2 super-cheap Halloween costumes you still have time to get

PLUS: If you're not using Facebook, you're missing out on three valuable (and free) amenities. Yes, I said Facebook.

DISCLAIMER: Some of the links included herein are affiliate links (usually those in bold blue type), meaning if you make a purchase via one of them, I may get a small commission. I promise you, now and forever, that I won’t choose deals based on whether there’s an affiliate option available.

Happy Sunday, everyone! I have some potentially controversial thoughts to share this week, and I don’t expect everyone to agree with them. Feel free to opine right back at me if you’re so inclined; I welcome your input — even if you disagree with me! (Just mind my fragile ego.) 😜

QUICK HITS

🎃 Need a Halloween costume on the cheap? It’s hard to beat a funny t-shirt. For a limited time, you can get 40% off any Crazy Dog shirt with promo code SPECTER40. Here’s the men’s Halloween collection and the women’s; lots of really funny stuff available in both. Order today and you should have no trouble receiving it in time for Oct. 31.

👺 Cheap Halloween costume, part 2: This nifty LED mask drops to just $21 when you clip the on-page $15-off coupon. Most of these things sell in the $35-40 range. It offers 25 static and 25 animated patterns, though take note that it’s not app-controlled; you have to cycle through them all to find the one you want. The rechargeable battery is good for 8-10 hours.

🚗 My new must-have car accessory is a portable tire inflator; I’ve shared a couple deals on them before, but there was always some confusion about whether they were battery-powered or not. This one absolutely is, and it’s priced at just $28 right now, down from $50. As the weather changes, so does tire pressure; this makes it a snap to inflate them, anywhere, anytime. Great, great gift item, too.

📺 Good news for broke college kids (are there any other kind?): Hulu’s $1.99 student deal is back, offering the service (with ads, alas) at a hefty 75% discount. It’s available as long as the student is enrolled at a college that meets the verification requirements. Given the price of streaming these days, it might be cheaper to go back to school than to pay Hulu’s regular rates.

📺 Good news for broke anybody: Paramount Plus is once again offering new subscribers a free 1-month trial; use promo code FRASIER at checkout (and set a reminder to cancel if you don’t want to keep going at the regular rate). You might as well choose the Paramount+ with Showtime option.

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OPINION: It’s time to rethink Facebook (wait, what?)

As much as I despise Twitter right now, I’m finding more and more use for Facebook. Two reasons: Marketplace (for buying and selling stuff) and Groups (for connecting with others). If you never bothered to create an account because “ugh, social media” or you abandoned the service because “ugh, Facebook,” I’d urge you to take another look.

Make no mistake, Facebook gets a bad rap because, well, it deserves it. CEO Mark Zuckerberg may not be Elon Musk-level loony, but he’s made plenty of questionable decisions. And let’s not forget the company’s many, many transgressions regarding user data.

Meanwhile, I’m sure we’ve all been frustrated by friends and relatives sharing crazy conspiracy theories or radical political views. That alone is more than enough to make one click “deactivate account.”

But I think it’s possible to enjoy a sort of “Facebook lite,” to cultivate the wheat and bypass the chaff. Indeed, my feed these days consists mostly of posts from the various groups I follow, all of them informative, helpful, or both. Some examples:

• AnkerMake M5 3D Printer Group: There are lots of groups specific to individual 3D printer models; users share information, ask and answer questions, post photos of their projects, etc. Something like this can be utterly invaluable, especially to novices.

• Brighton Pickleball: Facebook groups are fantastic for pickleball players, who can connect with others, find out where and when to play, discover local leagues and tournaments… you get the idea. This is just one of several southeast-Michigan pickleball groups I follow.

• Day Trips in Michigan: Fellow Michiganders share hidden gems from around the state; I’ve been shocked to discover how many cool things there are to do and see here that I had no idea about. Your state probably has something similar.

• HoverAir X1 Owners Club: Another product-specific group, this one for my new favorite drone. It’s a place to ask questions, share advice, see others’ drone footage and more.

• Pelvic Floor Dysfunction Support Group: Got an affliction of any kind? Chances are good there’s a Facebook support group for it. This one has been extremely helpful for me, if only to find a community of others who share my issue.

• [Redacted] Homeowners: A group created just for my neighborhood. It’s an excellent way to share news of the block and communicate with other residents.

Meanwhile, I’ve long since abandoned Craigslist in favor of Facebook Marketplace, the latter a vastly superior buying/selling tool. For starters, you can much more easily vet the people you’re dealing with, because they necessarily have Facebook accounts. On Craigslist, everyone is 100% anonymous.

Yes, there are scammers on Marketplace, and you should learn how to avoid them before buying or selling anything. But my experiences with it have been almost entirely positive.

While we’re talking Facebook products, Messenger is a very good, widely underappreciated communication tool, but that’s a discussion for another day.

To recap, then: Facebook proper, Facebook Marketplace, and Facebook Messenger can be extremely useful, and let’s remember that all three are free.

Yes, you have to surrender some personal data, but I’ve long maintained a “so what?” attitude about that. We share data with Apple, Google, TikTok, and countless other services; they just use it to try to sell us stuff. Big deal. I find the benefits far outweigh the so-called privacy I’m giving up. That’s just me; your thoughts?

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PLAYLIST

Last week I woke up to a low-grade fever, which kept me out of commission (and on the couch) for three miserable days. For comfort viewing I turned to M*A*S*H and Star Trek: Voyager, the latter the most criminally underrated Trek series of all time. But I also decided to start a rewatch of The Shield (Hulu), the groundbreaking crime drama that, way back in 2002, pushed the boundaries of basic cable.

(Kids: There was “basic cable” that was ostensibly for family friendly fare, and there were “pay channels” like HBO and Showtime if you wanted more adult stuff. No such dividing lines anymore, sadly.)

From the shocking end of the first episode, you know what you’re in for: a gritty, disturbing, morally ambiguous cop show — not my usual cup of tea, but this is that rare specimen of layered, likeable characters you can’t help but root for, even as they’re doing some pretty bad things.

To be honest, though, watching it kind of bums me out; I hate thinking that reality isn’t so far removed. So I need to balance it by going back to Voyager. Oh, Neelix, you silly Talaxian, you.

What’s your sick-day comfort-viewing movie or TV show of choice?

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