What Did You Watch? 2016-10-03 (Monday)

[Ubiquitous]

I watched:

SEMI-HOMEMADE HALLOWEEN WITH SANDRA LEE:
SLop's first Halloween special with captive celebrity chef Tyler
Florence.

SANDRA'S HALLOWEEN WONDERLAND:
Join Sandra Lee as she celebrates Halloween as only she can! Sandra's
dreams come true when she awakes and finds herself transformed into
several of her favorite characters from Alice in Wonderland and beyond!
The spectacle doesn't end with the costumes ... Sandra slips into a
dreamy parallel universe to create the perfect Halloween Sweets and
Desserts, plus a collection of Cocktails ideal for an unforgettable
Halloween party! Don't miss the fun and the surprises on this trip into
a Halloween fantasy with Sandra Lee and her greatest party recipes.
I don't think I ever saw this one before!

SEMI-HOMEMADE COOKING WITH SANDRA LEE:
"Halloween". A Halloween menu includes spicy “bat” wings and “bat”
chips with “goblin” dip; cocktail “eyeball”meatballs; and white pumpkin
cakes.

SEMI-HOMEMADE COOKING WITH SANDRA LEE:
"Halloween Queens". This Halloween Sandra will be queen for a day.
She's transforming into a fantastic collection of classic queens to
complement a royally delicious and party-friendly menu. It all begins
with Ham and Apple Fritters being prepared by Sandra costumed as Anne
Boleyn. Then it's medieval Spicy Steak on a Stick by Guinevere. For
dessert, "Let them eat Brioche and Pumpkin Trifle," says Sandra as
Marie Antoinette, and known for her excesses, Marie Antoinette reigns
over Cocktail Time mixing a Regal Rose. Queen Elizabeth I presides over
the lavish tablescape set in a medieval, haunted castle."

THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ORANGE COUNTY:
"Bye, Bye, Beadors". Michael and Kelly discuss their relationship.
Also, Vicki is enlisted to shoot a commercial for charity; Shannon bids
adieu to her old home; and Tamra hosts a day of indulgence and luxury
at a spa, but dramas bubble up and surround a tearful Kelly. "Tearful"
was a polite way of saying "hysterical", which Kelly is. Sheesh!

THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ORANGE COUNTY:
"Secrets, Lies and Vicki's New Guy". Meghan celebrates the opening of
her candle store with a party. Also, Vicki threatens to spill a secret
about Shannon; Meghan deals with the highs and lows of pregnancy;
Heather hosts a fancy book-release bash; and Meghan proposes a trip to
Ireland.

What did you watch?

--
Wikileaks says they'll surprise and shock us all with their findings on
Crooked Hillary. They must have found a trace of ethical behavior.

[Obveeus]

On 10/4/2016 5:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:

> What did you watch?

LUCIFER: Mommy is back on Earth and apparently you cannot get rid of
her simply by killing her. She inhabits the body of a dead person and
instantly heals...once. If that person gets killed again, instead of
returning to Hell she just floats off to find another recently deceased
body to inhabit. Meanwhile, Amenadiel's wings look like that of a
crusty old angel...with black feathers. Sure, he can apologize to
people for lying and being mean, but I don't see how he can get his
virginity back. Meanwhile, Chloe and Dan have uppity kid issues in ways
that allow for LUCIFER to get preached at about mother/child relationships.

LUKE CAGE: The rest of the first season. The worst moment of the
season was the deep fryer. The best part of the season is actually that
even with the tons of gunplay this show dialed back on the hordes of
gangland bad guys the way DAREDEVIL presents them. I really liked that
Rosario Dawson finally got a significant amount of screen time on one of
these series...Netflix listened. Alfre Woodard deserves an Emmy
nomination and since she is an Emmy staple, she might even get it even
though this is a 'superhero show'.

[Ian J. Ball]

On 2016-10-04 09:30:41 +0000, Ubiquitous said:

> What did you watch?

Very long work day, so I only watched "Lab Rats: Elite Force",
"Gotham", and "Lucifer". But I don't feel like commenting on these, so
I'll leave that to others...

Recorded for later: The Big Bang Theory, and Timeless (series premiere).


--
"His compassion killed him." - Dr. Sabine Lommers, in
"A Kingdom Divided Against Itself" (ep. #9), "Containment" (06-21-2016)

[Arthur Lipscomb]

On 10/4/2016 5:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:
> On 10/4/2016 5:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
>
>> What did you watch?
>
> LUCIFER: Mommy is back on Earth and apparently you cannot get rid of
> her simply by killing her. She inhabits the body of a dead person and
> instantly heals...once. If that person gets killed again, instead of
> returning to Hell she just floats off to find another recently deceased
> body to inhabit. Meanwhile, Amenadiel's wings look like that of a
> crusty old angel...with black feathers. Sure, he can apologize to
> people for lying and being mean, but I don't see how he can get his
> virginity back.

Is Lucifer trying to make amends and get into heaven?

Meanwhile, Chloe and Dan have uppity kid issues in ways
> that allow for LUCIFER to get preached at about mother/child relationships.
>

Did they reveal yet why the female cop is immune to his powers? I think
someone already said but I forgot. :-/

> LUKE CAGE: The rest of the first season. The worst moment of the
> season was the deep fryer.

I'm not at all sure how that was supposed to work.

The best part of the season is actually that
> even with the tons of gunplay this show dialed back on the hordes of
> gangland bad guys the way DAREDEVIL presents them. I really liked that
> Rosario Dawson finally got a significant amount of screen time on one of
> these series...Netflix listened. Alfre Woodard deserves an Emmy
> nomination

Agreed.

and since she is an Emmy staple, she might even get it even
> though this is a 'superhero show'.
>

I watched:


Madam Secretary - "Sea Change" - Season three picks up with the
president in the middle of an election year and Elizabeth running as his
VP. Some of the politics made no sense in relation to the real world.
But the episode was OK otherwise.


Timeless - After a privately funded time machine is stolen by a group of
soldiers, the government is brought in and assembles a historian, a
soldier and a guy who works for the company to use a prototype time
machine to stop them. It didn't make a whole lot of sense. I am not at
all clear how or why reality didn't instantly change the moment the
machine went back in time. Although Star Trek also used the exact same
time travel plot device so I guess I can't complain that much. They
threw in lots of dumb and a conspiracy of some type. The historian
should have mentioned the soldier was actively trying to change history.
But then again it's pretty clear in the future she's working for the
other side so her looking the other way is probably consistent with
that. Nevertheless, it's a time travel show so I guess I'll stick with
it. I vaguely recall an unsold pilot that was airing a few years ago
with a somewhat similar premise. As I recall, that was better. But
there's no point in saying, "We Could have had Doorways." ;-)


Gotham - "Mad City: Look Into My Eyes" - The Mad Hatter shows up to
hypnotize people. Mostly background noise. I've noticed that since the
start of the season Gordon has been using the same voice he used last
season when he was playing his evil twin. What is up with that? :-/


Secrets and Lies - "The Husband" - We learn in a throwaway line that
Ryan Phillipe's character from the first season was killed in prison.
It was also established in the pilot everyone now knows he was innocent.
Meanwhile the main plot continues to move forward with one step back
for every two steps forward.


Geeking Out! - For the season finale they talk to the creator of the
Walking Dead comic.

[Obveeus]

On 10/4/2016 9:57 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:
> On 10/4/2016 5:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>> On 10/4/2016 5:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
>>
>>> What did you watch?
>>
>> LUCIFER: Mommy is back on Earth and apparently you cannot get rid of
>> her simply by killing her. She inhabits the body of a dead person and
>> instantly heals...once. If that person gets killed again, instead of
>> returning to Hell she just floats off to find another recently deceased
>> body to inhabit. Meanwhile, Amenadiel's wings look like that of a
>> crusty old angel...with black feathers. Sure, he can apologize to
>> people for lying and being mean, but I don't see how he can get his
>> virginity back.
>
> Is Lucifer trying to make amends and get into heaven?

I don't think he is *trying* so much as the natural course of his more
human life is leading him in that direction. meanwhile, his mom looked
toward heaven at the end of the episode and sort of had the look of
someone who was actually on Earth to help LUCIFER's redemption.

> Meanwhile, Chloe and Dan have uppity kid issues in ways
>> that allow for LUCIFER to get preached at about mother/child
>> relationships.
>>
>
> Did they reveal yet why the female cop is immune to his powers? I think
> someone already said but I forgot. :-/

They haven't really explained that as of yet. Someone floated a theory
about his love for her causing the weakness, but that seems a rather
trite explanation.

Side note: In the mystery crime from this episode the junior lawyer
that was sleeping with LUCIFER's Mom's former body inhabitor was an
amazingly bad actor. I thought originally that the bad acting was
intentional, so as to reveal to the audience that he was up to
something. As it turns out, he was simply up to bad acting...or maybe
he was simply trying to act like he cared if she lived or died when he
was really just sleeping with her so he could make partner...but even if
that were the limit of it the bad acting was way over the top.

> Gotham - "Mad City: Look Into My Eyes" - The Mad Hatter shows up to
> hypnotize people. Mostly background noise. I've noticed that since the
> start of the season Gordon has been using the same voice he used last
> season when he was playing his evil twin. What is up with that? :-/

I tuned in about 30 seconds before this episode ended and wondered why
they were stealing DEXTER's music.

[Capricorne]

Obveeus wrote :

>
> On 10/4/2016 9:57 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:
>> On 10/4/2016 5:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>>> On 10/4/2016 5:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
>>>
>>>> What did you watch?
>>>
>>> LUCIFER: Mommy is back on Earth

I think the choice of Tricia Helfer as the Mom was the perfect choice.

[Obveeus]

Agreed...though the 'I do not want to see my mom naked' stuff was silly.

[anim8rfsk]

In article <nt0cgn$go2$1...@dont-email.me>,

Arthur Lipscomb <art...@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

> On 10/4/2016 5:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:
> > On 10/4/2016 5:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
> >
> >> What did you watch?
> >
> > LUCIFER: Mommy is back on Earth and apparently you cannot get rid of
> > her simply by killing her. She inhabits the body of a dead person and
> > instantly heals...once. If that person gets killed again, instead of
> > returning to Hell she just floats off to find another recently deceased
> > body to inhabit. Meanwhile, Amenadiel's wings look like that of a
> > crusty old angel...with black feathers. Sure, he can apologize to
> > people for lying and being mean, but I don't see how he can get his
> > virginity back.
>
> Is Lucifer trying to make amends and get into heaven?

This is a clear case of 'be careful what you wish for' - all last season
we were asking for backstory and explanation, and now that we're getting
it, I was bored silly.

>
> Meanwhile, Chloe and Dan have uppity kid issues in ways
> > that allow for LUCIFER to get preached at about mother/child relationships.
> >
>
> Did they reveal yet why the female cop is immune to his powers? I think
> someone already said but I forgot. :-/
>
> > LUKE CAGE: The rest of the first season. The worst moment of the
> > season was the deep fryer.
>
> I'm not at all sure how that was supposed to work.

That's where the stupid started to actively burn. Somehow exposing him
to the same conditions that made him bulletproof would remove his powers
until you took him out of the deep fryer in which case he'd come back
better than before.

Also, somehow his powers are only skin deep, and yet the mad scientist
said they should allow him to live forever and cure any disease. Wait.
What? Cure the heartbreak of psoriasis maybe, but if he can't deal with
shrapnel, how's he possibly going to deal with AIDS?

Time Tunnel 2002?

As I recall, that was better. But
> there's no point in saying, "We Could have had Doorways." ;-)

--
Join your old RAT friends at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1688985234647266/

[Obveeus]

On 10/4/2016 11:53 AM, anim8rfsk wrote:

> Arthur Lipscomb <art...@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
>
>> On 10/4/2016 5:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>>> LUKE CAGE: The rest of the first season. The worst moment of the
>>> season was the deep fryer.
>>
>> I'm not at all sure how that was supposed to work.
>
> That's where the stupid started to actively burn. Somehow exposing him
> to the same conditions that made him bulletproof would remove his powers
> until you took him out of the deep fryer in which case he'd come back
> better than before.
>
> Also, somehow his powers are only skin deep, and yet the mad scientist
> said they should allow him to live forever and cure any disease. Wait.
> What? Cure the heartbreak of psoriasis maybe, but if he can't deal with
> shrapnel, how's he possibly going to deal with AIDS?

To be fair, even his insides had been modified on a cellular level, as
demonstrated by Claire's inability to use the scalpel even in the open
wound area. Also, his innards did a pretty good job of mitigating the
explosion, so clearly they are tough, too.

Sadly, the resolution for the shrapnel was lame. I was hoping for
something more along the lines of a pearl resolution.

..and if he can stop a truck without any injury, why does getting
punched by a superglove cause bleeding?

[anim8rfsk]

In article <nt0jma$bu7$1...@dont-email.me>, Obveeus <Obv...@aol.com>
wrote:

> On 10/4/2016 11:53 AM, anim8rfsk wrote:
>
> > Arthur Lipscomb <art...@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
> >
> >> On 10/4/2016 5:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:
> >>> LUKE CAGE: The rest of the first season. The worst moment of the
> >>> season was the deep fryer.
> >>
> >> I'm not at all sure how that was supposed to work.
> >
> > That's where the stupid started to actively burn. Somehow exposing him
> > to the same conditions that made him bulletproof would remove his powers
> > until you took him out of the deep fryer in which case he'd come back
> > better than before.
> >
> > Also, somehow his powers are only skin deep, and yet the mad scientist
> > said they should allow him to live forever and cure any disease. Wait.
> > What? Cure the heartbreak of psoriasis maybe, but if he can't deal with
> > shrapnel, how's he possibly going to deal with AIDS?
>
> To be fair, even his insides had been modified on a cellular level, as
> demonstrated by Claire's inability to use the scalpel even in the open
> wound area.

I agree with you that would make more sense, but I don't think that's
what they were trying to portray. I think the problem was that she
couldn't make the opening big enough to maneuver inside. I really think
they think he's normal inside, which is idiotic.

Also, his innards did a pretty good job of mitigating the
> explosion, so clearly they are tough, too.

I have no idea how his power set is supposed to work. Being bulletproof
won't make you strong. The comic book guy just got a variation of the
Super Soldier formula, but this isn't anything like Captain America at
all.

>
> Sadly, the resolution for the shrapnel was lame. I was hoping for
> something more along the lines of a pearl resolution.

"boiling acid"??? Literally ripped from one of the gay Batman movies.

>
> ..and if he can stop a truck without any injury, why does getting
> punched by a superglove cause bleeding?

They tossed the laws of physics out the window with the truck stop, and
also with 'lean on the dumpster hard enough to crush it' - that doesn't
require tough or strong, that requires mass, like tons of it. Or sticky
feet like Spider-Man.

So his brother spent years amassing a fortune and advanced weaponry and
a Stark tech suit and criminal connections and an underworld persona,
all just in case Luke surfaced someday?

[icebreaker]

800 Words (7 Aussie) -- 2 hour season finale. This show is so good if
you like family style shows with humor and quirky characters, although
the first hour is serious. The Family is preparing a trip to Sydney to
meet up with Laura's parents a year after Laura's death. Arlo doesn't
want to go and leave Emma since she'll be leaving shortly. Shay tells
him not to sweat it since they won't be going. Turns out, Shay took
her Mom's ashes when she was there. This results in another argument
via skype and the in-laws coming to visit. George looks al over for
housing for them with no luck, it being the season and all, until
Fiona takes and shows him a beautiful cottage that Big Mac gave her
and her ex, Robbie the drug dealer. She says he needs to talk to Big
Mac even though she is the legal owner. Big Mas is OK with it as long
as George allows him to toss a party for the in-laws. At the party,
Big Mac announces that his lawyers have secured Robbie's release from
prison. More back and forth with the in-laws until George takes them
to the secret local place with the waterfall and agreement is made. In
the second, George is asked to play on the Weld cricket team for their
annual match with Stafford in which they always get trounced. The kids
are against it and the viewer assumes it's because George is not
athletic. The game proves this inaccurate as George is super but
changes into a rabidly competitive cursing beast (which is why he's
banned from cricket in Australia). The writing of the cricket match
was inspired as so much was communicated by behavior and words during
the match. The writing for this show is always top notch. Robbie has
returned and is trying to restake a claim to Fiona and trying to warn
George off. Arlo and Emma want to do the deed before she leaves so he
skypes Auntie Jan for some advice. After the match, George goes for it
with Fiona and one assumes they bedded one another as George is perky
when skyping with Jan the next morning. When Jan stands up after
breaking skype, she's obviously pregnant. Oh boy. Just as Emma's bus
pulls away, Lindsay who apparently just got off the bus yells at Arlo.

Conviction (ABC) -- Season premiere. I hated just about everything
with this. Atwell's lead character is totally unlikeable. The politics
just sleazes it up even more.

Timeless (NBC) -- Season premiere. I'm not totally sold on this one
yet, although I preferred it over conviction.

Gotham (Fox) -- Valerie Vail is a love 'em and leave 'em gal. Lee is
back in town with her fiance, a doctor who is Falcone's son. The Mad
Hatter asks Gordon to locate his sister. Bruce's clone, after seeing
him rebuff Selina's request for help, cuts his hair and goes to meet
up with Selina. Penguin is running for mayor against the former mayor.
Mad Hatter's sister, Alice, saves Gordon as Mad Hatter has him
hynotized on a building ledge. That was the show, I have no idea where
anything is headed. The series has been adrift for a while now.

Lucifer (Fox) -- There more dead bodies and Lucifer assumes they may
be his Mom's work. When he goes to the station to find Chloe, she's
about to enter an interview room to interrogate a suspect -- Trixie --
who apparently mutiolated a doll to get another. Lucifer of course
thinks she should ne induldged. Lucifer leaves Mom in Maz's care so
one knows how that would go. Amenadiel is still struggling.

Scorpion (CBS) -- Season premiere. a 2-hour show that could have
easily been done in 1. Happy and Doc are butting heads after she turns
down his proposal and Walter is off to try to get Paige back. Hackers
have taken control of military aircraft and naval vessels and the Team
needs to remedy the sitch.

The Big Bang Theory (CS) -- The Boys are on deadline for their
project, but Sheldon of all people is failing to get the job done.
Penny attends a party with Amy that consists of 3 people where she
learns just how popular Amy is and where Sheldon derives his.

Keven Can Wait (CBS) -- Kevin hires a guy to do his chores assigned by
his wife. All is well as she thinks he did the chores until she learns
otherwise. He thinks he and the young guy he hired are friends but he
gets chatrged for the time.

[Ian J. Ball]

On Tuesday, October 4, 2016 at 9:33:06 AM UTC-7, icebreaker wrote:

> Lucifer (Fox) -- There more dead bodies and Lucifer assumes they may
> be his Mom's work. When he goes to the station to find Chloe, she's
> about to enter an interview room to interrogate a suspect -- Trixie --
> who apparently mutiolated a doll to get another.

Trixie's doll looked suspiciously similar to Daphne's dolls (e.g. "Deathnee") from "Stuck in the Middle"... ;)

[anim8rfsk]

In article <UBI20...@dont-email.me>, Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net>
wrote:

> I watched:
>
> SEMI-HOMEMADE HALLOWEEN WITH SANDRA LEE:
> SLop's first Halloween special with captive celebrity chef Tyler
> Florence.
>
> SANDRA'S HALLOWEEN WONDERLAND:
> Join Sandra Lee as she celebrates Halloween as only she can! Sandra's
> dreams come true when she awakes and finds herself transformed into
> several of her favorite characters from Alice in Wonderland and beyond!
> The spectacle doesn't end with the costumes ... Sandra slips into a
> dreamy parallel universe to create the perfect Halloween Sweets and
> Desserts, plus a collection of Cocktails ideal for an unforgettable
> Halloween party! Don't miss the fun and the surprises on this trip into
> a Halloween fantasy with Sandra Lee and her greatest party recipes.
> I don't think I ever saw this one before!

Me either and I hope I never see it again. :)

Torn from the pages of RAT-FACEBOOK, but without the stills and video:

Me: I am watching Sandra Lee pour red, green, and blue food coloring
into candy to make it Black because apparently she's so stupid she
doesn't know they make black food coloring.

Mark: Add squid ink

Me: She's saving money by serving food in old used popcorn containers
she scavenged from the movie theater.

They're mixing pizza dough with their bare hands apparently oblivious to
the fact that since he's made up as Frankenstein (yes they got it wrong)
he's got green make up all over his hands. And he's dragging his sleeves
through the food at every opportunity.

She eviscerated a store-bought cheesecake to harvest the cream cheese
because apparently you can't actually just buy cream cheese separately

John: You're killing me. LOLOL

Me: John she then did the same thing to a pumpkin pie, because
apparently you can't buy pumpkin pie filling either. Now all you have to
do is think of something to do with the crusts.

Mike: because when she originally did these recipies growing up they
didnt have black food coloring... annnnnnd its for people that normally
only have the basic 3 colors in their cupboard....

Me: I keep forgetting she grew up poor and has retconned her multi
millionaire husband who bought her her career from history

Mike: yeah.... she says her father left them dirt poor....never really
checked into that but she does know how to stretch whats available....

Me: Be sure to trim the edges of your paper plates with pinking shears
so that'll be all ratty and hard to hold and there will be paper plate
residue all over the food

Cover your plastic pumpkins with silver foil so that they are
unrecognizable as pumpkins

John: At least they won't be abducted.

Weatherly: And they won't be brainwashed by MK Ultra mind rays.

Me: I'm holding a bottle of vampire wine, but you can rip these people
off by just buying muscatel and going to your copy shop and having them
make duplicate labels and glue them on yourself. I swear she really just
recommended that.

Oh no. No, no, no, no. In episode two she has live bunny rabbits. This
is not going to end well.

Mark: The woman has cancer! Give her a break. Also she looked awesome
in those costumes. Click over to Rachael Ray if you want a real scare.

Me: Mohito's. Step one. Mull your own mint you harvested from your live
mint plants in your kitchen. Like I know what the hell that means.

She's going into the nest after a baby bunny! Run Bunny, run!




She's got "magical mushrooms" ­ we know what that means!


Colored shredded coconut and peppermint sticks are perfect for Halloween
or Easter!


Weatherly: But NEVER Christmas!

Me: Yes, what kind of diseased maniac would serve red and white barber
pole striped peppermint sticks for Xmas. Clearly they symbolize the
return of Christ.

Weatherly: I feel a sudden need to be aberrant, with sudden=two months
hence.


Me: Save money on buying black paper dot stickers by buying white paper
dot stickers and coloring them in black yourself with a sharpie pen.
Then stick them all over your drinking glasses so that you haveŠ
Drinking glasses covered with black paper dots.





And now she's Cher!

"The word "Tahatchapee" is a town in California"Š Well, no, not so much.


The horse in the background is trying desperately to get away and they
finally tied it rains do a bitch so it it's stuck

What I actually said was "to a bench" but I loved that speech to text
typo so much I couldn't bear to change it

John: Ha ha ha, the corrected one is even better

Me: The horse is making a break for it!




Weatherly: Thia is making me glad I don't have cable.

Me: Now she's dressed as Lucy and stomping grapes while drinking
Sangria.

She's talking about how many comedy awards Ethyl won. Okay, um, what?
First, I bet Ethyl never won anything, but apparently she's unclear on
the concept that Ethyl was played by an actress named Vivian. Second ...
name all the big awards Vivian won?

Kim: Honored for her work in 1953, Vance became the first actress to
win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress; she accepted her
award at the Emmy ceremony in February 1954. She was nominated an
additional three times (for 1954, 1956, and 1957) before the series
ended.

Me: Kim so one then. :-) Still, cool. Thanks!

Kim: your comment made me curious. The rest of your comments have been
making me laugh. :)

Me: She just said she has dinner plates for the big bunnies and salad
plates for the little bunnies. Shudder.

Kim: and apparently the actress was really, really tired of how
everyone called her Ethyl in real life. She took a spot on the later The
Lucy Show under the condition her character would wear nicer clothes and
be named Vivian. (She was the same age as Lucy and was tired of being
cast as older and less glamorous).



Me: Now she's doing a sugar plum fairyland for Halloween. Because, the
only better time is Easter. OMG THE BABY BUNNY IS IN A SOUP BOWL. If she
dresses up as Glenn Close, I'm aborting this show.

"The one thing I really love at Halloween is ... Christmas!"

"Sugar plum pops *are* Halloween treats!" Preach it Sandy Claus!

"I rolled them into balls while they were till nice and warm" - we'll
pretend she's not talking about the baby bunnies.

White chocolate dipped bunny balls are the perfect year 'round treat.

BIG CLOSE UP OF A BUNNY BALL LABELED "EAT ME"

I think that sums it up rather nicely.

[David Johnston]

On 10/4/2016 7:57 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:
> On 10/4/2016 5:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>> On 10/4/2016 5:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
>>
>>> What did you watch?
>>
>> LUCIFER: Mommy is back on Earth and apparently you cannot get rid of
>> her simply by killing her. She inhabits the body of a dead person and
>> instantly heals...once. If that person gets killed again, instead of
>> returning to Hell she just floats off to find another recently deceased
>> body to inhabit. Meanwhile, Amenadiel's wings look like that of a
>> crusty old angel...with black feathers. Sure, he can apologize to
>> people for lying and being mean, but I don't see how he can get his
>> virginity back.
>
> Is Lucifer trying to make amends and get into heaven?

Um...no. Amenadiel was, I suppose.

>
> Meanwhile, Chloe and Dan have uppity kid issues in ways
>> that allow for LUCIFER to get preached at about mother/child
>> relationships.

Well they needed some reason besides Amenadiel getting disconnected from
the Heaven Hotline for Lucifer to become hesitant about following
through on his deal with God.

>>
>
> Did they reveal yet why the female cop is immune to his powers? I think
> someone already said but I forgot. :-/
>

No. They have no intention of revealing that.

[David Johnston]

On 10/4/2016 8:09 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>
>
> On 10/4/2016 9:57 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:
>> On 10/4/2016 5:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>>> On 10/4/2016 5:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
>>>
>>>> What did you watch?
>>>
>>> LUCIFER: Mommy is back on Earth and apparently you cannot get rid of
>>> her simply by killing her. She inhabits the body of a dead person and
>>> instantly heals...once. If that person gets killed again, instead of
>>> returning to Hell she just floats off to find another recently deceased
>>> body to inhabit. Meanwhile, Amenadiel's wings look like that of a
>>> crusty old angel...with black feathers. Sure, he can apologize to
>>> people for lying and being mean, but I don't see how he can get his
>>> virginity back.
>>
>> Is Lucifer trying to make amends and get into heaven?
>
> I don't think he is *trying* so much as the natural course of his more
> human life is leading him in that direction. meanwhile, his mom looked
> toward heaven at the end of the episode and sort of had the look of
> someone who was actually on Earth to help LUCIFER's redemption.

No that was just the look of someone with ulterior motives.

>
>> Meanwhile, Chloe and Dan have uppity kid issues in ways
>>> that allow for LUCIFER to get preached at about mother/child
>>> relationships.
>>>
>>
>> Did they reveal yet why the female cop is immune to his powers? I think
>> someone already said but I forgot. :-/
>
> They haven't really explained that as of yet. Someone floated a theory
> about his love for her causing the weakness, but that seems a rather
> trite explanation.

It doesn't work because it reverses cause and effect. Lucifer wouldn't
have given her a second look if he hadn't been initially fascinated by
her immunity to his woo-woo.

[shawn]

On Tue, 4 Oct 2016 10:57:45 -0600, David Johnston
<Davidjo...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>On 10/4/2016 7:57 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:
>> On 10/4/2016 5:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>>> On 10/4/2016 5:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
>>>
>>>> What did you watch?
>>>
>>> LUCIFER: Mommy is back on Earth and apparently you cannot get rid of
>>> her simply by killing her. She inhabits the body of a dead person and
>>> instantly heals...once. If that person gets killed again, instead of
>>> returning to Hell she just floats off to find another recently deceased
>>> body to inhabit. Meanwhile, Amenadiel's wings look like that of a
>>> crusty old angel...with black feathers. Sure, he can apologize to
>>> people for lying and being mean, but I don't see how he can get his
>>> virginity back.
>>
>> Is Lucifer trying to make amends and get into heaven?
>
>Um...no. Amenadiel was, I suppose.

Amendiel came from Heaven. Though it looks like his time on Earth has
corrupted him.

[Obveeus]

On 10/4/2016 12:25 PM, anim8rfsk wrote:
> In article <nt0jma$bu7$1...@dont-email.me>, Obveeus <Obv...@aol.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On 10/4/2016 11:53 AM, anim8rfsk wrote:
>>
>>> Arthur Lipscomb <art...@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 10/4/2016 5:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>>>>> LUKE CAGE: The rest of the first season. The worst moment of the
>>>>> season was the deep fryer.
>>>>
>>>> I'm not at all sure how that was supposed to work.
>>>
>>> That's where the stupid started to actively burn. Somehow exposing him
>>> to the same conditions that made him bulletproof would remove his powers
>>> until you took him out of the deep fryer in which case he'd come back
>>> better than before.
>>>
>>> Also, somehow his powers are only skin deep, and yet the mad scientist
>>> said they should allow him to live forever and cure any disease. Wait.
>>> What? Cure the heartbreak of psoriasis maybe, but if he can't deal with
>>> shrapnel, how's he possibly going to deal with AIDS?
>>
>> To be fair, even his insides had been modified on a cellular level, as
>> demonstrated by Claire's inability to use the scalpel even in the open
>> wound area.
>
> I agree with you that would make more sense, but I don't think that's
> what they were trying to portray. I think the problem was that she
> couldn't make the opening big enough to maneuver inside. I really think
> they think he's normal inside, which is idiotic.

...but if he was normal on the inside the explosion would have killed
him. I will say, though, that he seems to have been ret-conned with
greater powers than he had JESSICA JONES. The shotgun event on that
episode did seem to portray him as having super tough skin, but being
closer to normal beneath the surface. Now, in his own series, he just
seems super tough inside and out.

> Also, his innards did a pretty good job of mitigating the
>> explosion, so clearly they are tough, too.
>
> I have no idea how his power set is supposed to work. Being bulletproof
> won't make you strong.

Agreed...and if he is strong shouldn't be be able to throw a rock, not
just a punch? LUKE CAGE never seems to think beyond arm's length.
Similarly, his adversary decided guns would not work, so his solution
was to get a bigger gun and when that didn't work his solution was to
get an even bigger (more specialized) gun. Never did he explore the
advice of others on trying *different options*.

> The comic book guy just got a variation of the
> Super Soldier formula, but this isn't anything like Captain America at
> all.

Agreed...and like you I am befuddled as to how the super-cellular
whatnot would make him strong...but apparently not agile. He seems to
be more akin to The Thing than to Captain America.

>> Sadly, the resolution for the shrapnel was lame. I was hoping for
>> something more along the lines of a pearl resolution.
>
> "boiling acid"??? Literally ripped from one of the gay Batman movies.

It was all kinds of stupid. I would have much preferred if his body had
simply made pearls and eventually coughed up a 'pearl' covered piece of
shrapnel.

>> ..and if he can stop a truck without any injury, why does getting
>> punched by a superglove cause bleeding?
>
> They tossed the laws of physics out the window with the truck stop, and
> also with 'lean on the dumpster hard enough to crush it' - that doesn't
> require tough or strong, that requires mass, like tons of it. Or sticky
> feet like Spider-Man.

On the funny side, I watched the dumpster episode yesterday AND the
LUCIFER episode where his mom mentioned food in dumpsters, so at least I
got a sort of callback joke out of it.

> So his brother spent years amassing a fortune and advanced weaponry and
> a Stark tech suit and criminal connections and an underworld persona,
> all just in case Luke surfaced someday?

Criminal mastermind had lots going for him, but got sidetracked when
LUKE CAGE showed up and brought back old memories. I don't think
anything was planned ahead of time. He did seem to know where LUKE CAGE
was, though, else how cold he have been responsible for Riva's death?

[Obveeus]

On 10/4/2016 12:32 PM, icebreaker wrote:
> Lucifer (Fox) -- There more dead bodies and Lucifer assumes they may
> be his Mom's work. When he goes to the station to find Chloe, she's
> about to enter an interview room to interrogate a suspect -- Trixie --
> who apparently mutiolated a doll to get another. Lucifer of course
> thinks she should ne induldged. Lucifer leaves Mom in Maz's care so
> one knows how that would go.

I was hoping that they would be making out by the end of the episode.

[Obveeus]

On 10/4/2016 12:57 PM, David Johnston wrote:
> On 10/4/2016 7:57 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:
>> On 10/4/2016 5:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:

>>> LUCIFER: Mommy is back on Earth and apparently you cannot get rid of
>>> her simply by killing her. She inhabits the body of a dead person and
>>> instantly heals...once. If that person gets killed again, instead of
>>> returning to Hell she just floats off to find another recently deceased
>>> body to inhabit. Meanwhile, Amenadiel's wings look like that of a
>>> crusty old angel...with black feathers. Sure, he can apologize to
>>> people for lying and being mean, but I don't see how he can get his
>>> virginity back.
>>
>> Is Lucifer trying to make amends and get into heaven?
>
> Um...no. Amenadiel was, I suppose.

Yep. he desperately want to go back to heaven which is why he has gone
to such drastic lengths to get there...drastic lengths that have made it
much farther away from him.

>> Meanwhile, Chloe and Dan have uppity kid issues in ways
>>> that allow for LUCIFER to get preached at about mother/child
>>> relationships.
>
> Well they needed some reason besides Amenadiel getting disconnected from
> the Heaven Hotline for Lucifer to become hesitant about following
> through on his deal with God.

I'm not sure what LUCIFER is supposed to do, anyway. He found his mom.
He cannot simply kill her in order to send her soul (or whatever THE
ORIGINALS have) back to Hell, so how is he supposed to return her there?

[Obveeus]

On 10/4/2016 1:00 PM, David Johnston wrote:
> On 10/4/2016 8:09 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>>
>>
>> On 10/4/2016 9:57 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:
>>> On 10/4/2016 5:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>>>> On 10/4/2016 5:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> What did you watch?
>>>>
>>>> LUCIFER: Mommy is back on Earth and apparently you cannot get rid of
>>>> her simply by killing her. She inhabits the body of a dead person and
>>>> instantly heals...once. If that person gets killed again, instead of
>>>> returning to Hell she just floats off to find another recently deceased
>>>> body to inhabit. Meanwhile, Amenadiel's wings look like that of a
>>>> crusty old angel...with black feathers. Sure, he can apologize to
>>>> people for lying and being mean, but I don't see how he can get his
>>>> virginity back.
>>>
>>> Is Lucifer trying to make amends and get into heaven?
>>
>> I don't think he is *trying* so much as the natural course of his more
>> human life is leading him in that direction. meanwhile, his mom looked
>> toward heaven at the end of the episode and sort of had the look of
>> someone who was actually on Earth to help LUCIFER's redemption.
>
> No that was just the look of someone with ulterior motives.

Helping LUCIFER to become more human by recognizing a love for his
mother and an understanding of how he might have needed some 'tough
love' IS an ulterior motive.

>
>>
>>> Meanwhile, Chloe and Dan have uppity kid issues in ways
>>>> that allow for LUCIFER to get preached at about mother/child
>>>> relationships.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Did they reveal yet why the female cop is immune to his powers? I think
>>> someone already said but I forgot. :-/
>>
>> They haven't really explained that as of yet. Someone floated a theory
>> about his love for her causing the weakness, but that seems a rather
>> trite explanation.
>
> It doesn't work because it reverses cause and effect.

Only if you continue to fail to believe in love at first sight.

[anim8rfsk]

In article <nt0qfq$60q$1...@dont-email.me>, Obveeus <Obv...@aol.com>
wrote:

Well, duh.

[anim8rfsk]

In article <nt0qa2$5cd$1...@dont-email.me>, Obveeus <Obv...@aol.com>

Varying with the needs of the scene.

>
> > Also, his innards did a pretty good job of mitigating the
> >> explosion, so clearly they are tough, too.
> >
> > I have no idea how his power set is supposed to work. Being bulletproof
> > won't make you strong.
>
> Agreed...and if he is strong shouldn't be be able to throw a rock, not
> just a punch? LUKE CAGE never seems to think beyond arm's length.

Yeah, if he can lift that rubble (why was he lifting that rubble?) he
should be able to toss big ball bearings that would go through you like
butter. Unless he's really slow.

> Similarly, his adversary decided guns would not work, so his solution
> was to get a bigger gun and when that didn't work his solution was to
> get an even bigger (more specialized) gun. Never did he explore the
> advice of others on trying *different options*.

Even after it was suggested that they try drowning.

>
> > The comic book guy just got a variation of the
> > Super Soldier formula, but this isn't anything like Captain America at
> > all.
>
> Agreed...and like you I am befuddled as to how the super-cellular
> whatnot would make him strong...but apparently not agile. He seems to
> be more akin to The Thing than to Captain America.

Yeah, including wildly increased mass. I kept thinking "the Thing could
do that, but not Power Man"

>
> >> Sadly, the resolution for the shrapnel was lame. I was hoping for
> >> something more along the lines of a pearl resolution.
> >
> > "boiling acid"??? Literally ripped from one of the gay Batman movies.
>
> It was all kinds of stupid. I would have much preferred if his body had
> simply made pearls and eventually coughed up a 'pearl' covered piece of
> shrapnel.
>
> >> ..and if he can stop a truck without any injury, why does getting
> >> punched by a superglove cause bleeding?
> >
> > They tossed the laws of physics out the window with the truck stop, and
> > also with 'lean on the dumpster hard enough to crush it' - that doesn't
> > require tough or strong, that requires mass, like tons of it. Or sticky
> > feet like Spider-Man.
>
> On the funny side, I watched the dumpster episode yesterday AND the
> LUCIFER episode where his mom mentioned food in dumpsters, so at least I
> got a sort of callback joke out of it.

heh

>
> > So his brother spent years amassing a fortune and advanced weaponry and
> > a Stark tech suit and criminal connections and an underworld persona,
> > all just in case Luke surfaced someday?
>
> Criminal mastermind had lots going for him, but got sidetracked when
> LUKE CAGE showed up and brought back old memories. I don't think
> anything was planned ahead of time.

They both showed up in Harlem by coincidence?

He did seem to know where LUKE CAGE
> was, though, else how cold he have been responsible for Riva's death?

And what the Hell does he need Judas bullets and a super suit for, if
*not* to fight Cage?

[David Johnston]

Yes, but there are a lot of others.

>>
>>>
>>>> Meanwhile, Chloe and Dan have uppity kid issues in ways
>>>>> that allow for LUCIFER to get preached at about mother/child
>>>>> relationships.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Did they reveal yet why the female cop is immune to his powers? I
>>>> think
>>>> someone already said but I forgot. :-/
>>>
>>> They haven't really explained that as of yet. Someone floated a theory
>>> about his love for her causing the weakness, but that seems a rather
>>> trite explanation.
>>
>> It doesn't work because it reverses cause and effect.
>
> Only if you continue to fail to believe in love at first sight.
>

It's not that I don't believe in love at first sight in Hollywood
productions. It's that he, in particular, didn't love her at first
sight. He showed not the slightest sign of particular interest in her.
There was no pause to take her in, no look of startlement, no shift in
his tone of voice outside of his habitual narcissistic smugness...until
she makes herself interesting by demonstrating her immunity to being
played with. Up until that point the only thing he was thinking about
was his anger that one of his human pets had been killed, especially
since it happened before he could find out whether she'd really manage
to change the course of her life. And he was interested in that because
he saw in it a mirror of his own attempt to change the course of his
life. For Lucifer everything is always about him and his issues.

[shawn]

On Tue, 4 Oct 2016 14:03:22 -0400, Obveeus <Obv...@aol.com> wrote:

>
>On 10/4/2016 12:57 PM, David Johnston wrote:
>> On 10/4/2016 7:57 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:
>>> On 10/4/2016 5:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>
>>>> LUCIFER: Mommy is back on Earth and apparently you cannot get rid of
>>>> her simply by killing her. She inhabits the body of a dead person and
>>>> instantly heals...once. If that person gets killed again, instead of
>>>> returning to Hell she just floats off to find another recently deceased
>>>> body to inhabit. Meanwhile, Amenadiel's wings look like that of a
>>>> crusty old angel...with black feathers. Sure, he can apologize to
>>>> people for lying and being mean, but I don't see how he can get his
>>>> virginity back.

>

>>> Meanwhile, Chloe and Dan have uppity kid issues in ways
>>>> that allow for LUCIFER to get preached at about mother/child
>>>> relationships.
>>
>> Well they needed some reason besides Amenadiel getting disconnected from
>> the Heaven Hotline for Lucifer to become hesitant about following
>> through on his deal with God.
>
>I'm not sure what LUCIFER is supposed to do, anyway. He found his mom.
>He cannot simply kill her in order to send her soul (or whatever THE
>ORIGINALS have) back to Hell, so how is he supposed to return her there?

Can he just take her there when ever he wants? Seems like that would
be the case but maybe without his wings he's given up that ability to
travel?

[Ubiquitous]

In article <e6j7vbha881ufgs40...@4ax.com>, icebr...@nowhere.com
wrote:

>The Big Bang Theory (CS) -- The Boys are on deadline for their
>project, but Sheldon of all people is failing to get the job done.
>Penny attends a party with Amy that consists of 3 people where she
>learns just how popular Amy is and where Sheldon derives his.

Derives his what?

[icebreaker]

On Tue, 04 Oct 2016 15:18:29 -0400, Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net>
wrote:

>In article <e6j7vbha881ufgs40...@4ax.com>, icebr...@nowhere.com
>wrote:
>
>>The Big Bang Theory (CS) -- The Boys are on deadline for their
>>project, but Sheldon of all people is failing to get the job done.
>>Penny attends a party with Amy that consists of 3 people where she
>>learns just how popular Amy is and where Sheldon derives his.
>
>Derives his what?

popularity

[Obveeus]

I don't think he can. He appears to be at the mercy of prayer (either
for God to intervene or for Amenadiel to carry the load).

> Seems like that would
> be the case but maybe without his wings he's given up that ability to
> travel?

Unless there is a secret underground tunnel in the basement of the club
or something, he doesn't seem to have access to Hell other than to die
and be sent there again.

[Obveeus]

Yep...just as with the martial arts guys all being able to barely beat
one guy or 50 guys depending on the needs of the scene. Additionally,
LUKE CAGE has taken the ARROW route of routinely doing things that would
result in the opponent's death and yet they are all just rendered
slightly injured and unconscious.

>>> So his brother spent years amassing a fortune and advanced weaponry and
>>> a Stark tech suit and criminal connections and an underworld persona,
>>> all just in case Luke surfaced someday?
>>
>> Criminal mastermind had lots going for him, but got sidetracked when
>> LUKE CAGE showed up and brought back old memories. I don't think
>> anything was planned ahead of time.
>
> They both showed up in Harlem by coincidence?

I think that one was an arms dealer all over the country and only came
to Harlem when he got word that LUKE CAGE was there. Before that, the
Harlem operation was just one of the places that he interfaced/sold to.

> He did seem to know where LUKE CAGE
>> was, though, else how cold he have been responsible for Riva's death?
>
> And what the Hell does he need Judas bullets and a super suit for, if
> *not* to fight Cage?

Fighting InHumans and superhumans in general...and it also seemed like
he specifically had a desire to be their equal. Certainly the military
grade hardware was designed for a criminal market that now needs stuff
like that 'to defend themselves'...and there was some relevant bits of
dialog to the idea that the bad guys only need a bigger weapon when the
good guys are already using a bigger weapon. It was a good comparison
to real life as local police move to automatic weapons and bullet proof
vests and armored cars and are flabbergasted when criminal elements
start doing the same.

[Obveeus]

On 10/4/2016 2:54 PM, David Johnston wrote:
> On 10/4/2016 12:05 PM, Obveeus wrote:
>>
>>
>> On 10/4/2016 1:00 PM, David Johnston wrote:
>>> On 10/4/2016 8:09 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 10/4/2016 9:57 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:
>
>>>>> Did they reveal yet why the female cop is immune to his powers? I
>>>>> think
>>>>> someone already said but I forgot. :-/
>>>>
>>>> They haven't really explained that as of yet. Someone floated a theory
>>>> about his love for her causing the weakness, but that seems a rather
>>>> trite explanation.
>>>
>>> It doesn't work because it reverses cause and effect.
>>
>> Only if you continue to fail to believe in love at first sight.
>>
>
> It's not that I don't believe in love at first sight in Hollywood
> productions. It's that he, in particular, didn't love her at first
> sight. He showed not the slightest sign of particular interest in her.
> There was no pause to take her in, no look of startlement, no shift in
> his tone of voice outside of his habitual narcissistic smugness...until
> she makes herself interesting by demonstrating her immunity to being
> played with.

So it started out in his subconscious and didn't become known even to
himself until a bit later. Imagine that.

> Up until that point the only thing he was thinking about
> was his anger that one of his human pets had been killed, especially
> since it happened before he could find out whether she'd really manage
> to change the course of her life. And he was interested in that because
> he saw in it a mirror of his own attempt to change the course of his
> life. For Lucifer everything is always about him and his issues.

...and yet the main point of the story is that he is just now becoming
self aware.

[David Johnston]

On 10/4/2016 4:54 PM, Obveeus wrote:
>
>
> On 10/4/2016 2:54 PM, David Johnston wrote:
>> On 10/4/2016 12:05 PM, Obveeus wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> On 10/4/2016 1:00 PM, David Johnston wrote:
>>>> On 10/4/2016 8:09 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 10/4/2016 9:57 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:
>>
>>>>>> Did they reveal yet why the female cop is immune to his powers? I
>>>>>> think
>>>>>> someone already said but I forgot. :-/
>>>>>
>>>>> They haven't really explained that as of yet. Someone floated a
>>>>> theory
>>>>> about his love for her causing the weakness, but that seems a rather
>>>>> trite explanation.
>>>>
>>>> It doesn't work because it reverses cause and effect.
>>>
>>> Only if you continue to fail to believe in love at first sight.
>>>
>>
>> It's not that I don't believe in love at first sight in Hollywood
>> productions. It's that he, in particular, didn't love her at first
>> sight. He showed not the slightest sign of particular interest in her.
>> There was no pause to take her in, no look of startlement, no shift in
>> his tone of voice outside of his habitual narcissistic smugness...until
>> she makes herself interesting by demonstrating her immunity to being
>> played with.
>
> So it started out in his subconscious and didn't become known even to
> himself until a bit later. Imagine that.

Believing in love at first sight is one thing. Believing in love at
first sight that you only gradually come to feel is another. I mean
this isn't even a case of mistaking one emotional reaction for another.
He had no emotional reaction at all.

[Arthur Lipscomb]

On 10/4/2016 8:53 AM, anim8rfsk wrote:
> In article <nt0cgn$go2$1...@dont-email.me>,
> Arthur Lipscomb <art...@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
>

snip

>>
>>
>> Timeless - After a privately funded time machine is stolen by a group of
>> soldiers, the government is brought in and assembles a historian, a
>> soldier and a guy who works for the company to use a prototype time
>> machine to stop them. It didn't make a whole lot of sense. I am not at
>> all clear how or why reality didn't instantly change the moment the
>> machine went back in time. Although Star Trek also used the exact same
>> time travel plot device so I guess I can't complain that much. They
>> threw in lots of dumb and a conspiracy of some type. The historian
>> should have mentioned the soldier was actively trying to change history.
>> But then again it's pretty clear in the future she's working for the
>> other side so her looking the other way is probably consistent with
>> that. Nevertheless, it's a time travel show so I guess I'll stick with
>> it. I vaguely recall an unsold pilot that was airing a few years ago
>> with a somewhat similar premise.
>
> Time Tunnel 2002?
>

No. I don't think I ever saw that. The pilot I'm thinking of (and I
may have some of the details off) had a secret government run time
travel base in New York city. As I recall, the aspect I really liked
about it was they had some sort of shield to protect them from changes
in the timeline.

[Ubiquitous]

icebr...@nowhere.com wrote:
>On Tue, 04 Oct 2016 15:18:29 -0400, Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net>
>wrote:

>> icebr...@nowhere.com wrote:

>>>The Big Bang Theory (CS) -- The Boys are on deadline for their
>>>project, but Sheldon of all people is failing to get the job done.
>>>Penny attends a party with Amy that consists of 3 people where she
>>>learns just how popular Amy is and where Sheldon derives his.
>>
>>Derives his what?
>
>popularity

Aren't Leonard, Raj, and Howard his only friends?

[Dimensional Traveler]

On 10/4/2016 7:55 AM, Capricorne wrote:
> Obveeus wrote :
>>
>> On 10/4/2016 9:57 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:

>>> On 10/4/2016 5:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>>>> On 10/4/2016 5:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> What did you watch?
>>>>

>>>> LUCIFER: Mommy is back on Earth
>
>

> I think the choice of Tricia Helfer as the Mom was the perfect choice.

Well, according to the gag reel on the first season DVDs Mom wasn't
originally going to be the one to escape Hell. It was going to be
Donald Trump. :P

--
Running the rec.arts.TV Channels Watched Survey.
Fall 2016 survey began Sep 01; still accepting responses for Summer 2016

[Michael Black]

On Tue, 4 Oct 2016, Ubiquitous wrote:

> icebr...@nowhere.com wrote:
>> On Tue, 04 Oct 2016 15:18:29 -0400, Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net>
>> wrote:
>>> icebr...@nowhere.com wrote:
>
>>>> The Big Bang Theory (CS) -- The Boys are on deadline for their
>>>> project, but Sheldon of all people is failing to get the job done.
>>>> Penny attends a party with Amy that consists of 3 people where she
>>>> learns just how popular Amy is and where Sheldon derives his.
>>>
>>> Derives his what?
>>
>> popularity
>
> Aren't Leonard, Raj, and Howard his only friends?
>

The guy is rich, he has three friends, he even has a girlfriend.

This isn't a reality show, it's fiction. For the way the show
makes them out to be, having three friends (plus Penny and a girlfriend)
is incredibly popular.

Michael

[anim8rfsk]

In article <alpine.LNX.2.02.1...@darkstar.example.org>,

Rich? When did Sheldon become rich?

[anim8rfsk]

In article <nt1m10$k8m$1...@dont-email.me>,

That's Time Tunnel 2002. :)

I'd love to figure out what you're remembering. Any other salient
details?

How long ago? REWIND was 2013.

[Dimensional Traveler]

Its on YouTube.

[Arthur Lipscomb]

On 10/4/2016 8:13 PM, anim8rfsk wrote:

I just headed over to youtube for a quick look. It was definitely
Rewind. And I can now reconfirm, I've never watched the Time Tunnel
pilot. But Timeless from the bits of Rewind I skimmed, looks almost
like a straight rip off of it. But the people who made Rewind will have
to get in line behind the people who made the Mexican time travel show
who are already suing them for ripping off their show. Now that I think
about it, this show featured a time traveler sent back in time to kill
someone. Has anyone told Harlan Ellison about this yet!?!?! ;-)

[anim8rfsk]

In article <nt201c$b92$1...@dont-email.me>,

K. I saw that as a movie (probably on the Netflix) and didn't realize
it was a failed pilot.

And I can now reconfirm, I've never watched the Time Tunnel
> pilot.

Here's somebody looking to get sued:

https://youtu.be/mETHT5npqOI

But Timeless from the bits of Rewind I skimmed, looks almost
> like a straight rip off of it. But the people who made Rewind will have
> to get in line behind the people who made the Mexican time travel show
> who are already suing them for ripping off their show. Now that I think
> about it, this show featured a time traveler sent back in time to kill
> someone. Has anyone told Harlan Ellison about this yet!?!?! ;-)

hee hee

[A Friend]

In article <anim8rfsk-3CE56...@news.easynews.com>,

I recall a story from the 1940s sf pulps about an implacable
law-enforcement robot ordered to chase down and execute a criminal, who
spends the entire story trying to evade the robot. I've occasionally
tried to find this story again, with no success. It's almost certainly
in an enormous paperback collection that's stuffed into dozens of boxes
in my garage.

[BTR1701]

In article <nt0cgn$go2$1...@dont-email.me>,
Arthur Lipscomb <art...@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

> Timeless - After a privately funded time machine is stolen by a group of
> soldiers, the government is brought in and assembles a historian, a
> soldier and a guy who works for the company to use a prototype time
> machine to stop them. It didn't make a whole lot of sense. I am not at
> all clear how or why reality didn't instantly change the moment the
> machine went back in time. Although Star Trek also used the exact same
> time travel plot device so I guess I can't complain that much.

So does TERMINATOR. And just about every other time-travel story.

[BTR1701]

In article <nt0d5q$j81$1...@dont-email.me>, Obveeus <Obv...@aol.com>

wrote:

> On 10/4/2016 9:57 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:
> > On 10/4/2016 5:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:
> >> On 10/4/2016 5:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
> >>
> >>> What did you watch?
> >>

> >> LUCIFER: Mommy is back on Earth and apparently you cannot get rid of
> >> her simply by killing her. She inhabits the body of a dead person and
> >> instantly heals...once. If that person gets killed again, instead of
> >> returning to Hell she just floats off to find another recently deceased
> >> body to inhabit. Meanwhile, Amenadiel's wings look like that of a
> >> crusty old angel...with black feathers. Sure, he can apologize to
> >> people for lying and being mean, but I don't see how he can get his
> >> virginity back.
> >

> > Is Lucifer trying to make amends and get into heaven?
>
> I don't think he is *trying* so much as the natural course of his more
> human life is leading him in that direction. meanwhile, his mom looked
> toward heaven at the end of the episode and sort of had the look of
> someone who was actually on Earth to help LUCIFER's redemption.

I thought it was more of a "fuck you" look upward.

[anim8rfsk]

In article <atropos-677DFC...@news.giganews.com>,

+1

[Michael Black]

Eando Binder had some robot stories, somewhere I have a collection of
them. Wait, I see those were the Adam Link stories, which I was thinking
were from someone else. I read the collection forty years ago, but
remember nothing. But I'm just trying to think of robot stories which
might have crossed your path.

That Isaac Asimov fellow had some robot stories, including some where
crime fit into the story.

Michael

[Adam H. Kerman]

Of course. She believes she pulled one over on ghod, first by escaping
from Hell, then by gaining Lucifer's sympathies. I should have thought
that it would have been obveeus, but then, it never is.

I'm not quite getting the show's backstory. She's Mother Nature, I think.
She's not the anthropomorphized representation of the natural world as
she would be in most depictions. She's a ghod-like being. Can't either
she or ghod alone create the universe? It's only done jointly and that
makes Ghod a binary entity? It's still not clear to me what her part was
in creation.

[Michael Black]

I mean literally, or before the dictionary change, figuratively.

There's that line at the end of "It's a Wonderful life" where there's a
note that says "nobody is more rich than those who have friends", or
something like that.

Micahel

[Adam H. Kerman]

anim8rfsk <anim...@cox.net> wrote:
>Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:
>>On Tue, 4 Oct 2016, Ubiquitous wrote:
>>>icebr...@nowhere.com wrote:
>>>>On Tue, 04 Oct 2016 15:18:29 -0400, Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net> wrote:
>> >>> icebr...@nowhere.com wrote:

>>>>>>The Big Bang Theory (CS) -- The Boys are on deadline for their
>>>>>>project, but Sheldon of all people is failing to get the job done.
>>>>>>Penny attends a party with Amy that consists of 3 people where she
>>>>>>learns just how popular Amy is and where Sheldon derives his.

>>>>>Derives his what?

>>>>popularity

>>>Aren't Leonard, Raj, and Howard his only friends?

>>The guy is rich, he has three friends, he even has a girlfriend.

>>This isn't a reality show, it's fiction. For the way the show
>>makes them out to be, having three friends (plus Penny and a girlfriend)
>>is incredibly popular.

>Rich? When did Sheldon become rich?

There have been episodes in the past showing Sheldon keeping a lot of
cash on hand. I get the impression he doesn't have bank or investment
accounts. He's not rich, but frugal, so most of it has got to be from
his university salary. Having no car alone and saving that cash could put
him ahead of his friends, particularly Penny.

[anim8rfsk]

In article <nt3b64$epj$3...@dont-email.me>,

But he spends a fortune on collectibles.

[Ubiquitous]

icebr...@nowhere.com wrote:

>Conviction (ABC) -- Season premiere. I hated just about everything
>with this. Atwell's lead character is totally unlikeable. The politics
>just sleazes it up even more.

:A topic has been judged!
:
:How Many Will Watch the Premiere of "Conviction" on ABC?
:The final value for this question was 5.17 Million. That means you won $66.36

Hurray for me!


--
If Hillary should ever become president, obviously her entire agenda,
mission, and focus will revolve around Trump's tax return.

[Ubiquitous]

et...@ncf.ca wrote:
>On Tue, 4 Oct 2016, Ubiquitous wrote:
>> icebr...@nowhere.com wrote:
>>> Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net> wrote:
>>>> icebr...@nowhere.com wrote:

>>>>> The Big Bang Theory (CS) -- The Boys are on deadline for their
>>>>> project, but Sheldon of all people is failing to get the job done.
>>>>> Penny attends a party with Amy that consists of 3 people where she
>>>>> learns just how popular Amy is and where Sheldon derives his.
>>>>
>>>> Derives his what?
>>>
>>> popularity
>>
>> Aren't Leonard, Raj, and Howard his only friends?
>>
>The guy is rich

ObSandraLee:
and thick and delicious.

[A Friend]

In article <alpine.LNX.2.02.1...@darkstar.example.org>,
Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:

Thanks for the try. I've got a *lot* of paperbacks in the garage,
including what must be at least a thousand anthologies. This was a
standalone story by -- I want to say Will F. Jenkins, or at least
someone on that level. It must be obscure, since no one's brought it
up in all these years.

[Ubiquitous]

anim...@cox.net wrote:
> Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net> wrote:

>> I watched:
>>
>> SEMI-HOMEMADE HALLOWEEN WITH SANDRA LEE:
>> SLop's first Halloween special with captive celebrity chef Tyler
>> Florence.
>>
>> SANDRA'S HALLOWEEN WONDERLAND:
>> Join Sandra Lee as she celebrates Halloween as only she can! Sandra's
>> dreams come true when she awakes and finds herself transformed into
>> several of her favorite characters from Alice in Wonderland and beyond!
>> The spectacle doesn't end with the costumes ... Sandra slips into a
>> dreamy parallel universe to create the perfect Halloween Sweets and
>> Desserts, plus a collection of Cocktails ideal for an unforgettable
>> Halloween party! Don't miss the fun and the surprises on this trip into
>> a Halloween fantasy with Sandra Lee and her greatest party recipes.
>> I don't think I ever saw this one before!
>
>Me either and I hope I never see it again. :)
>
>Torn from the pages of RAT-FACEBOOK, but without the stills and video:

Dang, you should have told me about the group watching!

>Me: I am watching Sandra Lee pour red, green, and blue food coloring
>into candy to make it Black because apparently she's so stupid she
>doesn't know they make black food coloring.
>
>Mark: Add squid ink
>
>Me: She's saving money by serving food in old used popcorn containers
>she scavenged from the movie theater.
>
>They're mixing pizza dough with their bare hands apparently oblivious to
>the fact that since he's made up as Frankenstein (yes they got it wrong)
>he's got green make up all over his hands. And he's dragging his sleeves
>through the food at every opportunity.

I noticed him kneeding the dough with his green hands but at least he seemed
to be aware enough to try to keep his sleves out of the food, unlike Slop!. He
did amirably, considering how hard she was trying to flirt with him.

I did have to laugh at SLop making "caviar mayonaise" for those pizzas and
informing us to use cheap caviar b/c no one would notice since it would be
mixed in with mayo, as she spooned it in with a (metal) spoon.

>She eviscerated a store-bought cheesecake to harvest the cream cheese
>because apparently you can't actually just buy cream cheese separately
>
>John: You're killing me. LOLOL
>
>Me: John she then did the same thing to a pumpkin pie, because
>apparently you can't buy pumpkin pie filling either. Now all you have to
>do is think of something to do with the crusts.

SLop also "deconstructed" an apple pie, using the filling between the layers
of a tall stack of fried wontons. I don't recall if it was this ep, but she
suggested using the remaining crusts as an ice cream topping.

>Mike: because when she originally did these recipies growing up they
>didnt have black food coloring... annnnnnd its for people that normally
>only have the basic 3 colors in their cupboard....
>
>Me: I keep forgetting she grew up poor and has retconned her multi
>millionaire husband who bought her her career from history
>
>Mike: yeah.... she says her father left them dirt poor....never really
>checked into that but she does know how to stretch whats available....
>
>Me: Be sure to trim the edges of your paper plates with pinking shears
>so that'll be all ratty and hard to hold and there will be paper plate
>residue all over the food
>
>Cover your plastic pumpkins with silver foil so that they are
>unrecognizable as pumpkins
>
>John: At least they won't be abducted.
>
>Weatherly: And they won't be brainwashed by MK Ultra mind rays.
>
>Me: I'm holding a bottle of vampire wine, but you can rip these people
>off by just buying muscatel and going to your copy shop and having them
>make duplicate labels and glue them on yourself. I swear she really just
>recommended that.

HA! It's not the first time!

>Oh no. No, no, no, no. In episode two she has live bunny rabbits. This
>is not going to end well.
>
>Mark: The woman has cancer! Give her a break. Also she looked awesome
>in those costumes. Click over to Rachael Ray if you want a real scare.
>
>Me: Mohito's. Step one. Mull your own mint you harvested from your live
>mint plants in your kitchen. Like I know what the hell that means.
>
>She's going into the nest after a baby bunny! Run Bunny, run!
>
>She's got "magical mushrooms" ­ we know what that means!
>
>Colored shredded coconut and peppermint sticks are perfect for Halloween
>or Easter!
>
>Weatherly: But NEVER Christmas!
>
>Me: Yes, what kind of diseased maniac would serve red and white barber
>pole striped peppermint sticks for Xmas. Clearly they symbolize the
>return of Christ.
>
>Weatherly: I feel a sudden need to be aberrant, with sudden=two months
>hence.
>
>Me: Save money on buying black paper dot stickers by buying white paper
>dot stickers and coloring them in black yourself with a sharpie pen.
>Then stick them all over your drinking glasses so that you haveŠ
>Drinking glasses covered with black paper dots.
>
>And now she's Cher!
>
>"The word "Tahatchapee" is a town in California"Š Well, no, not so much.
>
>The horse in the background is trying desperately to get away and they
>finally tied it rains do a bitch so it it's stuck
>
>What I actually said was "to a bench" but I loved that speech to text
>typo so much I couldn't bear to change it
>
>John: Ha ha ha, the corrected one is even better
>
>Me: The horse is making a break for it!
>
>Weatherly: Thia is making me glad I don't have cable.
>
>Me: Now she's dressed as Lucy and stomping grapes while drinking
>Sangria.
>
>She's talking about how many comedy awards Ethyl won. Okay, um, what?
>First, I bet Ethyl never won anything, but apparently she's unclear on
>the concept that Ethyl was played by an actress named Vivian. Second ...
>name all the big awards Vivian won?
>
>Kim: Honored for her work in 1953, Vance became the first actress to
>win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress; she accepted her
>award at the Emmy ceremony in February 1954. She was nominated an
>additional three times (for 1954, 1956, and 1957) before the series
>ended.
>
>Me: Kim so one then. :-) Still, cool. Thanks!
>
>Kim: your comment made me curious. The rest of your comments have been
>making me laugh. :)
>
>Me: She just said she has dinner plates for the big bunnies and salad
>plates for the little bunnies. Shudder.
>
>Kim: and apparently the actress was really, really tired of how
>everyone called her Ethyl in real life. She took a spot on the later The
>Lucy Show under the condition her character would wear nicer clothes and
>be named Vivian. (She was the same age as Lucy and was tired of being
>cast as older and less glamorous).
>
>Me: Now she's doing a sugar plum fairyland for Halloween. Because, the
>only better time is Easter. OMG THE BABY BUNNY IS IN A SOUP BOWL. If she
>dresses up as Glenn Close, I'm aborting this show.
>
>"The one thing I really love at Halloween is ... Christmas!"
>
>"Sugar plum pops *are* Halloween treats!" Preach it Sandy Claus!
>
>"I rolled them into balls while they were till nice and warm" - we'll
>pretend she's not talking about the baby bunnies.
>
>White chocolate dipped bunny balls are the perfect year 'round treat.
>
>BIG CLOSE UP OF A BUNNY BALL LABELED "EAT ME"
>
>I think that sums it up rather nicely.

Be thankful it wasn't the "roadkill rabbit" she made for Easter!

[Obveeus]

That doesn't really make sense, though. God is 'all knowing' and 'all
powerful'. Presumably, he is letting LUCIFER play around on Earth
because he wants LUCIFER to redeem himself (or wants LUCIFER to
re-embrace his role in Hell). Either way, that is much different than
retrieving the missus...who GOD apparently wants back in Hell now (but
we are supposed to believe that his all knowingness didn't know where
she was) and has theoretically tasked LUCIFER with doing (because for
some reason this all powerful being cannot do it himself even now that
LUCIFER has located her). It just makes a whole lot more sense if she
is being allowed to stay (or maybe even tasked to help/test LUCIFER) by God.

[David Johnston]

That seems improbable in the context of the show, which is after all
based on the premise that Christianity is no more than half-right.

[Ubiquitous]

Do people collect comics as collectors any more?

[tenworld]

On Tuesday, October 4, 2016 at 12:33:06 PM UTC-4, icebreaker wrote:
> Scorpion (CBS) -- Season premiere. a 2-hour show that could have
> easily been done in 1. Happy and Doc are butting heads after she turns
> down his proposal and Walter is off to try to get Paige back. Hackers
> have taken control of military aircraft and naval vessels and the Team
> needs to remedy the sitch.
>
I agree there wasn't much substance here even for this show. but did you
catch the comment that Happy and Walter have known each other for 8 years?
I bet Walter is who Happy is married too because Walter is an Irish
national and that's how he got into the US legally.

the whole love triangle may ruin this show

[anim8rfsk]

In article <6Z-dnd-FD8OD4mjK...@giganews.com>,

I don't know.

[BTR1701]

In article <nt3aj8$epj$1...@dont-email.me>,

"Adam H. Kerman" <a...@chinet.com> wrote:

Well, whatever it is, this show obviously isn't following the Christian
mythology, so I don't know why Obveeus uses that to justify his
observations.

[Dimensional Traveler]

Not since the economy collapsed. When that happened everyone tried to
sell their collections, which is how they found out that comics were
only valuable if everyone else's mother threw them out first.

[Arthur Lipscomb]

I don't recall Terminator ever showing the effects of time travel on the
people left behind after someone made the trip back in time. I do watch
a lot of time travel shows/movies and from my recollection it really
varies. Often enough the change is instantaneous. But it really
depends on whose perspective the story is being told.

From a story telling perspective it's probably going to be a lot harder
to tell a story where person A watches person B travel back in time but
the audience follows person A who is now living in an alternate timeline
and unaware of the difference. That's why these stories are usually
told from perspective of the time traveler. Or if it does focus on the
people left behind there's almost always going to be some protective
force that protects those left behind from changes in the timeline.

Even the Star Trek episodes I'm thinking of did that when reality
eventually changed around them. They knew history had been changed due
to being protected from the changes. But Timeless didn't even do that.
So once the time machine went back in time, how would they know one way
or the other if history had been changed or not. They seemed to be
racing the clock or something but they had no way of knowing if their
reality had already been changed at the point in time they sent their
team back. Why not assume history had already been changed and in the
original timeline the Hinderberg didn't blow up?

[Your Name]

In article <anim8rfsk-9C1FF...@news.easynews.com>,

As "collectors", yes. Name almost anything and there will be people out
there who collect it.

As "investment" though, no ... unless you've already got lots of money
to be able to buy the expensive old rare ones. You're wasting your time
buying new comics as an investment. There's simply far too many of each
issue of most comics published and far too many people keeping them in
good condition.

[Your Name]

In article <nt4bns$jo9$7...@dont-email.me>, Dimensional Traveler

Yep. Same with toys. There's zero point collecting Star Wars toys (for
example) as an "investment" these days. The old original ones are worth
so much because most of them were played with, destroyed, and thrown
away. The new ones are available by the ton and large numbers of them
are kept in good condition by fools thinking they'll make a fortune in
20, 30, 50 years time.

[anim8rfsk]

In article <nt4bns$jo9$7...@dont-email.me>,
Dimensional Traveler <dtr...@sonic.net> wrote:

And that decades of people buying "one to read one to bag" had left a
surplus ...

[Dimensional Traveler]

"Surplus" doesn't begin to describe it. You could not sell comics for
even the cover price no matter how perfect their condition.

[Ubiquitous]

In article <anim8rfsk-9C1FF...@news.easynews.com>,

My sister and I used to collect them in the 1980's and I continued, to a
lesser extent, until the 1990's. I remember several eps in which they
bought comics but am not sure if they were meant to be "investments".

[trotsky]

No shit? So you mean when Neil Gaiman came up with the concept he
injected some actual creativity into it? Wow!!!!!!

[Michael Black]

There's irony there.

The good ones were the ones our mothers threw out, the ones we remember
from childhood. More recent ones not only don't have that value, but they
don't even have monetary value since they are plentiful.

Michael

[Michael Black]

I still have my Major Matt Masons, including the aliens except I melted
the head of Scorpio. I did give a spare to someone a decade ago, but that
one had a broken wire in the leg. I even have the Space Trak and the rover,
but I never had the space station or space crawler.

I sold, for a pittance, my GI Joes about 1971, me wanting money for other
things, and someone I knew wanting them for some reason. But I still have
all the accessories I bought for them.

I was stupid, I gave my Hot Wheels and tracks to someone who could
appreciate them about 30 years ago. That wasn't stupid, she played with
them, but I'm pretty sure her mother discarded them at some point.

The problem is, the stuff you keep, you probably want to keep
keeping, since you didn't keep it for money's sake, but for memories.

Michael

[Michael Black]

On Thu, 6 Oct 2016, Your Name wrote:

> As "investment" though, no ... unless you've already got lots of money
> to be able to buy the expensive old rare ones. You're wasting your time
> buying new comics as an investment. There's simply far too many of each
> issue of most comics published and far too many people keeping them in
> good condition.
>

Was that deliberate? There was sort of a resurrection of comic books, a
targetting at non-kids, and that seems to be when the investing started.
I thought there might have been some deliberate promotion of the idea at
the time, though maybe subtle, so all the kids got into it as well as
adults. There are mroe comic book stores than I remember from when I was
a kid, back then comic books were bought at the corner store. We still
have a bunch of standalone comic book stores, but I don't remember them
from before the eighties or so.

If you want "investment", you need to go out and find the raw sources.
The comic book store will have made sure anything valuable gets priced so.
Others are out scouring for the collectible stuff, hoping for that low
price that can be flipped. There was a show on PBS, something like
"Fleamarket Warriors" where they had existing dealers go out to find items
and then the winner each week was the one who got the most profit on it.
But they were going to antique shows to buy in the first place, people who
have a good idea of the price, so any profit was minimal, likely because
the "contestants" on the show were begging discounts from the people
selling the stuff. The optimum profit is from finding stuff nobody wants
in their closet or garage and then selling it. That time a few years ago
when I got a shortwave receiver at a garage sale for $20, I even told them
it could go for a few hundred at least. I could get hundreds of dollars
for it by reselling it, but then I wouldn't have a classic 1950s shortwave
receiver that had better than average capability back then.

Michael

[Michael Black]

On Wed, 5 Oct 2016, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

>>> Do people collect comics as collectors any more?
>>
>> I don't know.
>>
> Not since the economy collapsed. When that happened everyone tried to sell
> their collections, which is how they found out that comics were only valuable
> if everyone else's mother threw them out first.
>

That's a lie. As I remember it, I gave up my comic books myself, maybe to
the same store that I sold my Tom Swift and Tom Corbett books to. I got a
pittance for the books, I don't really remember what happened to the comic
books, but I stupidly thought I'd outgrown them.

Michael

[anim8rfsk]

In article <alpine.LNX.2.02.1...@darkstar.example.org>,

I still have my Remco SUPERCAR. :)

[Michael Black]

I have Lady Penelope's limousine, Thunderbird 2 (and Thunderbird 4 is
still inside), three Captain Scarlett vehicles and Joe 90's car. I think
I still have my Batmobile, the larger size one with the chain cutter.

That's the odd thing. There wasn't really a purging of toys, I'm not sure
why. Of course, back then you'd either give them to some other kid, or to
a rummage sale. There are way more outlets for things now.

Michael

[Dimensional Traveler]

I had been buying comics in the 80s and maybe early 90s for reading, but
kept them in bags and very good condition. When I was unemployed and
desperate for food money six or so years ago I tried to sell them. I
would have accepted pennies on them but no one within 50 miles would
even look at them, let alone buy them.

[anim8rfsk]

A year or two ago a disreputable company was showing a GINORMOUS '66
Batmobile toy at cons and shows, like big enough for foot high figures
or something. I don't think they ever actually produced it though.

[Michael Black]

On Thu, 6 Oct 2016, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

> On 10/6/2016 11:02 AM, Michael Black wrote:
>> On Wed, 5 Oct 2016, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
>>
>>>>> Do people collect comics as collectors any more?
>>>>
>>>> I don't know.
>>>>
>>> Not since the economy collapsed. When that happened everyone tried to
>>> sell their collections, which is how they found out that comics were
>>> only valuable if everyone else's mother threw them out first.
>>>
>> That's a lie. As I remember it, I gave up my comic books myself, maybe
>> to the same store that I sold my Tom Swift and Tom Corbett books to. I
>> got a pittance for the books, I don't really remember what happened to
>> the comic books, but I stupidly thought I'd outgrown them.
>>
> I had been buying comics in the 80s and maybe early 90s for reading, but kept
> them in bags and very good condition. When I was unemployed and desperate
> for food money six or so years ago I tried to sell them. I would have
> accepted pennies on them but no one within 50 miles would even look at them,
> let alone buy them.
>

Mine were from the late sixties, so I suspect they would have some value
now, precisely because I'd love to read them again, though I'm not willing
to pay the money.

Michael

[Your Name]

> > I still have my Remco SUPERCAR. :)
>
> I have Lady Penelope's limousine, Thunderbird 2 (and Thunderbird 4 is
> still inside), three Captain Scarlett vehicles and Joe 90's car. I think
> I still have my Batmobile, the larger size one with the chain cutter.

Not sure if it's the same one, but I still have my old Dinky Batmobile
and Batcopter.

I have bought the new small HotWheels versions too - two Batmobile
(with and without towbar), Batcopter, BatBike, and BatBoat. I've also
bought some of the other small HotWheels movie / TV iconic vehicles for
the old shows and movies I liked: Magnum PI's Ferrari, James Bond's
submarine Lotus, KITT, etc. (The Simon & Simon car seems to be clogging
up shop shelves / pegs everywhere though).

> That's the odd thing. There wasn't really a purging of toys, I'm not sure
> why. Of course, back then you'd either give them to some other kid, or to
> a rummage sale. There are way more outlets for things now.

I still have *all* my old Star Wars toys and some of the other stuff
from when I was a kid. There's cupboards and drawers full of items.
:-)

[Your Name]

In article <anim8rfsk-E7AA4...@news.easynews.com>,

anim8rfsk <anim...@cox.net> wrote:
> In article <alpine.LNX.2.02.1...@darkstar.example.org>,
> Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:
> >
> > I have Lady Penelope's limousine, Thunderbird 2 (and Thunderbird 4 is
> > still inside), three Captain Scarlett vehicles and Joe 90's car. I think
> > I still have my Batmobile, the larger size one with the chain cutter.
>
> A year or two ago a disreputable company was showing a GINORMOUS '66
> Batmobile toy at cons and shows, like big enough for foot high figures
> or something. I don't think they ever actually produced it though.

HotWheels did release a large scale version. I was tempted to buy one,
but it was too expensive - even the one I later saw in the bargain bin
was still over-priced.

[Your Name]

In article <alpine.LNX.2.02.1...@darkstar.example.org>,
Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:

There are a few shows like that.

> The optimum profit is from finding stuff nobody wants in their closet or
> garage and then selling it. That time a few years ago when I got a
> shortwave receiver at a garage sale for $20, I even told them it could
> go for a few hundred at least. I could get hundreds of dollars for it
> by reselling it, but then I wouldn't have a classic 1950s shortwave
> receiver that had better than average capability back then.

If you're lucky, you can definitely find some great stuff at garage
sales, carboot sales, fleamarkets, charity shops, etc. where the seller
doesn't really know what they have ... *but* anyone with an ounce of
common decency would tell them that they've under-priced it and offer
them more.

There was a news item a while back about a woman who gave a box of
"electronic junk" to a second-hand shop. It turned out that box
contained a working Apple I computer worth many thousands of dollars.
The shop was trying to track her down again because they have a policy
of sharing the profit on such items.

The new city could has stopped it, but we used to have a free annual
"inorganic rubbish collection" where people would put any larger items
they didn't want out on the street to be collected by the council.
There were people who would drive around going through the piles
looking for stuff that was "valuable" (relatively) or useful. Some of
them used to rip the backs of old TVs, etc. to take the wiring. Others
would take old furniture to refurbish them and then sell to someone
else. The city council's new system is a bit of a pain in the backside
and it's the council rubbish centre staff who sort through to find
items the council can make money from.

[Your Name]

In article <alpine.LNX.2.02.1...@darkstar.example.org>,
Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:

I've still got a small box of my old comics. None of them are worth
anything though - the only one that might have been (an old Batman
comic, but still not worth much) was damaged when a mouse got into the
box and chewed the cover page. :-(

[Michael Black]

The Batmobile I have isn't a small one. It's larger, like the various
Gerry Anderson vehicles. The Batmobile has rocket launchers at the back,
which I think shot real "rockets" back when they hadn't been lost. And
flames come out the back when it's moving forward.

There was also a smaller scale Batmobile, less functional I think, but
about the size of the James Bond car with the ejector seat. I don't
remember if that Batmobile did anything, but I think it was that one that
came with a trailer and Batboat.

> I have bought the new small HotWheels versions too - two Batmobile
> (with and without towbar), Batcopter, BatBike, and BatBoat. I've also
> bought some of the other small HotWheels movie / TV iconic vehicles for
> the old shows and movies I liked: Magnum PI's Ferrari, James Bond's
> submarine Lotus, KITT, etc. (The Simon & Simon car seems to be clogging
> up shop shelves / pegs everywhere though).
>

SOme of the Hot Wheels were better than others. Generic cars, unless they
had a distinctive look, I never bought. It was the custom cars and such
that I wanted, and the racing cars, which of course don't look like every
day cars. So the Munster car (I'm not sure if that existed as a Hot Wheel)
would be more interesting than a regular car that just happens to be
driven by Simon or Simon.

>
>> That's the odd thing. There wasn't really a purging of toys, I'm not sure
>> why. Of course, back then you'd either give them to some other kid, or to
>> a rummage sale. There are way more outlets for things now.
>
> I still have *all* my old Star Wars toys and some of the other stuff
> from when I was a kid. There's cupboards and drawers full of items.
> :-)
>

When I was a kid, we didn't have Star Wars. I guess that's the difference
a decade makes. I had models, and while I have recollection of them
taking up space or what I did with them later, I keep remembering models I
had. So I had the flying sub from The Seaview, and I guess I wanted the
spacecraft from "PLanet of the Apes".

Michael

[Your Name]

In article <alpine.LNX.2.02.1...@darkstar.example.org>,
Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:
> On Fri, 7 Oct 2016, Your Name wrote:
> > In article <alpine.LNX.2.02.1...@darkstar.example.org>,
> > Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:
> >> On Thu, 6 Oct 2016, anim8rfsk wrote:
> >>> In article <alpine.LNX.2.02.1...@darkstar.example.org>,
> >>> Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:
> >>>> On Thu, 6 Oct 2016, Your Name wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Yep. Same with toys. There's zero point collecting Star Wars toys (for
> >>>>> example) as an "investment" these days. The old original ones are worth
> >>>>> so much because most of them were played with, destroyed, and thrown
> >>>>> away. The new ones are available by the ton and large numbers of them
> >>>>> are kept in good condition by fools thinking they'll make a fortune in
> >>>>> 20, 30, 50 years time.
> >>>>>
> >>>> I still have my Major Matt Masons, including the aliens except I melted
> >>>> the head of Scorpio. I did give a spare to someone a decade ago, but

> >>>> thatone had a broken wire in the leg. I even have the Space Trak and the

> >>>> rover, but I never had the space station or space crawler.
> >>>>
> >>>> I sold, for a pittance, my GI Joes about 1971, me wanting money for other
> >>>> things, and someone I knew wanting them for some reason. But I still
> >>>> have all the accessories I bought for them.
> >>>>
> >>>> I was stupid, I gave my Hot Wheels and tracks to someone who could
> >>>> appreciate them about 30 years ago. That wasn't stupid, she played with
> >>>> them, but I'm pretty sure her mother discarded them at some point.
> >>>>
> >>>> The problem is, the stuff you keep, you probably want to keep
> >>>> keeping, since you didn't keep it for money's sake, but for memories.
> >>>
> >>> I still have my Remco SUPERCAR. :)
> >>
> >> I have Lady Penelope's limousine, Thunderbird 2 (and Thunderbird 4 is
> >> still inside), three Captain Scarlett vehicles and Joe 90's car. I think
> >> I still have my Batmobile, the larger size one with the chain cutter.
> >
> > Not sure if it's the same one, but I still have my old Dinky Batmobile
> > and Batcopter.
>
> The Batmobile I have isn't a small one. It's larger, like the various
> Gerry Anderson vehicles. The Batmobile has rocket launchers at the back,
> which I think shot real "rockets" back when they hadn't been lost. And
> flames come out the back when it's moving forward.

Mine isn't the small Matchbox size, but the next size up. It has a
pop-out "cutter", "rocket launchers" on the back (and I still have the
original "rocket" pellets), and two small removable figures of Batman
and Robin ... but doesn't have any flames.

> There was also a smaller scale Batmobile, less functional I think, but
> about the size of the James Bond car with the ejector seat. I don't
> remember if that Batmobile did anything, but I think it was that one that
> came with a trailer and Batboat.

The Dinky range had a Batmobile, Batboat, and Batcopter. Me and my
brother both had a Batmobile and Batcopter, but not the Batboat. From
memory I've got both Batcopters now - bother have lost the grappling
hook from underneath (although I do still have one of the hooks) and
one has a couple of missing rotor blades.

> > I have bought the new small HotWheels versions too - two Batmobile
> > (with and without towbar), Batcopter, BatBike, and BatBoat. I've also
> > bought some of the other small HotWheels movie / TV iconic vehicles for
> > the old shows and movies I liked: Magnum PI's Ferrari, James Bond's
> > submarine Lotus, KITT, etc. (The Simon & Simon car seems to be clogging
> > up shop shelves / pegs everywhere though).
>

> Some of the Hot Wheels were better than others. Generic cars, unless they

> had a distinctive look, I never bought. It was the custom cars and such
> that I wanted, and the racing cars, which of course don't look like every
> day cars.

I don't bother with any of the normal (or weird) cars. Just the few
special TV / movie ones I'm interested in ... which includes a couple
of Star Trek Enterprises I've stumbled across mixed in with the huge
piles of normal cars.

I've got:
- Back to the Future (Time Machine / Delorean)
- Hart to Hart (Ferrari Dino)
- Knight Rider (KITT)
- The Jetsons (Bubblecar)
- James Bond (Lotus Submarine)
- Magnum PI (Ferrari)
- 1960's Batmobile
- 1960's Batcopter
- 1960's Batboat
- 1960's Batcycle

plus a few others I can't remember. There are a few more that I would
get, but haven't seen in shops here.

> So the Munster car (I'm not sure if that existed as a Hot Wheel)
> would be more interesting than a regular car that just happens to be
> driven by Simon or Simon.

I haven't bothered with the Simon & Simon car, The A-Team van, the
Simpsons Homer's Car.

Also HotWheels have gotten the usual greedy stupidity and started
releasing the same models in different packaging. :-(

> >> That's the odd thing. There wasn't really a purging of toys, I'm not sure
> >> why. Of course, back then you'd either give them to some other kid, or to
> >> a rummage sale. There are way more outlets for things now.
> >
> > I still have *all* my old Star Wars toys and some of the other stuff
> > from when I was a kid. There's cupboards and drawers full of items.
> > :-)
>
> When I was a kid, we didn't have Star Wars. I guess that's the difference
> a decade makes. I had models, and while I have recollection of them
> taking up space or what I did with them later, I keep remembering models I
> had. So I had the flying sub from The Seaview, and I guess I wanted the
> spacecraft from "PLanet of the Apes".

I had a grandmother in England who used to send over huge parcels
containing various toys and confectionery. At one stage I asked for the
small diecast Millennium Falcon because it wasn't in shops here, and
she sent the big 3 3/4" figure scale Falcon playset instead ... never
did get that diecast Falcon though.

[Your Name]

In article <alpine.LNX.2.02.1...@darkstar.example.org>,
Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:
> On Fri, 7 Oct 2016, Your Name wrote:
> > In article <alpine.LNX.2.02.1...@darkstar.example.org>,
> > Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:
> >> On Thu, 6 Oct 2016, anim8rfsk wrote:
> >>> In article <alpine.LNX.2.02.1...@darkstar.example.org>,
> >>> Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:
> >>>> On Thu, 6 Oct 2016, Your Name wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Yep. Same with toys. There's zero point collecting Star Wars toys (for
> >>>>> example) as an "investment" these days. The old original ones are worth
> >>>>> so much because most of them were played with, destroyed, and thrown
> >>>>> away. The new ones are available by the ton and large numbers of them
> >>>>> are kept in good condition by fools thinking they'll make a fortune in
> >>>>> 20, 30, 50 years time.
> >>>>>
> >>>> I still have my Major Matt Masons, including the aliens except I melted
> >>>> the head of Scorpio. I did give a spare to someone a decade ago, but
> >>>> that one had a broken wire in the leg. I even have the Space Trak and
> >>>> the rover, but I never had the space station or space crawler.
> >>>>
> >>>> I sold, for a pittance, my GI Joes about 1971, me wanting money for other
> >>>> things, and someone I knew wanting them for some reason. But I still

> >>>> haveall the accessories I bought for them.

I forgot ... I've also got a few promotional Cadbury vintage trucks,
about the same size as the small Matchbox / HotWheels cars.

I have been getting the HotWheels Star Wars universe ships when they
appear in shops here, but haven't bothered with the two sets of silly
HotWheels Star Wars customised vehicles (one just "normal" cars with
Star Wars themed paint jobs and the other "normal" cars with character
customised body kits).

[~consul]

On 10/4/2016 12:32 PM, icebreaker wrote:
> The Big Bang Theory (CS) -- The Boys are on deadline for their
> project, but Sheldon of all people is failing to get the job done.
> Penny attends a party with Amy that consists of 3 people where she
> learns just how popular Amy is and where Sheldon derives his.

I was talking to some of my other friends who also like this show, and
they were confused why it would take so long. "Why don't they just
figure it out?" It pointed out to me how folks who don't do science
think how science & technology works, that it just flows logically and
is an easy step by step journey.
"It's just math" was the common type of explanation why it would be
easy, and was from both men and women.
Non-science folks don't often see the connection inspiration and sheer
luck plays into furthering science and technology.
--
"... respect, all good works are not done by only good folk. For here,
at the end of all things, we shall do what needs to be done."
--till next time, consul

[~consul]

On 10/5/2016 12:52 PM, Michael Black wrote:

> On Tue, 4 Oct 2016, anim8rfsk wrote:
>> Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:

>>> On Tue, 4 Oct 2016, Ubiquitous wrote:
>>>> icebr...@nowhere.com wrote:
>>>> Aren't Leonard, Raj, and Howard his only friends?
>>> The guy is rich, he has three friends, he even has a girlfriend.
>>> This isn't a reality show, it's fiction. For the way the show
>>> makes them out to be, having three friends (plus Penny and a
>>> girlfriend) is incredibly popular.
>> Rich? When did Sheldon become rich?

> I mean literally, or before the dictionary change, figuratively.
> There's that line at the end of "It's a Wonderful life" where there's
> a note that says "nobody is more rich than those who have friends", or
> something like that.

Seems like you could use the world "litrally" which I hear more in
reference to tropes/memes from Literature.

I know I know, it's a british way of saying literally. Though I used
to feel it was like a Lit-Rally

[Micky DuPree]

Arthur Lipscomb <art...@alum.calberkeley.org> writes:

> On 10/4/2016 5:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:

>> LUCIFER:

>> Meanwhile, Amenadiel's wings look like that of a crusty old
>> angel...with black feathers. Sure, he can apologize to people for
>> lying and being mean, but I don't see how he can get his virginity
>> back.

If they go with the merciful God interpretation, then true repentance
should be enough. If they're going with the vengeful God
interpretation, then he'll probably go back to doing Lucifer's old job.

> Is Lucifer trying to make amends and get into heaven?

He did promise to be the dutiful son if Chloe was spared -- and she was
spared. However, so far Lucifer's attention has been mostly absorbed by
his mother's escape from Hell, so until he squares that away, the
question of his returning to preside over Hell is academic.


>> Meanwhile, Chloe and Dan have uppity kid issues in ways that allow
>> for LUCIFER to get preached at about mother/child relationships.
>
> Did they reveal yet why the female cop is immune to his powers? I
> think someone already said but I forgot. :-/

I still think Lucifer is in love with Chloe, and the story is telling
us that love makes you vulnerable. The story had Lucifer experimentally
determine that it's not some of the theories floated in the newsgroup.
For example, he determined that she was merely human, not another
supernatural being.

They've been laying it on even thicker as time goes by, to the point
where it's reasonable to say he also respects Chloe. He didn't take
sexual advantage of her when she was vulnerable even though he'd been
suggestive around her previously. Then the Original Rebel was willing
to subordinate his will to God's and return to Hell (even though Chloe
wouldn't be with him) in order to save Chloe's life, which is about the
biggest sacrifice he could make on her behalf, and a pretty courtly form
of love.


> Madam Secretary - "Sea Change" - Season three picks up with the
> president in the middle of an election year and Elizabeth running as
> his VP.

Well, as his presumptive VP pick, but they didn't get around to actually
announcing her yet.

> Some of the politics made no sense in relation to the real world. But
> the episode was OK otherwise.

Yeah, they're going to run as independents and get swept into the White
House on a Capra-esque wave of idealism. Teddy Roosevelt couldn't
manage it, but somehow Dalton/McCord will.


> Timeless -

> But then again it's pretty clear in the future [the historian is]
> working for the other side so her looking the other way is probably
> consistent with that.

If she's acting to preserve family members from going up in a puff of
paradox, I'm not so thrilled. If she has a more global imperative to
work against her former self, that might interest me.


> Gotham - "Mad City: Look Into My Eyes"

> I've noticed that since the start of the season Gordon has been using
> the same voice he used last season when he was playing his evil twin.
> What is up with that? :-/

It's the actor's universal shorthand for saying, "I'm going over to the
dark side," and we mistook it for a clever indication of new identity?

-Micky

[Micky DuPree]

shawn <nanof...@gNOTmail.com> writes:

> On Tue, 4 Oct 2016 14:03:22 -0400, Obveeus <Obv...@aol.com> wrote:

>> On 10/4/2016 12:57 PM, David Johnston wrote:

re _Lucifer_

>>> Well they needed some reason besides Amenadiel getting disconnected
>>> from the Heaven Hotline for Lucifer to become hesitant about
>>> following through on his deal with God.

Since God sent Lucifer back to Earth Himself, it seems that it's God's
idea for Lucifer to hunt Mum instead of reigning in Hell right now. It
remains to be seen what the future will hold.


>> I'm not sure what LUCIFER is supposed to do, anyway. He found his
>> mom. He cannot simply kill her in order to send her soul (or whatever
>> THE ORIGINALS have) back to Hell, so how is he supposed to return her
>> there?
>
> Can he just take her there when ever he wants? Seems like that would
> be the case but maybe without his wings he's given up that ability to
> travel?

Well, Lucifer could always die again. (Worked in the season one
finale.) Chloe would have to be nearby, of course, for that to happen.
Maybe the trick is for Lucifer and Mum to die within a split second of
each other, so that Mum is driven to inhabit Lucifer's body, but being
an angel, Lucifer's soul isn't expunged. They both end up in Lucifer's
body, and they go to Hell together, where their respective souls are
separated. Then God sends Lucifer back to Earth (worked in the season
one finale) because his willingness to sacrifice his happiness for
Chloe's life pleased God.

Meanwhile, Amenadiel gets sent back to being the warden of Hell because
God really hates hypocrisy.

Or something.

Interesting that after all the newsgroup speculation about the identity
of Mum, the story simply hasn't bothered to name her, skirting a number
of theological/mythological issues.

-Micky

[Micky DuPree]

Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> writes:

> On Wed, 5 Oct 2016, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

>> On 10/5/2016 5:06 PM, anim8rfsk wrote:

>>> In article <6Z-dnd-FD8OD4mjK...@giganews.com>,

I also felt I had outgrown them enough to stop buying new DC Comics
circa 1970, but that's different from agreeing to throw out the old
ones. In a classic cliche', my mother did throw out my '60s comic
books. While it would be cool to page through them again, most of them
wouldn't be worth piles of money, because my brother and I were young
and had no notion of a collectibles market, so most of the comics were
in only fair condition. Also, if I'm being honest, I can't justify
devoting a lot of time in the present to rereading comics, so I'm going
to try to unload the Marvels and Firsts that I collected as an adult in
the '80s. There is a local shop that pays about half cover price for
ordinary books, more for key issues.

As a birthday present when my brother turned 30, I tracked down a copy
of our very first comic, a _Superman_ 80-page giant from the summer of
'65, cover price $.25 USD, which my father had bought duplicates of (so
we wouldn't fight over it) before we embarked on moving to a new city.
He had been a fan of the _Superman_ radio series when he was a boy, and
correctly thought this would distract us on the car trip leaving a
familiar environment. After all those years, I still remembered the
story about Lex Luthor making his whole body emit kryptonite radiation,
and Superman building a lead suit with a TV visor to see with.

Geez, those Silver Age DC comics were surreal. Loved 'em.

-Micky

[Micky DuPree]

Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> writes:

> On Thu, 6 Oct 2016, Your Name wrote:

>> As "investment" though, no ... unless you've already got lots of
>> money to be able to buy the expensive old rare ones. You're wasting
>> your time buying new comics as an investment. There's simply far too
>> many of each issue of most comics published and far too many people
>> keeping them in good condition.
>
> Was that deliberate? There was sort of a resurrection of comic books,
> a targetting at non-kids, and that seems to be when the investing
> started. I thought there might have been some deliberate promotion of
> the idea at the time, though maybe subtle, so all the kids got into it
> as well as adults. There are mroe comic book stores than I remember
> from when I was a kid, back then comic books were bought at the corner
> store. We still have a bunch of standalone comic book stores, but I
> don't remember them from before the eighties or so.

Me either. When I was buying comics as a kid in the '60s, it was
usually in 7-Elevens and grocery stores, maybe drugstores. They would
be in rotating racks. I never once heard of a store devoted entirely or
even mostly to comics.

When I first took up comics reading as an adult near the end of the '70s
(switching from exclusively DC comics as a kid to mostly Marvels as a
college student), there was only one comic book store in the metro
Boston area. By the time I was seriously collecting in the '80s, there
were three. There are currently 15 according to a Google search.

I recall it as originally demand driven. I guess baby boomers grew up
and wanted to not just read comics, but also collect them (now that Mom
wasn't in a position to throw them out), including back issues. So the
prices of back issues went up. The first time I can remember new
collectors becoming aware of the possibility of a relatively quick
turnaround in investment was when comparatively recent issues of _The
New X-Men_ doubled in price, and special issues, like _X-Men_ #100 and
#101, were doubling every year. I think that was when it started
occurring to ordinary comics readers to start buying plastic bags and
protecting the books. At least it did to me. Some started to buy extra
issues strictly for speculation purposes. Somewhere I have 10 mint
copies (assuming they haven't rotted in their their bags) of _X-Men_
#100 that I originally bought for $1 apiece. That was my biggest ever
multiple purchase, and may serve to make up for some of the
underperforming titles when I finally unload them.

Seeing this trend, some comics shops, including the one that I had my
subscriptions at, started to actively promote the idea of buying
duplicates, and started selling the protective bags as well. One of
the owners of my comic book shop was the one who offered me the deal on
the 10 issues of _X-Men_ #100.

The _Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide_ started taking on a lot more
importance than before, because it gave inexperienced buyers and sellers
both a reference point. It was also a compact education in even earlier
comics, teaching new collectors which artists and storylines were
considered the most valuable. Except for a few artists who struck me as
distinctive, I wasn't aware of who wrote or drew my comics when I was a
kid. When I was an adult, though, comics artists and writers mattered a
lot.

A phenomenon that the market did not seem to fully factor in, from my
vantage point, was that the comics publishers themselves started to
notice the money being paid for back issues, none of which was going to
them. Part of the problem used to be that if you wanted to read old
issues, your only recourse was to buy them at collector's prices. The
publishers responded to that by issuing reprints, sometimes in trade
paperback format. This satisfied some of the demand, because some
people were happy simply to be able to read the older stories, and
didn't need to have the collector's item versions of them. However, I
never really noticed this being reflected in the price guides. I felt
some of the back issue prices were a bit inflated because they didn't
acknowledge that the demand wasn't quite as intense as it used to be.
By the 1990s, with all those spare copies that everyone was buying,
there was a glut of supply.

The increasing adult market for new comics also drove an increasing
demand for higher quality production values: higher quality paper, more
vivid printing. The cover prices for some of the editions were pretty
high to expect kids to be able to afford lots of titles.

Nowadays I don't know if you can expect computer-age kids to fork out
for something as old-fashioned as a static story printed on paper. A
quick search tells me you can buy digital comics now. My suspicion is
that the bulk of the paper comics market is aging. I've read one theory
that reverses the causality: it's not the higher prices that are driving
down demand, but lower demand that necessitates higher prices to keep
the industry profitable. Either way, higher prices are correlated with
older audiences. The movie and TV adaptations of comics properties
probably help bolster the interest in older comics, but I suspect that
it's not common for young adults today to see an _Avengers_ movie and
think, I've got to collect all the back issues of _The Avengers_."

> If you want "investment", you need to go out and find the raw sources.
> The comic book store will have made sure anything valuable gets priced
> so. Others are out scouring for the collectible stuff, hoping for that
> low price that can be flipped. There was a show on PBS, something like
> "Fleamarket Warriors" where they had existing dealers go out to find
> items and then the winner each week was the one who got the most
> profit on it. But they were going to antique shows to buy in the first
> place, people who have a good idea of the price, so any profit was
> minimal, likely because the "contestants" on the show were begging
> discounts from the people selling the stuff.

It's partly because of shows like this and _Antiques Roadshow_ (and the
less tony shows that pit pawn shops and pickers against one another)
that the public's awareness of the cash in their attics has risen,
though.

> The optimum profit is from finding stuff nobody wants in their closet
> or garage and then selling it. That time a few years ago when I got a
> shortwave receiver at a garage sale for $20, I even told them it could
> go for a few hundred at least. I could get hundreds of dollars for it
> by reselling it, but then I wouldn't have a classic 1950s shortwave
> receiver that had better than average capability back then.

I'm sure it still happens sometimes, but not as often as it used to.
Most people have access to eBay, and can see what a given collectible
has sold for before. Direct access to actual sales information
decreases the likelihood of ignorance on the part of both buyers and
sellers (and decreases the influence of published price guides).

-Micky

[David Barnett]

In article <ntmavj$c4h$1...@pcls7.std.com>,
MDu...@theworld.com.snip.to.reply says...

>
> Arthur Lipscomb <art...@alum.calberkeley.org> writes:
>
> > On 10/4/2016 5:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>
> >> LUCIFER:

I think we are getting this show down here, but when I
don't know.

--
David Barnett