Posted on General

State of the Deadpan

State of the Jack, September 2024.

Jack Mangan has been really low key in 2024. What gives? Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

 I actually have a lot going on. 

Metal Hall of Fame: I’m still very active with The Metal Hall of Fame, writing meaningful articles about Metal’s Past and Present, keeping the website content as updated as I possibly can, and participating in board discussions with great people. Pat Gesualdo (the CEO) is driving something amazing and I’m proud of the work we’re doing. I look forward to the gala event every year.

MetalAsylum.net: Rich Catino and I are rethinking the best way to run his creation in the 2020s. We want to continue to support the great new wave of Heavy Metal bands as well as the classics, we’re just trying to do it in a different way than the past. The PR pros in our networks are fantastic people. I have always loved weeding through the new releases they send out and finding cool stuff to review. Rich and I are still onboard to do our part, we just want to do this in a fresh and still-relevant way.

What about the Livestreams? Man, I miss doing the Livestreams. Some of you do too, I hope. I’ll simply say this: I fully intend to return to Livestreaming, much in the way that we used to. Schedules have been difficult for a long time, but I do plan to get my ugly mug back to talking music in your Facebook and YouTube streams in the near future. Did you see that Kix interview? Or when I talked to Frank Bello? We had a great crew of regular participants in the past, we’ll get whoever’s willing to jump back on and rejoin us when the time is right.

Through it all, I’m still digging (discovering? studying?) new and old music as much as ever, and doing my small part to promote the artists that I care about through the avenues available to me. My earbuds are always full. 

Spherical What? I’ve been sitting on a completed, full-length novel, entitled “Spherical Heart.” Tomi’s story is finally told. I will probably self-publish, rather than go through the traditional New York publishing. I did self-publish “Creature of God,” an old short story of mine unrelated to “Spherical.” I didn’t promote or track it as well as I should have, but I got some nice responses. I’d like to do more indy work in the future. Fiction writing is still strong in my past, present, and future.

Am I Evil? My “Am I Evil?” graphic novel (based on the Diamond Head song, famously covered by Metallica) has been out in the world for over year now. I’m so proud of this book. I have not done much to market and generate sales; for now, it’s just a special release. I’d like to revisit this in the future. My sincerest thanks to all who helped make that happen. We still haven’t fulfilled the t-shirt perk. I know.

Final vague note: I do have a very exciting new venture in the works – – mostly-unrelated to any of the above, but I need to not sacrifice any of the above things to get it to launch.

Other personal stuff.

I started 2024 with an exciting career change, which went into full effect in March. My new dayjob role has been rewarding and challenging, but it’s also taken up a great deal of my time and mental energy. 

Family. Nothing is more important than family. My youngest has the most amazing mind and personality. My older daughter is a fully independent, responsible college student/adult. She is also one of the most amazing people I’ve ever known.

The greatest heartbreak of my life is as painful today as it was 8 years ago, and beyond. 

–

Final thing: I draw pictures for my daughter. I’m nowhere near pro-level, but I’m better than I ever thought I’d be. I usually look up a picture online and do my best to copy it. NO AI.

783 thoughts on “State of the Deadpan”

  2. Appreciate all the updates and fresh page. Deadpan rides again.

    And, while I’m sure we’re not doing anything for 2024 in terms of a meetup, 2025 isn’t too far away.

  7. Thanks. I had intended to put something in the status update about MMMmmmeetup planning, but it was already too long.

    I miss you guys, and it’s been way too long. Let’s really see what we can do about getting together next year.

  14. Today in D & D, after half a battle, we found the main bad guy recovering in a pub. I rolled well enough to sneak up behind her and strap her in the back of the neck, killing her instantly.
    Of course, in celebration, I then went behind the bar and poured myself a whisky while the rest of the group did clean-up.

    • Both this and Captain America 4 look like returns to the “Superhero Espionage” style, which Marvel has done well a few times in the past.

      I guess we’re done with Kang and that multiverse thing then?

  21. Headlines are odd things. How sad for Jared Harris to not only be unimportant enough in this article writer’s mind to be referred to only as Richard Harris’ son, but to not have his father thought of as important enough to be referred to only as “original dumbledore actor”. Kind of a slap in the face on both counts. Side note: why should we care what the relative of someone involved in the original series thinks at all? This is news?

    https://geektyrant.com/news/original-dumbledore-actors-son-questions-hbos-harry-potter-series-why-do-it-the-films-were-fantastic-leave-them-alone

    • We care a lot about what celebrities think! The interesting story here is that the son of the original actor was considered for a major role.
      Did I ever know Jared was Richard’s son? That’s interesting in itself. He’s really good, and has made a good film career for himself.

    • Thanks for the thoughts! We’re in a zone of lesser impact. 10% probability of sustained tropical storm force winds. We’ve cleaned up anything loose in the yard and I’m going to fill one (5 gallon) tank of gas in case we lose power and I need to run the generator. But we aren’t expecting too much more than what we would get in a sever thunderstorm. Best to be prepared anyway.

    • I check out IMDB and boy are the reviews all over the place. I wasn’t planning on watching this in the theater anyway, but I might watch it streaming. I have a greater tolerance for psychedelic themes than most viewers, so maybe I’d like it.

  33. Another husbandless evening.
    I complain now but I know, in nine months, I’ll start grumping about how I never get time to myself anymore

  35. I’m watching the first episode of a new series on Netflix (Nobody Wants This).

    It’s a romcom but it’s another show showing pushing that doing a podcast is the way to riches. I mean like being a big selling author a few do that but for the majority..not so much.

  36. Oh and I’m still pissed that the government changed the rules of the works pension scheme back in 2012 so that means I’m still working rather than being retired.

    Yeah, never going to stop being mad about that.

  37. I’ve started listening to the original “War of Worlds” on Audible as narrated by David Tennant. I’m enjoying it so far. It made me curious if there had been any period-accurate movie adaptions. There have been, but they are universally considered bad. Seems like a missed opportunity.

  41. And…. since there’s new-to-me Saga out there, I’ve started reading from the beginning. Man, this is simultaneously the most juvenile, brilliant, unputdownable, heart-rending, gripping, compelling storytelling in all of comics.
    There are things in issue one that payoff 60+ issues later.

  44. JW: Bring Him to Me

    In a change from a film shot in the UK pretending to be the US this is a film shot in Australia pretending to be the USA.

    • Sadly, what is going on in NC still won’t wake the deniers up to the fact that Global weather change effects even those who live a long way from any ocean.

      Sadder still is that the weather simply doesn’t care if they believe or not.

      • There’s apparently a lot of “screw ’em, they’re just dumb hicks” sentiment out there. I’ve not seen it myself, but it’s still appalling.

        • Ooof.
          My experience with that area is that it is a 40/40 mix of deplorables and hippies.
          The maga types are nice enough to us because we are white and middle-class and have the tourist dollars that they want. The hippies are, of course, very welcoming to everyone. But neither group is especially fond of “The Government “.

          The place is beautiful and full of little villages that you can only get to by the one 2 lane, twisty turny road that runs along the creak that is at the bottom of most of these valleys. Either side of which is steep, tree covered slope.
          I don’t think landing a helicopter is possible without a lot of tree cutting and removal.
          It’s going to be a tough, expensive recovery that wouldn’t be possible without “The Government”.

  47. I have reached the conclusion that if you actually tried to live in the moment, live as though there might not be a tomorrow, it really pisses people off.
    What they really mean when they say “live in the moment “is they want you to live in THEIR moment.

  49. Well, the world just got a bit scarier.
    Faith can be a beautiful thing, but man, religions so often go into extremes and cause so much harm.

    (RE: Iran launching a huge missile attack)

    • Even in the days before hyper political hysteria, this would have been seen as pathetic (if, say, someone in 1989 had bought a Madonna souvenir and smashed it). It feels even more pathetic nowadays, though.

  57. Most excellent news!
    LVCRFT
    Dropped a new album on Oct 1st

    Haven’t listened yet but I’ve been listening to their previous stuff and think it is great fun.

    LA based studio/backing musicians that decided to get together occasionally to do “modern” Halloween/Spooky vibe music.
    A wide variety of “sounds like” because they all right stuff from the genre they usually perform.
    If you try it, keep in mind their 4th album was meant to be soundtrack material and as such, isn’t like the rest. I haven’t listened to that one though so I can’t report.

    • Ah ha.
      I am not very quick.
      I was three songs into the new album when I suddenly realized what the name meant.
      “Under the Covers”

      So not like their previous 5 albums but still some nice takes on old songs.

  61. No, I didn’t watch last night’s debate either. People widely felt that Vance performed well, but that his lies and “You promised not to fact-check me” quote are curdling under postgame analysis.

    Anyway, this quote made me laugh: “JD Vance had the energy of the guy they bring out to talk financing when you’re buying a car who only looks at your husband.”

    • Didn’t see it either but I heard it showed just how dangerous the P2025 people are when that message is coming from a used car salesman, slick, non-addled brained package.
      The person who should be most afraid of Vance is trump himself. Should the courts put them in the White House after the election challenges, Trump will just be in the P2025 folks way.

  63. Fun, memorable concert tonight! Rhett and I were right at the front of the stage for Accept and KK’s Priest. We were close enough that we were dodging Flying Vs.

    • Overall we enjoyed S2 as well. I can appreciate some of the complaints, but not enough that it ruined anything for me. Hopefully they push forward with the other seasons.

      It was certainly better than S2 of House of the Dragon, there I said it!

      • I’ve only seen the first 2 episodes of Rings of Power S2 so far and I haven’t come close to watching S2 of House of Dragons yet. I jump from streaming service to streaming service and binge what I can. I just restarted AMC+ for a bit to see S2 of Walking Dead Daryl Dixon and it comes with Shudder. Shudder means I get to watch more Last Drive In with Joe Bob Briggs. I have to squeeze as many of those in as I can. Then I can go back the other ones as my Amazon Prime and Hulu subscriptions are more permanent. I also still want to watch Agatha All Along. Then it will be onto all the new seasons of other shows as they come out (like Squid Games, The Boys, etc). Too many shows, not enough time.

  77. My feet are aching after a long day at the SD Zoo. The pandas are back! But the highlight was probably the fennec fox.

    I thought of Ryah in the tarantula room. A few of them were truly terrifying.

  78. When I do beta readings for friends (I only do them for friends) I usually end up giving pages and pages of notes. I often feel guilty about it but people come back so I guess they like it. The last beta read I did for a friend I didn’t think the book was very good so I skirted around that and just gave technical notes, which still came to over a dozen pages. (maybe people enjoy reading a romance that feels like it was written by a 13-year-old boy? But then again, I’m not a big romance person so that might’ve clouded my judgement )
    So this time they asked me to beta read another story and I said no. I feel a little guilty about it.

  81. Home. Home again.
    I like to be here when I can.
    When I come home, cold and tired.*
    It’s good to warm my bones beside the fire.**

    *Only tired, not cold.
    **Still too hot in Phoenix for the fire pit.

  82. So I’m reading THE biography of Robert Oppenheimer.

    Now it’s a safe bet that you’ve seen photos of him wearing a hat or you seen Cillian Murphy playing him also wearing a hat.

    The book says he wears a pork pie hat.

    Me: THAT IS NOT A PORK PIE HAT!!!

  85. Just letting everyone know we were super fortunate in my household. We did not get any damage or flooding at my house. We are without power and that will likely last a week or so. But we have a generator. For once I don’t see any actual power lines down so, in theory, power might come back on faster than what we’ve seen before. Only time will tell.

  87. Man, I know the official job numbers have been way up, but the market is tough right now. I’ve had so many friends struggling to land new positions, especially in the tech field.

    I believe that AI/fake recruiters and HR technologies are seriously exacerbating the problem.

  88. Finished the latest season of Rings of Power.
    Even if it makes me a fool of a Took, I enjoyed the show. That said, I reject a number of the characterizations.

  89. I realize it may be crass in 2024 for a man to comment on a woman’s appearance…. but what has Felicia Day done?
    (I can’t find a picture… and I don’t feel the need to TMZ at her… I noticed the change seeing her host the Rings of Power recap show).
    -It’s none of my business. Especially if she likes it.
    -I have no idea of the pressures on famous actresses to comply with some standard of looks.

    • Are you saying you think she’s had work done? Aside from looking a bit older, she didn’t strike me as radically different. I certainly had no trouble recognizing her watching the ROP after show she hosted.

  95. My head is absolutely spinning with all of the reunions tonight at the celebration of Sheila Dee’s doctorate. Scott and A. Sigler, Donna Mugavero, George Hrab, Debbie W (of Wingin’ It! fame), Charlie the former Beer Guy and wife, plus a bunch of longtime local friends.

  96. So cos they have been a few times this year that the Northern lights have been visible at lower latitudes there are quite a few posts in threads wondering if there is something going on.

    WTF!

  102. I may have posted this before:

    What it’s like to be British

    • Worrying you’ve accidentally packed 3 kilos of cocaine and a dead goat as you stroll through “Nothing to declare”

    • Being unable to stand and leave without first saying “right”

    • Not hearing someone for the third time, so just laughing and hoping for the best

    • Saying “anywhere here’s fine” when the taxi’s directly outside your front door

    • Being sure to start touching your bag 15 minutes before your station, so the person in the aisle seat is fully prepared for your exit

    • Repeatedly pressing the door button on the train before it’s illuminated, to assure your fellow commuters you have the situation in hand

    • Having someone sit next to you on the train, meaning you’ll have to eat your crisps at home
    • The huge sense of relief after your perfectly valid train ticket is accepted by the inspector

    • The horror of someone you only half know saying: “Oh I’m getting that train too”

    • “Sorry, is anyone sitting here?” – Translation: Unless this is a person who looks remarkably like a bag, I suggest you move it

    • Loudly tapping your fingers at the cashpoint, to assure the queue that you’ve asked for money and the wait is out of your hands

    • Looking away so violently as someone nearby enters their PIN that you accidentally dislocate your neck

    • Waiting for permission to leave after paying for something with the exact change

    • Saying hello to a friend in the supermarket, then creeping around like a burglar to avoid seeing them again

    • Watching with quiet sorrow as you receive a different haircut to the one you requested

    • Being unable to pay for something with the exact change without saying “I think that’s right”

    • Overtaking someone on foot and having to keep up the uncomfortably fast pace until safely over the horizon

    • Being unable to turn and walk in the opposite direction without first taking out your phone and frowning at it

    • Deeming it necessary to do a little jog over zebra crossings, while throwing in an apologetic mini wave

    • Punishing people who don’t say thank you by saying “you’re welcome” as quietly as possible

    • The overwhelming sorrow of finding a cup of tea you forgot about

    • Turning down a cup of tea for no reason and instantly knowing you’ve made a terrible, terrible mistake

    • Suddenly remembering your tea and necking it like a massive, lukewarm shot

    • Realising you’ve got about fifty grand’s worth of plastic bags under your kitchen sink

    • “You’ll have to excuse the mess” – Translation: I’ve spent seven hours tidying in preparation for your visit

    • Indicating that you want the last roast potato by trying to force everyone else to take it

    • “I’m off to bed” – Translation: “I’m off to stare at my phone in another part of the house”

    • Mishearing somebody’s name on the second time of asking, meaning you must now avoid them forever

    • Leaving it too late to correct someone, meaning you must live with your new name forever

    • Running out of ways to say thanks when a succession of doors are held for you, having already deployed ‘cheers’, ‘ta’ and ‘nice one’

    • Changing from ‘kind regards’ to just ‘regards’, to indicate that you’re rapidly reaching the end of your tether

    • Staring at your phone in silent horror until the unknown number stops ringing

    • Hearing a recording of your own voice and deciding it’s perhaps best never to speak again

    • The relief when someone doesn’t answer their phone within three rings and you can hang up

    • Filming an entire fireworks display on your phone, knowing full well you’ll never, ever watch it again

  103. Has anyone used geeksoutfit? I only started seeing ads for them recently and I believe they are a Chinese company, but they have some good T-shirts.

  107. I watched Beetlejuice Beetlejuice last night. Highly enjoyable. Will probably never be as important to me as the original, but it’s hard to say if that is because the original was from my youth (when all things were more important) or just that it was a sequel like most other sequels. Only real gripe is that we really didn’t need the entirety of MacArthur Park which was only ever a mediocre song at best. Now, if they had done the Weird Al Jurassic Park instead, there would be no gripe at all.

    • I’m not against the existence of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, I’ve just felt no desire to see it.

      Comments like this make me more interested.

  110. Tiffany posted a picture of comet Tsuchinstan-ATLAS last night, and today got notice that Facebook had taken it down, because it violated community standards.

    • WTF!

      They sometimes block my film trailer posts saying the same thing and these are trailers posted by the companies distributing the films.

    • It can be rather weird what Facebook’s AI says “violates community standards”.

      I had a post blocked like that a few years ago…for posting a link on my feed alerting to people about a scam getting posted to Facebook…after I saw the scam posted on several friends feeds.

      Interestingly enough, none of the scam posts ever got taken down…

    • Makes my lack of Facebook participation feel pretty worthwhile.

      The comet on the other hand … 2 nights ago I could see it with my naked eye.
      It was pretty cool.

  115. So on a cloudy autumn day with some sunny spells with the solar panels got my grid dependency down to 39%.

    That is only during day light hours of course.

    Still people at lower latitudes and battery storage could go off grid.

    Still people in Arizona and Texas

    • Yep.
      And battery storage tech is just getting better and better.
      The momentum shift is that larger corporations realized that there was really a market here to be tapped into so they have been putting money into trying to get their chunk of it. Once that happens it becomes a wave that can’t be stopped.

      • I made the unfortunate mistake of buying a house with great big trees all over the place. Not only am I at higher risk during hurricanes, but I also have eternal shade that makes solar like a likely option. Damn.

  117. Talking about latitudes, I know it’s due to the Gulf Stream, but always amazes me the winters here are milder than TEB and LoPan but I’m at at higher latitude.

  118. Tomorrow is game day (surprise surprise)
    We are going to start with Roll for the Galaxy. Then some Abducktion. Then, if there’s time, we’ll finish up with Mall of Horror. Fitting in lunch somewhere in there too.
    All in all, it should be a good day

  119. Because of the way things work out in the school month, today was the day teachers and kids did their Halloween dress up. The husband sent me a pic. All his grade two teachers (4 of them) dress as him.

  120. Wow.
    Federal judge smacks down Desantis for trying to strong arm TV stations to get them to stop airing ads in favor of Amendment 4.
    Amendment 4 is a ballot proposal stating that the government must stop interfering with abortion, rights.

    The judge actually put in his temporary restraining order,
    “To keep it simple for the state of Florida: It’s the first amendment, stupid.”

    https://www.threads.net/@chrisgeidner/post/DBPlLBeNKzg?xmt=AQGz28l-9dItqbJfJBU0uzPmD0JjVI1V0aobZ8C0VpD4qw

  121. A quick tin-foil thought on Polls:

    It seems really weird that poll numbers have recently been shifting from a clear edge for K to a dead heat.
    Everyone has known for months who they’ll be voting for. ESPECIALLY after K’s nomination. Virtually no one is changing their mind from K to D, or vice versa.

    So if I’m right, then why are numbers shifting? Either the polls were wrong in the first place, or they’re wrong now. Or, the polling methods are changing. The media certainly has more to gain if the race looks close e.g.: Monday Night Football is much more likely to keep viewers if the score is 21 to 20. Viewers will drop off if it’s 42 to 20.

    (I’m not speculating at wackiness from the government or illuminati lizard aliens, I’m speculating that the media are fudging to increase drama and keep audiences hooked).

    • I don’t know what to make of it. Most of the news sources that are reporting this seem to have a conservative bent, like Newsweek. It makes me think that might influence the demographic wanting to participate in the poll and thus skew it. Admittedly this is just speculation on my part. It sucks that perception in 5 States will shape the election for everyone.

      • I always found US elections strange. As an outsider, these are the items I shake my head at (maybe Van can weigh in too):

        Gerrymandering – seriously. We have an outside (non-partisan) group who looks at the population and divides the country as evenly as possible

        Electoral college – I mean, I do understand the mechanics, it’s the whole winner take all of it in most states that bothers me.

        Forever campaigning – seriously. We have a two to three month long campaign cycle just before the election. The rest of the time is actually spent governing. I find it hilarious that news people keep saying how well Harris is doing since she’s had such a short time to campaign. Your candidates would do terrible here.

        There are other things but those are the tree big ones

        • Oh yeah. And the whole each state can have their own laws on how the FEDERAL election is run. Here the federal governments says how the federal election works everywhere.
          Provinces (states), municipalities, cities, etc. can run their local elections their way, but federal elections are uniform

          • Maybe I’m wrong but in England the local councils handle the voting for a general election but the rules are made in Westminster.

            There is also the boundary commission that gives recommendations for changes in voting catchment areas but again it’s the government in Westminster who gets the final decision.

          • A lot of them stem from the wonky way the country was originally formed. The crazy combination of small and large colonies, varying populations, and accounting for slaves resulted in all kinds of antics that really have no place in the modern world. It’s always just so difficult to get things changed.

  122. Judas Priest last night! With Sabaton opening. I liked everything about Sabaton… except their songs. If you don’t know, their music is all about WWI and sometimes WWII. Their drummer’s drum riser is a freaking realistic replica of a tank.

  124. Crap joke for the day:

    Tarzan comes home to Jane after a hard day’s work in the woods. He asks for a martini. Jane gives him one, he quickly slugs it down. He asks for another so she gives him a second. Then he demands a third. Jane mixes it for him, but then says, “Don’t you think you’ve had enough, Tarzan?”

    Tarzan grabs the third drink, swallows it, and says, “You don’t understand, Jane. It’s a jungle out there.”

    • I wonder how really “mad” Alex is. Is this played up for book sales? I don’t think EVH had a “limited” number of great solos in him and I’m glad he found a creative outlet outside of Van Halen.

  139. We are in a bit of a drought here in JaJ land. It hasn’t rained in 25 days.
    Just checked the long range forecast and the first mention of rain is…you guessed it,
    HALLOWEEN!

  147. Had our 2nd night of family playing “Into the Odd”.
    I had forgotten how much I like D&D and playing it with my kids is the best!

    The limitations of video chat is a little rough – “To your left you see a door, it is (AUDIO DROP OUT) but on your right is a much older door with what appears to be rust. What do you do?”

    Still, so much fun.

  151. In “overdoing it” news, I had Possessed | Kreator | Testament last night, a trip to the AZ state fair tonight, and a bunch of crap on the agenda for tomorrow, including a morning thing at my daughter’s school, lunch at the Bao Festival, and Strange Garden at the Desert Botanical Garden. TG for free tickets.

  153. My plan for tonight is convalescing.
    Have an appt to get my flu/covid vaccine at 4:30
    Based on the last two times, I have a 50/50 chance of getting sick for about 8 hours.

    Better than full-up Covid though

    • I’ve been hesitating too, expecting to have a sick day the following day. Last year I got the Moderna flavor for the first time, and it wrecked me for about 48 hrs.

    • Well.
      I went to the CVS drug store where I have gotten my last two Covid jabs and discovered my insurance will no longer pay for vaccinations at CVS.
      Swung by a Publix grocery store and their pharmacy was taking walk-ins and insurance would pay.
      So … I should not be firing from the flu or Covid this season.

      Btw – the flavor they gave me was Pfizer.

      • I’ve been frustrated with this new thing where insurance companies partner only with some pharmacies. I went from working for a company that only uses CVS, to a company that only uses Walgreens, back to a company that only uses CVS. I’d really like to have some say over where I get my medications.

  154. I know it wasn’t well reviewed but I enjoyed the Borderlands mover. However, I never got into the games so I might have different thoughts if I did.
    Just like the like a dragon/Yakuza show on Prime. It’s an ok Japanese crime show but, having played the games, I hate watch it.

    • What’s not to like!
      It’s toe tapping, upbeat and for lack of a better word, happy.
      Might not want to listen to a whole album of this in one sitting but it is certainly a mood lifter.

  159. Uhg.
    So I got up this morning feeling a little smug because I seemed to have no effects from my vaccines.
    Then, about 16 hours after the jabs, Instarted to feel off.
    Now, 18hrs after, I would say I am feeling about “60%” and sinking. 🙁

    • Many of these are fantastic. Some are a stretch. Sheep from Pink Floyd because “Sometimes the scariest thing in the world is hopelessness”? I’m not buying it. I’ll listen to Sheep all day every day because it’s a phenomenal song. But it’s not going on my Halloween playlist.

        • This is a battle I fight every Halloween. I watch a LOT of horror movies all year round. When Halloween comes around I start on the hunt for Halloween movies to watch, only to find endless lists of totally unrelated horror movies. In many people’s minds horror/creepy/spooky = Halloween. But I get that all year round. At Halloween I’m looking for specifically Halloween themed stuff and it’s hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. I finally found a list this year of movies and TV shows specifically set on or around Halloween and we’ve been watching through those. Even then I’ve found some that don’t make sense like Coraline and Corpse Bride that may take place in the fall, but have no mention of Halloween at all.

  164. Got all excited about being able to check my hearing with the latest firmware updates for iOS and AirPod Pros 2, only to find out that for now it’s USA and Canada only.

    Grrrrr!

  171. So, I had a life-changing incident happen last week. It’s actually minor, in the grand scheme of things, but still terrible. Proceed at your own risk.

    We occasionally get these palmetto bugs here in AZ. Almost never at this house, none at the last place, and way too many at our previous apartment. They’re horrifyingly big.
    I was doing the dishes, lifted a cookie sheet, and one scurried out to run under something else. Gah! That’s enough dishwashing for one evening, I think. I got the Raid and sprayed the crap out of its new hiding place. I assumed it was dead, but – – as with any cheesy horror flick – – *I didn’t see the monster’s body.*

    The next day is pretty mundane. Eventually, it’s time to take the little one to her evening karate class, so I throw on a hat and take her. As I’m watching her class, I’m feeling some scratchiness on my head, like my hairs have gotten bunched up under the hat. I adjust the hat, but then I feel it again. So yes, I take off the hat, and this palmetto bug monstrosity falls out of my hart, onto the floor and scurries away. A nearby mom sees it and freaks, then a dad stomps it dead. Really dead this time. Luckily, no one noticed it fall from my hat, so I’m at least spared that embarrassment, on top of the horror.

    My skin is crawling as I tell the tale, even now. I would not say I have any kind of entomophobia, but this is just too much. I know it was a one-time freak occurrence, but I now have to beat my hats against the wall before I put them on, just to be sure there are no yucky inhabitants.

    /I warned you

    • In Florida they say that you can tell a body of water has an alligator in in because… it’s a body of water. It’s much the same with palmetto bugs here. Everybody has to have an exterminator. So I feel your palmetto bug pain.

      • Oh and I still flush the toilet and check under the seat before using the toilet in case of spiders.

        I blame a documentary about Australia and people getting bit by spiders when using the outside toilet or Dunny.

        • When I was way too young, mom liked to take me to horror movies (think 5 or 6 years old). Her favourites were ones with creepy crawlies in them. True or not, I have always attributed that to my fear of bugs.
          (Even now she thinks it’s funny. When I was on FaceBook I actually unfriended her because she would put pics of spiders in my feed (which I would delete), knowing I don’t like them)

  172. Since it’s almost Halloween, I plan to watch the next two films over the next two days:

    Buffy the Vampire Slayer (never seen it..the reviews put me off )

    LifeForce – Tobe Hooper’s megaflop..more famous for the lead villain going stark naked and again the reviews put me off at the time.

  175. In case anyone is interested this is the list I went with for watching Halloween movies this year. (NH) = not horror (as Mrs. Asshat and I like to alternate horror/non-horror on a regular basis, otherwise we would just watch horror all the time). Also, I have a tendency to list things that others would call horror as NH if it leans so far to comedy that there isn’t any bloodshed or scariness left to it.

    Ginger Snaps
    NH – Frankenweenie
    Trick ‘R Treat
    NH – Monster House
    Sleepy Hollow
    NH – Monster Squad
    Pumpkin Head
    NH – ParaNorman
    Haunt
    NH – Once Bitten
    Idle Hands
    NH – Halloween with the New Addams Family (don’t bother with this, it wasn’t good)
    NH – Scary Movie
    Gravy
    Terrifier
    errifier 2
    NH – Scary Movie 2
    Something Wicked This Way Comes
    NH – Scary Movie 3
    Boo
    Halloween
    NH – Scary Movie 4
    Hell Fest
    Jack-O
    Murder Party
    Slugs
    Trick
    Carved
    The Scarehouse
    NH – Scary Movie 5
    Demonic Toys (Original)

    • Here are the movies that belong on that list, but that we had already recently watched so didn’t want to double dip:

      Trick or Treat
      Totally Killer
      The Barn
      The Hollow
      Night of the Demons
      Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave

    • Thanks! I have not heard of many of these.

      A few questions:
      Are you watching the Frankenweenie short with Shelly Duvall or the feature-length animated version?
      Is Something Wicked This Ways Comes available somewhere on streaming?
      – – Are you watching most of these on DVD?
      I’d also recommend the 2019 animated Addams Family movie (I mentioned it earlier on this page). It would be NH.

      • Oooooo. Questions…
        We chose the Frankenweenie feature length. I know I saw the short many years ago, but don’t remember anything specific about it. I’ll have to go back and find it again.
        My brief search says that Something Wicked This Way Comes is not available on streaming.
        Some are on DVD, some on streaming, and… I know this will piss some people off here, but I still feel safe enough to say it, some are “acquired” by alternate means. I do make a point of trying to put money in creators pockets whenever possible. Sometime “other” is the only way.
        I’ll seen the 2019 Addams Family and greatly enjoyed it. Can’t remember the specific Halloween tie in, but will absolutely give it a try on the list! Any other recommendations are absolutely welcomed from all.

        • No judgments. Life is expensive.
          Addams Family 2019 is also not Halloween, other than centering on a family who are cropped and kooky.

          I loved the original Frankenweenie short. It’s on D+ right now. I guess I should give the feature-length version a shot.

          I’ll try to think of others, but it appears that your expertise outweighs mine in this area.

          I do absolutely recommend the Trick or Treat soundtrack. It’s Fastway’s finest hour.

  176. And finally, the movies that we took off the list after watching (to clean it up for next year) because we didn’t feel that they were actually related enough to Halloween (even though Wikipedia lists them as being set on or near Halloween:

    Coraline
    3 from Hell
    Corpse Bride
    Flatliners
    House 2
    Deadly Friend
    Arsenic and Old Lace

      • We have a spare bedroom and the price is always free free free. Stay any time. That invite is open to all. Only downside is that we are about .75 to 1.25 hours from the amusement parks (which makes is hard to be your overnight when visiting for the parks).

  178. I love it when the exec who wasn’t paying attention during the hour-long meeting chimes in at the 59th minute and extends the conference call by x minutes speechifying on a point that was covered 20 minutes ago.

  179. Um… this is getting hardly any news but in an Online, Elon town meeting kind of thing yesterday, Musk said that trumps plans WOULD cause economic hardship for Americans but it was necessary and would probably only be for a few years.

    Keep in mind that trump has already said he plans to make Space Karen is new Czar in charge of trashing the economy.

    Musk is a sociopath. As a billionaire he would feel nothing but he is ready to send 100’s of millions of Americans into another, open ended, “Great Depression” because somehow that would fix things.

    So far this is the only “news” coverage I can find on this.
    https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/29/elon-musk-trump-allies-economy-plan-short-term-pain-harris-election.html

    • It’s almost as if trump supporters aren’t actually concerned for the welfare of the country or of any of their fellow citizens. Or, at best, they’ve been misled.

      • First… the light hearted. The only political thing I’ve seen lately that I’ve experienced any sort of joy over. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yN0Pru9fNQ . Relevant because several of the jabs are related to the lack of concern of the welfare of the country or fellow citizens based on … goodness… I can’t even imagine what.

        Then, the rare (because I hate politics so insanely much… really, you have no idea how much I hate politics)… I’ve never understood the country “working man” perspective that can hold the thought of ANY (let alone Trump) super rich politician lobbying for billionaires as anything even remotely resembling something that would be good for them. My neighborhood in rural Florida is absolutely crawling with Trump signs, pickup trucks with giant Trump flags sprawling out behind them, rich asshole convertibles with trump flags sprawling out behind them, so old as to be laughable “lynch Pelosi” sings, etc. But the last thing in the world I want to do (despite being a die hard humanist that wants to understand and respect as many positions as possible) is ask any of them to explain themselves.

  182. Crap joke from WW2:

    A Polish submarine captain is asked: ‘If you see in your periscope a German and a Soviet destroyer. Which one do you attack first?’ ‘Of course the German one’ the captain answers, ‘Duty always comes before pleasure.’

  183. Stupid post office might go on strike this weekend. I have stuff coming from the US next week. Might need to make alternate arrangements
    *grumble, grumble*

  190. Trick-or-treating was a success! We went to her little BFF’s neighborhood instead of our own.

    I had a rarely early night falling asleep. Forgot to put the trash cans to the curb.

    • We had an insanely busy night. Almost ran out of candy. But I had pre-stashed the best stuff as a backup so what is left over is exactly what I wanted to keep in the first place 🙂

    • We had not had rain in 32 days.
      It literally started right at dusk, at the time the parents with the really you g kids would be making the rounds.
      We had one mom and her kids come by.
      They were drenched but they know we always go all out so they were determined to come by.
      They got the full sized candy bars I keep stashed for the special.

      That was it. It rained the rest of the night.

    • Ouch! That one hurts. I didn’t get to meet Greg, but I did get to have Tim as a guest at the art show I ran for a sci-fi convention back in the early 90s. Both phenomenal artists.

    • The song was descent. I consider that particular use of AI video to be the equivalent of the super shitty animation you see in cheaply made local TV commercials.

  194. Crap joke for the day:

    I once submitted 10 puns to a joke competition. I really thought with that many, one was sure to be a winner.

    Sadly, no pun in ten did.

  195. Man, we had not a single child show up at our house and sound like our neighborhood in general was light on trick-or-treaters this year.

    My daughter dressed up to hand out candy…and ended up going trick or treating to a few of our neighbors after an hour of no action.

    Though, I think our neighborhood is now at a point where more of us have kids that have aged out of it.

  197. So today got a new iPhone. This years experiment is to to set it to only charge to 80% to see if it makes a big difference with how quickly the battery gets worse over multiple charge cycles.

    Many articles say 80% is a magic number, time will tell.

  198. Finally watched the new Salem’s Lot. I really liked the pacing of the movie (the old TV series really took it’s time building up to the action packed stuff). This one treated things more like a viral expansion and shit happens fast. On the other hand, they did some things with the vampire way (without giving any thing away, let’s say their treatment of crosses and sunlight) were taken in a direction that I did not care for and made me feel like the guy from Gremlins 2 asking a ton of questions about the rules (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz-9bU9dTuc). All told, I don’t feel like this added anything significant to the previous version and we just didn’t need it.

    • What a run. And what an icon. No matter who you are, what you do, what you listen to, at least a few of musical projects have touched your life in some way.

  205. So a restaurant chain me and a friend sometime go to has changed all the menu, making everything more expensive and removing dishes I really liked.

    Gawd I hate change.

    • My wife and I were that way with TGI Friday’s…back in the 90’s it was our go to place.

      They did a major change to the menu and all the stuff we went to eat there for was gone.

      And now they’re bankrupt…no tears shed there.

  209. Well here we are on the eve of destruction and I’ve come down with something.
    Feels like flu but I just had my flu shot a week ago.
    Well perhaps it will distract me from tomorrow. Maybe I will sleep thru it.

    Best of luck to us all.

    • We’re taking Tiffany out for her birthday dinner tomorrow night – – pretty sure there are no TVs at the restaurant, then finishing the celebration at home.

      I guess we’ll eventually have to watch the horror show. Either a true nationalist fascist government (Oh, they don’t really mean all those things, you snowflake!) – – or the election goes the right way and the bad guys foment violence and chaos as a response (and will they face consequences this time???).
      Buckle up.

      Hey, at least this awful phase is almost done. On to the next awful phase.

    • Well it takes two weeks for a flu jab to start working so you may have just been unlucky or picked up a strain not covered by the vaccination.

  210. Crap joke for the day:

    A ventriloquist was performing one night, and with his dummy on his knee, he started going through some of his classic dumb blonde jokes.

    Suddenly, a blonde woman in the crowd stood up and called out:

    “I’ve heard enough of your stupid blonde jokes! What makes you think you can stereotype women that way? What does a woman’s hair color have to do with her worth as a human being? It’s men like you who keep women like me from being respected at work and in the community. It’s men like you who make others think that all blondes are dumb. And it’s your kind who perpetuate discrimination, not just against blondes, but against women in general, and all in the name of humor!”

    The ventriloquist starred in shocked silence as he realized the truth of her words and then began to apologize for his thoughtlessness: “I am so sorry! It never, ever occurred to me that I was…” but the blonde just cut him off screaming angrily:

    “You stay out of this. I’m talking to that little shit on your lap!”

  216. Happy to report I feel fine this morning.
    Don’t know what last night was all about.
    Went to bed early, with chills feeling horrible – slept for 10 hours straight woke up feeling great.

  221. It’s looking pretty hopeless right now. I guess we’ll see tomorrow if some miracle occurred overnight.

    It appears I now have to figure out how to raise daughters in a fascist country.

    • I haven’t looked at anything since around 5 last night and I can’t bring myself to turn on any news source to find out but I am getting the gist of it.

      I too am deathly worried for my kids.
      I may seriously suggest they look into “studying abroad” but that may not be a long term solution as this will clearly signal to Putin that he is free to roam around as he pleases and there is no telling how far that carnage will spread.

      The world has seen this movie before and it doesn’t end well.

    • Scary isn’t it? I don’t think the round-up of liberal thinkers is nigh, we’d have a couple of years’ warning before anything of that magnitude. But I am distressed that we may see Hispanic internment camps and food prices tripling. If it gets to that level of bad, we’re out of here.

      • The reprocussions will come from where we weren’t expecting. The number of people who have posted things that will get you put on their “enemies list” will be too large for them to likely come target any of us. However it is not too large for AI to comb thru and put you on a “flagged” list so things like applying for a passport gets indefinitely “delayed” or trying to fly has you constantly pulled aside by TSA so long that you miss your flight.
        If we are lucky, for those of us who are white and male that will be all of it.

        • This is why I’m only being semi-candid here, in this somewhat obscure corner of the world. I am not going to post anything in larger forums that are critical of the new regime.

          • Trying to look for something positive and all I can come up with is, since most of the crap that maga said was wrong with this country was made-up … a lot of those problems disappeared by 9am this morning.

          • I keep seeing “They’ll be sorry when (one of the myriad horrors) happens!”

            No. They won’t.

            They cheer when rights are stripped from others.
            And as for stuff that affects them, like skyrocketing cost of living? As it was during the dubya era and the last trump administration, any problems they actually feel will somehow be the fault of “the left.”

  225. I’m currently reading a book about the Challenger disaster written by the same bloke who wrote Midnight in Chernobyl.

    It’s highlights that I’m getting rather emotional as I get older. The book covers the buildup to the disaster and starts with Apollo 1 accident . When the author is describing the scene where Michael Collins calls round to tell Roger Chaffee’s wife that her husband had died I was almost in tears.

    Getting older is weird, at least for me.

    • I once worked with the actress who sang the Betty Crocker jingle –
      “Baaaaaake someone happy.
      You and Betty Crocker can
      Baaaaake someone happy.”

      She was as sexy as her voice sounded.

    • I bailed out at ” the Democrats are the party of forever wars”

      I have never in my life been a Democrat or a Democrat apologist, but I can’t even with that statement. Apologies to the author if I didn’t give them a chance to redeem themselves.

  230. I did get a super memorable moment backstage with one of my favorite bands last night. I only wish I could tell 10-year-old me that someday he’ll be drinking tequila with the guitar player from Queensryche, and then geeking out with the bass player over their classic “Rage for Order” album.

  231. If you are interested in the history of the Space Shuttle there is a new podcast called 16 Sunsets that covers the Space Shuttle Program.

    Search for it in whatever you use to grab podcasts.

    • Speaking of podcasts… what are some people’s favorite podcasts. I’ve dropped a few over the years and some have faded away. I’m down to Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, The Infinite Monkey Cage, The Thrilling Adventure Hour, and You’re Dead to Me (as well as some technical podcasts for human factors stuff). I used to like Oh No, Ross and Carrie and I listened for years to the Geologic Podcast (George started going places I wasn’t happy with so I haven’t listened for a while). In general my interests are in horror, music (unfortunately for this group, not heavy metal), comedy, sci-fi/fantasy, books, etc. Also, in general, any discussions of politics or current news events are like someone shoving a shit pie into my face and I avoid them at all costs (Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me being the obvious exception because it is 99% humor).

      I just started trying a horror podcast called The Movie Crypt, but didn’t make it past the first episode because the content stopped literally mid-sentence at 60 minutes with a disclaimer that the rest of the content could be purchased with patreon support. I don’t so much mind the locked content as I mind the bait and switch technique used. Either charge for your shit or don’t. I did hear a great interview with Elvira on the podcast Visitations. I’ll have to see what else they have. I did do some Marc Maron episodes when he was interviewing people I really really wanted to hear (like Roger Daltrey, Paul McCartney, and John Cleese), but I have a hard time with his because there is sooo much other stuff before he gets to the interviews.

  235. Hello, Deadpan! I agree with Jack’s sentiments and am happy to see this update. I agree, it has most definitely been too long since our last in-person meetup. I miss you guys, too, and I really, really hope we can schedule one for 2025.

    Thanks for the poke, Ryah. I’m sorry I haven’t been around much. Was pretty depressed for the first 3-ish months of 2024. It got better in the spring, then worse again for the last two days (obviously). It’s a little better for now, as long as I focus on achieving goals.

    Such as, organizing Deadpan Secret Santa 2024! You all know the drill. Reply here if you’re in for Secret Santas this year!

    Unrelated Thought: Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook have seen me post a bunch of pictures of me in my vampire Halloween costume. For November Noveling 2024, I’m writing a silly D&D fanfic about the adventures of that vampire character. I know many/most of us are TTRPG players, so let me know if you’d like the Google Docs link to it.

  240. CW: Nautilus E1

    Apparently Disney sat on this series for a couple of years and then sold it to Amazon Prime.

    Anyway enjoying the first episode.

  241. I don’t know if this is true, it’s cut-and-pasted from a Far Out Magazine post:

    “Is Sid Vicious the “big disgrace” referred to in the Queen song ‘We Will Rock You’?
    During the ‘We Will Rock You’ sessions, the Sex Pistols were also in Wessex Sound Studios recording their seminal debut, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols LP. A drunken Sid Vicious decided to interrupt a take, asking Mercury if he’d “brought ballet to the working classes yet?”.
    “Not yet, dear,” he quipped back. “I called him, I dunno, Simon Ferocious or something, and just pushed him out. I think… yeah, I think we passed that test,” noted Mercury in a later interview, drummer Roger Taylor less charitably remarking that Vicious was “a moron… an idiot!”
    Johnny Rotten, not known for his magnanimity, was reportedly far more playful in his interactions. According to Wessex engineer Bill Price, Rotten was rather keen to meet Mercury, crawling across the floor to reach him whilst recording a piano take, briefly saying hello and crawling back. May too recalled corridor encounters and polite discussions over music.
    Queen biographer Daniel Nester recalled how: “Freddie rose from his chair and began to playfully flick the safety pins displayed on the front of Sid’s leather jacket. ‘Tell me,’ he asked, ‘Did you arrange these pins just so?’ When Sid stepped forward in an attempt to intimidate Freddie, the singer simply pushed him backwards and inquired, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ Sid immediately backed down.”
    No matter how punk you are, it’s always foolish to square up to a man with a handlebar moustache in a white tank top. “Buddy, you’re a boy make a big noise, playin’ in the street gonna be a big man someday” could well be aimed at Vicious directly, but also a broader statement towards punk itself, asserting with confidence that Queen wasn’t going anywhere.”

  242. I’m declaring my FitBit dead. What I’ll miss most is being able to check the time on my wrist, instead of digging out my phone.

    So for me, that marks the end of three major eras in one week: The FitBit, the free United States, and the third. . . well, I’ll make an announcement here tomorrow. (Yes, I’m playing up the dramatic.)

  246. So……… here it is.

    This past year has been especially difficult on the day job. I’ve advanced my career and skills greatly, but. . . . One particular lyric from “Synchronicity II” has often resounded in my mind:

    “And every single meeting with his so-called superior is s humiliating kick in the crotch.”

    So today I gave notice.

    You guys have seen me fight through a lot of chaos. Am I diving headfirst back into the chaos? No. Sort of. But no.

    I’ve been working for the past year to spin up a nonprofit to benefit struggling musicians. My efforts have been halfhearted, because of commitments and energies on dayjob work. Now, there’s nothing blocking me. If all goes according to plan, it will do some good in the world and provide me income. This is now my full-time job, when people ask.

    Obviously, I need this to succeed in a reasonable amount of time. The clock has begun ticking. Wish me luck.

  247. So just as a thing to do before bed. I put the first few minutes of the original Star Wars on my tv.

    That John Williams theme really kicks ass on a surround sound setup, almost felt like I was back in the 70s at a cinema.

    • Crap joke for the day:

      An older couple were lying in bed one night. The husband was falling asleep but the wife was in a romantic mood and wanted to talk.

      She said: “You used to hold my hand when we were courting.”

      Wearily he reached across, held her hand for a second, and tried to get back to sleep.

      A few moments later she said: “Then you used to kiss me.”

      Mildly irritated, he reached across, gave her a peck on the cheek, and settled down to sleep.

      Thirty seconds later she said: Then you use to bite my neck”

      Angrily, he threw back the bedclothes and got out of bed.

      “Where are you going?” she asked.

      “To get my teeth!”

  256. A coworker is talking to me about my big move. They’re trying to supportive, but I guess they don’t realize how old I actually am.

    “You gotta do this stuff when you’re young. You don’t want to be making a big job switch at 50!”

    Ummm…

      • It’s my understanding that they actually moderate there.
        I saw a post yesterday that mentioned 2 right wing gasbags(don’t remember who-I only glanced at the post) who had sign up for an account only to be shutdown within a day.
        I’m all for free speech but I am also for places where you can hang out without having to be subjected to awful. Those people now have Twitter for that.

          • That’s an added bonus! And also, use of Bluesky doesn’t benefit any of the billionaires who are promoting fascism for their own benefit.

            There are also other alternatives. An old girlfriend of mine says she’s still using MeWe. I didn’t know it was still kicking.
            Many tout Mastodon, but I think the clunky interface will prevent that one from ever growing huge. At best, it’ll be another Discord.

            I do intend to get on the Instagram train, and then probably Threads.

            Deadpan will always be my favorite social media.

        • Seems MTG lasted a day on BlueSky. Kicked off for spreading misinformation.

          Reading this about them – “There is actual controls there. Also you can subscribe to block lists with MAGA being one. Is so nice over there.”

          If I hadn’t settled into threads already I might give it a look.
          I might anyway.

          • I feel this is a safe enough haven to bring this up as we seem to be a reasoned and well-tempered group. I’m sure I’m chock full of misunderstandings, but if I don’t talk about this I’ll never grow, and I feel stagnant lately.

            I try my best to stay out of politics as over the years I’ve seen both sides come to a point where everything is driven by hate (or at least a strong dislike) (please don’t make me go back and find all of the references where people have mentioned specific strong dislike of specific people, I’m sure it’s a confirmation bias on my part, but I still feel both sides are driven by a passionate dislike of the other side far more than positive aspects of what they believe, at least that’s all anyone wants to talk about). I would definitely call myself a liberal, but I can see areas where I think people can go too far on that scale (e.g., the defund the police movement), so more towards a moderate liberal. Above all else, I would call myself a humanist with the primary goal of understanding and respecting as many perspectives as possible. I feel like the only information and/or disinformation anyone hears anymore is from the ultra extremes on both sides and this is a huge contributor to the divisive “anti” rather than “pro” sentiment of modern politics.

            So… I can’t help but thinking that having X as a safe haven for ultra conservatives and Bluesky as a safe haven for ultra liberals is going to help much in the long run. It will feel good to be able to express opinions amongst people that mostly agree with you, and it will feel safe to be protected from the “anti” rhetoric of the other side. But where do we have the metered discussions? Where can I see people talking about issues from alternative perspectives in a respectful, well mannered way. You know… so I can actually learn about real issues and make something close to fully informed decisions. Maybe that’s the next platform we should shoot for. Moderated, but from a side that allows all perspectives.

          • I do want this to always be a safe space for all non-hateful opinions. And a place to say your thoughts aloud – – even partially formed thoughts – – to help yourself and others figure things out. As you said: “if I don’t talk about this, I’ll never grow.”

          • I agree with your statement, TRA. The disinformation and hateful rhetoric factories have BECOME mainstream news. More people get their news bytes and opinions from foxnews, newsmax, AM radio, et al, than the old unbiased “just the facts” mainstream news sources. (Not gonna even entertain the “liberal media” claim).

            I agree that echo chambers are not productive, but take a look at the oceans of hateful messages out there. Who among those people wants reasoned, open-minded discourse? How do you have progressive debates with the scorched-earth types constantly making noise?

            I saw a comment on Bluesky saying, “wow, I can post a video of me playing with my kids without 50 strangers telling me to kill myself.” There are people who want an atmosphere of antagonism. They used to hang out in front of 7-11, now they’re commenting on your family photos. I don’t know how you prevent awful humans from behaving like that, but I can definitely see the benefits of a place where you can post in peace, and not have to worry about deleting and blocking vitriol and hate speech.

          • Definitely agreed that we need a safe space from antagonistic people. The biggest issues I’ve had on Facebook are with their interfaces and what they will and won’t let you control on what shows up on your feed. I might try Bluesky if I see enough other people migrating. I’ve already seen a few indicate that they are there.

            As for antagonism, what I’d really love to see are more places where we can hear respectful conversations (even if they aren’t my own). For example there is (maybe was at this point as I haven’t seen anything from them in quite a while) a podcast called “Be Reasonable” put out by the Merseyside Skeptics Society. The host got on a range of people discussing their very non-scientific perspectives on all kinds of weird issues because he intestinally framed the show as a safe haven. He would argue against their ideas, but it was always respectful and never hurtful and those odd people felt they could really speak about things they normally wouldn’t talk about. I want more like for, not so much politics, but rather “current events”.

          • I do believe that’s possible. You just need vigorous pre-screening of your participants, and even then, you need to have your bouncers ready to eject trouble at a moment’s notice.

  261. Just a seeing that The Onion has bought Alex Jones “InfoWars” web site at auction.

    I am completely reminded of this scene from Animal House –

    “I Think That This Situation Absolutely Requires A Really Futile And Stupid Gesture Be Done On Somebody’s Part.”

    No one better for that than The Onion.
    Standing, slow clap.

  262. Let me tell you about my day.

    Went to the office and turned in my work laptop. Spoke very candidly about the management issues in my exit interview. I wasn’t out to make enemies, but I may have made a few. And btw, there’s still a fair bit of black on my fingernails from Leeloo’s nailpolish attack. The HR guys are cool. It was a non-issue. The departure feels great. The future is exciting/terrifying.

    Then walked around the Phoenix art museum. Weird to go by myself and really be able to absorb and think about some of the pieces!

    Then met my work BFF for coffee to talk about everything. Don’t get the wrong impression: she is truly great, but there isn’t some secret crush between us or any such drama. But, um, her top was very distracting, and now I’m feeling self-conscious about the whole interaction. Of course I wasn’t staring or going “AWOOOGA,” but you know. . . I hope I didn’t glance too often.

    Then ate dinner with the family at the dirtiest Filiberto’s (Filthyberto’s?) in Phoenix near the zoo, then we did the Zoo Lights tour, which was free through Tiffany’s work. And a hell of a lot of walking.

    It’s been an exhausting day. Tomorrow is my first uninterrupted day of “my new job,” so that should be interesting and exhausting in a whole new way.

    • So there appears to be some shenanigans going on with G2. The actress May Calamawy (from the Moon Knight tv series) had a major role and all her scenes were cut from the theatrical release.

    • I offer the counter argument that “carrying on” did not help anyone on the titanic. They should have spent their remaining hour trying cobble together anything that would float and making a plan for as smooth an exit as they could.

      “Winter is coming” and just continuing with a stiff upper lip is lovely… but making a plan to survive is perhaps more useful.

      As for historical precidents – When looking back at WWII I think comparing the US to Britain is off the mark.
      I think the comparison to Germany would be more spot on. While the U.S. will eventually come out of this, it probably won’t be until we’ve reached rock bottom.
      Unfortunately, before we can rise from the ashes, there have to be ashes. :/

      • I interpreted it more as “don’t panic, don’t give in to despair, don’t go straight into Mad Max thinking.” How many people listen to the foxnews/mewsmax/limbaugh messages of “The Enemy Within is stealing your country and trying to harm your kids and take your money!!” and go load their bunkers with outrageous arsenals? They live in constant fear and rage. Don’t do that.

        I would disagree with just blithely saying “everything will turn out OK,” and just “keeping on” with no awareness or survival plan for the dangers of a literal fascist government. Don’t do that either.

  266. So still reading that Challenger book.

    Going from that emotional roller coaster ride to watching a BBC documentary on the Columbia mission that broke up on reentry.

    Yeah, sadness all around.

  269. Watched I Saw the TV Glow last night. A slow burn but a very good movie. Not at all what I expected. The people who made it were obviously fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (including a cameo by Amber Benson)

  270. As posted on the FB:

    2010 was a tumultuous year for us, when my older daughter was still a tiny first-grader. Our family found bonding and solace where we could, including in (select, kid-appropriate) Jonathan Coulton songs. So it was deeply meaningful for us to finally catch him live together tonight at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. “Skullcrusher Mountain“ was the big surprise addition to his set. I got a little verklempt. He was the opening act for Aimee Mann, who was also really, really great (as was her band).

    I hated to miss Seven Kingdoms and Striker, who were playing on the other side of town, but this was the show we needed to see.

    It was also awesome seeing Sheila Dee, Evo Terra, Eric Johnson, Charlie Cavanaugh Toft, and Carolyn CT there.

    • I never had a bad Spirit experience, but I’ve had horrible times with the bigger ones.

      I realize they aren’t the only budget airline, but this is still concerning. We need affordable airfare options.

  274. Well Dune Prophecy got off to a good start with episode one.

    Incels apparently hate cos it has women in positions of power.

    My eyes cannot roll hard enough.

    • Interesting. I guess we’re going to see a lot more stuff like this in the future.

      I remember really enjoying Generations when I first saw it, but I think that was just the rush of all the BIG THINGS that happened in the movie. As a coherent story, it didn’t really hold up – – at all – – on repeat viewings.

      • Time is the fire in which we burn.

        A line spoken by the bad guy in that film that I’ve never forgotten.

        Although I sometimes substitute flame for fire.

    • “It would not be an exaggeration to assert that, despite the Democratic Party’s unmistakable support for Israel’s violent campaign, most American liberals have chosen to avert their gaze, effectively downplaying or disregarding the enormity of this alignment.”

      I think this is an extremely myopic take. Democrats could indeed have addressed the Gaza issue better. But the reality is that two sides of ideological extremism fight for dirt. There are no simple solutions to peace, and as such, Americans are cool with committing their lives to a hopeless cause. It is especially true considering the animosity the region has for us. There were two bad choices. One offered the chance to mitigate the suffering in Gaza. The other upends America’s legacy of checks and balances and puts an authoritarian in charge who wouldn’t shed a tear to see Gaza a glass parking lot. Remember Putin dropping white phosphorus on Syrian rebels? With Trump in charge, Netanyahu will be emboldened to do the same to Gaza. The logic being, that we’re going to sacrifice Gaza as a lesson to Democrats that genocide is wrong.

      • Yeah, I think this is one that does have a simple answer. Rightwing propaganda media has become too influential.
        Biden’s handling of the Gaza conflict has been terrible, but the election results would have been the same, even if he’d flown in there on a chariot and single-handedly brokered a lasting peace.

  279. Terminator 2 was on the other night and again Ibwas amazed at how good that film is.
    I would hazard to say it may be one of the best sequels ever made.
    Certainly one of the best in the category of “Best Sequal to a film that in its own right, was brilliant for its time and no one even ask for a sequel and yet they gave us something even better.”

  281. I watched the first 2 Time Bandits episodes, and I’m not really into it. There are certainly some laughs and some good things, but overall, it’s not doing much for me. Not a good sign when you have characters in episode 2 saying, “It dropped off a bit in episode 2, but they kill someone off in episode 3!”

    I’m fond of the original movie, but no so much that I’d be biased against an update.

    Has anyone finished this? Is it worth it?

  282. Bought a new soundbar for my tv.

    I cannot stress this enough, if your ceiling has artex plastered on it, it will fuck up any sound emanating from upward firing speakers. The sound gets scattered.

      • No one could write a paragraph like Cormac McCarthy.

        A friend sent me a different article about this earlier today. Disappointing. This is why we get attached to artworks, not nec their creators.

        • I came across some half-hearted defenses: She was 16 or 17 when their relationship became sexual, which was legal at the time. It had started out with him protecting her from abusive parents, and didn’t become sexual for over a year. She loved him, it was consensual.

          OK, so he wasn’t Ed Gein. Still changes nothing. 40-something guy groomed and creeped on a vulnerable teenager.

  288. I’ve been binging a limited series Netflix Show called “The DeCameron”.
    It’s a period piece set in plague ridden Italy.
    It’s a strange little, dark comedy.
    The 1st episode was a little off-putting because my brain couldn’t pigeon hole it.
    It wasn’t completely a drama, it wasn’t funny enough to be called a comedy.
    It has really grown on me though. At times it can be very poignant and sweet then suddenly it’s a little slapstick. Tonight I decided it is almost a Shakespearian tragedy.
    Like I said, it’s just weird …and I really like it.

  289. Canada Post has now been on strike for a week. I’m never going to get my stuff from the US *sigh*

    (Silly thing is, I was tracking my shipment when it was sent. The day it was to be delivered was the day they went on strike. Had they waited 24 hours, I probably would’ve have had my stuff *grumble, grumble*)

  292. We started watching the “Silo” series on Apple, and so far it has exceeded expectations. Recommended.

    In other news, I only recently became aware of James Ward’s death back in March. I fondly remember reading the early additions of Gamma World for TSR. I’ve been thinking of doing a Christmas-themed one-shot adventure inspired by Ward’s “Mas Day in New Hope” with robot Santa. Now what system to run it in: Fate, Savage Worlds, or Genesys?

    • Enjoyed season 1. I am turned off by Hugh Howey’s shitty comments about AI creatives, so I may skip season 2. Maybe I should heed my own words about art vs artists.

      I made a Gamma World character a thousand years ago in the 80s but I don’t think we ever played. It always seemed like a fun setting.

  295. DPSS post made to the Facebook page. Matchups are coming next week.

    Still having a lot of fun writing D&D fanfic featuring vampires. If anyone cares to recommend any thematically-appropriate artists and/or songs for the writing sessions I plan on doing during Thanksgiving weekend, I’m all ears.

    • Hi Amy
      I’m just listening to Concrete Blonde’s album “Bloodletting“ and wondering if you could do a cohesive fanfic based on the tracks on that album. After all the title track is subtitled “the vampire song”.
      You also have three character names to work with. Caroline, Joey and Wendy.

      Might be something there.

    • I need to revisit that album.

      Amy, I’d recommend checking out Vanden Plas’s Chronicles of the Immortals albums. I especially like volume II.

  297. Crap joke for the day:

    There was a farmer, who had three daughters. He was really protective of them, and when he finds out when their bf’s are coming to take them out, he looked them in their rooms and waited at the door with a shotgun.

    The first boyfriend arrives, the farmer answers the door, and the man says “I’m Jo, I’m here for Flo, we’re going to the show, is she ready to go?”

    Seeing nothing wrong with him, he let’s the first daughter go. The next boyfriend comes to pick up the second daughter. The farmer answers the door and fella says “I’m Eddie, I’m here for Betty, We are getting some spaghetti, is she ready?”

    The farmer begins to lighten up, and let’s his second daughter go. At this point he’s confident that these men are good for his daughters. The third boyfriend arrives. The farmer answers the door, and the third boyfriend says :

    “Hi, I’m Chuck.”

    The farmer shot him immediately.

  300. Your crap joke for the day:

    A newcomer to the village comes into the local and one of the hospitable regulars offers him a beer.

    “No thank you, I tried it once and didn’t like it”

    “How about a whisky?”

    “No thank you, I tried it once and didn’t like it. “

    “Perhaps a mineral water?”

    “No thank you, I tried it once and didn’t like it. “

    Then a young man entered the bar, whom the newcomer introduced as his son.

    “Your only offspring, I presume.”

  302. Random update. I did find a good place to get reasoned, respectful, conversations around political topics. It’s a podcast called Open to Debate. I started dipping my toe into the water with the episode on whether “wokeness” was killing comedy. Good combination of funny material and actual exchange of ideas. Have hit a few others since then and they have mostly been good and informative.

  304. The husband gave official notice to the superintendent yesterday. This is his last school year. In seven, and a little bit, months, he will be all mine.

  305. Crap joke for the day:

    As a story goes, a British ship sank, with only two survivors, both of whom managed to swim to a nearby uninhabited island.

    After many months marooned there, another ship sailed by and, seeing a signal from the island they sent a motor boat to investigate, only to find the two survivors each living, independently of each other and never communicating, at either end of their island.

    The captain of the rescuing ship was amazed and asked them why they didn’t work together to increase their chances of survival and prevent loneliness etc. Both survivors shrugged their shoulders and said: “We hadn’t been introduced.”

    • I salute him.
      He is someone whose career was based around trying to make the world laugh.
      While his stuff might not have been everyone’s cup of tea, he was at least attempting to bring joy.

      A worthy goal.

    • It’s possible that these movies won’t last forever, but our generation will cherish them for as long as we’re here. And the impact of their style definitely will.

  309. Disney Exec in January (probably): “I want a big movie out this year! What about that Moana that made a bunch of money? Make a new one. Slap some stuff together and get it released by Thanksgiving. No, it doesn’t have to make any sense.”

    • Was listening to a podcast where it was stated Moana 2 was originally planned to be a tv series and so made to be far cheaper and last minute decision to change it to a movie.

      Which might explain why the songs are forgettable this time around.

      • Ah. That explains a lot.

        To be fair, Disney doesn’t usually phone it in on big theatrical releases (straight to DVD and Star Wars stuff – – sure), but that seemed to be the case here.

        • When I saw that a) Lin-Manuel Miranda wasn’t involved and b) they’re doing the “sting together the first 3 episodes of a TV series” thing again, I lost any interest. Do better, Disney.

  310. So I’d never read any Laurel K. Hamilton before. The first book in her Anita Blake series was kind of a mess. She was young when she wrote this, so I can imagine the series gets better(?).

    I kept thinking of how similar it was to Dresden Files. Sure enough, I found that Jim Butcher consciously modeled the Dresden series on Hamilton’s Anita Blake books.

    • I enjoy her writing, but I’ll warn you, she has a lot of very explicit sex in her books. And it plays a bigger roll in the books as this series progresses. You can argue she writes more erotica than fantasy, but her characters and stories are fun in their own right. ymmv

        • Woah!
          She has a lot of books.

          My Libby app has 1-7 of her “Throne of Glass” e-series but there is a several month wait.
          It also has, from her series #16, #19, #25, #26

          And as audio books #17,19, 25, 29

          Is there any reason these need to be read in order or should I just randomly pick one?

  312. Last night, I finished re-reading volume 1 of “My Favorite Thing is Monsters” and I was reminded of how amazing this book is. While this time I read it as an ebook, I highly recommend the paper version. The art is much better on the printed page. I know I enjoyed it more the second time around knowing I have volume 2 on hand. A 7 year wait is a long (ahem Martin) time to wait for a sequel.

    • On Jack’s recommendation I read it recently, but I checked it out using hoopla, which is the ebook service available through my library.
      Enjoyed it enough that I’ve also now read volume two and I am waiting for December to give me more checkouts so I can get the next volume.

  315. The roads were crazy and the fog was insane. It took an hour and a half to do what is normally a forty minute drive. I’m glad I gave myself lots of lead time.

  317. CL: All the Right Movies – E104

    So a new podcast to me, this one covers The Great Escape, loving the various English accents and the banter.

  320. Crap joke for the day:

    A Jewish man in his nineties goes to confession. He confesses to the priest that he is having relations with a woman in her twenties. The priest says, “But you are Jewish. Why are you telling me?” The man says, “I’m telling everybody.”

    • Bonus crap joke:

      Clive: “let’s form a band”
      Ursula: “how will we choose our name”
      Nigel: “we could do what ABBA did”
      Tracey: “Bad idea”

  322. Had a very lovely Thanksgiving with my parents and the kids. Lots of food and laughter and then naps.

    Hoping the rest of our American friends found similar joy!

  325. I hope all the Americans had a lovely Thanksgiving and that the rest of the global citizens had a lovely Thursday. We saw old friends the Tofts (you may remember his former identity as Charlie the Beer Guy), and the best part was seeing my older daughter, since she was able to join us.

  329. My Secret Santa items have been shipped. Because of Black Friday deals, was able to add a “bonus” item and still be in the price range.

  332. RE: Joe’s question up there: it looks like Throne of Glass is from a different author. I don’t know anything about those.

    As for Laurel K Hamilton, I can’t really recommend the book I read, but I can believe the series will get better, given that there are so many books and she has such a big fanbase. I think Joe Murphy was among them.

    If you want smut, book 1 was very light on that, but it looks like the series eventually takes an x-rated turn. Ditto, we need details. Page numbers, scene descriptions, photo reenactments…

    • I found myself wondering after this, if there was anybody that has written serious scifi (in this case that would be a sci-fi novel that could stand on its plot and story) but that also had adult, saucy bits.
      I am sure there is adult stories set in a sci-fi world but I wonder if anyone has gone the other way.
      Perhaps sci-fi considers itself too serious to include characters having “fun” ?
      I don’t know.
      Just philosophizing as I sit here waiting for a funeral service to start.

      • Heinlein didn’t include much in the way of saucy descriptions (at least in my decades-old memory of his works). But he was quite the fan of “free love” in his books, if that counts as “fun” in what I would otherwise call “serious scifi”.

        • No, his descriptions of sex are nowhere even close to the level of explicitness of Hamilton. I’ve been trying to find SF equivalents. There’s some in Richard Morgan’s books such as Altered Carbon, and as well as Peter Hamilton’s books–interesting they are both British–but other titles I’ve found I either haven’t read or don’t compare.

  333. JW: Dune Prophecy E3

    Feels the series really kicked it up a notch in this episode, really digging the show.

    Also noticed there is a new mini series based on the classic sci-fi book ‘Earth Abides’, will have to check that out as well,

    • Yes, I thought the deep dive flashback was an excellent character study.

      I’ve read some complaints that it was too much given there are only 6 episodes this season. And, yah – only 6 episodes sucks. That’s barely a mini-series.

      But, this show is clearly going for the slow burn and I’m enjoying the ride so far.

      • We’ve been enjoying this also. The husband actually read the book it’s based on and is still enjoying it so that’s something.

  335. We watched the newest The Crow movie last night. While it wasn’t a great movie, it was ok. Maybe we just had low expectations. However, I’m pretty sure the husband enjoyed it more than me. I read the graphic novel fairly recently and the movie felt more like an “inspired by” rather than a “based on” film to me.

  336. Netflix has finally released season 2 of “The Empress”.
    We watched the S2 Ep1 last night.
    So far it still stands up with S1

    We did have to go back and rewatch the last episode of S1 first to remind who all the characters are.

    • Let me know what I can do.
      If Canada Post ever gets back to work, I’ll definitely get stuff from your shop once it’s up and running.

      • Thank you, thank you. I have a few irons in different fires for my go at independence. This nonprofit will basically be geared toward helping musicians to survive the mostly thankless and often crushing music life. We
        ll eventually sell stuff, but that’s not in the short-term plans.

  340. So, we’re late to the party, but we finally got around to watching Severance on Apple TV+. In fact we hit the last four episodes all tonight.

    That was a helluva ride. Glad we’ve only got a month or so until season 2.

    Any of you fine folks seen it? I know it was back in 22 when it aired, so if it was discussed, I’ve got no memory….or do I?

  343. Well watched the first episode of Skeleton Crew, set in the Star Wars universe a bunch of kids discover an old spaceship and get launched into space.

    This one is looking like it will be fun,

    • Am planning to check it out based on Jude Law if nothing else. I understand it’s supposed to be more kid oriented (but so was Rebels, which is still among the best story telling Star Wars has ever had) – so I’m in.

      I am curious to know what era this falls in. Haven’t watched a lot of previews, so I’m going it pretty cold.

    • I almost checked out half way through the first episode of Skeleton Crew. I didn’t and after the second episode I’m OK with where they are. Not really spoilers, but some info on what the look and feel of the first episode is like below:
      *
      *
      *
      *
      *
      *
      *
      *

      I understand that they were trying to capture the essence of 80’s adventure flicks. But the town that looked like a Southern California suburb (like we would see in E.T. or Poltergeist) combined with some hyper lazy tropes like the too-busy dad and the society where your jobs are selected for you had me seething that they seemed to forget this was a Star Wars property. Looked very much like they were making a Spielberg movie and just randomly throwing in some Star Wars aliens and tech to check off some Star Wars boxes. Once it got into space I can see that they were setting up a contrast. But it was really jarring and almost made me walk away.

  346. David Cronenberg was offered to direct Flashdance. My mind reels at even trying to imagine what that would have been like. He said he told the producers he would destroy their movie. I think it would have been the opposite. Just imagining what he would have done with the bucket of water drop scene alone makes me long to see this potential alternate past.

    https://geektyrant.com/news/david-cronenberg-doesnt-regret-turning-down-flashdance-he-told-producers-i-will-destroy-your-movie-if-i-direct-it

  350. So Tiffany had a minor surgery on her wrist today, after some long-term tendon damage, likely caused at work. She’s a little wonky post-op, but recovering well.

  351. So I’m currently working my way through all The Thin Man series of movies.

    So reading about William Powell who retired from acting in 1955 and spent the rest of his life (he died in 1984) with his third wife, playing golf and enjoying life.

    Respect to an actor who knows when to quit.

  352. The CEO that got executed was head of a medical
    Insurance company that ran a known bugged AI algorithm that denied healthcare to millions.

    Almost makes one believe in karma.

  353. So I’m guessing this will be a no, since the USA is gun mad, but do you have the equivalent of gypsies or travellers in the US that collect scrap from people’s garden unasked?

    • In my area, we have guys called “scrappers“ that drive around and pick up trucks looking for metal objects that have been set out by the side of the road.
      If you have something like an old washing machine or the like, you can set it out and the county comes by once a month and picks up such items.
      I have spoken to two of these folks on different occasions. One was trying to get extra income to survive. The other was a retired gentleman who found it an interesting way to spend his days. In both cases, they’re doing a community service as the items they pick up get recycled instead of put into a landfill.

  361. Back in the olden days of the 20th Century, the first Soviet film acquired by an American company was an animated adaption of The Snow Queen:

    https://youtu.be/BaF6oqHZ-GM

    Hayao Miyazaki has claimed he doubts he would have continued as an animator if he had not seen this film.

  368. So, it’s really freaking rare, and it doesn’t happen nearly as much as it used to, but I occasionally still get vibe. And it always takes me by surprise.
    I wanted to say, “Ma’am, do you not see my (lack of) hair? My bloated paunchy belly?? The thousand other things that I find appallingly unattractive about myself?? And if not that stuff, do you not see my wedding ring?”

    Footnotes:
    -Yes, she might have just been a friendly person who found me and my book to be interesting. I try to be brutally honest with myself, sometimes to a fault.
    -I am a happily married man, and have long-retired my charm and flirting game. Even if a desirable woman were to throw herself at me, I’d politely decline.
    -Yes, I sometimes treat Deadpan as an open diary, shared with my friends.

    • Your a great guy, who wouldn’t be attracted to you!
      This happens to me much less than it used to which makes it that much more surprising when it does.
      I say just enjoy the moment but admittidly I have also known that little bit of panic feeling thinking “I am just connecting with a like soul but have I said/done something that could be misunderstood as an invitation?”
      Humans. How did we make it THIS far.

      • I promise I wasn’t fishing for reinforcement, but I appreciate the kind words.

        Human behavior is strange. And I don’t just mean the Bjork song.

  376. We decided to watch Hot Frosty on Netflix last night. I can see why it’s become a bit of a meme. They did it right in not even trying to take itself seriously. Definitely done with tongue planted firmly in the cheek.
    My favourite line: How does a bowl of soup sound?

  378. We got halfway through “Twisters” yesterday, we’ll finish it up tonight. Seems like someone said, let’s take “The Fast and the Furious” and add a bunch of rednecks to it.

    • Someone I know rewatched Twister and then watched Twisters. They said Twisters seemed like a shot for shot remake of the first movie. Interested if anyone else who saw it felt that way.

  385. Tiffany watched The Rookie, so it’s often on in the house. I haven’t really watched, but I just can’t get past the whole fashion show aspect. The younger cops are all ridiculously attractive and the older actors are still ridiculously attractive. And everyone looks like they just left the beauty salon with perfect hair and skin. No matter how good the show is, that aspect is impossible to get past.
    It makes you want to go get arrested by the LAPD.

    • Interesting thought on the “Travelers”.

      Apparently, earlier in the day they had been drinking at a golf club… till they started a fight there and were eventually removed.
      Sounds almost like, for the price of possibly taking a few punches, they have figured out how to drink at a bar and never pay the tab.

  390. DPSS gift arrived! I think I know who’s to blame.

    It’s actually one of my all-time favorites – – a coffee table book of 1970s Sci-Fi art. Thank you very much, Santa Claus!

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