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I learned about menstruation from reading Carrie, which is not a great way to do that, but that's what you get from a fairly repressive upbringing. It's still one of his more unique books, with its epistolary structure, which was probably not only influenced by Dracula, which also influenced King's next book, 'Salem's Lot, but also by the fact that he originally intended it as a short story for the porn magazine… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 3:07 PM on April 5, 2024

I remember the 2017 eclipse quite well; I camped out at a nice nearby campground the night before, got to a park, the sky was clear, got the full experience. I also remember the drive back, which took at least twice as long as it should have.

And the same place does not look super-promising WRT the weather, even though it's still in the area of totality. I missed out on a transportation option that might have worked, which would have been to get on a train going to and… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 6:36 PM on April 4, 2024

For the love of the game, I presume. I mean, he probably won't (or shouldn't have to) buy his own drinks for the rest of his life.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 3:06 PM on April 4, 2024

This should scratch that itch that I sometimes get when I see something like a Cricket phone and think, "But that's all I really need, right?"
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 2:36 PM on April 4, 2024

This is the hottest of takes, but I have always seen Swisher as more of a scenester than a journalist, and I can tell you exactly why: Boing Boing. Even to the extent some of their contributors have entertained or provoked me over the years, and even to the extent I respect some of them (particularly Doctorow) within certain limits, it’s a huge scene clique. There is a deep archetypal connection in my brain between the sort of person with a solid history of bylines on Boing Boing and… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:45 AM on April 4, 2024

I was super-impressed by Ritchson's appearance on Inside of You, a podcast/video series hosted by Michael Rosenbaum (probably still best known as Lex Luthor on Smallville). Very open and articulate about some of his personal struggles.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 5:37 AM on April 4, 2024

I only know Durang from one thing, and that's that SNL appearance; it's the first show with the Dana Carvey/Phil Hartman cast, and Durang and Weaver did a sort of satirical Berthold Brecht musical medley. A bit different for SNL, but the (mostly) new cast was obviously sharp and overall they hit it out of the park.

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posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 5:52 PM on April 3, 2024

The Canadian Cinemusical Universe was confirmed when Count Floyd introduced the Rush song "The Weapon." In 3-D! Scary!

.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 1:22 PM on April 3, 2024

Like Warren Ellis, a white man constantly engaged in self satisfied attempts at edginess isn't generally engaged in a lot of introspection or thought about others' needs. Like Richard Kyanka, he has used his death to hurt the people who might have otherwise held him accoutable.

This is basically my take. I'd mostly liked what I'd seen of Piskor's work, mainly through the serialization of Hip Hop Family Tree on Boing Boing; it may… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 7:35 AM on April 2, 2024

P.S. Just wanted to note that my general assessment of his work doesn't include Red Room, which I bounced hard off of once I realized what it was about. Switchblade Shorties looked interesting, but I won't be perusing it now.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 7:37 AM on April 2, 2024

Mr. D immediately strikes me as a Steve Allen doppelgänger; part of the concept would be that Allen probably wouldn't ever consent to it, if he had been asked. Anyway, the worst fast food mascot would have to be the Noid.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 7:07 AM on April 2, 2024

Some new films may never be released physically at all.

Bottoms, which I loved, is available on Amazon Prime, but Amazon isn't selling it on physical media. And it's just the kind of movie that I want on physical media, because it didn't gross a lot (only a couple of million over its budget, which was small) and once it's gone from streaming, it's probably gone for good.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 10:06 PM on March 30, 2024

you can bring it camping

If you're even thinking of taking this camping, please stay at home. And if I hadn't just gotten up and was still waiting for the caffeine to percolate through my brain, I might have LOLed at "no water resistance" (yes, exactly what I look for in a camping accessory) and "battery life can be an issue." How do you make something that weighs 28 pounds with a crappy battery? Does it turn into an Iron Man suit?
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:10 AM on March 30, 2024

I'm wondering about Martin McGuinness, who was a big deal in not only the IRA but also in the Northern Ireland peace process. If British intelligence knew about some of the stuff documented on film--and, if the article writer's suspicions are correct, they actually saw the unedited footage because it was developed in Britain--then that has certain implications.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 2:19 PM on March 28, 2024

FanFare thread.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 4:47 AM on March 25, 2024

Kermit Ops is the part of the war that he doesn't like to talk about.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 6:43 AM on March 22, 2024

"Everyday Sunshine" is just an astonishing song. During my favorite SNL era, the earlier Hartman-Carvey years, they would sometimes have the most mindblowing host/musical guest combos, and one in particular was Jeremy Irons/Fishbone. I remember it particularly because, during the final credits, Irons and Walter Kibby swapped jackets.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 7:17 AM on March 21, 2024

I was about to post an obituary thread for MEW (and he has the same initials as Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and how cool is that?), and gleaned this from his Wikipedia entry: "[If] you’re casting something, and you’ve got 12 problems; if they’ve got me, they only have 11 problems." What a mensch.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 7:15 AM on March 21, 2024

I can't see the article from where I'm at, but it looks like it's been known for a while that genetic testing can pick this up pretty easily. (That article cites a letter in The Lancet from 2011.)
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 12:47 PM on March 19, 2024

See also: The Freudian Cover-Up.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 4:44 AM on March 21, 2024

It’s almost as if generational divides are an artificial construct, in an attempt to lump people who are potentially 15 years different in age into broad sweeping categories for convenience sake.

Here comes my personal copypasta, all in caps, if you insist on believing in the validity of generational divides, make of that what you will:

Once more, with feeling: ALL GENERATIONAL CATEGORIES ARE COMPLETELY ARBITRARY, NONE OF… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 6:46 AM on March 20, 2024

You can argue that there is an element of arbitrariness in that the increase in the birth rate actually started circa 1940, not after World War II specifically

That's it, actually. It starts in 1940, peaks around 1960, and the decline flattens out around 1980. The "1946 to 1964" boundaries seem to have been decided purely by reversing the last two numerals.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:58 AM on March 20, 2024

I'm still amused by the "The Boys of Summer" cover that changed that line to "saw a Black Flag sticker on a Cadillac." (I'm not sure what Henry Rollins is driving these days, but I seem to recall either him mentioning a while back that he was in either a Mercedes or a BMW.)
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 12:15 PM on March 20, 2024

P.S. It was the Ataris' version. Apparently, Henley is not a fan (all the way at the end of this piece).
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 12:24 PM on March 20, 2024

The episode in the FanFare rewatch from several years(!) back. I said plenty in that thread, so I'll just make the point here that, the impressive technical accomplishments notwithstanding, what really shines in the episode is the genuine love for the original show.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 5:42 AM on March 19, 2024

The number of parents who seem to think that they're entitled to exploit their children never ceases to dismay me. For a while, I avoided the r/personalfinance subreddit because it seemed like, every other time I looked at it, there was some young person whose parents, having ruined their own credit ratings, took out loans or credit cards in their children's names and ruined their credit ratings, too. I'm still resentful over the fact that my former legal guardians kept the money that I saved… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 5:37 AM on March 19, 2024

"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 1:24 PM on March 17, 2024

I guess that I could see putting Watchmen on the list, because it is about America in a way that Maus basically isn't (plus, what KFB says above about Maus not really being a novel is true). I absolutely wouldn't suggest the Dark Knight Returns as a substitute, because, even if you allow that it was Frank Miller arguably at the height of his powers and before he really started putting out… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 10:41 AM on March 16, 2024

I tend to think of American Psycho the book as being merely pig iron that Mary Harron made a very sharp and useful knife out of. The only BEE book that I've actually liked was The Rules of Attraction.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 9:09 AM on March 17, 2024

It would be great if, should any of us have access to a karaoke machine or a bar that facilitates karaoke, we could do some sort of song in honor of Negishi-san; something somewhat elegiac, say, like "And When I Die" or "People Who Died." The latter is good for people who think that they can't sing, because Jim Carroll is rapping/chanting the lyrics.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 10:15 AM on March 16, 2024

Not that blue-ringed octopus that is so cute but also so lethal that when it bites you you barely have time to react before the venom stops your hea
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:26 AM on March 16, 2024

OK, here's the thing about "The Menagerie" that's so wonderful. Well, maybe a few things.

We all know (well, all the Trekkies, anyway) that Star Trek had two pilots; "The Cage", which got turned into this episode, and "Where No Man Has Gone Before", which addressed some of the "problems" that the network suits had with the first one. The second pilot just got shown as a regular episode (Star Trek was hella expensive for the time,… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 11:22 PM on March 15, 2024

Never been to a proper tiki bar, but I have been to Graceland and seen the Jungle Room, created supposedly when Elvis was cruising around Memphis in his Cadillac, saw the tiki-themed furniture in a storeroom window, and bought out the whole display. (Although I've never been able to confirm it, I'd just about bet cash money that the store in question was Jolly Royal on Lamar Avenue.)
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 6:33 PM on March 15, 2024

On their sides, they carry outrageous and sometimes puerile artwork and names like Arise My Love and Come With Me, Squat ’n Drop it, S.O.L., Time’s a Wastin’ and Big Chief Little Beaver.

They could be Culture ships.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 5:21 AM on March 14, 2024

Not really surprised. Smoking was a big hit with the You're Not My Real Dad crowd for a while; that united reactionaries with diehard hipsters (and, if you've known anyone with lung cancer or COPD, you know that the dying could be very hard, indeed).
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 5:22 AM on March 13, 2024

Speaking of that Rezvani truck... sure, your truck is tough, but are you ready to fight the Gorn for it?
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 6:17 AM on March 12, 2024

a company that would bestride Candyland like a squishy colossus.

"I tried to think of the most harmless thing. Something I loved from my childhood, something that could never, ever possibly destroy us."
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 4:30 AM on March 12, 2024

My turn to nitpick: "not talked about" is not really the same thing as "a secret." See, for example, that one song by Tom Lehrer. von Braun also shows up in Apple's For All Mankind. Operation: Paperclip is referenced obliquely in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:30 AM on March 11, 2024

I was a little disappointed that the author stopped before looking at Kenneth Branagh's Henry V, which I thought generally did a good job of portraying medieval battles the way that they probably were, i.e. filthy and chaotic.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:31 AM on March 10, 2024

"Boomer Shooter" is kind of a dumb name, but it does make me wonder how many actual boomers play/played videogames. Arcade games really started showing up when I was a teen and I'm sure that people at least a few years older than me (I'm at the tail end of the boom) were partly responsible for them becoming a big hit. I tend to associate older boomers with the more addictive social media/mobile games such as FarmVille or Candy Crush if they get into games at all.… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:24 AM on March 5, 2024

I liked it well enough, whether the goofing-on-the-aristos part was rote or no. Somehow, I'd forgotten that Wagner covered cycling, and I liked her comparisons to that sport, which seem to avoid simply saying "but bikes are just better." (Even though they are.)

The closest thing that I've ever done to watching F1 was watching Iron Man 2, and I wonder if the Monaco scene--between the well-that-didn't-age-well Elon Musk cameo (he also… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:45 AM on March 4, 2024

I've had one, probably about due for my next since I'll hit the big six-oh this spring. I had the same experience as a lot of people; one thing that helped me stay focused on it was watching a few minutes of a YouTube video of a colonoscopy in which the person didn't do the prep, and boy, was it nasty. My first and only time under general anesthetic and had the "I blinked and it was an hour later" experience. Didn't enjoy giving myself the… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 10:47 AM on March 3, 2024

Holy crap, hippybear. Wonder if/how many of those still work?
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 11:10 PM on March 2, 2024

Also thought of a Louie Anderson Bible, which reminded me that I should get back to Blankets.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 11:11 PM on March 2, 2024

This is just Green Lanternism written large. If the argument is essentially that we can't risk a Biden candidacy, then your "solution" is that somehow the Democrats will create the perfect anti-Trump candidate--a sort of Barack Obama II--by sheer gut-wrenching force of will. Sure, buddy.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:30 PM on March 2, 2024

I agree he is probably in some group chat with a bunch of real special boys who think they've got it all figured out

Didn't this actually get outed in the glory days of the blogerati in the aughts?
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 10:45 PM on March 2, 2024

Another point: up until the fight in Return of the Jedi, Luke's real prowess and impact on the course of events is not as a lightsaber wielder, but as a pilot. Now, you could get into the barbershop-Freudianism of that, with X-wings being kinda phallic and the destruction of the first Death Star being akin to an ovum being fertilized with a very destructive sperm, but whatever, man. And his sister is a better shot.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 7:11 AM on March 2, 2024

What beats me is how the dick obsessed guys get taken seriously.

There's a bit in Alison Bechdel's Fun Home in which she's in college and some guy--maybe a professor, maybe a TA--is going on about the phallic imagery of something and she's kind of rolling her eyes.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 6:05 PM on March 2, 2024

Since this thread is still open: Lamy has reintroduced its coveted, limited-edition Dark Lilac color ink--or has it? [Reddit; there's also a NYT article, but I don't think that I can transfer the free link over from Bluesky--here's the skeet that I found it in.]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 11:24 PM on March 1, 2024

If you want to avoid flats on a bicycle you either get a heavy duty tire like a Schwalbe Marathon

Those will probably be my next road tires; I've heard good things about them.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 2:17 PM on March 1, 2024