u/border199x

I've always tried to do something new every year, and at times it feels like I am running out of stuff to try. In some sense I am looking for events that are not widely attended and not widely regarded, but good enough to be an essential part of your con experience. It can be anything from a band that doesn't get huge crowds to an annual panel that is beloved by everyone in the track. Any official happening can qualify.

My general recommendations would be stuff like:

Raspberry Pie - a disco/funk band out of Orlando that makes songs about nerdy topics (fighting games, Sonic the Hedgehog, speaking Klingon, etc). I think this premise can sound a little corny to people with no interest in disco, but their grooves are pretty infectious. If you like dancing, there's a lot to enjoy here.

Release the Bats - an annual panel on the state of the goth community. I don't consider myself a goth, and don't listen to any goth music that was recorded after the Year 2000, but it's always weirdly fascinating the check in on an idiosyncratic subculture. Volaire and Rogue (of the Cruxshadows) are usually panelists.

Danger Woman - an acquired taste at best, but certainly an essential for me.

For the sake of narrowing discussion, let's just say that "Fast food" means anything that has a drive-thru, or any restaurant with counter service where you can reasonably expect to get your meal within 5-10 minutes of ordering. A lot of sub shops don't usually have drive-thrus, but I think it's fair to say that places like Jersey Mike's and Subway are definitely fast food.

If you are an international listener I'm happy to hear about what is choking and dying in your neck of the woods, though I expect discussion will be mostly USA-focused.

Nominate a restaurant from each of two categories, and offer any thoughts you have (my picks below):

Cateogory 1 - They Suck (still functional, profitable restaurants that have not quite reached a death spiral - low quality is the problem)

Burger King - service has always been spotty, stores are often understaffed, and a lot of locations near me have closed. It doesn't seem like they have had very many LTO options that captured the public's interest or imagination. I've lost count how many times they have reformulated the french fries, but even in a best case scenario they taste like hot styrofoam. Kudos to them for offering onion rings, but it's nearly impossible to get a batch that is even warm, let alone hot or fresh. It's been years since the Italian Chicken Sandwich has made a return. I think the Impossible Whopper is a great idea and I'd love to see it succeed, so it's hard to watch Burger King's slow slide towards irrelevance. Sorry guys, BK is not back.

Honorable Mention: Steak N' Shake

Category 2 - I Don't Know If They Suck Because They Have Disappeared (restaurants that you are familiar with, but barely eat at any more due to how many locations have closed - this situation may or may not be due to a dropoff in quality)

Arby's - they were always the underdog I rooted for. I feel like that one Simpsons joke pretty much ruined them for an entire generation of 90's kids. But I liked how different they were from other burger joints, and that they had a fair number of unique offerings (curly fries, mozzarella sticks, French dip sandwiches, cheesesteaks, etc). I can't even remember the last time I ate at Arby's though, since all locations between my home and my work have closed. It was always embarrassing that the roast beef sandwiches were supposed to be their signature item, yet they still tasted bad. But their menu had a lot of great options you couldn't really get elsewhere (Chicken Cordon Bleu, Ham & Swiss Melt, Reubens, Gyros, Jalapeno poppers).

Honorable Mention: Quizno's

Given that both Lestat and Cruise are in the spotlight this month, I thought this might be an interesting question. I honestly have no idea how well-regarded the 1994 Interview With The Vampire film is today. I don't know how fans of the novels feel about Cruise's performance. Is it good? Do people think he's the best Lestat, or does the fanbase the prefer the actors who have played him more recently?

To be clear, I'm asking how you would feel about a Lestat movie that would have been hypothetically made in 1996-98.....not Cruise returning to the role in 2026. Neil Jordan can return to direct if you want him, or you can designate a different director.

I was on AMC A-List for years. I saw a lot of bad movies, and a lot of mediocre movies. Generally my reaction to these films was, "Ehhh, this is bad but it was a good effort....it's okay and I am happy to support film-makers even if the final product doesn't live up to expectations."

Some months ago AMC increased the price of A-List and I was looking to tighten my budget. I ended my subscription and switched over to the Cinemark Movie Club. Cinemark's plan is basically 1 "free" movie per month, and the rest of your tickets are $10 minimum (but likely more depending on the showtime or if it's a premium format).

The consequence of this has been that I'm just a lot more annoyed and upset when a film doesn't pan out. I got Mandolorian & Grogu tickets for free and my reaction was "Yeah whatever, it was a fun romp through the Star Wars universe". After paying nearly full price to see Disclosure Day, I am a lot more peeved. I feel as if Spielberg himself stole money out of my wallet.

Obviously the difference was that I paid market value for Disclosure Day tickets, and that made me a lot more conscious of its flaws. I'm honestly not sure if I'm judging the movie fairly and it's legit trash, or if I'm just annoyed to have spent more money on useless fluff that I used to be able to see for pennies on the dollar.

This carries over to streaming services, where people are a lot more willing to accept mid-grade films if they're offered at minimal expense. A lot of people have the mentality that anything they see on Netflix or A-List is "free", and thus their expectations are tempered.

Seems like nobody on the show wants to have a drawing of the ghost....which kinda means we have to get one. I can't imagine it'd be that difficult to have a professional work with him to draw up something that is a close likeness.

Is this an idea you'd support with your enthusiasm, if not your money? Or do you believe that they're flirting with disaster to investigate this haunting? I am genuinely surprised how frightened everyone (except Wiger) is about invoking or referencing the ghost. Ghosts have traditionally been linked to the location that they haunt, yet everybody's freaked out that the ghost will somehow leave Wiger and follow them home.....or that drawing the ghost might somehow anger it, or encourage it to continue its behavior.

I have about 25 years worth of DVDs and BluRays that I would like to upgrade to 4K, but don't really want to pay retail/eBay prices for movies I've already purchased once. I was thinking it might be worth checking out secondhand sources, since a lot of these places don't follow market pricing. Most of the time they just dump all the discs on a shelf with a flat price model ("All discs $10, 3 for $20.")

The problem is I'm not sure if UHD 4K discs have much presence in the aftermarket. The format was launched after streaming took over, and the people who value them as part of a collection aren't likely to be pawning them off. Thus far I've found a pretty good 4K of Halloween at a used videogame store, but that's about it.

My cat is 5 years old, approaching 6. He is generally pretty healthy, but has occasional bouts with constipation. This spring, it got so bad he was having to go to the vet once or twice weekly....nobody could really come up with a cure or solution, or even a diagnosis for the problem. I signed him up for Pumpkin insurance midway through April. He got through the waiting period with no incidents as he was prescribed cisapride and that really got a handle on the constipation issue. After the waiting period was over, he had to go to the vet for an enema. I submitted the claim at the beginning of May. He has not had an incident since then.

Pumpkin sat on the claim for weeks then denied it yesterday, approximately 4 weeks after I submitted the claim (they notably waited until after the billing cycle refreshed, and after any money-back guarantee had expired). I called them up and cancelled the policy today. I didn't argue, and they didn't try to convince me to stay. Other than the hold time, it was a relatively easy process.

It's left a pretty bad taste in my mouth as far as pet insurance is concerned. Reading over posts on this subreddit, it seems like any recurrence of any symptom can be dismissed as a pre-existing condition. It's not a matter of clear diagnosis that determines the existence of a pre-existing condition, so much as it is "Your pet had similar symptoms some time ago, therefore we will not cover his care now."

I'd still like to keep my cat insured in some fashion, in case of accident or unexpected illness. I expect any future claims of digestive problems or constipation to be denied by any carrier. But if possible I'd like to find a carrier that will cover future constipation-related problems if he is able to stay stable and without incident for long enough. Failing that, I'd at least like to have an insurance company that processes claims quickly and doesn't just delay answers to squeeze more money out of customers.

There's no intended argument or rhetoric, I'm just kinda curious. For the record, I'm obviously not including novelizations, though I would love to hear about a movie you loved so much that it motivated you to buy and read the novelization.

By and large I would say I've read the original novel or play for most of my all-time favorites, but there are a couple exceptions:

The Lord of the Rings - love all of the movies, especially Fellowship. I'd always heard that Tolkien's prose was pretty dense and the narrative quite meandering, so that turned me off. I generally don't like fantasy fiction.

Goodfellas - the movie is pretty perfect as-is. I've never been into true crime. When the source material is based on real life, it doesn't feel like I'm expanding the story by reading the book, but mostly just finding contradictions.

Starship Troopers - I always heard that the novel is just the same as the movie, but without any satirical elements. Author Robert Heinlein envisioned futuristic fascism as a utopia rather than a dystopia. Doesn't sound like a fun read, plus I generally don't read science fiction anyway.

Tell me your favorite actor and/or actress in this particular role, and tell me what you think makes for a good Satan performance (or whatever you think makes their performance the best). I am excluding television performances, except for actresses (since female Satans are a lot less common)

Here is a packed-but-probably-not-complete IMDB Listing of people who played Satan (208 actors):

https://www.imdb.com/list/ls063261632/

Notable Actors:

• George Burns (Oh God! You Devil!)
• Gabriel Byrne (End of Days)
• Bill Cosby (The Devil and Max Devlin)
• Billy Crystal (Deconstructing Harry) I seriously do not remember Satan being in this movie, but haven't seen it in a long time
• Ketih David (Tales from the Hood 2)
• Peter Fonda (Ghost Rider)
• Jeff Goldblum (>!Mr Frost!<) not sure if this is a spoiler for the movie, I haven't seen it
• Harvey Keitel (Little Nicky)
• Viggo Mortenson (The Prophecy)
• Jack Nicholson (Witches of Eastwick)
• Robert De Niro (Angel Heart)
• Gary Oldman (Beat the Devil)
• Al Pacino (The Devil's Advocate)
• Will Smith (Winter's Tale)
• Terrance Stamp (The Company of Wolves) I have to see this movie, I loved the book so much
• Peter Stormare (Constantine)
• Max Von Sydow (Needful Things)

Notable Actresses:

• Rosalinda Celentano (The Passion of the Christ)
• Gwendolyn Christie (Sandman Netflix series)
• Elizabeth Hurley (Bedazzled)
• Gina Gershon (The New Twilight Zone episode "Time and Teresa Golowitz")
• Jennifer Love Hewitt (The Devil and Daniel Webster)
• Mary Tyler Moore (Mary's Incredible Dream TV movie)
• Julie Newmar (original Twilight Zone episode "Of Late I Think Of Cliffordville")

Random Notes: How is it that Tilda Swinton has never played the devil? Script-unseen, she would probably be my first choice for a woman to play Satan in something. I guess her character in Problemista is about as close as it gets, and Netflix didn't want to pay her asking price for Sandman (if they even considered it before settling on someone who is very similar to Swinton).

Before I understood how the IMDB list was formatted, I they had listed Gabriel Byrne as playing Satan in The Usual Suspects -- I never saw the movie, but definitely remembered that line about "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled". For a brief moment I thought there was a lot more to The Usual Suspects than I had assumed.