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Saturday, December 1, 2012

Time for Some Gender Swapping!

I've decided that I want to gender swap my favorite TV shows and/or movies. I want you to appreciate how hard this is going to be for me. I gender swapped Oz and Wesley in my recasting of Buffy in a previous post, but Mae Whitman and Felicia Day specifically came to mind for those characters. Here, I'm going to have to do it kind of backwards I guess. No female comes immediately to mind when thinking of, say, the 11th Doctor.

Today, I'm going to focus on Supernatural for two reasons. First, I love it. Minus most of season 6 and all of season 7, of course. If I had gotten into this show earlier, I probably would have stopped somewhere in season 6. But I didn't, so I was able to power through 6 and 7 and so far season 8 has generally left me with hope. Thus, my obsession is going strong, if not in full swing.

Second, one of the things I hate about Supernatural is how all the women are either evil or die. Or both. It doesn't keep me from enjoying the show, but it does cause a lot of eye rolling. Because seriously, every single woman. Dead and/or evil. It gets old. This is just a thing to help me feel like I'm getting just a little bit of revenge.

So, without further ado, Supernatural Gender Swap!



1. Dean Winchester: Emma Stone ('Dean' - it's totally a girls name too)


My first instinct was to go with Sarah Michelle Gellar, but I thought that was a bit lazy. Buffy and Dean are almost the same person. In fact, the more I think about it, the more money I'd put on Eric Kripke creating Dean as an homage to Buffy. Besides Sarah, I thought a few people would be able to pull off the oft-closed and sarcastic yet emotional Dean Winchester. Eliza Dushku, Amy Acker, and Emily Blunt also came to mind, but Emma Sone won out.

2. Sam Winchester: Emma Watson ('Sami' or just 'Sam'.)



I had a couple other actresses in mind for Sam, but then I remembered Sam needed to be younger than Dean. I actually had to look up actresses born after Emma Stone (1988 apparently). I came across Emma Watson's name and thought it would be a good fit. She can do the borderline self-righteous, introspective, addict. Looks-wise, the two Emmas (ah! E-squared! Perfect!) have nothing in common besides the fact that they're both beautiful, but that's all Jensen and Jared (J-squared, for all you non-SPNers) have in common too, so it works. Also, she can do the puppy dog eyes.

3. Castiel: Summer Glau ('Castiel' could go both ways. Shortened version would be 'Cass' with two s's, because why not?)

 

Is there really any other choice for a female Cas? Summer can pull off just about anything. Including the sexy, oblivious, socially awkward, badass, scary, loyal, strangely literal angel. Although it would be a waste to use Summer Glau if Castiel didn't do more hand-to-hand combat. Cause she kind of rocks at that. I want to go watch Serenity now...

4. Bobby Singer: Toni Collette ('Bobbi')

 

Because she can do anything. United States of Tara alone should prove that. And she really would make a great alcoholic father (or I guess mother) figure. Also because I love her so much. Mainly because she can do anything.

5. Crowley: Christina Hendricks (Since 'Crowley' is a last name, I'm sticking with this one too. I love how unisex all these names are!)



Crowley. One of my favorite characters played by one of my favorite actors. The King of Hell. Sarcastic, hilarious, crazy scary, making you laugh one minute and cutting someone's finger off the next. He's only in it for himself and he'll do whatever he needs to in order for him to survive. Not only do both Mark Sheppard and Christina Hendricks define sex appeal (although let's be honest, no one holds a candle to Hendricks in that department), but I think she would be fantastic at owning the characteristics of Crowley. Christina Hendricks - the Queen of Hell.

In trying to come up with character number six, I decided to look at IMDB to see who has been in more episodes than a handful, and I'm realizing that this is not even a little bit of an ensemble cast. Over 150 episodes and Jim Beaver (Bobby) has been in 54, Misha Collins (Castiel) has been in 49, and Mark Sheppard (Crowley) has been in 19. Those numbers may be a little out dated, but it can't be by all that much. The dumb show kills off too many people! Meaning everyone. If they aren't already dead, every person in this show has died at one point or another. In the case of Dean, multiple times. I feel like I usually watch ensemble shows. This, and I guess Doctor Who, being the exceptions.

I'll stop there for now. The character with the next most appearances is John Winchester (played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Beautiful father to two beautiful boys... even though he's I think 12 years older than Jensen Ackles) and he's at 13 episodes. Mostly I'm just lazy right now though.

IT Friday Rant

The following is an email exchange among the IT professionals in the school district my dad works for.

My dad is JC. Keep that in mind as you read the longest (and in my opinion, best) email.

RP

OK, its "Holy What the Frak Batman" day. 
[rant redacted]
yep, Holy What The Frak


JW
Well frakin' thanks for the heads up! 
[commiseration regarding the rant]
Happy Friday!

KA
"Frakin" really? That is so new-version-Battlestar-Galactica. :)

NM
Well all I can say is, "isn't that special!" 

AM
All I can say is, "Gorrammit!" (Firefly).

RP
Firefly For The WIN!

GH
Okay this has got to stop! 

You have to keep the geek references to the standard material that has already been approved for use in emails - Star Wars and Star Trek with an occasional exception for Battlestar Galactia - but no more... otherwise where will it end?

What's next? References to Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory?

RP
Was that sarcasm? Oh dang, I'm 8 of 24 for the month.

TH
Klaatu barada nikto

KA
BAZINGA!!!!

JW
Whatch you talkin' bout Willis??

RP
All your base are belong to us

RP
*knock knock* Kirk *Knock Knock* Kirk *KNOCK KNOCK* KIRK

AA
I'm exhausted!
Is it just me, or are circles pointless?

JC
Here is the list of approved sources for geekly quotes and references:
Star Trek (all except Enterprise)
Star Wars (IV, V, & VI); you must be granted preapproval by all involved to use I, II, or III
Battlestar Galactica (all)
Firefly
Serenity
Galaxy Quest
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (all five books in the 'trilogy' as well as the BBS TV series; the movie and the original radio dramas are not included)
Dr. Who (all seasons)

With consent from the parties involved in the conversation: 
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Buffy
Angel
The Fifth Element
Eureka
Warehouse 13
The Lost Room
Starship Troopers
Supernatural

No one is expected to know all reference material from all sources, but if a reference is heard that is not recognized by a party that others recognize, that individual is expected to chuckle and nod knowingly anyway.

If material is repeatedly used from unapproved sources to such an extent as to cause blank stares from others (or the electronic equivalent of same), the individual may be asked to turn in their geek badge, which will be replaced with a nerd medallion. After a suitable amount of time, the person may ask to be reinstated into geek society.

Note: there are separate lists maintained for other genres (horror, pop culture, daytime TV, etc. To gain access to those lists, you will need to apply for membership to the specific organization. Most have reciprocal membership agreements, but membership in the daytime TV group is reason for exclusion from all other groups. 

Since there is a reciprocal agreement between pop culture and geek culture, the "Whatchya talkin' 'bout Willis?" reference is acceptable. There were some that should have been pre-approved, but they will be overlooked this time. 

RP
OK, that was a trick set of guidelines. Enterprise had no memorable quotes.

JC
That's why it is on the exclude list.

RC
Another trick guide gottcha,

If Hitchhikers' Guide is on the approved list, yet "all five books in the 'trilogy' as well as the BBS TV series; the movie and the original radio dramas are NOT included" what, if anything from hitchhikers is actually admissible?

As Marvin the Paranoid Android (and Eeyore) might say, 'This won't end well'

JC
You have to pay attention to the semicolon. That means each phrase can stand alone. Therefore, the books and the TV series are included. The movie and radio dramas are excluded.

DD
But to call oneself a geek, you are expected to know these things. So people be prepared to hand in that Geek Card.

AA
"I've seen the future. It's rubbish." (guess who?) 

AM
I'm invoking executive privilege, and unequivocally vetoing Supernatural. Any series whose writers reference the use of "Pure brass" (Brass being an ALLOY) cannot in good conscience be given a second glance by any self-respecting geek, or organization thereof.

Supernatural is an epic fail. The writing is bad, and you should feel bad. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

MC
So..... No 50 Shades of Grey references? What about Twilight?

GH
Oh I have a very bad feeling about this...

RT
Will these be monitored by LightSpeed? ed.(our content filter)

TH
Anyone found guilty of making a Twilight reference will be sent back to Junior High School where they belong.

JW
I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

JC
I think I just threw up a little bit in the back of my throat.

JW
I believe the appropriate metaphor here involves a river of excrement and a Native American water vessel without any means of propulsion. 

MC
TH, don't give me that crap. I've seen you dress up as Mr. Incredible, so I'm free to reference my "inner junior high girl" phase at any time. 

KA
Sorry GH, that falls in the Star Wars non-inclusive section, No Soup For You! Come Back One Year!

JW
I hate to be the one to correct you but they say that in all the Star Wars episodes

JH
Do literary work quotes count?
"Damn it all, this is a monstrous piece of defiance!" Homer's Odyssey
It's just super fun to say.

JW
I don't recall the Simpson's being noted in the 'Approved References'.
Sorry JH, it is fun to say though.

JC
Or in Homer's original - 
Να πάρει όλα, αυτό είναι ένα τερατώδες κομμάτι της περιφρόνησης!

But it's all Greek to me.

JH
Indeed, wow the Greek looks incredible.

KA
More to the point JC, "it's all Geek to you" 

RP
But is it as super fun to say in the original Greek?

RP
You're right, thats no moon....

RP
Due to the IP sharing, and cross licensing agreements with other memes like pop culture, I'm gonna have to allow the Simpsons.

JC
Don't know about any of you, but I'm kind of glad RP had to put up with the stuff from [redacted]. The resulting conversation has made this a most enjoyable Friday. Enjoy your weekend!

KA
You too JC (and everyone else)
Live long and prosper

AA
Indeed! 

RP
Never give up, never surrender.

TH
Sambe'lu'

RP
Hey, Is that some of those Chinese swears that Firefly is famous for?

TH
Am I the only one who speaks any Klingon here? Come on guys.

RP
ghobe'
Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam
Qapla'

TH
maj



A few stray observations of my own:
1. I really like my dad
2. IT professionals have abismal grammar
3. Not one mention of Lord of the Rings? Come on!
4. AM has obviously not watched seasons four and five of Supernatural

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Time to be Thankful and Stuff

It's that time of year again (at least for Americans... do American Indians celebrate Thanksgiving?). People are giving thanks shortly before acting like the rabid consumer society we are. I may not participate in Black Friday (maybe if you paid me to), but I still want to tell you all what I'm thankful for. I'll skip the givens - family, friends, etc. You know who you are and you know I love your faces. No, this year, I'm focusing on my geek love. This blog has increasingly turned into a geek one, and I may as well continue with the trend. Plus there were plenty of things to nerdgasm over this year.

So, without further ado, the four geek things I'm thankful for this year in no particular order.

1. Women in genre films













It's almost like filmmakers are finally starting to get it. Women can be smart, strong, independent, conflicted, sexy, make mistakes, and make your movie money all at the same time. Who knew that people would enjoy seeing women portrayed as people?

It all started this year with Katniss Everdeen. I hadn't read the Hunger Games books although I had been told countless times that I needed to. Spring Break was the week the first movie came out and I decided that's how I would spend my time off. Who knew I would get through the first book in a day? The movie is by no means among my favorites, but I did enjoy it and I loved how Katniss was portrayed in the film. Plus, huge box office numbers with a female lead in an action movie. This was a HUGE gamble (or so the movie executives thought) and it paid off, cause guess what? Not only do women make up about half of the movie-going crowd, but men enjoy watching female leads too. Crazy, right?

Then came Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow. Granted, she was introduced in Iron Man 2, but she was essentially a sex toy that could fight. Not very impressive. The moment I heard Joss Whedon was writing and directing Avengers, I knew this would change drastically. Remember her opening sequence beating three Russians while tied to a chair? Freak out! My favorite writer/director/creator/person did not disappoint. My favorite moment of hers was also one of her most vulnerable. She had just hid from a very angry Hulk and was understandably shaken and scared out of her wits. She's sweaty, shaking, and huddled in a corner. Barton, controlled by the Cube, is on the helicarrier and someone needs to stop whatever shenanigans he's up to. Natasha rises to the occasion and proceeds to beat the crap out of a possessed Hawkeye and knocks his head so hard against the metal railing that he regains control of himself. Then she knocks him out for good measure. She's strong when she needs to be, not when it's easy.

I want to give a shout out to Merida here since her movie came out after the Avengers. Brave doesn't exactly fit into the same category as the other three, but it was a unique movie that deserves a paragraph. Cause, come on. She's a Disney princess who fights and doesn't end up with a man. Plus it was all about her relationship with her mother, who isn't an evil step-mother. It's about communication and understanding where the other person is coming from. I'm sure it resonates with me because I'm a feminist and I had a complicated relationship with my mother as a teenager. Still, I think it's an underrated movie and she's by far my favorite Disney princess now.

Finally, Selina Kyle. Freaking Catwoman, y'all! Who didn't love her growing up? I admit, I was a little nervous about Catwoman in the Dark Knight Rises. Not because of Anne Hathaway (I don't get why people hate on her so much), but because of Christopher Nolan. Don't get me wrong, the man is a genius and I love his movies. However, like most filmmakers, he doesn't have the best track record of writing women very well. Just about all of his movies involve a beautiful woman dying for the sole purpose of creating a plot for the male protagonist. Again, I'm not asking that filmmakers never use this method, but I'd say it's getting a little cliche for him. Enter Selina Kyle. Even her ridiculously impractical heels have a functional use.

2. Joss Whedon


Buffy, Angel, Firefly/Serenity, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrble's Sing Along Blog, Cabin in the Woods, Avengers, and now everything Marvel will do in the next few years. The man can do no wrong. And he's not a one-female-character kind of guy. Rumors of Wasp being introduced in Iron Man 3 are abundant, and he always said he would have put more female characters in Avengers if he could have. I love Wasp, and I'm expecting to see her full-fledged fighting in Avengers 2. Really, if I could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, it would be Joss.

"'Why do you write these strong female characters?'
'Because you're still asking me that question.'" -Joss Whedon

How do you not love someone like that?

3. The Hobbit


Technically I haven't seen it yet, but there's no doubt in my mind that I am going to love it with everything inside of me. Plus stuff I didn't know I had. First of all, just look at Bilbo. I may not have agreed with all of Peter Jackson's casting decisions in LOTR (18 year old Frodo, anyone?), but Martin Freeman IS Bilbo Baggins. No one else would have been able to fill his fuzzy, wooly toes as well as Freeman. I may be a little biased since I have a major crush on the man, but I know I'm not the only one who thinks the same.

Second, who would have guessed that dwarves could be sexy? When I heard Richard Armitage was going to be Thorin Oakenshield, I was super excited. The guy is a phenomenal actor and one I have a mild crush on. But I didn't expect them in a million years to make him attractive! And look at Kili! He's got those sexy eyes down!

4. Jeremy Carver


I still maintain that Supernatural should have ended after season five. It was the perfect story arc and ended beautifully. Six was okay... it had one phenomenally funny episode, another pretty funny episode that kind of branched off from the typical mythology that didn't sit all that well with me, and maybe one other stand alone episode that stands out in my mind as pretty good, but overall it was meh. They struggled with the story arc and it doesn't end up making a whole lot of sense. When I start buying the seasons I'll buy one episode from season six, but that'll probably be it. Seven was abismal. The only redeeming quality it had was Felicia Day in one episode. Besides that, I think I chuckled once and was impressed with what was going on twice. It starts out with potential, but that quickly dissolves and the big bads for season seven are not even a little bit intimidating. Very forgettable and a complete throw away season.

Enter Jeremy Carver. He worked on previous seasons but left for a while after season five, since that's all Eric Kripke planned for. Carver is the new show runner and has a three season story arc planned, as opposed to wandering around in the dark for the last two years. It shows. Season eight still doesn't compare to four or five, but I'm interested. It's good. Better than six. Not great, there was a found footage episode that was completely worthless, but other than that I've been enjoying it in general. Plus, not only does Felicia Day come back later in the series, but the next episode is a funny one. We haven't had a funny episode since season six!




Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Once Upon Another Great Show

Once Upon a Time. If memory serves (and there's a good chance it won't), this and Grimm started right around the same time. At the time I knew I wouldn't keep up with both and I felt conflicted about which one to watch. A couple of the writers from Buffy were writing for Grimm, but Once Upon a Time had a stronger pull which I'll get to in a minute. Anyway, started watching Once Upon a Time and I've done a pretty good job of keeping up. Especially now that I'm not in school and have way too much time on my hands.


On a scale of 1 to 10 of shows that I've seen at least one full episode of, with 1 being Big Bang Theory and 10 being Buffy, I'd say Once Upon a Time is about a 7 overall. I wouldn't say it's one of my favorite shows (although I'm liking it more and more), but like I said, I follow it pretty well for several reasons.

First, Ginnifer Goodwin. As Snow White. A crazy-awesome-and-kills-trolls Snow White. Come on!


Second, Jennifer Morrison as Emma, Snow White's daughter. Time stopped for Snow but not Emma, so it makes sense. These two are the Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki of ABC. It's almost laughable how beautiful these two people are. 


Third, Red Riding Hood/Ruby. My favorite non-main character. Her story is freaking awesome. For real. 


Fourth, Robert Carlyle as Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold. Characters who are on their own side are always among the most interesting. 



Fifth, and the main reason for writing this post, all of the main characters are women. Snow White/Mary-Margaret, Emma, and Regina/Evil Queen. There are some almost main characters who are male, Charming/David, Henry, and Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin, but the story mainly belong to the women. And even though they're all fairy tale characters, they're real women. They have complicated personalities and motivations and no one is all good or all bad. Plus, in general (maybe with the exception of Cinderella and Aurora so far), they're all super awesome.


A couple episodes ago, Emma and Snow/Mary-Margaret were walking to a beanstalk with three others to steal a magic compass from a giant to try to get back to our world (simple reason - Emma wants to get back to her son who she adopted out 10 years ago [Henry, who was adopted by Regina/Evil Queen] and her newfound father [Prince Charming/David] while Snow White wants to get back to her recently remembered husband [Charming/David] and newfound grandson [Henry]. Just watch it). The three others traveling with them were Aurora, Mulan (!!!), and Captain Hook. Besides the later seasons of Buffy, how often do you see a group make-up like that? Usually you get the smurfette principle and see one woman with four men.


Like every feminist, I like to see gender equality in general. (Oh, and just so you know, if you think both men and women deserve to be treated as human beings, you're a feminist). Women may get more screen time in this particular show, but it's so incredibly rare that this happens in television and film. It just keeps enthralling me when I watch a scene like the one above. It's just so cool!

If what I've written thus far hasn't convinced you to watch it yet, this last thing will.

Red Riding Hood is a werewolf.


Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Let's Talk Politics

It's voting day. Not only is it voting day, but it's the last day I have to read everyone's incessant political posts on Twitter and Facebook (theoretically). To mark this momentous occasion, I'm going give you a couple of my thoughts about presidential politics. And please keep the "presidential" thing in mind. That's what I'm talking about here, so don't assume I think the same thing when it comes to state and local elections. Cause I don't.

First, sure. Go vote.

Second, it really doesn't matter who wins the presidency, so don't complain tomorrow.

You may call that cynicism, but I like to think of myself as a realist. Even so, living my life in Utah as a democrat has taught me a few things about being cynical and having "one person, one vote" (that's a complete joke in a state like Utah, by the way. And most states are states like Utah).

Here's my rationale.

First, Congress. They're the ones who pass laws, who control who gets taxed what, how big or small government should be, and they've increasingly shown us their inability to compromise over the last 12 years at least. Probably longer, but I don't have a memory of paying much attention to Congressional politics before then. Here's a tip for anyone who isn't a fan of compromising with the other side: STOP ACTING LIKE A BABY. There's no way people of your frame of thought are going to get enough seats in the House and Senate as well as the presidency, so as long as you are uncompromising in your values (that match way less than half of the country's, by the way), nothing is going to get done and you'll go down in history as an idiot who refused to do anything for the country.

Second, everyone's talking about the economy and here's a juicy little detail for you: the president has a negligible effect on the economy. No one's going to raise the taxes on the middle class (unless they really are that stupid to shot themselves in the foot and, let's be honest, with "compromise" being the four letter word it is these days, that might just happen), and I don't see tax cuts being a big job creator anyway. Job growth in the Bush years really wasn't all that great. And if you look at all the programs FDR put in place during the Depression, sure they made a lot of families some money and made individual lives better (which was needed), but the economy didn't bounce back until manufacturing went way up with WWII. It was the private industry that started the Depression, the current recession, all recessions, and that has brought the economy back every time. There's really not much government can do, so does it really matter who's taking the helm? The course is going to be pretty much the same either way.

Third, a lot of people are talking about the national debt. I don't think anyone says that we shouldn't worry about it, but a lot of economists say that we don't need to worry about it quite yet. It's not at critical levels, and there's not much you can do about the debt without the economy at full potential anyway.  And for anything to get done here, both sides have to give something up here. Spending has to go down, and revenue has to go up. End of story. For spending to go down, we have to tackle both Medicare and Social Security, which is political suicide for any candidate because the electorate are morons, so wait a few decades and we'll go the way of Greece. If by some miracle a president actually wanted to do something about those programs, do you really think Congress would pull together to get anything done? Again, it doesn't matter who the president is. It's Congress. Bottom line, let's end the Social Security tax cap, raise the age limit by a few years, have the government be more hands on to negotiate medical prices to help lower Medicare spending, lower military spending (cause that's not even in the budget) and raise taxes on the middle class. Everyone hates something, but it needs to be done. See how impossible that is for on person?

Fourth, social issues. This might be the only place I see a president making any kind of difference, yet they still rely on Congress to make those changes. Whether you're pro-choice or pro-life, pro-marriage equality or pro-traditional marriage, pro-amnesty or pro-deportation or somewhere in between any or all of those, it's Congress that makes the difference. Judges too, I suppose, but the Supreme Court has become so polarized as well (remember how that wasn't supposed to be an issue when they wrote the Constitution?) and no judge is going to retire until a president of their political persuasion is in power, so the makeup of the Supreme Court seems unlikely to change any time soon.

So really, everything goes back to Congress. It doesn't matter how hard a president tries, nothing will get done without compromise. Compromise won't happen until the primary and convention processes become more inclusive, and that won't happen as long as the partisans are in power of state politics. 

Congress isn't likely to change much this year. It's looking like dems will keep the Senate (maybe lose one seat) while reps keep the House (maybe lose three seats). All those a**hats who refuse to compromise will stay put.

Thus, doesn't matter who's in the White House. Nothing's gonna change.

So stop being so dang optimistic about the future! (That part is a joke, by the way)




Monday, October 29, 2012

Supernatural Challenge

Have you seen those 30 Days of [fill in TV show] going around online? I found a few for shows that I love, and I decided to take the challenge. Only I'm not even a little bit patient so I'm doing all 30 in one go. I feel like I may have done this for Buffy, but I could be wrong. If I haven't, I'll do that later. Right now however, it's Supernatural. I'm not really watching this too much anymore now that I'm all caught up, but I still love it and it's still my most recent obsession and this obsessiveness won't leave until I find a new one. I suppose my obsession just shifts...

Anyway, here's 30 Days of Supernatural in One Sitting:

SPOILER WARNING: I've labeled the spoilers just in case you're reading this and haven't watched it. In which case, you are dedicated to wasting time. That being said, specific spoilers are labeled, but general spoilers that don't really give much away, but still kind of do a little, are not.

1. Favorite Character

Castiel. Hands down. It irks me he isn't in more episodes. He makes a phenomenal entrance in the first episode of season 4 and is pretty consistently in about every other episode for seasons 4, 5, and 6. He's in I think 5 episodes of season 7, and so far has only made a couple brief appearances in flashbacks in season 8 (he better come back quick, or I may lose interest). At the same time, I realize with his all-powerful power (he's an angel - not far fetched for this show) it could get boring with him riding around with Sam and Dean and vanquishing evil everywhere he goes, but he just makes every episode better. He's painfully awkward at times and freaking awesome and kick ass the next minute. All in all, he's hilarious and awesome. Also my Halloween costume this year.


2. Least Favorite Character

Bela. Good grief, she was annoying. Luckily she was only in a handful of episodes. She also had a TERRIBLE fake British accent. Go look her up on YouTube if you want, cause I'm not posting a video of her.

3. Favorite Season

It's a close race between seasons 4 and 5, but I think I have to go with 5. It's got two of my very favorite episodes (The End and Changing Channels) and it brings the epic 5 season story arc to a beautiful close. The climax of the final episode had me sobbing, laughing, and so surprised that my jaw dropped all within about 5 seconds. This story arc is one of the best I've ever seen on television, and really nothing in this show is ever going to top it. Also, it introduces us to Mark Sheppard's character. I love both the actor and his character (Crowley). To give you a hint of how awesome season 5 is, here's the opening credits to episode 8 - Changing Channels.


4. Least Favorite Season

Season seven. No contest. It's terrible. TERRIBLE. If I had been watching season 7 while it was on, I would have lost interest really quickly and stopped watching all together. As it was, I was able to watch it all at once (we'll leave the details out on that). There were episodes when I would watch it at 1.5 speed so I could still understand the dialogue, but it went faster. Other episodes I watched at 10 times the speed so I got the general gist of what what happening because they were just so painful to watch. There's one moment that I really like and I still like watching that moment, but other than that it just sucks. Oh, and Felicia Day. She was in an episode and was perfect, as always.

[SPOILERS]
The mediocre season 6 ended on a pretty awesome cliffhanger. Castiel had absorbed millions of monster souls from Purgatory and was all powerful and demanded that his friends kneel before their new God. Season 7 at that point seemed like it would be an awesome redemption story for Cas. In the first or second episode of season seven he realizes what he's done and puts the souls back into Purgatory. Only the baddest of the bad creatures in Purgatory, the Leviathan, held on and took control of his body. At that point it seemed like it was going to be an awesome save Cas from the Leviathan story. A few seconds later the Leviathan realize that Castiel's human vessel (Castiel is essentially possessing a human body) can't contain them, and disperse into the town's water source conveniently located within walking distance of the abandoned warehouse they're in, and each individual Leviathan possesses unsuspecting townspeople. Cas disappears until episode 17 (his moment of remembering while killing demons is the great moment I loved) and the Leviathan prove to be really dull big bads. Really, so dull. One of the sub-plots revolves around Sam going crazy due to the fake Lucifer inside his head keeping him awake constantly, but it's not executed well enough to keep my interest. Really, terrible season. The only reason I'm watching season 8 is because of the cliff hanger.

5. Favorite Episode

This one is genuinely difficult. I think it's Changing Channels. Nothing creepy, just 40 minutes of pure hilarity making fun of Full House, Grey's Anatomy, Japanese game shows (this one is called Nut Cracker, and it has nothing to do with legumes), herpes medication commercials, CSI Miami (Dean shares my hatred of police procedurals), and Knight Rider. Through all this the story moves along and we get a fun revelation at the end. Have fun watching the CSI scene. Stop watching after "Gutter ball" if you don't like mild spoilers.


6. Least Favorite Episode

Honestly, it's probably something from season 7. Throw a dart and we'll go with that one. 

7. Favorite Dean Crying Scene

I love that this is a category. In the first 1, maybe 2 seasons, Dean has a macho-man-don't-share-feelings thing going on and it's annoying as hell. That was one of the reasons it took me a couple seasons to get into it and to warm up to Dean (I love him now, by the way). He's all sorts of share your feelings now, and I love it. 

I won't write about my favorite Dean crying scene, cause it gives away some pretty big stuff. I'll just post the video. I still get a little emotional. I wouldn't ever call Jensen Ackles a great actor, but his performance is pretty convincing. You have to watch this one on YouTube. Stupid embedding disabled by request... SPOILER VIDEO


8. Favorite Sam Crying Scene

Maybe I'm not as invested in Sam's emotional well-being as I am in Dean's, cause I can't remember Sam crying a lot. That being said, I guess my favorite is when that thing that happens at the end of season 3 happens. If I remember correctly, it only shows Sam crying for a few seconds, so I won't bother trying to find a video. It's super sad though. I cried too.

9. Favorite Dean Death Scene

Sorry if that's a spoiler, but in a show like this, everyone is going to die at least once so it's not a huge spoiler. With the Mystery Spot episode, Dean dies a ridiculous amount of times for a human, but one stands out above all the rest.

"These tacos taste funny to you?"

10. Favorite Sam/Other Death Scene [MAJOR SPOILERS]

Sam doesn't die as nearly as many times as Sam, so I understand why they went with Sam or Other here. So many awesome people die in this show it's hard to pick. Some of the deaths (Bobby, Jo, Ellen, Balthazar...) just left me pissed and I still haven't seen the logic behind killing them off, so I'll go with Cas' death at the end of season 5. The moment leading up to it was hilarious ("Hey! Assbutt!") and the moment Lucifer kills him is so unexpected... I felt all the emotions. But God brought him back so I wasn't upset about his death for long.

I can't figure out how to embed the video here for some reason. I guess I was more clever last night in posting that other video that doesn't like to be embedded.

11. Favorite Quote

Wow, really? how to pick just one quote in all the genius that is Supernatural? I'll give you a few. Or a lot...

Sam: "You peed yourself."
Dean: "Of course I peed myself. A man gets hit by a car, you think he has full control over his bladder? Come on!

Dean: "Everybody, stop killing virgins!"

Dean: "Sam, I'm not going to make a left hand turn into oncoming traffic, I'm not suicidal!"

Dean: "That was scary!"

Todd: "Kneel before Todd!"

Chuck: "I am the prophet, Chuck!"

Dean: "Whoa, whoa! Last time you zapped me someplace I didn't poop for a week. We're driving."

Dean: "Last night on Earth. What are your plans?"
Cas: "I just thought I'd sit here quietly."

Sam: "Boop!"

Cas: "Boop!"

Cas: "I got your message. It was long, your message. I find your voice... grating.

Cas: "Hey! Ass-butt!"

Dean: "He's watching her sleep. How is that not rapey?"

Girl: "Your brother was abducted?"
Sam: "Yeah, it's fine. I mean, I've had time to adjust."
Girl: "Did it happen when you were kids?"
Sam: "No, like, half an hour ago."

Cas: "It's very complex. If the pizza man truly loves this babysitter, why does he keep slapping her rear? Perhaps she's done something wrong."

Dean: "I feel like this whole place is bad touching me."

Dean: "It was like a Khan worm on steroids!"

Sam: "Why do you keep talking about herpes?"
Dean: "What? I don't. Shut up... Shut up!"

Dean: "Let's Star Trek VI this bitch."
Bobby: "I only watched Deep Space Nine."
Dean: It's like I don't even know you guys anymore. Star Trek IV, save the whales!"

Dean: "We... are... teddy bear doctors!"

Dean: "I'll stay here, hook up with the posse. Cause you know me, posse magnet. I mean, I love posse... Make that into a t-shirt."

Dean: "Cas, get out of my ass."
Cas: "I was never in your..."

Dean: "I think she turned me into a Jefferson Starship."

Cas: "I remember the Tower of Babel. All 37 feet of it which, I suppose, was impressive at the time."

Sam: "I miss conversations that didn't start with, 'this killer truck.'"

Ed: "WWBD. What would Buffy do?"

Cas: "I found a liquor store."
Sam: "And?"
Cas: "And I drank it."

Sam: "I want you to know, I'm here for your. You brave little soldier. I acknowledge your pain. Come here! You're too precious for this world!"

Sam: "Amy Pond, huh? Cute name."

Dean: "It's called Anime. And it's an artform."

Dean: "Do you have any tattoos? Give him a little sneak peak there. All tattoos are sexy."
Charlie (Felicia Day's character): "Mine is Princess Leah in the slave bikini straddling a 20 sided dye. ...I was drunk. It was Comic Con.

Cas: "Did you know that a cat's penis is sharply barbed along its shaft? I know for a fact the females were not consulted about that."

Sam: "We could call Castiel again."
Dean: "Dude, on my car. He showed up naked, covered in bees."
Sam: "Yeah, I'm not really sorry I missed that."

Sam: "They think the ball washer did it."
Dean: "The what?"
Sam: "The ball washer."
Dean: "That what?"
Sam: "The ball..."

Sam: "Dean, this is a very serious investigation. We don't have time for any of your blah blah blah blah."

Cas: "The Whore can only be killed by a true servant of heaven."
Dean: "Servant like..."
Cas: "Not you, or me. Sam, of course, is an abomination..."

How can you read through those and NOT want to watch this show?!

12. Favorite Funny Scene

Another hard one, initially. But after thinking about it, I realized there was no contest. The scene in Yellow Fever. You know, THAT one. If you haven't seen this episode yet, skip the video. It's not a spoiler, but it's best to stumble upon this scene organically. Cause it's amazing.


Man, it still makes me crack up. 

13. Scene that Makes You Sad/Cry

Pff. A lot. Still. I'm gonna say it's still the scene from number 7. The one where Dean cries. Pretty much any time Dean cries, I cry. 

14. Scene that Makes You Happy

Um, how about all of them? Except the ones that make me sad. Or annoyed (those are mostly in season 7). 

15. Scene that Makes You Angry

When a certain someone dies in season 7. They've killed off so many people at that point that it just made me mad. I like Sam and Dean, but the show isn't as interesting without the recurring characters. 

16. An Episode that Scared You

Family Remains. I don't scare easily, but watching that at night by myself... good grief. I couldn't find the clip I wanted (although I'm not trying very hard), but that scene when the girl is walking towards everyone in the salt circle? I had to fast forward that the first time I watched it. 

17. Favorite Friendship

Duh, Dean and Castiel. I'm not into the whole Destiel thing, by the way. For those of you not "in" on the gross fanfic, some people like the... homoeroticism of Cas and Dean. Or Dean and Sam. Then they write fanfic and/or create fanart. It's weird. 

Anyway, I love their very platonic relationship. Dean often seems like he doesn't really respect Cas, but they're besties. Like brothers. It's fun. After sifting through all the Destiel videos, I found this gem of a moment: 

 

18. Favorite Romance

Not many lasting ones, what with the boys always travelling and all. But I like Dean and Lisa. A big part of me wishes that the show had just ended there instead of season 6 happening. Although then we wouldn't have The French Mistake, and I would call that one of the best episodes. 

19. Favorite Song

No question. 

Eye of the Tiger. 

Remember, this was all improved. 


20. Favorite Recap

Hmm. I guess I'm not that much of a Supernatural fan. I generally skip the recaps cause, you know, I know what happened. 

21. Favorite Character Entrance

Castiel's, for sure. 

Awesome, anyone?

Although there is another worth mentioning...


Yep. Still gives me chills. This version of the song was written especially for this scene. Perfectly done. 

22. Favorite Minor Character

Charlie. I love Felicia Day, and Charlie's character was freaking awesome. I really wish she had stuck around longer. In fact, there are a lot of peripheral characters had stuck around longer...


Ah, I just love her so, so much!

23. Character that is Most Like You

I can honestly say I've never once thought about this. And you know... I don't know if there's anyone I can fully relate to... Never died, never been to hell, not an angel, not a fallen angel, not evil, not a vengeful spirit, not a zombie, not a prophet, not a drunk... I'm gonna say I'm not really like anyone. 

24. Episode you Wish Never Happened

Season 7. 

25. Something You Wished Happened, but Didn't

Not season 7. 

26. Favorite FanVid

Um... none. Every time I accidentally start a fan video, I quickly stop it. Don't know why, but they're just not my thing. There are limits to my obsessive personality. 

27. Favorite Season Intro Episode

I'm kind of getting tired of this, so it's a good thing I'm almost done. 

This is me picking my favorite first episode from the 8 seasons, yes? If that's it, I'll say Lazarus Rising - season 4. So much awesome. Plus we meet Castiel. Either that or In My Time of Dying - season 2. "I full on Swazeyed that mother" is what started my crush on Dean. 

 28. Favorite Season Finals

Another duh. Swan Song from season 5. Feel ALL the feelings!

29. Favorite Fanfic

Sorry, hardcore SPNers. Again, I try to steer clear of fanfic. Especially considering the "slash" and "Destiel" stories... Really not my cup of tea. 

30. Anything SPN Related

I hear Cas is coming back in episode 7. As of now, that's just two or three episodes away. This makes me... very happy. Guess I'll keep watching!