Creeping Up On Halloween With Racist Costumes

If we are going to talk about various costumes, we are going to have to talk about these costumes. The racist costumes.

In this day and age you'd think it wouldn't pop up, but people still turn to it. Whenever you're changing your face color to mimic another racial group, maybe you should give pause, and evaluate. When you are about to do a caricature of some group, ask why.

From Last Week Tonight

Z Nation Reviews Season 2 Episode 1 - The Murphy

At the end of last season tactical nukes were coming down on all of our characters. Ft Collins was screwed, as was the northern outpost Citizen Z was at. It did not look good.

Murphy had snapped and ran, starting the nuke rain. Dr. Kurian fled on foot. So how can anyone hope to escape incoming?

As the season opens everyone in Ft Collins in running. Warren gets their truck going and they try and outrun the missile heading at the facility. Dr. Kurian manages to find a fridge in the area and ducks in. (Someone saw Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.) Murphy seems to have run off early enough to not have to worry about being hit, at least.

In a disaster Kurian can't resist a snack.

Warren is trying to hightail it, but she knows the blast will be coming, so she tries to pull into a tunnel to avoid most of it. Their truck takes a hit and flips over.

"Excellent!"

Z Nation Season 1 Addendum *UPDATED*

"GOD, I HATE THE APOCALYPSE." Don't we all.

Before we get to the opening of Season 2, let's finish up with Season 1. Last time I covered the overarching aspects. But there are some other things worth knowing about the show.

Creeping Up On Halloween With Elvira

Today let's turn our hearts and minds to quintessential piece of Halloween and late night fun. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Always the official some or another of Halloween.

It's her birthday today, so let's celebrate her, Cassandra Peterson. How old is she this year? None Of Your Damn Business years old.

Creeping Up On Halloween With Scary Soda Pop

It can be a thirsty time, waiting for Halloween. And obviously our drinks need themes. How else can one live?

I am not talking about booze though, that is not my area. But if you are looking for some discussion of that, I'd try Maven of the Eventide's Pumpktoberfest from last year. All sorts of pumpkin flavored beer, friends, and costumes. Her main site is down right now, but she has the series on YouTube to enjoy.

So instead let's talk about the fizzy drinks. We don't get enough of the horrible variety this time of year, except for any horrible tasting soft drink that we normally get year round. Thanks to the Purple Stuff Podcast, I have heard that once long ago Pepsi did have Crystal Pepsi out in a novelty cover. Invisible Man bandages.

But it feels like we seldom see that type of fun from those companies these days. Mostly it's a matter of some slight changes to the box that holds a pack of pop.

Thankfully we do have at least one company who is producing terrible fun in wide release. Jones Soda. They apparently have odd flavors that have come out for different holiday times. Green Bean, Turkey, etc.

The one I have luck with is there Halloween variety. And the best of that is their Caramel Apple. Ghoulish can. Sweet and tart taste.

In the season of electoral discontent, the media isn't here to help. *UPDATED*

(UPDATE AT BOTTOM, as CNN continues to be CNN.)

Tonight we head into the second of the GOP presidential debates.

Anyone up for musical podiums?

Creeping Up On Halloween With Sad Pets

Holidays can be rough on pets. The home gets a makeover. Strangers come in. Loud Parties. Getting isolated while everyone else is busy. But is that worse?

NO!

It's terrible costumes. Bunny costumes. Elf costumes. Pilgrim costumes. It's horror story. Then comes Halloween with a range of looks from Batman to Yoda to Freddy Pooger.

Still, some good promotion can sell you on the idea. The happy pup (You never see a happy cat.) looking ready to wield the dark side of the Force.

And then you have the occasional costume packaging that manages to show you the look your dog will really give you.

FROM

Creeping Up On Halloween With LEGO Minifigs

Oh I do love LEGO. And these days they sell individual minifigures series. The current one that just came out is one with a horror/Halloween vibe. Mad scientist. Zombies. Ghosts. Etc.

Just in time for Halloween. I have begun the quest to acquire them all. Madness will follow.

Friday the 13th on Sunday the 13th - Episode 13 - The Baron's Bride

Back we go into the realms of cursed and curious goods. One can only escape from Friday's Curse, because the 13th always comes around again! ...Though one can sometimes hit snooze one or five times. eh.

We go into the 13th episode of the series, and for the auspicious episode, we get a bit of time travel and creative production work. Also a slightly odd title, "The Baron's Bride".

Creeping Up On Halloween With Sexy Halloween Costumes

What do we all need come Halloween? Costumes, of course! But what to wear?

For some the answer may come from the Girl's Costume Warehouse. As brought us by College Humor, it shows of the wide variety of costumes regularly provided by a costume industry deeply interested in dressing women up at Halloween to live their dreams.

Creeping up on Halloween with Donna Reed

It's time to start ramping up for Halloween. right?

So let's start with a touch of Donna Reed. Spooooky!

Donna Reed at Halloween.

Donna Reed. Generally you may, or may not (Those youngins.), think of her on her old TV series, The Donna Reed Show. The proper housewife dealing with the acceptable wackiness of the 50's and 60's suburbs. But I can't help thinking first of her appearance in Shadow of the Thin Man.

She may also have appeared in It's A Wonderful Life, but this isn't Christmas.

The Horror Of...Z Nation Season 1, In Short

(An addendum to this post has been posted.)

With the second season of Z Nation getting ready to rampage across our TV's and computers, let's take a look at the first season, and the series in general. A series that has tried to remember that it wants viewers to get some thrills and fun when they watch a show.

So let's pick at the oozing brain of Z Nation, and see what it is all about.

The Horror Of...The Lair of the White Worm (1988)

Even though it is Spring, it's still an ideal time for some HORROR. And what better than a story that gets us out and walking in nature? A story about an altogether unnatural bit of nature? A story with sex and violence and a bit of Doctor Who to it?

So while I could go about in these ever warming temps and look for some snakes, let's look for a serpent of a different scale all the way back in 1988. Yes. It is time to delve into the rather strange tale of The Lair of the White Worm.

Trailers In Short - Heroes Coming Back Edition, Part DC

Okay. Let's close out this look at our heroic tales with some DC Comics? We will stick with live action. Haven't even had a chance yet to watch Batman Versus Robin. But I do have some worries about taking this angle for doing the "Court of the Owls" storyline. ...We can get into that another time.


Still, it is fun to keep up on the DC series on now. Sadly, I am a little behind on viewing and reviewing. I do want to get caught up this week on Gotham and Flash, in some manner, so let's see where they are? (Also I'd like to do something for Constantine, to Remember/Hope For The Best For It.) And I want to get into iZombie, to get a sense of it. And Arrow's current season to.

I better hurry up in my homework, as we have additional shows making their way soon to TV, as we'll see.

Trailers In Short - Heroes Coming Back Edition

Back to the trailers!

And cue the triumphant hero music. For it is time to get back into the hero groove. And it's a time for that. The Empire of old needs some Rebellion. The Machines need to be Terminated. It's time for Max to get Mad again. And...Daredevil, Ant-Man, Fantastic Four, and the Rest.

Plus we should get into DC's Live Action Universe.


Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Suppose it's time to admit something horrible. I found the first teaser that was released for this movie to be a little meh. It was a series of shots that went by quickly with no sense of what anything meant. There were sights I knew, like updated Stormtroopers and X-Wings. And the Millennium Falcon did a quick pass. It was nice, particularly as the Williams music kicked in. But it was blur of "What?" I still didn't know what to expect.

And now we get this one. Let's be honest it is a rush of more images of things we don't really understand. But it's longer shots and more reveals of how this universe looks, is being filmed, and how the characters may actual connect to one another. And that makes me happy. I feel like I'm starting to figure out the movie.

Taxes in a Time of Taxes

It's April 15th, and depending where you are, you still have time to file your taxes here in the United States. (Either on your computer or by dropping it off at an open post office.) And not to worry if you've somehow forgotten about tax seasons end. You can still file tomorrow. As long as you don't owe you shouldn't have to worry about penalties, otherwise...

But it is our annual process. We balance out the books. We had the government withhold some of our income, and it now learns how much of that it should keep to pay into supporting our society, and how much it should return to us. Unless you didn't do withholding on your wages, and then you get to pay in now. (But really it is a matter of taste. You can either put the money at the start, or you can plan a year ahead and save the money to pay in. Whatever works best for you.) W-4's matter.


Sadly people have a visceral hate for our system to handle the funding of our country. Love the armed forces, fixed roads, border protection. Hate actually having to pay for these things. Hating on the IRS is an easy way to get some cheers. It's an honest reaction. But it's not altogether a rational one. It can be tragically irrational.

So...This what you do when you owe money?

A collection of accountants and bureaucrats, that some how get painted as evil for doing vital work, The IRS is given a function. Make sure people pay in what we as a society agree to do. Sure not everyone does pay in...But we all need to make changes to get billionaires, corporations, and ministries to get with it. (How is it that the powerful who skip out on taxes aren't painted as the villains?)

Fighting for America by moving profits overseas, and living
the good life (while having it's workforce live on Medicaid
and Food Snap).

April Foolin'

Here. Let me end your trust in
humanity.

As we look to April, we get our annual tradition of April Fools Day.

Here's a little history for those interested in origins and international traditions you may not know of.

Tradition and all. Still doesn't stop pranking annoying. Sure there is the occasional brilliant piece of work, a masterwork in social experimentation. But most of the time it is just a matter of confusing everyone. And when news media gets in the game...they help no one.




So John Oliver has a good idea. A No-Pranking Pledge.

"Hey. You're being a dick right now. Stop being a dick."

Friday the 13th on Double Friday the 13th - Episode 12 - Faith Healer

It has been a couple of Friday's the 13th since we last delved into this series. I had hoped to do it in February, but Time bested me. Then I saw that March also had it's own Friday the 13th.

"Double Friday the 13th!!! What does it mean?!"

It means we finally get back into this show of shows. (Sure it's some days late. But Double Friday the 13th means the rules are out. BWAHAHAHAHA!)

"Faith Healer"

And as an episode to come back to, this is a good one. It's a strong first season episode.

You know, St Patrick's Day is...Nevermind...

Well. It seems to have been a while since I've posted. I know I planned to slow down, but damn.

I was going to do a Friday the 13th post last month, but...eh. Still there will be one shortly.

Still, did want to look at St Patrick's Day anew this year. Afterall, it is a Catholic holiday tied to a story about a guy driving snakes off an island. And what do people do? It doesn't seem to follow.

Sure. There is no indication that snakes have ever been indigenous to Ireland. And it's all a metaphor for driving out the old religion (which naturally must be evil).

But it's all an Irish celebration. And what do places like the U.S. do? Party. Get drunk. Wear green. Do questionable impersonations of Irish caricatures. (Really, If the Irish weren't considered white for the last century, this would all be offensive.)

I mean just look at how the very Catholic Irish revere their tradition...

Oh, and Sainted Patrick...

Photo by Cyril Byrne/The Irish Times

,,,Oh, nevermind. Ireland is a silly place anyway.


Still, the whole snake side of things is too much fun to just let go. ...And it did make me think up a horror movie that would be fun to watch in this time of year. So look forward to the tale of a snake...which isn't really a snake...

But, hey, no snakes in Ireland either.


Coming soon. Lair of the White Worm.

The Horror Of...Christmastime, The Hogfather, All In One Post

Terry Pratchett's Discworld is a beloved world for many fans of fantasy and comedy. Pratchett has produced an imaginative reality that plays on literature, folklore, history, and social commentary.

Did I mention the great A'Tuin?

The Discworld is a wonderfully impossible place, where the nonsensical is keeping old disc on the old turtles back.

And the Hogfather takes us to the winter time, and a special holiday at the center of the lives of many of the world's inhabitants. While some are celebrating, others are plotting the end of the season, and the forces that keep it alive.

The Wizards. The Assassins. Death. All are pushed into motion. But it may take some people from the sidelines to set things

So here are all the parts of the review in one spot.

________


Part 1

A start to the tale. An intro to the world. Assassins called to duty. The tooth fairy must die.

Those are the Hogfather's hogs, or Gozer's coming to town.

Part 2

The Hogfather falters. Death takes a break, and a second job. And things get more and more Dicoworldy.

"What do you mean this is my only scene!"

Part 3

Susan enters the story. Susan doesn't want to get involved. ...Susan gets involved.

"Really, grandfather? Cosplaying?"

Part 4

Susan gets a clue. Susan goes to war. The Hogfather dies. Long live the Hogfather. And more.

Yeah, You know all you've done? Piss. Susan. Off.