"It's a broken world, Michonne, but together...""We can do anything."
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I haven’t written anything about anything in a long time. Not that I didn’t want to. Not that there wasn’t anything worth talking about. I just never had the time. It’s not always true that if you really want to do something, you make the time; it was flat out impossible with all my obligations.
Read more » ]]>"You may not think this place is worth saving, but it’s worth it to me.”
So, this is the end. Where do I even begin? I never wanted this show to end…but also I wanted desperately to know how it ends, who survives, who is memorialized, and what the world looks like after. I’ve wanted to know the end for 12 years now, but I patiently waited year after year as this show gave me thrill after thrill and tear after tear. I’ll take whatever it gives even if it closely resembles the comic ending, a major part of which was spoiled for me soon after it happened when I glanced at a comment below an episode recap.
Read more » ]]>“As long as it’s all of us, we can do anything.”
They start tonight. The final episodes of The Walking Dead. Twelve years, eleven seasons. How has it been so long when it seems like it just began? And though the time flew by sometimes, so much has happened, so much more than in any ordinary series. This extraordinary series gave us all the blood, sweat and tears any of us could have asked for and a deluge more. So much has happened in this one show alone to fill a multitude of others; such pain and heartache, and example after example of extraordinary acting. Saying that I will miss TWD is an understatement.
Read more » ]]>“No matter how bleak things look, this is not the end.”
Well, it is the end and it isn’t. I’m glad I’ll have more chances to write with all these spin-offs in the works for after The Walking Dead original series comes to a close, which is somehow very soon. I haven’t written anything about TWD in so long, or anything about anything really. I’ve been taking care of my chronically ill Mom, who has MS, and now Dad’s gone through a double bypass and will be healing for at least 10 weeks. My business was nearly destroyed by the pandemic and I’ve been trying to save it for the last two years. I’ve also been getting back into being creative via various art and design techniques and attempting to transition that from a fledgling hobby into a business, so I haven’t had time for much else.
I never even had the time before season 9 to put up that “Goodbye Andrew Lincoln” post that I furiously wrote all day and night long when it leaked that he was leaving the series that he had helped make so great with his raw, passionate performances. I crafted this raft of emotional prose, wailing like a banshee over my iPad’s Notes page, hoping his ending would be perfect, knowing the writers wouldn’t let us down when it came to Rick, that maybe he would survive and come back in the end to find his family. This was all way before I had any idea they were planning on doing just that, just not necessarily in the main show itself but rather movies that are now instead a new spin-off.
We survived everything for what? To keep fighting and killing each other?"
Suddenly the end of The Walking Dead is looming. When I saw the full trailer (below) three weeks ago, I got really excited for something again and I had to write about it. As usual, I didn’t get a chance to post it and now I’m way behind. Still, I didn’t want to waste all I had written. I love these trailers and how they make me feel. I’ll never forget how “Last Day on Earth” was terrifying and the ending made sick to my stomach, a feeling that persisted. A few months later, the Season 7 trailer dropped at Comic-Con and renewed the dread of anticipating who wouldn’t survive until “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be” finally aired and deepened my relationship with this series forever.
Read more » ]]>“Bigger. Why do they always have to go bigger?”
Well, Ian, that’s to up the awe and fear factor, of course. We wouldn't want it any other way.
Just sitting here in the parking lot of Mt. Sinai in Hartford, waiting for Mom’s appointment to be done. Only my Dad could go in with her, though she needs a lot of help. So, I’m trying to work on my iPad over a crappy hotspot connection from my phone, when the trailer for Jurassic World: Dominion pops up in a Twitter notification from Chris Pratt. How could I not click on it?
Read more » ]]>I think I went a little overboard lately, buying multiple posters and shirts, magnets, stickers I designed myself, a water bottle, and a mousepad. But with Loki, I can't really get enough. Since season 1 ended, I've spent hours finding items to save to my RedBubble favorites list. Yesterday morning I found myself branching that list into a separate Loki list of favorite Variant artwork that I would love to adorn every inch of my house with, inside and out.
All this after spending hours writing about the series, which I haven't turned into a blog post yet because I keep getting distracted. A couple weeks ago my excuse was getting too busy with my business. This past week I suddenly bought a new adjustable bed frame, after thinking about it for a year, but then I had to rearrange my entire room. Now I'm doing this. Anyway, the lesson here for me is I really should do some timeline Pruning in my own life.
Read more » ]]>"You do anything for a long period of time, you kinda feel it when it comes to an end."
Fifteen years. Wow. Congratulations, Supernatural. I didn't expect I would have time for this, but this is the end. The end of a show I used to think, used to hope, maybe would never end. Fifteen years and somehow it feels both too soon and well earned. Now that, quite surprisingly, Chuck was beaten before the series finale, I'm sitting here in my room one day before it's all over to contemplate life without the Winchesters in it. Or, more accurately, without any new stories featuring them. They'll always be in my life, as SPN is one of my favorite series of all time. I will be rewatching some day.
Read more » ]]>I finally have some t-shirt designs for sale! I don't think I ever mentioned making t-shirts as a goal of mine. I joined Cafe Press all the way back when the Internet was new-ish to me and Zazzle a few years later. Fast forward a couple decades and I just haven't made a real go of it. I've thought about it so much, as my T-Shirt Obsession Pinterest page can attest to. Those are all other people's designs, though. I only uploaded a couple not so great ones at the beginning to test things out and nothing since. I didn't hone my skills. I didn't spend every day coming up with new ideas. In fact, I pretty much gave up drawing after high school. College and then work and just life got in the way. I haven't even drawn a knife since 2016.
Read more » ]]>"Seven seasons. Thanks to Coulson Lives. Thanks to the greatest fans in the world. Thank you for going on the ride with us."
Life got way too busy three years ago. I've been behind on tweeting all season and right now I'm trying to finish "Brand New Day" before the finale tonight. So, I have no time to write extensively about how much this show has meant to me these past seven years, the way I wanted to. But you have only to read posts about the first three seasons (and some of the fourth) to know how I feel about it.
Read more » ]]>"Time is not fixed. It’s a fluid, ever-changing, beautiful thing."
I already wrote one of these “It’s almost here! Can you believe it?” type posts a few weeks ago. But this show meant so much to me that, like the best of the best that have gone before it, I’ll never run out of praise. So here we are. Six lovely seasons behind us. One season ahead that I'm sure will leave us more than satisfied, with a bittersweet ache, jaws on the floor and tears streaming. They've done it before.
Read more » ]]>"So, you're saying to save S.H.I.E.L.D.–"
"We have to save Hydra."
I am not ready for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to end. I'm not even ready for the Beginning of the End. We've been waiting quite a while for it to start, but can we wait even longer, please? Then it doesn't have to end any time soon.
It was such a devastating past couple seasons, and so well done, so sad. Everyone involved did such a great job. There were great things about every season and each improved upon the last. The story continually expanded, the characters changed and grew, some were tragically lost, and the performances got deeper with every struggle and heartache they went through.
Read more » ]]>"No doubt, endings are hard. But then again, nothing ever really ends...does it?"
It's almost time for the "final ride," as Jensen put it a few hours ago. The end of this series is going to hurt more than most. Being on for 15 years, I wouldn't want it to be any other way. That hurt means it mattered. Like Fringe, Buffy, and Angel before it, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. this summer, we'll be saying goodbye to something special.
Read more » ]]>"The only thing...the only thing I want the spirits to do, the only change I want them to make...is to spare the life of him."
UPDATE, 12/31/2019 - I thought I was done writing about A Christmas Carol, at least until summer, but apparently it was not done with me. There were a few more things on my mind during the week after seeing this affecting miniseries. That's how I know this was great; it won't let me go. It mainly stems from comments I've seen that it was both too long in parts and not long enough in others, making it feel both overstuffed and rushed. I didn't feel at all that way and I kind of ramble on about it.
UPDATE 2, 1/20/20 - I really thought the last time I wrote about this was going to be the last time, but it's nearing the end of January and I'm still thinking about it. That's due to the exceptional talent of Guy Pearce. This one performance shows me he's an equal to Andrew Lincoln or Robert Downey Jr. Funny, because I was floored by him in Memento long before I knew either of the other two. Since then I only remember him from Iron Man 3. IMDb tells me there were a few smaller parts that I forgot about, like the opening minutes of The Hurt Locker, where things didn't go so well for him. There was also Jack Irish, a series he starred in, which I now realize I had started watching somewhere before it became unavailable. I'll have to use my Amazon Christmas gift card for that. So, in all these years, because he wasn't regularly appearing in things I watched, his talent faded from my mind. A Christmas Carol has changed that. Even if Pearce never does anything else, there are very few who can convincingly convey real emotion, and I won't let that fade again.
The Ghost of Christmas Future got his claws in me and isn’t letting go until I write this, my actual work and Christmas preparations be dammed, apparently. I haven’t been able to concentrate on anything all day. At least, in doing this, I get a few thoughts out about this engrossing miniseries just in time, instead of being my usual weeks and months and years later, irrelevant self.
Read more » ]]>Now the day bleeds into nightfall
And you're not here to get me through it all
On the heels of the Rick Grimes tribute video, we have another video starring someone extraordinarily talented, whom I have not had the opportunity to gush about for a really long time. "Someone You Loved" has been out for many months now, but I kept putting off watching it until I then forgot about it, which is a shame. This one is not fan-made, but an original work from an artist I've heard but I'm not too familiar with, that somehow ended up being exactly what I've always needed from an actor I adore: a very intimate portrait of the heart and loss and second chances.
Read more » ]]>"It was all for you, right from the start."
WATCH THIS. Watch it now if you're a fan of The Walking Dead and especially if you adore Andrew Lincoln. I tweeted this video a couple days ago and I went back to YouTube to watch it again just now. I can't get over how good this one is, this showcase for Lincoln's incredible talent. He doesn't get nearly enough recognition, or any recognition at all except from fans, and that is all sorts of wrong. He is one of the greats, one in a small number of actors that really make me feel deeply for their characters. There is no arguing how talented he is. Andrew never fails to deliver something special, something inspiring, something captivating, something truly moving.
Read more » ]]>"We are the end of the world.
We are free."
Ooooh, the Whisperers keep getting creepier. That just makes me love this storyline more and I can't wait until they meet a satisfying end.
I am so beyond excited for this season. Then I'll be terrified when the mid-season finale comes. Terrified again when it's time for the season finale. Then I'll be excited all over again when the trailer for season 11 drops. Terror and excitement: two of the most prevalent feelings that ebb and flow and swirl together around memories and anticipation of The Walking Dead.
Read more » ]]>"It's only a matter of time."
I haven't had the chance yet to say more than a few things about the season 6 finale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., even though it was weeks ago now. Finales always seem to get away from me. I don't know if I tend to get busier at this time of year or if I keep putting it off because there's plenty of time before the next season. It's really annoying that I do that when I love a show this much. S.H.I.E.L.D. should have all my attention until I've run out of ways to praise it or it's all over.
Read more » ]]>"I can feel the rage churning underneath my skin...It's all coming back to me. The memories, the pain, her song ringing through every bone in my body."
I knew they weren't done with Sarge after May unexpectedly shot him last week. His story can't end there! We need to know why he looks like Coulson, why they have the same DNA. It would be quite the coincidence that the team just happened to meet the doppelganger of their leader and friend after his death, and that one had nothing to do with the other. The writers wouldn't do that, I hoped all season. Thankfully, they didn't and it looks more epic than I could have imagined.
"Give us what we want and we'll let you live to cry about it."
Oh, yeah, Jemma! I loved sweet, innocent Simmons, but tough Simmons makes me want to cheer. At first I didn't realize this was a clip from the first episode of the season and assumed Jemma and Daisy were looking for the Coulson clone, imposter, parallel world mercenary, whatever. Let's just say menacing doppelgänger for now. Then I thought about it for a second.
Read more » ]]>"Can you feel it? It's coming. The death of everything."
After hoping for months, we all learned a while ago that Coulson is absolutely dead and gone, and now we have to deal with someone new with his face. I can't wait to find out what this story is, and I'm so glad they were able to write a new part for Clark Gregg, but this is going to be painful...and that is going to make it even more unforgettable than it already was.
Read more » ]]>"If we can't protect the Earth, you can be damn sure we'll avenge it."
Twenty-one movies since it all began, soon to be twenty-two. It's such a wealth of entertainment from Marvel, this huge interconnected world, that I love. I can hardly believe how much time has gone by, because I vividly remember the feelings I had watching Iron Man in the theater: the smiles as it started with "Back in Black"; the chills I got when Tony fought for his life after being struck with shrapnel and finally making his way out of the cave, losing a friend along the way; the laughs as the first suit experiments didn't quite go to plan; the cheers as Iron Man single-handedly saved a village in his first outing as an avenging hero; the lump in my throat when Tony opened his present from Pepper, that old arc reactor with a tender message surrounding it; the appreciation that someone as impressively talented as Robert Downey Jr would not only give a superhero movie a second thought, but actually give it a genuine heart; and the realization during the end credits scene that there was a plan for something more than just a sequel.
Read more » ]]>"The way out is to open the door...to people...to possibility...to the hurt that will happen."
Just like the original series, I love how Fear feels different every season and sometimes every episode. It's got a story to tell and it tells is in often harrowing but also hopeful ways. It's also terrifying, not just in the various designs of walkers and all the ways they find to put our beloved characters in peril, but all the ways they terrorize each other, how some try to move past hate and fear, all the ways they grieve, grow, and learn to forgive or live with the pain and trust again.
Read more » ]]>It's been quite a while since I've ventured far from my home bases of TeeFury and RiptApparel to bring you t-shirts. In fact, it's been a while since I brought you any t-shirts. But now seemed like the perfect time, what with the arrival of this Fair that we've been hearing about most of the season and the Whisperers not going away without a presumably vicious fight.
Read more » ]]>"Whatever it takes."
Update, 4/22/19: The brand new Thanos Trailer has been added at the end.
Finally! A new trailer for Avengers: Endgame. So, we're all agreed, right? This movie is going to kill (at least half of) us? I hope for the lost to return. I assume there will be an enormous sacrifice that will hurt terribly and that we will never forget. I'm crossing my fingers that we can get through it and find some sweet in what will surely be bitter. As always, it will be a huge spectacle with heart and humor; in short...marvelous. ;-) Though, I expect there will be far fewer laughs than in the past, owing to the unimaginably dire circumstances.
Read more » ]]>