My review of the movie My Bloody Valentine is now posted at Pink Raygun, and it’s called “The Insanity that Coal Dust Makes.” Enjoy!
An excerpt:
“Outside of the fact that, overall, no one seems to be initiating a man hunt for the killer (everyone just goes blithely about their business of existing in a town that’s crumbling around them), when confronted with the killer, people tended to do what all horror movie characters do, and that is to start running, heading for the one spot where they would be dead-ended, and the only way out means they have to get past the killer. In this movie, that’s the Hanniger Mine. This town is obsessed with its mine, and when in doubt or on the run, instead of hiding in a culvert, a ditch, or up a tree in the deep, cloaking darkness of a Pennsylvania forest, everyone heads there. But that’s because the mine is where the killer is, don’t you know, and because there seems to be some insanity brought on by too much coal dust that gives everyone the blind sense of a homing pigeon, home is Mine Shaft #5. Alas. Everyone reaps what their stupidity has sowed. But, since this is what horror movies are all about, I can’t hardly complain when the movie does exactly what it’s supposed to.“
You can read my review of the Supernatural episode “Family Remains” at pinkraygun.com. Thank you!
An excerpt:
“The opening scene with the brothers rates pretty high. In it, Dean is perusing the paper, for a gig, and up Sam pops from the back seat to inquire as to what Dean is doing. The questions from Sam are muted and sleepy; the thought of him trying to snooze in the back of the Impala does pleasant things to me and awakens all kinds ideas, chief among them is how exhausted both boys must be, the thought of Sam’s long legs trying to fit back there, and how if he couldn’t convince Dean to stop at a motel for the night so soon after their last gig (only hours in the past, we’re told), how hard he must have worked to convince Dean to stop at all.”
You can read my review of the Supernatural episode “What Is And What Should Never Be” at pinkraygun.com. Thank you!
An excerpt:
There he is, mowing the lawn (badly, I might add), working his ass off on a sunny day, happy as a lark like it’s a gift to get grass dust and clippings on your pants, and to have your ears ringing for hours from the sound of the blade, and the smell of gasoline in your nose and on your fingers. And then, after, sitting on the steps, drinking a beer as he admires his handiwork and the day, and so happy, his smile beaming so brightly that it could burn your retinas if you were to look directly at it. (Luckily we have the filter of film to save us from that messy fate.) It’s all very pretty to look at, but when I think about it, about his joy in the simple act of mowing the freaking lawn, it makes my throat close up a little and I have to look away.
You can read my review of the Supernatural episode “Folsom Prison Blues” on pinkraygun.com. Thank you!
An excerpt:
“Second, the Lighting Guys must have been in an experimental phase, because what they’re using brings out some rather vivid pink and green tones to the boys’ skin, which contrasts rather abruptly with the orange uniforms the boys are wearing. It’s very stark lighting, and seems to represent the harsh reality of living within the prison system, a metaphor for the post-modern allegory to the amount of violence inherent in the system. (“Help, help! I’m being repressed!”) On the other hand, it could just be the Lighting Guys setting out to prove that Ackles and Padalecki are beautiful, no matter how you light them. Like we didn’t already know that.”
Title: Gift of the Master Author: Sylvia Bond Genre/Rating: Gen/PG Word Count: 10,800 Fandom: Dark Shadows
Verse: Gina Lee (# 19) Summary: It’s Christmas time. Again. Done Collinwood style, with too much work for Willie, and not enough heat in that damn Old House. A/N: This was a fun story on account of Barn being a little nicer than usual. Plus it was fun to work with what would be in those wrapped packages under the tree. Of course, the story is still dark, I haven’t gotten all soft, even if it is the holidays.
***
It was a bad idea to be moping in the kitchen, and Willie knew it. But with a cold front barreling down through the woods from Canada, it was the warmest place in the house. He’d built the fire up and was sitting as close to it as he dared, scorching his toes as he propped his feet on a brick laid before the grate. Even with the heat seeping through him, battling territory for the raw, cold areas in his body, his fingers were still numb as he stared at the Christmas card in his hands.
Title: Home Among the Dead Author: Sylvia Bond Genre/Rating: Gen/PG Word Count: 22,262 Fandom: Dark Shadows Verse: Gina Lee (# 18) Summary: Willie visits the Logan family in California and does his best to take care of them. Unfortunately, he’s only got a week, because Barnabas is expecting him back. Gina doesn’t want him to go and Willie doesn’t want to leave her. But with Barnabas’ threats hanging over his head, each day brings him closer to the ultimate parting. A/N: Barnabas deserves a stake through the heart for being such a jerk. Perhaps, one day, he’ll get what he deserves.
Of modern morals, the beaten road Which those poor slaves with weary footsteps tread, Who travel to their home among the dead By the broad highway of the world, and so With one chained friend, perhaps a jealous foe, The dreariest and the longest journey go.
—Shelley
***
Remember, Willie, no situation will ever take you out of my reach.
He awoke with a jerk, feeling the press of a slight weight against his chest just as his mind swam up through layers of cotton wool and the dull grey awakening from exhausted sleep. His left arm felt tight and stiff and seemed to be detached from him and hooked over the weight at the same time. He took a breath to see if that would ease it some, and found it did only along one side, and then heard the returning sigh of someone close by. His eyes opened to see the black thatch of Danny’s hair pushing up from beneath his chin and the slightly curled and rather small hand tucked up against him. He was in a bed, he recalled lying down on it and someone saying something about rest and after that it was all dark. And Danny was now sleeping next to him, wedged in close, baking with warmth.
Title: Connections Author: N.J. Nidiffer Genre/Rating: Gen/PG Word Count: 13,010 Fandom: Dark Shadows Verse: Gina Lee (# 17) Summary: Willie travels to California by plane, and arrives to find the Logan family in pieces. He’s there to put them back together again, though he can barely stand himself. A/N: Poor Willie!
***
Lisa noticed him when she came off her dinner break—the thin, hollow-eyed man in the green turtleneck and the nylon windbreaker that seemed much too light to protect him from the cold spring rain, huddled in the seat closest to the boarding gate with an ugly old suitcase parked at his knee.
Title: Love’s Embrace Author: Sylvia Bond Genre/Rating: Gen/PG Word Count: 9,235 Fandom: Dark Shadows Verse: Gina Lee (# 16) Summary: Willie has to ask for permission to go out to California to visit the Logan family. He manages it, yes, but at some great cost. A/N: This is my other favorite because it was interesting to set things up so that Barn would have to let Willie go.
***
On a scale of one to ten, the job shouldn’t have been very hard, and it wasn’t. Just sanding down the floor-boards in a little room at the end of the main hall on the second floor. The cornices had already been repaired, the walls washed and painted white, the door taken down, stripped, replaned, and then rehung. Barnabas had said it would make a fine guest room when it was done, though Willie couldn’t imagine anyone who would have wanted to stay there. Except for Vicki Winters, of course.
Title: Counting Costs Author: N.J. Nidiffer Genre/Rating: Gen/PG Word Count: 3,117 Fandom: Dark Shadows Verse: Gina Lee (# 15) Summary: Willie receives a terrible phone call from Gina Lee. Polly’s been hurt, is in the hospital, and might die. He’s promises Gina that he’ll be there as soon as he can, even though there’s no way he can do this. A/N: I was in tears the first time I read this.
***
A flurry of erasing tore the grubby leaf trapped beneath his hand as the overworked paper finally wore through. Willie puffed away the pile of pink shavings with a single, resigned breath and held up the sheet to examine the damage.
No saving it. The formula was obliterated from marking and erasing and marking again. Nothing was left but a ragged-edged hole.
Title: To Feed on Rose Petals Author: Sylvia Bond Genre/Rating: Gen/PG Word Count: 7,673 Fandom: Dark Shadows Verse: Gina Lee (# 14) Summary: Unbeknownst to Barnabas, his servant Willie has been receiving letters from his pen pal in California. Trouble is, Willie’s not been answering those letters, and it’s going to look like Barnabas can’t control his servant. So he makes Willie sit down and write something. A/N: Barn always has to be in control! (And secretly, this is one of my favorite stories of this verse.)
***
The first he knew of the entire matter came on a night in mid-spring, when the snow finally gave itself up to a rain that pushed beneath the doorjambs and trickled in neverceasing drops from the leadings between the glass panes in the second floor windows on the north side of the Old House. The beginning of it came with a knock at the door, which he answered with his own hands as Willie, armed with buckets and pans, was occupied elsewhere, seeking to capture the result of the leaks in the master bedroom’s ceiling.
