Notices by Ben Zanin (gnomon@mastodon.social), page 4

@mhoye @djsundog distrust the SanDisk consumer grade external/USB SSDs until mid 2026. (SD/MicroSD/CF have top tier reliability.)

SanDisk Pro gear is trustworthy.

SanDisk enterprise grade hardware, previously marketed under the Western Digital brand, has some of the best quality control, objective failure rates, and specific pre-failure warning modes in the industry.

cf. https://www.backblaze.com/blog/backblaze-drive-stats-for-q2-2025/ for WDC/HGST failure rates of mechanical drives produced under comparable QC discipline

Every summer some creature escapes from a local zoo and wanders the city. Past years have brought us peacocks, and of course the infamous capybaras Bonnie & Clyde; never yet my pick, the yaks; this year, bison!

https://archive.is/V4e63 ← https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/escaped-bison-in-york-region-returned-home-safely-police-say/article_92cb220e-5164-4392-bed7-719a4be8bc01.html

#dlws #TorontoAnimalRampage

(Serious worry for just a second: Peter Lorre's face is awfully close to that spinning sparkler contraption with no eye protection. Those magnesium sparks are no laughing matter.)

#monsterdon

Any wizarding duel that features a slide whistle is all right in my books.

#monsterdon

(Interesting that the place settings at Scarabus's table feature the same dark red glass goblets as held Erasmus's warm milk in the opening scene. Guess all the sorcerers in this neighbourhood shop at the same IKEA.)

#monsterdon

Great Scott! Lenore lives, and befuddled Erasmus two years prior into believing her dead so she could dally with the rich and powerful Scarabus instead!

Betrayal! Conspiracy!

#monsterdon

Egads! Was Dr. Bedlo just jellied!?

#monsterdon

Betrayal within betrayal: Scarabus bought Bedlo's cooperation with an offer of power to help deceive Erasmus and lure him to the castle so that Scarabus could... siphon out Erasmus's magic like a Skexi shoving gelflings into a Juicero..? I think?

#monsterdon

Dr. Bedlo lives! A cunning concealment to make Scarabus think him dead so Bedlo could... can... act without endangering others..? Truthfully they kind of glossed over the "why" of the matter just then to give Bedlo several more chances to halfheartedly berate his son Rexford.

#monsterdon

Scarabus and Lenore lock Estelle in stocks before a roaring brazier! Scarabus menaces the helpless Estelle with a red-hot poker, entreating Erasmus to reveal the secret of his magic.

Birdlo returns surreptitiously!

Erasmus and Scarabus point blue and green finger-beams at each other while looking goofy. This is some kind of pre-duel apparently.

#monsterdon

Oop, Bedlo's a bird again. Exit Dr. Birdlo.

#monsterdon

"You are not alone in guilt, sir: I too have failed at the task of living."

BIG MOOD

#monsterdon

Erasmus and Scarabus take turns gesturing at each other while various animated enchanter attacks flick back and forth between them. Scarabus brings out a whole-ass cannon. This scene started out like a cartoon; if it ends like the Daffy / Donald piano fight in the Ink & Paint Club in Who Framed Roger Rabbit I will be absolutely beside myself with glee.

#monsterdon

BAT

#monsterdon

Wait

shit

The Raven (1963), not Frogs (1972)

#monsterdon

Tonight we're kicking off "Frogs" (1972)! Get your timed mute buttons for about an hour and a half, or cue up a stream and join in!

#monsterdon

All right, #monsterdon, who's ready for some Roger Corman / Edgar Allen Poe??

"The young do not understand grief, Estelle. To you she was only a stepmother; to me she was..."

*Vincent Price takes a huge swig of warm milk from a dark red glass goblet*

"...my life."

("It's pronounced \"wife\", Mr. Price." "I'll say it howsoever I wish to say it, you sniveling peasant!")

#monsterdon

Vincent Price is finger-doodling in midair while wearing a paisley curtain..?

this man is a national treasure

#monsterdon

do not do a wrong Frogs

#monsterdon