Former Member

I know. The 'favorite' questions always stymie me too. "Favorite movie...?" No such thing; favorite top ten, now we're talking

Paranoia made Christian hide while the gang met Cragen – just like the First Vampire. ;-) Is VUN.uk hunting for The Other that attacked Wayne? We know at least one exists in the mines. I would have thought capturing or killing it would have been a priority… ;-)

The first time I ever heard someone use the nicknames, it was Howard Wolowitz for his then-future in-laws on The Big Bang Theory. ;-) I saw his looking at Theo before the apology as a way of getting support before doing something that was difficult, yet very important to Derek. It was like taking a big breath before you say something that you’re nervous about, that you’re worried won’t be accepted, that your sincerity might be questioned about. All of which @jaysalmn picked up. But I’m feeling more charitable about Derek’s intentions than jaysalmn. ;-) It’s going to be more and more difficult to figure out who is pranking whom. I’m sure there will be unintended prankees among the victims. How will they keep things from getting out of hand? (Was Seb’s ‘dead battery’ a prank?)

He was naked under the apron in Mamma Mia, but if you want to see more of Stellan, check out his work with Lars von Trier – like Nymphomaniac (especially the more explicit Director's Cut version – that’s the movie where Shia LaBeouf was asked to submit a picture of his penis as part of his audition process; the actual sex scenes used doubles digitally composited with the main actors).

There are a couple interpretations to the end of the chapter that I can think of. Dracula is a title like First Vampire that has been handed down and Christian is not the original. Christian is pretending to be Dracula while the real Dracula monitors the situation (like the First Vampire did). The man who claims to be Christian is not who he says he is. The Balkan Peninsula was fought over for centuries. Each of the surviving groups once controlled most of the peninsula and still claims that as their ‘natural’ territory. Clearly, their claims overlap. There are many area where villages with different majority groups are intermingled. Unless there is ethnic cleansing or forcible removal (as has occurred), there will always be significant numbers of minorities wherever the borders are drawn. Language is not the only thing that divides the various groups, Croatian and Serbian are mutually intelligible and the most significant difference is that one uses the Latin Alphabet while the other uses Cyrillic. It is significant the World War I started in the area. Much as in Iraq, a dictatorship in Yugoslavia suppressed minority dissent for decades. The Bosnian War was only the latest in a long series of conflict. I was a fan of Eric in True Blood. He needed to show a whole lot more skin in The Legend of Tarzan. (Alexander's father Stellan regularly has fully nude scenes in movies.) ;-)

Naturally Jack is very butch and not very evolved emotionally! ;-)

Hi @Puppilull! I’m not a fan of cats, but they’re not as bad as Alek… ;-)

"If you want that good feeling that comes from doing things for other folks then you have to pay for it in abuse and misunderstanding." ~ Zora Neale Hurston

…And I’m glad I did! ;-) At least they weren’t cursed like the characters in Ladyhawke! ;-) Sigh, Matthew Broderick was so cute and thin back then and he’s played Gay at least three times (as both the kid in the play version and later as the boyfriend in the movie version of Torch Song Trilogy, and much more recently on an episode of Modern Family).

I never would have read this since it was tagged Wizards even though you wrote it, @Mikiesboy, except that someone else mentioned it when we were discussing Rainbows and Unicorn Farts! ;-)

And for some reason, it looks like that posted after my previous posts were deleted. I did not do that intentionally. There was some software weirdness when I posted that last Comment.

For those who see this as a non-sequitur, Newfoundland (mentioned in the story) and Labrador were united in 1949 to form a province of Canada.

I’d say he’s a ‘Person of Interest’!

I find it amusing that it’s famous enough that I’m familiar with it even though I didn’t know it’s name. For some reason I knew who painted it though. And the TV sitcom That ‘70s Show once did an homage to the painting as the ending scene in one of their episodes… ;-) Why do I suspect David of spiking the drink?

Why is everyone named Vlad so crazy too? ;-) I think Stan is just so wedded to his job and Buddy that he never thinks about any other possibilities! He’s lucky to have found a job that he loves so much – and through that job, not only a partner in Mark, but also a family in VUN! His idea of going out in the field is leaving NYC to take Buddy closer to the action – he’d be the first volunteer to get a direct computer interface implanted in his brain! ;-)

These are awesome! 'Queen' reminds me of a young man I worked with years ago. He was a beautiful effeminate man who designed and tailored his own dresses for his drag shows. He was raising two of his nephews on his own, fighting to gain custody of them. Strong, outspoken without being ugly, and overbearing with his words. Sometimes I would watch him in the cafeteria, and I would just listen to him speak about his life and struggles. It was from this man that I adopted the line, "Honey if I don't laugh, I'll be crying." I would sit there, imagining what it would be like to have such spirit and confidence. Unfortunately I believe movies and tv shows play a hand in viewing the effeminate gay men, especially black men as caricatures. 'Mr. Snapback.' I find this one to be so brutally honest, that it hurts. Very well done.

My (Lesbian?) Aunt was a nurse and she told me that she thought the worst thing to be suffering from was end-stages ALS. You lose all control of your muscles and can’t even swallow on your own. You have to depend on someone suctioning your saliva out before you choke or drown. It causes people to panic since they can’t speak or communicate.

Will Stan be the kidnap victim this time? It must be a Vampire trait! They’re all using an ancient playbook. ;-)

He might be, but it seems totally in character for Dustin to react that way! ;-)

Does George have ALS? The numbness in the fingers, the inability to control his hands… Those sound like some of the symptoms.

This is beautiful and heartfelt.

Continue on your journey. If you happen to stumble off the path, we will be there to help put your feet back on the journey's path. Or we can join you out on the veranda for good conversation, and tea.

I wouldn’t use those exact words, but I totally agree with this! I hate it when the terms p***y or c**t are used. Neither of them is a nice word in any case. I thought you’re not supposed to let someone with a concussion go to sleep. ;-) How is such a skinny kid able to so easily push away Billy? Dustin must really have been angry! Wherever he ends up, he’s going to collapse after expending all that energy. He really needs therapy – and fast! But definitely not from Brett’s clueless mother!

The Audi Karma ad must be set in Canada or some other Arctic country. The ad starts off with two bullies in heavy winter clothing chasing another pre-teenage threatening his with snowballs. They manage to trap him and ask, ‘Any last words?’ The Audis drive down the road causing a localized Global Warming event, melting all the snow. The snowballs melt in the bullies’ hands as they prepare to pelt him. The hero kid shouts, ‘Karma!’ as he throws a tomato at the bullies. ;-)