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 awesomely useful ability for him to have. ;) I also wish Bobby had been a vampire in Dream a Little Dream. However, he would definitely be one of the ethical daywalking ones, though. He could take on a bully who’d be picking on Dumas (portrayed by Matt Adler) (who’d be the former school bully, as he’d begun to rethink his bully image after Bobby — who’d been facing Joel (portrayed by William McNamara), who’d been holding Dumas at gunpoint in an alley) — had said, “Twenty years from now, I’m gonna look back on all my old school friends, and I’m gonna think of Dumas,” before adding that Dumas wasn’t exactly a nice guy and pointing out, “So what? We were still friends” before turning to Dumas and asking, “Aren’t we, Dumas? Aren’t we still friends?” which Dumas didn’t have an answer for, as he was silently wishing he’d been nicer to Bobby), and drain the bully of half of his blood and all his money. That could be so cool!

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 — and 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 did all we can to protect children.

The Great Outdoors (1988): My Thoughts

Nostalgic about the good old days in the honeymoon cabin, the patriarch Chet Ripley and his family set off to the idyllic woods of Wisconsin for the summer vacation. However, their plans for a peaceful family bonding in the heart of the untamed nature will be thwarted when Chet’s high-rolling brother-in-law Roman Craig and his family decide to crash the party. Eventually, as the two families try to have a good time together, a seemingly endless series of misfortunes and mini-disasters — including thirsty leeches, cunning raccoons and a mythical wild bear — threaten to ruin the vacation. What will it take to salvage the weekend?

It is summertime, and Chicago citizen Chester “Chet” Ripley (John Candy), his wife Connie (Stephanie Faracy) and their two sons, Buckley “Buck” (Chris Young) and Ben (Ian Giatti), are on vacation at a lake resort in Pechoggin, Wisconsin. All is going as planned until Connie’s sister Kate (Annette Bening), Kate’s husband Roman Craig (Dan Aykroyd) and their twin daughters Mara and Cara (Rebecca and Hilary Gordon) show up, thus crashing the vacation.

Among the ghost stories told at the family BBQ is one about a man-eating grizzly bear that Chet met face-to-face one day when he was younger. Chet says that, while he and Connie were honeymooning at the same lake they are at right now, he was attacked by a giant grizzly bear. When Chet fired at it with a shotgun, the buckshot shaved the hair off the top of the bear’s head, and from that day on, it was known as the ‘Bald-Headed Bear’ of Claire County.

After Roman pulls Chet around the lake on an impromptu water ski ride with his rented speedboat, tensions between families erupt. Chet is ready to pack up his family’s things and go home — even as teenager Buck tries to romance a local girl named Cammie (Lucy Deakins).

However, while the budding romance between Buck and Cammie goes well, Chet, Roman and their families don’t get along, whether they are fighting over what type of boat to rent, how to wrinkle newspaper in order to start a fire or what to grill for dinner — until one night, when they go to Paul Bunyan’s Cupboard. Roman inquires about the Old 96’er, and is informed that it is “a 96 ounce prime-aged beef steak” which lands them all a free meal if it’s consumed entirely. Chet decides to take the challenge and manages to stuff it all down — or so he thinks. He is then confronted with a pile of fat and gristle, which he finds out he is required to consume; not only does he do it, he also gets a dessert down, earning them some free hats. However, Chet’s taking the challenge of eating said steak causes Buck to break his date with Cammie. Buck tries to apologize to Cammie for being late, but Cammie refuses to speak to him.

While at a local bar, Connie and Kate bond with each other when the conversation drifts to Kate’s challenges of being wealthy. Later, just at the peak of tension between families, a revelation of sorts emerges. Roman had spent some of the time flaunting his wealth and success and encouraged Chet to give him money for a deal; when they are leaving, Kate mentions how that was a lot for them. Roman feels his conscience eating away at him and stops the car, saying he has to go back, and Kate wonders if he forgot something; he turns the car around and heads back to the cabin. When Kate asks if he’s all right, Roman replies with “I’ll be all right once I settle this.”

At the cabin, Roman tears up the check that Chet had given him (symbolizing his decision to be honest with Chet and Kate). Finally, Roman makes a confession: he is actually broke and has been living beyond his means for some time in order to keep up appearances, because he has lost his job as a commodities trader and everything else after a deal went bad. When Kate asks why he didn’t tell her, thinking he felt she wouldn’t understand, Roman explains that she would have understood — but he also knew she wouldn’t let him “come up here to put the bite on Connie and Chet” because Chet was Roman’s “only last hope.” Chet replies that Roman knows he “would never turn (his) back on family,” and Roman agrees with that.

Later, during a thunderstorm, the twins leave the car and wander off; they eventually fall into a mine shaft. Chet and Roman eventually find them, but the claustrophobic Roman is reluctant to descend into the tiny mine shaft. After some encouragement from Chet, Roman summons up all his courage while Chet goes in search of a rope to pull them out. When he realizes the mine is stocked with old dynamite, Roman takes his daughters and manages to climb out of the shaft on his own.

When Chet returns with the rope, he is horrified to discover the ‘Bald-Headed Bear’ lurking in the mine. It chases him back to his house, where it smashes through the door; as it rampages through the house, Roman, Kate, Connie and the others are shocked when they realize the ‘Bald-Headed Bear’ is actually real. Roman attempts to ward the bear off with an oar and a fire poker. Wally (Robert Prosky), the cabin owner, bursts into the house with a loaded shotgun; Chet takes the gun and shoots the bear’s rear end, blowing off the fur and leaving the bear’s rump exposed. Roaring in embarrassment, the bear runs out of the house and heads into the woods.

The next morning, the two families part on good terms. However, unbeknownst to Chet, Connie has invited Roman’s family to stay with them until Roman is financially able to get back on his feet. Cammie and Buck make up and end their summer romance right before Buck and his family head back to Chicago.

I cannot find any more good and positive things to say about this film. As Chet Ripley, John Candy gives one of his best performances in this film, and he does a phenomenal job as well.

According to the film’s trivia, in real life, there is a restaurant called Paul Bunyan’s Cook Shanty in northern Wisconsin; however, the Old 96’er isn’t on the menu.

If I had to pick a favorite scene, it would be this one:

Roman: Chet, I’m gonna level with ya. I’m a phony, I’m a fraud, I’m a fake — from my fifteen-dollar imitation Bally slip-ons to our replicated Rolex’s. (Kate looks at her watch, and is shocked, realizing Roman is right) We’re broke. We’re bankrupt. We’re busted.

Kate: We’re busted?

Roman: We were living well, right? (Kate nods, mouthing “Yeah” soon after) Well beyond our means. (he then turns to Chet) I’m full of (nonsense), Chet. I haven’t been trading in over two years. (sighs) This deal came up; it looked good. I got overextended. Couldn’t meet my calls. I lost my seat on the Exchange. I got to work every morning — but now I wear a blue runner’s jacket and fetch coffee. I lost everything.

Kate: Why didn’t you tell me? Did you think that I wouldn’t understand?

Roman: Oh, baby, I knew you’d understand. But I also knew you wouldn’t let me come up here to put the bite on Connie and Chet. He was my only last hope.

Chet: Now, look, Roman. Now you know I never turn my back on family.

Roman: I know. That’s why I came up here.

Plus, the film shows a good message: helping your family out if they need it is a good idea.

I highly recommend this film to all John Candy fans — and I give it five stars as well.

Degrassi: Heat of the Moment

Teenagers and kids of all ages have probably been bullying and pushing each other around since the beginning of time. But now, since the invention of the Internet (which happened on January 1, 1983), with texting and IMing and MySpace and YouTube, bullies no longer have to face their victims on the school yard, like they did in the days before computers were invented; instead, they’re able to hide in the shadows and torture their victims online. The term for that is “cyberbullying” — and has since become very widely known ever since it entered the English language.

The Season 8 episode Heat of the Moment from Degrassi proves how hurtful cyberbullying can be. And in the case of Megan Meier, who was 13 years old when she killed herself in 2006, cyberbullying can also be harmful.

Holly J’s watching the Power Squad practice, and Allia “Alli” Bhandari notices this while walking by with her friend Clare Edwards (the younger sister of Darcy Edwards). She then remarks about how bitter Holly J must be for getting kicked off the Power Squad (which happened in Money for Nothing), and Holly J tells her to shut her mouth. Alli replies that maybe now Holly J can use her free time to find true love. Holly J says Alli wouldn’t know anything about romance, which makes Alli admit she’s going out with Johnny DiMarco. Holly J doesn’t believe it, so she goes up to Johnny and asks him if he and Alli are dating in front of his friends. Johnny denies this before breaking up with Alli, and Alli is heartbroken.

Hurt by what Johnny did, Alli then snaps at Holly J for ruining her relationship and that she can’t be mean to her. Holly J says she doesn’t need a reason to be mean to Alli. 

Alli then goes on Facerange (which is the Degrassi version of Facebook) and starts a group called “I Hate Holly J”, which many people sign up for. Holly J sees the site, and confronts Alli, insulting her. Alli then sees threatening comments about Holly J from people who had joined her group. However, instead of noticing that her dislike for Holly J has gone too far, she feels excited enough to write this post:

“Holly J is a dirty ginger virus infecting Degrassi. She needs to be eliminated. I’D LIKE TO STRANGLE HER WITH MY BARE HANDS”.

Then, the next day, Clare is stating that Alli’s actions are going way too far, but Alli disbelieves her. In the most famous scene of the episode, Bruce (aka Bruce the Moose), along with Derek Haig, takes what he views as an opportunity to lead the the other students in chanting “I Hate Holly J”. However, Clare is the only one that does not join in (as she is shown to be severely disappointed in Alli).

Angered and hurt, Holly J proceeds to storm out of the cafeteria after yelling “Like I care what you losers think!” She then decides to not return to school or her work at The Dot, out of her fearing the growing hatred towards her.

Alli then randomly gets called to the office by Mr. Simpson and her father, where they discuss that her actions were unethical. Even though she gets suspended from school, she still refuses to believe that her actions were wrong, and even states to her older brother Sav (who also knows that she should not have done what she did, even though he himself is implied to have something against Holly J) that “it was totally worth it.” Suddenly, he gets a call from their father, who says the Sinclairs called the police on her for the threats on the group. Alli still believes that Holly J is just trying to make her life miserable, even after the cops explain to her clearly that her actions were illegal (as well as mean), and that she now has a criminal record.

Anya and Alli go over to Holly J’s house and, after seeing what a depressed mess Holly J is, Alli has an epiphany and finally sees that what she did was wrong. Holly J reveals that she did not hate Alli, and adds that she is not returning to Degrassi, and that Alli got what she wanted.

A few days later, the group is deleted, and Alli apologizes to the school and Holly J about her actions. Plus, Anya reveals that she convinced Holly J to give Degrassi another chance. However, Derek shows up and shows Alli the rope (in reference to the comment “Want to strangle her? I’ll bring the rope” about Holly J), which embarrasses Holly J.

From my perspective, this episode is really good and inspiring, as well as very well-written, too. Plus, in the words of Steve Barkin (voiced by Patrick Warburton) in the Season 1 episode Downhill from the Disney Channel cartoon show Kim Possible, cyberbullying is “sick and wrong” (and I couldn’t agree more there).

If you won’t say something in person, why say it online? Cyberbullying must be stopped!


What do you think about this? I hope you agree that cyberbullying is bad, too.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

On the morning before his twelfth birthday, Alexander wakes up to find gum in his hair, and cuts it out with a pair of scissors. Then, he gets an email about Phillip Parker’s expensive birthday being on the same day as his. He tells his family that he couldn’t compete, but they don’t listen. On his way to school, a boy is seen photo-shopping Alexander’s face onto the bodies of women in photos, and then posting them online.

By the time he got to school, not only is he humiliated, but he learns that his best friend Paul is going to Phillip’s party. He tries to ask his school crush Becky Gibson, but she refuses as well. Afterwards, Alexander accidentally burns down the periodic table with her notebook and gets blamed for it. While waiting for a long time outside of school, Alexander is put in charge of Melvin, the class guinea pig.

Later that night, Alexander tries to talk to Anthony about his bad luck. While Alexander thinks that Anthony loved him as a brother, Anthony is actually talking to Celia on the phone. While Anthony is talking to Alexander, Celia, thinking that Anthony is trash-talking to her, then abruptly hangs up, and Alexander hears Anthony calling him an “idiot brother.” 

At midnight, Alexander makes himself a birthday sundae and tells Melvin he wishes that his family would see what it was like to have a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.”

The next day, Alexander is the first one to wake up. While heading down the hallway, he sees Emily having a cold, and then wakes up his parents, who were oversleeping. As Alexander leaves the bathroom, Anthony comes in, and reacts in horror when he looks in the mirror and sees a zit on his forehead.

At school, Alexander hears from Paul that Phillip’s birthday party is cancelled, as Phillip has caught the chicken pox (which is shown in a picture that Paul got in a text from Phillip, which he shows Alexander on his phone). This implies that Alexander’s party was back on. (As Paul puts it: “His pox is your gain.”) Becky even mentions showing up. Alexander even hears that Becky’s brother Elliot Gibson, the boy who made the mean photoshops about him, had gotten suspended.

Throughout the day, while attempting to convince his family that their bad luck was his fault, Alexander learns that Trevor got green ink all over his face. Alexander and his family later see Anthony accidentally trashing their van, which resulted in failing his driving test. Emily gets drunk because of drinking too much cough medicine, and ruins the Peter Pan play as a result.

By the time the Coopers picked Celia up for the prom, Alexander and most of his family play music by using their fists and their mouths. At a Japanese restaurant, he sees his father catching food into his mouth eight times in a row, and then accidentally set his sleeves on fire (which he put out using water from a lobster tank). While Ben walked out, feeling disappointed (and trying to hide it), Alexander follows, along with the rest of the family. After realizing that they got to spend the worst day together, they begin kicking trash cans around.

After going home, they discover a vicious lizard in the living room. In the backyard, Alexander sees his parents had rented an Australian petting zoo for his birthday party. During the party, he learns that Paul and Becky have shown up. 

During the credits, they are seen pretending to surf.

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 seemingly simple, but it really isn’t. Also, the whole “You don’t like me? I don’t like you” concept 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 seemingly can’t be helped. But those who are different, they must somehow have to be “punished” because that is supposedly the society of high school. And those who befriend the different (and are different themselves), are viewed as lower than the low in the eyes of judgmental teenagers.

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

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

What do you think about popularity and being popular?

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 had been 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: Tanner’s Island

Danny takes the Tanners and his co-host, Rebecca Donaldson, to Hawaii in honor of their second 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 she finds near her feet 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.

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 judgmental 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?

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.

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 (in “Under the Influence” from Season 8). Kimmy held a job for a few hours at the brand-new movie theater as an usherette and box office attendant (in “Sisters in Crime” from Season 5), but then presumably got fired. Later, she got a new job as a waitress at the Smash Club in Season 7.

Kimmy’s schoolwork is 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 in the first couple of 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 D.J.’s 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 stopped 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.”

Also, Joey and Jesse are sometimes quite 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. :)

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.

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.

My Thoughts on the BtVS Fic Wanna See A Trick

Here are my thoughts on the BtVS fanfic “Wanna See A Trick?” that I found on FanFiction.Net: 

Neat! :) Very awesome, as well as very well-written, too. I like this so far - especially this part:

She left town the next day, determined to make it in the big city. Become an actress, or singer, or some other famous being. She had watched E True Hollywood Story; most had similar backstories to hers. Why couldn’t she be a big shot? Simple, she didn’t have money for anything. She walked one day into an agency, announcing herself as the next big thing to the secretary who asked for her headshot and then promptly and primly asked her to leave. She had nowhere to go, home wasn’t an option, and LA seemed to offer no alternative. She started small, rubbing or sucking those who paid to orgasm. After a while, a frequent customer wanted more. She sold her virginity for two hundred and seventy-five dollars and with the cash bought herself her first silk shirt, which was later ripped in half by a drunk client. So here she was, barely eighteen, and stuck in the ritual of sucking, touching, fisting, rubbing, and f***ing for as much money as she could get.

Plus, I like these kinds of stories too — the AU kind where everyone is human, Buffy is either a businesswoman, a prostitute, a gold digger, or an exotic dancer (since those are realistic and are in real life), Angel is someone with a job, and Slayers and the Hellmouth don’t exist. In my mind, that’s pretty neat, as well as very cool, too. :)