#I think my friend found it on amazon prime? but I just have the episodes on a hard drive

[sudden-memory-loss]

Hi rhys! new mutual matthew here, I am going to go absolute ballistic in your inbox ^_^

please tell me about the subtle yet meaningful character development, please tell me how much the characters changed yet feel the same - from the start of the show through their powerful journeys. i NEED to know how much love they share, i need to know when or how they realize how much they care for one another, i need to know when the characters finally see the love between all of them and realize that they'll be alright.

i need to know about the dynamic of rodney and his sister, and i especially need to know literally everything about this show, enlighten me because i am putting stargate atlantis on my watchlist

okay okay I'm gonna be honest I was half asleep and emotional and had just spent a couple of hours reading sga fanfiction when I wrote all that but yes. yes. I can tell you more. by which I mean I am actually going to go on about rodney mckay for longer than would be socially appropriate for any other setting. thank you. (I do touch on everyone else and the show as a whole but I will be honest, most of this is about rodney skfjsh)

so the thing about rodney mckay (my favourite character in the show) is that he's an asshole. bear with me here. he's an asshole in a way that's actually so amusing and so clearly a (poor) cover up for how he's a mess of neuroses and not used to caring about other people or having them care about him.

he first shows up in the original stargate show (stargate sg-1) and lets say his performance is. poor. he basically suggested the team break the cardinal rule of stargate: don't leave anyone behind. certainly don't leave your teammember to be erased in the buffer of the stargate, but anyway. sg-1 is also a good show but that's another ramble.

the other thing about rodney mckay is that he's a genius. two phds: astrophysics and engineering. smartest person in two galaxies if he's to be believed (and quite honestly, he is). he's got an ego the size of a small planet, but he can back it up. he is absolutely as smart as he claims. he's usually the one pulling miracles out of his ass as sheppard yells at him to do it faster.

the other other thing about rodney mckay (oooh, look, complexities), is that he's a huge fucking wimp. absolute baby when it comes to any sort of physical danger. he has a deadly citrus allergy that he goes on about at every given chance and will absolutely run away if he thinks he can get away with it.

so that's baseline rodney mckay. possibly the most high strung person in the known universe with a genius level brain going a mile a minute at all times.

I don't know how to explain it succinctly. but the biggest change in rodney is about bravery and belonging.

in sg-1, rodney would have happily (well maybe not happily but certainly without question) had someone give up their life for his own. he hadn't yet gotten to the point of understanding how bonds like that are important.

by the end of the show, if it came down to it, rodney would die for atlantis. he would die for his team. but he also gained the trust that maybe, just maybe, they can get him out of the dangerous situations that he occasionally gets himself into in an effort to keep the rest of the team safe (or pure bad luck).

but believe me, he'll absolutely still bitch about it. he doesn't lose that annoying charm--and trust me, it is kind of charming. there are real assholes in sga (e.g. kavanaugh, ugh) and rodney is not that. rodney will call you an idiot while saving your life and kavanaugh will tell you that it's hopeless and you should give up. and also bullheadly tell you he's right even as he's oh so terribly wrong. rodney isn't wrong. well, rarely. he did blow up a solar system that one time but, you know, it was uninhabited.

that's one of my favourite things about rodney honestly. not the blowing up a solar system thing, but the fact that he never stops being a blustering asshole for all his moments of sincerity; he's still a coward for all his occasional moments of bravery. he thinks he's better than you but he'll save your life, he'll just call you an idiot while he does it. he becomes a better person without changing who he is.

also he doesn't think biology is a real science which is so funny to me. yes, you're right, mckay, clearly medicine is vodoo djgdk.

jeannie miller (rodney's sister) is first brought up in letters from pegasus, if I remember correctly. during which, to give some minor spoilers, they think they're all gonna die and they're each sending messages back to earth for the people they left behind.

rodney actually spends most of his talking in circles about "leadership" and also absolute nonsense, but of course he has to have his one moment of sincerity, where he addresses jeannie. it's also, I think, the first episode where it's acknowledged how they are a kind of family now, these people in atlantis (”family is... important. I’ve come to realise that, because the people here have become sort of a surrogate family to me.”). those videos are never sent and turns out they don't die (surprisingly /s) but we saw it, even if jeannie didn't. yet.

jeannie is also a genius, of course, except that she isn't an asshole and also at one point decided to make a family and give up all the long nights and hard work that comes with being a genius. she married an english major and had a daughter, madison. rodney did not take this decision particularly well and then they didn't talk for 4 years. whoops.

eventually their relationship heals, with work from both sides, the start of which leads to one of my favourite exchanges in the whole show that makes me wanna cry and hyperventilate whenever I think about it.

and their whole relationship is so delightful. the actors are real life siblings so they know how to act like siblings. there's no 'bro' or 'sis' (does anyone actually talk to their siblings like that???) but jeannie is the only one to call rodney by his real name (much to rodney's everlasting despair) she tells embarrassing stories to his friends (as is her right as a little sister), she berrates him and they whine at each other. but they love each other, even for all the years they were estranged.

but, god, yeah, that’s just rodney. and obviously I have the most to say about him because he’s my favourite character, but there’s so many good characters in this show.

there’s elizabeth weir, lawful good leader of the atlantis expedition, who cares so much about every person there. there’s john sheppard, cocky flyboy allergic to talking about his feelings but regularly willing to blow himself up to save other people (who’s way smarter than he lets people think). there’s carson beckett, scottish doctor who puts up with so much bullshit from rodney but is good natured and endlessly kind and also kind of a bit of a coward too sometimes (there’s a reason those two are friends). there’s teyla emmagan, leader of her people and full of such incredible strength and grace. there’s ronon dex, warrior with a tragic backstory and dry wit and hidden affection.

there’s radek zelenka, basically the only scientist rodney actually considers capable, and aiden ford, an absolute puppy dog of a marine, and peter grodin, possibly the only other scientist rodney would consider capable. you have laura cadman, a marine/explosives expert who rodney can’t stand because she loves to tease him, and peter kavanaugh, a scientist rodney can’t stand because he’s terrible. and eventually there’s evan lorne and jennifer keller and richard woolsey and even sam carter (a main character from sg-1, along with col. jack o’neill and dr. daniel jackson, who also both turn up every so often), and they all have a place in this strange and wonderful city.

and there’s the intricacies between the relationships where you have teyla and ronon as the aliens on the team not comprehending the shit rodney and john say about earth or their pop culture references, and you have john and elizabeth starting out clashing but eventually melding together as a command team really well, and you have woolsey trying to integrate into a group of people who are already so close knit, and you have rodney’s really ridiculous crush on sam that’s mellowed out enough she can actually stand to work with him, and the way that everybody fucking hates kavanaugh because he’s totally insufferable skjfd.

and it’s the way that once they’re all settled in, they just trust each other (except maybe rodney, who trusts most of the scientists in his lab as far as he can throw them off a balcony into the ocean). there’s no question about it, it’s just there. there’s an episode where a virus causes everyone to lose their memories, and sheppard has a picture of teyla on a tablet and despite knowing nothing, searches for her because he knows she can help. there’s countless episodes where john throws himself into dangerous situations with full belief in his team’s ability to bring him out again (much to rodney’s constant stress: “you see, the thing is, colonel sheppard and I have sort of gotten into this habit of saving each other's lives, and it's my turn.”).

honestly, the plots range from borderline ridiculous to actual emotional shit and I couldn’t tell you which I prefer.

there’s an episode with this guy who has a “potion” that makes everyone adore him despite the fact that he is more insufferable than kavanaugh (I hate this guy <3). but there’s also an episode where rodney is slowly losing all his memories and they bring jeannie in to say goodbye and it’s. so much. and then again there’s an episode where rodney and cadman are trapped in the same body. so the mood is. variable. it’s great though, because sometimes you need shit that doesn’t matter. and sometimes you do.

anyway that’s my ramble I think skfjsd. thank you very much for reading and if you decide to watch it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do <33333

#sga #rhys' shit #mine #sorry for how long it took me to write this #my timezone is weird and I had work today haha #but yeah! aaaa! #this has really made me wanna rewatch 'mckay and mrs miller' bc jeannie. and good sibling vibes #and rodney's insecurities and character growth and aaaaaaaa yk #I also wanna rewatch the first episode but I *just* did skjhdfk #I honestly have no idea where this is available to watch online #I think my friend found it on amazon prime? but I just have the episodes on a hard drive #and it'll be piratable somewhere; though ik I had a bit of trouble finding good quality stuff when I was looking for it #I've been writing this for so long the idea of actually posting it seems wild which is kind of dumb sjkfhskdf #I started it this morning and have been doing it in pretty much all of my spare time before and after work and now it's 7 pm #I know I feel a lot more about this show than probably most people do? so I hope I haven't misled you. I really hope you enjoy it #it is literally my biggest comfort show #it has it's flaws; I know. I mean. all shows like this are military propaganda and it was written in the mid 00s #but still. I love it a lot #okay I'm going to schedule this now skfjgd #oh also! jason mamoa plays ronon and he's hot about it <3 #also did I mention the city flies??? it's a fcking flying city. it's so cool #I'm rewatching the first episode now and finding so many things to add. rodney's orange fleece is so awful I love him sjdfgkdsd

[the-fiction-witch]

I found out from the fic you posted that there’s an English remake of het huis anubis!? I had no idea that the Dutch show me and all the other kids in the Netherlands and Belgium watched was so successful that they made other versions of it in other countries

I looked up your version of the show and I saw you only got 191? The original Dutch version has 404 episodes and the spin-off series has another 173 episodes excluding crossovers

We also had 3 movies, 7 books, several music albums, a spin-off series, 3 or 4 theatre shows/musicals, several board games, a nintendo ds game and 1 amusement park ride in the Netherlands and Belgium, did they remake any of those into English too?

Could you please tell me where I can watch the English version? I’m really curious to see how it is compared to the original. I’m honestly really excited about this because the character in your fic Jerome reminds me so much of his Dutch counterpart Jeroen, who I had a massive crush on, so it’s really cool to be able to read a fic about him or a version of him

I think I have a link where you can watch the original show, the movies and the spin-off series for free with English subtitles, if you want to watch more of the show I can send it to you?

AHhhh! Hello! Yes Hi!

I got really excited when I saw this!

But yes house of Anubis is a remake of the Dutch show it was made by Nickelodeon in 2011, the show was... I wanna say medium popular in the UK I know it aired in the US as well but I can't speak for the US.

At least for me this show was a huge part of my childhood It came out in 2011 which fun fact I was 12 then and I was a NERD, for history especially I was a big history nerd and this is basically was tripped me into my second egyptology focus but yeah It came for me at kinda just the right time, in just the right way and I have fond memories of sitting down after school to watch this show.

It got I think 3 seasons and then a movie here, but we got nothing like the massive stuff you listed there we got nothing like that, we barely even got any merch or anything of it, I am very jealous.

The funny thing was I never had a thing for Jerome when I first watched it I remember kinda thinking he was a bit of a dick not revisiting it as an adult its like... bring me my cocky little fluffy chaos boy!

And I've been wanting to do more characters for a while now and I was already doing Lancel stuff lately cause I kinda just stumbled on the memory of him in my mind, and had like a heart attack when I learnt Lancel and Jerome are plaid by the same actor which sent me, of course, running to IMDB to see what else I can watch.

As for watching the English version, I said it is steaming on Paramount Plus, on YouTube Premium, Amazon Prime and Apple TV if that helps. I'm rewatching it with friends and we have the physical media so I'm not sure if there are any downloads or stuff online I'm sure there likely is if you go digging.

Ohh I'd love to see the original show and stuff thank you so much!

And thank you so much for talking with me about it! I was kinda worried no one would have a clue what this was.

#eugenesimon #eugene simon #houseofanubis #house of anubis #jeromeclarke #jerome clarke #het huis anubis

[shadesofawe]

Here's how I kept stumbling over Neil Gaiman until it brought me to the madness that is this fandom:

It all starts with Terry Pratchett. I read and enjoyed a number of discworld books as a teenager in the late 90s. Fast forward to March 2015 when I read about Sir Terry's death. I decided to honor him by reading another of his books and checked what was available on my kindle (that I had just gotten for christmas). The first novel that I didn't already know was Good Omens. I was sceptical because it was co-written by (my thoughts then:) "Neil Gaiman? Who's that random guy? Never heard of him..." but I gave it a try. I laughed. I laughed harder. It made me think. Then laugh again. We had a good time, me and the book.

I was a parent to two smallish kids. I started a new job. I broke up with the spouse. I didn't get to read much anymore. But a few years on, I read an article mentioning Coraline (the movie) in a parenting magazine. My kids were the right age and we watched it. It was the right kind of scary. I didn't connect it with Neil Gaiman at the time.

I still didn't have much time to read and slowly started getting into podcasts and audiobooks. I listened to Neverwhere while cleaning house and loved it. I decided to remember the author's name. (I did not remember it being the second name on the Good Omens title page.)

On a flea market I bought a copy of The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide. I knew and loved Douglas Adams from my teenage years but hadn’t read him in English. I read the foreword and found it to be written by - Neil Gaiman.

In early 2019, a friend convinced me to buy tickets for an Amanda Palmer concert later that year. (She wasn't even familiar with her music but loved her for The Art of Asking.) In preparation, I started not only listening to her music, but reading all kinds of stuff about and from her on social media. Apparently she was married to apparently famous author Neil Gaiman. Hey, I knew that guy! My friend, with a degree in American literature, said "Oh yeah, he wrote American Gods." I read American Gods. I loved it. I listened to Anansi Boys. I loved it. (This needs to be said: The concert was gut wrenchingly fabulous. I cried. I cheered. I fell in love with Amanda Palmer.)

Mind you, despite Neil Gaiman already on my radar, in autumn 2019 I had managed to not know about Good Omens (the show). I was randomly looking for something to watch on Amazon Prime to distract me from, you know, „the horrors“. (Somehow I hadn't used it much for streaming before.) There was a show that looked bright and colourful and quirky. And wasn't that the Doctor Who guy? I casually started watching and the story seemed familiar... wait, I read that book! By Terry Pratchett and - oh shit, that's the same Neil Gaiman!

There was no casual watching. I binge watched. I rewatched. I made my kids watch. I made my mother watch two episodes when she came for a visit and then gifted her the DVD for Christmas. She loves it, she loves season 2 even more.

Anyway. It was only with the show that I really started 1) connecting the dots ("the one who wrote Coraline") and 2) digging into it, looking for more stuff. (Not only Neil's though. You all know the drill.) I have been obsessed before, but I haven't been in a fandom before. I like it. The Brainrot is still going strong.

What's the point of all this? The point is: Dolphins. Tha‘ s ma point. It’s  great to discover new stuff to like (books, music, movies, but also skills, crafts, arts,…). It’s awesome to discover stuff you might have liked much earlier in your life but somehow missed out on. It’s so much fun to obsess over something to the point it leads you to discover entirely different, new things. The point is: Share your excitement, be excited around people you like. At ~40y I found myself bonding more with my Mother over Good Omens. My kid became an avid Discworld reader. In return, I got introduced to Percy Jackson. Spread the joy, be excited together.

Whoever managed to read that far: If you like, please share an unexpected joy your Good Omens or Neil Gaiman obsession has led you to. I know, there are many examples. Just pick one. I´ll start: without following Neil Gaiman on tumblr, I wouldn´t have bought a ticket for the Magnetic Fields, and I would never have discovered the music of Darren Hanlon (who was support act).

#neil gaiman #good omens #fandom #personal journey #also go listen to LeVar Burton Reads #it features at least 2 neil gaiman stories #including Chivalry #the point is: it´s great to discover stuff #the point is: let´s obsess over stuff together

[adiarosefandoms]

2 Broke Girls Review

I heard of 2 Broke Girls after seeing a random cameo made by Kat Dennings in Sex and the City (I recognized her as Darcy in the MCU), and immediately set out to find a place to watch it. I found with a regular subscription to Amazon Prime, I could watch 3/4 of a season which would progress each Friday, adding new episodes and taking the old ones away. I immediately loved the show because Denning’s character Max is everything I like in a tv lead. Sassy, dark, funny, and capable. The farther we got along in the show the more I loved it, mostly because of Max and Caroline’s relationship and how these girls never got jealous of one another, which seems like a common plot whenever multiple female characters grace the screen. But the two despite their obvious differences loved each other so completely in one of the best on-screen female friendships I’ve ever seen. By the end I was completely in love. I liked that Max and Caroline’s first go at the cupcake shop was an overshot and ended up failing. I liked that in the end they got the shop placed next to the diner so they’d never part with it, and they adapted it as the world adapted to take on more than one thing (alcohol and cupcakes, which is the embodiment of Max and Caroline). I also really enjoyed the LA storyline because often when characters are out of their natural setting for more than two episodes, the story gets more and more odious. But I really liked the movie concept, and I adored Robbie. He was far the best love interest Max had ever had, and she had some solid ones. Namely the bartender and the dude who lived in the dumpster. (Can’t remember their names right now). We ended the show with Robbie coming back in a perfect moment and proposing to Max. Usually I find the proposal episode to be pretty cheesy (except the Monica and Chandler episode of Friends), but this was just amazing. I didn’t think it would happen and I was so happy in the end. Caroline’s movie had come out, and she met a nice, interesting guy she had immediate chemistry with. One of my favorite moments of the show is a little joke in the final episode was when Max made a joke about how her wish came true because she and Caroline don’t have to die together now, but then Robbie said, “You can die with us”, and that is why I like the relationships on the show. Never were guys pushy or annoyed with either girl’s friend. They adored them, and this line just made me fall completely for Robbie. But as the episode was nearing its end, I knew the show had been canceled. With only two minutes to go we find out that Bobby (Carolines boyfriend) and Randy had met before and loathe each other. We end the show with the two brawling outside the cupcake window with the girls infront. If they had just cut that last scene and made the boys shake hands, we could’ve ended the show perfectly. But originally a seventh season was in mind, so they didn’t do this and the show was canceled leaving us oh so satisfied in all ways, but one. Overall, I recommend the show because I really do adore it and will definitely rewatch it, but by just cutting out the final two minutes we could’ve had the perfect resolution to a six-season long show with the girls having good relationships and their cupcake shops, but still working at the diner with a zero-dollar account balance to bring it full circle. Nevertheless, I looked forward to new episodes every Friday and would give it a 9.5/10. I was never once bored watching it.

#2 broke girls #Max Black #Caroline Channing #Randy Walsh #Kat Dennings #tv #sitcom

[sauroff]

https://middle-earth-mythopoeia.tumblr.com/post/675644726371860480/please-do-not-support-amazons-lotr-tv-show-the (not mine btw it just has the right links)

Pls check this post out it's about amazon ROP and it's not just "I don't like the way Bezos makes it" it's actually useful (you can always find a way to pirate such a big series)

Hello Anon! I'm gonna give you a kinda long answer here, but I want to be very clear about this because I know lots of you won't be watching the series/don't like them. And that's totally ok, I respect that. I encourage people to read that link, even if you, as me, are planning to watch the series, because it's always good to know more about what you consume.

All that being said: I'm gonna watch it anyway. And I might produce fanart or post about if I feel like it. My reasons, besides "I just want to" can be found under the cut. But I think that the short answer should suffice to those of you who are boycotting or actively not supporting the series. I'll tag all the content about it as ROP, and you are free to black list it. Or unfollow me if any of this goes against your values or put you in a bad place. Take care of yourself however you need.

First of all: I just went to the premier and watched the first two episodes for free, with free popcorn and soda. So, If it makes you feel better, I kinda took money away from Amazon just now.

Second of all: I already have Amazon Prime, and it came for free as part of my internet pack. So I'm not paying for watching the series either.

And I will be watching it from Amazon because, as far as I have seen at least, I want to watch more of it.

"But Amazon is bad Bezos is the actual devil, you are being selfish". Probably. Amazon and Bezos are definitely disgusting. But I'm old, and I pick my fights. And this is not one of those. Firstly, because I don't believe that getting ROP canceled will make Amazon suddenly realize how bad they are and changing their politics. And I know that all the diversity in the show is just a way for them to distract people from their very real systematic racism. But I still wouldn't like to see the show fail and it's failure being pinned on its "wokeness". If I believed that the show getting canceled might somehow change how Amazon operates, then yes, let it go woke broke, I don't care. But I don't think it would change anything at all. Amazon will still be awful, will only loose some dollars (and guess how they would try to get those back? A hint: It won't be from the pockets of those in the higher spheres), and we won't have anymore ROP. That's all.

And my second reason is a lot more unpopular, but I need to get it out of my system: Amazon is, mostly, a first world problem. Yes, I know how this sounds. I know they predate on inmigrants too. But hear me out: we don't have Amazon where I live. We don't consume it or use its services besides Amazon Prime, and it isn't very popular either (ergo, the giving it for free for like a year when you get your internet plan and things like that). Amazon USA doesn't even ship here. I had friends that traveled to Europe, with no plan other than getting some low paid jobs to get some money to live there for a while. Amazon was the first place that gave one of them a job, and he quitted the very next day. One of the wonders of living in a mostly socialist country is that we might be poor, but we sure as hell aren't allowing our employers to explote us. So yeah, Amazon sucks. But I have other fights to pick, and I will pick the local ones. Mostly because I think that, in this case, the whole boycott won't change a thing. But also because me watching the show won't make me a big part of the problem either, really. Is not us who are constaly using the services this hell of a corporation provides by exploiting their employees. I know this will angry a lot of you, but I needed to say it.

I feel like I need to say this again, but thank you Anon for the info. I'm sharing it here for other people to read it and make an informed decision. I'm pretty sure there is plenty more info and resources out there about all the crimes Amazon commits too. I won't lie and pretend that I think that not watching the series can help at all. But I support you doing what you think it's the right thing. That's perfect. And I hope this helps giving at least a little extra visibility to your cause.

#anon #ara gets in trouble for not shutting her mouth about things #i mean #ara answers #ROP #rings of power

[luciddreamingstuff]

Niche Under the Magnifying Glass Lamp

If there is one thing I can take away from being in some smaller fandoms, or niche hobbies: You take what you can get and There are people out there who need their medical bills paid for carrying the fandom on their backs.

My two babies are the Lego Monkie Kid:

If you loved Lego Ninjago as a kid and still do to this day, I highly recommend this show. You can find the first couple of seasons on Amazon Prime. Seasons 3 and 4 are gonna be a bit more difficult, and this is what I mean by some needing their medical bills paid. Because the only reason I was able to keep up with the show with it being poorly marketed and dubbing is slow, folks came together to not only find the episodes, but also do their damnedest to fan sub these. I've already written a post about this show and why you need to watch it somewhere on this blog. Anyways, my next baby, and the one I have sunk so much money into already, is Zoids:

Most would be familiar with Chaotic Century or New Century Zero, as the Liger Zero (not depicted here) is the poster boy of the franchise. And with the 40th anniversary upon us, I'm glad I get to experience this niche franchise/hobby in general (My wallet not so much). I say that as I have a few kits that are sadly yet to be built. Right, Zoids if you don't know, started out as a sort of model kit toy line-up with a whole story between two warring factions and the mechanical beings known as Zoids. Most of it takes place on Planet Zi, with the exception being Zoids Wild Zero (and I swear to the gods above, I have been trying to watch this series for years now but finding episodes has been extremely tricky. That or I have just been extremely unlucky.)

Anyways, all that aside, insert here how even small fandoms have their problems and blah blah blah. But in general, I found the hardest part of being in smaller communities is mainly finding the content for them. Again, Zoids just isn't a big thing here in the States, so finding kits can be a little hit or miss. I say this as someone who fell into the pit trap of knockoffs (three to be exact.) and yeah, still new to all of this, only started building the kits recently. And as for Lego Monkie Kid, thankfully the internet exists, and the dedicated fans who work their asses off to find episodes and get them translated? Hats off to you my friends and thank you for all you do. It's always so exciting when you find someone out in the wild, so to speak, who knows about some of these smaller properties. And again, just being in these smaller fandoms, you have a slightly different perspective on Things you wouldn't think about being in bigger fandoms. I never thought I would be building model kits because of my horrible coordination and the fact that a disability I have makes it a little difficult to handle the tiny pieces. But then I discovered Zoids: New Century Zero on youtube some odd years ago and then learned about the model kits. Liger Zero was the first kit I got. Sadly him and my knockoff Mugen Liger took a tumble and are now in Model kit hospital trying to fix the broken parts. And even now, I still hunt for new kits, droll over some I could never hope to own. And I've rewatched Zoids Genesis at least 4 or 5 times now. And before anyone says anything, Yes I have seen Chaotic Century, and I do love it, don't get me wrong. But my favorite Zoid happens to be the Murasame Liger and its evolts. So you can imagine why I would watch Genesis a few more times than the others. And then there's Lego Monkie Kid. See, I loved Lego Ninjago as a kid, always diving into each episode and recording them on the VCR to see anything I missed. And then one day, scrolling through TikTok, I came across some clips of this new Lego animation that was essentially a sequel (I'm not calling it a fanfiction, I swear to the gods I refuse) Of Journey to the West. Which I learned about through Overly Sarcastic Productions. And doing my usual thing, now that I know how to surf the um . . . Okay let's be real here, pirating sites for cartoons and then Amazon Prime for this show. It was so easy to catch up on and the animation was eye candy, the characters and story were amazing, sound design and all.

Anyways, if you made it this far into my rambles, I applaud you and hope I convinced you to go searching around the deeper waters a bit. After all, you never know what you're going to find. Whether it be a gold mine, okay but still a guilty pleasure, the downright bad, or just the strange of the strange. Either way, happy exploring and I'll see you on the other side.

#As I said I am currently repairing two Zoid models who had a bit of an accident #And with a rumor that we might be getting the older shows on youtube soon I couldn't help myself #Not to mention I watched the Season 4 Special of the Lego Monkie Kid with hints of there being a Season 5 #Anyways thanks for taking the time to read this nonsense if you did #lego monkie kid #zoids #hmm zoids #ld speaks

[valerie]

TWITL - week 3 - gray days with some rain

MONDAY - 15 January https://flic.kr/p/2psGyKV Miguel Ángel Silvestre en la primera temporada de Los Enviados I finished doing screenshots of MAS in Los Enviados, season 1. Yah! Now I can start season 2 screenshots. Sometimes I wonder why I still do such things. Am I just passing the time? I'm really not going to do anything with ALL the screenshots. I'll pick the best one and edit/filter it then post to IG at some point. I don't share the gallery. Maybe I should... TUESDAY - 16 January Back to work today! Joy? https://flic.kr/p/2oPFSat Miguel Ángel Silvestre en la primera temporado de 30 Monedas 30 Monedas/30 Coins - We finished season two last night! What can I say about the second season? I don't even know quite yet. I hope it gets a third season because I have so many questions!... I will say that Paco was a bit better in this season than last. I think the theme of his life is that his women will not ever really appreciate him and always yell at him. :P I'm being silly but it just seemed like Elena was always yelling at him and Merche was just evil. I couldn't really relate to them at all. Am I supposed to be sympathetic towards Merche? I'm not. Elena almost gets a pass because she has been through some crazy things. Yowsa! WEDNESDAY - 17 January https://flic.kr/p/2psSmJX I do so love when Sully likes comments on his IG posts... It always tickles me when Sullivan Stapleton likes the comments on his IG posts. And as I comment on his IG posts, that means he sees my words. I appreciate that he takes the time to read and like the comments posted on his IG. I find it rather sweet. THURSDAY - 18 January https://flic.kr/p/2pt8tuC William Gregory Lee in the CSI: NY episode "Past Imperfect" So I'm still on a nostalgia wave. HTLJ/XWP on Amazon Prime. My friend Beth asking if she can use my Temple of Ares character in a new story she's thinking of writing. Doing those screenshots of Erik. The 25th anniversary of my most favorite photo taken on Greg's 26th birthday coming up. (WTH, Greg turned 26 that day I was in Santa Monica?! I FEEL SO OLD!) My friend Paula grabbing that creative string to tell a tale from our Temple of Ares days. All of these things are just making me look back with fondness and amusement and gratitude. FRIDAY - 19 January The Wayback Machine at archive.org has been a way for me to look back on those days in the late 90s/early 00s. I found the Temple of Ares and my particular stories archived, which is a great thing since I don't have those stories saved anyway. One day soon I need to do the whole copy and paste thing. Just to have for myself. SATURDAY - 20 January Sweet goodness, the San Francisco 49ers won against the Green Bay Packers tonight. Whew! The hubby got to go to the game. I got to stay home. It was raining out there and I'm mostly glad that I wasn't out at the stadium getting soaked. I'm just not made for that kind of spectating. https://flic.kr/p/2ptCdht me at home; a view from the field; facetime screenshot Oh, I posted the screenshot of the short FaceTime with the hubby and I got a few likes and one comment. The one comment was a "block" gif, as in my post somehow offended the commenter and they would be blocking me. I checked out his profile (because of course it was a man) and apparently his timeline (probably the "for you" one) was showing him a bunch of Niners posts because he had been arguing with Niners fans. My post somehow offended him and he took the time to post a comment with a block gif because why? Perhaps he wanted to argue. I do not argue with assholes. No, I block and then take to my blog to talk shit about them. Here's some advice to those kind of people-- you don't like something, scroll on by. I don't give a flying fuck if you want to block me (and he didn't because I was able to see him). Block me. But if you think that you're going to argue with me on my profile, it's not going to happen. Also, do other football fans not like Niners fans? I am obviously biased but I didn't think we were the kind of fans who annoyed other fans. I consider myself to be a nice person and a reasonable fan. I don't like to talk shit about other teams or their fanbase. Or if I do talk shit, I keep to a tight circle of friends who don't take that kind of stuff personally. Actually, I never talk shit to someone about their team. I don't like spreading negative energy. No, I'll just secretly cheer for their team to lose. I'll admit that much. https://flic.kr/p/2ptCns1 Thomas Beaudoin as L'Expert in Top Dogs While I had the game on, I distracted myself by turning on my VPN so I could watch a Canadian show called Top Dogs. I mostly just skipped to Thomas Beaudoin's scenes to do screenshots. It's all in French so I don't know what they're saying but I get the gist of some of it. Thomas' character seems a little, hmm, awkward? I cannot stop thinking of him as a Clark Kent type and his character in this show is really feeding into the notion. The episodes are short, under fifteen minutes, which made doing screenshots easy enough. I'm already finished with season one. https://flic.kr/p/2ptAsZE One more of Thomas in Top Dogs... I had another dream about Nana's house. I'm not sure what the situation was but we were in it, marveling at how much bigger it was inside than it looked on the outside. For some reason, when I dream about houses, the bedrooms are so much bigger, with such ridiculous proportions. I'm not sure what that's saying about my psyche or subconscious but so it goes. In this dream, the bedroom had two beds in it and the front part had living room furniture so it felt more like a loft or something but it was a bedroom. I think I dreamt of her house because I was wondering the other day what was going on with it. Is someone living there now? Has it been sold? What happened to all of her stuff? Were her things dispersed as payment for taking of her? Did anyone in the family get anything? Are we just supposed to be happy that her funeral was taken care of? SUNDAY - 21 January https://flic.kr/p/2ptLdNa And another one of Thomas Beaudoin in Top Dogs I'm on the second season of Top Dogs. What's going on with Thomas' character? Is he a bad guy now? I'm sure I'd be less confused if I actually spoke some French, eh? https://flic.kr/p/2ptaULE taken on the second floor of the library I've been using Hipstamatic more and since the turn to 2024, I've been posting Hipstamatic shots as my photo of the day for Project 365 (@vasiakiari at IG). This week or so, I discovered the double exposure feature. I'm still learning but a couple of the shots have turned out rather interesting. I'm going to keep practicing. It's fun! https://flic.kr/p/2ptddqn another one from the library I'm having fun on Duolingo but I wonder if I'm learning as fast as I should. I make sure I do a few lessons everyday of Spanish and French. I think having had Spanish in high school helps me a little to do well with the Spanish lessons so I feel like the real challenge is French. I feel like if I really want to stretch myself, I need to watch or listen to more things in Spanish and French. One day, I'd like to know enough to really understand then venture out to learning Italian too. Learning is fun and frustrating! https://flic.kr/p/2psvro9 My busy month is nearly upon me. I have some stuff due for a state report at the end of the month then my transfers begin for the month of February. The questions have already started and I have to remember to be grateful the questions are coming BEFORE open enrollment beings as opposed to AFTER the requests are due. I also have to remember to not be frustrated by the people who don't want to accept the process and the reasoning for why they're not going to get what they want. (You would not believe the entitlement some people have. Or maybe you would believe it.) Everyone should watch Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It's such a great show! Makes me want to read the books again, which I will probably do after I finish Jessica Simpson's book or after our next book club book... Still need to watch Echo. Is it good?... Hope everyone has a great week! Read the full article

#greglee #MAS #miguelangelsilvestre #sullivanstapleton #sully #thomasbeaudoin #tv #williamgregorylee

[fenimores-book-nook]

My Thoughts ~ 10/23/23

Gooooooood evening, well, evening for me. It is 6:55 PM where I'm at. The other day I wrote up a draft that ended up being Halloween costume themed but I decided not to post it. I don't know why you need to know that information but I feel like it's valid. This post however, is just a little writing thang that I feel like working on right now. :) Who knows what I'll write about in this one, but let's find out.

Now that I have my cozy Christmas jazz on, we're ready to get going. Yes, I said Christmas jazz. I've been feeling very much in a Christmas mood lately. Which is interesting because last year I wasn't, not even really on Christmas Day. But I'm happy about the early Christmas feels this year because I normally love, love, LOVE Christmas. I don't think I've ever not loved Christmas. I think I maybe didn't feel the feelings I thought I would feel and it made me sad. Which is just a part of growing up and getting older, I've found. My feelings and ideas about the holidays are different now than what they were when I was a kid. And that is okay. It just takes some adjusting. ;)

And now, enjoy three holiday photos from last Christmas and a Christmas that was from when I was in eighth grade.

One of my favorite things to do is put on a fireplace with Christmas music playing while decorating our tree. :)

I always love the book-coffee shop I work at during Christmastime. It's always one of the most jolly places to be.

I wanted to include an older photo and when I came across this one, it made my heart happy. :) Here's one of my best friends and I with my pet rabbit I used to have. (his name was Phil)

I think now it's time to move away from the early holiday cheer, don't worry, there'll be more. ;)

Today, I spent the day with my sister, who lives about 45 minutes away from me. I had spent the night at her and her husband's place last night when we watched the TV show, Friends, one of our all-time favorite shows. I honestly do not know how many times I've seen it. I've watched it. A lot. It's one of my favorite comfort shows! After a couple episodes, we watched 10 Things I Hate About You, which I hadn't watched all the way through until last night. I loooove it. It'll probably be one of my comfort movies when I'm in the mood to watch a good chick-flick. After that, we watched A Christmas Kiss. Also one of our favorites, although, in my opinion, the second Christmas Kiss is better. (that one, we watched a bit of today) And finally, the last film of the night waaaaaaaas, drum-roll PLEASE!!...Red, White, and Royal Blue. Which I had read before, FELL IN LOVE WITH IT, and watched it when it came out on Amazon Prime. And now, my sister loves it too. ;) It's SUCH a good rom-com. Yes, I do think the book was better BUT, they still did a fantastic job at the movie. I had forgotten how much I love it.

That was last night, where we also made some Christmas themed bracelets. (yes, my sister is a Christmas fanatic just like me, maybe even more of one)

A Christmas Kiss on in the back. ;)

Today, both my sister and brother in-law had work so I hung out at their apartment, went to a cozy coffee shop, shopped at Spirit Halloween and Dollar Tree a little bit, and then returned to their apartment. A bit later, I left again to go to my sister's work, she's a 3rd grade teacher, so I hung out with her and the kids for a bit. Normally, I am not a kid person. But 3rd graders aren't too bad. Now, I'm not saying I want to be a teacher (nononononono) but maybe I don't dislike being around kids as much as I thought. ;)

Tonight, I'm spending the night in, writing this. I did have a community choir practice going on, but bestie..when I tell you I didn't feel up for it, I didn't feel up for it. Once I came home from my sister's, I took a much needed hour long nap (went to bed at 2 AM) and woke up extremely groggy and didn't snap more awake until, maybe two or three paragraphs into writing this. What better way to spend a night than to stay in, put on soothing jazz music, and write? That sounds pretty wonderfully magical to me.

My cozy night in. ;)

And that was my many thoughts and events of my day today!

Until the next one,

Thalia <3

#blog #cozy night in #christmas #movie night #writing

[anonymolly]

Wow, 32 classes seems like a lot to be covered in one day! That's a lot of responsibility that you had to handle today. I hope you were able to unwind properly when you got home?

The original series is and always will be the best. You don't happen to know of any streaming service or website that has the episodes available do you? I'm finding myself wanting to go back and enjoy them all over again now. It's been far too long.

I'm glad you found something that worked for when those panic attacks did come on.

I have indeed had a good day. Very hot day. But good. I hope when you wake up this morning it's from a lovely sleep and the sweetest dreams. I also hope you are looking forward to a calmer day than yesterday was. Happy Friday!

I'm thinking after giving away those clues that you have a pretty good idea of who this is now.... your guess is definitely on point there. I have a feeling you're about to win this particular guessing game.

~A Shy Mutual

7 hours until a long weekend. I’m counting down the SECONDS. I can’t tell if today is worse than yesterday or if I’m just too exhausted/frustrated to actually handle it. :) I also apparently left my wallet at home this morning, so I will NOT be able to go to the bar with my coworkers after school today, which I’ve been looking forward to all week. ♥️ Standard misery aside, thank you! Last night was our weekly DND session, which was definitely needed and a lot of fun. It wasn’t quite enough unwinding, but it was nice to do something just for myself.

I don’t know where they’re available for streaming! I own the original series on Prime (because I’m insane) but probably shouldn’t give out my Amazon login to a ~stranger from the internet~. Streaming availability varies by country/region, so there’s always a chance it’s available somewhere online in Australia!

Jealous of your very hot and good day. Hope today is/was even hotter and better… I’m off to go be responsible for the entire 7th grade, and then I’m going home to 1.) shower, 2.) have a bookstore and ramen date with my friend, and 3.) get violently high, fuck myself, and watch something relaxing. 😚

#asked and answered #shy anon

[brideofcthulhu10]

Alright I know, another unrelated post but humor me here, I need to get this off my chest.

I know this won't seem like a huge deal, but knowing this is a show for little girls it just feels so frickin' wrong for so many reasons. Hopefully this can be a warning for other parents/guardians/older siblings as well. Keep in mind I've never ever been a "cancel culture" type person just because something minescule bugs me, nor have I ever been some cliche Karen-style parent bitching to a company about "this is inappropriate so its your fault my kid was watching this!" Rather than take responsibility. I am the parent first and foremost, and yes, once I recognized the inappropriate nature of this I changed it immediately. At first I even thought maybe I was overreacting, I kept watching to see if maybe I was misreading the situation and I found it only got more uncomfortable. So yes, I did turn this off. However, it doesn't excuse that this show is still made for and marketed to little children, particularly little girls (I'm talking between 2 and 13). The purpose of this post is just a warning to other parents or people with younger siblings who may come across this show.

So today, I decided to put on a show called "Flowering Heart" on Netflix for my 3 year old daughter.

Keep in mind when I found this, it wasn't in the teens or adult section, it was on Netflix Kids. Specially the Netflix Kids page. I grew up on anime since I was little, so naturally I wanted to find some cute magical girl shows to introduce to my daughter (pass down the nerd torch).

Granted it appeared harmless enough. A cute magical girl anime from Korea about 3 best friends who meet a magical Prince from a different world, and together through the power of magical makeup compacts and friendship they work together to give people hope and fight the "hopeless energy". Seems cute enough, and I really wanted to introduce my daughter to magical girl shows, a lot of them are great for little girls. So it started off pretty good, even I was warming up to it at first.

AT FIRST.

To give you a little clarity about why I grew to dislike it rather quickly, first of all, the main character is a 5th grade little girl. A 12 year old. Now in some other animes they do have younger children as their leads. Magical Do Rei Mi, Glitter Force, Little Witch Academia, even Ghibli films like Kiki's Delivery Service or Ponyo, that's really nothing too unusual. But here is where I had a huuuge problem:

Her romantic interests? They are two teenage boys.

Yeah. I'm not talking a grade above or something. Supposedly the two male leads are 14 and 16. Even her rival? Also a 12 year old little girl, Shuela, who just so happens to be engaged to one of the magical princes (literally named Prince Trump) and is in love with him. The main character, Ari, joins her two best friends Suah and Min fight the unseen meddling of Shuela trying to create "hopeless energy".

By transforming into fully grown women.

Yes, you heard right. These twelve year old little girls are able to transform into fully grown, adult women who take the power of whatever makeup disguise they use (ie police officer, stewardess, life guard, pop idol, etc.) that varies based on the emergency of the episode (mostly situations like a figure skater who lost her motivation, or her friend is having a hard time babysitting).

This also includes several romantic interactions with our lead Ari, and her object of affections, Prince Trump.

Prince Trump, mind you, is completely aware that Ari is secretly this "adult". He knows she's a 12 year old, and actively flirts with her.

At first I thought it was a little weird the boys appeared older than the girls. I thought maybe it was just a style choice, that they were closer in age than I thought- nope. Teenage boys. I mean they don't even try to hide the age difference by making them shorter or making the girls look older like Sailor Moon (who was 14 at the start). No.

These girls look and act like 6 year olds, including their very childish outfits to make them appear even younger- despite being 12. Meanwhile these boys act, sound, and appear to be in their twenties.

Maybe I could just ignore it, suppress the utter nasty of it all and just enjoy them kicking butt as magical girls if the romance itself was an after thought. Oh no no no! You see, this is the main focus of the anime!

A love triangle (er, square) between two ALMOST ADULT MEN and two 5th grade girls (and yes, they do clarify these girls are in 5th grade and that these boys are 17).

This extends to the other male love interest, Prince Chess, who jumps from being a chubby blue hamster dubbed "Tubby" who lives in the main leader's bedroom, and a very attractive teen boy. Now he is no better, including blushing when he holds hands with Ari, and being jealous of his brother Trump when Ari goes on the ferris wheel with him. Even commenting his cotton candy didn't taste sweet anymore because she had a crush on his brother. This wasn't "he met her in her magical girl form and fell in love but doesn't realize she's a child". Both boys met her while a child, and both boys are aware even in this magically made adult body, she is actually an underage girl.

Its just-EUGH! The more I watched it the more the situation dawned on me how nasty it was. They don't play it like a cute crush or just a fling (like how in Kodocha, Sana thought her bodyguard was in love with her, but he made it very clear he's an adult and that's not appropriate). Again wrong. This is portrayed as a serious romance.

I seriously don't get why they didn't make them late middle school or high school age?! Why a bunch of elementary students are being romantically shipped with high schoolers?! It really is a shame, because the art is very cute and pretty, hell most of the characters are pretty likeable with decently done voice acting. (Granted the plot drags on for a while) But I seriously cannot get past these underage children being romanticized with teenage guys. I'm amazed that's even on Netflix and Amazon Prime! So yeah, take it with a grain of salt if you'd like, I know there's gonna be some who disagree with me because the reviews have been very split down the middle (some adore this show, others say it's obviously inappropriate), I myself am still very mixed about it as it was a good show up until this main issue (I didn't even get to the love rival almost letting a child DROWN so she could collect the "hopeless energy"). If you disagree and enjoy this show, more power to you I guess(?), this is really just to give a heads up if you or someone you know have kids and were thinking about putting this on. My advice? Just opt for Magical Doremi or Hamtaro instead.

#inappropriate #uncomfortable #what even is this #what is this #hold on #netflix #anime #magical girl #magical girl anime #suspicious #concerned #thank you for your patience

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Christianity in Glee

So let me point out that I have not fully watched Glee. I first found glee through fanfiction and I watched multiple clips on Youtube. I also watched a few full episodes on Amazon Prime to satisfy my curiosity. What I do know is that the Christianity portrayal in Glee felt off, even though Glee is kind of a satire what from I understand. Here is what I think of the so called Christian characters.

Quinn

Honestly, Quinn's family seems to be one that is just culturally Christian. Quinn puts on a front that she is virtuous like with the celibacy club but her life is obviously not influenced by her faith at all or very little. While her thing with Puck may have been little noncon due to alcohol, a real Christian woman would not cheat and lie to the men in her life the way she does. What I like about her as a Christian though is her loving nature (eg. eating disorder scenario with Mercedes) and her conservative yet stylish fashion.

Sam

I would not have painted Sam as Christian. He's cool but I didn't know he was a Christian until I saw the God squad. Honestly, he seems just culturally Christian too. I don't remember him mentioning his faith at all and I think in season 5 it was mentioned that he does not go to church? While the plot line in season 5 about him wanting sex with Mercedes was understandable, it made me feel uncomfortable that as a Christian woman I may have to defend my virginity against a guy who claims to be Christian as well. Why is it a problem for guys to control themselves? Sam makes it out that urges are stronger than will and values. Shame really. In a time where LGBT+ people attack Christians for being homophobic left and right, it would have been heartfelt to see Sam be a close friend to Kurt/Blaine not in spite of his faith, but because of it. It is possible for Christians to be friends with people who they disagree with!

Joe

Didn't watch much of Joe but I like his caring and laid back personality. From what I recall, he treated Quinn well and I liked his talk with Sam about sex. Good bonding moment to see different views. What I don't like is how much he is pushed aside. Why does a genuine Christian character have to be weird and isolated from the real world like that? Being a Christian does not automatically make you lame and out of touch. I also hate what Santana did after the Stereo Hearts performance. I am conflicted about Santana - she has her good and bad moments. But when she asked for a song for Brittany, she was obviously being malicious to Joe. She knew it made him uncomfortable but she doesn't care. As a Christian, I would not ask a (atheist) gay friend to go to a bible study with me unless we were super close. So I would expect my gay friend to respect my faith and not ask me to go to a pride parade. Why is MUTUAL respect so hard? Santana plays victim with her sexuality but she is one of the biggest bullies in Glee! At least people like Puck, Quinn and Sebastian apologize at some point.

Mercedes

Finally queen Mercedes! I like Mercedes and I relate to her a lot. Feeling as if no guy wants you and wanting to save yourself for someone special. Her friendship with Kurt is amazing and her faith is more genuine and obvious compared to Sam and Quinn. From Glee fans, I get the impression that she was a bit insensitive in how she handled Kurt when Burt was hospitalized but her heart was in the right place I think. Her comment about a gay disciple was a bit awful but it's Glee. I really liked how much her faith meant to her when deciding whether to have sex with Sam. Not sure if she did, but I hope she didn't. It would have been refreshing to have a glee member who could actually keep it in their pants for once. Also her family is a more genuine Christian family compared to Quinn's. I love how her family took Quinn in when she had nowhere to go. A shame that friendship went out the window :(

Anyway, just to reiterate these are some rough thoughts from watching bits and pieces of the show, and reading fanfics. I just wanted to share how I felt about these characters as a Christian.

#chrisitanity #glee #mercedes #quinn #sam evans #joe hart #faith #anti santana lopez #all christians are not homophobes #christian discrimination #christian characters #sex after marriage #fake christians

[theflikchic]

Obscure Pop Culture I Love That Nobody Talks About

Consider this entire post a series of recommendations, especially if you're bored in quarantine.

1. Quantum Leap

Starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell, "Quantum Leap" is a sci-fi show from the 80s and it's one of the most progressive shows I've ever seen. The plot's a bit complicated so I'll be quick: A scientist named Sam- in an attempt to travel back in time- accidentally gets trapped in the bodies of different people throughout time. He can only leap from body to body when he changes a point in history (most often, he has to stop a death).

The reason this show is so amazing is because of fact that no matter what body he leaps into, we always see him as him. My favourite episode (called "What Price, Gloria?") is about how Sam gets stuck in the body of a beautiful female secretary. We watch him undergo the sexual harassment of the workplace and see how ridiculous it really is as every guy thinks he's a girl. It's terrific seeing him in women's clothing because it's very normalized in the show and is used to further explain sexism in gender constructs of clothing.

There's about five seasons and sadly, it never got a proper ending. It's quite sad and can be difficult to watch but it's beautiful and I love it.

2. The RED Movies (RED and RED 2)

I love these movies. And sadly, there's only two of them. A lot of people dislike the second one and whild it isn't as good as the first one, I still think it's a lot of fun. They're funny, they're action-packed, and they've got an incredible cast and yet no one's seen any of them.

The movies follow ex-CIA agent Frank Moses and his adrenaline-hyped girlfriend Sarah Ross as they travel the globe with other retired agents and contract killers to stop bad guys and it's AMAZING. I originally watched them because of Anthony Hopkins being in the sequel but then it turned out that I loved them both so much.

They're also very well-written and require a lot of attention. And the jokes make that really rewarding. Both of these films are on Amazon Prime and they're so much fun. If you need more convincing, there's a scene when Helen Mirren tasers Anthony Hopkins and then several scenes after, they kidnap a pizza guy-

3. Dinotopia

The books by James Gurney reign supreme but I love the five episode (or six??? I dunno, there weren't a lot) TV series. It's very mediocre and super low budget but I enjoy the characters and the overall world (even if the books are better).

I'd like to mention that there's also a three hour-long miniseries featuring the same characters but with different actors. While there's more dinosaurs and David Thewlis, the acting is really bad and that's where I prefer the TV show.

I'd also like to mention that the TV show has the character of LeSage, a morally grey antagonist who hates dinosaurs and will occasionally team up with the mains when the rules suit her. She's an excellent character and the highlight of the show.

4. V (1984)

Hey, so, you know Freddy Krueger? Yeah, of course you do. Well, this was the show that made him famous.

Two miniseries (a two-parter and a three-parter) and a fourteen-episode TV series. This show was HUGE in the 80s and yet, for some reason, everyone seems to have forgotten it (but we did get Funko Pops so...victory!).

The show is about an alien invasion of earth but it's not just an alien invasion: it's an invasion from evil alien lizards that serve as an allegory for Nazis. It's got amazing characters, especially amazing female characters. It deals with moral decisions and the horrors of war. While it does get more campy as it progresses and doesn't have a proper ending, 90% of it is low-budget but compelling sci-fi with great characters (and the found family trope, especially once they bring Robert Englund aboard).

Be aware: there are some elements of body horror regarding a pregnancy and an ab*rtion attempt in the second miniseries so if that stuff bothers you like it does me, I promise that it has a happy ending and everything turns out okay. I love love LOVE this show and I wish more people watched it.

If you're curious, it's located all on archive.org.

5. Monk

One of the only three cop shows I actually watch, "Monk" is an incredible show starring Tony Shaloub as an ex-homicide detective who suffers from OCD. As someone with a diagnosed anxiety disorder, I just feel so...seen with this show. Tony Shaloub does an excellent job at portraying someone with anxiety and he's written so wonderfully that I often find myself saying out loud- "Me too, man. Me too."

Don't let the fact that it's a comedy throw you off. They take Monk's illness pretty seriously and most of the laughing comes from the sadness that comes with the way he reacts to the world. Often when something goes wrong because of his anxiety, it funny but also doesn't shy away from the character trying to deal with the way his mind is wired. No characters really laugh at him in the show and those who do are portrayed as jerks (because they are). And Monk is incredibly courageous and it's inspiring to see him triumph.

It has 8 seasons and it's on Amazon Prime. It's brilliant and fun and sad all at once. It's also set in the same universe of "Psych" (another amazing show) but this wasn't established until years later once both shows were over.

The bonus to watching this show is for the character of Monk's friend Captain Stottlemeyer played by severely underrated actor Ted Levine. And if that name sounds familiar, it's because he made a mark back in 1991 as a serial killer who owned a pet poodle and went by the name of Buffalo Bill. He's so funny in this show and his friendship with Monk is one of my favourite parts.

So that's the post! I hope you found something that you're interested in and that your quarantine remains filled with fun, fictitious content! Stay safe!

#show recommendations #movie recommendation #underrated #Monktvshow #V #V1984 #v #vtvshow #robert englund #tony shalhoub #anthony hopkins #Red #redmovies #red 2010 #red 2 #Red2013 #dinotopia #james gurney #quantum leap #quaratine

[filmmakerdreamst]

Xena: Warrior Princess Review

During Pride Month 2020, I finally got around to watch ‘Xena’. A show that had been in my to-watch list for years, but never got around to start. And when I finally did, I was pleasantly surprised. It was not what I expected and it was everything I think my 11 year old self would have loved.

The one thing that surprised me about the show, was the lack of packaging. Even though it was a fantasy, it also played with different kinds of genres too. I’ve talked about this before in my other review - ‘Xena’ was made at a time when TV had very few rules/rarely had a set audience, since there were parts of the show that were clearly for kids and there were other parts that were clearly for adults (therefore had much more flexibility). I admired how they weren’t afraid to break barriers and touch on deep themes such as religion, morality, redemption, spirituality, motherhood, forgiveness etc - even more than shows of today are able. I also loved how they played into the idea of ‘murder’ and how much it can damage a person - not just the person who commits the act, but the many people affected afterwards. I wasn’t expecting it to be that extreme. It made me think that this must of been the inspiration for ‘Game of Thrones’. 

I see a lot of comments here and there, saying how ‘cheesy and terrible’ it was but to just accept it because its part of the fun. And while like any show it does suffer from the occasional spell of bad writing (the whole of season 5) but it was also shown to be very aware of that fact and never took itself too seriously - unlike some shows I could mention. 

And regarding the ‘cheese’ factor (what 90s show wasn’t) It definitely can be, but I would call it ‘camp’ and ‘experimental’ more than anything else. (Don’t diss the poor use of CGI - I’m personally sympathetic to what was avaliable to them at the time) The style of humour reminded me of Taika Waititi’s filmmaking. If you’ve watched any of his films such as ‘Hunt for The Wilderpeople’ or ‘Jojo Rabbit’, then you know what I’m talking about. I liked how little they cared about being accurate or logical, which added to the ‘bonkers’ element in the show - which you can see in all of Taika Waititi’s films.

In all seriousness, a show centered around two women in their late twenties, who are realistic sizes (not trying to play teenagers). One of whom is a reformed mass murderer, who has lived a life experience, trying to do good in the world for the first time, picking the other one up who has no life experience prior (after they bugged them until they said ‘ok fine’) in their path to redemption. Just two women who become friends travelling the world together, fighting crime, having a laff, learning from one another without any toxicity - when suddenly when the stakes are raised - they realise ‘oh I'm actually falling in love with this person’ I have watched a lot of badly written shows in my childhood enough to know that, that’s not ‘cheesy’. I’ve never seen a story like that in my entire life. I’m not at all surprised that Russel T Davis was inspired by it while writing the Doctor and Rose’s relationship in ‘Doctor Who’ since he’s gay himself.

What’s more amazing about their love story is how they’re both develop as separate people as well. There was this video essay explaining ‘Why you should watch Angel’ the spin off series to Buffy; how ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer ‘was all about growing up and ‘Angel’ was all about being an adult. With Xena: Warrior Princess, you have both of those stories at the same time. 

Xena’s character was such a multifaceted experience to watch. And I can’t imagine anyone else who could play her as well as Lucy Lawless. What planet did they get that actress from? She's flawless! The amount of skill she has to put herself into a very physical role is astonishing. I personally had a love/hate relationship with her character all series long. Not in the way that I hated her, just that I couldn’t trust if she was all good or bad, which I know was intentional on the writers part. I haven’t seen a character quite like her before. She felt very much like a fallen angel; almost like the villain of her own story. Some of my favourite episodes come from fleshing out her character and dark past (‘Locked up and Tied Down’ is one of them) which reminds the audience that's she's not the stereotypical hero everyone expects. I loved her transformation from being this incredibly stoic warrior to being content and happy with who she is in season six, all because of a woman she fell in love with along the way. 

I’ve always thought of Gabrielle as the real hero and narrator of ‘Xena’. She’s the prime example of ‘a normal person becoming extrodinary’. Gabrielle’s coming of age story starting out as an innocent girl from a poor village dreaming of adventure, and ending as this vicious warrior who realises the ‘adventure’ wasn’t how she made it out to be is honestly the best character arc that I’ve ever seen. I loved how travelling with Xena made her realise her passion for writing (which was never going to happen in her home town, given the ‘sexist’ and ‘heteronormative’ ideas) and that she became a amazon princess like Xena. In regards to her sexuality, which is more up for debate than Xena’s (which I think we can all agree is bisexual) I personally interpret her as gay, just in terms of how she was written. Theres this moment in season 4 where she's being held up her hair, and Xena “symbolically” cuts it off ‘freeing her’. And she never really gets with a man afterwards, unless she’s being ‘possessed. It reminded me of a moment in one of Hayao Miyasaki’s films ‘Laputa, Castle in the Sky’ where the bad guy Moska shoots Sheeta’s ‘princess hair off’ which symbolises her transition from child to adult.

The cinematography was breathtaking. There was some great utilisation of New Zealand as the scenery. So was the soundtrack. You could tell it was made by experienced filmmakers. One of my favourite things about the show was the domestic elements - moments in the show where time seemed to stop - which made the world around the characters seem very real and magical. Even though it was a show that featured a lot of action/adventure, there was also this gentleness to it as well. For example, you could feel the wetness of the rain, the warmth of the sun and the clashing of the waves. This technique is used in Hayao Miayasaki’s work a lot .

The technique is referred to as ‘MA’ 空虚 meaning emptiness in Japanese. ‘Miyasaki describes this as the time between a clap’

“If you just have non stop action, with no breathing space at all, its just busyness. But if you take a moment, then the tension building in the film can grow into a wider dimension” - Hayao Miyasaki

The episode ‘A Day in the Life’ in season two is a really good example of this technique being used.

To my understanding, they used a lot of the local actors in New Zealand, which according to Lucy Lawless, consisted of ‘African immigrants and other different ethnicites’. It was so refreshing to see such a diverse show (despite some slip ups) especially in the 90s. I appreciated the idea that if the actors or extras couldn’t do an ‘american accent’ people could just talk in their natural speech which was also very refreshing. 

The LGBT representation was surprisingly amazing. I never expected so many queer characters in one show - especially under the censors. There was this one episode where they had a trans woman - played by an actual trans actress - win a beauty contest. It made me cry. Not to mention the actress was an aids activist. It was actually Lucy Lawless’ idea to kiss her which was incredibly controversial at that time considering how everyone thought you could catch aids just by kissing. I can definitey see how it validated people back in the 90s.

When people told me that Xena: Warrior Princess was one of the greatest love stories, I thought they were exaggerating a little. But no, watching the show in context, I found out that it really is. Despite its obvious restrictions, It made me realise (regarding token gay couples today) how often television writers rely on physicality and drama to convey a ‘love story’ and how much of it is actually pandering the audience. One of the reasons why Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship felt so genuine is because it was built on mutual respect/compassion and they were also best friends. I felt like I was witnessing something very real and private. It didn’t need kissing scenes or drama to make it interesting. 

It really helped that most of the writers were queer also. There’s this opening scene in season 4, panning over to Gabrielle giving Xena a massage (metaphor for sex - because they weren’t able to show that on screen) which I consider to be one of the most iconic scenes in media - considering how I wanted to sick up my supper when I watched the 10 minute ‘empty’ explicit sex scene in ‘Blue in the Warmest Colour’. The difference when something is written by a queer women vs a straight man.

Because the creators weren’t allowed to write their love story in the normal way, due to the studio forbidding them to, they found creative ways to showcase that love on screen - which made for a very magical/sensual experience. And I can safely say, if anyone has doubts about watching ‘Xena’, whenever I expected to be queer baited at a few points in the show, I was proved wrong time and time again. It’s the most romantical show I’ve ever seen in my life!

#xena: warrior princess #xena #xena x gabrielle #review #rating #analysis #renee o'connor #Lucy lawless #90s show #lgbtqia #lgbt #pride month #-- it truly is a unique show #gabrielle #studio ghibli #hayao miyasaki #quote #film #reference #fantasy #lgbt representation #lgbtqia representation #doctor x rose #xena x gabby #subtext #happy pride 🌈 #queer subtext #xwp #xena and gabrielle #xena & gabrielle

[june2734]

The Short Lived Golden Age of Nerdy Web Shows

There was a time between the years of, let's say, 2007 to 2015 that I like to call the golden age of nerdy web shows. It consisted of a lot of small low to no budget productions that had a lot of heart, the kind you just don't see very often anymore for some reason. Many of these show have found a dedicated home on streaming services like The Fantasy Network, some have even gained enough steam to be featured on big name services like Netflix and Amazon like The Guild and LARPs The series respectively. I'm not exactly sure why the web show trend died out so hard, maybe the crowds just aren't there for them anymore like they use to be with some many pieces of high budget productions on streaming services vying for their attention. Every once and a while I'll jump onto Google to try and find new web shows that have that same heart and feel but rarely if ever do I come up with anything. As far as I can tell the only place new nerdy low to mid budget web shows or films gets any attention is at GenCon or small streaming services like The Fantasy Network. Who knows if there will ever be another nerdy heartfelt web show created that captures the spirit of those old series I hold so dear to my heart, but regardless if it happens or not I'd like to bring some attention to a few of my favorites. They may be old by the standards of the internet and maybe even cheesy by today's standards, but I really think they were something special and if you give them a shot maybe you'll think so too. If you have any others that you think would fit in with shows like this feel free to let me know.

The Gamers: Hands Of Fate

Zombie Orpheus Entertainment use to be one of my favorite channels for nerdy fantasy related content back in the day. You could always see the quality and passion that they put into every piece of content they out out on their channel. They're still around today but they've shifted their focus to other ventures such as the ever popular trend of live streaming table top games rather then making scripted content. That being said their old stuff is still well worth a watch and The Gamers series, particularly The Gamers: Hands of Fate, is some of their best work they’ve ever put out. The series centers around a group of table top gamers(the same that can be found in most of the other The Gamers creations by ZOE), particularly the character by the name of Cass, as he steps into the world of one extremely popular card game hopes of impressing a woman who's a huge fan of it. But this is seemingly simple premise is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this series. The show also features a secondary narrative that involves the characters that actually exist in the card game as as the players decisions in the real world effect their lives and leads one character, Buckstahue(not sure if I’m spelling that right), in particular to start questioning what mysterious forces are controlling their lives. The show is a real treat filled with twists and turns I never saw coming, it's fascinating seeing how the real world actions of this card game effects the card characters lives as well as question if and when Buckstahue will figure out what strings control her actions. The stories surrounding the other characters in the party might not be as engaging but they are by no means a weak point of the series either, many of their subplots are engaging in their own rights and pay off certain character moments established in proper The Gamers creations. If this peaks your interest then the series can still be found on Zombie Orpheus's Youtube channel or as a movie on The Fantasy Network. ZOE had pivoted more towards live streaming as opposed to the scripted content of their past but I'd love to see more content from The Gamers one day. Source

LARPs The Series

LARPs The Series first premiered at GenCon 2014 and took home the award for Best Independent Series. The year after it was picked up by Geek and Sundry as a part of a push for more scripted content on the channel which was where I and many others first got a chance to watch it. When the short trailer for popped up on the G&S channel everything about it screamed that I was absolutely going to love it, and I wasn’t wrong. The series centers around a 4 man party of larpers (AKA Live Action Role Players) by the names of Will, Brittany, Arthur and Sam and their DM (Dungeon Master) Evan as we follow their lives in and out of the game. The show is surprisingly heartfelt and sympathetic towards the characters involved in this often misunderstood and mocked hobby as it shows how larping enriches their often turbulent lives and connects them all as friends on a deep and meaningful level. These characters felt real and you really rooted for them as they deal with, work, relationships and the many other hurtles of adult life as they wait eagerly to gear up for whatever peril might befall them in their next campaign session. The show was also pretty hilarious, seeing them play out classic predicaments that any party, whether they be larpers or table top roleplayers, have experienced such as one player trying to roll to kill a tavern owner or romances between PCs were always a joy to watch unfold.  Another thing that most will notice right away is how the production value and direction are surprisingly astounding as well, especially in season 2. I was shocked by just how much quality was put into the show from the costumes and sets as well as from a writing standpoint. If you're interested in checking out the show then it can be found on Amazon Prime but they can also still be viewed for free on YouTube or in The Fantasy Network. Beanduck, the production company behind LARPs The series, is working towards a funding campaign in hopes of earning enough to produce a third season so if you have any spare change you might want to toss it their way in support. Regardless if you decide to help or not, LARPs The Series is a show that I think any nerdy individual will enjoy. Source

Glitch

Glitch was another show produced by the team over at Zombie Orpheus Entertainment, but it never seemed to get the same kind of love as many of their other productions. The concept was brilliant: What if one day you woke up and found out your life operated on the logic of video games? Well this is the predicament that a programing temp nicknamed Glitch finds himself in. Most episodes of the show centered around particular game mechanics causing problems in his and his friends lives and how he tries to figure out ways to work around or fix problems they've created. Glitch, Wyatt and Samus were all fantastic characters and it was always fun seeing Glitch trying to work through some real world problem with game logic like trying to flirt with a woman he likes using a conversation wheel like in Mass Effect or figuring out how to "defeat" his boss at work who he see's as an actual game boss. Another thing I liked about the show was how the characters really felt like real people I knew, they played games on the couch, debated about which Sci-Fi starship captains were the best, and they grilled each other in nerdy ways while working in slang from their favorite bits of nerd culture into their daily vocabulary. I always hoped that ZOE would eventually put out a second season but unfortunately for whatever reason that never became a reality. Now days the channel that originally hosted Glitch has changed their name to Burger Orchard and rarely if ever uploads anything, but luckily those original episodes of Glitch can still be found on their. Give it a watch, it's short but sweet and if you really enjoyed the show a lot there are little companion shorts that can also be found on the channel. Source

The Street Fighter

The Game Station was an early find for me back in my early college days, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I shaved away many hours watching all kinds of gaming related content on that channel instead of studying for exams. One production, created by one of the channels founders Layne Pavoggi, which came out in late 2011 and was a cut above much their already fantastic content was a short lived series was called The Street Fighter. The series centered around a single dad by the name of Phil who has just lost his job and decides to take up a short career as a professional Street Fighter player to provide for his son as well as keep his mind off of the stressful and highly competitive job market. This a real underdog story that’s extremely reminiscent of old sports 80s films where the protagonist has everything working against them, with that being said you might think that such a trope filled narrative would make things a little predictable and you wouldn’t be wrong but there’s still plenty to love since this concept has really never been explored with videogame to my knowledge. Phil is a guy you’d be hard pressed not to warm up to, especially when you see him interacting with his preteen son Ryan or his best friend/semi love interest Camile (played by former All That star and all around spectacular person Lisa Foiles). Seeing him trying to make his way into the job market, taking odd jobs here and there just to try and get by while also playing Street Fighter to destress and become better for the sake of winning a competition for money to support his son really makes to root for him through all of it. One aspect of the show that I really this is fantastic is how it feels truly authentic to the FGC (Fighting Game Community) when it comes to talking about all of the technical aspects of play Street Fighter on a competitive level. There are moments when Phil goes into detail about his “bread and butter” combos or talks about different strategies when it comes to taking on different characters compared to his main. The show was short lived but it can still be found on The Game Stations channel, if you’re looking for a heartfelt underdog story then I highly recommend giving The Street Fighter a shot. Source

Versus Valerie

Versus Valerie is a bit of series finale for a fictional character created by Hannah Spear for the character more commonly known as the Sexy Nerd Girl on her YouTube channel. Even if you didn't watch the characters vlogs over the years leading up to the web series I still think you'll find something to enjoy in this extremely charming show. It centers around Valerie Lapomme, the titular Sexy Nerd Girl, as she lives life hanging out with with her best friend Guy, shopping for comic books, going on dates, vlogging, and trying to make something of herself as a mid 20 something living in Toronto. The brilliant thing about this series is how each episode is structured like or makes homage to popular shows, films and games such as Star Wars, Doctor Who, Memento, and The Matrix just to name a few. On top of that the show is surprisingly well produced and written for something that spawned from a fictional vlog series, Valarie and Guy are much more fleshed out and all the characters including them have some really fantastic character arcs and moments in the show. Valerie’s awkwardness and extremely nerdy imagination felt embracingly relatable to me personally since I often imagine different situations in my life in relation to my own nerdy fandoms. What I was often taken aback by when I first watched the show years ago was just how enjoyable all of the episodes were in their own special way, and the pay off of it all really feels like a proper satisfying ending to the strange and imaginative journey we’ve been on with Valerie. If it peaks your interest at all then you can still find the full series on the Veruse Valerie YouTube channel as well as some of the vlogs prior to the series on the Sexy Nerd Girl channel as well. It’s well worth a viewing and aside from the fantastic lead characters of Guy and Valerie the show also managed to grab Mark Meer as a supporting character, aka the voice of COMMANDER MOTHER F^*$(^% SHEPARD BABY!!!  Source

#Web Shows #geek and sundry #Zombie Orpheus Entertainment #LARPs the series #table top rpg #larping #web series #a few of my favorite things

[flyonthewallmedstudent]

Watching House as a Physician.  Season 2 Episode 3. Infectious diseases & Respiratory.

Welcome to another episode of medicine done badly.  I’ve been watching House on Amazon prime.  Got the subscription during the pandemic, as like everyone else, I’ve garnered an online shopping habit now. 

Alright. In the opening scene a young roof worker falls off the roof presumably due to acute shortness of breath. i.e. trouble breathing. (why do we use the term shortness of breath? it’s the english version of the greek term dyspnoea - the actual preferred language of Western doctors. Fuck do I know why we like Greek and Latin so much. Moving on.) Then cut to Dr. Cuddy examining him in the back of the ambulance. 

This would never happen in real life. Yes you can be on the scene and handover to the paramedics or EMT when they arrive as a doctor. But they would take over. I personally wouldn’t have the balls to look after a patient in a different environment, different resources and field I’m not familiar with. You can have field Emergency docs - but requires different training. 

Also, ethically, you’re not meant to treat family or friends. Dr. Cuddy later in the episode gets a bit emotionally involved - this is why we don’t treat people close to us. We lose objectivity. We make mistakes. And you see later see Cuddy do some pretty bad ones. 

I feel like much of this episode is not really IM. THere’s less differential diagnoses being made. More side tracks into trauma, emergency, intensive care or vascular surgery. 

Anyhoo. Trauma and emergency would manage the fall and post fall traumatic injuries. And the trauma protocol was either not shown or completely off in this episode. Surgeons don’t seem to exist in House, at least not very much. Similarly, no other doctors exist except surgeons in Grey’s anatomy.  Also you can’t clear a C Spine clinically, which is what Dr. Cuddy does in the back of the ambulance. You’d need a CT first and clearance both radiological (by a radiologist) and a clinician. 

Aaaanddd, you can’t just listen to the chest and go no pneumothorax (air in lung or collapsed lung) - yes it’s reassuring, but again you’d need imaging to confirm this, given how serious a condition this is. It is realistic to consider in the setting of a fall, particularly if there are rib fractures that can puncture the lung.

Once the more critical injuries are managed, we would look after the IM side to things. 

So. Finally.. differential diagnoses.

Takes what seems and feels like days before they finally sit down and go through differentials. Really not much on that white board. Dark fingers, broken ribs, fever and lung infiltrates. Time line’s not clear on when he developed the fever.

Presenting complaint isn’t really addressed. It could be: - Dyspnoea, leading to the fall, he’s requiring O2 via nasal prongs, which suggests that he’s hypoxic (this is definitely odd in a young guy who’s normally very physical fit if he works as labourer). so much to unpack here, but they never get into this well.  Post fall, Cuddy notices his ring and pinky finger becoming dusky, which becomes very central in this episode. Very few things would cause this. pains me that they do no differentials on a white board for this alone. 

Then a lot of throwing around medical terms. 

PTT prolonged and Fibrinogen off. These are markers of your coagulation pathway and signs that you’re not forming the clots the way you should if you have an injury.  DIC is also thrown around. What is DIC? Disseminated intravascular coagulopathy. Certainly severe sepsis and trauma can cause this and lead to severe bleeding. It will throw off your coagulation pathways (things that stop bleeding). It’s not common. I’ve treated it once, while I was rotating in ICU, it is not standard ward medicine practice. Standard therapy is fresh frozen plasma (FFP) and even large metropolitan hospitals only have a limited supply. It’s a huge concern for surgery and post-op (as you patient will just not stop bleeding after you cut them open, and if not treated, potentially bleed to death). Cuddy mentions ARDS. Acute respiratory distress syndrome, it could be a complication, but it’s not a cause. Again, falls more into the realm of critical care (a la ICU). However, patient had SOB prior to the fall. Finally HOuse makes the observation. of “what if he was sick before he had his run in with gravity...” Everyone jumps to Pneumonia. And this is where it gets confusing.  If he was unwell, the minute he entered the emergency department with a fever and hypoxia, they would have worked him up for any garden variety pneumonia, bacterial or viral. Cultures would have been sent and imaging. Any young hypoxic patient would prompt a closer look at the chest. And no one waits that long to start antibiotics - “sepsis kills” is a slogan often used around hospitals. You have to initiate empirical therapy within 30 mins, to reduce mortality and morbiditiy. 

Ordering an Echocardiogram (USS of the Heart) also makes no sense in the context of a lung infection. I would order one, but not to look at the lungs.

Then there’s the most unrealistic thing about this series. Doctors breaking into patient homes.

It is however, a good way to showcase social history. It’d be boring to watch a doctor ask the patient outright about their living situation etc, but it’s far more interesting to see exactly how they live. We try as much as possible to illustrate to each other and ourselves what the living environment and working environment of our patients are like. 

In the context of infection, a good social history can point out exposure. As they exemplify by showing dead rodents and mould. This leads to 2 further differentials: Rat bite fever (caused by streptobacillus, something you’d see in the US, but probably not anywhere else), it’s an unrealistic differential in general. And the 2nd is aspergillosis.  Okay..  So aspergillus is a mould commonly found in our environment. In fact it’s everywhere around us. 

THere’s few times when it’s an issue.  It is a concern in respiratory syndromes like asthma or bronchiectasis. And also as an opportunistic infection in immunocompromised individuals. in the context of asthma, it’s not so much the aspergillus itself that causes issue, it’s our body’s over reaction. It’s a hypersensitivity issue that causes inflammation in the lungs or a pneumonitis. We even gave it a name. Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis. It’s still badness, but it doesn’t happen that quickly. We also have specific tests for this, which were obviously not considered in this episode of medicine done badly. In the immunocompromised host (steroid therapy in transplant patients or those on chemo, etc.), you can get the invasive mould as an opportunistic infection.  I don’t really understand why they think it would be the case here. Also, killing the bug with heavy duty anti fungals will only give more issues rather than do anything. They start him on amphotericin. this is not standard practice.  And now it flips to why amphotericin is not standard practice or first line treatment for invasive aspergillosis. The patient has now become anuric (not making any urine). (First line drug by the way is voraconazole, superior efficacy in trials with a lower mortality rate and ADRs) Also, note that they have just jumped straight to dire renal failure from the amphotericin. No work up. That said, heavy drugs like amphotericin are often a cause, but  It’s often temporary with the appropriate supportive measures (stop insulting agents, give hydration, monitor fluid balance), reversible, even if you require temporary dialysis or haemofiltration. Anyways, would get into AKI another day, that’s a whole other post in and of itself.  Then his hand is apparently “dying.” There’s pain on light touch, but it’s not a cold, pulseless limb. Or discoloured. doesn’t add up. This now enters vascular surgeon territory. Again. It’s interesting that there’s never any referrals to any other teams. If he has good circulation, I would imagine they would try to save the hand and consider other differentials. 

The only time I can think of an emergency amputation in this situation is necrotising fascitiis. That’s the only thing that would occur that rapidly  AND necessitate losing tissue or limb.  With a young person who’s this ill, there’s often multiple subspecialties involved by this point. I’m also surprised he’s not in ICU.

Then there’s a buncha filler scenes of the cast of house getting emotional. Ho my god, they’ve taken the hand of a young 20 something physical labourer. Indeed, this is badness. Unlike House, we actually are trained to always consider how a patient’s illness impacts their activities of daily living and livelihood. 

I find the general population assumes that we practice medicine in a vacuum, we merely treat the clinical illness and ignore everything else. They imagine that we all must be like house. 

Actually we try to put things in perspective as much as possible and knowing our limitations in this area, we often enlist the help of friends - physiotherapists, occupational therapists and social workers. They never exist on TV or on the movies. Ever. Unless it’s to portray how terrible it is to be a social worker.  From time to time in this episode, Cuddy laments that being chief of medicine is too administrative and she hasn’t been a doctor in years. That also doesn’t happen in real life. If you’re chief you’re still a doctor. You have admin shit to do deal with yes, but you still practice. It’s like being chief resident, in all the TV shows with one of these, you still seem them working as residents, be it scrubs or grey’s anatomy. 

Back to the differential. They finally get to endocarditis. Culture negative to be precise. That indeed would explain the bilateral dusky fingers that led to unnecessary amputation. Septic emboli. 

Going to stop here, more out of exhaustion now. I’ve created quite a lengthy post. Happy to reblog thoughts on culture negative endocarditis on request later. This is a worthy topic to study up on for students or residents. At least review Duke’s criteria and think about your clinical features like Roth Spots and Janeway lesions or Ouch Osler’s nodes. 

The ending is also a far fetched connection to make, but is one that we would consider. In fact, we would ask in detail every time from day one - have you had any exposure to animals. It’s very rare to see someone so young be that sick out of the blue when you’re immunocompetent and have no underlying predisposing conditions. If there’s no focal source, then we would even ask about injectable recreational drugs, exotic travels, sexual health. 

Most of the time, patients that sick are honest to their doctors. 

But what about..

Frankly, much as we lie as humans, when our lives our on the line, we’re generally pretty honest (sometimes too honest) with the people we want to save us. 

Any patient who is young and comes to hospital requiring inpatient admission, they’d be investigated by subspecialties with expertise in certain areas such as infectious disease. The dept of infectious disease would either be home team, or all over this patient as they special in the realm of both common and rare infectious diseases, culture negative endocarditis would have been considered before a hand amputation.

The term, “department of diagnostic medicine is laughable,” particularly when they consider it the only department in the world in the show. 

In actuality, it’s a department that is universal and exists everywhere. it’s Internal medicine. Dr. Vivek Murthy, the next surgeon general (and also the last one under Obama) is an internal medicine physician. Ken Jeong of Community and the Hangover fame is also a physician of internal medicine. 

Beginning to get the sense that most episodes are going to end with a diagnosis that is either infectious disease, rheumatology or haematology. But generally those tend to be most interesting and give the most plot twists or meaty differentials V.s. a stroke or acute myocardial infarction is fairly straightforward to diagnose. 

This is a very twisty episode in all the wrong directions. 

Dyspnoea is a very common presenting complaint. There’s a properly done approach to this in the podcast by the Curbsiders by the way. 

#medblrs #medblr

[astonishinglegends]

Ep 201: The Disappearance of Frederick Valentich Part 3

“I am prepared to swear on oath or submit myself to any lie detector test to substantiate this, my statement.”

– Don Cox, who observed a triangle-shaped UFO for 45 minutes from his yard in Adelaide, 385 miles northwest of Valentich’s last known location, just 28 minutes after his radio fell silent.

Description:

As we wrap up our coverage of the Frederick Valentich story in Part 3 of our series, we'll continue our conversation with Melbourne resident Chris Tyler about his research into the case and other possibly related UFO incidents around the same time and area. We'll also examine the Australian Department of Transport accident report's remaining findings and discuss its conclusions. As you begin to reach your own conclusions, it's essential to keep several factors in mind which make the usual mundane explanations seem inadequate. The high number of independent sightings of aerial phenomena occurring in proximity to the disappearance suggests Valentich wasn't alone in witnessing it. The distance a Cessna cowling was found from a potential crash site and the lack of definitive markings makes its discovery inconclusive. Even if the cowling did come from Valentich's plane, it still doesn't account for what caused him to ditch, let alone other missing debris and Valentich himself. Perhaps the most surprising revelation comes from the summary of the report itself. Rather than dismissing the possibility of a UFO entanglement, an official government statement lists it as one of four likeliest scenarios. Remember that Valentich himself never suggested he interacted with a UFO in his last transmission, despite being painted as obsessed with them by his skeptics. When these factors and more are taken together, it's no wonder this incident is one of the most baffling and tragic in the phenomenon's history and leaves us all to wonder, what happened to Frederick Valentich and where did he go?

Location:

Moorabbin Airport, where Frederick Valentich took off from on October 21, 1978, headed for King Island across Bass Strait.

Reference Links:

“UFO suspicions still cloud disappearance of Frederick Valentich” from Melbourne’s Herald Sun

The strange noises heard on Valentich’s last transmission, posted on Facebook by A.U.F.O.A. – Australian UFO Action

“How the 40-year-old mystery of a UFO in New Zealand lives on” from news.com.au, about Quentin Fogarty’s UFO experience

The UFO Documents Index on NSA.gov

Cape Otway Lightstation

“What is the Aurora Australis?” on Universe Today

The Green Flash

“The Disappearance of Flight N3808H, Puerto Rico, 1980” blog post by “karl 12” on AboveTopSecret.com

“Disappearance of flight N3808H 28th of June, 1980” with pilot’s radio transmission on YouTube

“UFOs, USOs and the Island of Puerto Rico.” by “karl 12” on AboveTopSecret.com

“Jet Fighters disappear as they approach UFO in Puerto Rico” section of a documentary on YouTube

“Two F-14s kidnapped by UFO near Puerto Rico” forum thread on unexplained-mysteries.com

“The Valentich Disappearance: Another UFO Cold Case Solved” by James McGaha and Joe Nickell on Skeptical Inquirer

“Spooky Space ‘Sounds’” from nasa.gov

“What Is This Flying Object??? Occurred at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse - 1/7/2021” on YouTube by Wes Snyder Photography

The “PPRuNe” forum or “Professional Pilots Rumour Network” discussing Valentich's radio transmission

The Melbourne Marvels podcast and their episode on “The Unresolved Disappearance of Frederick Valentich”

“10 Truly Bizarre Incidents From The Bass Strait Triangle” from Listverse

The Unsolved Mysteries Wiki on Fandom.com for the Frederick Valentich episode

“Lost yacht mystery continues 30 years on” from abc.net.au

Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race on Wikipedia

“Race Tragedy Tale / Oracle CEO tells all to St. Francis Yacht Club” from SFGate.com

“'Holy grail' or epic hoax? Australian Kelly Cahill's UFO abduction story still stirs passions” from ABC South West Victoria news

“Capturing the Light” – The true story of Dorothy Izatt on Amazon Prime

Close Encounters of the Third Kind feature release date information on IMDb

The Frederick Valentich case on the original Unsolved Mysteries, Season 5, Episode 2 on Amazon Prime

“Last Light: the Valentich Mystery” from The History Listen with Kirsti Melville on ABC.net.au

“Disappearance of Frederick Valentich” on Wikipedia

“What Happened to Frederick Valentich? Possibly the scariest UFO case ever” by OzWeatherman on AboveTopSecret.com

“Valentich Case Files Finally Released” by Kandinsky on AboveTopSecret.com

“The Valentich Abduction/Disappearance: 40th Anniversary” by MirageMan on AboveTopSecret.com

“The Abduction of Fred Valentich” from The Unexplained Files on Discovery UK – YouTube clip of Melbourne Flight Advisor Officer Steve Robey describing his radio communication with Valentich

Complete episode on the Valentich disappearance from The Unexplained Files on the Discovery Channel

Cessna 182 “Skylane”

Valentich’s missing aircraft report online, from the National Archives of Australia

Download of Valentich’s missing aircraft report as a PDF

Bass Strait

Moorabbin Airport

“'Truth' was out there after all –An accidental discovery sheds new light on the mysterious disappearance of a pilot in 1978, writes Miles Kemp” from The Advertiser

Australian UFO researcher, Keith Basterfield

Melbourne, Australia

Tasmania

King Island, Tasmania

Visit King Island at kingisland.org.au

“Biography of Bette Nesmith Graham, Inventor of Liquid Paper” on ThoughtCo.com

Bette Nesmith Graham on Wikipedia

Australian crayfish

The TCAS or Traffic collision avoidance system

“What C.S. Lewis and Martin Luther Would Say About Our Coronavirus Panic”

Black Death

Second plague pandemic

“Plague was one of history’s deadliest diseases—then we found a cure” on NationalGeographic.com

Suggested Listening:

Melbourne Marvels podcast – “a podcast about true stories from Melbourne” CLICK HERE to listen to their episode on “The Unresolved Disappearance of Frederick Valentich”

Check out our good friend Gledders’ paranormal podcast, ANOMALY, where he, his co-host Steve Freestone, and Forrest discuss some of the more weird and wild events of 2020 and more in his latest 2-part series. Click here to subscribe and listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, the website at anomaly.co.uk, or anywhere excellent podcasts are found.

And then after that, check out Gledders’ “80’s Mix Tape” for the best in 1980s music, Saturdays, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the UK, or stream anytime at Huntingdon Community Radio HCR 104 FM!

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Credits:

Episode 201: The Disappearance of Frederick Valentich Part 3. Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel. Sound Design by Ryan McCullough; Tess Pfeifle, Producer, and Lead Researcher; Research Support from the astonishing League of Astonishing Researchers, a.k.a. The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2021 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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