#arnold cardenas

[hjbirthdaywishes]

August 24, 2024

Happy 73 Birthday to Tony Amendola.

[heavyweightnation]

Stanford Defeats Nebraska-Kearney Wrestling 35-9

Stanford Defeats Nebraska-Kearney Wrestling 35-9

Stanford improved to 2-0 on the season today with a win over D2 Nebraska-Kearney, another good showing following last weeks 41-0 blowout against Duke. Match Results: 125- Nico Provo (Stan) MD Zach Ourada (UNK) 11-2 133- Tyler Knox (Stan) TF Drew Arnold (UNK) 16-0 141- Jackson DiSario (Stan) dec Nick James (UNK) 19-14 149- Jaden Abas (Stan) dec John Burger (UNK) 6-5 157- Daniel Cardenas…

[nocontextdirkgently]

[hugcollector]

is it still too soon

[setmeatopthepyre]

S02E06 “GIRL POWER” thoughts

OH man okay what an episode. I have a LOT OF THOUGHTS so I added a Read More somewhere down there for you. Once again it’s a ton of observations mixed with mental notes and a lot of half-thought theories.

- We know what the Bergsberg sign says! “Once you’re here... you’ll never want to be gone”. --> because everyone somehow finds what they need there?

- I was waiting for the scene where Friedkin finds out the Rowdy 3 are gone. It was fantastic. Lieutenant AssistEnt?! Mental note, teleportation is linked with water and an electrical surge that also manages to interrupt surveillance.

- Ken is just so freakin’ happy with this new living quarters. I wish I could go through those files he has there. Also the only bit of color in the room is in the shower - a red soap thingie and a yellow soap thingie and a blue and a red loofa. What’s going on with that? They remind me of the buttons on Vogel’s jacket.

- Nice leopard print tights, Todd. Also Todd is wearing Dirk’s glowsticks. And they’re red and blue which is a THING because a TON of things in this episode are red and blue (just like the Dengdamor sigil?).

- Pink-coated Dirk vs. Bart in blue! “Are you back to being scared of me?” sounds to me like Dirk wasn’t when he was high on a love spell. I wish we could see what went on there.

- The Mage’s little speech is super interesting and there’s lots to unpack there. The world he conquered was supposed to be different and he was supposed to lose. What changed? If it’s the boy in the murals that’s supposed to defeat the Mage every time, he’s been missing for a long time. Why are we only looking for The Boy now?

- Odd thing I noticed: the boy is dressed the same in every instance of him defeating the mage (same kind of shirt, either yellow or green, blue pants, and a crown) but his hair is a different color nearly every time. It’s black or brown in one, red in one, blond in another.

- Suzie’s “Do you think I’m gonna let other people make me feel small again?” makes me feel like something happened to turn her into the horrible person she was even before the accident. “I won’t let your negative attitude drag me down” --> okay, sounds like a good quote from a self-help book. And then boom. “I will cover myself in your blood”. 0-10 REAL FAST. Also who in the world is she channeling when her voice goes scary at the end?!

- So the project Alpha emblem on Ken’s bathrobe is yellow. Is that important? Probably not but MAYBE IT IS. His jumpsuit is blue + yellow too! (just like the Trost sigil. Coincidence?)

- When Ken says “You know I’m going to need higher clearance for that.” you can just see a plan unfolding in his mind. What are you going to do, Ken?

- THE ROWDY 3 SCENE THOUGH. There’s tons to unpack there. First of all, the cubes say ‘Canadian Made’ apparently, which means they come from (near) Bergsberg too? Which makes sense since the Kellum Knights are supplied by the Mage. Cross does some 4th wall breaking too because he points out that they’re in Canada (and parts were filmed in Canada). He also mentions that he doesn’t trust cubes because they have too many dimensions and it’s confusing. Which honestly sounds like the plot of the show at this point.

  - Martin mentions he’s been around for a long  time and sort of makes it sounds like it’s longer than we’d expect? I’m not sure. They are vampires, after all.

- Amanda says she’s trying to ‘go with the flow’ which is funny because she’s using water for her visions and stuff.

- Where you go, we go + the hug + everyone just doting on Vogel = what happiness is made of.

- Dirk just losing it as soon as he realizes Blackwing is in the vicinity. “You are all now actively in danger and that’s my fault.” Because they were already passively in danger just by associating with him but now that Blackwing is here..

- The information in the corner of Priest’s goggle vision thing is what looks like the CSS for a stock photo website. Just thought I’d throw that out there.

- Where does Wakti’s knowledge of punk come from? Just wondering. She knows exactly how to motivate Amanda and that’s either awesome or a little terrifying.

- The hospital is full of paintings/pictures of water. Like literally. They’re everywhere, just like in the sheriff’s department. In the intro, Mrs. Cardenas says there’s no water for miles. SO WHY. Also a ton of pamphlets that say ‘STOP’ on them in the waiting room. Nice foreshadowing. (and a blue and a pink jacket hanging from the coat rack. those colors. again.)

- “Wendimoor can’t be real. If it is, I can never be forgiven.” By who? Why?

- Kellum wanted to buy the Cardenas’ farm. Why? Is this the place where the digsite is now? What were they digging for?

- Mrs. Cardenas stabbed her husband with the scissors? But Arnold lost both his parents that night. What happened to her?

- Someone promised Arnold that he would be taken to Wendimoor, that it would a safe haven. But Arnold says Wendimoor can’t exist. At the same time, he knows how to get there. So it’s not like he can’t believe it exists but maybe it should be impossible or it’s bad that it does.

- Todd’s  jacket has a blue and a pink/red stripe on it. Farah’s all in blue. Dirk’s in pink. It’s those colors again but what do they mean.

- So is Suzie’s spell straight up summoning glowing hot metal shapes?

- Where was Arnold running off to before he became a hexa-goner? Also Dirk is so caught up with Arnold’s death that he doesn’t even notice Priest arrive and Priest is doing as he’s told, which is protect the subject.

- Priest laughing while gunning down Suzie. I’m not sure if I love him for it or if I’m just extra terrified. Then he says ‘Goddammit baby, I miss(ed) Blackwing.’ I’m not sure if he says miss or missed, but I feel like it’s ‘missed’ because Priest has said before that working for Blackwing was the most fun he ever had. He is enjoying this immensely. It’s all a puzzle to him. Which makes me think he’s special in some way too. He has the air of someone who knows it’s all going to work out for him and the ease with which he takes down Farah later reminds me of Bart. My theory is that Priest is/was Project Cheron - the mythological ferryman who takes those who pay him across the river Styx into the underworld.

- I forgot that those creepy figures in Wakti’s hut are still there, listening, watching. They seemed to react when Amanda mentioned her brother.

- Wakti is using Mona to see  - CONFIRMED. She calls Mona a friend, but what is Mona getting out of this?

- Panto’s talk about how Bart should forget fate, forget the universe sounds like a really bad idea to me. When Panto says that he’s fighting for a happily ever after there’s recognition in Bart’s eyes. Is she thinking of the commercial with the princess?

- I love how the Rowdies immediately notice something’s up with Amanda. Interestingly, Farson is the first to notice her and head over. He’s got the ‘notice when something’s up thing’ down fast and he was quick to notice her powers when they were in the cage and he was already hanging out with Wakti Wapnasi. What if Farson’s special too?

- The moment when Amanda tells them she needs them to see if the visions are real or a metaphor and Martin and Cross both quickly explain to Vogel & Gripps what a metaphor is. Aw man my heart. Also apparently the way to turn anything into a Rowdy outfit is to make it really dirty and add leather. Perfect.

- When Priest & Farah meet, Farah says she knows who he his. Did she find out about who Priest is when she was looking for information on Blackwing? How much does she know?

- Holy what? Priest just straight up knocks out Farah without flinching. Farah. Who injured Bart and defeated Panto Trost, greatest swordsman in Wendimoor? The only two people who were able to injure/capture Bart had a split-second showdown and Priest won. Crap.

- Dirk is so freaking terrified. What did Priest do? I’m more and more convinced that the ‘Diamond Incident’ has something to do with child Dirk.

- Toad Scott is just sitting there, listening to everything. He has been listening to every single conversation the Mage and Suzie have had this episode and he’s listening to the Mage talk to Bob. You just know someone is going to have to kiss the toad and have it turn into Scott, who just happens to know everything the Mage has done and everything he’s been plotting. Find the boy. Defeat the Mage. Because the Mage told the boy EVERYTHING.

[ellestra]

Notes

I love that both Hobbs and Tina know Farah is a better cop than any of them and defer to her in police work. And apologise when failing at it. And cheer when Farah is awesome (like that fight when she took Panto out). It was very moving when Hobbs gave her what she always wanted and made her his deputy. This helped her later realise that it isn’t what she needs any more but she’s still great at it.

I too suspected Arnold Cardenas was The Boy when he was first mentioned but now I think maybe the “Infant, Male, Pollock, Francis” is The Boy. Not the boat - the boy it’s named after.

I really like the look of Wakti Wapnasi and other monsters. The make up was amazing. Still many people think she and Mona might be the same and she did have a version of Friedkin’s stress toy with shining eyes and that’s how Mona started her shapeshifting journey to free Dirk.

Vogel looked very good with flowers in his hair. And both his and Amanda’s reunion with the rest of Rowdy 3 was the happiest part of the episode.

7,775,000 seconds is about 90 days. That’s a long time to be strapped immovable in one position. But at least project Incubus have special powers helping them survive until their Drummer pulls them out. Ken was in not much better situation and he is just a human. This shows that psychic vampires are better people than anyone in Blackwing. They try to feed only on those it doesn’t hurt or on those who attack them and others. Friedkin and Priest were harming them just to feel in control.

Those patterns in Wakti Wapnasi’s pool were fractals - Mandelbrot set to be precise. And then they morph into kaleidoscope images when Amanda is using it. these are all self repeating patterns.

[4cmml4]

Shit i just understood

Dengdamors have only queen, while Trosts have only king. Dengdamors are sophisticated, while Trosts are simple farmers.

Ring a bell?

The boy (moloch, ahem) made two families who hate each other, because he felt like living between such back at home.

I only wonder who is he in Wendimoor? And who is Arnold?

[verycharismaticdragon]

Siblings theory update: Cardenas’ children

So... episode five was rich with Cardenas siblings material. First of all: it confirmed that the second sibling wasn’t their own child, but rather adopted, but it changes p much nothing as they did raise them. But let’s go slow. 

First, we have an approx. age for Arnold:

Which would make his birth year ~1955. As I already counted, the boat appeared between 1950-1957, so he was a baby when the boat fell. Oh right, now we know how the boat appeared:

I don’t think Arnold personally saw it, but his parents must’ve, as they went to explore the boat and...

they took something, or rather someone from the boat. From the way Arnold says this ^ it seems it appeared human at the time. Almost certainly it looked like a child. Why?

Let’s back up a bit and return to height marks Farah found.

“Some” of the height notches. Now we know for sure that wasn’t a prop error, and there were indeed two sets of markings. One was for Arnold, the other one - for who Cardenas brought from the boat. The top mark is AC, so they were always smaller then Arnold, who was a child at a time. Therefore, whoever Cardenas took in had appeared as a child. And I think they were actually a child, too, mostly because of this line in the beginning of the episode:

I think that Cardenas’ second child is who she talks about, especially considering it is between the line about “flowers” and “dream”, both of which a connected to Cardenas family: Dirk saw the overturned flower vase in the kitchen of House-within-the-house, and dreams, well, Arnold describes what started appearing as “things from the dreams”, specifically. The power of the other child brought them to reality. At first they were, well, “a good child”: "At first, the things from the dreams were nice. They were gifts for our family”. But then something changed: “they got dangerous”. 

Dirk makes a guess at what changed, and judging from Arnold’s reaction, he’s onto something: “The Flying Purple People Eater from the House Within A House! That was another of the gifts, wasn't it? But something ruined it. Something with overturned flowers, something with scissors, perhaps?”

It’s pretty obvious the Cardenas were fighting, possibly about the second child. After all, wallpapers over drawing of Wendimoor? “My father put the wallpaper up, to cover this... as punishment.” Punishment for what? Something Arnold did? Something the other child did? Both? To cover your child’s hard work, possibly destroying it, is a pretty fucked up way to punish them. I don’t think Hector was a good, loving father. And it brings us back to “left unloved, a good child could go bad” line.

So the other child started ‘acting out’, that’s why the ‘gifts’ got dangerous. But it all ended after ‘67 power surge, which Arnold is pretty sure he’s responsible for. Since the power surge happened about a week after Cardenas disappeared, my guess is this: the tipping point was when the fight between Marina and Hector turned violent. It included the broken flower pot and a scissor stabbing. Whatever exactly happened, it ended with them being dead and put in trees. Arnold witnessed the whole thing, and...

“All the strange stuff is over! I saw to that! I ended it!“ “I didn't have a choice!“ “I did what I had to!“

...(likely) attacked his (adopted) sibling. What he did, exactly, remains unclear, although I must remind you that pictures in the hall of House-within-a-house have one child pointing a gun at the other. Considering the pictures of their parents, while seemingly innocent, point to what happened to them in death, this becomes more ominous. 

So, Arnold’s confrontation with his sibling caused the power surge, that’s why he blames himself for it. Now, what exactly happened, how the second child caused a power surge (it’s quite possible that they drained the power either to create a whole world, Wendimoor, or perhaps to create a portal into it), how much the government knew when they fenced off the house, what was Arnold doing between 67 and 75 when he changed his name to “Arnold Freedman” (is it meaningful name? what was he “freed” from?), and most importantly whether the other child is in Wendimoor, in Blackwing, or both, are all questions that we can’t yet answer. 

[definitelynotpsychic]

so,,, at the beginning of this is not miami, marina cardenas doesn’t try to wake the boy up, but talks to him in his sleep instead, asking him to “turn it into something nice.” does this mean that if the boy wakes up without getting rid of what he’s created, it stays as reality?

[holisticsheriffhobbs]

me when i realized arnold cardenas (and his family) is hispanic: let him be cuban let him be cuban let him be cuban let him be cuban let him be cu

[hjbirthdaywishes]

August 24, 2023

Happy 72 Birthday to Tony Amendola.

[star-catcher]

Find the Boy

I think we're all now (fairly) certain that Project Moloch/the other Cardenas boy is The Boy from the prophecy. Okay, so the prophecy is a complicated, vague, and slightly off-course/unhinged guide to resolving the conflict in Wendimoor (and potentially our world as well). Dirk (the man) and Amanda (she who sees all) are keys to the prophecy. I think if Project Moloch/other Cardenas boy is the Boy, the creator of Wendimoor, and vital to the resolution of conflict/the prophecy, they will have to literally find him in his own comatose mind. I think the abandoned castle and ruins with the paintings is where Moloch imagined would be where he or Arnold ruled from once they came to Wendimoor.

About the Cardenas brothers, I think their parents near constant fighting and repression of Moloch's abilities caused the boys to bond together and cling desperately to the fantasy of Wendimoor as a safe haven where good always triumphs. I think the night Marina Cardenas came home in the new car after having made the deal with Kellum, she and Hector got into a huge fight which resulted in Hector getting stabbed in the head with scissors. And Marina also ended up dead somehow (flower pot). The Cardenas boys are freaking out because neither of their parents is waking up. So when Moloch eventually falls asleep, he wants their bodies to disappear, so in his dream, Hector's corpse is merged with a tree and the car with Marina inside is out of sight in a different tree.

Moloch discovers/creates a portal to Wendimoor and invites Arnold to come with him. Arnold is traumatized, afraid, and in shock because of the death of their parents. Blackwing enters the picture after the Cardenas' deaths. Moloch is powerful and cautious of Blackwing, but he'd do anything for Arnold to keep him safe and make him happy. Blackwing offers Arnold a new life safe and far away from the horrors/trauma of his past, but at a price, they want his brother. Arnold makes a deal with Blackwing; they provide him with a new name/identity and a family after he betrayed Moloch. Moloch's psychic/emotional had been building up since his adoptive parents deaths two days prior and after Arnold's betrayal; the energy is released in a horrific electric explosion (looks similar to Amanda using her powers on the Kellum knights for the first time), but on a scale so much larger than it affected all of Bergsberg. Moloch then passed out and was taken by Blackwing.

Moloch was free of Blackwing for a bit but was “recaptured” in a hospital. While Blackwing was capturing/transporting him he had a stroke and went into a coma. When that happened is when everything started going wrong in Wendimoor. Moloch no longer had conscious control of the narrative of the world. I think that Moloch’s consciousness (or some sort of projection of himself) is within Wendimoor, but he doesn’t remember who he is and has no control of the story or his powers (if he even remembers them at all). I think the Boy in the first couple of prologues is Moloch lost within Wendimoor. Also, Wakti Wapnasi (rest in trees) observed the prologue boy through the pool and voiced a warning:

“Once upon a time, a boat in a field, a married couple has gone missing, a gun that shots air, and then there’s a hidden house, a prophecy from another world. Surely these pieces don’t fit. Left unwatered, a plant will die. Left unloved, a good child could go bad. Left untended, a dream could become a nightmare.”

-Wakti Wapnasi, DGHDA 2.05

I think the last three phrases could all refer to Moloch. If his consciousness is not returned to his body, his mind will fade away and his body will die. With his parents dead and his only friend’s (Arnold) betrayal, Moloch could have become evil or cruel (potentially having become the mage?) or his outlook on life could have become darker and that is what’s affecting Wendimoor. Without Moloch’s memories about the stories of Wendimoor to keep the narrative on track, the balance/plot of the Wendimoor has been overturned. 

Anyway, these are just some thoughts I have. Unbetaed ramblings of a very fond fangirl. I would love it if people contributed to the thread or messaged me to ramble. I am always down to chat about Dirk Gently.

[wendimoorandinglenook]

I was SO stressed out the whole time Arnold was facing this way with Panto right behind him. If he would just turn around...

And then he did. 

[nocontextdirkgently]

[setmeatopthepyre]

DGHDA S02E08 thoughts

THIS WAS SUCH A GREAT EPISODE GUYS I AM STOKED.

- So we see Marina murder Hector in a fight, stabbing him in the head with scissors. According to Max’s tweet this is where she breaks two fingers - which makes sense, considering the force needed to stab through someone’s skull. Then there’s Hector laying on the floor surrounded by yellow flower petals from the vase that fell.. just like Panto in Amanda’s vision.

- I love how Friedkin attempts to bullshit his way through his conversation with Priest and Priest is having none of it. “Can I talk to Ken?” Guess who’s in charge now, Hugo. PS I sort of want that shirt Priest is wearing.

- What is being kept track of on the whiteboard in the monitoring room in Blackwing? There’s ‘Project Icarus’, ‘Gripps’, ‘CROSS’, ‘Vogel’, ‘MARTIN’ and what I assume is ‘Moloch’ but I can’t read the rest of them. What do the numbers mean?

- The original Blackwing in the sixties? As far as we knew, Riggins started Blackwing in the 80s. And there’s already references in files from that far back to dimensional gateways.. but no one ever followed up. Ken mentions the government pulling funding from Project Paperclip. When asked about it, Max tweeted these links: 1, 2, referring to the (real!) Operation Paperclip and Project MKUltra. Lots to unpack there.

- Friedkin stress-stripping while Ken is putting on a jacket is so symbolic.

- So did Blackwing shut down cellphones, internet and just power in general, or is this a power surge sort of thing?

- I love that Farah, anxious Farah, is keeping her cool and helping Tina through her panic. She reminds me of that post along the lines of ‘I can’t do x because of anxiety, but as soon as one of my friends can’t do x either, I suddenly gain the ability to do x to help them.’

- Dirk built himself a nest. Just like the blanket nest in Hobbs’ house.

- I love that Amanda “freaking witchakookoo” Brotzman, who recently pulled an imaginary knife out of her own hand, seems to be the sole voice of reason in Wendimoor. Everything isn’t just magically ok, Todd. People have died. Your old life is over.

- Mona Wilder aka Project Lamia (confirmed!) was a chair for six years before Blackwing brought her in. I want to know how that went. How did they find her?

- I’m still thoroughly freaked out by those two creatures at Wakti’s Pool. What’s with the red eyes? What are they? Why are they there? Also apparently if you control the pool, you control the kingdom and the whole world. Does that mean all of Wendimoor, or.. all dimensions?

- I was delighted to see Suzie couldn’t touch the water itself. Everything comes with a price is a general rule of magic and Amanda went through serious pain to master her powers. Suzie’s taking the easy road and I feel like that’s going to come back to bite her. 

Then again, sticking her wand in the pool seemed to work and gave her the Mage’s tattoos / leaves her with a mark of the magic of that world(?). I wonder what effect that’s going to have on her powers. Also, that means the Mage (probably) did the same thing at one point.

- Frija Dengdamor seems ready to listen to Amanda and to be reasonable, but she flips out the second the name Dirk Gently is mentioned, just like in an earlier episode. What is it with his name that makes her so angry? I feel like there’s more there than just the prophecy. Maybe it’s reflective of something in Moloch and Dirk’s time in Blackwing?

- Suzie’s “Time and space are no longer obstacles” is really eerie.

- The little guy with black hair is Amanda.

- Martin just straight up whispering to Vogel that he can’t see without his glasses was fantastic. Poor squinty man in a bright world. And then the catlike swat. Then they pick Dirk up and put him in charge. Fantastic. Give me infinite seasons of this please.

- I feel like Todd’s been booed while on a stage before and his immediate reaction is just to flip everyone off. That’s so punk. There’s the big brother that little Amanda probably learned to be punk from.

- Is that the same car Dirk saw in the woods earlier? How did they manage to Rowdify it in that short period of time? Was Vogel just hanging off the side spraypainting while they drove? Is their punk aesthetic really the only constant in the universe? Also if anyone finds me that soundtrack that plays, let me know because it’s great.

- I feel like Wygar is really important somehow. He has an accent we don’t hear anywhere else in Wendimoor and he can take on the entirety of the Rowdy 3 without much of a problem. Plus bonus points for him taking off his cloak before fighting because yes that is actually realistic thank you. I am passionate about fighting scenes and will say nothing more about Martin’s little twirl. That’s how you get knocked down, Martin. Oops.

- When did Martin’s club turn into a scissor sword?

- Amanda getting tired of the ineffective fighting and just kicking Silas in the chest was great. Todd following up with some punches was even better. I’m all for small angry Brotzman fighting. Also Amanda whistling for the Rowdy boys? Best.

- I love when everyone straps in for Dirk Story Time. Dirk gets his podium to tell us all how he Solved It and everyone else just listens with rapt attention. Vogel’s just hanging off his brothers because he is the purest being in the world.

- So in the sixties, the predecessor to Blackwing was drawn to Bergsberg because of Moloch. Arnold turned in Moloch after his parents died. Moloch freaked out and tried to make his fantasy world, Wendimoor, real. Boom, surge of ‘67. That explains the mural in Bergsberg. But what about the one in Wendimoor?

I want to say that Moloch, when he fell into a coma, was transported to Wendimoor as a second version of himself somehow. That means someone or something around his age should be in Wendimoor.. but what did the stroke do? Would that have influenced the person he is in Wendimoor?

- The Rowdy 3 calling Dirk out on his Nerdy Bullshit makes me think that they know him well enough to expect nerdy bullshit from him. I can just imagine little Dirk, freshly escaped from Blackwing, trying to make conversation with the Rowdy 3 about books or interconnectedness or something like that.

- Did Amanda only bring in the Rowdy 3 yesterday? And they cobbled their entire outfits together in one morning and then got them all super dirty and went to look for the mage’s army and holy crap a lot of stuff happened in one day.

- I loved the detail of Martin looking over at the hut just before Suzie starts cackling because of the magic smell thing.