Among the Monster Costumes

Data points:

• Perhaps due to rain, the Halloween costumes encountered on my excursion were substandard. The best I saw was a group of six guys in real sequined and tailored mariachi costumes. They were carrying ukuleles and one boombox, though, and not mariachi instruments. Can't blame them--they'll probably get drunk and would destroy their vihuelas and trumpets.
• The Saw franchise makes for costumes almost as bad as the movies.
  
• I found to my horror that it's vastly more difficult to buy naphtha lighter fluid than it used to be. No doubt this is a consequence of less smoking and consequently less Zippo lighter use, both of which are good in themselves. But it may make this adhesive-busting solvent eventually impossible to find. Oddly enough, papers for rolling tobacco were abundant.
  
• Dipping into the World Series, the Philadelphia Phillies (awful name for a team) did not perform up to standard.
• The game featured heavy tie-in promotion and ads for Sherlock Holmes. It's getting a Christmas release and a huge push -- Warner Brothers is really banking on it. I'd forgotten it's directed by Guy Ritchie, so my hopes are low. Holmes is more resistant to atrocities than Lina Wertmüller's work, but still... On the other hand the ads featured Eddie Marsan repeatedly and prominently and he's usually a great perfomer.
• The promo for the US release of Pirate Radio (called The Boat That Rocked in the UK) revealed that an American DJ saved rock 'n' roll in the UK. I hope it does well here, but I can't recommend it. Great topic for a movie -- just not this one.
• Abortion services are under attack in much of the US. The leading pro-choice groups aren't very savvy about politics, which is a shame.