Ron

Here is the nasty thing.

Absolutely Fantastic. What a showman!

Hey, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Do you mean this guy?

It's nice that your focusing on Dean (totally as a suggestion, of course) for a few chapters. Gives us a chance to get to know him as more than the talented jock brother who wants to get drunk. Right? Dispelling the typical work hard - drink hard - play hard jock boy image to give some depth won't hurt his rep.

I dislike it on the iPad 2. The swipe pop up feature interferes when reading on it. I swipe from the bottom of the screen to scroll dialogue when the pad is in a holder when I read. The swipe up feature keeps popping up and I have to stop and knock it back down to continue. This is something I find quite annoying. All the features in the pop up can be accessed already elsewhere with little effort. I don't see the need for it on this device. As for the phone, it's a 4 so not everything in the update applies. I use it for texting and talking to people (imagine that), take a few pictures, maps and look something up (rarely) so not a big deal.

Matthew Lewis sure grew up nice and attractive.

That looks so much better than toad in the hole!

$19.2 million in funding for over 2,000 people - this figure is misleading, it could be 2,001 or 100,000 people or more. If the number is 2,000-2,999 then $19.2 mill would be the shocking number for even that low number of people. HIV meds can run upwards of 25K a year per person without insurance. So it seems a drop in the bucket to ask for.

I'm afraid that Toad in the Hole doesn't look all that appealing regardless of how it tastes.

I think that it is safe to say that you are not a professional science fiction writer. Still, this is an enjoyable story and the basic idea is interesting. It seems the alien has been dropped off, indeed sacrificed perhaps by his culture as a means to test the puny earthlings. If we advance sufficiently they come back, if not it's just one individual of who knows how many others. Or, it could be a race in decline hoping for future partners in the cosmos with the capacity for understanding the knowledge they've acquired before it is lost to the ages; this idea of hope entombed with the alien ties in to the Pandora myths well. Thanks, Bill.

This is my last nod to this topic. As you all probably know already, Benedict is the voice and movement of Smaug in the new 'The Hobbit' move this December. I ran into this (below) when running around the web looking for anything related to that. This is Cumberbatch reading 'Ode To a Nightingale'. I had no idea that his voice was so mellifluous. This is perhaps best listened to with a pair of good quality headphones. It resonates in your head. HEAR it is: http://benedict-cumberbatch-voice.tumblr.com/post/53480681873/omg Just so masculine and beautiful.

This is a fine story, Comicfan. It was a nice take on the box and with the gods. The real story for me were those that came into the Lunch Box, particularly Charlie. I began your story during lunch and I had a difficult time swallowing past the emotional upswell when I got to him. You gave just enough info about Charlie's difficulties that it was so easy to make a connection and with Pandora's observations... Well, I really got caught up in it. Everything flowed so well throughout. Thanks for putting this in the anthology.

Naughty Boy, stay on topic!

Also short and sweet, Thank You!

That was meant to be humorous, Kitt. A poor attempt and one that was okay in my head but not so much when blurted out apparently. This is not unusual.

A fitting end to the abusive bastard and yet his victim remains a victim after he is gone in a wholly different form. And what do you go and do but bring his likeness back into the victims life. Oh you would be a mean soul if that was all there was to it. I think that it was well done bringing Aaron into Brandon's life resembling Jared like he does. It ties Brandon's past to the present and a hope of the future very nicely. It was as if he were moving in reverse; from death through purgatory and into life. Well done, this was! Thank you for your words, Totallyy.

Do we really want to give anyone that much power?

"You like me. Right now, you like me!" - what Sally Field actually said. Which is better than the miss-quotes.

Member Rank – Number of Posts Validate – seems unnecessary Newbie Member – 0 posts (after all both are true) Active Member – 25 posts Cool Member – 50 posts ? – 75 posts Energetic Member – 100 posts Explosive Member – 250 posts Manic Member – 450 posts Gold and Diamond Member - sound like frequent flier mile levels Prolific – Urban Dictionary definition #1: Massively mediocre; utterly unexceptional; absolutely average (This is what I think when I see prolific as well) Member Reputation and Level All sound good till 100 – (shouldn't this reflect passing peer review) Getting There! – 200 (didn't we just achieve this at 100, needs new name, no ideas) 500 and 1000 – (good titles) Cheat So Good – 1750 (for that you get ‘cheat’ in your title? something wrong here, no ideas for title) I’m Definitely Not Kitty – 10000 (understand reasoning after a search but perhaps not relevant to newer members or those we’d like to attract through social media efforts, even though appropriate to someone’s avatar, needs new title, no ideas) I’m with KC in thinking that there should be something or some things between 1750 and 10000. These are my thoughts and I do realize that I have knocked some things and have given no new ideas in their place but that’s because I couldn't think of any. More creative minds might come up with something more clever or relevant than I can.

"Impressive. Most Impressive." Congratulations, that's one heck of a number.

A little Batman / Green Hornet action.

'The Shadow' starring Alec Balwin was the worst.

Perhaps it is her own reflection looking back at us in the mirror. Cool photo.

You probably need to be Nightwing. You are too young to be Batman. But maybe in another 20 years.