csyphrett

It's Columbo night as Columbo shows Patrick MacGoohan he can deal with secret agent men (as an aside MacGoohan's boss has a card identifying himself as Operator x-9 from the comic strips and it looked like Sam's dad from SG-1 was the coroner), and Ricardo Montalbon that bulls can be handled. CES

I seem to have lost a couple of posts from earlier one was in response to the housing thing in other news and one here. The one here was Republican running for local school board owes thousands to IRS and child support and might be unqualified to sit in a position to vote on where money should go for school planning CES

yo ho yo ho it's the pirate's life for me. CES

Somebody already said De Santis has to sign the biggest property tax increase in Florida history for this. i don't know if that is actual, or hyperbolic, but I am leaning toward actual. CES

Watched two more Columbos with Janet Leigh as a woman who killed her husband and forgot she did it, and Hector Elonziado (spelling?) as a diplomat trying to frame student protesters for the crime he committed. CES

Red Ghost's Super Apes are my mooks. My second option is the PPG factory. CES

Raskin has said some things to his colleagues in open speeches that might be construed as Why are you so stupid. CES

Cinderella is Mockingbird, Aurora is Captain Marvel CES

Cobra Commander. He has a weather machine to prevent climate change. CES

GI Joe was awesome but Special Missions was even better. The problem with the television show was that the 80's standards board would not allow death to be shown except off screen. One of the episodes had Joes losing and mostly dead, cobra running the world, and our Joes going there and helping the surviving Joes to reignite their freedom. CES

he started out on Moon Knight as a clone of Neal Adams. He slowly worked his way toward being more nonrealistic painting. Warlock from that era's new mutants was one of his creations. CES

George Hamilton was a cool dude before he started doing comedy. I remember seeing him as the villain on Nash Bridges once and he still had it. I thought at the time he could have got out of killing the husband by claiming self defense, but I realize now that if he had gone that way, the fact he was using the wife as a test subject and dating her could have ruined his future. I just thought he was being impulsive setting up an alibi so he wouldn't be blamed CES

an episode of Mrs Columbo that came with the disk set where Kate Mulgrew has to deal with a ventriloquist having a mental breakdown CES

Columbo has to deal with Oskar Weiner killing his mother in law as the invisible man, and George Hamilton accidentally killing the husband of a woman he is dating and then hypnotizing her to jump off her fifth floor balcony. CES

Doctor Strangehold, Ectoplasmic Detective 5 1965 Strangehold examined the front door. If the victim was using that door, he had a key. He couldn’t find any signs of forced entry. He tried the door, and nodded at it being locked. “So he didn’t use this door, or he had a key,” said the doctor. “Let’s see if the back entrance has been used.” “Maybe he was meeting someone who did have a key,” said Burly. “A possibility,” conceded Strangehold. He started walking down the narrow ally next to the former bar. “Once we confirm it, we’ll have someone we can consider a suspect which is more than what we have now.” And they had precious little at the moment. The doctor examined the back door. He didn’t see any damage to the lock, or door. He tried the handle. Locked. “So he had a key, or a way inside that left no damage to the lock,” said Strangehold. He put his hand over the lock, and summoned a strand of ectoplasm. He twisted his wrist, and the strand did the same inside the lock, moving all the tumblers out of the way so he could open the door with his other hand. Burly pulled a small flashlight out of his jacket pocket. He sent a beam into the dim kitchen area ahead of them. The doctor looked on the wall and found three switches. He tried them all. No lights snapped on. No one had kept up the power. “It looks clean,” said Burly. “Maybe the lady was wrong about Crenshaw coming here.” “Let’s look at the other rooms,” said Strangehold. “Did anyone clean up after the shooting you told me about?” “I don’t have any idea,” said Burly. Strangehold nodded. Someone might have cleaned the place up after the shooting. The fact that the club still stood abandoned might come from the victims and their cohort. They walked into the dining room and stage area of the club. A bar stood in front of the kitchen. Chandeliers had been put in, but they were dusty. Furniture and pictures had long been moved out. “Someone has been here,” said Strangehold. “The floor is clean of dust, the area around the bar also.” “Whomever was here left their bottle,” said Burly. He pointed to a lone bottle of whiskey standing by itself where there should have been much more stored for use. “So what do we know from our looking around?,” asked Strangehold. He turned in a circle, examining the room. “We know someone has been in here,” said Burly. “We can surmise it was our victim and at least one other person. Someone was drinking a little at least. That might not be Crenshaw. He didn’t have any alcohol at his place.” “We also know that Crenshaw told his coworker he came here to play,” said Strangehold. He knelt and studied the floor. “No chairs, but there is an impression of a box.” “Maybe it’s a case of some kind,” said Burly. “That goes with carrying an instrument.” “I agree,” said Strangehold. “Who did he play with here?” “Good question,” said Burly. Strangehold raised a hand. He felt connections reach into the room and draw forth a fuzzy mist of yellow. He frowned. Someone had been practicing their skill, and draining the local life out of things. “Our man was here at least some of the time,” said Strangehold. He tried to throw up an image. A sketchy silhouette emerged and then vanished. “But there’s not enough to tell us who he is.” “Another musician, maybe?,” asked Burly. “Maybe, or a fan,” said Strangehold. He released the ectoplasm and let it fade back into the background. “I can see that,” said Burly. “Who knew about the music part of this?” “The people on the print company’s orchestra, anybody at the other club, and anyone Crenshaw told,” said Strangehold. “It’s a pool but it’s not as big as the entire city,” said Burly. “You would never know a bunch of guys were killed in here.” “That’s something strange too,” said the doctor. “Let’s look at the other club. Maybe we’ll stir up something there.” “I know,” said Burly. “I feel like this is the more important place. The victim was here. The murderer was here. The other club could just be an off the books hustle.” “We still have to rule it out,” said Strangehold. “I don’t like how low the ectoplasm is. Our murderer might have used it all up on his mask.” “So he comes in here and drains off what he needs?,” asked Burly. “Or he drained it from Crenshaw while Crenshaw played his instrument,” said Strangehold. “Ectoplasm is from the living. And someone who knew how could transfer life from someone else to himself.” Strangehold didn’t mention that the more living beings, the more ectoplasm would be in the air. The more people around, the more that could be drained and used. The murderer could be operating out of the other club, and Crenshaw had followed him back to this one and saw something that he shouldn’t have. It suggested a motive, but he would have to rule any others out as they went. The ectoplasm angle just complicated things. If it wasn’t present, he would have been able to actually see the murderer going about his business. And Crenshaw didn’t seem to be a practitioner to be killed in the way he had been killed. He agreed with Burly that the deserted building seemed the more important place, but they should check on the other club. If ectoplasm was at both clubs, that would indicate their killer was at both clubs, moving among the musicians and staff without a problem. If they could hook anyone to Crenshaw, that would give them someone to check on until something better came along. His main consideration was the more people around, the bigger the flow of ectoplasm that could be present. And that would obscure things in its own way. “Let’s see about this other club,” said Strangehold. “I will still have to pick up the twins after we’re done.” “I’ll check with the uniforms in the area about any lights being on in here,” said Burly. “I doubt they saw anything, but we might get lucky.” “We’re looking for someone slender and short,” said Strangehold. “If he wore some kind of mask, we won’t get an accurate description of what he was actually wearing, or what he looks like.” “Slender and short won’t get us much other than a starting point on whomever Crenshaw had hanging around when he played,” said Burly. “I know,” said Strangehold. “The mask pulled all of the natural energy in the room to it, but I think the blur I saw was a second effect.” “What do you mean?,” asked Burly. “It’s possible that when our murderer powered up his disguise, he used a splash effect to keep from being recognized,” said Strangehold. “Not many people think of doing that.” “So he becomes Bigfoot while using that to make sure no one can get a good look at him?,” asked Burly. “I’m pretty sure that’s what he did,” said the doctor. “We’ll have to catch him in the act to prove it.” “Which means we’ll have to figure out who he is and trap him somehow,” said Burly. He led the way to the back door. “And trying to spring the trap will have its own dangers,” said Strangehold. He took one last look around as he followed his friend out of the closed club. Burly made sure the triplock was thrown before they stepped outside. They might need to come back, but why leave the door open to anybody but their quarry. And he might miss their footprints in the dust. They might be able to identify him with a simple stakeout if they were patient enough. If he did see the prints, he would know someone had already tracked the club down. He might decide to set up somewhere else. Burly wanted to get the guy, but he didn’t see a way from where they were. He glanced at the doctor. The man rubbed his chin as he thought. The detective shrugged a little. The other club was the only other place with someone who knew the victim. Maybe they would get lucky and find someone who knew Crenshaw and the musicians he played with enough to jump start the case. If they couldn’t find out anything, he doubted that any of his suspects would open up and confess to the deed. It would make his job that much easier if the criminals would do that. Strangehold locked the club up again and followed the sergeant around to his car. He decided to come back in the night. Maybe the doctor would stumble over his quarry while he was recruiting another musician to supply him with ectoplasm. If they found the same thing at the other club, he might be able to keep watch for a draining operation going on. That might lead him to his murderer. It would also make any battle problematic. If they started using ectoplasmic abilities in a crowd, it might kill some of the frailer people around. Ectoplasm had to come from somewhere. Some people didn’t have enough life to support having some of it pulled from them so it could be used as weapons. If he tried to pin the other down long enough for Burly to shoot his enemy, the chances were someone would drop dead from the loss of their life energy. He needed to prevent any problems from cropping up in the middle of a crowd. If his enemy was smart, that would be the perfect area for him to attack. And the murderer’s mask would be able to run until he had drained all of the nearby sources of their ectoplasm. Burly drove them across the city to the other club. They got out and inspected the outside. The place was closed until five. The crew hadn’t come in to start preparing for the night yet. “I have to pick up the twins,” said Strangehold. He extended his sense out to feel the outside of the building. He noted some cold spots. “I think our murderer came here too. I’m going to come by and take the place in after it opens.” “All right,” said Burly. “I’ll drop you off and come back and talk to some of the staff. Maybe they saw something.” “Try not to alert him,” said Strangehold. “If he starts using his ability in the middle of the club, it could be a disaster.” “Don’t worry,” said the detective. “I plan to just come by and see if anyone can give me a description of anyone they knew hung out with Crenshaw. I plan to avoid looking at anyone.” “Try not to be alone,” said Strangehold. “He might wait to try to kill you if there are a bunch of witnesses he has to deal with too. I wouldn’t count on it.” “That makes me feel better,” said Burly.

I need two options to finish out my draft. I think I am going to option the Rainmaker from PS238 for his ability to create rain and boost/lower other powers, and the Powerpuff Girl factory. I think I am going to title this Flight across the Americas CES

I'm picking the super apes as my mooks/minions CES

I am going to pick Charles Muntz as my archenemy CES

john nettles, the first Barnaby, said in an interview that if as many murders happened in real life the counties would be depopulated since it is a suburb type area CES

Columbo night with our detective matching wits with Patrick McGoohan over a bottle of cider and a murder disguised as an accident, and Robert Vaughn on a cruise ship after the death of a blackmailing chanteause CES

I would like to pick zeppelins as my form of transport from yesterday. Pushed by wind powers, they are quite fast. CES

Shifty TV has been accused of using walls in tournaments. I don't know what a polygraph would do when people were like look at this guy tracking people through rocks CES

I would like to option Chemical X CES

My second will be Jack O'Neill CES

I am going to pick Professor Utonium as my gadgeteer CES