Supernatural

The boys are back! I must have missed an episode somewhere, though (unbelievable!), because I had no idea who the Ghost Facers were. However, that made it no less funny.

I was going to say a lot more, but then things got busy, and now I'm out of time, so I'll just sum it up thusly: new SupernaturalYAAAAY!

Also, before I go: Rickroll cake!

Have a good weekend, folks.

250: It's a (jump)start. Also, Jensen on TVG

After a week of fiddling with my outline to work in the Big Fix, this morning I finally sat my butt in the chair and typed out 250 fresh new words on the novel. I don't know yet whether they'll be keepers, but considering it's 250 words more than I've written in the previous two months, for now I'll take them. At any rate, The Hero Factor is moving forward again, and it feels fabulous.

I think 250 words/day is a goal that's both reasonable and attainable. The thought of keeping up my 1,000/day quota had become as intimidating and discouraging as Tyra Banks on an ANTM panel (note to Ebony: good for you, chica! [/digression]). 250, I can do. It might not sound like a lofty goal, but it's an accomplishable goal that will result in progress, nevertheless. I'm all for progress.

The important thing is, I'm writing again. Whee!

***

In TVBF news, TVGuide.com has posted an interview with Jensen Ackles. I've not had time to read it yet, so I don't know if it gets spoilery. Read at your own risk.

Mmm, Dean.

Oh! And in Supernatural news, last week I FINALLY got Husband to watch it with me. It was just an amazingly fortuitous coincidence that it happened to be a Ben Edlund-scripted ep. Needless to say, he liked it, and plans to keep watching it. Here's hoping the non-Edlund writing can continue to live up to the pretty high bar that last week set for his expectations.

Speaking of supernatural...

Now it's officially a theme.

This morning I stumbled upon this ghost pic thread at Rotten Tomatoes and spent a ridiculous amount of time there ensuring that I will never, ever fall asleep without the lights on again. Yeeeeeee!

I've had more than a few episodes throughout my lifetime that are reminiscent of some of the occurrences relayed in this thread. Most of them, while freaking me right the hell out in the beginning, have since been explained away as night terrors and sleep paralysis (a sleep mask, St. John's Wort and a squirt of Afrin at bedtime to control my apnea symptoms seems to keep them at bay); but there have been other experiences during waking hours that are just too spooky and upsetting to contemplate.

Have I mentioned that I still have nightmares about frigging Samara and her stupid frigging well? Now I'm afraid she'll be in good company. If you're like me and stuff like this creeps you out on a level that's lasting and just plain not fun, then you might want to skip that thread. I kinda wish I did.

So why can't I stop hitting refresh?

TV Boyfriend Tuesday #1: Supernatural Edition

It's time to up the shallowness quotient here at Sparkle Motion (is that even possible?) by introducing TV Boyfriend Tuesdays! This is intended to become a regular weekly feature, so if you'd like to see someone other than All James Marsters, All The Time, leave a comment to let me know who your TV Boyfriends are, and I'll see what I can dig up. Then we can all sit back and enjoy the eye candy.

I'm actually betraying my loyalty to my James for this first edition, because this interview with Eric Kripke (spoiler warning) has put me in a Supernatural kind of mood. Though, really, that's becoming increasingly easy to do these days. So without further ado, I present to you the pretty, squared.



The boys with guns. So intense! And intensely purty.





Another gun pick. I'm not sure what it says about me that I like the boys with the guns.



Guh. This one makes Jensen a contender for my new top TV boyfriend. Don't tell Spike!



As does this one. This is a pretty Dean-loaded post, isn't it? I'm sorry, Sammy fans. Maybe this last one will make it up to you (click to embiggen):



Guh. That is all.


***

Stay tuned for next TV Boyfriend Tuesday, when we can all ogle... who? I don't know yet. You tell me.

Weekend Pop Culture Roundup

May is probably not the best time to start a regular feature that mainly focuses on what I watched on TV, considering that the current season is about to wrap up. But summer will bring with it plenty of its own TV goodness, plus we're sure to see more than our usual share of movies, so I'm sure there will still be plenty to talk about once May is over. At any rate, here are brief, single-paragraph reviews of the things that fed my brain over the weekend. All but the first two entries contain spoilers, so if you haven't seen/read them and don't want to be spoiled, just don't read past the title.

In theaters: Hot Fuzz - The reviews were split for this one in the Bauhaushold. It's not quite the laugh-out-loud hilarity of Shawn of the Dead, but even so, I loved it. Matt, however, didn't, and thought it was a major let-down. He thought this movie had less heart than Shawn, but I think it just had its heart in a different place. Where Shawn was, in essence, a romantic comedy, Hot Fuzz is in essence a classic Buddy Cop movie, and I thought it hit every note it was trying to hit perfectly. Also, I laughed. A lot.

From Netflix: Casino Royale - Not a huge fan of Bond movies, but I liked this one. Mostly because Daniel Craig is a beautiful specimen of manhood, and I am a shallow, shallow gal.

On the TiVo: Heroes - First, I was relieved to find out that Sylar, and not Peter, was really the man-bomb--and not just because future Peter was Teh Sexay--until I found out he wasn't, and that he was posing as Nathan, at which point I actually shouted "OH MY GOD!" at my TV, and then I couldn't decide whether I was more sad that Nathan was dead or relieved that he wasn't an evil genocidal hypocrite. The sad thing, of course, is that I totally believed Nathan could turn into an evil genocidal hypocrite. Also: Bennett's still my daddy.

Grey's Anatomy - The part of the show that was actually the show was rather meh. I have to say, I heartily do not approve of this Izzie & George business. This has Marti "Let's make Buffy a rape victim!" Noxon written all over it. Also, yes, we GET IT: it sucks to be Meredith. As for the part of the show that was really a pilot for Kate Walsh's new spin-off vehicle, I'm in favor of anything that heavily features both TimDaly AND Taye Diggs. Did you see the part up there where I'm shallow?

America's Next Top Model - ...speaking of shallow. Man, Brittney was my girl, until she went and unequivocally proved her immaturity to her haters and made a complete embarrassment of herself and anyone rooting for her. Now I think I'm actually kind of secretly rooting for Renee, mainly because I think she's achieved more self-awareness than anyone else in the competition this "cycle," and because I can't help feeling for the girl that everybody hates, even if it is because she started out being a heinous bitch to each and every one of them. But if you ask me, I'll probably say I'm rooting for Natasha, because only the hardest of hearts could remain untouched by that level of naivete.

On live TV: The Amazing Race - Up until last week, I was rooting for Danny and Oswald, so for me it once again came down to trying to decide which would be the least objectionable victory. I actually went with Eric and Danielle, only because they had so much bad luck thrown at them over the course of the race, and managed to get yielded TWICE, and so I thought it would be damned impressive if they won, which they did, so... yay, I guess?

In comics: Buffy: Season 8 #3 - HA! It was Ethan, which also triggered MY "barflex." And triple HA! to Buffy's threesome fantasies. Really, who can blame her? Of course, the big question is, who kissed her? I don't believe it was Xander, as he's obviously moved on to yet another Slayer crush. Also, Warren: Eek! And eew.

Supernatural: Origins #1 - Even wee Dean is a total woobie. I'm sure that comes as a surprise to no one. I liked this... it's an intriguing story, tracing a believable path from how Daddy Winchester went from a stunned and clueless victim to badass vengeful demon hunter. I just wish I could say the same for the artwork. Yuck-o.

Of course, if you're following any of these series, I would love to discuss them with you in the comment thread. Here, let me get you started: Dean Winchester, Peter Petrelli, or James Bond: who's prettier?

This is why I can't give up my television.

I actually got to watch some TV in real time last night, and what a great night of television viewing it was. Survivor delivered possibly the best episode ever, with some of the most awesome sneaking and double-dealing and actual smart game-play I've ever seen on this show. I didn't even know smug, self-satisfied smirks could turn into "Oh crap!" faces that fast. Plus, everybody hates Stacey! Whee!

That was followed with an equally awesome and meta-fabulous Supernatural, which took the opportunity of finding the boys on a haunted horror movie set to give wonderfully in-jokey nods to everything from Padalecki's Gilmore Girl's background to Vancouver's posing as Hollywood to McG's sheer McG-ness. All of that, and Jensen channeling classic Bruce Willis, too. I know a lot of people hate it when shows go all meta, but I can't get enough of that stuff. This show is beginning to kick so many kinds of hinder.

Got some love to share

Firstly, if you haven't yet read Geek Monthly's four-part interview with Joss Whedon, then you are a sad, deprived soul. Of course, if you're avoiding spoilers for Buffy: Season Eight, then you need to stay deprived. Me, I'm not exactly whoring for spoilers, but I'm not running from them, either, and I will simply tell you this: I'm about as excited for this comic as I would be if they brought back the show. It's all I can do not to let myself start writing fanfic again. The article in question can be found here: 1, 2, 3, and 4.

As if the comic's mere pending existence weren't excitement enough, Dark Horse is also teaming with Joss for an essay contest. In 250 words or less, explain how Buffy has impacted your life. Joss himself will pick the winner, who will subsequently find themselves written into the comic. This is the closest to actually getting to become part of the Buffyverse that any of us are likely to ever get.

Moving along to Buffy's lovechild (with X-Files being the baby-daddy), TV Guide has a mildly spoilery (but not really too revealing) interview with Erik Kripke about the future of Supernatural. If you haven't given this show a chance lately, then you don't know what you're missing. Think X-Files as re-imagined inside the Whedonverse with all of its accompanying angst, where all of the monsters are real, and Agent Scully is neither a skeptic nor a woman, but just really effective at stomping monster ass. I haven't seen this week's ep yet (it's on the TiVo), but I hear that this one was more reminiscent than ever of X-F's quirky humor stylings. Also, I have to confess an unabashed love of late 1970s stadium rock (blame my brother), and the minute this show's soundtrack is released on CD, I'm so there.

If I haven't managed to convince you, then head over to the Whedonesque thread where I picked up the link, and read all of the SPN love spilling all over the comment trail.

Dear Mr. Kripke:

Can Ben Edlund please write more episodes? I wouldn't even object to having him write ALL of the episodes, but I understand that's probably a bit too much to ask. So, probably, is getting him to turn Dean and Sam into puppets, but I wouldn't mind that either.

This show keeps getting better and better. Please keep it up.

Love,
Jean

Marsters and Ackles in one place? *dies* Also: Hi, we're twelve.

My fellow Supernatural junkies might want to check out this interview with the show's creators. It's vaguely spoilery, in the way that they speak vaguely of what's to come without going into any specifics. Here's some non-spoilery highlights:

- Singer would really like for James Marsters to guest star at some point. That might be more pretty all in one place than I can handle. But I'll do my best if it ever happens.

- DC and Wildstorm are doing a prequel comic that will follow Daddy Winchester and how he became a demon hunter.

- Kripke confirms that Tessa the Reaper was indeed based on Death from Sandman. Like there was ever any doubt.

~~~~

I'm about halfway caught up on my filing, no thanks to my dear husband. I should have added "no text messaging" to yesterday's list of no-nos. I killed about thirty minutes this morning with the following exchange:

Him (randomly): Flash! Ah-ah...

Me: He'll save every one of us!

Him: Well I spoke to Flash, and he said he can get me out of this, but he's pretty sure you're fucked. Ha! Ah-aaaah!

Me (more randomly): Juno [from The Descent] was the native princess in "Jeremiah Chrichton" and the meds smuggler in "The Great Raid."

Him: Huh. And I didn't even recognize her.

Me: Your special powers of actor recognition have failed you! Now who's fucked?

Him: Weeeak.

Me: :p

...

It's good that I married a fellow twelve-year-old.

Dear Supernatural:

I love you. I think you're awesome. Such is your charm that by the end of your first season I managed to make myself forget and forgive that you do absolutely no research whatsoever into anything at all, ever, and pretty much pull everything out of your collective butt, particularly when it comes to settings. I mean, you took Amber Benson and made her into a hot vampire, and she's not the first former Buffy-verse actress you've given work to, so that right there gives you enormous credit in my book. Plus, y'know, Jensen. But when you try to make Vancouver pass for Oklahoma? Any part of Oklahoma, which is actually a pretty geographically diverse state, but still, totally not Canada? It just doesn't work. Especially when you stick a huge effing gorge in the middle of a town that's flat as a pancake and has no waterways. Please stop it. You're seriously interfering with my suspension of disbelief.

But not with the love. That is yours indefinitely.

Love,
Okie Jean