I love anagrams. And I love Rosemary’s Baby, both the brilliant and underrated Ira Levin novel and the unbelievable Polanski film adaptation. So I am killing two birds with one stone—make that three—to convince you to buy Rosemary’s Baby and read it soon (Levin started as a screenwriter and he’s a master at both understatement and making totally implausible situations seems real), rand ent the DVD of the film, even if you’ve seen it before. There’s so much to love, from Ruth Gordon’s nutty Satanist, Mia Farrow’s gorgeous Sassoon haircut, and John Cassavetes generally oozy ickiness, which, if you’ve ever dated an actor you will recognize immediately.

But really I just want to throw in an anagram I came up with while playing with paper and scissors—I’ve recently given up the act of cutting but still like to play with sharp objects.

So, here’s a nice use of “anagram” from Rosemary’s Baby, just to get us started.

“With no false moves she made [the scrabble pieces] into Roman Castavet.

And again into Adrian Marcato.

And then again into Roman Castavet.

. . .

“’He’s Adrian Marcato’s son,’ she said. ‘The man who said he conjured up Satan and was attacked downstairs by a mob. Roman is his son Steven. Roman Castevet is Steven Marcato rearranged—an anagram.’

Guy said ‘Who told you?’

‘Hutch,’ Rosemary Said. She told Guy about All of them Witches and Hutch’s message.

. . .

Rosemary looked at Guy uncormfortably and said, ‘You don’t think he’s –the same as his father?’

And here’s my anagram of the day:

SARAH PALIN = A PLAIN RASH

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!