- Raya of Last Dragon fame
- Hermione midway Polyjuice-induced change into cat
- pink fuzzy donut w/ inner tube + sprinkles and teal parasol-toting Victorian lady in satin; despite the marked contrast in tone and materials, these two costumes looked oddly good together, possibly because of the complementary colors
- red-and-black goth fairy, about 8 yrs. old, w/ banana dad
- mellophone-playing pineapple (in parade)
- twin Jasons drumming (one on quad drums, one on bass) (also in parade)
- Waldo, which is not unusual, but also Odlaw, which is
- Batman family taking various approaches: the dad was wearing a sweatshirt and cap, the mom was wearing a proper Batman costume, and the daughter was a Batman princess
- historically-accurate-so-far-as-that-goes-here St. George, complete with English cross on shield (there's a town named St. George not that far away)
- Buzz Lightyear w/ samurai sword
- Harry, Ron, and Hermione (fully-human) all together
- someone in a homemade earth-tone knitted hood and pumpkin dress
- Mario, Princess Peach, little Bowser, little Donkey Kong, no Luigi
- dejected flamingo sitting on sidewalk
- psychedelic hoodie + orange trousers + plush backpack (= ???)
- guy in baseball cap, plain gray sweatshirt with Marvel Logo, and plain gray sweatpants with Marvel logo
- either Captain Spaulding or a member of the ICP
- several girls in Día de los Muertos costumes, all together
- skeleton w/ glittery silvery skirt
- blonde woman in brown corduroy overalls, green knit shirt, and sign pinned to her chest saying "BANANA TREE"?
- Monty Python King Arthur, complete with coconuts that he continually clip-clopped; this guy won the prize for the night
- two very little Beatrix Kiddos (like barely old enough to walk) in identical Game of Death jumpsuits
- unrolled paper towel? The guy was carrying a huge swath of white net-like fabric, partially wrapped around his middle (though not like a mummy), in one hand and a very large & wide tube in the other. His companion was dressed in white and had no fabric but was carrying a similar tube. This was unclear
- red beret and hoodie printed with "NOT TODAY SATAN"
- very small Ghostface
- a couple dressed like what appeared to be two parts of a painting, except that it turned out to be the same painting, and the painting itself was painted to look like an assembled puzzle? Several layers of boredom here
- a Raggedy Ann in this day and age, whoa
- a Predator with very yarn-like dreads
- a terrier mix dressed like a celadon mermaid with some sort of audio device playing "Thriller". They were playing the Eurythmics when I walked by again later
- tamale
- Luna Lovegood w/ those glasses that look like hands
- log: light beige shirt, identical light beige pants, bark tube wrapped around head
- moose
- giant inflatable Among Us crew member/impostor (couple walking by: "They're from a video game." "Ohhhhhhhh.")
- Rocket Raccoon
- lemon, lime, pineapple, and...Thanksgiving princess (crown of red felt autumn leaves + harvest quilt cape)
- postal carrier, but I think he was an actual postal carrier; his bag had genuine wear to it
- angel w/ black wings
- tired tyrannosaur, sitting in street
- ram (very, very large horns on knit hat + knit sweater on 6-year-old)
- Skull Kid from Majora's Mask
- Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach (all adults, yet carrying treat bags for some reason)
- 8-year-old female Freddy Krueger
- female tween Mario and Luigi
- extremely bored-looking Michael Myers, hands in pockets
- kid doing the sheet-ghost thing but with a green sheet made of flowy, somewhat-translucent material that looked quite good. I wanted to give a compliment but was afraid it'd be taken as facetious
- man with no costume but devil horns glued directly onto his shaved head
No man with a tree limb strapped to his back this time.
I've never had a single iota of interest in Suikoden. The villain of the second installment is routinely held up by Suikoden's boosters as one of the greatest characters in video games, and their rationale rests on one of two arguments: a) there's a scene where he guts a helpless civilian while calling them a pig that gets a lot of people hard, and b) he kills a lot of people. Any franchise where those are the best arguments in its favor is not one I'm compelled to know.
There are many reasons to like villains. They might have style. They might be interesting characterwise, allowing the story to explore neglected parts of the psyche. They might be grappling with challenges and injustices to which a more-naive hero might be blind. (This is particularly true in video games, a medium where adolescents are frequently the target audience and the models for the heroes, who consequently are caught up in adolescent goals like proving their worth and might be oblivious to concerns outside that narrow focus.) They even might actually be right.
Sheer death toll is not among these reasons. Now, with the announcement of a Suikoden remaster, we'll again be regaled with what a storytelling and/or erotic masterstroke it is to tell someone to die like a pig. I look forward to this like getting teeth drilled.
Besides, if sheer murder is the sole metric for great villainy, then I ask you: has Suikoden II's villain ever punched a man's head clear off his shoulders? I submit not.
(That extraordinarily valiant last stand by the deceased deserves more respect than any idea presented by Camp Pig Stick.)
(Search "At last, Nolan" here to read along.)
- How is it taking four (down from five) individuals to set up a tent?
- If Barton quit when it "came time" to position the tent poles and hammer in the pegs - which is typically the first and primary thing you do in setting up a tent, outside of feeding the poles through the fabric, which could arguably fall under "positioning," and ground sheets, which involve peg-hammering and thus did not have Barton participation - with what part of the tent-pitching process did he help out? Getting the tents out of the van?
- Why did anyone feel it necessary to dig a ditch? You do that to draw water away from the campsite. Granted, they're in actual wilderness and not a campground site-selected for optimal camper comfort, but they're also there for *one night.* (I know there's a huge contingent of Oslo academia on this trip and everyone had to have a minimally-taxing make-work job to do, but come on.)
- Who, when stocking up on groceries for a campfire dinner, thinks: "Ah! Soup!"
- Or salad? (I was going to say, "well, maybe, it's like potato salad," but Jennifer's tossing the salad, so, no. You'd also have the problem of refrigeration - but you're encountering much the same problem with salad greens.)
- Why is Beth browning meat over a portable burner instead of cooking it over a campfire? Yes, a campfire involves collecting wood and trying to get it to light on fire and other aggravating activties, but it'd be a more effective use of manpower than digging a ditch. Did the vehicle Nolan rented just come with some sort of portable burner? Since many of the campers came along on the Scissorman Hunt on a "oh, let's tour a lovely English castle!" lark, wouldn't they insist on roasting marshmallows and other fun campfire activities during their impromptu camping stop? Was Nolan, or Helen or one of the cooler heads, just afraid that they'd burn down the whole forest—
...Never mind; the burner was a good idea. - —Wait a minute; how has the meat been refrigerated?
In conclusion, I think this expedition could have benefited from the Season 1 Supernatural approach to camping provisions:
- Mexican wedding cookies
- chocolate chip cookies, but they advertise themselves as being "Montana's chocolate chip cookie," and I used to live in Montana, but the package says they're made in Alberta, which isn't even in the same country
- *macadamia* chocolate chip cookies, not from Montana
- macaroons for which the grocery store sent me a free e-coupon. They could have been chocolate chip macaroons, but I chose the standard flavor
- Stella d'Oro assortment I bought because the brand was popular in my New York Italian neighborhood as a kid; I showed laudable restraint and chose not to pick up the accompanying Stella d'Oro S-shaped pseudo-biscotti
- knockoff vanilla Oreos with apple cider donut filling
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