Tom and Huck: My Thoughts

In my mind, the 1995 Disney film Tom and Huck is very awesome, as well as very inspiring, especially for a fanfiction writer like myself, of course.

If there was one scene I wish was in Tom and Huck, it would be this one:

Becky (Rachael Leigh Cook) gets separated from Tom (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) in the caves. Unfortunately for her, she runs into Injun Joe (Eric Schweig), who abducts her. As a result, Tom faces a dilemma: save Becky or keep looking for Murrell’s lost treasure.

Tom rescuing Becky was an important plot in the Nintendo video game “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” where Tom dreams that he has to rescue Becky from Injun Joe’s clutches, as well as in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: The Musical”, where Injun Joe grabs Becky after Tom leaves her alone for a moment in McDougal’s Cave, where they have gotten lost.

I also wish they had made a sequel to Tom and Huck; in the sequel, Becky is haunted by visions of Injun Joe, which causes her to fear for her life. So, she enlists the help of Tom and Huck in order to get rid of the visions.

Anyway, I also like this speech given by Judge Thatcher (Charles Rocket) to the group of men around him:

“Gentlemen, my daughter Rebecca and Tom Sawyer are both lost in the caves, and Injun Joe has come back to take his revenge on Tom. Now be on your guard. Injun Joe has already killed twice. The sheriff and I believe that he will not hesitate to kill again.”

From my perspective, that speech is very awesome, as well as very brilliant and creative, too.

Full House: Beach Boy Bingo

D.J. ends up winning two free tickets to a Beach Boys concert in a radio contest, but then has to make a decision consisting of who she brings with her. She wishes she could take her family with her, but, according to the rules of the contest, she is allowed to bring only one guest. 

Naturally, her dad Danny assumes that he will be D.J.’s choice, since he also likes the Beach Boys. But, much to Danny’s dismay, she selects Jesse instead, although she changes her mind later and tells Danny to go with Jesse (although Jesse changes his mind after a talk with Danny, and tells her to go with her father). 

Danny says that D.J. is going to the concert. However, D.J. corrects him, saying that she isn’t going, since she feels it isn’t worth hurting someone else’s feelings.

“This concert was supposed to be fun. Now everybody’s either hurt or disappointed. It’s just not worth it. I’m not going.”

In the end, however, everybody is satisfied, thanks to some surprise visitors at the Tanner household.

Full House: D.J.’s Very First Horse

Wake Up, San Francisco is broadcasting an episode from a horse stable, where D.J. meets a horse named Rocket. She desperately wants a pet, and thinks that he will fit the bill. However, the only way that she will get him is if she has enough money to make the payments needed ($100) every two weeks, so she and her best friend Kimmy pool their money together in order to start making Rocket’s stable payments, without Danny knowing it. D.J. thinks he will not let her have Rocket unless she proves to him that she can handle the responsibility that comes with owning a pet. Her plan consists of secretly keeping up the payments for a couple of weeks, and then telling Danny about Rocket, as she figures that two weeks is enough to prove to Danny that she can handle the responsibility so he will not refuse.

When Kimmy blows her half of the money on shopping at the mall, D.J. cannot make the next stable payment. So, in a desperate effort to make sure she does not lose Rocket, she takes him to the house with her. Danny is shocked when he comes home and sees Rocket in the house. He tells D.J. to take him back to the stable. While there, D.J. bids him farewell, thinking that she will lose him. However, what she is delighted to discover is that Becky has decided to become Rocket’s new owner and make the stable payments, because she misses the times when she and her family had horses in Nebraska. Danny agrees to let D.J. help Becky take care of Rocket.

Kimmy: Well, I asked my mom about the horse.

D.J.: What did she say?

Kimmy: She said, ‘Kimberly Louise Gibbler, have you lost your mind?’ I didn’t really have an answer for that.

Full House: El Problema Grande de D.J.

D.J. has good grades throughout her report card, except for in Spanish class, where she was given a ‘D’ (while Kimmy had gotten a ‘C’). Danny decides to talk to her Spanish teacher, Senorita Linda Mosley, about the grade, and D.J. thanks him for that.

When Linda comes over to the house to have a private discussion with Danny about it, it starts as a simple parent-teacher conference (with Linda showing Danny some colored flash cards with Spanish words on them, such as “el sofa” for sofa and “perro” for dog, respectively). It soon ends with an unexpected burst of passion as the smitten Senorita Mosley plants a kiss on a very welcoming Danny while trying to show him how to roll the double R in Spanish (after telling him the importance of the letter ‘R’ in the Spanish language). When she apologizes, Danny tells her it felt nice and Linda feels better. So they kiss a second time; however, the second kiss is ill-timed because that is when D.J. and some of her friends walk through the kitchen door and into the living room, and they take notice of it. Much to D.J.’s utter mortification, the kiss is an event that the whole school is soon buzzing about.

D.J. soon becomes a target for highly unwelcomed teasing, and she is absolutely furious at her dad for making her a target for teasing (and for not getting her Spanish grade changed).

Danny apologizes to D.J. for making her a target for teasing, and then eventually gets her to admit that the more difficult the Spanish class became, the more she just gave up on it, because she thinks she is no good at it. However, Danny manages to encourage his oldest daughter that he will be proud of her for trying as hard as she can, especially in something she finds to be hard to do, and D.J. thanks him.

Meanwhile, Mr. Malatesta gives Michelle a spot in a marshmallow commercial that Joey and Jesse have been assigned to work on. Joey and Jesse groom Michelle to star in the commercial. She is to sit on a cloud, eat a marshmallow and exclaim “yummy in the tummy”. However, she overpractices by eating too many marshmallows before the actual filming, and as a result, Michelle is full when the camera starts rolling.

Also, Stephanie has gotten a good report card, but her teacher writes that she needs to control her being talkative in class. When Danny makes the mistake of telling her she has to “stop being such a chatterbox”, she takes his words to heart and stops speaking for about three days — which makes Danny feel a little regretful.

Full House: Tanner’s Island

Danny takes the Tanners and his co-host Rebecca Donaldson to Hawaii in honor of their two-year anniversary since becoming a family. Once there, however, Danny takes charge, being his usual controlling self, and marks all the families’ activities together on what he calls a “Clipboard of Fun”.

Among the various activities they do, he and the family decide to take an off-site trip to the Hawaiian island of Pua for a picnic and a Polynesian show. They stop for a rest on a (seemingly) deserted island. However, Danny realizes he did not tie up the boat correctly, which means that (for now) the family is stranded. Meanwhile, Joey thinks he is seeing an attractive hula girl, and Jesse and Rebecca have an argument about Elvis Presley (Jesse’s music idol), until they get over it in the end.

Thanks to a speech from D.J. after she gets their attention using a shell as a horn, the adults set aside their differences, and the family builds a hut to stay in until they are found. That evening, Hawaiian inhabitants of the island find the gang and escort them to the Polynesian show on the other side of the island. It turns out that they really were on Pua, just the wrong side of it.

They end up dancing with everyone on the show. Joey, in fact, actually sees the hula girl he’d been imagining all day, and they both decide to dance together. At the end, Rebecca speaks with one of the musicians, and they’ve decided to play “Rock-a-Hula” by Elvis Presley, with Jesse singing lead.

Full House: Tanner vs. Gibbler

To celebrate Kimmy’s 12th birthday, D.J. plans a special party at the house with some of their closest friends.

When Stephanie slips up and mentions the surprise birthday party to Kimmy, Kimmy decides to bring her new karate class friends, Melissa and Nina, two older girls in junior high, to the party with her.

Upon arriving, however, all that the two girls want to do is invite a bunch of friends over to trash the house, so when D.J. kicks them out for even thinking about trashing the house, Kimmy decides to abandon the party and go to the mall with them. This begins a feud between the two girls. With help from Jesse and Joey, D.J. and Kimmy end their feud, as Kimmy realizes that D.J. refuses to let her forget who her real friends are.

Meanwhile, Danny panics when he finds out that he’s been removed from his job as a sportscaster at the TV station. Luckily for him, it turns out that the station has created a new local morning show titled Wake Up, San Francisco, and they need two people to host the new show. Danny is named as one of the hosts, while his co-host for the new show is Rebecca Donaldson, who had moved to San Francisco from her hometown of Valentine, Nebraska many years ago, after coming off her two-year success in A.M. Omaha.

*************************

D.J.: I’m D.J. I’m glad you could make it.
Nina: We wouldn’t miss a party for our new pal Kammy.
D.J.: Her name’s Kimmy.
Kimmy: D.J., they wear lipstick. They can call me whatever they want.

Full House: The Miracle of Thanksgiving

When his first Thanksgiving without Pam arrives, Danny is determined to make the day extra special for his daughters. When Grandma (Claire Tanner) is unable to make it as expected, because a snowstorm up north in Washington has stranded her at her home, the men are inspired to make restaurant reservations. However, D.J. and Stephanie encourage them to have the traditional festivities at home. The results involve a burned turkey, a smashed pumpkin pie, and lots of tears. But the biggest challenge of all is how Jesse has not yet come to terms with Pam’s death.

D.J.: (as she and Danny walk into Danny’s room and sit on the small table in front of the bed) Dad, you don’t have to tell me. I know I ruined Thanksgiving for everybody.
Danny: You didn’t ruin anything.
D.J.: I let Mom down.
Danny: Why? Because of the turkey? D.J., Mom knew Thanksgiving wasn’t about turkeys. It’s about family, and being thankful for what we have. I’m thankful I’ve got you. You’re the one who pulled us all together tonight.
D.J.: You’re just trying to make me feel better.
Danny: Is it working?
D.J.: No.
Danny: You think you feel bad? I feel worse.
D.J.: You couldn’t.
Danny: Oh yeah? Wait ‘till I tell you what’s been going on. I felt so bad about your frozen turkey that I offered those ladies $200 for theirs.
D.J.: Dad, that’s crazy. You should have just told me the truth and given me the $200. That would have made me feel better.

Movies River Phoenix Should Have Done

My Thoughts on Pokémon

Everybody has a favorite part when it comes to the phenomenon known as Pocket Monsters (or Pokémon for short). For some, it’s battles and the strategies, while for others, it’s the Pokémon evolving into different and stronger forms, which is usually because of hitting a certain level, using an Elemental Stone, friendship and time of day, among other factors. Me? I like all the aspects of the Pokémon phenomena.

So with that, here’s my reasons for why I like Pokémon:

1) Cooperation

The game of Pokémon is quite complex, so talking with other fellow Pokémon fans, especially when comparing battle strategies, is a good idea when it comes to figuring out the game — and Pokémon is a good thing in that way, since it happens to be something that gets kids talking with each other. :)

2) Strategizing

Pokémon is a good thing for another reason: it teaches how to think strategically. Unlike some popular toys with little or no educational value, Pokémon is different in that it requires chess-like concentration and the ability to think ahead in sophisticated ways.

3) Lessons about Life

There are so many amazing examples of how this game teaches about life — and not just by quotes, either.

For example, in the games, there is a Pokémon called “Magikarp”, which is considered the most useless and weak Pokémon in the game. But after struggling, hard work and determination, the Magikarp is able to evolve into an extremely powerful Pokémon known as “Gyarados”. The Pokémon was one of the most powerful in the Generation 1 games, defeating nearly everything in its path.

And that shows a good lesson there: if you don’t struggle, you don’t improve.

4) Reaching Goals

In Pokémon, the Trainers and their Pokémon learn that never giving up eventually pays off in the end. For the Pokémon, it’s learning to succeed, and that’s usually by practicing with their moves and doing well with them — basically sharpening old techniques and learning new ones. For the Trainers, it’s completing the Pokédex and battling other Trainers (sometimes in rematches). Like the old saying goes, “Practice makes perfect”, which is very true, along with “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”. In other words, the more you practice at something (especially if it’s a talent you have, or something you simply love to do), the better you get at it.

5) The Importance of Rules

In order to be a Pokémon master, the player has to teach his or her Pokémon to follow the rules. It’s a basic rehearsal for life; if one follows the rules, they get rewarded (although there are exceptions, such as changing the writing rules when writing fanfiction, but that’s another story).

“The age-old theme of the journey is played out here, and one faces good vs. evil in the quest for the holy grail, i.e. becoming the greatest Pokémon master. This mirrors development — cognitive, social and psychological, across the life span. We all have monsters to keep at bay and mysteries or problems to solve throughout our lives.

“Pokémon provides a stimulus for learning and practicing life skills and other learning skills that will be useful later. Children are drawn to this challenge because of their very nature, needing to deal with their fears and vulnerabilities.”

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Dracula

Dracula: You are magnificent.

Buffy: I bet you say that before you bite all the girls.

Dracula: No, you are different - kindred.

Buffy (to Dracula after staking him a second time): “You think I don’t watch your movies? You always come back.”

Static Shock: Anansi

Anansi the Spider is a superhero native to Ghana, and the greatest hero in West Africa. Named after the trickster spider of African folklore, Anansi has the power to create visible, realistic illusions. He explains this ability as “people only see what I want them to see”. He also has the ability to cling to surfaces, stand upside-down and walk on vertical surfaces.

In both his appearances, references to Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man are subtly made.

In the Season 3 episode Static in Africa, when Virgil told him to hit Osebo with a “web blast”, he replies, “I’m not that kind of spider”, and in the Season 4 episode Out of Africa, Gear remarks that he expected Anansi to swing in on a web, and Anansi replies with “I get that a lot.” He also seems to inspire Virgil (Static) about what being a superhero really means.

In Out of Africa, Anansi traveled to Dakota to stop Osebo, Mmboro and Onini (three of his enemies that are based on the animals the legendary Anansi caught to attain his stories) from obtaining an ancient golden spider talisman, which is revealed to be the source of Anansi’s powers. Static and Gear got drawn in when Sharon was kidnapped by Osebo. In the end, Anansi reclaimed the artifact, but not before Sharon used it to make all of the dirty dishes “disappear” and took it for a spin for a while before being abducted by Osebo. Luckily, Static, Gear, and Anansi rescued her. The spider artifact was never seen again afterward, as Anansi made sure to hide it quite well.

Then, after Osebo, Mmboro and Onini are taken away by the police, Anansi kisses Sharon’s hand and charmingly tells her that he’s forever in her debt. Sharon then expresses that she had a good time and the whole thing was an adventure for her, but she couldn’t help but think that she’s “forgetting something”. Then her father calls her and says that he’s in the kitchen looking at the dirty dishes — the very ones Sharon is going to be washing every night for the next month.

“Oh, yeah. Now I remember,” she replies afterwards.

Anansi’s enemies are based on an ancient legend; the story, as told by Anansi, was that a clever Spider wanted to be able to tell stories, and the “Sky Spirit”, king of all the lands, agreed to give the spider what he wanted if he captured three troublemakers: Onini the Python, Osebo the Leopard, and Mmoboro the Hornet. The Spider trapped Mmoboro in a gourd, tied Onini to a stick, and dug a pit and covered it with leaves before luring Osebo into it. The Sky Spirit thanked the spider and granted its wish, giving it the ability to tell stories through the power of making illusions.

Anansi has three enemies: Mmoboro (a giant talking wasp who can turn into a swarm of smaller wasps), Onini (a giant talking black python) and Osebo (a large man-shaped talking leopard with a metal fist).

At first sight, everyone mistakes Osebo for a tiger as he has stripes instead of spots; everyone who has ever heard that his is a leopard wonders why he has stripes. In Out of Africa, Anansi himself told Static, “I too have often wondered about the stripes.”

Nostalgia and the Good Old Days

It’s easy to become nostalgic for what people refer to as the “good old days,” when almost everyone was trusted.

Back then, children would play for hours in the neighborhood — in other people’s homes and yards — unsupervised. Back then, children would walk to school, head gleefully to sleepovers, and participate in overnight camps, all without an ounce of parental concern.

But those times are past (meaning long since over) now. We are a sadder but wiser society. The knowledge we have about child molesters has come at a heavy cost, and is often shared by people out of the pain of their personal experiences. It’s time we heeded this information and do all we can to protect children.

Popularity and Unpopularity

You hear all those stories of cliques and the popular people. There’s a group of them in almost every school. And then of course, there’s everyone else. Everyone else would usually fit into two basic categories: the ones who completely hate them, and the ones who would do absolutely anything to be a part of them. Luckily, that doesn’t happen all the time. When you are everyone else, there’s no median or go-between within the groups. When you happen to be a hater, you are disliked as well.

It’s simple, and the whole “You don’t like me? I don’t like you” makes for good drama. And when you’re a worshiper — well, you are hated, too. There is something about the stalking and strange obsessions that turn the “in-crowd” to hatred.

Almost every teenager has been the victim and the predator — the one who taunts and the one who is humiliated. It can’t be helped. But as for those who are different, they must somehow have to be punished, because that is the society of high school. And those who befriend the different, and are different themselves, are lower than the low in the eyes of judgemental teenagers.

And the social ladder is a frustrating thing. The popular students control the student body — or at least they try to, because some of the students have had it with being mean to others. Instead, they try being both popular and nice at the same time.

However, it’s not always like that. The ones below the popularity circle listen — listen and nothing else.

What are your thoughts on popularity and being popular?

Bobby Keller in Dream a Little Dream

“I’ll be by. Don’t fall asleep.”

Wow. Bobby Keller is definitely one good-looking guy. I wish he had the ability to to sweet-talk the villainesses (or femme fatales) into a trance-like state with just a few compliments that are both well thought-out and delivered in a sultry manner, kind of like Vicki Vale in the 1989 film Batman when she spoke to the Joker in Gotham Cathedral.

In my mind, that could be a great and very useful ability for him to have. ;) I also wish Bobby was a vampire in Dream a Little Dream. However, he would definitely be one of the good ones, though. He could take on Dumas, the school bully, and drain him dry of his blood. That could be so cool!

The Millennium Rod

The Millennium Rod’s unique ability grants the holder the power to control people’s minds, turning them into the owner’s mind slaves. By extension, it is also capable of mind manipulation, which allows the owner to telepathically communicate with others, look into their memories, trick their minds into believing what the Rod’s owner wants them to, knock people unconscious and leave a portion of the owner’s mind in the people that he has controlled (like what happened with Bakura and Tea).

Its mind control power has no effect on someone who bears a Millennium Item (like Ishizu Ishtar before she gave her Millennium Necklace to Yugi) or has a unique connection to the ancient Shadow Games (like Yugi Moto, Yami Bakura or Seto Kaiba), or a person whose will is strong.

Like the other Millennium Items, its power over the Shadow Games allows it to materialize and command Duel Monsters and their effects, and cast a Penalty Game against the loser. Marik’s Shadow Games created through this item have been the most brutal and damaging, from memory destruction (like with Mai and the pyramid-shaped hourglass with memory-sapping sand) to inducing pain.

Batman: Religious Symbolism

At the climax of the 1989 film Batman, Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) wears a white dress, jacket and shoes. By the end of the scene, she’s lost the jacket and the shoes, and the dress is noticeably dirtied. Coincidence? Probably.

The white dress also makes sense if you interpret the climactic cathedral scene from a religious perspective. In the dress, Vicki looks a lot like a bride — an association that is only strengthened when the Joker tells her, “I’ve got to get you to the church on time.”

Some sects of Christianity refer to the human race as the “Bride of Christ.”

Could Vicki Vale represent all of us, and are Batman and the Joker fighting for her soul? Almost certainly, if you take into account the excellent Prince song, “Dance With the Devil”, that was (unfortunately) cut from one of the movie’s two soundtracks (“Dance with the Devil in the pale moonlight… He wants your soul and he wants it tonight”).