What I Thought of "Almost Human"

    
          This may be a short blog, but only because I don't find anything wrong with this show. The only thing wrong is probably that it's on FOX and we all know that FOX has a reputation of canceling shows at the snap of its fingers. So I hope this helps the show in its ratings. 

          First I'll tell you a little about the show. Karl Urban plays morose Detective John Kennex who wakes from a 2 year coma after his team was ambushed by a criminal organization called Ensyndicate. He's not a fan of robots (or Synthetics) even though he's got a synthetic leg. Yet if Kennex wants to rejoin the police force he's gonna need a Synthetic. Then comes the DRN or Dorian played by Michael Ealy. The DRNs were built using a program called "Synthetic Soul" which makes them act as human as possible. Yet because of that, DRNs would sometimes go crazy, emotionally. Surprisingly, Dorian and Kennex find that they are pretty much alike as they need each other if they don't want to end up in the scrap heap, so to speak. And so after a rough start they begin to act like a real team in fighting crime. The show is a science fiction, procedural show and I feel that makes it unique. 

          I feel like Michael Ealy and Karl Urban are very under appreciated actors. They have great talent and are perfect for Sci-fi settings. When ever I write a Sci-fi short story I always think back to characters played by Karl Urban. I also wanna say that USA should never have cancelled Common Law. I thought it was original idea, the actors had a great chemistry and should have gotten at least one more season. Personally I thought the "Friday" song by that forgettable no-hit wonder did it in but that's just me. That being said, we all remember Karl Urban from a couple of movies, some of you may not even remember him but he did play the CIA agent Cooper in RED and Bones in the new Star Trek films. Michael Ealy played a World War II soldier in Miracle at St. Anna's and played a character in the movie Takers. I also want to point out that Rudy Lom from The Pirates of the Caribbean and Game of Thrones plays the ME. Together I believe these actors have a great chemistry. Their characters have a great rapport and they seem to balance each other out. Where John is rough and impatient at times, Dorian is softer and has more restraint. Yet also when Dorian is struggling with sorting out emotions, John is understanding and tries to explain the reason behind a particular emotion. 

         The over all story is interesting and seems unique in its way to grab you. The many different technologies are amazing. I love the rapport of John and Dorian. That line: "Don't scan my testicles. Ever again." was hilarious! 

          I do believe I have found something to fill my boring Mondays at 8 pm while I wait for Sleepy Hollow or Beauty and the Beast at 9 pm. I hope FOX gives Almost Human a chance. 

Why I Hate Twilight

    
           I don't want to rip on Stephanie Meyer and make her feel bad about her work. She's lucky that so many people love her books and while I thought the books were well-written (I only read the first one, that's all the patience I had for it) seeing them played out on the big screen was more than I could bear. What don't I like about the series? I'll tell you.

          First off: The over all heroine of the story, Bella, comes off as a whiney teenager. Yes, whiney teenagers are the bread and butter of young adult novels but eventually they stop being whiney teenagers. I just didn't feel emotionally invested in her as you should be when reading about a heroine. It may have been Kirsten Stewarts horrible acting skills but I like to think it's mostly because Bella is that annoying girl in high school with so much angst that I'm surprised there weren't scenes where she would cut herself with a razor every night; and also she should see some psychiatrist to give her some anti-depressants because that girl is suicidal and needs some happy pills. Bella spent most of book 2 trying to kill herself all to see her pasty ex-boyfriend while there was this totally hot (literally) muscular guy who's totally into her but she's into a guy who's as cold as ice and looks constipated. Also… Bella seems to me a shitty friend. Pardon my language but that's what I took away from Bella's interactions with her friends. Honestly I would have called her on her bull crap and dumped her ass or at least tell her to see a doctor or read the news. Children are dying of hunger in Africa and you feel like your world is ending if you can't spend eternity with your boyfriend. WEAK! 

         Second: The vampires… do I really need to say it? I'm all for creativity but some traditions should never be broken. If Edward is sparkling then he's a fairy not a vampire. Making vampires emo kids is not at all appealing in a vampire story. In European lore, vampires can walk in sunlight but in North American lore they burn in the sun. Either of those traits are fine as it gives vampires a weakness and allows for subtle yet higher stakes in the story. These Twilight vampires don't feel like real vampires to me. They seem too powerful. I mean… why don't they just take over the world? It's not like they have that many weaknesses. It's a lack of detail to your monster characters that makes the story less interesting.

          Third: The romance between Edward and Bella was… unrealistic. Real teenagers want to have sex. Their hormones are going crazy and they seek ways to satisfy them, which is in fact a healthy expression of love. Edward might as well have a purity ring on his finger. If my kids were watching this I'd make sure to tell them that this is NOT a healthy relationship. I prefer they watch The Vampire Diaries at least to see how real people act in relationships: romantic or otherwise. Edward and Bella's longing looks just seem creepy and I wanna gag every time I see a commercial featuring them. For god sakes kiss already to relieve the tension so I can get on with my day. Bella should have tried dating Jake for a while so she can find out what she really wants. Oh and Bella's parents? No wonder their daughter is so screwed up. Mom is too busy with her new boyfriend but the father should be a little more involved in his daughter's life. He doesn't stop her from getting married at 18? What the hell? I would said, "Can you wait until after college when you've seen what the world has to offer? Then decided if you want to get married or not?" At least that's what a parent who loves their daughter would do...

         Fourth: The baby? Really? The Originals are having a Wolf-Vampire Hybrid Baby and I find THAT makes more sense than a half-human half-vampire baby. Renesme? Reneesme? I don't even know. Stephanie Meyer said she wanted a unique name… Look up names from the Middle East or something. They have a lot of unique, pretty girl names. The imprinting thing Jake did with the baby was kinda creepy too. President Grover Cleveland did the same thing I believe when he met his future wife at a baby shower: she was the baby. He became her guardian after her father died then when she was legal they got married. Gross. Underworld vampires could reproduce but it's because they were seen more as a form of human evolution. I accept that more than I'm willing to accept the vampire baby killing you while it's in your womb. 

           Fifth: The over all movies were done badly. Very badly. I have friends in the movie industry and they say from a director's point of view it was awful. So many inconsistencies and scenes that were cut together but had no continuity were just sloppy. If Spielberg was directing the film he would never have allowed such carelessness. I'm not saying Spielberg is the best director of all time but he's a professional. The editing was a hack job and by extension a joke. It's like they were in a hurry and didn't care about the project. The whole picture had a conflicting setting. All that gloom and grey clouds gave me an Emo feeling. Then there were all the white people. I mean really white people. It wasn't just the Cullens but every white person in Forks was in need of a tan. The only color were the Native Americans who seemed more life-like in comparison to all the residents of Forks. I just felt depressed watching the whole movie. Usually with dark films you get a sense of horror. Yeah I got that and by that I mean a horror that I just wasted my time and money watching this film. 

            Well that's how I feel. Twilight kinda ruined the vampire genre for me until The Vampire Diaries came along and that renewed my faith in humanity a little bit. Again this is no disrespect to Stephanie Meyer. I wish they took a different approach to the movie or at least kept it a book.

           

The Vampire Diaries: Who Will Be The New Big Bad?

        Since Silas, Amara, and Qetsiyah did a whole homicide suicide thing, there has been a question as to who would be the next big bad on The Vampire Diaries. In an interview, Kat Graham hinted that the next antagonist is some one we have seen before. Theories have flown back and forth from Bonnie to even Elena's dad! While Grayson Gilbert would be an awesome twist, we may find out the answer to our burning questions sooner rather than later. 

          Always once one problem ends and our heroes are lured into a false sense of security, another problem hurtles itself into the aftermath. Now that Silas is gone and Bonnie is back with the living, our gang feels they can get their lives back on the weird track. However… as with all damn spells and major death, there's a HUGE consequence. Bonnie will discover that being the anchor is a real pain. Every supernatural being that dies has to pass through Bonnie, which causes her an immense amount of pain. No wonder Amara went insane! And then there's Stefan. He killed Silas, but his painful memories are flashing back tormenting him. Yet Stefan's PTSD aside, he's not a candidate for the new villain.

        Bonnie, I feel could be a candidate mostly because… well the best villains are whiney teenagers. Bonnie has always gone back and forth on the rules of being a witch. She's that lawyer always searching for that one loophole that will unravel the whole contract. She may now cause chaos in order to stop her pain from being the anchor to the Other Side. Not sure exactly what she'll do but we'll have to wait and see.

        Now for the strongest candidates: Dr. Wes Maxfield has proven that when it comes to scientific discovery, he's not afraid to become a cold and calculating guy. He not only killed Jesse to turn him but then he started doing experiments on him and he wasn't at all phased by Jesse's pleas. Maxfield even spoke into his recorder with indifference like Jesse wasn't even there! That's cold! However, that doesn't make him a villain. He's just a terrible person. So despite his arrogant dick-ishness, Maxfield doesn't really scream villain. Which brings us now to Aaron.

        The best thing about Aaron is that he's the last person you'd expect to be a sociopath that tortures everybody. He seems just like any other normal yet morose young adult that has demons. However, there's just something about him that makes me wonder… What is he hiding? Could he be the Augustine Vampire? But wait Elena compelled him. Maybe Aaron was playing along. Possible. Aaron also has an interest in Elena. She's a pretty girl and every guy either wants to kill her or have sex with her. There's also another theory floating around that Aaron is Grayson's illegitimate son, which makes him Jeremy's half-brother and Elena's cousin. So that could be another reason Aaron is interested. 

         So now the final candidate may be Elena's father. I know it sounds like a stretch but come on… if there's a will there's a supernatural way to bring someone back from the dead. Also Maxfield said that the Augustine Vampire had abnormal blood. It's vampire blood, how much more abnormal can it get? I heard that a future episode is titled "Fifty Shades of Grayson", which gives me a clue as to if he is alive or not. If he is I doubt he'd be happy to find that not only has Elena been sleeping with vampires but she's become one herself! But he probably won't kill her; like Liz and Bill, Grayson may accept who Elena is, but that doesn't mean that he'll approve of her undead yet sexy boyfriend. If the new villain turns out to be Grayson then he'll still work out a way to cause chaos and mayhem for our Salvatore boys.

            Well those are the candidates. Like I said, we may find out who the new big bad is sooner rather than later. I leave it up to you to draw your own conclusions. 

People's Choice Awards: Why I Was SO TORN!

     

        I just want to say that there have been a lot of good shows this year. It's also been a good year for veteran shows like Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries. NBC has given us a few gems as well as ABC, which is why I was so conflicted about my voting choices. 

        

              First category I voted for was Best TV Actor. I saw Jonathan Rhys Meyers & Joseph Morgan RIGHT NEXT TO each other and thought: WHY, LORD?! Two of my favorite actors had to be side by side to make my decision even harder! Yet I had to weigh them against each other. I've known about JRM much longer than JM. I first fell under JRM's spell when he played Henry VIII on Showtime's The Tudors. I was just enthralled by how he portrayed his character; his ego, his paranoia, his romantic side, and of course his all-around rock star ability to bed every girl he set his eyes on. JRM and a love scene is like watching art: he's got that sexual animal magnetism that I've become very attracted to. JRM plays these characters that are monsters but he makes you love them despite their evil ways. It's that duality of human character that not many actors can grasp. JRM playing Dracula, for me, was a sort of revival of not just the character but also the reason why I started watching him in the first place. Dracula is a monster but there's that small part that is a man who can love and feel sorrow. JRM can cry; a cry that makes you feel bad for him for a minute and forget that he may turn around and kill someone later. 

         Then there's Joseph Morgan. First time I saw him was on The Vampire Diaries. He played Klaus, a 1,000 year old Hybrid Original, and I admit, I had chills; good chills. Like most people I didn't really know the sexy British Actor, but once I started watching him I fell in love. JM's character was supposed to be killed off in Season 3 but thankfully the writers and producers changed their minds and kept Klaus around. During Season 3 we began to see that there was more to Klaus. JM gave his evil character so many layers: his father beat him, his mother rejected him, he's terrified of being alone then there's his charm, his romantic gestures, and his artistic talent. These conflicting qualities, Joseph Morgan played so well that we fell in love with Klaus despite his villain status. Klaus became that bad boy with so many emotional issues from Mommy & Daddy problems to his over all self loathing. When JM cried after Mikael said that no one cared about Klaus, my heart really broke. I hated Mikael! I was actually more on Klaus's side than I was on the Salvatore Brothers' side. Over all, JRM & JM prove that you can be aesthetically pleasing yet have this amazing amount of talent to go with it. So I was sad whatever my decision. I chose Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the end because I've known him longer and he just screams his character.

 

           Then there was Best Sci-Fi TV Show. It was another struggle between Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries. Although I have never missed an episode of either (except in High School where I had to work late into 10 pm and before when I didn't want to watch TVD), I still had to choose Supernatural. Supernatural has been with me since 2005. It came on a little while before The Vampire Diaries in 2009. I actually didn't see the first few episodes of TVD because of the horrible Twilight-fad. Sparkling vampires? COME ON! So I wasn't really in the mood for another vampire/human romance. Yet I began watching TVD around episode 4 of Season 1. After that…I was in love. These vampires revived the mythology and weren't like the Twilight fairies that I came to loathe. Also there was a spin on TVD, where the vampires were more human. Also there was sex and knowledge of sex where as the Twilight-fad was a little less realistic in terms of teenage hormones. Damon was probably my favorite anti-hero with all of his quips and sarcasm. Yet Damon was a lovesick fool and that was endearing. I've tweeted, I've Facebooked, and I've joined a TVD fan site. I was very active in the show's popularity, but this is about why I chose SPN. 

          No one really expected Supernatural to go on for as long as it did. Yet the Winchester Brothers, their Guardian Angel in a trench coat, and Cranky Drunk Father-Figure won my heart. These two sexy guys with guns hunting down monsters helped me get over my fear of horror a little bit. I actually dabble in writing horror stories. They even got me interested in the field of filming. I guess I can attribute my love of my camera and visual storytelling to Supernatural. Also this show kind of broke the mold. It was more about two brothers who would die for each other and that family doesn't just mean blood. I was going to be sad whatever I chose. 

           I was torn between a lot of new TV Dramas for Best New TV Drama. Yet in the end, The Originals won almost unreservedly. I didn't just choose the TVD spin-off because I felt bad that I didn't vote for Joseph Morgan for Best Actor but because I felt this show is coming around to stand on its own two feet. It's becoming more independent of TVD; some people actually like it MORE than TVD. People new to the whole show also find it amazing. The cast has excellent chemistry, the storyline is damn near perfect, and the characters have more amoral tendencies. It's proving to be darker than The Vampire Diaries in many respects. 

          I admit that Klaus being a dad threw me but after 5 minutes I realized that it was meant to be and I liked Hayley before but I love her even more now. Hayley was actually not very well liked on TVD but since her time on TO, people have begun to warm up to her. The problem before was that Hayley was a minor character and so didn't get as much attention as the major characters. 

          On TO we can explore more about Hayley and her character and see that there's more to her than meets the eye. I feel also that Rebekah is getting more of the spot light. Before we all just focused on Elijah and Klaus (well how could we not? I mean look at them!) but now I feel Rebekah can branch out and like Hayley we can see more of what makes her tick. 

           So in the end, I was only half-happy with my choices. Personally I think the People's Choice Awards exists because the Emmys think they're too good for great shows like these. Nina Dobrev should win a god damn Emmy for her amazing work playing multiple people on TVD and doing it so convincingly that you would think she had a twin or another actress was playing the parts. Yet People's Choice Awards is about as far as we can get these days. Oh Well. These actors and shows have won in our eyes and hearts at least and I'm sure the actors and producers of these shows appreciate that more because it's People's Choice, not some Academy that has unbelievably high standards.         

The Vampire Dairies: Should Steroline Happen?

       

        In interviews, Paul Wesley (playing Stefan) and Candice Accola (playing Caroline) have been asked: Will Stefan & Caroline get together? Paul answered that it's possible, definitely; he has done Stefan/Caroline scenes and was unsure how to approach it: as a romance or as a friendship. Yet Candice declared that 'no', Caroline wants Stefan and Elena to be together, she believes they're epic. I think that perfectly mirrors their characters' feelings.

        Since Stefan's amnesia, he's been lost and hopeless. Caroline has been his anchor when Stefan found out his ex and his brother were getting down and dirty between the sheets while he was drowning for three months in a safe and then when he went all "Rippah" at a party. Caroline has this stubborn ability to reach into the darkness of people and force them into the light. She has an optimism that is contagious and that can make you laugh, forgetting your problems. She also prefers everyone to have a good time despite times that are at their darkest. Caroline has been Stefan's support system since his break up with Elena. Yet annoyingly being Caroline, she still hinted that Elena should be with Stefan and NOT Damon, but Elena felt she was growing up and that there was more out there for her to see; more people to meet.

     During the "Monster Ball" episode, I saw how Stefan was staring at Caroline and how he just walked right up to her to ask her to dance. I saw some subtle sparks there, actually I was seeing sparks ever since the "For Whom The Bell Tolls" episode when the two of them were in that crypt. Stefan was in a dark place and it used to be that Elena was there to pull him out, but she was absent and Caroline took her place. Caroline once relied on Stefan to help her during her early days as a vampire when she was still trying to find her balance. It was a true friendship that I feel didn't get much attention even when Klaus compelled Stefan to switch off his humanity.

       Caroline is still a "baby vamp" who hasn't had a chance to really grow up. She's still that teenage beauty queen who believes that there's some black and white left in places of a fairytale story. She's also a planner; she likes to plan parties and make sure they go off without a hitch, but you can't really do that with life. Stefan is older and realizes that people change and that others are just not meant to be together. If Stefan does go for Caroline she may not be on board, but I would like to believe that he can convince her to give them a try. I remember in Season 4 when Lexi came back and said, "That blond's cute." Stefan shrugged that off but I think he's since changed his views. Caroline is always saying what a great guy Stefan is, but I have to wonder if she never considered dating him herself.

         So I think Paul and Candice's views of their characters' feelings are a perfect mirror for what may come later on. I refuse to believe that the "doppelgänger-theory" means that Stefan and Elena are destined to be together. Maybe one day they will like in a century but in the mean time, I think Caroline can grow more as a person with Stefan and in turn be a step closer to Klaus. We all have that thought of "What if we got together?" when we have a friend of the opposite gender. That's just instinct for us and sometimes they come to fruition but other times they don't: either because we don't have those romantic feelings for each other or it's the intense fear that a romance would damage the friendship and so we'd lose that special person in our lives. Caroline and Stefan will have to confront those feelings sooner or later like most people. But what will they choose? Time will tell.

Sex: Why Does It Feel So Dirty?

        
       When Adam & Eve ate the Forbidden Fruit, they realized their nakedness and covered themselves with fig leaves to hide their shame. At least that's what I learned in Catholic School. For a long time I didn't really understand why before Adam & Eve were happy going Dutch then suddenly felt ashamed that they were nude and in need of clothes. I've come to realize that we all have that same thought of shame when it comes to sex. We are the only species that has morals when it comes to making love to a significant other. Let's explore why.

        First off we'll try to interpret the meaning of the story of Adam, Eve, and the Serpent. There have been many stories, poems, paintings done to describe the Original Sin. Some have taken the story literally while others see it as figuratively. But what "sin" are they referring to? At first you assume it was the sin of disobedience. God sure was pissed that Adam & Eve ignore his rule about the Tree of Knowledge. But if God didn't want Man to eat the Fruit of Knowledge then why put it there? It could have been a test. God was more like a parent, He was angry that Adam & Eve hid from Him instead of coming forward with the truth. Feeling shame is one of the reasons we lie, bringing us back to the bad feeling of being naked in the open for all to see. 

        So let's throw out the disobedience theory and skip ahead a few thousand years to Mary, the Virgin Mother of Jesus Christ. Why did God choose some random teenager (and yes she was most likely 14 or 15 while her husband was 30-something; that's how it was back then)? The Bible and Theologians say that Mary was born without sin. What does that really mean? The theory is that we, being the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve all are born with their Original Sin, so from the womb before we even know anything we're already sinners. That doesn't make sense, babies are just that, babies: they can't walk or talk, they cry and laugh for whatever reason that makes them happy or sad so how could they be sinners from the get-go? Mary is referred to as the Virgin Mary because well... she didn't have sex and yet she became pregnant. Heterosexual sex results in progeny, which continues on our bloodlines and that shall be discussed later. For now we'll focus on Mary. None of us are born with sin. Sin is a concept of feeling shame (there's that word again) of doing something we feel is wrong. A baby doesn't know the difference between right and wrong or what right and wrong mean for that matter. I think the "born without sin" fact about Mary is that she never succumbed to sexual temptation. Mary was by definition "pure" and "untouched" by any man. Being that Jesus Christ was born of a Virgin we then automatically assume that Christ himself was pure and that adds to his aura of being holy. There have been theories that Jesus actually took a wife and that there's a bloodline of Christ out there. I have no idea if this is true but it might be as there were other gospels found that were cut out of the Bible where Jesus was very intimate with Mary Magdalene. So it could be a possibility. Sex is a form of initiation you might say into a whole new world so one is "born again".

        Anyway, back to the beginning of creation. Let's see... yes the Tree of Knowledge. There's a question of what the Bible means by "Knowledge". Knowledge of what? Good and Evil? What defines Good and Evil? The identity of the Serpent has been left up to debate for centuries. Some claim that the Serpent was Lucifer, the jealous angel who refused to bow down to Man as God told him. Maybe, but God punished the Serpent to spend his life and generations after to drag its belly on the earth and eat the dust. So at first the Serpent had legs. This could have just been one of God's creatures over stepping it's boundaries. Yet we should look at the symbolism behind the Serpent or Snake. In the old days of paganism, the snake represented wisdom, knowing the secrets of the universe. They also represented the power of healing (as shown on ambulances where there's a staff with two snakes entwined). So the Tree of Knowledge was perhaps the idea of free thought as having wisdom one must question their existence and their surroundings. Another reason the Serpent was possibly demonized was later on when the New Testament was being written (or Torah as the story of Creation was first told by the Jewish Faith), there were probably still people who worshipped snake deities and the monotheistic religion was trying to stamp it out. 

         Let's now look into the pagans and how they viewed sex. Pagans saw sex as more as a sacred act. There was nothing more holy than to copulate as their gods did because the lust of their gods gave birth to all of creation. Atem, from Egyptian Mythology, masturbated and from his orgasm came what scientists call "The Big Bang". So even to them masturbation was just as okay. The pagans likened the feeling of climaxing to the Big Bang. Sex was important because it produced children so one's genetics may continue into the next generation. Sex was also for pleasure. If the gods could enjoy the act of lust why not Man? Even the job of prostitution was an acceptable idea. The Romans saw it as another tax revenue. They would have prostitutes register with the State and have them subjected to physicals to make sure she is healthy and won't spread disease. 

       The word harlot doesn't have the meaning that we think it does. It actually means "holy". The priestesses of Babylon were called harlots and yes at times they did sell their bodies for sex but the money went into maintaining the temple. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, there is a wild man named Enkidu whom Gilgamesh seeks to tame. He invites the wild man to his home and gives him beer and a prostitute. After a week, the wild man became less wild, more civilized. So in a sense the act of sex could tame the wildest beast and is also an introduction to civilization. 

       Now I'll get more intimate with the story of Adam & Eve and the "Original Sin". The apple has long been thought to have been the Fruit that Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge but in reality it was probably not. Apples aren't native to the Mediterranean (as some have claimed the Garden of Eden was located). More likely that the Fruit was a fig (as Adam & Eve covered themselves with fig leaves). Yet the apple has been a symbol of knowledge. Funny but the root word of apple means "sin". So I guess on a subconscious level we chose the apple as the Fruit of Original Sin. Looking more into the symbolism of the Serpent, snakes have also been considered a phallic symbol. It's cousin the eel, snakes of the sea, are also phallic symbols. Such a sexual subtext here! Or sexual innuendo. So the Original Sin may have been sex? I think we have to go into other versions of the story.

         In the book of Genesis it was said God made man and woman. However, in the Christian school of thought Adam was made first and Eve was made from his rib. So who was the woman? In Jewish text, Adam had a first wife named Lilith. She was what you would call the first feminist. Lilith and Adam knew about sex. In fact, the reason for their break up was because they were arguing on who would be on top. Adam said that since he was the man he should be on top while Lilith took the submissive position. However, Lilith said, "I was made from the same clay you were so I'm just as important as you." So Lilith stormed off and like a vindictive ex she started having sex with anything that moved. She copulated with demons and beasts giving birth to all kinds of monsters. This to me seems like a subtext to the supposed "evils" of sex or the "evils" of sex with someone not your mate. The Monotheistic religions viewed the act of sex as giving birth to evil or that giving into sex was in line with giving into demons. It's the idea of having sex makes you do other evil things like murder or greed. Humans already are greedy and there have been many genocides over the years.

       In the Pagan world, women held some great power and influence when they had sex. It's scientifically proven that all women are born with an innate sense of bisexuality. That's why most girls say they had a "lesbian phase" in college but fall in love with men later on. It's the idea of subduing others with the power of lust. There were goddesses whose niche was in the world of carnal desire. There was Venus/Aphrodite, then Ishtar, and Freya. All goddesses of sexuality. Their titles will also read "goddesses of fertility", well by extent the act of sex produces offspring. Women prayed to these goddesses in hopes of not just enticing a lover but also in hopes of conceiving a child so that their husbands may have an heir. Even in Jewish stories, sex was recognized as a woman's best weapon of choice. First there was Esther, a very famous woman in Jewish culture, who saved her people through her marriage to the Persian King, Ahasuerus. Ahasuerus's advisor sought to have a genocide of the Jewish people, but through Esther's beauty and charms, she convinced her husband to spare the Jewish people. It worked! Ahasuerus ended up having his advisor executed. The Persian King had other wives surely but Esther was special in her ability to use what gave her to help her people. Another heroine of the Jewish people was Judith. The Assyrians were conquering, raping, and pillaging as they made their way through Israel. Judith, a Jewish girl, caught the eye of the Assyrian leader, Holofernes and invited her to his tent. Judith did so but she drugged Holofernes's wine then when he was out she beheaded them. Without their leader, the Assyrians gave up their campaign. Now, Judith has been discovered to be a fictitious character yet that doesn't diminish the importance of the story. A woman can use sex to subdue her enemies. That's a clear message to me. 

       So back to the Garden. Eve succumbing to eating the Fruit of Knowledge was perhaps discovering the pleasure of sex. The Serpent could be a representation of Lust, the desire for having sex not just for procreation but for the sheer joy one has during the act as well as the feeling of having an orgasm. The Fruit could be the discovery of the orgasm or just the idea that a woman can enjoy sex as much as man does; capable of climaxing as the man does who shoots his sperm into the woman in order to fertilize her eggs and so have children. Before Eve ate the Fruit I'm sure she and Adam had sex, it was just mostly him on top taking his pleasure while Eve just laid there. After the Fruit was eaten, Adam and Eve discovered that one can make love that satisfies both parties involved. Now we come again to the idea of shame that comes from Christianity. Adam & Eve realized that they were naked. To me it was probably a realization that Lust can be a beast; to be more frank, Lust is hard to control and once the First Couple realized their lust they realized that they could be tempted to enjoy it with others. 

        Strange at the time, if you believe in the Bible as a literal interpretation, there was only Adam & Eve and they only had each other to have sex with. The whole incest thing is sick if you think about it yet that's what the Bible teaches us. Adam & Eve had sons and daughters who married each other to have more children. So lust gives way to incest I suppose. We do have thousands of cases of children being molested by close relatives. Also there a cases of rape through out history. All horrible but it's mostly a problem of afterwards when the victim is afraid to come forward. It's the shame of being seen as a victim or that if we tell someone then they'll view us being broken and so unlovable. What we need to do is get rid of some of the shame we feel about sex and encourage those who have been violated to not be afraid to come forward. They must not be seen as victims but as survivors and that even though such a horrible thing has been done to them that they will be okay and not seen as damaged goods.

           So in conclusion, I blame Christianity for capitalizing on the idea of abstinence and that sex is evil, especially since the leaders of the Church are complete hypocrites. Many Popes, Cardinals, Bishops, and Priests have had mistresses even today! The Pagans realized the power of sex; it shows virility, influence, and through the children produced can carry on one's family name. The Christians may have realized this too. Women have an amazing power of seduction as much as men do and by subduing sex, the woman has also been subdued and pushed into the role of Eve: the submissive wife. Around the world, we feel a certain freedom in exploring our sexuality. There is pornography, sex shops, sex toys, PlayBoy Magazine, etc. Yet there's also that sense of shame that comes with it. We become completely mortified if someone discovers our vibrators or porn collection. We believe sex should be private and what happens between two people in the dark is of no concern to anybody else. I agree yet I think the idea of sexual freedom is to not be ashamed of your sexuality. Especially for women who are re-discovering the joy of sex as Eve did before them. I think that since we hold the idea that sex is dirty that it makes it even more pleasurable. What's more exciting than doing something that society frowns upon?

Supernatural: How It's Kept Me Watching

             I first started watching the cult classic surprise hit Supernatural in 2005. I was still in high school at the time and I was adverse to horror; mostly because horror scared the crap out of me and prevented me from sleeping for fear of nightmares. However, watching the Winchesters fight and kill the things that went bump in the night sort of made horror less... well horrific! If that wasn't enough, the comic relief was a surprise; a pleasant one. It made watching this dark, grim horror show seem less scary. So now not only do I still watch the show but I also write some horror stories myself. Yet I should get into why Supernatural has kept me watching these past years all the way to season 9. 

       First off, no one expected Supernatural to survive for as long as it did. Season 3 was on during the Writer's Strike where most TV shows were given the axe due to lack of writers. Yet Supernatural survived with it's 16 episodes. Dean went to hell but he didn't stay there. That's no way to end a story as epic as the Winchester Brothers! Sam and Dean really upped the anti on the laugh meter Season 3. "Bad Day at Black Rock" was my favorite. Sam and Dean getting into bad luck situations with Bella ruining their every turn. Dean's line: "I'm Batman" made me keel over in hysterics. It's Dean's one liners that kept the show from going real dark. Sure there were serious brother moments but those are also what kept me watching. At the core the show is about family and what you are willing to do to protect your family; blood or not. 

        As if the sexy, gun-toting Winchester's weren't enough, the producers added an angel into the mix. Misha Collins joined the Supernatural family in Season 4 as the heavenly messenger, Castiël. No one really expected Castiël to become so popular but the cute, sexy, surprisingly funny angel became candy in a trench coat for fans. Dean even gave the angel a nickname that we all call him by: Cas. It's short and sweet and you know you're a part of the Winchester inner circle when you get a nickname. Since Cas became a show favorite, the producers kept Cas on for the following seasons. Cas's natural love for humanity, compassion, and nobility made him likable but his total obliviousness to pop culture references, his innocence, and desire to help others made him lovable. Sam and Dean became like the older brothers to the clueless angel, helping him navigate the human world in all it's strangeness. Dean seems especially bonded with Cas since it's like having another younger brother to take under his wing. 

         Next to Dean, Cas is my favorite character (sorry Sam but you're #3 but you're ahead of Bobby). Season 6 was my favorite in terms of Cas's character change journey. Cas became the anti-hero where we all knew what he was doing was wrong but we know it was coming from the best intentions that sadly turned South, far South. "The Man Who Would Be King" episode should have gotten Misha Collins an Emmy but whatever! It's Prize-worthy to us fans! Cas tells us his side of the story this episode and we see how human he has become in his internal struggle to do the right thing as not only an angel but as an over all person. 

        The show's overall ability to make fun of itself is just incredible. It really has broken the mold in terms of its amazing sense of humor to point out its own flaws. Since there's such a lack of main alpha female characters on the show (every one of them gets killed off! Stop it, Writers!), there is a subtext of homosexuality in the show as well as incest. Usually with buddy shows or any show, there's an even male/female ratio for romantic ships, but with Supernatural it's almost completely male dominated. In Season 4, "The Monster at the End of this Book" was where the Winchesters came face to face with their lives in print. They find that there are books called "Supernatural" that centers on their lives. Dean also realizes what slash fans are and to our amusement he was NOT happy. The brothers find that while not incredibly popular, the series has a strong fan base, which is what the TV series has to thank for its success. Then there was "The French Mistake" that really had me in stitches with the actors in another universe where they have to play their characters playing themselves. 

         Even Cas has been included in these homoerotic jokes. "Cas get out my ass!" and "Cas... we talked about this...personal space..." were line favorites of mine. The demon Crowley, another character favorite, loves making homosexual innuendos. "Cas, so that's who's been poking my boys and not in the sexy way" is just one of the Crowley quips that have pleased the crowd. This has given up for debate about Crowley's sexual preference being gay but he certainly loves to keep us guessing either way; "Easy Love, remember our time in Mesopotamia? I'm a Lover not a Fighter..." then "There's my whore."

          And then there was Dick. What I mean is Dick Roman, the head Leviathan in Season 7. I think they just named the character that just so they can get more into the said "dick" jokes. Homosexual subtext aside, Sam and Dean and even Cas are all straight as arrows. Still the show features some homosexual characters, most recently the charismatic, hacking genius lesbian Charlie. Charlie became a member of the Winchester Clan despite her plea to stay out of the horror show world that was Winchester. Dean joked that Charlie was "the sister I never asked for." Soon Charlie really did become the sister he never asked for but cherished. Dean even gave her a brotherly kiss on the head and had Zeke bring her back to life. 

         Another aspect of the show was the family theme of the show and that you don't have to be blood to be a family. The goal of season 1 was to find the elusive Winchester Patriarch, John Winchester. Dean, being a loyal son, wants to walk in his father's footsteps while Sam, the younger more rebellious son, wanted a normal life where Halloween was only once a year. At the beginning, the brothers were not close. That all changed further down the road. By Season 9, Sam and Dean will do anything to save the other, even die, which they've had multiple times! You couldn't ask for a stronger bond in a family. John Winchester was killed and that left a gaping hole in the boys but the cranky drunk, Bobby Singer, filled that hole pretty quick. Bobby became the surrogate father for the lost boys. To me, although Bobby had misgivings about being a dad (being that his own father was a mean drunk) he took the boys under his wing, filling their lives with more normal activities like throwing a ball around instead target practice with a rifle. I feel this helped Sam and Dean become more in touch with the outside world than other Hunters, which makes them more willing to try and save more people while most Hunters would probably focus on killing the monster despite the body count. The episode where Bobby died was so emotional. His efforts to get out of his coma to tell his boys some vital information and then his last words "Idjits" with a smile, I cried when he flat-lined. I think when John died, Dean saw John in a less flattering light but excepted that John did his best in raising his two sons.

            And Bobby wasn't the only surrogate parent Sam and Dean lost. Ellen played mother to the Winchester boys. She sure acted like a mom, not afraid to slap these kids to their senses. Losing Ellen was probably like losing their mom all over again. I reiterate: Stop killing our Alpha Females! 

           Then there's the music. Supernatural proved that it was separate from the rest of the TV pack by featuring 99% of bands from the 60s to the 80s. "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas is kind of the show's unofficial theme song. It doesn't just talk about Sam and Dean as two lost boys on the road but to all of our favorite characters. Eric Kripke got me into the old bands and I have to say that Miley Cyrus and Kanye West are nothing in comparison to AC/DC. 

          Overall, the characters are a psychologist's dream with father issues and dealing with PTSD. Sam and Dean have been to hell and back; literally! They fought demons, the Devil, Heaven and all it's angels, as well as every creepy crawly that stalks the night. They always come out of it scathed but one shot of whiskey, some Foreigner on the radio then they drive off in their black Chevy Impala to hunt again. This show is all American Western and that's part of what makes the show so worth fighting for. It's an Odyssey with no particular destination but to save the next person who needs help from the stuff of nightmares. I don't know if this show will go on for just 10 seasons or even to 13, I just know that I'll be very sad to see it go. Yet I'm happy it stuck with me from high school and even after I graduated college.