I promised to write more about my October trip to Austin, Texas. I’m finally getting around to the details in anticipation of the premiere of Pearl Jam’s appearance on Austin City Limits this weekend (Saturday, November 21 on WXXI, but check your local PBS listings).
I had the good fortune to attend the simulcast in the Hogg Auditorium while Pearl Jam recorded their session for Austin City Limits in the KLRU studio.
You can watch a time lapse of what will be aired on Austin City Limits synched up with Pearl Jam’s performance of The Fixer:
I saw the unedited 2 hour concert, so if you’re interested, read further, if not, please remember to set your TiVo or DVR to record this show! Read more »
Yes, it’s the Supernatural episode about famous people (dead and alive) featuring She Who Shall Not Be Named in a brilliant stunt casting move by Eric Kripke. Supernatural episode 5.05 “Fallen Idol” airs on Thursday, October 8 at 9pm EST/PST on the CW.
Spoilers: Check out a preview clip for this week’s episode. Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) may still be on the hook to stop the Apocalypse, but even demon hunters with issues like to check under the hood of a cool car now and again… especially if the car may be a supernatural killer.
While Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) are still taking separate vacations, Dean gets a glimpse of the world in five years. The good news - the world still exists. The bad news - The End actually is near!
Supernatural episode 5.04 “The End” airs on Thursday, October 1 at 9pm EST/PST on the CW.
Spoilers: Check out these preview clips for this week’s episode. Clip 1: Dean meets the future:
Supernatural’s Apocalypse is bubbling but everyone’s off on their own paths. Castiel (Misha Collins) went to draft God onto special teams. Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki) took a time out. Will Sam face his issues or freely indulge his darkside? Can our antihero with great hair turn his curse into something good? Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) is soldiering on alone, but even a reluctant leader needs more than his steel horse and a PSA from Marlo Thomas.
A spoilery clip from Supernatural episode 5.03 “Free to Be You and Me” follows the break, plus a link to Eric Kripke discussing a few upcoming episodes. Read more »
Winchester Family Business - the Supernatural guide to demon hunting (and fishing)
Contains spoilers through Supernatural Episode 5.02 “Good God, Y’All.”
This episode opens with the sobering sight of Bobby in a wheelchair, the obvious first casualty in the apocalyptic war. Everyone else in his hospital room is carrying scars too. Castiel was reborn, but he’s lost some of his mojo and cannot heal Bobby. He can’t even find the Winchesters without using a cell phone. When Dean laughs at his plan to draft God onto the team, Castiel airs his grievences – he had to kill two of his angel brothers, he’s cut off from Heaven. He lost everything for nothing since Dean failed to stop Sam and they didn’t save the world. Castiel figures God resurrected him and put the guys on the Soul Plane, so God can actually make a dent with Lucifer. Castiel borrows Dean’s amulet to use as a God EMF and disappears to locate God.
Dean’s still carrying his distrust of Sam when they start the job to help other hunters save a town overrun by demons. After killing two people he thinks are demons, Sam’s thirst for demonblood and power gets reawakened. Sam admits to Dean that he’s dangerous. Dean agrees that worrying about Sam is effecting how he can do his job right. They part ways, presumably to lick their wounds. Read more »
“It’s not the voting that’s democracy; it’s the counting.“- Tom Stoppard
I did my part for the country today by voting. Did you? Our newspaper and TV stations provided the ballots online so anyone could look over the ballot. Seeing it online in advance was a big help. In my village, Fairport, NY, we have the machines where you pull the lever, the curtain closes, tick the choices and push the lever back to register the votes and open the curtain. It’s not flashy, but it’s quick and easy. Hearing the clicks is pretty satisfying. It took a total of 15 minutes to vote. And a surprise bonus - Starbucks gave me free coffee just for voting. Regardless of the outcome of the election, it was a pretty good day for democracy in action here in my town.
Supernatural - Episode 4.08 “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester”
November 2 is All Soul’s Day. In the Catholic religion, it’s a holy day of obligation. The faithful pray for departed friends and family so the souls in purgatory will pass on to heaven. November 2 is also the day that Sam Winchester lost two people he loved. When he was six months old, Azazel came into his nursery to collect on the deal Mary Winchester made with him 10 years before in exchange for John Winchester’s life. Azazel paid his visit, feeding baby Sam demon blood. Mary interrupted Azazel’s work though, so he burned her up on the ceiling for interfering. Twenty-two years later, Sam returns from a demon hunting trip with his brother Dean to find his girlfriend Jessica on the ceiling and then engulfed in flames the same way Mary died.
Sam has yet another awful Halloween as he and his brother Dean have to save a town from the demon behind Halloween or the angels will wipe the town off the map. And the Great Pumpkin is a no-show. Again.
(Contains references through Supernatural episode 4.07 “Yellow Fever”)
Witches have a hard go of it everywhere. Remember those witches in Oz who were so mad to wear the enchanted ruby slippers? Wear those shoes too long, and a house falls on you, or a bucket of water melts your sister. Then some whiny Dorothy steals the family shoes!
The Ruby shoes, er meatsuits, on Supernatural have a similarly tough gig. What’s a misfit demongirl to do when she just won’t forget her humanity? Does she take the rebel road and play the Good Witch when her wicked sisters won’t invite her in to hell’s heavy clambakes? How’s a Good Witch fit in with the evil doer in-crowd? Maybe Ruby’s not a bad evil thing; maybe she’s just drawn and shoed that way.
You Son of a Bitch
What a feast of sweets in this scrumptious episode! After such large slices of delicious pie and brownies, one can only suspect that Eric Kripke is cheating. Actually, Jeremy Carver, the Writer of this episode is the cheat. Nearly everything he prepared tasted so good, went down so easy, with such generous portions, that it’s hard to be too upset about the cheating. Almost. Read more »
I promised to write more about my October trip to Austin, Texas. I’m finally getting around to the details in anticipation of the premiere of Pearl Jam’s appearance on Austin City Limits this weekend (Saturday, November 21 on WXXI, but check your local PBS listings).
This episode opens with the sobering sight of Bobby in a wheelchair, the obvious first casualty in the apocalyptic war. Everyone else in his hospital room is carrying scars too. Castiel was reborn, but he’s lost some of his mojo and cannot heal Bobby. He can’t even find the Winchesters without using a cell phone. When Dean laughs at his plan to draft God onto the team, Castiel airs his grievences – he had to kill two of his angel brothers, he’s cut off from Heaven. He lost everything for nothing since Dean failed to stop Sam and they didn’t save the world. Castiel figures God resurrected him and put the guys on the Soul Plane, so God can actually make a dent with Lucifer. Castiel borrows Dean’s amulet to use as a God EMF and disappears to locate God. 
