Another Arrested Development Mystery!

Among Arrested Development's many virtues, their deeply layered callbacks and obscure jokes may be my favorite. The Colonel Mustard/Gene Parmesean thing, the fact that Tobias is a black albino, the fact that George Michael's entire storyline for Season 4 is an extended dig at Michael Cera's questionable career choices, the never-explained-in-show hilarity of the name 'George Maharis'. It's all amazing. Only my latest trip through the show, however, I noticed something I'd never seen before-

That is the boat where Fantastic 4: The Musical is being performed during the festivities on Cinqo de Quatro. Note the 'Rock Monster' costumed person portraying 'The Thing'. Here's the mystery - who is in that suit? Originally it was supposed to be Tobias, but then he decided to take over the roll of Sue Storm - and because he wound up on the exploding boat with Marky Bark, there is no Sue Storm onstage. There is, however, a Ben Grimm - but how is that possible? Tobias hands the costume over to Buster-

But Buster never puts it on. He knocks out Herbert Love, then races away in fear and stumbles onto Lucille 2's body. The show is even careful to pan down as Buster runs off, showing the costume-

Sitting on the ground, next to Gene Parmesean's Donkey Punch stand. This shot wasn't left in the show accidentally - the framing of the costume is 100% deliberate. Which brings me back to the question - who is that on the barge, dressed as The Thing?

All we can tell is that it's a white guy without glasses, wearing silver running shoes. Beyond that there are no visual clues in the show that I can spot. Is this a solvable mystery, or just another item beautifully layered in for them to pick up in season seven?

Who Was the Killer in Chain Letter?

Today, in my first-ever 'inspired by a google search' post, I've decided to answer the question that went unaddressed in my three other posts on the subject of Chain Letter, or in theAvod that the Divemistress and myself recently recorded about it: Who, exactly, was the killer in the movie Chain Letter?

When the Divemistress and myself discussed the film privately she made the (rather persuasive) argument that it doesn't matter who the killer was, since the film's plot wasn't a mystery, and it wasn't written well enough to to have 'meaning'. She's not wrong, but still, as a public service, I've assembled all the evidence below, and laid out a case for what was going on in the film, should you have been confused by the proceedings. And really, given the film's woeful incoherence, how could you not have been?

Christopher Pike Book Club: Weekend (1986)

Well, I hope everyone enjoyed “Slumber Party”, the last entry in the Christopher Pike book club, because this week’s entry “Weekend” is essentially the same story.