Supernatural Fanfic

Posted on May 28, 2011 by main

Here is what should happen in the first episode of next season:

“Castiel!” A voice thunders, vibrating the very air around Castiel, Bobby, Sam, and Dean.

“What?” Cas’s eyes start darting around worriedly.

“Castiel, what have you been doing?”

“Raphael and Michael started it!”

Disappointment runs through the disembodied voice as the shape of a humble man with a rake appears. Cas disappears momentarily only to be pulled back. “I had such high hopes for you, Castiel. You had so much promise. And, what do you do? You decide to become a ‘god’? Didn’t Lucifer’s fall teach you anything?”

“You let Sam and Dean and all of us suffer!”

“Cas, even Death knows that humans are much less fragile than you think. Sam is still standing despite you taking down the walls, isn’t he?”

“Where have you been! Gabriel is dead! Balthazaar betrayed me!”

The gardener turns to Dean, “Dean, do you have the DVD that Gabriel gave you?”

“Uh . . . yeah.”

“Where do you think that good-for-nothing trickster angel has been all this time?” The Gardener shrugs as if anyone with any sense would have realized that Gabriel would hide inside a porn film.

“That!” Dean starts when Bobby looks over at Dean with the “Shut up, boy!” look he does so well.

Castiel is squirming, in the same way as a small child or petulant teenager does when caught doing something that he knows he shouldn’t be. “What other choice did I have! Raphael and Crowley were going to . . . “

“Crowley? Raphael? Has a single plan of theirs for human beings come to fruition?” The Gardener shakes his head. “Human beings are resilient and will continue despite any interference from you, your brothers, the demons. Even Death doesn’t really understand how powerful I made them.”

Dean and Sam have sudden looks of realization as Bobby just rolls his eyes at how dense these two are.

“Do you really think I haven’t been watching my various children act like absolute idiots for the past century? I had hoped you would act with some maturity! Instead? You become power hungry. You are supposed to be the Elder Brothers of mankind. Instead you act worse by fighting over the power of Purgatory which was given to the mother of monsters!” Eve appears whole and healthy.

“No!”

Without so much as a blink of an eye Eve is empowered and dismissed. “She has been sent back to her realm with a warning. She will not be coming back. Your Impala is fine, Dean. Sam, you will survive, and you will be stronger than ever. I’ll be watching.” Castiel is taken by the scruff of his neck by an unseen force as he and The Gardener disappear.

“Bobby?”

“Don’t. Just don’t.”

Tags: Supernatural, Fanfiction, Television

Dancing with the Stars – Not the Ringers

Posted on May 25, 2010 by mlo

We watched the finale of Dancing with the Stars and lost interest once the final two were selected. To my husband and I it had turned into Dancing with the Ringers. A Pussycat Doll and an Olympic Figure Skater are hardly amateurs.

The excuses I hear repeatedly from the show producers is that they are not ballroom dancers. That doesn’t matter since, except for tribal and some ethnic dance, all professional dancers have foundations in ballet. The same is true of the Olympic figure skaters.

I know I have complained abou this before.

While walking our little dog, my husband and I started thinking of the perfect ringer season of Dancing with the Stars. The list we have thus far:

Shakira (not likely to happen)
Madonna (Carrie Ann may have trouble being neutral)
Tom Cruise
John Travolta
Christopher Walken
Kevin Bacon

and so on . . .

Who would you include in the all ringer season of Dancing with the Stars?

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Voice of the Detroit Tigers Now Silent

Posted on May 4, 2010 by mlo

I remember driving Up North in my father’s pick-up before the days of satellite radio – even before CB radios were all the craze. From Detroit to Alpena most weekends through the months when our property wasn’t completely snowed under. There was only one radio station that stayed with us through the entire drive, WJR. As we would drive north in the summers on US-23 the voice of Ernie Harwell told the story of the Tigers’ game.

For millions who grew up in Michigan, Southern Ontario, and Northern Ohio a voice as comforting and as familiar as family echoed through the night when the Tigers played. Many a radio was snuck into a school or workplace when Ernie Harwell was calling the afternoon game.

Ernie started his career in Georgia as a young radio announcer in the minor league. He was traded for a pitcher to some unimportant New York team before finally settling in as the Tigers’ voice on the radio. Ernie Harwell was baseball. His voice is what I, and many others, hear when thinking of a baseball game.

Detroit has lost not only the voice of the Tigers but a man who gave so much back to the community. Ernie Harwell was well-known for his charity work – which he did not trumpet. He is part of the time when Detroit was one of the top media markets in the world. A time when WJR and CKLW still ruled the airwaves of the Great Lakes region.

It is the voice of Ernie Harwell that reflected very much what Detroit was all about. This was the city people came to to create the middle class. This was the city people of all colors, creeds, and originations came to to create a better place. Cancer of the bile ducts took the man who started as a 5 year old bat boy for his local minor league team. Will his legacy be forgotten by a city that is suffering from its own cancers of poverty and abandonment? Or will his death inspire those who remember him to make Detroit the best hope for a strong middle class again?

His were not grand dreams or aspirations. Ernie Harwell died at home in Novi, Michigan – an upper middle class suburb of Detroit. He was a dedicated worker and giving individual who touched many a person through America’s game, baseball, on many a night. Whether hidden under covers, trekking across Michigan, or sneaking that listen at work, his voice was delivering baseball and sneaking stories of those days of yore. And, sometimes, including a bit of Scripture with that favorite pastime.

For those of you who never got to hear what baseball really sounds like, here is the farewell speech when Ernie Harwell retired:

Ernie Harwell will be sorely missed by a town that loves its sports and local media. With his passing, I feel like we, as a nation, are losing an icon of what we could have become and what we have lost. This was a man who could be held up as a real role model for anyone. Had he faults? Of course. But, unlike so many of us, he strived to be the best he could be with the talents and resources God gave him.

May Ernie Harwell find peace in the arms of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. And, maybe, he will be announcing a heavenly baseball game.

Dust + Cold = Hibernation

Posted on January 4, 2010 by mlo

Yes, I am behind on writing posts. I got a new entertainment unit and, well, this has stirred up a great deal of dust. I’m allergic to dust. I also have an inspirational pekingese who has no desire to get up in the morning or afternoon. I believe 5:45 is evening.

Did I mention we have been in single digits?

I’m going to get back to posting what I normally do. But, all my DVDs and most of my VHS tapes now have a home. Next? The books, of course. I am even ridding myself of a few.

Anyone else tackling their media collections?

Howard Goodall’s Big Bangs (DVD)

Posted on September 14, 2009 by mlo

I am a complete ignoramus about music. When I was in school, we kept losing music teachers such that, since I was not forced into piano lessons, I never learned to read music. It is a woeful detriment that I may attempt to overcome someday. On the other hand, there is my husband who is a very talented musician and lover of music history. He got the utterly fascinating Howard Goodall’s Big Bangs from the library system and I was cursing him for keeping me from chores I needed to do.

Howard Goodall is probably best known to Americans as the person responsible for the music on Blackadder and Red Dwarf. He decided to turn his considerable talent on a project looking at the things that changed Western music in truly incredible ways.

Howard Goodall’s Big Bangs is two discs with 5 well-done documentaries on the history of Western Music.

The first episode is Notation. As someone with a lacking musical education, I did not realize that musical notation was a real newcomer in historical terms. (History buff here. If it isn’t at least 1,000 years old, it’s new.) Prior to this uniquely European invention, there was no way to save music in a fixed form. Various musical pieces were victimized by the old “telephone game” so that we will forever wonder how much of the original composer’s intent was still left of those pieces that predate notation.

The second episode is Equal Temperament. This one put me to sleep, but, it enthralled my mathematics loving husband. Yes, it was heavy on the math behind how the equal temperament unique to European music made European music much more standard. (According to DH, Arabic music has a different equal temperament. This discussion, however, is over my head.)

The third episode is Opera. I hate opera, but found the episode fascinating. (I hate opera because I feel physical pain from certain pieces when they are sung.) The story of opera is the story of revolution, it seems. It was, and is, a cheeky art that allows much that cannot be said plainly to be said via music and song.

The fourth episode is Piano. This made my internal engineer’s heart go pitter patter. Going over the precursors of the piano forte and following how this revolutionized composing so that a composer could “hear” in his mind what would be played in the concert hall.

The fifth episode is Recorded Sound. This goes through the how Edison’s invention revolutionized music and what is considered “good” music. It also showed how it created an equalizing influence on who could hear and support music while creating expectations of what might be played during a concert.

Howard Goodall’s Big Bangs is a wonderful romp through the history of Western music for both the musically literate and illiterate.

My Life In France

Posted on August 27, 2009 by mlo

Julia Child’s biography, My Life in France (Movie Tie-In Edition) (Random House Movie Tie-In Books), captures her life with her beloved husband, Paul Child, and her introduction to what would become her life’s work.

After living through the Pacific theater during World War II as an OSS agent, Julia found and married Paul Child beginning a life in the Foreign Service that led them, fatefully, to Paris, France. There, Julia found Le Cordon Bleu – with all of its grandeur and warts – where she learned the love and work that makes French cooking quintessentially French.

This is a story of a couple who found joy in living despite setbacks and heartbreaks that are only hinted at throughout the book – as well as the story of how a woman comes to her life’s calling. Julia and Paul came late to marriage, and dealt with all that that implies. Surviving the post-WWII European economy on a government salary with the stress that the post-war fear of communism brought within government circles was certainly not for the faint of heart. Without stating it, the support and love Julia had for Paul – and vice versa – shines through the pages.

Le Cordon Bleu was only a gateway to friendships that brought about the creation of The Art of French Cooking – Julia Child’s first major cookbook. Not a wealthy couple, Paul and Julia chose to befriend the local Parisians and find their way into the hidden treasures that only the bourgeoisie would know, after all, who can really afford to eat grand cuisine every day?

The fact that Julia’s major accomplishments were as a cookbook author, teacher, and tv personality, shows within this book that has no actual recipes. As she describes the various meals that were failures and successes it is as if the aromas overcome your senses. The descriptions of the food, ingredients, and cooking experiences – even without the recipes – are a major strength of the book. Of course, science has shown that smells are the fastest way to our memories. There are few things as amazing as the aroma’s wafting from a master cook’s kitchen – even if only in the imagining or remembering.

My Life in France (Movie Tie-In Edition) (Random House Movie Tie-In Books) was written in conjunction with Julia’s nephew who had to complete the book after her death. This book looked only at France and the beginnings of the series The French Chef. It barely touches on time in other European countries leaving a desire to know more of the Child’s adventures.

One unexpected pleasure are the many photographs by Paul Child interspersed throughout the book. The photos captured the sense in each chapter of what was happening to the couple and Julia. This is one of the times where photos were very well used within a non-fiction book. I admit to believing some very fine thought was put into the selection of which photographs would be included.

My Life in France (Movie Tie-In Edition) (Random House Movie Tie-In Books) is a book that anyone who wants to be inspired should read. It really shows that when we are open to possibilities there is no way of knowing what life might bring. How many women in their 40s find their life’s calling? Julia Child did and serves as an inspiration to anyone who finds a passion in life.

The Truth About Cancer (DVD)

Posted on August 12, 2009 by mlo

The Truth About Cancer is a documentary done by the widow of a mesothelomia patient left much to be desired. I know others found this to be a valuable DVD, but, honestly, it seemed too pat for my comfort.

As I have said many times before, my family is one that is much more comfortable with death than many. We have had miscarriage, stillbirth, dying, and even cancer as shared experiences. Is there sadness and loss? YES. But, we all know that this is a cycle within life. This movie seemed to be shocked by the idea that medicine will not save everyone and that death does come to many from cancer. I find that a very silly place to start because death comes to us all and can come at any moment.

There was no real recognition of the complexity that goes into why some get cancer and some don’t. (A mixture of genetics, mutations, environmental exposure all contribute. Outside of certain radiation caused cancers, there is never a single cause that affects everyone.)

These stories were more from the viewpoints of the doctors and those around the patients instead of allowing the patients to speak for themselves.

I may just not be the right target. I did not relate to the problems of the pancreatic cancer patient, the leukemia patient, or the woman’s husband as a cancer patient. I did not see my own family – or even my in-laws – in those surrounding these patients. The father of the woman who died from pancreatic cancer’s inability to allow her to settle on palliative care versus trying for yet another trial was so totally foreign that I felt – and my husband felt – a complete disconnect with these people.

Another major weakness with The Truth About Cancer was the use of a panel of physician cancer survivors instead of real people as the panel following the special. Physicians live and breathe the medical world and do not have to make the adjustments normal people do to manage their disease. They are often already on-site and are more able to control their schedules than anyone in the general public.

The Truth About Cancer was not about the far-reaching effects of cancer on patients, their families, and social circle. There was no discussion of the ways in which even those headed to remission lose careers, homes, and finances due to the demands of treatment. No in-depth discussion of what really goes into creating a hospice care plan in our very messed up insurance environment.

Overall, I found this to be extremely disappointing. But, well, I’m a really hard person to please on topics I know something about.

Boston Legal : Season 5, Episode 5 : The Bad Seed – Intelligent Show Shown Stupid

Posted on October 22, 2008 by mlo

Now, I realize that Boston Legal is a dramedy, but it is normally very intelligent and, well, not spewing nonsense. This is why, on the episode, The Bad Seed, I was, well, very disappointed in the fallacies propagated by the plotline regarding sperm donation. I realize the show is not set in reality, but, the intelligence of the majority of scripts made this very disappointing.

That they attacked a practice over 100 years old – sperm donation – without acknowledging that it is, indeed, a very old practice, is, well, irresponsible. Now, there are some very real issues surrounding sperm donation – especially anonymous donations – but many of the points that the Jerry character used were, well, not real. Many states have laws governing who “the father” is because of the realities of sperm donation through a little over 100 years of court cases. This is, in no way, a new phenomenon.

The idea that there was no way for the two children involved to know whether they were related or not without revealing the donor information, was, well, false. Genetic testing can tell whether people are related or not – at least close enough to determine whether there is an incestuous relationship! This is not a real issue, and weakens the real arguments about identity.

The idea that everyone has the right to know their biological or genetic parents – which, technically, are not the same thing in current science – is, well, not valid. Everyone has the right to have their family medical history where available – even those with knowledge of the parentage often do not have accurate family medical histories. And, everyone should have the opportunity to learn who their biological and genetic parents are as long as everyone involved consents. There are often valid reasons for identifying information not to be available. Those cases must be decided on their own unique merits.

Now, the question of children being denied their “identity” is not a new one. The issue has been being dealt with in the adoption world for decades now. Believe it or not, there is a divide among adoptees as to how much information is needed to fulfill that need. Not all adoptees feel the need to explore their biological / genetic roots! I am not, by saying this, disparaging the needs of those who desire to know about their origins. This is also a very valid need for those individuals. The reality is that sometimes, it just is not possible.

The show actually decreased my empathy for the argument of wanting to know by misrepresenting the options available and suggesting only wealthy parents turn to this option! It was a sad thing to see during National Infertility Awareness Week 2008. Of those pursuing fertility, a good portion are working and middle class men and women who want to build a family in the only means available to them.

There are a lot of things that people think they have the right to know. There are a lot of things that people decide that you or I would not agree with, but, ultimately, it is not their decision. With increases in genetic science, there is no reason a blood test to determine how closely related two people are could not be used to determine whether their union can be state sanctioned or not. We really aren’t that far from that considering how often we use such things for paternity testing already.

Will my view on this, being nuanced to include considerations for all parties involved – including society – get me flamed? Probably. It is not popular to say that one-size does not fit all, but really, one-size does not, ever fit all in any situation.

What do you think?

Boston Legal – TV Genius or “Hope springs a kernel.”

Posted on November 2, 2007 by mlo

“Two things this world has too much of — suffering and corn.” -Denny Crane

Warning: Post filled with spoilers for last Tuesday’s Boston Legal.

My husband and I love the TV show Boston Legal. It really lets all of the actors who are on it shine. We also love the way the show picks up on the current events in the nation and the world. Even things that are highly personal. It is one of those rare gems that magnifies the eccentricities of real life.

We have actually talked at length about the ‘sex offender’ laws and thought they were over broad. I have worked in the field and we have cops for relatives, so we aren’t just talking out of our hats when we say that there is only a small segment of the ‘sex offender’ population that is likely to fall into recidivism. Those are specifically the child molestors. Guess what? The majority of sex offenders are people who have been convicted of things like harassment, statutory rape when one was 17 to 20 and the other was just under the age of consent – think 15 to 17, etc. These folks are very unlikely to repeat their offense since the offense was one of circumstance rather than criminal intent. These laws do not discriminate between types of sex offenders.

I fully expected that the character who had been unjustly convicted of rape was going to be killed by one of the “good people of Middletown.” And, the priest was pretty much in character for the majority of priests my husband and I know. (Catholic school survivor here. Husband was invited “not to return” to a Catholic school due to his families’ divorce situation. In our minds, official Catholic Church = Hypocrisy.) One of the more compelling parts of the storyline has got to be Alan Shore’s admission of being a victim of statutory rape. What really happens when a young man becomes involved with a much, much older woman? Will he develop unhealthy sexual tendencies? Or is it, as so many songwriters contend, a rite of passage? Who knows? It really has never been addressed in the psychological or psychiatric literature. (Women’s victimization has been, however.)

I also thoroughly enjoyed the sociopathic woman client who waltzed right into Alan’s office seeking advice on how to kill her daughter’s murderer. This was too much fun to watch in some ways. She immediately went about orchestrating her trial. I have to wonder how they are going to play her up with any jury. She is coming across as rather cold and calculating, but, maybe she will seem a lot less so when in front of a jury. There are people who do this, and, yes, if they are wealthy or devious enough, they get away with murder. It does happen. The hope is that if they slip up again, they will pay through another crime. The police usually know who these folks are, but are not able, for a variety of reasons, to prove their case in court.

The ending sequence was the most bizarre, and somehow, ended up being personal for my husband and me. When Denny said:

“Hope springs a kernel”

Alan of course corrects him with the word “eternal.” This spirals into a discussion about corn and suffering. Denny then seals the scene with the words: