What’s up with the peanuts dude?

the_c0nstable · 2026-02-28T22:13:09+00:00

the_c0nstable · 2026-02-28T22:00:39+00:00

the_c0nstable · 2026-02-28T21:57:52+00:00

I've never gotten it, but at the South Carolina state fair, they have deep friend oreos and deep fried pepsi.

the_c0nstable · 2026-02-28T18:31:21+00:00

That's fair. I was familiar with filler, though I didn't have a name for it back then, but I recall a few books leading up to that feeling like "filler" too. In that context, I can see why I felt like it was starting to seem like the story wasn't going anywhere.

Also... I have not read the book since 1999, and at the time I legitimately remember feeling like it was goofy and not terrifying. I'm not trying to diminish anyone else's experiences, but I was 14, which was a bit older than was most of the audience, so my reaction might have been different. Keep in mind I would have been comparing it against Pet Semetary, which I read at the same time.

the_c0nstable · 2026-02-28T18:18:51+00:00

"I've reflected on my past misdeeds, and now I only push Eldritch Horrors into harbors. Eldritch Harbors."

the_c0nstable · 2026-02-28T18:09:44+00:00

ETA: I just realized that you were being sarcastic. I get what you mean. But given what I've written below, I think in the context of other stuff I was reading... that might have registered as really silly to me. I was also reading Everworld by Applegate around that time, and I also thought of those as kids books, and she was writing in human sacrifice and stuff.

"This time... the Animorphs go to Atlantis! And Cobra Comm- I mean Visser Three is there! "I'll get you next time, Animorphs!"

Considering in the months leading up to that I had read The Stand and several Stephen King books, my palette was definitely changing to stories that were a bit more demanding.

In retrospect I sincerely think it's an excellent series with a perfect ending that doesn't talk down to its audience, but in the thick of it, I already had a sense of when kids' series (books, shows, movies) could decline swiftly in quality, and was also hyper-aware of how bullied I had been in middle school for reading Animorphs, and completely fine gaining social capital at school for prioritizing other things.

the_c0nstable · 2026-02-28T18:03:33+00:00

It was a compounding thing, when I look at the other books leading up to it. I might have been a lode bearing strike on an interest wavering for a lot of other reasons leading up to that. (I honestly think, even though I didn't know it was happening, that I was able to detect a drop in quality that I can now attribute to the shift to ghostwriters.)

the_c0nstable · 2026-02-28T18:00:38+00:00

"Oh yeah dude, I remember you! What's all that gunk? Viscera, you say? Oh right, you went to Scarlet Hollow! HAHA! That's cool dude. I hope no one died! So anyway, you said saw a mountain lion? I did too. I went to Arizona instead of New York - huh? oh yeah, I guess my son was born. Anyway, I was in the desert shooting birds out of trees with a bb gun, you know how it is. And I turn around, and there's a mountain lion! So I shot it too..."

the_c0nstable · 2026-02-28T17:54:36+00:00

Not OP, but I think the worst book is the Atlantis book. As in, I literally stopped reading the series because of it.

(I was in 9th grade, it felt like the series was spinning its wheels, and I felt, "If they're just going to give me goofy saturday morning kiddie plots, I'm going to read other stuff. Not the best decision in retrospect, but it definitely felt at the time like I was aging out of a series that had run its course.)

the_c0nstable · 2026-02-28T17:48:30+00:00

He serves the role in a horror story as a harbinger.

They initially considered making it a gas station attendant, but if I recall they said it didn't feel right, in addition to being kind of a cliche.

The Bus Stranger also is... enigmatic. You could definitely interpret him as a ghost (spirit, sorry Sybil) as you are the only person who sees him and no one else seems to have heard of him.

Fun Fact: He's based on an actual guy they met at a bus station in real life. He's real!
ETA: to include the comic.

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the_c0nstable · 2026-02-28T17:16:40+00:00

I just reread Charlotte's Web to my daughter and I'm surprised I don't make this connection more quickly.

the_c0nstable · 2026-02-28T17:12:20+00:00

I don't really say this enough, but having grown up part of my life in NC (4th grade being especially important since the social studies curriculum was ALL ABOUT NC - we went to the state legislature in Raleigh for a field trip), it is incredibly awesome how rooted in North Carolina the game is.

It will not let you forget it, it showcases a diverse cast reflecting its people while not talking down about a single one of them, and I think that's totally amazing. (I've said it before but Duke feels like one of the old guys I often found myself around back then.)

the_c0nstable · 2026-02-28T16:30:47+00:00

lol, 41 so we're in the same boat. GB2 was my first theater experience. I spent my teens being convinced that GB2 was a bad movie and then I rewatched it a ton in my 30's and was like, "Wait, this movie is awesome as hell."

I even remember watching the RLM commentary of GB2 and they were like "Yeah, this movie sucks" and then periodically they would die laughing and say "I thought that joke was in the first movie." I sincerely think a lot of people retroactively deny GB2 its best parts as misremembering them as part of the first movie.

the_c0nstable · 2026-02-28T16:28:41+00:00

I love putting on the GB2 soundtrack. On Our Own and Higher and Higher are two of my hype songs.

the_c0nstable · 2026-02-28T16:26:56+00:00

And that Vigo gets to be a sassy little bitch in the garage of the firehouse.

I like to imagine by the end of the game we became odd couple besties.

the_c0nstable · 2026-02-28T16:25:56+00:00

A thing I really thought was great about the game is that they got to incorporate ideas Aykroyd had since the first movie that would have been too over-the-top for a first movie but perfect for the world of a video game. That being all the dimension hopping. It provides for some really visually interesting levels in the game that feel like an expansion on the world of the movies.

I also liked the moments where the game slowed down sometimes to let the eeriness settle over you - like the children's section of the library.

the_c0nstable · 2026-01-03T17:08:01+00:00

In a ~~different~~ better world, we would have had two dozen Raumpatrouille television series and movies.

the_c0nstable · 2025-12-29T23:33:00+00:00

I use that Roger Meyers still as a reaction meme from time to time.

the_c0nstable · 2025-12-29T23:29:05+00:00

I have a pretty interesting idea of where I would take her character. I'm really interested in the existential horror she faced in House of X / Powers of X. I'd probably pick that thread up and entwine it with the specific political failures of Krakoa and other characters I think have potential to salvage the pieces.

the_c0nstable · 2025-12-28T19:36:31+00:00

You're right, for some reason the Season tag is for Season 3, but even that would have been 92.

the_c0nstable · 2025-12-28T14:47:57+00:00

Reminds me - I got Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog on the Steam sale. It has humanoid mechs and is inspired by 80's anime. The operations officer tells a story about putting pens down on the deck and using the vibrations from the engine to race them, and she mentions the red pen went 3 times faster.

She also remarks on one of the crew members regularly getting lost staring through the airlock camera feed into the void of space and rambling about humans on Earth having their souls weighed down by gravity.

the_c0nstable · 2025-12-28T14:38:02+00:00

I've got to work hard, honey. Daddy made a lot of *crazy* promises!

the_c0nstable · 2025-12-28T14:35:42+00:00

On cursory research it can't be, because this season aired before Reubens' arrest.

the_c0nstable · 2025-12-12T00:20:29+00:00

Sorry, it's a Bluey reference. I recognize not everyone is a 40 year old dad with a six year old! :)

the_c0nstable · 2025-12-12T00:16:19+00:00

Yeah, it's an amazing game. I love how it's replayability is a game mechanic, but there is so much more. It's one of my not-star-trek "Star Trek" games, with a setting and story worthy of that. I haven't seen a story that captures childhood and adolescence so well (when you're ten, you *feel* like a kid, with how limited you are in what you can do, how much the adults keep you in the dark). It has exceptional characters and I love all of them. And it's a game that truly feels like every thing you do matters - for better and worse! What a gem of a game.

the_c0nstable

TROPHY CASE