DJ Tanner and Kimmy Gibbler

Let’s face it. Have you ever had a best friend who everyone else saw as annoying except you? How many people are disliked by their friend’s family? I can think of one: Kimberly Louise “Kimmy” Gibbler, best friend to Donna Jo “D.J.” Tanner on “Full House” (1987-1995). Disliked by almost everyone in the Tanner family except D.J., Kimmy is that kind of best friend.

While some members of the Tanner household can tolerate her, other members can’t stand her. Stephanie in particular dislikes Kimmy, who in turn teases her back quite a bit in the early seasons. Kimmy is not above teasing the other Tanners also, calling Jesse “Hairboy” because of his perfect hair at times and calling Danny “Mr. T” (which he sometimes doesn’t seem to mind a bit), and going so far as to play “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” on their organ in the Season 7 episode Is It True about Stephanie? after Danny and Vicky break up. However, the Tanners’ biggest fear is her removing her socks, as her stinky feet (which became a running gag during the later seasons) are her biggest means of torture for anyone.

However, it is D.J. who really loves her like a sister. The reason, whether it’s because she can live on the edge a little by hanging around her, or because she gets to practice her leadership skills and guide her, is uncertain. It’s probably more of the desire to help Kimmy, though there is a little of the edge too. For instance, it’s revealed in the Season 8 episode Stephanie’s Wild Ride that when they were thirteen, Kimmy and D.J. hitch-hiked to Berkeley on Halloween. D.J. has also prevented Kimmy from getting way too wild, such as when Kimmy got drunk at a party and D.J. brought her home for the night (“Under the Influence”). Kimmy held a job for a few hours at the brand-new movie theater as an usher and box office attendant (“Sisters in Crime”), but then presumably got fired. Later, she got a new job as a waitress at the Smash Club in Season 7.

Kimmy’s schoolwork was always average at best, and she copies off D.J. all the time. While no mental challenge is ever mentioned, it is quite possible that she had one. It may be that the writers of Full House wanted a prism with which to break the harsh reality of mental retardation into an artful spectrum of subtlety, and Kimmy provided the means for them to do this.

However, bad grades are only part of the Kimmy Gibbler persona. Her tastes in clothing and other things were quite strange at times. Her parents didn’t pay much attention to her, it appears, as they paid for her to go on a trip to the Walt Disney World Resort with the Tanner family in the Season 6 two-parter The House Meets the Mouse, and in the Season 3 episode Those Better Not Be the Days, her mom even punished her by grounding her over at the Tanners.

In the Season 2 episode Tanner Vs Gibbler, D.J. throws a surprise party for Kimmy. When Kimmy shows up with her two friends from junior high (Nina and Melissa) who are in her karate class, her companions converse about how they have trashed homes in the past at wild parties. They proceed to pick up the Tanners’ phone and call friends (presumably fellow party animals) such as “The Duke”. D.J. angrily seizes the phone and tells him it’s a “prank call” before leaving Kimmy with the decision to either stay at her house or go with her junior high friends to the mall. Kimmy chooses the older girls instead of D.J., despite the fact that they call her “Kammy” and don’t seem to care much about her well-being (especially in comparison to D.J.). D.J. tries to guide Kimmy and steer her in the right direction by telling Nina and Melissa the proper pronunciation of Kimmy’s name, to which Kimmy replies, “They wear lipstick. They can call me whatever they want.” In the end, the two make up and continue their friendship. This is one of several tumultuous times during their friendship that Kimmy is to blame (and she knowingly did wrong).

Besides her stinky feet, Kimmy is also known to snore, and in many episodes, these issues are addressed. It is made clear throughout the series, even mentioned by Danny, that without D.J., Kimmy’s life would have gone in the wrong direction.

One imagines her as a wonderful support for D.J. in the weeks after Pam Tanner’s death; in fact, Danny isn’t quite as annoyed by her the first couple seasons — possibly because he remembered Kimmy helping D.J. through the grieving process after D.J. lost her mom in a car accident caused by a drunk driver.

And, despite some arguments over the years — such as when D.J. fired Kimmy from her sports reporting job on the school paper for writing an article that belonged in the gossip column instead, or when D.J. forgot her sixteenth birthday because it was also her six-month anniversary of being with her boyfriend Steve Hale — Kimmy remained a faithful and trusted friend right up to the end. This is shown when she brings Steve to the Tanners’ doorstep, so he can escort D.J. to her senior prom in the Season 8 episode Michelle Rides Again, Part 2.

From Season 3 to Season 5, Danny was often seen telling D.J. “Please make new friends,” although he stops at the beginning of Season 6, as he’d realized that D.J. took her friendship with Kimmy very seriously, and that he was wrong in trying to get D.J. to stop being friends with Kimmy.

In the Season 8 episode Under the Influence, DJ told him that Kimmy had gotten drunk at a frat party the previous night and couldn’t go home (and she had fought her for the keys). However, D.J. was afraid to tell Danny the truth at first because she was afraid Danny wouldn’t permit her to see Kimmy again, but that was just fine with her.

He replied, “Well, Deej, I know I say a lot of things about Kimmy being an annoying, obnoxious nuisance, and I mean every one of them. But she’s still your best friend.”

Besides Danny, Joey and Jesse are sometimes very annoyed by Kimmy. However, in the Season 3 episode Those Better Not Be the Days, when they switch places with the girls so the girls step into the adults’ shoes and vice versa, and later look into the future and see what the girls are like as adults, Kimmy, portrayed as a beautiful woman who wears a tight dress, tells them, “Eat your hearts out, boys. Too bad you weren’t nicer to me when I was a kid.”

Then Danny assured Joey and Jesse that their future didn’t have to happen in the way they saw it, and they could all learn something from what they had seen.

Joey said, “Yeah. I’m going to start being really nice to Kimmy Gibbler.”

In my opinion, D.J. and Kimmy are best friends, and always will be. :)

Home Alone: Old Man Marley

Old Man Marley was an old man, the neighbor of Kevin McCallister and the deuteragonist of the film Home Alone. He was played by the late Roberts Blossom.

In the film, Old Man Marley was subject to rumors. He was called “the South Bend Shovel Slayer”, and was said to have murdered his family back in 1958 by Kevin’s older brother Buzz. He was also said to have kept his victims in his garbage can full of salt, and that the salt was supposed to have turned the dead bodies into mummies.

When Kevin walks outside his house while saying he is not afraid anymore, he encounters Marley, and turns and runs back inside his house, afraid.

Later, Kevin goes to the drug store, gets a toothbrush and asks the clerk about whether or not it was approved by the American Dental Association. Marley then comes in while Kevin is checking his pockets to see if he had brought enough cash to buy the toothbrush. Kevin then looks up, sees Marley and backs away a little before running off while also accidentally taking the toothbrush with him (as he didn’t have time to buy the toothbrush).

When Kevin goes to church, he meets up with Marley again, and learns that he’s actually a nice guy, a Christian, a father and grandfather, and that his salting the sidewalks every night is a job. Kevin also discovers that Marley didn’t murder his family like Buzz claimed, but rather had a fight with them — more particularly, his son. Marley tells Kevin that he came to hear his granddaughter sing, and that he can’t come and hear her tonight. When Kevin asked if that meant he had plans, Marley corrected him in saying that he wasn’t welcome — not at the church (as he believes one is always welcome at church), but with his son.

According to Marley, years back, before Kevin and his family moved into the neighborhood, he and his son got into an argument for an unknown reason, and told each other they didn’t care to see each other anymore, causing them to become estranged from each other. Kevin asks Marley to call his son, and Marley says that he’s afraid to because he thinks that his son won’t talk to him. Kevin tells Marley that he used to be afraid of his basement until he turned on the lights, and that Marley should call his son, and whether or not the son talks to him, Marley will know and he won’t be afraid. Kevin tells Marley that he should also do it for his granddaughter, who probably misses him and the presents. Marley tells Kevin that he sent his granddaughter a check for Christmas, and Kevin tells him he wished his grandparents did that, but they usually send him clothes.

Later, when the Wet Bandits trap Kevin at the Murphys’ house, Marley sneaks in and saves him by knocking the burglars out with his shovel before taking Kevin back home. 

At the end of the movie, Kevin walks over to the window, and sees that Marley has taken his advice and reunited with his son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Marley sees Kevin and waves to him, grinning, as a sign of thanking him. Kevin waves back, also smiling. Then Marley turns and goes to his house with his family.

Full House: Is It True about Stephanie

Stephanie’s classmate Jamie, who plays guitar with some friends in a band called Human Pudding, asks Steph to go on a date with him to The Smash Club, and Stephanie excitedly agrees. Stephanie’s rival, Gia Mahan, is not exactly as excited about it as Stephanie is. It turns out that Gia likes Jamie too, and she is not about to let Stephanie have him that easily. 

Gia comes over to the house and warns Stephanie to break the date, or she will make her life miserable. However, Steph stands her ground, and refuses to break the date. Little does Stephanie know how dirty Gia is willing to play to get him. 

On the next day, in order to make Jamie cancel his date with Stephanie, Gia spreads a false rumor at school that Stephanie wouldn’t get any dates unless she paid guys to date her, and even put a sign with the words “Date Stephanie, earn big bucks” on Stephanie’s locker.

Jamie, who has been getting ragged on because of the rumor, asks Stephanie who started it, and she says, “Gia. She said if we didn’t call off our date, she’d make my life miserable.” Jamie thinks that maybe it is a good idea to break the date, because he does not want to get ragged on anymore. Stephanie is hurt by that.

The next day, with the help of her friend Mickey, Stephanie gets even with Gia by hanging up a blow-up of Gia’s failing report card in the hallway. Jamie apologizes to Stephanie for the events of the previous day, and tells her that he is not about to let Gia run his life. Jamie says that if it is okay with Stephanie, the date can be back on, and she likes that. Stephanie shows him what she did to Gia, and Jamie says that she had it coming. Gia comes in and sees what happened, and, after angrily yanking the blow-up off the wall, goes straight to her locker. Stephanie walks up to Gia, who has her face buried in her locker, and says, “So, Gia, I guess we’re even”. Gia turns around, and Stephanie sees the tears on her face.

Stephanie then feels guilty. At The Smash Club that night, after a talk with Jesse about the situation, Stephanie sees Gia. Stephanie and Gia talk, and they finally become friends (while also learning that seeking revenge isn’t very sweet at all). Gia then tells Stephanie that she can have Jamie, as Gia now has eyes for the drummer of Human Pudding.

Meanwhile, Danny is having problems adjusting to life without Vicky, and it is pretty much affecting the whole household.

BtVS Photos Part 4

Britney Spears

Britney Spears with a snake

Stephanie Tanner

Ah, Stephanie Judith Tanner. The cute smile. The getting excited. And best of all, there was the one liner she made famous on the show: “How rude!” 

I’ll always love her. She is so beautiful with her blond hair. Plus, she loved to dance. And, as the middle child, she had a trademark sneakiness and often got into big sis DJ’s private life. I think if I had a little sister, I wouldn’t mind if she wanted to peek into my private life; we would share it together.

“When I’ve gone too far

When I’ve had enough

When I’m losin’ ground

Feelin’ out of touch

I don’t run and hide

I just look inside

For a simple piece of mind

Like a neighborhood

On a city street

I know the path

It knows my feet

And when I feel afraid

Feel like checkin’ out

You stand up and take a bow

You shine when others need you

You speak and I believe you

I know the light, it guides you

I’ll join the line that walks behind you

[Chorus]

You shine, you shine

Like a window to your heart I see

All the possibilities

You shine, you shine

And every day’s another opportunity

To shine

The way you see the world

The way it sees you back

You’re the photographer

You take the photograph

If you don’t like the way

The way it looks at you

You’ve got all the power to choose

Turn right, turn left, turn the other way

Make it light, make it dark, make it go away

I love the way you write the script to your own life

You’re the star, you’re on tonight

And when I feel unnoticed

Just two steps back from hopeless

You turn my world around with a single smile

That’s who you are, that’s who you are

You shine, you shine

Like a window to your heart I see

All the possibilities

You shine, you shine

And every day’s another opportunity

To shine

I know the light, the light that guides

I’ll join the line that walks behind you

You shine, you shine

In my life I know you shine

You shine

Like a window to your heart I see

All the possibilities

You shine

And every day’s another opportunity

To shine”

~Aly and AJ, Shine

Dracula

Few figures are so well-known and strike as much terror as that of the vampire known as “Dracula.” This creature — not yet dead, but no longer alive — has, at one time or another, tempted, fascinated and repelled all of us. When writer Bram Stoker published Dracula in 1897, he couldn’t have predicted that he was creating a figure who was larger than death.

Today, he might be timeless, but in the 15th century, he was all too real. His name was Prince Vlad Dracula, whom history has come to know as Vlad the Impaler.

In many ways, the reality of Dracula’s life was more terrifying than the vampire literature and fanfiction he helped inspire, his story more shocking than anything Hollywood could manufacture.

BtVS Photos Part 3

Richard Griffiths

Rooting against Uncle Vernon Dursley in the “Harry Potter” movies was one thing, but few had anything but kind words to say about the actor who played him, Richard Griffiths, who died Thursday, March 28, 2013, at the age of 65.

I will miss him. He was a fantastic actor and a great loss. He did an awesome job bringing Vernon Dursley to life the way he did.

Sometimes his true warmth peeked through, as in that odd scene in the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone film where he is talking about Sundays being a ‘fine day’ and asks why that is. When Daniel’s Harry asks him “Because there’s no post on Sundays?”, Richard momentarily dropped the Vernon persona and beamed warmly at him, replying, “Right you are, Harry”. He then went on in a far jollier fashion than his character Vernon usually portrayed — that is, until the hundreds of Hogwarts letters addressed to Harry began to pour into the house.

I bet that deep down, unlike Vernon, Richard liked imagination and magic. And if Vernon came to life, Richard would’ve given Vernon a lecture on how an uncle should treat a nephew, especially if the nephew was a wizard like Harry, too. :)

Rest in peace, Richard. As you go on, be sure to take our love with you into, in the words of Albus Dumbledore, ‘the next great adventure’. :’)

Mrs. Doubtfire

Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams) is a talented, but unemployed, voice actor living in San Francisco. Daniel is devoted to his three children Lydia (Lisa Jakub), Chris (Matthew Lawrence) and Natalie (Mara Wilson), but he is not a good disciplinarian. To make matters worse, his wife, Miranda (Sally Field), considers him irresponsible and immature, and their marriage is on the rocks. When Daniel throws a party for Chris’s twelfth birthday despite Chris’ bad report card, Miranda finally snaps and asks for a divorce. At their first custody hearing, the judge provisionally grants Miranda custody of the children, since Daniel has neither a suitable residence nor a steady job. Daniel has visitation rights limited to Saturday evenings. The news is crushing to Daniel, who adores his children.

When Daniel learns that Miranda intends to place an advertisement for a housekeeper, he requests to pick them up from school and spend time with them, but Miranda refuses. Daniel sabotages the ad that Miranda wrote, changing the numbers on the copy so he could be the only one who could call. He calls Miranda several times, posing as a series of increasingly disturbing applicants, and eventually presents the perfect applicant: a 60-year-old Englishwoman with a Scottish accent with years of experience, giving the name “Mrs. Doubtfire”. Miranda is impressed enough to have “Mrs. Doubtfire” come over to the house to interview for the position.

Initially the children are hostile toward Mrs Doubtfire, particularly Lydia. However, Daniel wins them over after preparing a luxurious meal for Miranda upon her return home, delighting her and earning the trust of the children. As Mrs. Doubtfire, Daniel is able to see his children every day, giving him the opportunity to be the firm father figure that he wasn’t before. The change begins to work as the children respond to Mrs. Doubtfire’s methods, and Miranda is able to heal her rocky relationship with the children and also with Daniel, who is now learning to be a better person and homemaker than he was before because of his alter ego. It is around this time that a conversation between Daniel (in disguise) and Miranda takes place where Daniel finally learns that his lack of structure, direction, seriousness, and his lackadaisical and over-joking attitude have done more to cause psychological and emotional damage than help to Miranda, causing her to cry herself to sleep on a near-daily basis, in which he silently reacts with regret.

Daniel’s situation is not a perfect one, however; he encounters several problems including igniting his fake breasts on a stove when cooking dinner, almost having his cover blown by his caseworker (Anne Haney) at his apartment, and attempting to stall his ex-wife’s relationship with Stuart Dunmyer (Pierce Brosnan), her new boyfriend, who is not particularly fond of Daniel (and who has no idea that Daniel is disguised as Mrs. Doubtfire). Daniel once again asks Miranda if she will allow him to take care of their children after school, but she once again (politely) declines, saying that she could never get rid of Mrs Doubtfire, as she has made their lives so much better.

Eventually, Daniel’s cover is blown when Chris walks in on him in the bathroom by accident (as Daniel had forgotten to lock the bathroom door). He explains what he’s done to Lydia and Chris, and tells them that they can’t tell Miranda (as she will most likely report him to the authorities and have him banned from seeing them for good) or Natalie, as she is too young to understand and would tell her mother. Both children are happy to have their father back in their lives and agree to help maintain the pretense.

Meanwhile, at the TV station where Daniel works as a shipping clerk, his job situation is about to improve. The CEO of the television studio, Jonathan Lundy (Robert Prosky), sees him clowning with toy dinosaurs on the set of a particularly boring children’s program and is impressed enough to schedule a dinner meeting to hear his ideas. Trouble brews when Daniel learns that Stuart plans to celebrate Miranda’s birthday by taking the family out to the same restaurant at the same time, and that everyone expects Mrs. Doubtfire to join them.

At the restaurant, Daniel attempts to rotate back and forth between Lundy and his family, using a restroom to change back and forth from himself to Mrs. Doubtfire. Due to ordering alcoholic beverages at both tables, Daniel gets tipsy and his behavior becomes more erratic. He dumps pepper (which Stuart is allergic to) on Stuart’s order and then forgets to change out of the Mrs. Doubtfire costume before returning to Lundy’s table. Daniel covers for his mistake by explaining to a bemused Lundy that his alter ego is his idea for a new television persona. Lundy is impressed and hopes to make a new TV show with Daniel’s alter ego.

Stuart then starts choking on the pepper. Daniel, still in the Mrs. Doubtfire costume, administers the Heimlich maneuver on Stuart. During the struggle, Daniel’s mask peels off, revealing his identity. Miranda is outraged and humiliated to find out that her housekeeper and her ex-husband are one and the same person; she then storms out.

After returning to court because of Daniel violating his limited visiting days, Miranda receives full custody of the children, as the judge is somewhat disturbed by Daniel’s behavior. However, she experiences a change of heart upon realizing that her children, as well as herself, are all deeply unhappy without Mrs. Doubtfire, and therefore Daniel. Daniel, meanwhile, becomes the star of Lundy’s new television program, Aunt Euphegenia’s House, where he plays Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire. Miranda pays Daniel a visit on the set one day and explains the situation to him. She also decides that Daniel’s idea of letting him take the kids for a few hours every day after school is a good one.

In the final moments of the movie, Daniel picks the kids up to spend an afternoon with them while Miranda watches an Aunt Euphegenia’s House episode, where Mrs. Doubtfire answers a letter from a child in a similar situation, saying that no matter what type of living arrangement children of divorce may have, love will maintain the bond of family.

River Phoenix Photos for Story Ideas