Supernatural 'I Think I'm Going to Like it Here' Review

The boys are back in town.

Supernatural has returned to our screens and the first episode kicks off where season eight ended with thousands of angels falling from heaven, Crowley a prisoner of the Winchesters, Castiel has lost his grace and Sam is dieing.  So, pretty high stakes for the season opener.

There are three main focuses of the episode, Sam in a coma trying to figure out whether he should fight or give in and die, Dean as he searches for a way to save Sam’s life, and Castiel who is coming to terms with being human.

Sam’s story centres on his trip through his subconscious, much like we have previously seen in season seven when Bobby was close to death.  Sam is helped along his way through his inner journey by Dean, who represents his will to fight for life and a special return of Bobby who is representing Sam’s desire to give in.

Dean watches over a dying Sam.

At first I found myself surprised that Sam would be so willing to just lay down and die, to stop fighting but then I think about everything the character has been through over the course of the show, especially last year with the strain of the trials.  Having Sam question whether or not it was worth trying to carry on makes sense at this point.  Plus the return of Death was a very pleasant surprise.

During Sam’s journey through his subconscious Dean is working hard in the real world to find a way to save his bother.  Driven to desperation Dean sends out an open prayer to any angel that will listen asking for their help to save Sam.  Unfortunately this makes the both of them open targets for any angel that wants revenge against the Winchesters and Castiel for being thrown out of heaven.

Luckily for Dean though help arrives in the form of Ezekiel, played wonderfully by the talented Tahmoh Penikett.  Ezekiel tries to help save Sam’s life whilst Dean battles the angels come to kill them but the only solution this time is a radial one, for Ezekiel to possess Sam.  Initially against the idea Dean consents to try it when he realised that Sam is ready to go with Death and cannot face loosing his brother forever.

Ezekiel tries to save Sams life.

The resolution here is a great one, so much better than just angel healing hands which would have been a very easy way out.  It also means that amongst all of the exciting new things the end of the previous season set up we’ve been presented with a new one, Sam with an angel inside of him.  Which he has no knowledge of.  I’m sure this is going to lead to some exciting moments later on in the year and I’m sure another heated argument between those grouchy Winchester brothers.

During all of this drama to save Sam we have Castiel wandering around getting used to his new human body.  Initially unsure exactly what to expect from being human, still expecting not to need to eat or drink, Castiel begins to discover many of his new weaknesses during the episode.  Especially when he meets another angel, Hail.

Castiel tries his best to help Hail with her new circumstances and shows that he has learnt a great deal from his time on earth sand tries to tell Hail that there is so much more out there for her to do and experience now that he is free from heaven’s rule.  What starts of as a fairly sweet story soon turns creepy though when Hail attacks Castiel and wants to possess his vessel, leading Castiel to have to kill  her.

Bobby's back....kind of.

A very busy start to the new season, with three very different stories all being told at once.  It’s great to see the start of the consequences of the angels falling and it gives a good taste of what more to expect from the rest of the year.   A great start to what is hopefully going to be one of the more interesting seasons of Supernatural.  Can’t wait until the next one!  8/10

Amy.
xx

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. '0-8-4' Review

The second episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. seems to go out of its way to make itself very different from the pilot episode, with the action shifting from the US to South America and a non super powered threat. This helps the episode greatly and means that we get a brand new adventure that’s different and engaging enough from the first episode to not just feel like more of the same.

In the episode ‘0-8-4’ Coulson and the team are sent in to investigate a mysterious artefact that bears a striking similarity to the technology used by Hydra during World War 2.  The device is a great way of bringing even more outside references into the show, connecting to Captain America through the Hydra technology, the Hulk through Gamma Radiation and Thor through the ‘0-8-4’ designation, Coulson mentioning that the last 0-8-4 S.H.I.E.L.D. came across being a ‘hammer’.

Fury comes down hard on Coulson.

With multiple human threats rather than a single super powered bad guy it also means that we get to see every member of the team do something, for them to work together and form a plan that involves all of them actually helping to save the day.

I’m still finding it hard to like the two scientist Fitz and Simmons who just seem to be two halves of the same character, even at one point talking in unison.  Ward still remains somewhat a background player with no significant growth or interest to his character in this episode.

What we do get, however, is much more character development for Coulson and May.  We get to meet a person from Coulsons past and see some insight into his pre-Iron-man days and his continual love of collectibles that was started in Avengers with his Captain America trading cards.  Melinda May continues to intrigue and excite as potentially the most dangerous and bad ass member of the team, displaying combat skills that Black Widow herself would envy.

'When I need a gun I'll take one.'

The highlight of the episode for me though came at the not so surprise cameo of Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury.  Though a brief scene, and one filled with some great comedic acting between the two it goes a long way to further plant the show within the extended universe and feel like another planned part of the bigger tapestry.  It also sets up a potential doubt in some of the teams minds about the trustworthiness of Skye.

Though not a big in scale as the first episode it has much better character moments from the main cast and is a thoroughly enjoyable adventure story.  7/10.

Amy.
xx

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 'Pilot' Review

Agent Phil Coulson is back on screen after dieing at the hands of Loki during the events of Avengers Assemble and is busy building his own team of shield agents tasked with dealing with the emergence of more and more ‘gifted’ or super powered individuals and any such threats that might appear.  With a misfit group of field agents and scientists Coulson comes face to face with a down on his luck factory worker who volunteers to receive powers from a shady organisation.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. kicks off without skipping a beat from its big screen counterparts and immediately sets its feet firmly within the same universe without feeling out of place.  From the opening montage of the Avengers and the battle of New York to the guest appearance of Maria Hill and the use of Extremis the show just feels like another part of the larger tapestry that Marvel Studios are creating.

Cobie Smulders reprises her role as Maria Hill for the show.

I was worried that the show wouldn’t be able to stand beside its big screen cousins and would feel like a sub par attempt to recreate the same movie magic on TV, but those fears were quickly put to rest and by the time the first ad break rolled around I was invested.

Having said that there are parts of this first episode that I’m not completely sold on, some of the characters felt particularly weak, Agent Ward for example, and some of the ‘comic’ banter between Fitz and Simmons was a bit too cheesy to be believable.

To counter these criticisms though Clark Gregg was fantastic as Coulson and I’m glad to see the character back as I’ve loved him sine his first appearance in 2008’s Iron Man.  I’m glad that we’ve not been told the whole truth as to his resurrection straight away and that it’s something even his character doesn’t know the whole truth of.  I’m hoping for a great season finale reveal as to how and why he’s back from the dead that will give Gregg the chance for some stand out acting.

Mystery surrounds Ming Na's Melinda May, a fierce field agent.

In addition Ming Na’s Melinda May was played well and given enough intrigue to her back story to have me eager to find out her past and J August Richards excelled in his guest appearance and helped to put a great deal of empathy and pathos to what could have easily become a hateable character.

All in all this was a great opening episode and it looks like Wheadon is on top form once again doing what he does best, making a great ensemble television cast.  A great start to what will hopefully be an amazing series. 7/10

Amy.
xx

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Taking the First Small Steps...Then Getting Knocked Straight Back Down

Having been born physically male my body isn’t feminine, I’m tall, broad and have too large hands and feet.  I am also, unfortunately, bald.  I have been since I was eighteen.  As I have now where near enough money to be able to afford any kind of hair transplant treatment I’ve come to accept that instead I will have to wear a wig in order to pass as female.

Last night was something of a big step for me, it was the first time leaving the house in my wig and letting people other than my parents and sister see it.  I wasn’t going anywhere fancy, just to a friends house where a group of us would be meeting up, a perfectly safe and secure environment with people guaranteed to respond positively.  However, it was one of the most frightening things I’ve had to do.

I don’t know why I was scared, as I said I knew it was a perfectly safe place and I didn’t have to walk their or back wearing it as friends were giving me a ride.  It was silly and irrational but I was completely panicked.  I felt sick, my breathing was all wrong and more than once I wanted to take it off.

However, I tuck with it and went out in the wig, and things went perfectly fine.  I felt comfortable and I received nothing but good comments about it.  I had made that first small step to being comfortable and confident enough to present myself openly as the person I really am and I was happy with myself for having done so.

Unfortunately such feelings couldn’t last.  It seems like I never get to enjoy anything for longer than five minutes.

This morning at breakfast my mum told me that my dad, who has not even mentioned my being trans or anything to do with my situation after first being told, is having trouble with it.  She told me that he’s not comfortable with my wearing the wig around the house, with my wearing female clothes.  In the past he’s also told me not to be barefoot because I’ve got painted toe nails or wear my pyjamas anywhere downstairs as they’re pink.

I’ve known, deep down, for a while now that my dad isn’t comfortable with me being trans, that he doesn’t like it or want it.  But hear it confirmed by my mum is another thing entirely.  Add onto that the fact that he doesn’t really understand it but refuses to talk about it or go and read up about it on his own and it just hurts.  I love my family, but to have my dad be so against it and unwilling to even say anything about it cuts me deep.

Maybe he doesn’t realise just how much pain I’m in because of this, or what I might end up doing to myself if I weren’t to transition.  I don’t know though as he wont talk about it.  How many other people inn the world are going to be against me if at this point my own father doesn’t seem to have my best interest at heart?

Amy.
xx

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Bullied Just For Being Who You Are

Cassidy Lynn Campbell being crowned Homecoming Queen.

Last night I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine about how she’s now more aware of things that could be considered ‘Transphobia’ (though it’s not really a fear, it’s being an arsehole) now that she know me and that she’s friends with a transgender person.  We talked about a comment in her employers dress code and if it could be considered anti-trans.

Realising that simply by knowing someone I was making them potentially more aware of anti-trans sentiment and more open to challenging such views and opinions was great, and I hope that it is not just her but more of my friends who may have had their perception of such things altered.  The more people out there who support trans people and challenge those against them the better a world we will have.

Unfortunately though it seems that for every trans ally there are dozens of enemies.

Last week American high school girl Cassidy Lynn Campbell was crowned as the very first transgender Homecoming Queen.  This was a massive victory not just for her but for the trans community.  It went a long way towards showing just how much more accepting and understanding people are becoming of transgender people and their struggles.  Especially in high school, where we are normally showered by stories of bullying and close-mindedness between teenagers.

Unfortunately Cassidy, simply through being transgender and that alone, became the victim of horrid online abuse.  Now, as far as I’ve been able to find out about Cassidy she’s not a criminal, she’s not a delinquent or drug addict, she’s not a bad student or a bully.  She’s just a normal average teenage girl trying to live her life as best she can.  So why has she been targeted to receive this vicious abuse?  The answer is simple, because of how she was born.

I find it appalling that in this day and age, with advances in medicine and understanding of the transgender condition and with all of this information right at people’s fingertips on the web that there are still so many incorrect views and hatred towards transgender people.

Lets boil it down to the simplest way possible.  Being transgender is not a choice.  It’s not a decision someone makes to fulfil a fetish or ‘challenge society’.  It’s a medical condition, one that you are born with and have no control over whatsoever.

I thank all of the people who know me and support me and go out of their way to help and defend me but I also ask them to defend others like me.  If you come across someone online or even in everyday life who is being bullied for being trans please stand up for them.  Report the abuse and the haters and give the victims your support.

A large part of the world still holds this view that trans people are open to be mocked, ridiculed and hated and that there are no repercussions for doing so.  Only together, by supporting these victims and the transgender community will we be able to stamp out this kind of behaviour and make a better world.

Amy.
xx

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Teenager Attempts Suicide due to Homophobic Teacher.

I’ve just read an article about a student in South Carolina, US, who tried to hang himself after suffering abuse at the hands of his teacher simply for being gay.  The article describes how the young man was verbally bullied in class in front of all of his classmates and friends for an extended period of time.  The teacher, identified as Alan Ingram, identified the student as gay, called him names such as ‘gay boy’ and ‘Mrs Pete’.

It is also reported that Ingram told the students classmates that he was in a relationship with another male classmate and that they were ’boyfriend and girlfriend’.  H also reportedly encouraged the rest of the class to join in the verbal abuse and bullying.

The Original Article at Pinknews.com

The bullying went on for such a long period of time and had such harsh consequences that the student tried to kill himself.  He has since been removed from school and is being home schooled.

It’s a terrible thing when anyone in a position of power abuses that power in order to cause harm to others, especially when those people are being punished simply for being who they are.  It makes it all the worse though when that person is supposed to be in a position to help other.

Teachers are trusted with the safety and wellbeing of children.  It’s there job to shape the hearts and minds of the next generation, to prepare them for the world.  But when a teacher is trying to force such horrific practices on their students, I can’t help but feel sick at the though,

Schools are supposed to teach us the facts not opinions.  Whether we like it or not teachers will have profound effects on the people our children will grow up to become.  They can’t be allowed to get away with this kind of behaviour.  This man, and any other teacher that does the same, should be held fully accountable for their actions and immediately be banned from teaching children ever again.

Amy.
xx

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Refusing Hormone Blockers to Those in Need

Leo Waddell and his mother Hayley.

I’ve just read an article about a young trans boy called Leo that has been refused hormones blockers to halt the onset of puberty.  The article outline how the family doctor refused to issue the important medication as she was unsure how the drugs would effect Leo later in life.  Leo is quite understandably devastated by the decision and is searching out other doctors who will prescribe the hormone blockers.

The original article at the Mirror.

This article had me thinking though, I wished that I’d known I was trans when I was that young and could have had the chance to take hormone blockers.

I hate the way I am right now, my body disgusts and upsets me.  And it’s not just because it’s male instead of female.  It’s because of the effects that puberty and testosterone had on me.  I’m too tall, my shoulders too broad, my hands and feet are too big, my voice is too deep, my body too hairy and my head too bald.

I’m not inn a good position to start transitioning from, the results won’t be good.  I’ve seen people that have had luckier puberties and transitioned well, and those that got to start transitioning so young that they received the blockers and I can’t help but feel incredibly jealous about it.

Denying Leo these important drugs could have devastating consequences for him.  It’s not just a bad decision to deny him the medication, it’s down right cruel.

Amy.
xx

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Should Supernatural Have Ended With Season 5?

First of all I think that it’s important that I start this article by stating that I’m a fan of the show, and really enjoy seasons 6 onwards.  This isn’t somewhere where I’m just going to be tearing apart the last three years of the show, it’s going to try and be a fairly reasonable thought out question.

Having read through a number of interviews and behind the scenes articles it’s become very clear that Eric Kripke, the former show runner, had a very clear plan in mind from the very start of the show and that the culmination of the apocalypse story arc was his endgame.

If the show had ended we'd have had less Crowley...

Throughout the fifth season it becomes increasingly clearer that many of the plot elements of previous seasons were in place to lead up to this point, as we saw in the season four finale where it was revealed that the original villain Azazel, or ‘yellow eyes’, and season three and four villain Lilith were not only connected, but were all working towards the rise of Lucifer.

The fact that Kripke left at the end of season five further reinforces the idea that the show could have come to an end at that point.  Much of that final episode was even made in such a way that it felt like an ending, from Chuck’s beautiful narration of the Impala to the montage as Sam remembers all of the good times he had with his brother.  The show had a natural conclusion at that point, even with the revelation in the final moments that Sam escaped the prison.

....or the deepening of the mythology and introduction of
the Leviathans.

On the other hand, however, we’ve had some great story lines since season five and some massive additions to the shows mythology, such as Purgatory and the Leviathans.  Some of the shows best episodes came after season five.  ‘A Weekend at Bobby’s’ and ‘The French Mistake’ are prime examples of the show at it’s greatest.

Despite some of these additions and some stand out episodes the quality just hasn’t felt the same since season five, the stakes just not quite as high.  I’m still enjoying the show and I’m definitely intrigued to see what direction they’re going to take after the shocking conclusion to season eight, but I’m still hoping that the show picks up in quality just a little bit.

With the main stars signed up until season ten I’m and the game changing end of season eight I’m hoping that the creative team has another big plan in mind, and when the time finally does come for the show to come to its conclusion it better be epic!

Amy.
xx

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Flora Publishes Homophobic Advert

A recent advertisement from margarine giant Flora has come under some serious criticism and has received a number of complains by comparing coming out as gay to your father to being shot through the heart.

Set on a pink background a bullet made up from the words ‘Uhh Gad, I’m Gay’ flies towards a human heart made from china.  At the bottom of the poster next to the Flora logo are the words ‘you need a strong heart today’.

Flora, which is owned by the consumer group Unilever, has come under a barrage of criticism from various individuals as well as a number of gay rights groups that find the advertisement homophobic.  A spokesman from the gay rights group Stonewall said that ‘Many people will find this advert offensive and inappropriate’.

However, a spokesperson from Unilever responded with the following statement, ‘This advert was prepared by an external agency in South Africa and was not approved by anyone at Unilever.  The advert is offensive and unacceptable and we have put an immediate stop to it’.

The question remains however as to how the advertisement was released in the first place if it had not received any prior improvement from Unilever.

Amy.
xx

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'The Dyatlov Pass Incident' Review

‘The Dyatlov Pass Incident’ follows a group of student documentary makers and mountain climbers on a trek into the Russian Ural mountains to investigate the true life mystery of nine Russian skiers that died under mysterious circumstances in 1959.

The actual Dyatlov Pass Incident that the film takes inspiration from concerns a group of nine experienced skiers and hikers that went hiking through the Ural mountains but never reached their intended destination.  After two months the hikers were eventually found.

Their camp was abandoned, the tent half destroyed and cut open from the inside, filled with all of their equipment and shoes.  The hikers were found in the surrounding area in pairs or on their own, apparently dead from hypothermia.  A number of the hikers were, however, found with a number of injuries including skull fractures, destroyed rib cages and in the case of one woman a missing tongue.

The abandoned campsite from the real life Dyatlov Pass Incident.

Upon further investigation it was concluded that massive force was required to inflict the bodily damage that the hikers had sustained, yet there was no visible evidence of any external trauma.  In the end the authorities concluded that the hikers were killed by a ‘compelling natural force.’  To this day there has been no further explanation give for the bizarre events that happened at the Dyatlov Pass.

The film takes this event as their inspiration and is set around a group of five students that travel to Russia to attempt to investigate the incident and discover what actually led to the deaths of the hikers.  Although based upon a real world incident the film makers make some very brave and possibly bizarre choices in the direction they take the story.

The student film makers investigating the Incident.

Beginning as a simple investigation into the deaths it leads the way to a government plot to hide the truth of what actually lies at the heart of Dyatlov and their willingness to kill anyone that came close to discovering the truth.  Finding an abandoned underground facility the group discover strange phenomena, monstrous creatures and experiments leading back to the Philadelphia Experiment and the USS Eldridge.

A well made film shot on beautiful locations the writers and director create a tale that requires you to think outside of the box and make your own deductions based upon clues carefully laid out earlier on in the film.  The film suffers mainly from the sudden turn of events towards the end of the film that changes the tone fairly dramatically and some effects shots that aren’t quite up to par with the natural beauty of the filming locations.

Probably not to everyone’s tastes, but based upon extremely fascinating real world events the film is well worth a viewing for both horror fans and people interested in the actual Dyatlov Pass Incident.

Amy.
xx

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