Father HQ by my friends at Disney Publishing. This is a cross-section of titles that represents something for the entire family. Check out the details and recommended ages below!

After joining Soilwork, Unearth, Wovenwar, and Darkness Divided for a North American tour this fall, Motor City thrashers Battlecross will finish off 2016 with their annual headlining run, the third installment of the "Winter Warriors Tour"! This year, Metal Blade label-mates Allegaeon and Necromancing the Stone will join the bill as support, making this one tour not to be missed!

Back in June, I shared news about some big expansions coming soon to the world of LEGO Dimensions. Now, when it comes to the toys-to-life category, LEGO Dimensions is a new thing for us here at Rock Father HQ (Warner Bros. Interactive just sent us a Starter Kit and some extras - more on that soon), but it's one I've been interested in since last year. While there's a wealth of pop culture goodness that comes together in the multiplatform game, what put it firmly into my realm was the announcement that a KNIGHT RIDER Fun Pack was on the way... KNIGHT RIDER, the greatest television series of all-time, and perhaps the most-mentioned series ever here at THE ROCK FATHER Magazine. Now we have the real details, along with sets from The LEGO Batman Movie. Check it out...

THE ROCK FATHER is a proud Hungry Jack  Brand Ambassador

I can fully declare that fall is my favorite season of them all. Sure, I do like every season for different reasons at different times, but there’s just something about the switch from summer to fall that makes everything just feel right. I’ve often felt that perhaps my autumn obsession (and that of all-things pumpkin) might be due, in part, to the fact that I’m an October baby - born just days before Halloween. While there’s many things to love about fall, family is a big part of all of it - from visits to the pumpkin patches and apple orchards, to gathering around the table for a great meal. I’ve always been a big breakfast guy, but when the whole family (or the extended family) is home, there’s nothing better on a weekend than to start the day off right… a time to take things beyond “breakfast” and make it a BreakFEAST with Hungry Jack!

The October issue of Metal Hammer Magazine happens to be their 30th Anniversary issue, and to celebrate they've done something special with their monthly CD, serving up DECADES OF DESTRUCTION, a sixteen track compilation of covers. While there's much to be curious about (full tracklisting below), it's the lead track that I was most curious about - a classic song by my favorite band of all-time, covered by another of my favorites. Check out KORN performing FAITH NO MORE's "We Care A Lot" below. It took a little bit for me to get into it, but it's a grower...

Zag's MIRACULOUS: TALES OF LADYBUG & CAT NOIR continues to build an audience through regular airings on Nickelodeon, and for those wishing to enjoy the heroic adventures at home, the folks at Shout! Factory have just issued their second volume of the animated hit on DVD. MIRACULOUS: TALES OF LADYBUG & CAT NOIR - SPOTS ON! is out now (get it from Shout! Factory or Amazon), bringing home another six-episodes from the first season. To celebrate the release, Shout! Kids and THE ROCK FATHER Magazine have teamed-up (superhero style, of course) to get three (3) lucky readers hooked-up with the new DVD. Plus, we've got some free printable masks so that you and yours can live out some MIRACULOUS fantasies...

After what felt like a little bit of a lull, the past couple of years have delivered some fantastic new ways to foster hands-on creativity. One company that's been leading the charge is Spin Master (an outfit whom you've no doubt heard me mention on occasion), and this year they've got a new spin on creative play with Bunchems Alive!, the latest iteration of Bunchems - winner of the coveted 2016 Activity Toy of the Year Award, presented by the Toy Industry Association. These little balls stick together, allowing for endless possibilities in what kids can create. Squish, connect and create the creatures, characters, structures and vehicles shown on the box, or just free-form to create your own - this is open-ended imaginative play... with NO MESS. And now, with Bunchems Alive!, kids can add motion to their creations, bringing a whole new element into some already rockin' play.

If your house is anything like ours, then PAW Patrol is probably a huge deal. The tales of Ryder and the Pups saving the day in Adventure Bay have become legendary, with a symbiotic relationship between the Nick Jr. TV series and the expansive (and growing) line of toys from Spin Master. In fact, I think that the PAW Patrol line of figures, vehicles and playsets is one of the best toy lines of the past decade. In the summer of 2015, during my last visit to The Step2 Company's Ohio headquarters as a Brand Ambassador, I sat-in on a meeting in which some third-party licenses were presented as potential new toys - a few of which already had some hand-drawn mock-ups. One of them was PAW Patrol. Now, over a year later, the Step2 PAW Patrol Lookout Climber is a reality - released as a Toys "R" Us Exclusive for the fall of 2016, and an early pick for my 2016 Holiday Wish Guide!

September 17, 2016 has been declared to be the third-annual "Batman Day" by the folks at DC Comics - a 24-hour celebration of all-things Batman. One of the interesting things about the character is that it works in so many forms - from the colorful camp of The Caped Crusaders of the 1960s, to the ominous tones of Alan Moore's THE KILLING JOKE or Frank Miller's THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, there's many shades of grey and black. Zack Snyder's BATMAN v. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE introduced a new version of the character - one familiar, but still like nothing previously seen in live-action... a real brawler. We'd soon find out that Ben Affleck's Batman had faced-off against Jared Leto's Joker (seen in David Ayer's SUICIDE SQUAD), but as a hypothetical - what if The Joker had the upper hand? My friends at Entertainment Earth recently served-up their SDCC Exclusive Batman v. Superman: The Joker's Wild Batman 19" Big Figs Action Figure by JAKKS Pacific at San Diego Comic-Con International, but with a few left (one of which they sent to Rock Father HQ), we decided that teaming-up for a Batman Day Giveaway was the way to go! One lucky reader of THE ROCK FATHER™ Magazine will score this fantastic figure (a $60 value)! Enter below...

Each year around this same time, some old friends emerge from their crypt, ready to haunt the breakfast table once more...

The General Mills Monster Cereals have been a staple of Halloween season breakfast for over four decades, and I've been a fan for nearly as long. Funny enough, I have yet to see them "in the wild" this season, but I know that Franken Berry, Boo Berry and Count Chocula are out there, and when I do finally come across a glorious display of their demonic deliciousness, I will likely drop to my knees in respect (as I always do) as their boxes reflect an imaginary glow akin to the mysterious briefcase in PULP FICTION. Despite my lack of finding fresh stock at retail thus far, the folks at General Mills had a special package dropped off here at Rock Father HQ - a "Monsters Across America" mystery box, you could say. Being that 2016 is an election year, the trio of monsters (sadly their lesser-known counterparts, Yummy Mummy and Frute Brute are AWOL again) are running for office - and they truly want your vote, but their position is that of America's Favorite Cereal Monster.  Earlier today, Finley and I jumped on Facebook Live to do an unboxing of the package, and now an edited version can be viewed below...

This Thanksgiving, one of our most-anticipated films of the year comes to theaters with the release of Walt Disney Animation Studios' MOANA. A tale of a young girl on a great adventure with a mighty demigod, the film features the voice talents of Auli‘i Cravalho, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Jemaine Clement (FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS), Rachel House, Temuera Morrison (The STAR WARS Prequels' Jango Fett), Nicole Scherzinger (Pussycat Dolls), Alan Tudyk (ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY), and was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker - the duo behind THE LITTLE MERMAID and ALADDIN. Check out the new trailer below!

Earlier this year, the folks behind Joe's Pub on Weed St in Chicago planted a flag in the suburbs by opening Joe's Live at the MB Financial Park in Rosemont, Illinois. An immediate hit with a mix of pop, country and party bands, this Fall finds the venue entering completely new territory, albeit a realm that I personally have been covering here on the site for the past six years: the Kindie Scene. Kids Shows at Joe's will take place on select Saturday mornings at 11am, beginning September 24th with an appearance by Randy Kaplan. Future dates have been booked into December with what should be some familiar names to readers of THE ROCK FATHER Magazine, including Poochamungus and Miss Jamie From the Farm. Check out the initial lineup below...