Halloween Month Is Coming. In The Meantime...

Enjoy this absolutely wonderful piece of television history.  The nicest guy in the universe acknowledges the hard work a young man has put into his dance moves.

In other words: Mr. Rogers learns to breakdance.

Seriously, this is a thing.

Yeah, I'm just doing some happy, simply things before we get into the horror again.

It's National Punctuation Day!

And to celebrate, I'm just sharing this.

Enjoy!

...seriously, that's it.  Go on, click it.  You'll like it.

Really.

And yes, I'm aware I missed National Talk Like A Pirate Day.  This is better.

Thoughts From A Road Trip Across America

Last week I was on a car trip ride from Portland, Maine to Puyallup, Washington.  It was me, my father, and a Volkswagen Jetta wagon with a roof rack.  I had a general idea of what to expect from the experience.  I knew there were would be long stretches of road in the Midwest where there wouldn't be much to see.  I knew that there would be long stretches of highway where the speed limit would be higher than I think I ever drove before.  I knew there were plenty of places to get good food, but it would be important to remember to eat healthy sometimes since "sitting" doesn't burn a lot of calories.

I almost wanted to blog about each day, but I decided it would be best to instead actually try to enjoy the trip without worrying about how I would word things immediately after I experienced them.  Every now and again I posted an update on Facebook if something particularly interesting (and one meal) was happening, but there were days I just didn't post anything because I was just taking the time to look around.

So below I'm posting thoughts I remember having while on this trip.  Some might be deep, some might be shallow, some might be slightly controversial to people I know.  They're just my thoughts, feel free to engage me in a debate over them if you want.  I'd probably enjoy it, I like discussing and considering alternative opinions on things.

Shutter

Shutter is a very hard book to describe to people, and I should know.  I've been trying to describe it to people I know ever since I picked up the first volume about nine months ago, and I'm still reduced to just throwing the book at people and shouting, "HEY, READ THIS."

It's a great way for me to behave like a complete hipster when it comes to comic books.  "Oh, yes, I could read the MAINSTREAM stuff like Batman, Spider-Man, or Superman, but it's all been done to death.  I want the more independent stuff."  There are, however, two problems with my doing that.

One, Shutter is printed by Image, which may not be a multimedia juggernaut like either of the Big Two, but is hardly "independent."  Second, mainstream books really are kinda lame these days.  After having some characters be around for some 80 or so years, I really find it difficult to care what Batman or Spider-Man are up to, because I know there's no permanent consequences any more.  Characters can be killed off, changes can be made, but these characters will still be around next year, or the year after that, or the decade after that.

This brings us back around to Shutter, in that it's a book where you genuinely feel like any character can be put in serious danger at any time and won't, necessarily, come out of it unscathed, if they come out of it at all.

Dork Tower

Every now and again I have to go through my stuff and decide if I want to keep it or not.  Some things I've held onto for years I finally decide to part with, while other things get sold or given away and I spend the next few years trying to get it again.

Usually just so I can hold onto it for a short time and then get rid of it again.

However, there are a few things that I keep in particular boxes that I have such fun with on a regular basis or have such fond memories of that I'll probably still have them until I'm old, wrinkly, and (hopefully) yelling at kids to get off my space-lawn.

One such thing is my collection of the works of John Kovalic, primarily my collection of his comic series Dork Tower.

Law Enforcement Guide To Satanic Cults

This is a real thing, everybody.

Personally, I was really hoping that this was a guide to "Satanic Cults" in the same sense that a guide to guns, cars, or computers would be "how to use them as an effective tool as you fight crime."  It'd be like how cops often use informants or moles in gangs to get information to prevent major crimes, or how so many TV shows these days include someone who is clearly not a cop consulting on cop cases with their unique brand of intelligence.

After all, if a successful show can be drawn from a pair of fake psychics, multiple crime writers, convicted con men, slobbering dogs, and children, why not a Satanic cult using their knowledge and skills to help fight occult crimes?

Call me, Hollywood, this pitch just gets better.

But in the meantime, here's my look at the actual training video for cops teaching them how to recognize and handle Satanic cults in America.

Needless to say, this was recorded back in those dark, Satanic times of 1994.

Yes, all the music is on a synthesizer, why do you ask?