#however the location of one of the doctors has some pretty bad reviews. not going there

[carcarrot]

clawing and biting like a cat that does not want a bath

[book-o-scams]

One Of Those Eds - Alternate/Deleted Scenes

Thanks to Scott "Diggs" Underwood for sharing these in this interview he did for Concept Art Empire!

'One of Those Eds' is one of my favorite season 4 episodes, and a while back, Scott Diggs posted these lost scenes that reveal quite a different early interpretation of the episode's outline!

First up, an incredibly different approach to Eddy's mattress scam. Eddy is in some sort of an exaggerated doctor outfit, directly acknowledges that he kidnapped Jonny, and tries harder to do a bit with Jonny about how tired Jonny is. In this version, Jonny is not ready for his 3pm nap and is instead wide awake. I prefer the aired episode's much simpler interpretation, but Doctor Eddy is cute.

Eddy sits Jonny on a shopping cart or something.

Eddy: "Sorry for the kidnap but it's an emergency."

Jonny: "Say what?"

Eddy: "You've got all the symptoms... (drapes handbags over Jonny's eyes) You've got bags under your eyes."

Jonny: "Clever."

Eddy does bits sometimes, but this feels pretty heavy-handed, lmao. Jonny having a sarcastic response feels very out of character, sounds more like an Edd response to Eddy's joke.

The handbag handles effectively lower Jonny's eyelids.

Eddy: "Eyelids gettin' heavy..."

Jonny: "It's the bags!"

Eddy: "Why, you can barely walk!"

Jonny: "These bags are heavy!!"

Eddy: "Denial is the last symptom."

Eddy looks woefully as Jonny walks forward until the bags falls off his eyes, Jonny looks at Plank.

Again, Doctor Eddy is an adorably design, and a scene focused on Jonny's walk cycle has a nice season 1 feel to it, but this is all a bit much for this dumb scam, and Jonny's backtalk continues to feel out of character and a little too obvious of a bad idea for deception.

On this page, we learn that 'One of Those Eds' originally had the much more straight-forward title, 'Eds-Calibur'. Come to think of it, I guess this is another parody episode in a way... Guess season 4 was loosening up on the non-parody rule from the series bible.

We also learn specifically why Edd arranged the kids' Quarter Removal lineup in the order he did...

Edd: "You have been placed in a lineup in the fairest way possible... Namely, of course, brain mass to cranium girth ratio."

Jimmy: "I AM SO SMART!"

Eddy to Ed: "So how come YOU'RE in front of ME?"

Ed: "Swelling, Eddy!" (points finger... up Eddy's nose)

Edd: "It appears you're..." (starts to open the rope for Jimmy)

Edd was trying to low-key put brains ahead of brawn, even when it put his friends at a disadvantage... Also that's an extremely troubling gag that Ed is apparently suffering from cerebral edema, pretty glad that's cut, hehe.

Edd: "It appears you're first, Jimmy."

Sarah: "Go Jimmy!!"

[Kev and Rolf speak off screen while Eddy watches Jimmy nervously]

Kev: "Yeah right."

Rolf: "A sour chance at best."

In this version, we see Jimmy's attempt-- hard to tell from the sketch but I think he's still using his eyelash curler. However, the outcome is less interesting in this one, it doesn't injure him, he just runs home crying over his failure.

In the aired episode, we don't see his attempt at all, and it's implied his curler curled some part of him that required an ambulance. The cut to his house would've felt a little out of place, since that episode's camera is notably pretty fixed on the location of the quarter. I believe the beginning with the mattress scam is the only departure from that stretch of sidewalk between the cul-de-sac and the playground the entire episode.

Rolf: (offscreen) "Idiot Box." (I believe that's the end of dialogue that is still in the episode?)

(Rolf squeezes open a miniature barrel of beets and chomps 'em)

Eddy: "What's he doin'?"

Now we skip ahead to Rolf's turn and Eddy's very worried. Rolf does a Popeye parody and I think that's why Danny wasn't into it. He likes a Popeye reference as much as the next guy, but this is a bit specific for this show.

Edd: "Um... Rolf? If we could just quickly review current copyright law."

(Rolf's arms become goat heads and DING Edd away, Rolf's tongue flexes a big muscle with a little animated tractor imagined within it)

Eddy: (pressing down the rope in stress) "AAAH..."

Rolf: (gears up for attack) "SHASHBYATROT!!"

Rolf's tongue with the tractor image in its muscle is a pretty funny switcharoo from how Popeye's gag goes, but Rolf's arms randomly turning into goat heads for one moment just to bop Edd is a bit far to take the surrealism. That art of Rolf's reflection in the quarter is awesome though, they should've found a way to put that in.

[demi-shoggoth]

COVID-19 Reading Log, pt 18

Man, this past month has been a heck of a year, hasn’t it? I’ve still been reading books, but my pace has ebbed and flowed, and I forgot to update this for a while. So here’s my thoughts on ten of the most recent books I’ve read.

91. The League of Regrettable Sidekicks by Jon Morris. I had no idea this book existed until I was doing image searches for this project for the other “League of Regrettable X” books. This one covers the sidekicks, minions and goons of comic history. Unlike the other books by Jon Morris, the spread is more even of Gold/Silver/other ages of comic books. After all, the 70s is when Jaxxon the green rabbit appeared in Star Wars, and the 80s had a shape-shifting penguin named Frobisher in the Doctor Who comics. It also feels like it’s a little looser about what makes a character “regrettable”. Some of the sidekicks in its pages, like Woozy Winks and Volstagg the Voluminous, are legit great characters.

92. Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were by Michael Page and Robert Ingpen. I wanted to like this book; I really did. For one thing, it was recommended to me by @listmaker-lastcity​, who I was working with on commissions. For another thing, it was fairly pricy used. Thirdly, to its merit, it is gorgeous. Michael Page, the illustrator, is credited first, and rightly so. But for an “encyclopedia”, it makes up a lot of stuff. It opens with a disclaimer that “the creators of this book have… unlocked their own fantasies”, which means that it invents Arthuriana and Greek myths wholeheartedly. Several of the entries do not exist outside this book, and others are so distorted that their actual folkloric origins have been clouded and obscured by people using this as a source. For material I’m not familiar with the primary sources of, like Gulliver’s Travels, I have no idea if it’s reflecting the source material accurately, or making things up whole cloth. As a fantasy, it’s intermittently fun; some rather nasty misogyny does sneak in and the book is wildly anti-science. As a reference work, it’s useless to the point of actively harmful.

93. Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh. I was a huge fan of the “Hyperbole and a Half” blog back in the day, and knowing Allie Brosh’s history of mental health problems, I was worried when she seemingly dropped off the face of the earth. Her release of a second book was a pleasant surprise, but also showed that some worry was appropriate. This collection of essays, cartoons and heavily-cartooned essays is sadder than the first collection, as it was written during and after a series of family tragedies. It is still very funny in parts, however, and has an overall message of self-care and love that turned out to be extra relevant in the nightmare year that is 2020. It’s the only book for this project that I read in a single sitting. Highly recommended.

94. Mozart’s Starling by Lyanda Lynn Haupt. This book is half memoir, half biography. The composer Mozart owned a starling during some of his most productive years as a composer, and even wrote an elegy to it when it died. The author used this as a launching point to adopt her own starling, and to examine how this invasive species is seen in American birding culture. The writing is humanistic and charming, and very self-aware (the author worries that her starling is going to die, because that’s what always happens in “this animal changed my life” books). The message is one of respecting all other creatures and of valuing the lives of animals, which is not much of a surprise from the author’s other books (I covered The Urban Bestiary earlier in this project.

95. The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris. The subtitle says it all; this is a biography of Joseph Lister, focusing on his research into antisepsis and promotion of sterile technique in surgery. It takes ample digressions to talk about other major surgeons of the time, the state of hygiene and disease theory in Victorian England, France and the United States, as well as things like labor conditions and women’s rights. These bits and pieces are woven in successfully, so they feel like appropriate context setting. Fitzharris is empathetic despite the often grisly subject matter, but readers with a sensitive stomach and a low tolerance for gore might want to skip this one.

96. Twice the Thrills! Twice the Chills! by Bryan Senn. This is a big book, 400 pages in full sized paper. It is an overview of the horror/SF double feature, covering every movie released initially in that format between 1955 and 1974 in the United States. As such, it reviews more than 200 movies, with behind-the-scenes anecdotes, critical opinion and box office, and general coverage of trends and themes in genre cinema at the time. I enjoyed this book greatly, especially since it covered some movies I’d never even heard of. The timing is perfect, too, as I read this book just before @screamscenepodcast​ covered the first entries in it, Revenge of the Creature/Cult of the Cobra. My one complaint is that the author seems biased against Japanese films. He discredits the special effects and monster suits in kaiju movies compared to even movies like Attack of the Giant Leeches and The Killer Shrews, and complains about acting and scripts in Japanese films much more than he does for other dubbed films. He also consistently refers to Ishiro Honda as “Inoshiro Honda”, which is how his name was misspelled in the 60s. That level of disrespect for some of my favorite genre pictures is a constant low-level irritation in what is otherwise a fine resource.

97. Cursed Objects by J. W. Ocker. This is a fun catalog of objects said to be cursed, including the whys, supposed effects and current locations of these artifacts. The book is sorted into categories, like “cursed objects in museums”, “cursed furniture”, “technological cursed objects”. It takes a skeptical, folkloric look at the topic, being more interested in the stories than in any legit supernatural powers. It even talks about things that “should” be cursed because of their odd appearances or eerie provenances, but aren’t, like the Crystal Skull forgeries. The book is a pleasant and breezy read, and the author has a good sense of humor on the topic. He curses the book itself with an epigram against thieves, and buys a cursed dog statue on eBay that sat on his desk throughout the writing process.

98. Death in the Garden by Michael Brown. This book is wildly misnamed, being light on both the “garden” and the “death”. It’s supposedly a social history of poisonous plants, but is more interested in English herbals specifically. It refers to the authors by name extensively as if we should have all of these memorized, and the only place where the prose has any energy is in the biographical section for these herbalists. There’s very little information about the actual plants and their poisons. I would use the word “doddering” to describe the prose style, which is simultaneously rambling and boring. The photography is pretty, though.

99. Ripley’s Believe it Or Not! 1929-1930 by Robert Ripley. IDW puts out lovely volumes of vintage American comics, and this is no exception. Being a kid into weird facts and trivia, and an adult who is still into them, the Ripley franchise was a major part of my childhood. This is the first modern collection organized chronologically, covering the first two years the strip was in national syndication. The strips cover the typical Ripley mix of sports trivia, weird facts, word riddles and puzzles, misleading statements and the occasional outright lie. The book has a warning about the racial attitudes of the time, which is fair, but it’s not nearly as bad as I feared. Ripley’s habit of drawing from photographic references means that people in ethnic minorities look like real people. But the language is decidedly “of its time”, with slurs used to identify foreign ethnicities (particularly Asian ones). So be warned.

100. Unlucky Stiffs: New Tales of the Weirdly Departed by Cynthia Ceilan. I’m ordering material to pick up from my local library again, which is great! This book was actually recommended by the library website based on the morbid slant of some of the other books I was putting on hold. Unfortunately, this book sucks. It’s pitched as a “weird deaths” book, something like a more literary version of the Darwin Awards. But the deaths are often not all that bizarre, instead being typically sad accidents or murders. It just comes off as mean spirited and misanthropic. Not recommended.

[popculturebuffet]

Carl Barks: Back to the Klondike Review: Blinkus of the Thinkus

Welcome one and all! If your a longtime reader of this blog, you know I love a good birthday celebration, having started with my first year reviewing animation last year with Donald’s and deciding to do Mickey and Scrooge’s later that year. But since I misseda  LOT of disney birthdays, and found several Non-disney birthdays and anniversaries I just gotta celebrate, this year i’m making it up and style and have a whole calender set up to tack these big milestones to the wall. So over the year expect tributes to the greats of disney, looney tunes, and mgm both behind and in front of the scenes, as well as to various shows I like. It’s gonna be a good time. 

So to start us off, it’s only fitting my first duck birthday since Scrooge, is for the love of his life and the stealer of his wallet, Glittering Goldie O Gilt! And I felt the best way to celebrate this storied day was to go back to her very FIRST apperance, one of earliest Scrooge headlined comics and a forever fan faviorite, Back to the Klondike!

But before we get into that, a little history on our gal in gold. Goldie was created for this story by comics god, the late great Carl Barks. Barks ended up just using her once, which is a shame but understandable as he probably only thought of her for that one adventure. While some characters like Gyro ended up being used again and again he probably just didn’t have any more stories in mind for her and figured Scrooge would return to her one day or he wouldn’t, but it wasn’t up to him.  Fans however loved the character, her feisty dynamic with scrooge, and the fact she brought out his good side, so naturally other writers would bring her back. In paticular Barks Superfan Don Rosa cemented her as the love of his life and wrote several more stories with her, fleshing out their backstory and saying that at least in his personal canon, Scrooge retired to spend his final years with her. And while his fanboy was clearly showing, and that can end nasitly just ask Dan “Hates Wally West because he’s not barry allen” DiDio, glad he’s gone.. Rosa’s work with goldie is an example of what happens when it’s done right. Less DiDio or Bendis and more Al Ewing. Using the continuity and what’s there to build on a character who deserved better.. to me that’s one of the BEST things you can do in comics and Rosa’s work is proof of that, ironing out the.. questionable elements we’ll get to and leaving the gold in.  So Rosa’s work combined with Ducktales not only adapting this story but bringing Goldie back a few times after that has elevated the character to a storied and permenat part of the duck canon, with her excellent heavily revamped Reboot counterpart currently carrying the torch with the help of the wonderful Allison Janey, perfect casting there. So with a legacy of gold behind her, let’s take a look at where it’s started and see if it still glitters after all these years under the cut. 

We begin our story at the Money Bin. Scrooge has been counting his money.. but has already forgotten, and forgot where he put the slip he wrote the number on and even forgets who Donald is when he shows up until Donald, while having some fun with him as Scrooge is trying to phone him while he’s right there. As for how he got into the most secure place in the bin.. the story actually answers that both worringly and hilariously: Scrooge left the door unlocked.  Naturally he’s not happy about this and Donald states the simple solution: Go see a doctor something’s CLEARLY very wrong, and the fact this could possibly be something like Demntia is VERY bad for someone who runs a zillion dollar company. Scrooge of course scoffs at “wasting his precious money” But Donald not only points out the obvious, that two bucks now saves him from having someone rob EVERYTHING, but Scrooge’s attempt to tie a string around his finger.. instead triggers a trap. And this entire sequence is decent with some good gags.. it’s just hampered a bit by making light of something that’s kinda bad. Not old people forgetting things.. but an old person with a disease as we find out forgetting things. Not helping is I laughed at first at the gags.. till I remembered a kind, old, friend of the family who had it and forgot me entirely by the end. So yeah, not the worst gags and the boxing glove and donald bits aren’t terrible, but it hurts now my brain’s made that connection. 

Our heroes head to the doctor’s office where Scrooge is diagnosed with... 

That.. might be the best name for a fictional illness i’ve ever heard in my life.. just inching out “Brain Cloud” and “Whale Cancer”. Still not the most SENSITIVE gag.. but it was the 50′s and mental issues weren’t given a lot of respect. IT’s why the above sequence and this whole part of the plot dosen’t scuttle things: It’s not the most repsectful.. but it wasn’t a time where these things were givne proper respect, treatment or knowledge, so barks wasn’t being an insentive douche on purpose, he just didn’t know. It dosen’t make it 100% okay btu it dosen’t wreck the story like say his blatant racist caractures in Voodoo Hoodoo. Seriously that’s.. not okay, and given he’s the kind of guy who researched locations he used, unlike with mental illness i expect BETTER of him than most men at the time. Still respect the guy, but it dosen’t mean i’ll overlook the fact he made some pretty bad mistakes. Same way while I love and miss Stan Lee I won’t ignore his blatant sexisim or racisim towards Chinese and Vitamise people. You CAN like a creator even if their work has some questionable and unjustifable elements, times do change and people do mamke mistakes when their young. It just depends on exactly WHAT they did or wrote that makes that distinctoin.  So on that bombshell, Scrooge is given medication after a needle gag. He needs to take his pills every 12 hours. It’s then he starts to remember something, mubling abotu skagway, goldie and dawson and telling Donald to get the boys, their going to Alaska! Once they get on the boat Scrooge explains: he remembered thanks to the medcince he left a stash of gold nuggets there from his prospecting days.. and part of why this story ended up being one of the single most important to Scrooge’s character. While it establishes some character traits, something I dind’t realize till wikipedia pointed it out, it also establishes Scrooge’s days as a prospector. While other things made him what he was and got him to that point as Don Rosa would later flesh out, it was his days in the yukon that, for better or worse defined who he is now and shaped him into the man he is today: Tough, fair, badass as all hell, mean as the devil and richer than god.  This time would be used a lot to set up stories, which made sense as it was the cleast and most agreed upon part of his past by all writers, and him at his abosltuely peak physically and mentally and the gold rush motif of the time perfectly fits someone defined by being rich. It’s also honestly nice that the Yukon is used, as Canada sometimes gets lost in the shuffle wise and hell until reading life and times I gneuinely had no idea what the Yukon was or where Calvin was headed when he and hobbes ran away from home. 

Scrooge also first mentions Goldie and while clearly remembering her fondly.. goes into a rant about her howing him a thousand dollars which has compounded to a billion the second the boys catch on he was sweet on her with Donald assuming he’s just not a good person. But this is really just setting up another vital part of his character and the other thing: his heart. Before he’d been show as a pretty heartless, greedy asshole. While the previous story, Only a Poor Old Man, had softened him up a bit, this is the first to show that beneath the pile of greed and mean lurks a decent human being. Just don’t tell anyone or he’ll throw his money at you.. then tell you to bring it back to him. It’s what makes the character who he is: he’s cruel, onrey and selfish.. but he CAN care when the chips are down and can do the right thing.. as we’ll see later. 

God I love the little poems Bill Watterson would put in the books. I didn’t as much as a kid, but god I do now. Anyways before our heroes can get going Yukon Ho, they stop in Skagway for suplies before heading out, Scrooge softing at taking a plane as “Soft” and him and the nephews hiking a week.. before running into the same flying service again, and finding out Scrooge OWNS it and forgot, because being scrooge he forgot to take his meds. Something I can relate to and i’m not proud of as staying on them is important to my well being. Seriously always take your meds. Unless their not working for you then talk with your doctor to get new ones. 

So we arrive in Dawson, as our heroes will have to walk rest of the day Scrooge takes the boys to the Black Jack Ballroom, which used to be a hot spot and was where he met Goldie for the first time. After another covering for his reminscing with greedy bollocks, he tells the boys the story.. one that was cut from the original printing despite introducing goldie and something the editors dind’t bother to tell carl till they berated him over trying to sneak a blackjack saloon and a kidnapping in there... and to them, or their long dead skeletons probably, I say. 

Yeah not wanting that in a kids story, while bollocks, tha’ts their perogative.. not having him send in replacement pages to keep story flow.. is dickish and underestimates kids intellegence as Don Rosa, while loving the story felt something was off till he saw the missing pages years later thanks to a fellow fan. So yeah kids, and adults, into the work noticed. Nice job. Again I can’t BLAME them for not wanting Scrooge to be a kidnapper as we’ll see and Don Rosa had to massage the hell out of that, but I can blame them for not caring enough to fix the obvious hole int he story. Though it’s now complete and unabriged and has been since the 80′s so there's that. 

So in a nutshell Scrooge came to town for a coffee, and while the bartender ignored him he didn’t once he plunked down his goose egg nugget, what made his fortune and one of Scrooge’s most treasured possessions. It’s here we meet Goldie. 

Yup.. just in case you thought her being a thief and greedy as hell was a new thing, and I kinda forgot how much, she dirves for the nugget, has Coffee with scrooge.. and drugs it, but makes the mistake of NOT clearing town, so Scrooge fights his way through the ballroom to her, gets the nugget back, forces her to sign the money for the iou he spent.. and then uh.. kindaps her to force her to work on his claim for 50 cents to try and teach her how to work honestly. 

Yeahhhh as I said Don Rosa tried his best to fix this , and did so in his final story, which we’ll get to some day, revealing Goldie had a shot gun on her the whole time and was going along entirely to find out where Scrooge’s claim was. That.. actually makes more sense with the character and is far less horrifying and Scrooge finds this out fairly quick, so them forming an attraction out of this becomes 100% more plausable. So yeah good on Don Rosa for fixing the implications here. I may give out on him from time to time.. but he is a genuinely talented writer and did what a good comic book writer in an established continuity should do: update elements so they aren’t so... eugguuhhh after they become horrifingly outdated. And look YES she did do horrible shit to him.. but you still can’t kidnap someone over that. just put her in jail. What was any of that. 

Anyways Scrooge HAS been taking his medicine, and proves it by showing the boys his pills and the next day they head to Scrooge’s old claim.. only someone’s living there and using it, and his old cabin.. and a shot gun. Yeah so they aren’t getting through in the day what about the night.. well they get attacked by Blackjack, who turns out to be owned by the claim jumper.. and is also you know a bear> And Donald left his back in new quackmore so their outmatched. 

So outgunned and outplanned, if not outnumbered or outmanned, our heroes make a camp fire and whiel Donald again suggests the obvious, call the police.. Scrooge can’t. He didn’t pay taxes on the claim so he’s technically jumping his own claim and techincally she has a right to it. So techncially.. Scrooge is the bad guy here as he left the money here, didn’t pay his taxes and didn’t ever come back for it. Still beats trying to terrify your nephews or deny orphans a train because your an asshole buffet. 

So the next morning Scrooge dosen’t want to rush her because “We Daren’t Get Rough with an old woman”. Two things.. 1... think before you put images in my head scrooge.. brrrrrrrrr. I mean Goldie. is not in the best shape in thie story as you’ll see and neither are you. In the reboot sure you two kept up a lot better but here.

And it’s not even an old people thing. Ann Margret was still fine so fine by the time of Grumpy Old Men, not to get creepy jut to prove i’m not being ageist. For a still alive example Keith David is also still a smokeshow at the tender age of 64. So yeah, not an age thing just not these paticular old people. 

But they need a plan so the boy suggest luring the bear into a trap with honey. Donald and Scrooge build the cage while the boys.. find the jar of honey. 

Regardless since the boys won’t do it for what Scrooge pays and neither will donald Scrooge goes to lure the bear with the honey. Once that’s done, and Scrooge is being covered with honey and licked by a bear...

So while he washes that off, the boys come up with another plan: they run around back while Donald makes noise to draw Goldie’s fire, with that being Dewey’s plan to meet her since he’s figured this out already. But Goldie has a backup plan and when she figures out they disabled Blackjack unleashes mosquitos... ugh. Having been stung like hornets about 50 times in animal crossing I feel you boys. So while Scrooge and Donald run off naked... troy if you will. 

Thank you Troy, the boys confront Goldie who reveals her identity... and that she’s broke, her dance hall having failed with the rush and this claim being all she has.. and her suspecting scrooge woudl gladly take it. The boys vow not to tell scrooge.. but he’s on his way so they kinda have to and he primps to go visit and Donald starts to see through his BS about collecting the debt. Sure enough despite being taken aback by her putting on her old dress , he takes her for all she has and is.. genuinely suprised as she thought she’d have more and she’d actually changed since the old days, donating her profits to orphans from mining disasters. Scrooge.. is clearly rattled by this. Whiel it turns out to my shock he was clealry after the money, though givne who we’re dealing with I shoudln’t of been really, he still cares and still realizes he’s being kind of a dick. So he challengers her to a gold digging race, and if she wins the claim is hers and any gold she finds.. and naturally, while he seemingly puts her soemwhere where there isn’t she finds the claim and Scrooge bemoans not taking his pill.. but while the boys boo him for it, Goldie who fondly waves them off and Donald know better: Donald points out he counted the pills this morning.. and recently. SCrooge DID take one today... he’s just has his cane shoved firmly up his ass with pride so he coudln’t ADMIT he was wrong and instead simply staged that whole thing with the full knowledge Goldie would win. It, again, sets up one of his defniing traits; how he keeps people at arms length. How he’s just so proud and full of himself he can’t bear to admit anything resembling weakness.. but WILl find a way to do the right thing without that or forgoe it as a last resort. He may project being a stingy cretionus old man.. because he is.. but he’s got a heart as big as that nugget.. it’s just locked tight in it’s own bin... his body is complicated and weird that way Final Thoughts:

This story is a classic with a decent setup, great backstory for scrooge, and a great guest character and unquestionable impact on the character. However.. it does have it’s problem; As Don Rosa, who as i’ll remind you is both a huge barks fanboy and huge scoldie shipper, himself pointed out he wrote his final story, and had planned to for years ENTIRELY because this one never quite explains how Scrooge and Goldie went from old enmies to lovers.It did lead to one of his best stories and one of the first I read post life and times so, props to that. And of course as I pointed out some things have just.. not aged well, especially the kidnapping so their relationship kinda comes off like stockholm syndrom as a result of both of these. 

That being said.. warts and all.. it’s still a really damn good story and a good one to try if your intrested in barks work or where Goldie came from: it has adventure, some really good jokes and if you can get past the dated bits the plot is solid. And while it goes without saying i’ll say it anyway Barks art is goregous as always ESPECIALLY in the flashback sequence. Overall not the best AGED Scrooge story, though not the worst either see Voodoo Hoodoo, good god, but defintely a classic for a reason.  If you liked this review, follow me for more, and for more duck content as I still have more of the three cablleros to work through, another chapter of life and times coming up this week befor ewe break again for feburary, and some other fun stuff. Until the next rainbow, it’s been a pleasure. 

[introvertguide]

The Apartment (1960); AFI #80

The next film on the list that we reviewed was the one of the last black and white films to win best picture, The Apartment (1960). The film actually held the title of last B&W Best Picture winner for 50 years until The Artist came along in in 2011. Along with Best Picture, the film was nominated for 10 Oscars and won Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Art Direction, and Best Editing. The film also won Best Picture from the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs, the Director’s Guild Awards, and the Critic’s Circle Awards. Truly a great synthesis of acting, directing, cinematography, music, and story, this movie is one of the lesser known greatest films of all time. I have more to say about this film, but I want to go over the story in all of its excellence. But first...

SPOILER ALERT!!! THIS COMEDY HAS LEGITIMATE SURPRISES AND SUBJECT MATTER THAT WOULDN’T FLY TODAY!!! TRULY A GREAT FILM THAT NEEDS TO BE SEEN!!! I STRONGLY SUGGEST WATCHING IT INSTEAD OF JUST READING THE STORY LINE!!!

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An opening run of establishing shots with a voice over by the main character lets the audience know that he is a drone accountant at a giant firm with little chance to move up in the world. C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) is a lonely office drudge at a national insurance corporation in New York City. He has lucked out and found a way to leverage his home in order to climb the corporate ladder. Baxter allows four company managers to take turns borrowing his Upper West Side apartment for their extramarital liaisons, which he manages with a detailed schedule. Baxter has not seen any movement, but he is constantly offered the promise of a promotion since he is a “team player.” 

One of the serious down sides of this ploy is that his apartment is in constant use and the bosses are making a mess and drinking all his liquor. C.C. has no place to go some nights so he stays and works late. Because C.C. is constantly going in and out and people can hear women in his apartment, he is starting to develop a different kind of reputation with the other tenants. While unable to enter his own apartment when it is in use, his neighbors assume that their neighbor is a playboy bringing home a different woman every night.

C.C. is able to get glowing performance reports from his four managers and he is able to submit them to the personnel director, Jeff D. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), in hope of a promotion. Sheldrake promises to promote him, but demands that he also receive use of the apartment for his own affairs, beginning that night. As compensation for such short notice, he gives Baxter two theater tickets to The Music Man. After work, C.C. asks Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), an elevator operator in the office building, to go to the musical with him. She agrees but goes first to meet with a "former fling," who turns out to be Sheldrake, and let him know there will be no more meetings. When Sheldrake dissuades her from breaking up with him and promising to divorce his wife for her, they go to the apartment as poor Baxter waits forlornly outside the theater.

Later, at the company's raucous Christmas party (there is dancing on the tables and the lamest strip tease of all time), Fran is told by Miss Olsen (Edie Adams), Sheldrake's secretary, that Sheldrake has also had affairs with her and other women employees. Later at Baxter’s apartment, Fran confronts Sheldrake with his lies. Sheldrake maintains that he genuinely loves her, but that he has no intention of splitting up with his wife. He then leaves to return to his suburban family as usual and Fran is so depressed that she finds sleeping pills in the apartment bathroom and attempts suicide.

Baxter learns through finding a dropped hand mirror that Fran is the woman Sheldrake has been taking to his apartment, so he goes to a bar and lets himself be picked up by a married woman. When they arrive at his apartment, he is shocked to find Fran in his bed, seemingly dead. He sends his pick-up away and enlists the help of his neighbor, Dr. Dreyfuss (Jack Krushen), to revive Fran without notifying the authorities. I should not laugh, but it is pretty funny that the doctor goes straight to slapping Fran in the face to wake her up. The actors did not hold back; he is slapping her in the face really hard, so much so that you can tell her cheeks are reddening even in black and white. Baxter makes Dreyfuss believe that he was the cause of the incident and, scolding his neighbor for his apparent philandering, Dreyfuss advises him to "be a mensch, a human being."

As Fran spends two days recuperating in the apartment, C.C. takes care of her, and a bond develops between them, especially after he confesses to having attempted suicide himself over unrequited feelings for a woman who now sends him a fruitcake every Christmas. While they play a game of gin rummy, Fran reveals that she has always suffered bad luck in her love life. As Baxter prepares a romantic dinner, one of the managers arrives with a woman. Although Baxter persuades them to leave, the manager recognizes Fran and informs his colleagues. Later confronted by Fran's brother-in-law, Karl Matuschka, who is looking for her, the managers direct Karl to the apartment out of jealousy. At the apartment, Karl's anger at Fran for her behavior is deflected by Baxter, who again takes responsibility. Karl punches C.C. (and interviews with Lemmon revealed that the punch did land), but when Fran kisses him for protecting her, he just smiles and says it "didn't hurt a bit."

Sheldrake learns that Miss Olsen told Fran about his affairs, so he makes the poor choice of firing the woman who knows of all his dealings, and she retaliates by meeting with Sheldrake's wife, who promptly throws her husband out. Sheldrake believes that this situation just makes it easier to pursue his affair with Fran. Having promoted C.C. to an even higher position, which also gives him a key to the executive washroom, Sheldrake expects Baxter to loan out his apartment yet again. Baxter gives him back the washroom key instead, proclaiming that he has decided to become a mensch, and quits the firm.

That night at a New Year's Eve party, Sheldrake indignantly tells Fran what happened. Realizing she is in love with Baxter, Fran abandons Sheldrake and runs to the apartment. At the door, she hears what sounds like a gunshot. Fearing that Baxter has attempted suicide again, she frantically pounds on the door. Baxter answers, holding a bottle of champagne whose cork he had just popped in celebration of his plan to start anew. As the two settle down to resume their gin rummy game, Fran tells C.C. that she is now free too. When he asks about Sheldrake, she replies, "We'll send him a fruitcake every Christmas." He declares his love for her, and she replies, "Shut up and deal."

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This film is one of the most praised movies of all time, but it is not one of the most generally well known. This is probably due to the subject matter, although It’s A Wonderful Life also deals with suicide and is one of the America’s most popular family films. The problem is most likely that extra marital affairs by big company management as a normal thing was highly frowned upon. With the whole #MeToo movement, it seems that this kind of philandering culture might very well have been a known problem for decades. A movie based around the premise that office managers need a nice place to have sex with secretaries and elevator girls would not have been acceptable under the Hays Code. This is also the second film on the AFI list where Fred MacMurray plays a bad guy before being the understanding patriarch on My Three Sons and the first person honored as a Disney Legend in 1987. Fun fact, MacMurray was an uncredited extra in a film called Girls Gone Wild in 1929.

Billy Wilder knew that this was going to be a divisive film due to content, but he also had the confidence that everything would work out following the massive success of his previous film, Some Like It Hot. Wilder had considered a film based on adultery back in the 1940s but was unable to get funding at the time due to the Hays Code. The film was also based on a real life Hollywood drama in which an agent was shot by a producer over an affair (in which a low level employee apartment was used) as well as a friend of a co-writer who returned home to a dead ex-girlfriend following a break-up. 

It is amazing to think that this film is described as a comedy. There are office politics in which mid-level managers use local celeb status to take advantage of their subordinates. There are half a dozen cheating husbands that string along their affairs. There are characters so hurt that they would rather die than deal with what is done with them. There are raging parties at work where everyone gets massively drunk and dance on the desks. Women are treated like objects that either need to be protected with violence or thrown away. And yet the film is legitimately fun with characters that are worth rooting for.

Some of the success rides on the fabulous acting of Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine and the witty dialogue written by I.A.L. Diamond. In fact, the dialogue and limited characters feels a lot like a stage play, which come to fruition in the form of Promises, Promises on Broadway by Burt Bacharach, Hal David, and Neil Simon. Dealing with real sets and locations, however, resulted in some colds and sickness since the actors were really out in the New York snow. Some other realism in the film came from both lead actors taking blows for the film: Shirley MacLaine got proper slapped by the doctor and Jack Lemmon was really punched by the brother-in-law.

A stand out aspect for me in this film which I talk up quite a bit is the cinematography. I have used many screen grabs from the film and used them as my avatar. I identify with the feeling of being used for something which made a mid manager look good while allowing them to do bad things. In fact, I am sure that everyone has felt like a Baxter at some point, and it is great to see him stand up for himself. Here are a couple of screen grabs (besides the top photo above) that I have used:

That lonely man in the middle of countless empty desks, that look of frustration when others are using your things to live a better life than you, and that time that love makes utility become fun and gadgets seem pretentious. It is very easy for me to get lost in how much I love this film. It has been far and away my favorite find from the AFI Top 100 between when I first saw the film in 2014 and now.

So, should the film be on the top 100 list? It has the awards and the history along with being a fantastic film. Of course it belongs on the list. Would I recommend it? Yes. This film is the type that makes people like me want to go through lists like this. I had never heard of the film in 2014 and it floored me how good it was. Each time I watch I appreciate it more, and the whole film project becomes well worth my time and effort. This film is so good, it affirms my life choices. I invite and implore you to check it out for yourself.

[macgyvermedical]

Soup: a “Tesla + Bell + Edison + Mac” Medical Review

“You have a perfectly functional syringe pump with the PCA in the background, and you’re going to give him an injection with a metal needle? Also, if you’re gonna sedate him you might as well use the IV pump too??? Like, you have a whole ‘nother channel?? Most floor nurses would kill for that setup?” <--- From my notes on this ep.*

Awl - X-Ray + Penny - Duct Tape + Jack - CD + Hoagie Foil - Guts + Fuel + Hope - Wilderness + Training + Survival - Father + Bride + Betrayal - Lidar + Rogues + Duty - Nightmares - Seeds + Permafrost + Feather - Friends + Enemies + Border - Mason + Cable + Choices - Bitter Harvest - Kid + Plane + Cable + Truck -

In case you didn’t see it, the story went like this: After being knocked unconscious trying to prevent Codex from stealing an encoded map to a Tesla-era WMD, Mac wakes to find he’s lost certain memories of the event that are crucial to interpreting the weapon’s location. In order to recover the memories and stop Codex from getting there first, Matty calls on a friend at DARPA who studies experimental memory-recovery drugs. Drugged, Mac enters a dream state to track down the memories, where he encounters his mother, a man he recently chose to kill to save everyone in LA, his high-school bully, and a darker version of himself who thinks Codex’s directive to kill an eighth of the population to save the world might not be too far off the mark.

So there’s a lot to talk about here medically. For this post, I’ll go into the concussion and its aftermath, the drug and it’s administration, and the medical technology that the Phoenix infirmary seems to have at its disposal.

The Concussion/Amnesia:

Mac is knocked out by a blow to the head. He wakes up “a few hours” later in the Phoenix infirmary. I’ve talked about concussions before (see here, here, and here), so I’m not going to go into too much detail about them in this post, but essentially if someone’s out for that long, they’re in trouble.

It’s reasonably common to lose consciousness in a concussion, but it’s usually only for seconds to minutes, and if it occurs at all, that person needs prompt medical evaluation in an emergency room. Even if there ends up being no major complications, like bleeding in the brain or an increase in pressure in the skull, the recovery time for concussions with a loss of consciousness can be in the weeks or months range. Someone who’s out for “hours” is looking at a stay in a neuro ICU and probably severe and possibly permanent brain damage. Like, it’s a season-long arc at least.

Since we’re not seeing that level of medical need, I think it would probably be safe to assume that Mac wasn’t actually out for “hours” as stated. He could have been briefly unconscious, as shown in the house attack scene, but then had trouble forming memories after that, which caused him to not remember the ride back to Phoenix very well, if at all. These are still concerning enough symptoms that I would have taken him to an emergency department instead of to the infirmary, but at least with that scenario there’s a possibility what happened to him isn’t actively life threatening outside of a neuro ICU.

Unlike the extended period of unconsciousness, the portrayal of amnesia isn’t far off the mark for once. The amnesia that Mac suffers is actually pretty reasonable- trouble remembering the incident and the events just before it is common in head injuries, as is having trouble forming new memories after. Not only is accurate amnesia something that I didn’t expect out of Rob Pearlstein (writer of the infamous Guts + Fuel + Hope), but it’s something that fiction as a whole (including, I’ll admit, 1985 MacGyver**) tends to struggle with. So kudos for that specific part of this episode, Pearlstein.

The Drug:

Even if we assume Mac wasn’t unconscious that whole time, the brief unconsciousness and memory problems indicate that he still had a pretty significant concussion that needed medical care and monitoring. I’m guessing that as advanced as the Phoenix Infirmary is, it doesn’t have the capacity to do neurosurgery or intracranial pressure monitoring. That means the Phoenix medical team’s priority in this situation would essentially be to catch any major, life-threatening complication as early as possible, and if one happened, get Mac to a hospital quickly enough to save him.

The best and lowest-tech tool they have to this end is repeated mental status exams. Mental status exams have the patient answer a series of questions like “what’s your name?” “what day is it?” “where are you right now?” “what happened to you/why am I asking you these questions?”  followed up with a series of mental tasks like counting backwards from 100 by 7s or making a logical decision based on a given scenario. If Mac’s answers significantly change, from one assessment to the next, that could mean he’s in trouble. 

Because these assessments rely so heavily on Mac’s ability to answer questions and perform tasks accurately, and they’re really the only thing that’s going to catch a serious problem early enough to save Mac’s life, the last thing you’d want to do is give him a drug cocktail that would alter his perception of where he is and what’s going on around him. I’ll just… leave that there.

But let’s assume that for some reason they have a non-CT way of assessing whether Mac’s about to die from a brain bleed while in a drug-induced dream state (they do appear to have limited EEG capability- can anyone tell me if this would still be helpful in the context of the drugs?). I’m not going to talk too much about the drug cocktail itself, since it was stated as fictional (so, essentially, anything they say it does it can probably do), but since they do reference it as containing DMT, I invite you to check out the erowid experience vault for DMT for stories of other people’s experiences with it.  

I will, however, talk a little about the administration of the drug. In the episode, a syringe with a needle is used to deliver the medication. Though not explicitly shown, I assume Dr. Cheryl inserted the metal needle into one of Mac’s arm veins and injected the drug.

Something that fiction generally doesn’t understand is that inserting a metal needle into a vein in order to administer medication doesn’t happen in a medical setting. Ever. The ONLY way to administer a medication IV in a medical setting is through an IV cannula- a short, flexible plastic tube inserted into a vein, often just colloquially called an “IV”:

If Mac had one of these ^^^, the syringe could attach to one of the blue and white pieces and the medication could be injected without worrying that the needle could slip out of the vein (many IV medications must be injected slowly over several minutes, and that’s a long time to hold a needle still).

Before Dr. Cheryl gives him the drug, she takes his vitals and asks him some questions, namely whether he has ever had “a psychotic break”, then, without explaining further, asks if he thinks he will become violent.

Now, it does make sense to ask someone about their psych history when administering a drug known to have psych side effects, because those can be a lot worse or more likely for people with certain psych histories. Think about SSRIs and SNRIs- they’re good antidepressants, but when given to someone with bipolar disorder, they can greatly increase the risk of a manic episode, and that possibility has to be evaluated before the drug is prescribed.

The conversation should have started with Dr. Cheryl asking everyone else to leave the room. Asking if someone has ever experienced psychosis in front of their coworkers, is not only a serious breach of patient privacy, but could also be incredibly dangerous. If Mac had experienced psychosis, but didn’t want his coworkers to know, he’d either have to lie and risk side effects without being able to prepare, or feel pressured to release that medical information and possibly risk his job or reputation***.

Then she’d ask something to the effect of “have you ever been diagnosed with a mental illness, been hospitalized for a mental health reason, or do you take any medications for a mental health problem?” And if the answer to that question was anything that would make the drug particularly dangerous to him, she’d probably tell him the risks and her assessment that it was a bad idea to proceed.

If there was no other option for some reason (I’d argue not the case in this situation), she’d tell him what the risks were, and only then would she possibly have to ask if he knew he might become aggressive, at which point they’d come up with how he’d like her to handle that possibility.

I know it’s not quite as snappy, but I would have really liked to see it.

Plus, unless it’s been asked off screen, Dr. Cheryl hasn’t asked him if he has any other health problems, if he takes any medications, or if he has any allergies, all of which could significantly impact how safe this drug could be for Mac.

Phoenix Infirmary Medical Tech

Now let’s look at some of the bits and pieces in the background of the episode. Particularly, I wanna talk about that chair, the IV pump, and the monitor.

So, chair first- it’s a dentist’s chair. It’s good for dental things and maybe some minor procedures (we have a slightly different chair in a doctor’s office I work at- we use it for things like implanting birth control, removing warts and moles, and providing wound care), but it’s not great for anything else. It’s especially not great if you have to sit there longer than a half hour. Considering we know from previous episodes that they have a full-on hospital bed somewhere at their disposal and possibly a couple of carts (narrower beds you see in the emergency department), I gotta say it makes literally no sense to put the guy who’s unconscious from a head injury in the procedure chair.

Next, the IV pump

We talked above about administering medications “IV push”- a medication “pushed” through an IV by a syringe, one dose at a time. Another way to give IV medication or fluids is via an IV drip or “piggyback”- the medication is diluted in a bag of saline or other IV fluid, and set to continuously run into a person’s IV. These are nice for doses of IV medication that have a lot of volume (like IV antibiotics) medication that wears off quickly and may need constant adjustment (like some kinds of sedation or some types of pain medication or medications that counteract shock), or just straight up IV fluids.

IV pumps control how fast the medication or fluid goes from the bag into the person. You can vaguely control this without a pump using gravity, a drip chamber, and a roller clamp, but if you need to know precisely how many milliliters of medication/fluid per hour is getting into a person, and you didn’t start your nursing career in the 1970s, you need a pump.

The one pictured above specifically consists of a central computer box (colloquially called a “brain”) where the pump rate can be programmed, flanked by interchangeable modules that each do a slightly different thing. The modules on the pump in the episode include an infusion pump, which essentially just pumps fluid from a bag hanging above it into a person, and a PCA pump. A PCA pump holds a syringe of medication (usually pain medication) and delivers a dose of it when the patient presses a button.

Honestly I think the whole things is just chillin’ in the background making the room look medical-y, but they really could have used it to continuously administer the drug or the sedation if they’d really wanted to incorporate it.

Side note, the modules are actually kind of heavy, so you have to balance them a little or the whole thing kinda tilts (see the screenshot from the episode). Also, for some reason if you stick an infusion module on the same side as a PCA module, the brain won’t recognize it half the time. Not sure if it’s a feature or a bug. Below is how someone who has ever once used one of these things would have set it up:

The other thing they have in the episode, and the last thing I’ll talk about before I let you get back to your life (I’m sure your cat misses you by now, mine sure does), is the monitor. 

I read several user manuals for this (real) monitor system in preparation for this post. I’ve concluded that it’s way, way above my med-surg pay grade, and usually used in operating rooms by anesthesiologists to monitor sedation level (so at least in theory they could be using it correctly? I’m as shocked as you are, really). I don’t even know what half those numbers mean (beyond the SpO2, heart rate, and respiratory rate), more than just being able to say they (surprisingly) do actually reflect real monitoring options on this thing. This leads me to believe this may be some kind of weird product placement thing? As if the gratuitous use of the Toyota backup cameras weren’t oddly forced enough.

Now, beyond the fact that this is a wildly high-tech, completely overkill machine for what is happening in the episode, the thing I would like to impress upon you is that regardless of the high tech-ness, every line on a monitor requires at least some attachment to the patient. Something measuring an EKG requires at least 3 leads on the patient. Something measuring oxygen saturation and pulse requires a clip on an ear or finger. Something measuring blood pressure requires a blood pressure cuff. Something measuring temperature usually means a probe somewhere the sun don’t shine. Mac has two little leads on his forehead. That is actually hilarious. He’d be covered in wires. He would have so much adhesive stuck to him.

In case you’re wondering, the heart/lungs/brain/person outline picture on the monitor just tells you how each part of the body is doing- like, the brain will turn yellow and then red if something starts going weird with the brain-related monitoring, same with the heart and lungs. It took an insane amount of searching to figure that out. I’ve been writing this post for 4 days now.

 *I had a much longer and rant-ier intro to this but I feel like I’ve complained enough on main about how the reboot dumbed down and politically neutralized an extremely opinionated and hardline character. I do really like this show, and the storylines are really interesting, but I need you all to understand how science-based and politically charged the original one was, especially in later seasons. You had such a platform for good here, CBS, and I’m hoping against hope the generic-action-show it’s become was some kind of weird, collective misunderstanding and not a censor problem. My main problem, having finished writing this post, is that he looks really weirdly good for someone who was unconscious with a head injury and then subjected to what was another few hours unconscious and hallucinating. Like, his shirt is still tucked in. Great update to the theme song, though.

**Twice. They played the bourne-style-amnesia storyline twice.

***At this point I can only recommend you watch the 1985 MacGyver Season 7 episode “Obsessed”- it’s a ridiculous-criminal-plot episode but the undertones are all anti-ableist (both criticizing the Phoenix Foundation board of directors’ ableism in assuming Pete is no longer fit to do his (desk) job after he loses his sight, and the pressure Pete himself is under to let MacGyver go because of mental health symptoms).

[calliecat93]

Not counting today’s chapter. at last I am caught up with my reviews! Yay!!! Take that everything in the universe working against me! It’s kinda crazy though. This is only Chapter Five of Fourteen... and yet it already feels like endgame. So much happens in this chapter. So, so much. Major things, small things, going in a completely different direction than I was expecting, absolutely everything is off the table now. And I do mean everything. Wanna know what I mean? Well, let’s find out, shall we?

Overview

Pietro has gotten Amity functioning and ready for liftoff, but they need more turbulence to properly send it off. As such, Penny is setting up a bomb in the Dust Mines to use the explosion of power to ac as the liftoff. During this, Penny again brings up staying to help, but Pietro again tells her no in favor of her being safe in Amity. Seeing this, Maria points out that maybe Penny’s gotten tired of being told what to do by others. Pietro goes on to the terminal and prepares for the launch, all seeming to go according to plan.

Unfortunately, there’s an unforeseen complication: Cinder. She, Neo, and Emerald crash in via plane and Cinder is all set to take down Penny. yes folks, it all began in Amity all those volumes ago, and we’ve now come full-circle. The two Maidens fight, with the bomb also going off and sending the colosseum up2ward. But there’s now a problem, Cinder’s entrance has damaged one of the boosters, so the colosseum is dropping down. Even so as Penny and Cinder fight, Maria fights Neo and is actually holding up very well against her. Never underestimate old people folks! 

Penny tries to lure Cinder out of the arena to avoid anymore damage, but it isn’t long before Cinder realizes this and goes back. Penny even asks her why she’s even doing this for Salem, but Cinder claims that she is controlled by no one while Penny merely follows her programming and does as told. She proceeds to try and melt the support beams in the arena, forcing Penny to use her powers to try and freeze them. But it leaves her wide open and Cinder is able to get her into a hold and start draining the Maiden powers. Thankfully, Penny is able to get out via ice swords.

As Neo gets defeated, her Aura even breaking, Emerald steps in ty use her Semblance on Penny to trick her into seeing multiple Cinder’s. Penny is surrounded, but unfortunately for Cinder, Penny has heat seeking vision that let’s her rat out the real one. She blasts her with a laser beam, knocking Cinder into a wall and get knocked out. Emerald is upset, shooting at Penny but only hitting more of the arena. Emerald knows that she can’t beat Penny, but is more than willing to keep causing damage if she doesn’t back off. Penny complies, allowing Emerald to get Cinder into the jet and escape with Neo.

While the villainess trio is gone, they’ve left major damage. The arena has lost it’s broadcast window and are heading down. But Penny suggests hat she can hold it up to allow them to get into broadcast range. Again Pietro refuses and when Maria bring sup the bigger picture, the scientist snaps that he doesn’t care about that, he cares about his daughter. After already losing her once, he doesn’t want to go through that pain again, simply wanting to see his child live her life. Penny steps up to him, telling him that she’s trying to. This let’s Pietro tearfully allow Penny to go, and she give shim a kiss on the head before flying out.

With Penny keeping the arena stable, the message is broadcast. The message has Ruby revealing everything to the rest of Remnant. The Maidens, the Relics, and yes even Salem. She lays out the situation, even saying that Glynda and Professor Theodore of Vacuo can vouch for it. Ironwood, however, can no longer be trusted. Speaking of, he has had Watts figure out how to control Penny and the mad doctor adds his corrupted chip to the sword that they previously got. Penny’s eyes flash red as she realizes that something’s wrong. Due to this, Ruby’s message ends just as she tells the world that if they all work together, then they can win.

Penny shuts down due to the hack, falling to the ground in a fiery blaze. Her final act before she cuts off? To tell her father that she loves him. Ironwood is not happy with this result, even when Watts says that she’s likely rebooting, and even throws his Scroll at the doctor. He orders the Ace-Ops, along with a “recovered” Winter to go and locate Penny as well as for Harriet to take Watts back to his cell. They all fail to notice Watts taking not only Ironwood’s tossed Scroll, but tools as well. Back in the tundra, JYR are confused about the message cutting off when they hear something. They go outside and... remember the cracks last episode? It’s now exposed a sea of Grimm... and it’s heading directly towards Mantle.  

Review

Well... you think that you’re prepared for the pain at this point... and then the world throws you a curveball.

Obviously Penny and the Amity Fight are the big things here, but let’s go into some other stuff first and work our way to it. We’ll start on a happy note, Ruby’s message got transmitted! Yay! And WAAAY sooner than I expected. I think we all expected this to happen near the end, which means that all expectations are off the table folks. I think that this may be the monologue Lindsay mentioned recording that she said was her favorite Ruby moment, and I don’t blame her. This is one of her best moments. This is akin to her role in Volume 6: being the inspiring hope-bringer who can unite others. Heck she even calls herself a Huntress as she di in the V6 finale. Seeing her efforts pay off and how much she’s grown, even being more realistic when pointing out ironwood’s actions and changing course form saying ‘if we fall’ to ‘if Atlas falls’, makes me so happy. It also makes what happens after hurt and I’m even more convinced that something is gonna happen to break Ruby, but we’ll see how that goes.

And of course we get to see Remnant. Not just Atlas. Not just Mantle. We get to see several characters and locations that we haven’t seen in a LONG while. The Cotta-Arc’s in Argus, Ilia in Menagerie and receiving a call from Ghira, Sun and Neptune with our first on-screen glimpse of Vacuo, Glynda and Shopkeep in Vale which was a BIG surprise, and even Tai and Zwei in Patch... which Tai’s reaction when the feed cut hurt my heart. I know some are bummed about no Team CFVY or Raven or whoever else, and aside from the current circumstances there’s any number of reasons why, though it’s pretty likely that we’ll see them eventually. Still, it was amazing to see all these characters and places again. Heck, Glynda is one of my least favorite characters, and I was glad to see her and with an updated Maya model! We’re probably not gonna see much else (maybe Tai will get Raven to send him to Atlas since he likely at least knows she’s around, but that’s all I can think of), but I am VERY much hoping that the cavalry is coming. 

Okay, now we can cover Amity. We’ll actually begin with Maria vs Neo. I’ve made it no secret that I’m not a big Neo fan and find her overhyped especially because of her fight track record, so I was VERY glad to see Maria beating her. It actually shows that Neo has weaknesses and isn’t unstoppable, which has been one of my biggest issues with her since she became important again. Maria was also the best person to do so. Some have apparently complained due to Maria being old (...even though the retired old person being a badass fighter has been a common trope since forever especially in anime) and not haven’t fought for years. But not only has Maria clearly kept in shape, but also remember her Preflex Semblance. She can pretty much detect things before they happen, an given Neo usually likes to psyche people out with her illusions or mess with them to get them flustered and not focus (as she did to Yang in V2), that kind of power comes in very handy against this kind of fighter. Plus seeing Maria having the time of her life was just so fun~

Emerald... was there. Yeah, she didn’t really do much in the fight sadly. But we do get one strong moment after Cinder is knocked out. We all know how attached to Cinder that Emerald is. She gave the thief a new life that wasn’t her trying to survive on the streets. Even though she’s clearly terrified of everything wit Salem and the Grimm, and rightfully so, she’s continuously put it aside to stay by Cinder. A woman who has been nothing but cold towards her, has outright smacked her at least once, keeps her obedient, and only keeps her around for her abilities. Mercury pointed it out in V6, Cinder doesn’t care at all about either of them. Mercury always knew that and never cared, but Emerald isn’t ready to accept that. She was outright tearful as she threatened to shoot up the arena unless Penny backed away. I feel so bad for her, especially since Cinder is NOT going to react well when she wakes up, and it’s just... uncomfortable to watch Emerald continue to devote herself to someone who would absolutely abandon her if she no longer had any us to her. I’m still hoping that by the volume’s end, Emerald will finally break free before it’s too late. IDT Mercury will quite yet considering his issues and still expressing no care about his actions, but Emerald very much has a chance.

Now let’s do Cinder. So... this sucked for her, huh? Cinder has very much been on a downward spiral. Back in Volumes 1-3, she was in-control, defeated everyone in her path, got the Maiden power, killed one of the strongest students in beacon, and had successfully crippled Vale and planted the seeds of discord in Remnant. But since then? Ever since Ruby Silver Eyes blasted her? She was too weak to do anything for months, ruined the plan to get the Haven Relic all because of her thirst for power, got her ass kicked by Raven, lost the Winter Maiden powers twice now, was almost Silver Eyes blasted again, and has now outright disobeyed Salem multiple times now. She began as a woman who seemed in control of everything, but we not only saw how that wasn’t at all the case, but we’ve watched her slip more and more as she prioritizes her quest for power above all else. Heck she only got the Fall Maiden power because she had Mercury and Emerald, but thinks that it’s all she needs now to get the rest and fails to realize how she was wrong despite all the failures since.

So here she not only failed to beat Penny again, but she also did it directly against Salem’s orders. Salem has been fairly patient with her, even letting her get away with bringing others into the cause (Emerald, Mercury, Neo), but I doubt that it’s gonna last much longer. Her mocking Penny for being a robot, saying that she merely follows programming and is controlled by others, is dramatic irony. She’s either in utter denial or genuinely fails to realize how she is under Salem’s control. Sure she’s disobeyed her, but ultimately she is following Salem’s game. Will she break form Salem? At this rate probably. I still thinks he’s gone way too far for a redemption arc, but her going rogue is still a very strong possibility. But not only is it not gonna happen before Salem punishes her, but it’s not gonna be good for anyone as Cinder won’t hesitate to slay anyone in her way on her quest for power and control. Not the heroes, not the villains. Be afraid people.

So at last, we come to the Polendinas. To say that everything hurt would be an understatement. Once more we have Penny not being allowed to make her own choices, tis time due to her father. We all know that Pietro is a good guy, but it’s still unfair to Penny. he girl has been pulled around so much, not allowed to have her own agency or control her own fate. In Vale she was almost always guarded by Atlas personnel, got banned form befriending Team RWBY, and then when she made a plan to remain at Vale, her first death happened. Yeah, her facing Cinder and Emerald again in Amity Arena was very much symbolic. Then last volume she was was always made to put her duty above all else, got framed for murder, the general outright made it clear that to him she’s just another robot under his command, and then everything bad that happened in the last few episodes. She DID choose to comfort Fria in her final moments and to defy Ironwood to help the others. choices that she made herself. But even now everyone, even Ruby, told her to stay in Amity. It’s merely out of concern and has a fair reason behind it, but it’s still not allowing Penny to choose for herself.

It makes what happens after the fight hurt so much. As I said, Pietro is a good person. Why is he so insistent on keeping Penn b him? It’s not because she’s a robot. It’s not because she’s a Maiden. It’s because she’s his child and he doesn’t want to lose her. He already did once, and even if he brought her back the loss of a child is one of the worst experiences that any person can go through, even if it’s not their biological child. He doesn’t even mention how he might die if he tries to fix her again, he doesn’t care about that. He wants his daughter to live her life. His fears are that of any parent and it is absolutely understandable, and his breakdown is utterly heartbreaking. But as Penny says, she’s trying to live her life. Even if she does die again, she wants to lead her own life. She wants to make her own choices. She wants to be like other people with emotions and feelings. And of course, even if it was ordered upon her, Penny does genuinely want to help and protect people. The message is Mantle’s only chance, and it needs to go out. Pietro tearfully relented due to all of those reasons. The whole scene is one of the most emotional in the series thus far and it was executed perfectly, especially by the VA’s.

But of course, we come to the ending. Watts successfully hacked Penny. We all knew it was coming, but not when and it happened at the worst possible time. But to make it worst, Penny shuts down and falls downward in a fiery blaze, her fate now unknown. Everything about this hurt. First, Ironwood seeing his original plan work, but being too far gone now to care and blowing what may have been his last chance at realizing/atoning for his mistakes. Then there’s Penny’s fear as she realizes what’s happening. Seriously, Taylor McNee nailed portraying Penny’s emotions as everything unfolded. Ironwood, in his anger, pretty much gift-wrapped what Watts needs to both escape and wreak havoc within Atlas for Salem. But of course, we don’t know if Penny survived and even if she did, she is likely under Atlas’ control. Not only does this potentially mean that the Vault is getting open, but it Watts takes over then Salem has the Relic, another Maiden, and Atlas is guaranteed to fall. But once more, Penny was taken control of in the worst way. Then her last words as Pietro is begging her to tell him what’s going on and the end shot of him clearly breaking down... God man, just... ouch.

These were all things that I expected to happen. But they all happened much sooner than I or anyone else expected. As I said, absolutely everything is off the table now. All of my expectations have been thrown out of whack, and IDK whether to be excited or terrified. But man this episode. Along with all I already said there was the battle itself, which was epic. The only thing it was missing was a new rocking song just to really take it to eleven, but the score was still perfection. Then there’s the ending with the River of Grimm. There are... many reasons to be afraid right now. That’s not even mentioning stuff we’re still waiting on like a Whitley and Weiss confrontation, the Ace-Ops and Winter going after penny, the potential cavalry, and SO much more. Needles to say, the last two chapters before the break are gonna be rough. How do they expect us to survive for six weeks?!

Chapter Stats

Favorite Character: Penny Polendina Favorite Scene: Penny and Pietro talk and Ruby’s message Least Favorite Scene: None. Favorite Voice Actor: Taylor McNee (Penny) and Dave Fennoy (Pietro( Favorite Animation: The entire Penny vs Cinder battle Rating: 10/10

Final Thoughts

First 10/10 rating of the volume! Yay! Man, I just remember sitting in shock after it was all over. Every chapter has rocked me in one way or another, and this was no exception. The emotion was on point. The action was fantastic, the voice acting was stellar, the character writing continues to soar, and we’re left with both amazing highs and amazing lows. We got the message out. We hopefully have help incoming. Penny got to finally control her own life. But Watts’ hack was successful. There’s a River of Grimm heading for Mantle. There’s Watts having the key to do who knows what. here is so much on the line, and the final results are still uncertain. Hold onto your seats folks, this ride isn’t settling down anytime soon.

[365days365movies]

February 9, 2021: Doctor Zhivago (Part 3)

INTERMISSION’S OVER! Hope you got your snacks and popcorn, because we’ve got an hour and 20 to go!

Recap (Part 3/3)

Train’s stopped, but not at its intended location. The reason is because there’s a battle taking place up ahead in Yuriatin, where the train is headed through. See, the Bolsheviks - well, actually, the Communists now, to be accurate - are waging battle against the anti-Communist White Army, and have occupied Yuriatin.

Yuri leaves the train to find out what the deal is, and he’s captured by the Communists under suspicion of being a spy. Leading them, of course, is Pasha, now going by Strelnikov. After a brief round of suspicion, Pasha admits a former admiration of Yuri’s poetry, now viewed as anti-Communist. Yuri reveals his connection to Pasha’s wife, and Pasha reveals that he has not seen her during the war, and she’s living in...Yuriatin.

JESUS PASHA WHAT THE HELL

Well, after having this friendly discussion with a GODDAMN MONSTER, Pasha lets him go back to his family, luckily for him. He gets back to the train JUST in time, and the family are left at their intended destination, as planned. It almost seems that their struggles are over, as flowers are blooming amidst the previously ubiquitous winter.

Can’t say the same for Yuriatin, as we see it on fire in the distance. However, the Gromeko’s cottage is apparently totally fine, untouched by the Red and the White Armies.

Well, mostly untouched, as it’s been sealed up by the Red Army. Stopping Alexander from breaking in, Yuri and their local friend, Petya (Jack MacGowran) figure out that the cottage of the house is still open, and the family happily settles in there.

During their time there, Tonya becomes pregnant once again. Strelnikov leaves for Manchuria, which seems like good news. But that’s tempered with the very, VERY bad. Czar Nicholas and the Romanovs, exiled for years, have been shot. Sorry, Anastasia.

Spring to summer, summer to winter, and winter once again to spring, and the family is doing well, in relative poverty as they are. By the way, before I forget to mention this, why does Omar Sharif (he plays Yuri) ALWAYS look like he’s been crying? Dude has perpetually red puffy eyes, I swear. Like, look at the GIF below. See? He wasn’t crying, he wasn’t even sad there, but his eyes ALWAYS LOOK THAT WAY. Not his fault, but I just can’t not notice it.

But now, we go to another place, and another set of eyes. Yuri makes his way to Yuriatin on a visit, and there, a reunion takes place at the library in town.

Yuri and Lara catch up, have a good time, and then OH GODDAMN IT

EVERY TIME! WHY IS IT INFIDELITY IN EVERY ONE OF THESE GODDAMN MOVIES??? Yuri’s seemingly happy, he’s got another kid on the way, and I get that he’s loved Lara for a long time at this point, but can we just have a SINGLE. FAITHFUL. RELATIONSHIP in these movies, for the love of CHRIST!!!

And this is just as Tonya’s close to giving birth to their second child. Yuri seems to realize this, and he heads to Yuriatin to officially end it with Lara...and he does, to some credit. It hurts them both pretty grievously, but he does what’s right. But NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED I GUESS

Red Partisan Army just kidnapped him! BECAUSE OF COURSE THEY DID. His poetry has finally caught up to him, and he is taken away from his “private life.” After all, like Pasha said, private life is dead in Russia. Fuck me, man.

So, Yuri’s been kidnapped as a field doctor for the Civil War, as the Red Partisans go up against the White Army, at one point killing a unit of literal children. During his stay, allies advocate for his release, but to no avail. Yuri is stuck with the army for TWO GODDAMN YEARS, away from his wife and two children.

He eventually just leaves, in the middle of the winter during a trek. He just...wanders off. Frozen, tired, and probably badly frostbitten, he makes his way back to Yuriatin, where he discovers that his family has left. However, it would appear that Lara may still be in town. Finding a key and letter meant for him, he makes his way into the apartment, where he passes out.

Lara cares for him as he wakes up, and reveals that Tonya and the kids are safe. Later, she gives him a sealed letter from Tonya, which was sent six months prior. It’s revealed that he was a daughter, Anna, and that they have been deported from Russia, and are going to Paris. They don’t know where they’ll be headed, and there’s no telling if Yuri will ever see them again. Which...sucks.

But then, soon after, the two get an unexpected visitor: Victor Fuckin’ Komarovsky! Yeah, thought you’d seen the last of him! he comes from Moscow, and offers the pair his help. See, Tonya and the kids are not in the best of situations down in France, and Yuri’s not only a deserter, but seen as a dangerous man by the government for his poetry, which has officially been labeled anti-Communist propaganda. Fuckin’ YIKES.

The two refuse their help at first, but Lara realizes the real danger that Yuri’s in. Turns out that Victor knows so much because he’s been appointed the Minister of Justice, and offers the two an out from the country. They continue to refuse him, and it’s revealed that Lara’s ALSO in trouble, as her husband is still technically Strelnikov. But, after Victor is ONCE AGAIN a DICK, they kick him out.

Realiing that they’re in trouble, the two escape to Varykino, which is gorgeous, by the way. Although the whole place appears to be dusty and a bit snowed in, the two and Lara’s daughter, Katya (Lucy Westmore) settle in. There, Yuri does something we’ve never actually seen him do: write poetry. To be specific, he writes a set of poems that he is famous for, by the time we get to the time period from the beginning of the film, all of which are themed around Lara.

It’s also at this point that the two begin their love affair in earnest, and...I weirdly am OK with this. Look, they’ve loved each other for a long time, and the likelihood that either of them will see their spouses again is EXTREMELY low. The two embrace their love, and begin to imagine what life would’ve been like if they’d met each other before.

But Victor, surprisingly, returns. He makes them an offer once again, and it’s revealed that Strelnikov is dead. Turns out that he was sought by the government, as they wished Strelnikov dead all along. He was headed to Lara when he was caught, and comitted suicide while in custody, returning to his true identity of Pasha at the end. Fuckin’ WHOOF.

But there’s the problem: with Lara’s usefulness as a lure gone, she’s now set to be executed, along with Katya. Given this information, Yuri agrees to go with Victor, and Lara and Katya come along. But guess what! THERE ISN’T ENOUGH ROOM ON THE CARRIAGE OUT OF THERE. BECAUSE OF COURSE THERE ISN’T.

And in case you weren’t sure, Zhivago is indeed left behind, as he actually never intended to go with Victor, due to his dislike for the man. But Lara’s now safe, which is what he wanted all along. Not to mention the fact that Lara is now pregnant with Yuri’s daughter. Which is when we cut back to the present day.

Tanya, from the very beginning, is almost certainly Lara and Yuri’s daughter. Born the same year, in the China or Mongolia (where Lara was headed with Katya and Victor), and with similar eyes and complexion, it’s a near certainty. She denies it, but Yevgraf continues. See, he eventually did find Yuri, malnourished, and cared for him.

Stalin’s now in charge, and Yuri is practicing Dr. Zhivago once more. Years later, he boards a trolley in the city, suffering from a heart disease at this point. On the trolley, he sees Lara walking on the street, and tries to get off to see her. But, once he finally gets off the trolley, the strain is too much for him.

At Yuri’s funeral, Lara and Yuri meet. There, she asks for Yevgraf’s help to find her child, but they never do. And after that, at some point...she’s taken to one of Stalin’s labor camps, where she most certainly died. Jesus, man.

And now, we learn of Tanya’s fate. Komarovsky, whom she believed to be her father, abandoned her on the streets when running from the chaos of the Russian Civil War. BECAUSE HE IS A GODDAMN DICK. She does not want to believe that this is the truth, but she says that she’ll consider it. As she and her partner, David, leave the interview, it’s revealed that she can play the balalaika, which her departed father could never do. But the fact that she’s a self-taught master of it speaks to her ancestry, as Zhivago and Lara’s daughter.

And uh...I’m gonna be honest, that didn’t even feel like 3 hours and 20 minutes. Really! That was Doctor Zhivago! I really liked this one! But more on that in the Review. Stay tuned for that!

[youarejesting]

BTS365 Prompts.Week20

[Full Masterlist] [Prompt Masterlist]

Please tag me in your work if you use my prompts. I want to see your work. Ever your Jester.

Tell me your birthday and I will tag you on your special day!═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════

 May 14th - 20th

═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════

Kim Seokjin: chip

Seokjin was a powerful mafia leader who enjoyed food, bad jokes and praise for his good looks. He was an amusing young man, with just the right amount of Savage and you, you were his cute little wife. Your job was to stand and look pretty as his good luck charm at the black jack tables. You would subtly distract other men so your dear husband could collect all the chips. He knew you did it to make him happy but it didn’t stop him from kissing you in front of all opponents to show who you belonged to. 

Min Yoongi: Pack

You were sick of him ignoring you. A relationship is a two way street but lately it was just you putting in the effort. Yoongi would spend his time hold up in his studio and when he did come out he was grumpy, not adorable grumpy no he swore and said things you knew he didn’t really mean. 

That didn’t mean you didn’t have self respect, your doctor had just called congratulating you on your pregnancy. When you knocked on Yoongi’s door you received a string of curses he told you in some choice words to ‘f*** off’. 

So that’s what you were doing, you began packing everything. Tears streaming down your face it wasn’t a pretty sight in the slightest. Finally packed you were leaving a note. 

Yoongi, 

I would do anything you ask of me because I love you. But I cannot stay if you treat me this way. I mean among other things today you told me to ‘f*** off’ so I guess I am. 

I love you and will never find anyone like you, not that I can anymore. I am going to be a mum so I guess it’s just me and either a son or daughter we have made together. You can visit them if you wish or you can be a part of their lives but otherwise I’m sorry. I am sorry I wasn’t strong enough to stay but your words tore me down. 

Y/n

Jung Hoseok: Rat

Hoseok was not happy with this scenario, he was playing on a reality tv show. He was separated from his six band mates and each guy was paired with another celebrity/idol. Hobi got you a foreigner but a very smart and fearless one. 

The show was where celebrities played a game of hide and seek and only one pair could be found per day so you had supplies and had to take a base. 

The whole town was fake and only the contestants got an electronic map complete with supply drops and such. Each player when they found their base secured it on the map. 

There were ten teams and ten bases so why could you see nine. You were playing around with the map when you found a secret sublevel filled with supplies and stuff: the entrance was the sewers. 

“Hoseok all this food and stuff is ours and no one will think to look underground come one”

You confirmed your location in the base in the fake sewer system complete with real rats. 

Kim Namjoon: No dirty

You left him instructions, put the dirty clothes in the washing machine, one scoop of powder. Turn the dial to regular before hitting play. It didn’t seem hard you even took pictures for reference on your little page of instructions. 

When you came home you were surprised to see that the place was honestly clean, the floors mopped and everything was perfect the washing had all been done and folded. Your bed was made. 

“Joonie, did you do all this, I just wanted you to do a few loads of washing not clean the whole house” 

The further you entered the premises you noticed subtle things out of place, there was a set of keys on the bench that weren’t yours nor Namjoon’s. 

You walked to the fish tank and in the reflection you noticed the walk in pantry door open and six young men pile out grabbing the keys and heading to the front door. 

“You boys want to stay for dinner?”

“Ahahaha Noona we are really busy we were just stopping by”

“Yeah I forgot you always stop by with a vacuum mop bucket and thirty cleaning supplies” you turned deadpanning “what happened?”

“I followed your instruction but the suds overflowed everywhere” Namjoon pouted and you couldn’t even pretend to be mad. 

“Thank you boys so much and we will keep trying Joonie, if first we don’t succeed, we try again”

Park Jimin: Xray

Jimin was walking through the hospital escorting patients here and there, and you were his rival in the field. To be honest you had a bit of a crush on him. It was that notion that if there is something you can’t have you want it more. So here you two were working with a very important patient trying to figure out what was wrong.

“I think it could be Amyloidosis”

“Slow down doctor house this isn’t a sitcom, this is real life” you scoffed and the patient looked between you.

“Can you just figure out what ever it is I have and fix it?” The patient was exasperated by the two of your banter.

Hoseok took the bio bag off you in the doorway and took it to the lab for testing. The two of you continued paperwork and the patient review together. “Have you travelled overseas in the last few days?”

“Uh yes, I was in Europe last week” the patient coughed up red the liquid coming out his nose and ears. The fluid had splatter across the two of you. So now here you were on lock down it seemed the patient was suspected to have a rather contagious illness that had you and the other doctor removed and placed in a tiny room. The hours seemed to pass and you both sat waiting trying to solve the case from isolation. ‘Send him for an Xray”

“I agree with dr. y/n.” Jimin nodded “call back if you have any more information.

Kim Taehyung: Millionaire

He had everything he ever wanted, rooms full of games and cupboards full of food and clothes and the latest gadgets. He woke and put on his new Gucci shirt and grinned. His housekeeper was Kim Seokjina, a witty and rather dashing young man, he ran the estates affairs. His tutor is a genius by the name of Kim Namjoon. Then there was the gardener, Jung Hoseok, a sweet guy with skin kissed by the sun always glowing so warm. There was Young mister Park Jimin, he was a fun guy to be around, he spent the time tending to the little chores, Jeon Jungkook even younger spent his time running maintenance around the mansion. Lastly There was the quiet barely ever seen Min Yoongi who was the cook and who indulged his master with the finest strawberries.

Each of them played a role around taking care of young mister Kim Taehyung and they treated him kindly yet fairly. When Mrs. Kim suggested her son meet some eligible young women to date; they all seemed rather nervous.

Jeon Jungkook: Stutter

He has a stutter. That is the first thought people have when they meet Jeon Jungkook, he is so self conscious with how he sounds to others, sometimes he doesn’t speak at all. He is however forced to speak when the situation demands it. But only after he has tried every other method of communication first. He arrived at the library looking for another story about a brave underdog becoming the hero and defeating evil. He wished his life was like those in the stories, because he would be a hero and would have a beautiful girlfriend which had been by his side all along and he would gain confidence and the stutter would disappear.

Selecting the next in the Larry Dotter series, Jungkook headed to the counter seeing you smile, you were the only one he didn’t stutter around, why couldn’t he talk to girls like he talked to you. He was never worried about how he sounded around you because you were deaf and never judged him.

“He smiled purchasing the book, listening to you talk in your adorable voice, something he knew you hated but it was endearing to hear you talk excitedly about things.

In his story you would be winry peasley, he thought smiling. Little did he know that Larry and Winry were destined to be together.

[bemused-writer]

VNC Chapter 42 Review

Well, this review is long in the making. Nearly time for the next chapter! I almost considered waiting and then combining the two reviews, but, well, that seemed like it might get a little long. Since we're going to get the next chapter tomorrow, I'm going to keep guesswork to the minimum if it's likely to be answered in the very next chapter and instead focus on what this chapter gave us, which is already plenty. There was a lot therein that will probably only make sense in future chapters, but here we go! The first thing I have to wonder is: Can Noé reattach his hand or can't he? Both he and Dante don't seem to have any clue, but mostly that seems to indicate neither has been trained in first aid, so...

Personally, I think it would be a little anticlimactic if Noé just gets his hand back without any repercussions, but I suppose we'll find out soon. The cold might have preserved it well enough that it can be done, I suppose? Outside of that ongoing question, there was an interesting thing Dante pointed out: astérisque flowers appear when the world formula has been altered.

I looked this flower up, and I'm having no luck finding anything, so I can't really go into any depth regarding possible symbolism. To me it looks like a peony, but Google translate informs me that is not how you say peony in French, so I'm unsure. If anyone has any ideas on that, I would definitely welcome the insight! Flowers appearing after the world has been altered is certainly poetic, however. It suggests, to me, ideas of rebirth, cleansing, etc.

We also got insight into Astolfo's backstory, and it's as tragic and sorrowful as we all feared it would be. This boy wants to rectify a wrong done to his family, I completely get that, but he's targeting the innocent and that changes things. If he were only going after the vampires that killed his parents and assaulted his sister, I'm pretty sure we'd all be rooting for him. As it is, he's killing vampires indiscriminately, lumping them all together, and that makes his revenge more of a hate crime. Seeing him and Roland together is ... difficult. Roland was the one who saved him, saw him at his absolute lowest. Astolfo owes him in ways he can't repay and I think all of this explains their potentially very messed-up relationship. Roland is a constant reminder of his sister's death, of his own weakness. However, Roland is the one in charge of him, the only one he willingly obeys, and the one he professes to despise. Why is that? No doubt it's because Roland puts on a carefree facade, makes light of everything, and still manages to be one of the most powerful paladins, and he's the very individual Astolfo owes the most. I don't think any of that mixes well for him. As for Roland, he seems... severe, around Astolfo.

I wouldn't say he seems cruel, exactly, but so far his lighthearted nature disappears completely when Astolfo is around. Perhaps this is another issue Astolfo has with Roland: he's happy and kind to everyone but him. No one comments on their exchange, but Noé has a sad, understanding look on his face. He's becoming more aware of how cruel the world can be. Astolfo didn't stand a chance.

Jean-Jacques and Chloé were given a happy ending, and I'm definitely okay with being wrong with all my gloomy predictions from before. :D Watching them bicker really made me feel like they were Jeanne's parents. We also see that Chloé has been fed up with life for a long time. She longed for a peaceful death back when she was watching over Jeanne in a beautiful location free of her usual troubles. Thankfully, she's now in a much better place, and she and Jean-Jacques can begin to rebuild now.

Of course, none of this would have been possible without our resident vampire doctor, Vanitas, who is having some troubles of his own.

Vanitas is in danger of being rewritten. What does this mean exactly? My first guess is that he could become a vampire. It would be somewhat fitting, I suppose. He would hate that and we all thought he was going to be the vampire in this series to begin with. Having said that, I'm not sure I really like that interpretation. It's also possible he's being consumed by the mark, which is a lot vaguer. I see two possibilities at the moment: he will be consumed until he ceases to exist or he will become something, or someone, else. Either way, the mark is certainly wider by quite a bit. The growth is quite alarming; he's had to use its power directly only once so far and it's already grown that much? His entire arm will be covered if he keeps it up, which we know he probably will. It's interesting that while Noé loses his left hand, Vanitas has trouble with his right. Once again, they're almost perfect parallels of one another. That's one theme of the series that's been remarkably consistent, and I suspect will only continue. The left hand was traditionally associated with evil or bad luck, while the right was considered right and proper. We could easily see this as symbolism for their relationship with one another: Vanitas is causing Noé trouble/bringing him further down a dark road while Noé is improving Vanitas's outlook and lightening his burden. This is a very simplistic way of looking at it, of course, and the truth is that their relationship is a lot more complicated than that with a much more even give-and-take, but on a surface level that is one way of looking at things. Regardless, Vanitas isn't given much time to sulk as Jeanne finds him and thanks him profusely for his help. It figures Vanitas would be confused by this; someone thanking him for a good deed? He has no idea how to handle this.

Things immediately take a different turn, though. I think the realization that she owed all of this to Vanitas sort of increased her affection for him, which in turn triggered her desire for blood, which in turn gave us this scene that I can only assume will go down in this fanbase's history:

So, it looks like Jeanne's venom is producing a pleasurable effect here, but this is actually somewhat noteworthy because that is not how things were in their previous encounters. Behold:

I know there's some room for interpretation here, but to me it looks like Vanitas is in a lot of pain, especially in that first example. But in our most recent chapter, he isn't. Why? Personally, I think it's because they're more compatible now, which leads to some interesting possibilities with a vampire's venom. Perhaps, just as in real life, two people can not be "compatible" at first, but through shared life experiences they can become so. Jeanne and Vanitas definitely weren't compatible when they first met, but this arc has transformed their relationship into something more equitable. Having said that, they still have a long way to go. Neither of them seems especially good at asking for permission so far. Vanitas kissed her without permission in the first volume, Jeanne drank his blood without permission in chapter 42. It's not quite the same since they've both come a long way in their relationship, but still. There's no doubt that Jeanne's feelings for Vanitas are softening, though.

Vanitas has given her something she desperately wanted: he saved Chloé, he kept his promise. That's a big deal. And I think, for the first time, Vanitas saw who Jeanne really is:

He thought she was a pushover he could manipulate into anything and that she would never love him. Decent chance he was wrong about literally every single one of those things. :D Jeanne's quiet, obedient demeanor seems more like a learned habit, a way of surviving in a world that wants nothing to do with her. In actuality, she's very forthright, a bit of a tomboy judging by her childhood behavior, and eccentric. She's the exact opposite of Dominique, who learned that, in order to survive, she needed to be more boisterous and bizarre as opposed to the quiet, feminine girl she once was. Anyway, this leads to Vanitas flashing back to VotBM commenting on how she hoped someone would embrace him the way she did. I'm not going to lie, I think it's kind of weird a romantic scene led to a family-style platonic scene (at least I'm assuming...), but maybe Vanitas is so starved for affection he can't tell the difference. I would almost believe it.

It's interesting to note that VotBM says "Just as the two of you are here for me..." There were two people in her life that prevented her from feeling lonely. Likewise, Vanitas has two people in his life that are preventing him from feeling lonely: Jeanne and Noé. Of course, the person that allowed for him to be this close to Jeanne is Noé, it's why he was so made at Noé a couple chapters ago. He promised Jeanne something because he's been influenced by Noé's own do-gooder personality. We symbolically see that all of this is because of Noé walking into his life in the last panel.

It will be interesting to see how things continue! Needless to say, I'm very impatient for the next chapter. 8D Till then, you guys!

[dukereviewsxtra]

Duke Reviews Xtra: Alice In Wonderland (Tim Burton)

Hello, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Another Duke Reviews Xtra Where Today We're Continuing Our Look At The Movies Of Disney...

Where Last Sunday On Duke Reviews, I Looked At Walt Disney's Animated Version Of Alice In Wonderland, So On Today's Duke Reviews Xtra We're Going To Be Looking At Tim Burton's Version Of The Tale...

In This Remake/Sequel To Lewis Carroll's Tale, A Now Teenage Alice, Returns To Wonderland Or Underland As It's Called In This Movie (It'll Be Explained Later) To Save It From The Tyranny Of The Red Queen By Slaying The Jabberwocky...

Will Alice Win?

Let's Find Out As We Watch Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland..

The Film Starts As Alice's Father, Charles Kingsleigh Trying To Sell The Idea Of Creating Trading Posts In Asian Lands Including Bangkok To Some Of His Men When His 6 Year Old Daughter Alice Wakes Up And Tells Him About Her Adventures In Wonderland...

(Start At 0:46, End At 1:06)

Of Course, Dear Dad Eventually Dies As We Cut To A Few Years Later Where A Now 19 Year Old Alice Is Attending A Party On Former Friend Of Her Father's Estate As She Faces Not Only The Stifling Expectations Of The Society She Lives In But A Marriage Proposal From The Friend's Son Named Hamish, Who Alice Dislikes...

But During The Proposal, Alice Sees A White Rabbit Which She Chases And Falls Into A Large Rabbit Hole When She Follows The Rabbit To A Large Tree...

Crashing Into A Large Room Full Of Doors, Alice Drinks A Bottle Marked Drink Me Which Causes Her To Shrink Out Of Her Clothes...

And Yet She's Wearing Clothes For Some Reason, You'd Think She'd Be Naked When She Shrinks, Yet When She Grows Out Of Her Clothes In The Queen's Garden She Does Rip Them And Is As I Said Basically Naked With Flower Bushes Censoring Things...

But Like The Animated Version, She Left The Key Up On The Table So She Has To Eat A Cake Marked Eat Me Which Causes Her To Grow...

However, Unlike The Animated Version Where She Cries Creating A River Of Tears Before Drinking From The Drink Me Bottle Again, She Just Drinks All Of The Drink Me Bottle And Just Unlocks The Door So She Can Enter Into A Vast Garden Residing In Underland...

There, Alice Meets The White Rabbit (Voiced By Michael Sheen), The Doormouse, The Dodo (Voiced By Alfred) And Tweedles Dee And Dum (Played By Nardole From Doctor Who) Who Take Her To See The Caterpillar (Voiced By Severus Snape) Who Goes By The Name Of Absolem..

Once There, They Show Alice A Calender Called The Oraculum, Which Details Each And Every Day In Underland Since The Beginning Where They Reveal That On The Frabjous Day, She Is Supposed To Slay The Jabberwocky With The Vorpal Sword...

But Having No Interest In Doing So And Believing This Entire Thing To Be A Dream (Throughout Most Of The Movie) The White Rabbit Asks If She's The Alice Of Legend Only For Absolem To Tell Them Not Likely...

But Before They Can Get Alice Back To Her World, They're Attacked By The Cards Of The Red Queen And A Creature Called The Bandersnatch...

(Start At 0:31)

Alice Walks With The Tweedles For A While Until They're Captured By A JubJub Bird...

Meanwhile At The Castle Of The Red Queen (Played By Mrs. Lovett From Sweeney Todd) The Red Queen Screams In Anger Over Someone Stealing One Of Her Tarts, After Discovering That It Was One Of Her Frog Footmen, She Has Him Beheaded As The Knave Of Hearts (Played By..)

That...

Tells Her That Alice Has Returned To Underland, Which Leads Her To Assign A Bloodhound Named Bayard (Voiced By Peter Pettigrew)...

Which Actually Surprised Me, As Timothy Spall Has One Of Those Voices You Could Pick Out Of A Lineup And Instantly Know His Voice From His Work In Both Harry Potter And Sweeney Todd But Here I Could Barely Tell It Was Him...

As I Was Saying, The Queen Recruits A Bloodhound Named Bayard To Find Alice In Exchange For The Freedom Of Him And His Family...

Wandering Through The Tulgy Woods, Alice Is Soon Met By The Cheshire Cat (Voiced By Stephen Fry) Who Bandages Her Arm Before Taking Her To The Tea Party, Where She Reunites With The Doormouse Before She Meets The March Hare And The Mad Hatter (Played By Johnny Depp)

And Whether You Like Or Hate His Mad Hatter, He Still Is Pretty Good...

But When The Knave Of Hearts Crashes The Party, The Hatter Quickly Shrinks Alice To 6 Feet Tall And Hides Her In A Teapot As The Knave Talks With Him...

(The Knave) Don't Make Me Fight You, Depp Like I Did David Letterman...

With Bayard Finding Alice In The Teapot, The Hatter Persuades Him Not To Reveal Alice's Location, Which Leads Bayard To Lead The Knave And His Troops Away...

Travelling With Alice, The Hatter Reveals How The Red Queen Rose To Power On Horunvendush Day And How Not Only Did He Lose His Family (Which We'll Discover More About In The Sequel) But The Vorpal Sword...

With The Queen's Cards Quickly Approaching, The Hatter And Alice Race To A River As The Hatter Places Alice On His Hat And Tosses Her On It Across The River As He Is Captured By The Knave And His Cards...

Found By Bayard, Alice Persuades Him To Take Her To The Red Queen's Castle To Rescue The Hatter As She Crosses A Moat Of Severed Heads...

To Get There As Bayard Throws The Hatter's Hat Over The Wall While The Queen Is Playing Croquet. Found By The White Rabbit, He Gives Her A Piece Of Upelkuchen Cake To Make Her Grow Again. However, She Eats Too Much And Not Only Grows To 8.5 Feet High, But Grows Out Of Her Clothes (Like I Mentioned Before).,.

Introducing Herself As Um From Umbridge...

Is That A Town Run By Dolores Umbridge?

And Saying That Everyone Makes Of Her Over Her Height, Alice Avoids Suspicion As The Red Queen Accepts Her Into Her Court...

Being By The Red Queen's Side, She Watches As The Hatter Is Brought Before The Queen...

(Start At 2:30)

Retrieving The Hatter's Hat Later, Alice Returns It To Him As Bayard Informs The White Queen (Played By Princess Mia Of Genovia) That Alice Is At The Red Queen's Castle...

Asking The White Rabbit Where The Vorpal Sword Is, He Tells Her That It's In The Domain Of The Bandersnatch...

(Start At 1:06, End At 1:10)

So, Getting His Eye From The Doormouse, Alice Goes To Face The Bandersnatch Only To Run Into The Knave Of Hearts Who Tries To Seduce Her...

Wow! Who Knew George McFly Was An Asshole?

Eventually Escaping The Knave, Alice Gives The Bandersnatch Back His Eye So She Can Get The Vorpal Sword From It's Case But Unfortunately It's Locked...

But That Doesn't Stop The Bandersnatch From Healing Her Wound That He Gave Her Which Is When She Discovers That He Has The Key To The Case Around His Neck...

So As Alice Gets The Vorpal Sword, The White Rabbit Grabs The Oraculum While The Red Queen Hears About The Knave Coming On To Alice...

Knowing That The Knave Would Never Betray Her The Queen Orders Um's Capture As Alice Returns To The Hatter And The Doormouse To Free The Hatter But She Is Confronted By The Knave Who Orders The Cards To Arrest Her For Seduction....

The Hatter Tries To Hold Off The Knave And The Cards As Alice Tries To Get Away But When The Doormouse Accidentally Says "Run, Alice", The Knave Now Knows The Truth That Um Was Actually Alice....

Running Into The Courtyard, Alice Is Ambushed By Cards But Luckily She Is Saved By The Bandersnatch Who She Rides Off With To The White Queen's Castle...

Once There, The White Queen Shrinks Alice Back To Her Normal Size, Before She Has A Talk With Absolem Who Now Says That She May Not Have Been Alice When They First Encountered Each Other But She's More Like Alice Now...

Held In A Cell Next To Bayard's Wife And Pups, The Cheshire Cat Appears To The Hatter And Asks If He Can Have His Hat After His Execution Today,

However, When The Execution Happens, It's Revealed That The Hatter Was Actually The Cheshire Cat...

(Start At 1:39)

Arriving At The White Queen's Castle, The Hatter Is Glad She's The Right Size As The Cheshire Cat Gives The Hatter Back His Hat Before Asking Alice How Her Arm Is..,

The Next Morning On The Frabjous Day, The White Queen Tries To Find A Champion As Many Come Forward But Of Course, The Prophecy States That Must Be Alice Or No One At All....

But Still Not Wanting To Fight, Alice Runs Into The Castle Where She Once Again Encounters Absolem As He's About To Go Into A Cocoon So He'll Become A Butterfly..

(Start At 1:38)

With Both Armies Meeting On A Gigantic Chess Board, The Jabberwocky Finally Reveals Itself To Alice...

(Start At 1:21, End At 4:05)

With The Red Queen's Guards Following Her No More After The Deaths Of The Jabberwocky And The JubJub Bird, The Cheshire Cat Crowns The White Queen As Queen Of Underland As She Banishes The Red Queen And The Knave To The Outlands...

But Unable To Live With The Red Queen, The Knave Tries To Kill Her Only For The Hatter To Stop Him By Throwing A Knife Out Of His Hand As They're Carried Off...

Collecting The Blood Of The Jabberwocky, The White Queen Gives It To Alice Saying That It Will Send Her Back To Her World, So Saying Goodbye To Her Friends, Alice Drinks The Blood And Is Sent Home...

Climbing Out Of The Rabbit Hole, Alice Returns To The Party Where She Refuses To Marry Hamish (Only For Him To Become A Minor Bad Guy In The Next Movie)

And Instead Becomes His Father's Apprentice, Voyaging To China To Place A Trading Post There. Saying Goodbye To Her Mother, A Blue Butterfly Lands On Her To Which She Believes To Be Absolem As It Flies Off Ending Our Movie....

And That's Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland And Why Do People Hate This?

Yes, The Changes Can Be Upsetting And The Girl Who Plays Alice Isn't That Great. But The Story And Characters Are Interesting, Both Johnny Depp And Helena Bonham Carter Are Good In Their Roles, And The Environments Are Amazingly Designed So I Say See It..,

Tune In Tomorrow As We Look At The Burtonless Sequel, Alice Through The Looking Glass, Till Then, This Is Duke, Signing Off...

[patriciahaefeli]

A Cautionary Tale? A Love Story? You Decide

It's been one of those rollercoaster weeks, one that began with a great deal of pain, which I tried to ignore at first, so as not to ruin my 17- year old’s already Corona-compromised birthday party. At some point during our 5 p.m. family Zoom celebration, I quietly left the room and went upstairs to lie down, writhe in pain, get back up, bend over, moan, repeat. This continued through the night Monday – and at one point, I remember thinking that labor wasn’t this bad and that I should probably go to the emergency room. In this new world we’re in, that thought was quickly dismissed by one word: COVID. I paced the floor at 3 a.m., alternately moaning and then bopping my head and sort of softly singing what kept running through my head, which was the chorus of The Knack’s 1979 hit song, “My Sharona.” Only my version went “My Corona.” Yes, even while suffering, I’m clever that way. 

By Tuesday morning the pain had subsided. I was exhausted however, and slept throughout the day. “Tricia! Drink this! Jesus, she’s burning up.” It was the alarm in my husband’s voice that I responded to more than the command. I sat up, drank the water he was holding out to me, and when I caught my reflection in the mirror over the dresser I had the brief, feverously detached impression of someone who’d sat under a sun lamp for too long. Sun lamp, the words made me almost giggle out loud. Sun-lamp, sun-lamp, sun-lamp…Does anyone even know what that is anymore? A few hours later I had a virtual appointment with my regular GP, during which the decision was made for me to go to the office first thing Wednesday for a full exam. My instructions (my fever-addled brain again added the words “should I choose to accept them” - hehehe), for entering the building would come in the form a text. 

My office exam was efficient and thorough. Upon arrival, I called the office and someone met me at a side door. As we were both masked and gloved, we nodded and murmured muffled greetings. Two PAs and an MD palpated my tender abdomen while I stifled screams. They decided that I should have a C-T scan that day, with the expectation that the offending culprit was a kidney stone. As many radiology facilities are currently closed, it took a few hours for them to locate one that would take me. My scan took place at 4:30. I was the last patient of their day. 

 Fast forward to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday evening. I picked up the call, which was remarkable in itself because anyone who knows me knows how irritating it is that, a) my phone is always on silent mode, and, b) I rarely answer numbers I don’t recognize. It was another doctor from Vanguard, calling to let me know that my C-T scan showed no evidence of kidney stones – “Yay!” BUT, he cut in, it did show acute appendicitis. What I needed to do, he said, was to go directly to the nearest ER. 

So here’s where this story really begins, because I was about to get a reality check regarding the difference between the inconveniences of “social distancing” and quite literally, matters of life and death. For those of us who are shuffling around at home in our sweatpants, eating too much, complaining about the buffoonery of our President, laughing at all the funny memes, and who are, to one degree or another, COMPLETELY OBLIVIOUS to the fact that health care workers do not have the luxury of ANY of that, here’s the newsflash: The Corona virus has virtually SHUT down normal operations for hospitals and surgical facilities, so if you’re also laughing in the face of social-distancing guidelines, and just can’t wrap your head around the possibility of contracting this deadly disease, know this too: If you break your arm, or your spouse has a heart attack, or your child’s strange rash won’t go away and you’re just really concerned, good luck. We are NOT in Kansas anymore, peeps. 

 I considered doing a bit of a negative a rant on the first hospital that I went to here, but perhaps that wouldn’t be fair. “The nearest ER” for me would have been another hospital, but due to their somewhat dubious reputation, we opted to go just a bit farther away. The best thing I can say about that experience was that the safety protocols to enter the ER were impressive. Picture the scene in E.T. where the Hazmat-suited guys from the space program find out about him and “invade” the house in a tunnel of white - then picture the people standing six feet apart outside of say, ShopRite, only these people don’t look so great. They’re kind of bent over, or swaying, or leaning on someone else. Then count your blessings that your gut hurts and you’re not bleeding out…or struggling to breathe. 

Three hours later, after they’d reviewed my scans and completed all of the necessary pre-op tests (blood work, EKG, urine analysis), I got the word that most of the ORs were being used as ICUs for COVID patients, and they were only doing “emergent” surgeries. They sent me home with massive doses of antibiotics, and a referral to see their staff general surgeon - outpatient. 

I figured they were right, too. Must not be very serious. I was doing well with that notion until the following morning, when I heard the barely concealed shock in the voice of my regular MD.  

“Did they see your scans?” his tone serving only to increase my anxiety. 

 “Yeah. But my appendix hasn’t exploded yet.” I said. 

 “Ah,” he sighed, “I know things are being handled differently in the ‘current environment,’ but last time I checked, acute appendicitis was emergent.” 

Okay, pay attention now, because here’s where it gets really interesting: See if you can answer his parting questions: 

 “Do you have a general surgeon? Preferably one with their own facility?” 

 So, do you? And if you do, are you sure they’re even open right now? I sure as hell didn’t (and the name they gave me at the hospital turned out to be for a doctor whose answering machine told me he was not seeing new patients). And the idea that it was now pretty much my problem to solve was a little intimidating – especially for someone who generally needs to be told that they’re sick (enough) or in (enough) pain to seek help—but that’s another story. Now that doctor, who I respect and like a lot, said he’d be trying to find me one, but that I should do my research as well. 

 My husband and I made a fairly long list of people/places to call, and split it. Those we were able to reach at all offered possible solutions to my dilemma, but each dead-ended pretty quickly. I focused on the task now, trying to ignore what it might mean that the ache in my belly seemed to be spreading down my right leg. 

As of this writing, I have yet to hear back from my regular GP and yet, here I sit, post-op, able to get this down mostly because of a Facebook message I sent to one of the nurses in the Belleville Public School district. The only real help I got came from her, a nurse, who responded immediately to an “in-boxed” message, and kept responding for the next hour, sending me the names and phone numbers of doctors (sometimes with their credentials!), links to possible facilities, and words of encouragement. She gave me her personal cell phone number and encouraged me to call it if I had questions and/or to let her know how it was going. I felt like she meant it, too. I also think she was responsible for the first in a series of serendipitous events that just may have saved my life. One of the names she gave me turned out to be the dad of one of my kid’s friends. 

 At that point, things happened pretty quickly. I called him (at home) and told him my situation. In a matter of 20 minutes, he had my scans and had booked  a time slot for me for same-day surgery at Clara Maass. He’s a high-energy, outgoing kind of guy, and although I’d stood on sidelines with him and his lovely wife at many a sports event, I don’t know him well enough, nor did I think it was appropriate to laugh out loud when he laid out the plan: “With everything going on, I just really want to do you – and get you the hell out of there!” 

So here I am, more grateful to him than I can possibly express and having some time to consider just how random and crazy and dangerous that whole situation was (turns out, my appendix had begun to perforate after all, and the real fun was just beginning) and how fortunate I am. 

 But the real heroes here - Oh, and God, aren’t we all a little sick of the “hero” thing? – well get over it, and listen up! From the minute I walked through the door of Clara Maass yesterday, my experience was the best it could possibly have been. The nurses! OMG the nurses - I was in pre-op for hours. Lucky as I was to have been squeezed in to an already crowded surgical schedule, the truth of the matter was that my presence had required a quick shifting of resources—stretchers and space and - nurses. My sudden appearance in the queue was inconvenient, possibly even annoying. And yet all of them, including the nurse who ran the OR, came by to check on me, to give me extra blankets, to chat with me, and laugh with me. A friend’s daughter-in-law, who is a nurse there, got a text from him and even she came from three floors below just to say hello and charm me with her Australian accent and tired-but-twinkling blue eyes. I swear, for me? The whole experience was a cross between a weirdly sterile spa stay, and – as mine all happened to be women - a girls’ sleepover with your best girlfriends—only these were women I'd just met (but they’d also pretty much seen me naked, so, there’s that…). 

Most of them were nearing the end of a 12-hour shift. As I lay there, relaxed and warm, reading and texting, they race-walked back and forth among those of us who waited, or were recovering. I lost count of how many times one of them asked me if I was okay, or if I needed something. They ate their dinners on the move, taking bites and then sprinting off, tearing off one set of gloves, putting on another. These people Do. Not. Sit. The sink was right near my bed, so I saw a lot of hand-washing traffic too, and a lot of red, chapped, over-sanitized hands. They spoke in soothing voices to those who were waiting, and possibly scared, and loud-enough voices for those emerging from the cloud of anesthesia to understand. Sometimes they shouted good-natured complaints to one another, or teased one another – and me, as when one started repacking those bags they give you for your clothes, amusement in her voice as she yelled, “What the hell did you do here, shove it all in like a little kid? Your purse is open – Maria, come over here and see this – she’s a mess!” Hahahaha! One came by and pointed to the cover of the book I was reading entitled “The Silent Patient”, and joked “That’s the kind we like!” 

I even began to wonder if what I was getting was “special treatment” reserved for those whose surgeries were personally called-in by the surgeon. Once he arrived, however, it was clear that not only did they not know he was the one who got me in, but they chided him in the same affectionate way. At a point, I said to one of them, “Doctors think they’re all that, but nurses really run the show don’t they?” She winked at me and elbowed me a little, “Like husbands, honey – they just think they’re in charge!” 

I lounged, for over four hours while they stood on what had to be tired feet, hands on hips as they talked to me, telling me which part of the hospital they’d spent the morning in, or where they were headed next in this crazy, all-hands-on-deck environment. We chatted about jobs and kids, and only when the topic of this deadly disease came up did the lack of words become conspicuous. Then it was all a mime of sad shakes of the head and downward glances. 

It occurs to me today that after all of this, I'm not sure I would recognize any of them tomorrow if I saw them on street – nor they me. Of course, we were all masked. But maybe I would – if I could see their eyes again. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that most of all, those eyes conveyed a profound kindness. And laughter, and concern, and compassion, and dedication—and a toughness that allows them to do it all. 

I'll tell you a secret: I am a person who often has a weird response to unexpected kindness - it makes me cry. I welled up more than once yesterday afternoon. I may have been just one of many for them – this is just what they do - but for me, a bond was made. I will always remember them. 

Make no mistake: it’s no hardship to be home in your sweatpants with your gel manicure looking a little ratchet, and your spouse and kids seeming more like houseguests who have overstayed their welcome. Today, I want you to feel really, really blessed and grateful, and if you’re like me, a generally healthy person who never really gave too much thought to the job that these people do, I hope I was able to convey just a little of it. 

That school nurse who rescued me put it this way: “I took an oath when I graduated just as physicians do. I have followed it for 28 years and it has never let me or my patients down.” That whole oath thing is good and important and all, but the heart behind it gives it grace. 

So, if you get an invitation to do one of those car processions where you beep your horn and cheer for the local health care workers as they go in to, or leave, work– get in your car and go. Or, just mail them each a check for a million dollars. Either way.

[thecomicsnexus]

Peace on Earth

SUPERMAN: PEACE ON EARTH JANUARY 1999 BY PAUL DINI AND ALEX ROSS

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC FANDOM)

The story opens with Clark remembering back to his days on the farm in Smallville with his father. He remembers when he was young how he and Jonathan Kent walked the acres of fields sowing seed, and the instruction his father would give him about how to do it. His father told him that in some respects, people are like seeds. Some blossom right away, while others need a little extra care.

Superman's thoughts return to the present as he lands in Metropolis Square holding a giant fir tree that lights up to become the city's Christmas tree. The crowd cheered and people wanted to talk with him, but he had other matters to attend to. He then hears a cry for help and races to find a girl in the crowd who has fainted. First he thought it was shock, then he noticed how light and weak she was and realized that this girl was starving. He flies her to a rescue mission, where the doctor in charge assure Superman that she would be fed and well cared for. Upon arriving back at the Daily Planet, Clark suggested to the editor that they consider a story on the homeless for the holidays. The suggestion was made in part as an excuse for Clark to check in on the girl. Checking back at the mission, Clark was informed that the girl is a southern runaway, with no friends or family in the city. Reduced to begging for food, she might have died if it had not been for Superman's timely intervention. The doctor noted that it was too bad Superman can't be there for every needy person. Clark agreed.

After further consideration, including remembering some things Pa Kent told him about putting other people's needs ahead of your own, and consistent with his view that his powers were not strictly his alone, but there for anyone who needs them, Superman requested to address the U.S. Congress. With all the Congressional members assembled, he announced he would like permission to be able to take American surplus food and distribute it to hungry people around the world, as many countries as he could deliver it to in one day. There are some skepticism among some of the Congressional membership, but ultimately they gave their approval. Superman spent several days gathering the food together. He found it encouraging that some people who became aware of his plan are showing up to volunteer to help package the food. The media went wall-to-wall with the story, calling Superman everything from "Selfless Hero" to "Misguided Outsider". The Daily Planet ran the front page headline "Superman's Stand Against Hunger." A few other countries joined in and offered their surplus food, and finally it is all collected and ready for Superman to distribute it to other countries.

Superman began delivering the food to each location, either in a tanker, or on large platform. He drops off grain in the American Southwest, for Native Americans that will be helped by it. He delivers massive amounts of food and grains to countries around the world where hunger on a large scale exists. In many of these countries, crowds gathered to meet him and express their appreciation. Smiling children reach out their hands to him. He noticed in one war-torn European country, from the faces of the people, it was hard to know if there was still any hope left. A little boy asks "Will you be back tomorrow?" Superman continued to cross the globe looking for venues where the food is needed, but knowing that this was only providing one day's relief, and that even he would not be able to continue doing this on a daily basis. He knew the leaders of the world would need to give consideration to a more permanent solution.

Along the way, Superman put out a large brush fire in Africa, while he also stopped a stampede of wild animals from causing damage or injury to a crowd at a drop off point nearby. Not a huge problem, but it took precious time away from the continuance of his mission. Unfortunately, not all of the deliveries are going well. In one country, a military despot in control of his country was there at the drop point "requesting" that Superman leave the food with his soldiers. The Man of Steel knew that his intention was to give some of the food to his men and sell the rest on the black market. Superman wanted to give the food directly to the starving people that were there waiting, but the dictator prevents it with threats against his own people, so Superman left the food where he dropped it. In one country, when Superman leaves the food, no one leaves their home out of fear, and rats get to the food first. In another place, the food drop causes the people waiting for it to turn into a raving mob to get at it. Superman had to burrow underground to pull himself away from all the grasping hands trying to get to him. In yet another country, as Superman arrives the government warns against his help. In response to his persistence, they fire a chemical-weapon missile at where he is, with civilians below. He attempts to save the people by sending the cloud of poison into space, but the tanker is damaged and the food is poisoned. It was at that point, a disheartened Superman kneeling on the ground, amid the rubble of the destroyed food declared "My mission ends here, incomplete and in failure."

Back in Metropolis, a discouraged Clark sits in his apartment and ponders the failure of his mission. He knows that most people respected what he was trying to accomplish, but he also feels the disappointment of millions across the globe who were still waiting, but somehow knew that he wouldn't be coming. Worldwide media demanded a statement from Superman, and it came in the form of an interview with Clark Kent that was the page one story in the Daily Planet. He admits that despite his best efforts, he now sees that the project was too big for one man, even if he is a Superman. The solution to the problem of world hunger rests on the compassion of each person for another. He says, "There's an old saying - give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime." He goes on to say, "I ask everyone to share what they have with those who need it. Their knowledge, their time, their generosity. Especially with the young, for on them rests our future, and all hope of a true Peace on Earth."

In the end, Clark Kent does his part by teaching local school children about what he learned from his father in a Kansas field. He and the children, each one equipped with an over the shoulder bag of seeds, walk out over the fields spreading seeds. As they walk, he tells them, "...not every seed will make it, but all of them deserve the chance to grow."

REVIEW

This book was the first of a series of books by the same creative team. And it is easy to dismiss. Reason being that the book looks gorgeous, but it’s oversized, something that I personally dislike in comics, as they need to be in a different place as other comic books. The other reason is because it feels like you are most likely going to be looking at the pictures, like that is the entire gimmick of it.

Well, turns out, the story is actually very good. This book nails the “world hunger” issue, whereas “Heroes against Hunger” failed to do so. Sales of the original art, just like “Heroes against Hunger”, helped donate money to two charitable causes, UNICEF and Harper House in Chicago (which benefited the homeless).

Money, however, was never the point, though. As the story in this book tells us, it’s not money that we should be sending everywhere, but education. Of course, in cases of ecological and/or humanitarian emergencies, money would be welcome.

I cannot really say a thing about Alex Ross art... he is pretty much a god that decided to do comic-books.

I give the book a score of 9

[sarahsblessingcbdoil-blog]

Occupational Probiotic T-50 Health - What Is The Big Picture Of Oh?

Why are americans so worked up about fitness care reform? Statements which includes "don't contact my Medicare" or "all people have to have get right of entry to to nation of the artwork fitness care no matter cost" are in my opinion uninformed and visceral responses that suggest a bad know-how of our fitness care system's history, its modern-day and future resources and the investment demanding situations Probiotic T-50 the usa faces going ahead. whilst all of us marvel how the fitness care system has reached what some talk over with as a disaster level. permit's attempt to take a number of the emotion out of the controversy via in brief examining how fitness care in this usa emerged and the way that has shaped our questioning and lifestyle approximately fitness care. With that as a foundation allow's study the pros and cons of the Obama administration fitness care reform proposals and allow's examine the principles placed forth by the Republicans?

get entry to to state of the art fitness care offerings is some thing we are able to all agree might be a good component for this united states. Experiencing a extreme illness is one in every of existence's principal demanding situations and to face it with out the approach to pay for it's far positively scary. however as we will see, as soon as we understand the data, we will locate that accomplishing this purpose will now not be clean without our character contribution.

those are the topics i can touch directly to try to make a few experience out of what's happening to American health care and the steps we can personally take to make things better.

   A recent records of american fitness care - what has driven the charges so excessive?

   Key elements of the Obama fitness care plan

   The Republican view of health care - loose market opposition

   conventional access to state of the art health care - a worthy goal but now not clean to gain

   what are we able to do?

First, allow's get a touch historic attitude on American fitness care. Probiotic T-50 Review is not supposed to be an exhausted check out that records however it'll deliver us an appreciation of how the health care device and our expectancies for it developed. What drove charges better and better?

to begin, permit's turn to the yank civil war. In that war, dated processes and the carnage inflicted by way of modern-day guns of the era blended to cause ghastly consequences. no longer usually regarded is that most of the deaths on each aspects of that warfare have been now not the result of real fight however to what happened after a battlefield wound became inflicted. initially, evacuation of the wounded moved at a snail's pace and this induced severe delays in treating the wounded. Secondly, many wounds have been subjected to wound care, associated surgical procedures and/or amputations of the affected limbs and this often resulted in the onset of massive infection. so you might survive a warfare wound most effective to die on the hands of hospital therapy companies who although well-intentioned, their interventions have been often pretty lethal. high dying tolls can also be ascribed to everyday illnesses and illnesses in a time whilst no antibiotics existed. In general some thing like 600,000 deaths happened from all reasons, over 2% of the U.S. population on the time!

permit's bypass to the first half of of the 20th century for a few extra attitude and to carry us as much as extra modern times. After the civil battle there have been consistent improvements in American medicinal drug in both the understanding and treatment of positive diseases, new surgical strategies and in medical doctor education and schooling. however for the maximum part the satisfactory that docs should provide their sufferers changed into a "wait and see" method. medicinal drug may want to manage bone fractures and increasingly try volatile surgeries (now in large part accomplished in sterile surgical environments) but drugs were no longer but available to address serious illnesses. most of the people of deaths remained the result of untreatable conditions which include tuberculosis, pneumonia, scarlet fever and measles and/or associated complications. medical doctors have been increasingly aware of heart and vascular situations, and most cancers however they had nearly nothing with which to treat these conditions.

This very fundamental review of yank clinical history helps us to understand that until pretty currently (across the 1950's) we had truely no technology with which to deal with extreme or even minor illnesses. here is a essential point we want to understand; "not anything to deal with you with manner that visits to the doctor if at all have been relegated to emergencies so in this sort of state of affairs prices are curtailed. The easy truth is that there has been little for doctors to provide and consequently clearly not anything to pressure health care spending. A 2nd factor retaining down fees became that medical remedies that were furnished have been paid for out-of-pocket, meaning through manner of an people personal assets. there was no such aspect as medical health insurance and truely no longer health insurance paid by using an organization. except for the very destitute who were lucky to find their manner into a charity medical institution, fitness care charges were the duty of the person.

What does fitness care insurance ought to do with health care costs? Its effect on fitness care fees has been, and stays to at the present time, really sizeable. while medical insurance for people and families emerged as a way for corporations to get away salary freezes and to attract and hold personnel after world warfare II, nearly in a single day a terrific pool of money became to be had to pay for fitness care. cash, as a result of the availability of billions of dollars from medical insurance swimming pools, recommended an modern the usa to growth scientific studies efforts. greater americans have become insured now not handiest through private, organisation backed medical health insurance but via improved government investment that created Medicare and Medicaid (1965). further funding became available for multiplied veterans fitness care benefits. locating a cure for almost whatever has therefore come to be very moneymaking. this is also the primary motive for the tremendous array of treatments we've available nowadays. To Know More Probiotic T-50 online visit here https://supplementspeak.com/probiotic-t-50/

[ty-talks-comics]

Best of DC: Week of March 27th, 2019

Best of this Week: Detective Comics #1000 - Various Writers and Artists

Possibly more controversial than I'm thinking it'll be, I'm glad Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo did the job of reintroducing Slam Bradley into the DC Universe. Slam Bradley, of course the way I choose to remember him, was one of DC's first characters and the precursor design to modern day Superman. He was a 1930s dick (detective in this case) who made his name in infamy with racist depictions of Chinese people being swung by their braids with toothy grins. He's likely the reason DC won't reprint some of the early Detective Comics works in a compendium.

This is without a doubt, a great celebration for one of the greatest comic book characters of all time, if not THE greatest. The difficulty in reviewing something like this, much like Action Comics #1000 (if I reviewed that one, I don't remember) is that so many stories have their ups and downs, hits or misses and there's so much ground. But some of these were so good that this book is getting an entry all on it's own this week.

He's been made better in recent years with a badass run as a side character in Ed Brubaker and Darwyn Cooke's Catwoman (2001) as a cool former police officer with a son by the name of Slam Jr. on the force. He was probably some of the best parts of his short time there and was very compelling in interactions with Selina.

Kevin Smith and Jim Lee have arguably done some of the best and WORST Batman projects ever, but through the good and the bad, both have immense talent and their tale “Manufacture for Use” added a beautiful layer to the significance of the metal plate that his emblem is made out of.

The book is simple enough, a montage of Batman fighting his greatest villains shows in the background while his alter ego, Matches Malone, has a conversation with a merchant peddling in the various pieces of gear left by villains. He has Harley hammers, crazy quilts and even freeze guns, but there's only one weapon Malone is interested in; The Gun belonging to Joe Chill. The weapon that killed The Wayne Family.

He and others had been leaving Batman clues since his first days as a hero to have him join a guild of detectives, solving unsolvable or very difficult cases and knowing that Slam is one of the detectives along with Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter, The Question, Detective Chimp, Elongated Man and his wife, Sue Dibny is relieving and fantastic.

I'm glad DC hasn't shied away from him given his past history. Even his inclusion in Superman of China based on his former character, warts and all, seemed like DC was kinda ashamed of it, but here he is, as awesome as he was later in life!

Upon seeing it, Alfred questions why Bruce would keep it as a trophy, nothing the ridiculousness of The Penny and the Dinosaur, he sees the gun as strange or even perverse. Batman, however, wishes to never see it cause anyone pain again, melting and forming it into an oval adorned with the symbol of a Bat.

Batman has dedicated his life to stopping crime in Gotham at all costs, but not everyone see his methods as being right or just. Doctor Leslie Thompkins has been looking over Bruce since his parent’s murder and oped that he would take his pain and do something productive with it, actually fix Gotham, but instead she sees how vengeance has consumed him, turning him into something of a violent monster himself and she’s not wrong. They meet each other on the anniversary of his parent’s murder in Crime Alley and are beset upon by a group of teenagers whom Batman viciously slaps the hell out of. Dr. Thompkins stops him out of fear and Batman looks like the real villain here.

If that isn't chilling...

Brian Michael Bendis is a GREAT Batman writer. Checking out his 15 pages in the Batman Walmart 100 Page Giants, much like Daredevil, Batman is a character that is PERFECT for him. “I Know” drawn by frequent Bendis collaborator, Alex Maleev, is amazing. Penguin started becoming disillusioned with the meetings put together by villains like The Joker on how to finally get rid of The Batman, Penguin begins to muse about who had the money to fund Batman. I believe he proposed the idea to the others, but they all shot him down, citing times Batman showed up when Bruce was a hostage or how he “blubbered like a baby.”

Penguin didn’t let it go, however, and prepared Suicide Bomb Penguins to attack Wayne Manor while Bruce was hosting a ton of high profile Gothamites. It would have been the end of Bruce Wayne.

Warren Ellis writes some very character driven stories, but when he has to get technical, he is a master as good as any. In “The Batman’s Design” he goes over Batman’s methodology when taking on criminals, treating things like a chess game that he’s already won. He leads the criminals to a trap and plays them like a fiddle, setting off an explosion that knock out or send some flying, determining a sniper’s location and just being so terrifying that the leader just hands him a bomb switch before his ass gets destroyed.

Becky Cloonan does a great job of alternating between cool and warm tones for when Batman is in the shadows vs contending with explosions he’s setting off. Batman looks slim, but imposing regardless. This is definitely some of her best art so far!

Now… if you ask any of my friends from when I was in The Navy, they’ll tell you about how I waited in line for Batman: The Arkham Knight. I was excited. I was elated. The conclusion to an amazing trilogy of games that shaped a newfound love for the character for me! And it bloody sucked. I HATE Arkham Knight with a passion. If it’s not The Batmobile, it’s the Joker, if not the Joker, it’s the Knight himself, if not him, then Scarecrow as the shitty final villain.

I really loved the noir tone that was set by Elizabeth Breitweiser’s colors over Steve Epting’s art. Things are very dark and cool. Batman is shrouded in shadow and Doctor Thompkins acts as a small light by comparison. There is great contrast when action happens with warm tones as Batman slaps the teens and Batman standing in the shadows as Leslie and the kids are under the one light is powerful.

Suffice to say, I was not pleased when it was said that The Arkham Knight would finally be appearing in comics different than his video game counterpart, but… I dunno, I kinda like him here.

His characterization seems to be that of someone who has lived in Gotham and has seen Batman’s methods of treating the poor citizens, the weak and the sick. He sees Batman as a cancer, a darkness that needs to be exterminated for Gotham to truly thrive. The best thing, there’s precedent for this kind of character.

One of the first few arcs for Detective Comics involved a cool set of villains known as The Victim Syndicate, people who have been hurt or grievously injured in Batman’s relentless pursuit of crime. These guys put Batman’s team through the ringer, almost turning Stephanie Brown against him completely as Tim Drake had been presumed dead at the time. Another casualty of war. If I remember right, The First Victim noted that there was someone or something coming for Batman soon and if that’s the Arkham KNight, then I am excited.

The Victim Syndicate was one of James Tynion IV’s best ideas during his run and I really hope whoever the creative team is for Detective Comics thus forth lives up to the quality. Peter J. Tomasi and Doug Mahnke are both amazing, so I have high hopes if its them.

But Penguin had an epiphany. Ending Bruce Wayne would not end Batman. Batman would become focused. Driven. Possibly to the point of killing. Bruce Wayne is the only thing keeping these villains alive, so Penguin relents and never reveals what he believes he knows, until years later when Bruce is old and mute… but who says that Bruce has lost a step? He zaps Penguin who is taken away as Bruce tells him that he knew, pretty much calling him a “coward ass bitch” as he’s taken away.

Overall, while there were few misses, this collection of stories had great ideas, great characterization, heart and was just fantastic. Looking forward to another 80 years!

This one was just cute. The Batfamily interacts with each other and take a FANTASTIC family photo drawn by Tony S. Daniel. Starring, Batman, Alfred, Nightwing, Batgirl, “Robin” Damian Wayne, Red Hood, Batwoman, Catwoman, “(Red) Robin” Tim Drake, Spoiler, The Signal, Cassandra Cain Ace the Bathound and Huntress. It’s a well put together double splash page and everyone, even Bruce seems happy.

[the-desolated-quill]

The Woman Who Fell To Earth - Doctor Who blog (Change, my dear. And it seems not a moment too soon)

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Never before have I gone into a Doctor Who episode with such a mixture of excitement and dread as I did with The Woman Who Fell To Earth. On the one hand we’ve finally got a female Doctor, something most Whovians have been waiting decades for, but on the other hand she’s being written by Chris Chibnall, a writer who (and let’s be generous here) has never exactly managed to win me over in the past. His past Doctor Who episodes were often derivative, stupid and poorly written and while yes he did create Broadchurch (a show that people assure me is good, but I still have little to no interest in watching), he was also the showrunner of the god awful spinoff Torchwood, which was essentially Doctor Who’s Suicide Squad. 

So yeah, the thought of him sitting in the driver’s seat and at such a crucial moment in Doctor Who’s long history didn’t exactly get me hyped for the new series and if I’m honest, come Sunday 7th October, I was bracing myself for the worst.

Then the most pleasant of surprises. The Woman Who Fell To Earth turned out to be really, really good. I’m actually gobsmacked by how much I enjoyed this episode. I never thought I’d see the day where I’d be praising a Chibnall episode, but here we are.

I think one of the reasons why I enjoyed this episode so much is because it feels like all the aspects that annoyed me about RTD and Moffat’s respective eras have been sheared away. There’s no convoluted plots. No dangling arcs. No forced whimsy. No smart arse dialogue or pretentious speeches. In fact this had a lot more in common with a classic series story in terms of its pacing and scale. It’s not some global threat where everyone is dashing about like headless chickens on speed. The threat is contained to one town in Northern England where only a handful of people are in danger. Even the music has mercifully been restrained. While I do have a fondness for Murray Gold’s work on Doctor Who, his music often had a tendency to go too overboard, bombarding the senses and drowning the audience in slush. New composer Segun Akinola offers a much more subtle and moving score. It enhances the action and certain emotional moments without bashing you over the head and, crucially, Akinola knows when to shut up and let the actors carry the scene.

I must say it’s such a relief to see some humanity injected back into Doctor Who again. After years of convoluted, timey wimey Moffat nonsense, Chibnall has had the good sense to bring everything back to basics. It’s not about the aliens, the special effects, the exotic locations or the overly pretentious plots that require a fucking flow chart in order to make sense of them. It’s all about the characters. And what wonderful characters they are. Ensemble casts rarely work on Doctor Who, but I have to say I really like this cast. Out of all the new companions, Ryan is probably my favourite. Tosin Cole gives a really good performance and I really like how he’s written. In particular I like how the episode portrays his dyspraxia. The way New Who has handled things like disability and mental health in the past has left a lot to be desired, but here Chibnall gets it just right. He never makes a big thing out of it and the episode never comes across as patronising or condescending. It’s treated like any other character trait, which is exactly how it should be.

Mandip Gill is also good as Yasmin Khan, a police officer who feels like she’s not getting the most out of her life or career. She reminds me slightly of Rose Tyler, but unlike Rose, Yasmin is more proactive. She doesn’t sit around waiting for something to happen. She pursues new opportunities when they come up and gets frustrated when someone puts a wall in front of her. It’ll be interesting to see how she’ll adapt to time travel over the course of the series.

And then there’s Graham, played by Bradley Walsh. To all my non-British readers, let me give you a quick education on the wonders that is Mr. Walsh. He’s one of our most versatile performers. He’s been a footballer, a comedian, an actor and a gameshow host. He’s an incredibly funny man as well as a great dramatic performer. Having seen him in Law & Order UK, I knew he’d be perfect and he didn’t disappoint. There’s a weariness to him that’s incredibly charming and likeable, but then he’s able to go from comedic to emotional at the drop of a hat. The eulogy he gives at Grace’s funeral was incredibly powerful and moving, as are the moments where he tries to bond with Ryan, who’s clearly sceptical of any kind of father figure in his life due to how unreliable his dad is. Both Graham and Ryan are the ones to keep a close eye on I think. Ryan in particular will be carrying a lot of baggage as the series progresses. His determination to ride a bike shows not only the pain he feels toward losing his Nan, but also the guilt. If he hadn’t lost his temper, chucked his bike down a cliff and then pressed the weird glowing shapes, none of this would have happened. He clearly feels he’s responsible for her death and I’m looking forward to seeing not only how he grows and moves on from that, but also how Graham will step up and help him, being the grandfather Ryan needs if not necessarily the one he wants.

It’s the characterisation that is The Woman Who Fell To Earth’s greatest strength. Not just the from the main cast, but the supporting characters too. Little moments like the old man telling his granddaughter he loves her before getting killed by the Stenza or the crane operator listening to self motivation tapes is what gives this episode more depth and soul. And then of course there’s Grace, played wonderfully by Sharon D. Clarke. I’m hard pressed to think of a single character from the Moffat era that I gave anything resembling a shit about, which is why it’s so remarkable that I’m able to care this much about Grace despite the short time we get to know her. She’s caring, supportive and energetic. She feels like the perfect companion for the Doctor and I would have loved to have seen her in the TARDIS with everyone else, which is what makes her death so heartbreaking. She’s not some random redshirt getting axed because the script requires more tension. She’s a three dimensional character we really like coming to a tragic end.

Okay. Okay. Let’s get to the main topic of conversation. How’s the new Doctor? Have the ‘feminazis’ ruined it? Is she swapping makeup tips with the Cybermen? Is she struggling to parallel park the TARDIS? Did she accidentally kill a whole species because it was her time of the month? (these are all things I’ve seriously heard butthurt fanboys say since Jodie Whittaker was cast and I think we can all agree it’s beyond pathetic). Well, quelle surprise, turns out the Doctor’s sex change didn’t jumpstart the SJW apocalypse after all. Who’d have thought women could be Doctors too? What a novel concept.

The minute she fell into the train, I was sold. Whereas Peter Capaldi took three whole series to finally come into his own (not that Capaldi is necessarily to blame for that. Blame the monkey at the fucking typewriter for that one), with Jodie Whittaker it’s instantaneous. She is the Doctor.

It helps that Chibnall largely dispenses with all the usual post-regeneration bullshit. With the fainting and gurning kept to a minimum, we can get on with actually learning about this new Doctor and I love what I’m seeing so far. She’s quick-witted, compassionate and quirky, but not to the point where it becomes annoying like Matt Smith’s often did (in my opinion. Tastes differ, obviously. I personally found Eleven to be unbearable at times). After the Twelfth Doctor, with his borderline misanthropy and his inability to even so much as blow his nose without a companion to hold his hand, Thirteen comes like a breath of fresh air. 

One thing I especially like about her is her complete lack of arrogance and boring machismo that previous New Who Doctors were sometimes guilty of. Rather than having her boast about how clever she is, like Ten or Eleven would have, she just shows us by building a new sonic screwdriver out of spoons. And she never tries to lord her moral superiority over others. Quite the opposite in fact. This is a Doctor who clearly values teamwork and can recognise strength in others. There are flashes of darkness too, like when she manipulates the Stenza into killing himself with his own DNA bombs, but she’s not driven by some inherent belief that she is right and they are wrong. She’s driven by the fact that she has gotten to know these people and doesn’t want anything to happen to them. Thirteen is quite possibly one of the most down to earth Doctors I’ve ever seen and I’m extremely excited to see more.

As I said, The Woman Who Fell To Earth is largely about its characters, which is just as well because the plot is... I wouldn’t say it’s bad, but it’s definitely the least interesting thing about the episode. I liked the look of the Stenza, with the teeth embedded in his face, and the gathering coil. I liked that it was a small scale threat and largely self contained, and I liked the way the plot slowly unfolds over the course of the story. However it is a bit derivative. The Stenza is pretty much a PG-13 version of the Predator and he is a bit one note. That being said, it doesn’t detract from the enjoyment factor of the episode. By keeping the plot simple for the most part, it allows Chibnall to fully explore the characters, who are clearly supposed to be the main focus.

In short, I’m pleased to say that I really liked Chris Chibnall’s first offering as showrunner (never thought I’d ever type this). The Woman Who Fell To Earth is without a doubt one of the most confident starts to a new Doctor I’ve ever seen and I’m very much anticipating where the series goes from here. For the first time, in a long time, I’m excited for the next Doctor Who adventure :D

(Oh, btw, all those idiots who were saying that Doctor Who’s ratings have been falling and that a female Doctor would kill the show off, so far this series the ratings have been at its highest since the show came back in 2005. Guess the reason why the ratings were low during the Moffat era wasn’t because of the World Cup, warm weather, streaming television or SJW propoganda. It was because Steven Moffat is a really shit writer. Go figure)