lunabee34

1. I just got a totally unexpected card from my parents with a check for huge sum of money. Dad gave my brother his old Easy Go golf cart, bought himself a new one, and sent us a check for what he estimates to be the price of the old one he gave my brother. I am utterly floored. So generous and amazing. We spent a large chunk of our savings on the new car after the accident with the bear, and I am starting to get the bills for all the bloodwork I had done. I just got the EOB for the bloodwork the rheumatologist did in the spring; it was sent to this special lab out in Arizona, which is obviously out of network LOL, and so looks like I'm going to be on the hook for $1500 worth of labs just for that visit alone, not to mention all the doc visits + labs this fall figuring out the mono. So this is timely and deeply appreciated.

2. GA is going blue!!!!!! Even if in the end the state still goes for Trump, I am feeling heartened that it is so close. Things are changing in this state, and that is powerful.

( cut for spoilers for latest SPN episode )

4.

Good Bones and Simple Murders by Margaret Atwood

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is my favorite Atwood short story collection (so far; I still have a couple of the most recent ones to read). It contains my two favorite short stories of hers--"Happy Endings" and "There Was Once." These are both excellent to teach; students respond really well to them.

She's so funny. The epigraph for "The Female Body" makes clear that someone has written about her work in an academic journal, saying that she's written extensively on the topic of the female body. The story begins: "I get up in the morning. My topic feels like hell." Maybe it won't translate as funny in this review, but I genuinely LOLed when I read that line.

Love these lines from "Homelanding" which remind me so much of Vandermeer's Southern Reach Trilogy: "teeth, by means of which I destroy and assimilate certain parts of my surroundings and change them into my self." (space between my and self is deliberate and lovely)

Highly recommended.

View all my reviews

Review of the Gotham mid-season finale: ( SPOILERS )

Review of the Lucifer mid-season finale: ( SPOILERS )

Emma and I are still rewatching SPN, and we just watched the episode where Dean is given the mark of Cain. In addition to the lovely Timothy Omundson, who I could watch all the live long day, I also love how much of a main character Crowley is now, and how sweet and wonderful Castiel is to Sam.

I have to say, though, I've got one major quibble, and it's not a new one. ( SPOILERS )

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/496725.html

1. Emma and I watched the premiere of Dirk Gently which we both enjoyed. ( SPOILERS )

2. OMG, SPN, this is why I can't truly quit you. Emma and I just watched "Bad Boys," and it was such a perfect episode. ( SPOILERS )

3. Gotham was brilliant. ( SPOILERS )

4. Lucifer was also fantastic. ( SPOILERS )

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/491647.html

1. ( cut for talk of weight loss ) :D

2. ( Gotham )

3. Best episode of Lucifer ever or bestest episode of Lucifer ever?! ( Lucifer )

4. ( Downton )

4. Emma and I watched some more SPN last night, and I was really annoyed by Dean. It was the episode where Cas is working at the gas station, and Dean is a dick about Cas working there, like he thinks it's demeaning or only about him trying to sleep with a girl. No, Dean, Cas is working at a gas station because he has no money and nowhere to sleep or live and nothing to eat, and you threw him out of a safe refuge and left him to fend for himself when he has very few real world skills, and you're going to scoff at him for working so he can eat and for taking pride in that work? Oh, fuck you very much Dean Winchester. You have been a very tone deaf asshole this episode. Wow.

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/490953.html

Emma and I are a couple discs into season three of SPN,and this is the moment when their regard for the hosts of demons starts changing, and it's *Sam* leading that charge. I had misremembered Dean as the original main offender, but no. It's Sam.

We know for certain, for example, that Casey in "Sin City" would have survived if Sam had allowed the demon to depart her body; the demon is pretty clear about taking good care of Casey's body. Similarly, with the Crossroads Demon, I've always had the impression that it just jumps into the nearest pretty girl. No reason to believe she couldn't have survived either.

I mean, the gun itself ensures that the host dies, too (Ruby's knife as well although compunction at human death is not one of her key traits). I want somebody to write a fic that starts, "Back in 1835, Samuel Colt made a gun. And then he was really, really, really sad about it and never told anybody else how to make bullets for it because he hated watching people die. That's why he became a hunter. To keep people from dying."

I'm jesting a bit here. I know that within the narrative of the show, sometimes the host has to die. But the boys get so cavalier about it eventually, and this is the start of that slippery slope.

In other news from this rewatch, how freaking much was I pulling on the first watch for Ruby to be another Spike. I was deeply disappointed when she turned out to be a bad guy. One of the problems I've always had with the show is that there's no consistent voice of dissent, no consistent outside voice of reason or point of view. Bela was this. Ruby was this. Castiel is this sometimes. But I wanted her to be this morally gray character that helped them sometimes and did things they thought were wrong sometimes but was a part of the group.

Have some Yuletide recs.

Plus One by

executrix
Empire
Jamal/Michael
I don't watch this show, but I love everything Exec writes. If she wanted to write about the ingredient list on a cereal box, I guarantee it would be worth reading.

Saving Alex and Lee by randomizer
Anthropomorphic
This is a lovely piece of meta about fandom and fandom tropes. I think it's very clever.

A Normal First Date by alyoraShadow
Fionavar Tapestry
Dave/Kimberly
What's that date like now that Dave and Kimberly are back on Earth? I really like fics that explore what the two of them would do after Fionavar.

The Spirits of the Dead by Galadriel
The Following
Ryan Hardy/Joe Carroll
I am thoroughly ecstatic with the story I received for Yuletide this year, so what I am about to say is not a slam on my story at all. The story Galadriel wrote is exactly what I was hoping for if someone chose to write me The Following. This is Ryan hallucinating Joe while he seeks revenge, and well, it's perfect.

Touch the Sky by anr
Galaxy Quest
Jason/Gwen
I love this look at what their relationship would be like post-canon.

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/459899.html

1. Every time I'm watching Food Network, and a soul food place is featured, my immediate thought is: no way in hell I'm paying good money for shit I can make at home. LOL The exception is well done fried foods because frying food is hard (especially chicken OMG; so sad the handful of times I tried to fry chicken; so sad indeed that we had to go spend too much money on sushi instead), and Lorraine does not fry foods. I'm sure many of you feel the same way about other foods that you're adept at cooking. Tell me about the food you'd never pay for at a restaurant.

2. Bela Talbot is awesome. Awesome, awesome, awesome. We just watched "Bad Day at Black Rock," and laughed our asses off. Her story arc is so satisfying to me (if perhaps for the wrong reasons); I always wonder if they meant to end her character that way or if the writer's strike was a factor. I've only seen BBaBR once, and so when Bela says, "We're all going to hell. Might as well enjoy the ride," my heart stuck in my throat. If only Dean and Sam knew why she'd made the deal, they'd be her biggest champion. The Winchesters do not truck with child abuse, and they would be super sympathetic to a desperate child making a desperate decision. That she dies without them knowing the truth kills me in the most delicious way. This hadn't occurred to me when I first watched, but Bela probably started sourcing and fencing magical items as a way to try to protect herself or figure a way out of the deal.

3. I'm asking my comp students to actually familiarize themselves with the platforms of the Republican and Democratic parties for their final argumentative essay this semester. I just finished writing the assignment. This is going to be interesting for certain values of interesting. LOL In related news, Emma's teachers keep endorsing various Republican candidates during class; one of them is very sad that Ben Carson did so poorly at the caucus.

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/459770.html

No new NCIS tonight, so I have some time to kill. Love to talk to anyone who's around.

Here's what's been going on with me lately:

1. Josh has been sick pretty much all of January. He catches respiratory illnesses like cotton socks catch burrs. He has the immune system of an Ancient dying of the plague. He finally went to the doc again, and will now be taking Singulair and Flonase every day and he's adding echinacea and vitamin C to his regular vitamin regimen. Any suggestions for other things he could do to improve immune health?

2. I've been trying to up my game with self-care. My skin has been so dry because of the Hashimoto's, and so have my eyes. My eyes had gotten so dry that my vision was frequently blurry. I've been using eye drops, and the fish oil I've been taking has really helped. My nostrils had gotten painfully dry, and I've finally gotten them under control with a cocktail of Clinique Moisture Surge, Gold Bond Eczema Lotion, and a smidge of Nystantin just in case they were actually getting infected. I have to watch out for the tops of my eyelids, too; they get flaky unless I keep them super hydrated.

3. Emma and I are having so much fun watching Supernatural. I love Bobby and Ellen and Jo so much. We watched Born Under a Bad Sign tonight, and I love how early on Bobby is willing to go to bat for them (he knows possessed!Sam killed Wandell but isn't going to tell), and I love how hot that scene is when possessed!Sam is twirling Jo's hair with the knife. *fans face* It didn't occur to me on first watch, but wow at how pissed Meg had to be to screw up her daddy's plans for Sam to get revenge.

Emma's also picked up on some interesting things that didn't occur to me on first watch. So in Crossroads Blues, after Dean kisses the crossroads demon, Emma turns to me and says, "So, did John have to kiss the Yellow Eyed Demon?" And I was all, "OMG, he did! He did!" It's a bit of a retcon that we see the YED later making deals of his own when he tells John in In My Time of Dying that he can't swing saving Dean but he knows somebody who can, but I think that's just the YED keeping what he can and can't do close to the vest.

4. Emma's watching Fairy Tale. She watched all the dubbed on Netflix, and is now watching the subbed on Crunchroll. She's super invested in the Gratsu ship; I tried to find her some fic that would be appropriate for her to read, but everything on the first page was rapery and bizarre crossover. LOL Anybody familiar and have some recs?

What's going on with y'all?

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/458761.html

1. Our good friends who give Emma the best presents and keep her in anime and manga sent her Cowoby Bebop for Christmas last year, and we didn't get around to watching it until this fall because we were watching Psych, and at seven seasons, it took us most of the year to finish the show.

Josh and I had watched in college, but my memory was super shaky. Josh apparently rewatches it once a year, but I'd only seen it the once nearly twenty years ago. I remembered what the characters looked like, the music, and how silly Ed is, but that was about it.

Emma loved it; how could you not? It's a great series. Lots of humor, lots of angst, sentient puppy. Pretty much perfect. We were both blindsided by the end, though. I'd forgotten that ( spoilers )

2. So Emma has started spending more time online. Her favorite pastime is googling stuff and looking at pictures. Somehow, she started googling Supernatural stuff and independently of watching any episodes decided that Castiel is the best and Destiel is the ship to ship. She'd come show me some Dean gif she found or some chibi Castiel fanart and squee and squee.

I asked her if she ever saw anything weird or that made her uncomfortable when she was googling stuff, and she said, "Oh, no, Mom. Google images don't truck with that." I told this to Josh, and he said, "That's because when I set up her tablet, I set her safety settings to only show pictures of baby tigers and Jesus." I died laughing.

Anyway, we started watching season 1 a few weeks ago. I was worried it would be too scary for her, but it's not. It's not as scary as I remember it being either.

Man, I love those first seasons. Dean doesn't have his Batman voice yet, and Sam's hair is so fantastic, and they both grin so pretty. And it's always raining so the car looks like a wet dream, literally. And the music, the music, the music. I hate how far the show eventually strays from that glorious use of music in the first few seasons. It's fun remembering little things, like how the end of season one with Sam slamming the trunk is the mirror image of the end of season two when Dean does the same.

3. Emma started watching Fairy Tale, which she loves, and is shipping the two male lead characters. She has drawn fan art of them and taped it to her wall. She says things like, "I know they're setting up Lucy and Gray as endgame, but it should be Grey and Natsu. It should be Gratsu, Mom."

When she's ready for it (someday in the future), there's like a thousand fics on AO3. LOL

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/458048.html

( Big Bang Theory )

( The Following )

( Penny Dreadful )

And now for some nostalgia:

( SPN )

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/432304.html

1. Pick a character I've written and I will explain the top five ideas/concepts/etc I keep in mind while writing that character that I believe are essential to accurately depicting them.

2. Josh went in for a crown and was treated to the joy of a root canal. *full body shudder*

3. You know how sometimes you think about this dude you know, "That is a five year old trapped in the body of a full grown man," but then you realize that you've parented a five year old and she was way more mature at five?

4. I enjoyed last night's SPN episode. ( SPOILERS )

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/368225.html

My reactions to this week's TV

( SPOILERS FOR RAISING HOPE )

( SPOILERS FOR NEW GIRL )

( SPOILERS FOR SPN )

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/367956.html

I meant to make this post last week, but we went out of town on Thursday, and I didn't want to make this kind of post and then not be able to respond to comments.

So. Last week's episode of Supernatural--BEST EPISODE OF SPN IN YEARS! I was glued to my seat the whole time.

I didn't realize the ep was so polarizing until Sue called to tell me. LOL What did y'all think?

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/366425.html

Why? Why? Why?

I have dissolved into a puddle of giggles. A puddle. An arthritic puddle. (Damn it, knee! Get with the program!)

Yeah. *wipes eyes*

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/366065.html

At least halfway.

I can no longer justify missing Modern Family, which is consistently awesome and funny, hitting notes of utter hilarity and lump-in-throat pathos multiple times in a single episode, for whatever it is you think you're doing here.

( SPOILERS )

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/364857.html

( New Girl )

( Dexter )

( SPN )

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/363996.html

( SPOILERS FOR DEATH'S DOOR )

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/338929.html

So here's the thing: I have been pleasantly surprised by this season of SPN. I didn't really care for season 6, and I was expecting to be bored and disappointed with season 7. Joy of all joys, I am digging the show again. Last Friday's episode with James Marsters and Charisma Carpenter was a heck of a lot of fun in particular.

And yet. And but.

I realize this resembles nothing so much as a whine, but ( Spoilers for SPN season and also possibly unfair comparisons to Rodney McKay )

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/334899.html

I was 100% prepared for this season premiere to suck. I really wasn't all that fond of most of last season and firmly believe that they should have ended the show with season 5.

Well, hallelujah I was wrong!

( SPOILERS! )

Your thoughts?

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/332571.html

SPN tonight was beyond awesome.

It was funny. It was meta-tastic. And I have the feeling that the inside jokes are legion. I'm gonna have to find some hardcore fangirl's review to figure them all out.

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE

I wish they would abandon the serious plot and just do silly episodes for the rest of the season. I mean--Season Six. LOL It's already gone on too long. Give me some more funny!

( SPOILER ALERTS FOR EXILE ON MAIN STREET )

That got *long*.

Whew.

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Entries tagged with episode reviews: spn

this is the good shit

So much TV to review

Episode reviews

TV!

I can put my finger on it

some random thoughts

Random Talking Points

Emma the Teenage Fanlette (she's graduated from fanlet)

Some Thoughts on TV

Meme +

sit around and watch the tube

SPN "Bitten"

What just happened on my TV?

We're breaking up, SPN.

New Girl, SPN, Dexter reviews: SPOILERS!

SPN: Death's Door

Potentially Unpopular Fannish Opinions

I am the Lord, your God: SPOILERS for SPN premiere

so, mishamigos

I'll look it up on the intranet