Fandom

Supernatural Lists: Music

Standard

This is the first in a seven part series appearing here on Thursdays. Unavoidable happenings kept this part from publishing last week. The second part will publish tomorrow or over the weekend so it can coincide with the final seven episodes of Supernatural.

Music has been an integral part of Supernatural since the very beginning. When younger brother Sam complained about Dean’s musical choice, he was reminded of the number one rule of road trip music:

Driver picks the music,

Shotgun shuts his cakehole.

And so for fifteen years, we traveled across the country (and twice in foreign lands) with the brothers, listening to their radio or cassette tapes (until finally updating to the 21st century and iPods) while engrossing ourselves in the classic rock of our own childhoods. Their musical tastes also updated (a little) to some modern classics as the boys grew older, and there was even a fun musical episode complete with soundtrack.

I had originally picked out fifteen songs, but I just couldn’t stop, so I went to twenty-five. You can find all the songs wherever you get your music: Amazon, Pandora, Spotify.

Except for the first and the last, they are in no particular order. I did not place them by season or my favorites.

  1. Carry On Wayward Son – Kansas
  2. Space Oddity – David Bowie
  3. We Gotta Get Out of This Place – The Animals
  4. Renegade – Styx
  5. Eye of the Tiger – Survivor
  6. Back in Black – AC/DC
  7. Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival
  8. Don’t Fear the Reaper – Blue Oyster Cult
  9. Cold as Ice – Foreigner
  10. Hey Man Nice Shot – Filter
  11. I Shall Not Be Moved – Johnny Cash
  12. White Rabbit – Jefferson Airplane
  13. Cross Road Blues – Robert Johnson
  14. Rock and Roll Never Forgets – Bob Seger
  15. Heat of the Moment – Asia
  16. Wanted Dead or Alive – Bon Jovi
  17. House of the Rising Sun – The Animals
  18. Can’t Find My Way Home – Blind Faith
  19. Black Water – The Doobie Brothers
  20. O Death – Jen Titus (not on Spotify)
  21. A Well Respected Man – The Kinks
  22. World’s Collide – Louden Swain (not on Spotify)
  23. Simple Man – Lynard Skynard
  24. No One Like You – The Scorpions
  25. Fare Thee Well – Rob Benedict (not on Spotify)

I’ve curated this list (minus the three that weren’t available) for you to listen to on Spotify.

Carry On…

Standard

In one week, a mere seven days after today, Supernatural begins with the first of seven final episodes in the show’s fifteen season series. It’s been a long road, and for the fans, there isn’t really an end. Some of us have grown up along the way, and watched as the actors got married, had children, and shared with us their other projects. Some of us found our voices, discovered new skills, met and overcame challenges and just enjoyed the stories. I am finding the ending of Supernatural a bittersweet time.

Supernatural came into my life about mid-way through its historic run although of course, I couldn’t have known that at the time. It was a dark time for me and the show filled a void, where I could watch it without having to think about the mental health issues that were nearly drowning me. As medication began and adjusted, as therapy began, as my faith took an unexpected turn, Supernatural was the light at the end of the tunnel that gently led me home. I can still feel a calm, soothing consciousness when I put on the reruns, either in syndication or on Netflix and let it play as the background music of my day whatever it is I’m doing at that moment.

I am glad that we will get an ending that is well thought out and does justice to the entirety of the series. Seeing old faces throughout season 15 has been a walk down memory lane, and I’ve enjoyed reliving some of their best moments despite the constant death of characters. Although to be fair to Supernatural, dead doesn’t always mean dead. Only time will tell.

One of the most valued things to come out of the series is the SPNFAM. A lot of that is through Misha Collins’ scavenger hunt, GISH and contributing to his charity, Random Acts. It has allowed us to become more politically aware and civic minded, especially here in the US. There is also the Stands shop where we can wear our fandom through merch while also supporting a variety of causes and charities that the actors find important. It has expanded my knowledge base of causes that I woudn’t necessarily have heard about otherwise. (I’ve shared some before, and I will share them again before the last episode airs.)

I’ve written love letters to Supernatural before and published them here and elsewhere; it has held me together when I was falling apart, and it brought me closer to people I wouldn’t ordinarily know across the country and the globe. It’s encouraged my writing, both in fan fiction and in exegesis as well as supporting my love of pop culture and puns, which Supernatural is full of. Plus there are the inside jokes, and online, there is a Supernatural gif for everything.

Supernatural is magical.

It will remain a special place in my heart forever.

While the series will end and there will be no new episodes to share and enjoy, we can still follow the actors we’ve grown to love on their various social medias, their future work and businesses, and through the fandom and fan-family.

Netflix

The CW

Supernatural Wiki

Mini GISH Hunt

Standard

Back in April, I participated in a stay-at-home 24 hour scavenger hunt. We raised money for meals for kids who are out of school due to the covid-19 pandemic. At this moment, I am in the middle of a second stay-at-home mini hunt, this time for 25 hours. If you’re interested in joining the fun for our week long hunt in August, visit GISH and see what all the fussun is about.

These are the three items I completed. I also filled out an application for an absentee ballot for the June primary and November election.

Create a couch potato. (c)2020
Create a Haiku for washing your hands. (c)2020
Thank the essential workers in your town and tweet it. (c)2020

Not So Free Comic Book Day

Standard

​The first Free Comic Book Day took place in 2002, and has been held on the first Saturday in May since then. We’ve gone every year, once being the first in line at our comic store. We’ve sometimes driven to several comic stores in one day, not just for the free aspect of the comic book day, but visiting other small business comic stores to offer our support. We’ve seen the Batmobile, we’ve met artists (John Hebert) and writers, we’ve had our photos taken with superheroes! 

In 2002, we had one child, and he was five. He is now the oldest of three, and just turned twenty-three. We are all sad that this year’s event is indefinite. Unfortunately, 2020’s celebration has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic amid global isolation requirements.

While we can’t celebrate in person at our favorite comic stores, we can still find some time to sit down with our favorite freebies from last year or the year before. During these uncertain times, we’ve still “visited” our local comic store weekly for curbside service to pick up bagging and boarding supplies, older comic books that we’ve missed, and simply saying hi and supporting our local, small business. The owner is equally happy to see us as we are to see him. It also gives some semblance of “normal” for our son, who, while he inherited his comic love from his father, is the biggest collector in our house and really looks forward to his weekly comics.

We’ve been told that new comics will be shipping to receive in store on Wednesday, May 20th. We will see what our local guidelines are for re-opening, but if not open, we will still be able to get our new comics curbside.

The FCBD website promises downloadable color sheets in the future so check there now and then until they’re available. 

In the meantime, take a blank sheet of paper of tear a lined page out of a spiral notebook, and write, illustrate, decorate your own comic book cover. Enjoy the reading, and add your name to their e-mailing list so you’re the first to find out when Free Comic Book Day will be held this year!

Can’t wait to see you, hopefully soon!

Supernatural Lists – Unscripted Supernatural: A List

Standard

When a show has been on as long as Supernatural with the same cast and recurring characters and actors, many things make it into the finished project that weren’t scripted.

This list is from The Things. Enjoy it while we’re on this extra long hiatus in the final season.

Supernatural Lists: The Monsters (*) of Supernatural

Standard

Over the years, the Winchesters (and their family and friends) have encountered a plethora of monsters. Some monsters come back several times over time, and we can recognize them enough to try and figure out the clues before Sam and Dean do. By the same token, some of our friends have become “monsters” (*)and have either needed to be ganked or go on to live very productive lives with spouses and children. You never know what you’ll find in a Supernatural episode. Also, my use of the term monster (*) includes entities like Angels or other neutral/good or not-necessarily-bad characters.

Here are a few of their favorite monsters:

Amazons. (Amazonian?)

Angel. See also Archangel.

Banshee

Bisaan (episode: The Chitters)

Bloody Mary

The Darkness

Death

Demon. See also the Yellow Eyed Demon, Crossroads Demon, Knight of Hell, Meg, Ruby, Lilith

Djinn

Dragons

Dreamwalker

Eve. See also Mother of All.

Fairies

Ghosts. See also Vengeful Spirit, Poltergeist

Ghoul

Harpy

Hellhounds

Imaginary Friends

Kitsune

Leprechauns

Leviathan

Nephilim

Okami

Pishtaco

Prophets

Psychic

Reaper

Rugaroo

Shapeshifter

Siren

Skinwalkers

Stryga

Trickster. See also Loki.

Unicorn

Vampire. See also Alpha Vampire.

Vetala

Wendigo

Werewolf

Witch. See also Rowena.

Wraith

Zombies

Monsters they’ve named: Jefferson Starships, Khan worms

Supernatural Lists: Time Travel Episodes

Standard

Time travel.

Love it or hate it, it will give you a headache.

I think the most apt description I’ve ever found for time are a combination of Quantum Leap which relies on the string theory that time is like a ball of yarn and you can jump from one to the other, and Doctor Who where time is a wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey ball of stuff, which really sums it up nicely and succinctly.

I thought there were many more time travel episodes in the Supernatural universe, and I could only remember about five. The rest that were in my head were more of flashbacks, which aren’t time travel per se, but in doing my research in the Supernatural wiki, I saw that they counted twelve, which I will list here even though there are a couple that I didn’t particularly consider them for my personal list. For example, in As Time Goes By, Henry Winchester travels forward from 1958 to 2013 and in Lebanon John Winchester travels to current day Kansas despite his being dead canonically. I was looking for the episodes where the brothers traveled through time.

At any rate, these all have something to love, and yes, they will still give you a headache.

1. In the Beginning [4.03]

2. The End [5.04]

3. The Song Remains the Same [5.13]

4. My Heart Will Go On [6.17]

5. Frontierland [6.18]

6. The Man Who Would Be King [6.20]

7. Time After Time [7.12]

8. As Time Goes By [8.12]

9. King of the Damned [9.21]

10. The Vessel [11.14]

11. Family Feud [12.13]

12. Lebanon [14.13]

Supernatural Lists: Special Episodes

Standard

This is part of an ongoing series in homage to the series finale of Supernatural, ending its run with its fifteenth season. The first of these lists was Characters Who’ve Died and Come Back. This new list include some of the more special episodes they’ve shown over the years: black and white, musical, meta. If I’ve left any out, please add them in comments and I’ll include them in a later update. Supernatural returns to The CW network on Thursday, January 16 at 8 P.M.

Continue reading

Supernatural Lists: Characters Who’ve Died and Come Back

Standard

Supernatural Lists!

​This is an ongoing series in honor of the final season of Supernatural. They will appear throughout the season. This first one shows how much the show relies on the supernatural as well as the old soap opera trope that no one ever really dies on television. This list are the characters who died and then came back, sometimes more than once! If I’ve forgotten anyone, please remind me in the comments. Continue reading

Insta-Cosplay for Halloween

Standard

For the last few years, with inspiration from the defunct app Polyvore, I have put together fashion collages for my Halloween costumes. Last year, I was a journalist, the year before I was Mary Winchester from Supernatural. This year, in honor of the fifteenth and final season of Supernatural and Wayward Mama Bear, Sheriff Jody Mills. I see so much of myself in her, and I was very comfortable “being” her for the entire day.

Fashion Collage: Sheriff Jody Mills. From the top, L-R: Anti-possession symbol, jeans and tall black boots, starburst earrings (not dangling so they can’t be pulled off), Mom Bear bracelet, wristwatch, layers: long sleeve t-shirt and plaid flannel with rolled up sleeves, sheriff’s badge. (c)2019