Ten Inch Hero

As provocative as the title is—and they do make fun of it in the special features—Ten Inch Hero actually refers to a sub shop in Santa Cruz, California. The story revolves around the staff of Beach City Grill. Tucker (John Doe), the owner, is a peace-loving hippie father figure with a thing for Zo (Alice Krige), the Wiccan who works at the crystal shop across the street. Jen (Clea DuVall) is a sensitive, but insecure young woman who’s had a year-long, online relationship with the mysterious Fuzzzy_22 and is considering a face-to-face meeting. Gorgeous Tish (Danneel Harris, rumored true-life love of Jensen) knows how to work her looks and manipulate men by saying she’s never had the big O, but her relationships are as shallow as the way most men view her. Priestly (Jensen Ackles) is the wisecrack cook with some serious bod mod and slogan t-shirts who just wants someone to look beyond his edgy exterior. And Piper (Elisabeth Harnois) is the newbie, an artist who arrived in town looking for the daughter she gave up for adoption when she was fifteen. Together they’re a loyal, dysfunctional and loving family, despite the fact that all of them are something other than what they seem.

I admit the only reason I wanted to see this indie was because of Jensen. I’d heard reviews were positive, but I never expected to fall in love with the film the way I did. Funny and heart-warming, without being overly cheesy, the simplistic story is one of not judging a book by its cover and finding courage to bust the shackles we bind our own selves in.

Betsy Morris’ script is sharp, snappy, sentimental and sexy. The interchanges between the cast are not only believable, but memorable. You’ll laugh, cry, scream, and sigh. If I were to change anything it would be this: Tish’s character, despite a very likeable performance by Danneel, isn’t developed well enough to explain why a guy would want her beyond her stunning physicality. Also, her sex scenes could’ve been a little more suggestive instead of blatantly gratuitous, which depletes the audience who might otherwise see the film (a bummer as far as getting Jensen more exposure). Also, Priestly gets brave but changes his “wrapping paper” when I wish he wouldn’t have and Jen never does get her cowardly lion to woman up. Nitpicks aside, this little romcom is going in my keeper cabinet and I think you’ll find it charms your heart too.


This movie is available to rent at your local Blockbuster, and for sale here.

Also, for your enjoyment, Priestly’s collection of shirt slogans:

Tip Me or Die

Cat. The Other White Meat.

It’s Tourist Season, Shoot Them At Will

You Know Your Problem? You’re Stupid.

Surf Naked

Orgasm Donor. Ask For Your Free Sample.

Save a Tree. Eat a Beaver.

I Sell Crack for the CIA.

No One Knows I’m A Lesbian

You Can Read

TRAILER:




The HYSTERICAL Tampon Scene w/ Jensen:

Coming This Week!

March is here, which brings us mentally, if not physically, closer to spring. (We had snow this morning, but it's melted already!) We have less than two weeks, now, before our show returns. In the meantime, here's what we've got for you this week:

Monday: Terri reviews Ten Inch Hero, the independent romantic comedy co-starring Jensen Ackles. This little movie is available to rent at your local blockbuster, and for sale here.

Tuesday: MJ talks about her favorite writers on the show. Be sure to stop by to see if yours match!

Wednesday: Natalie addresses the SPOILER ALERT controversy over an upcoming episode. (Seriously, you'll want to skip Wednesday if you don't want spoilers and speculation.)

Thursday: Tanya presents "Do You or Don't You?" and talks about her mixed feelings about spoilers.

Friday: Trish provides this week's episode review!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Happy Birthday, Jensen!

Now that he's 31, I don't feel quite so dirty....

Wishful Thinking

If I could have a wish right now, one that wouldn't backfire, it would be to squash this stupid bug I have. I'm blogging with a clogged head and fever. Thankfully, tonight's repeat at least cheered me up. The dialogue in Wishing Thinking is so freakin' funny I think I'll let it do most the work.


Sam and Dean are in a TGIF contemplating their next assignment. The waiter, with his flashing buttons and nauseating cheerfulness, is getting on Dean's nerves almost as much as Sam asking him why Uriel said he remembered hell. Dean insists he doesn't, but the three shots he downs in quick succession seem to say different.


Sam backs off and rattles some possible cases. One in Concrete, Washington has Dean throwing bills down and ready to hit the road.


Dean: "Women. Showers. We gotta save these people."


Turns out a Mrs. Candace Armstrong was accosted in the shower by a ghost. At least that's what she tells Sam when he questions her for the book he's writing. The title? Supernatural.


After his meeting with her at the Lucky Chin's restaurant, Sam decides she's just a little loony. The boys plan to leave and Dean is bummed because he didn't get to save any naked women. Before they can get to the Metallicar they bump into a man claiming he saw big foot. Some big freakin' prints lead them to a store where they find broken liquor bottles, missing porn mags and a hunk of fur.


Dean: "He's a girl drink drunk."


The scene outside the story has the boys seriously flummoxed and seeing them mentally suggest and dismiss possible explanations is just priceless.



Dean: "Or it's a big foot. You know, he's like some kind of alco-holer-porno addict. Kinda like a deep woods Duchovny."


They follow a trail of Busty Asian Beauties to a house.


Dean: "What is this? Like a Harry and the Henderson's deal?"


There they meet Audrey, a young girl who went to the wishing well and asked for a teddy that was "big, real and talked." Sam and Dean convince her they're teddy bear doctors and when she lets them into her room they find a gargantuan Gund with a depressive disorder.


Sam: "Are we gonna kill this damn bear?"
Dean: "How? We shoot it? Burn it?
Sam: "I don't know. Both."
Dean: "How do we even know that's gonna work. I don't want some giant flaming pissed off teddy on our hands."


After assuring Audrey she should go stay with a neighbor while they treat her bear for Lollipop disease, Dean and Sam head for Lucky Chin's and the wishing well.


Dean tests the well by ordering a foot-long italian sandwich with jalapenos. It shows up seconds later. While he chows down they discuss what they should do.


Dean: "What're we supposed to do? Stop people's wishes from coming true? That sounds like kind of a douchey thing to do."


Sam tells him things like this always come with a price, often a deadly one.


Claiming to be health inspectors they shut the restaurant down due to rats.


Dean asks Sam if he's tempted to make a wish? Maybe go back to before everything started where he'd most likely be a yuppy lawyer with a nice car and white picket fence. Sam says he's not that guy anymore and if he were to wish for anything it would be for Lillith's head on a plate. Bloody.


They find an old, unbudgeable, coin in the well. Dean is assigned to figure out what it is while Sam decides maybe the "ghost" needs a closer look. He captures the Peeping Tom and makes the kid swear he won't do any more invisible stalking. When Sam returns to the hotel Dean is hurling his jalapenos. Between breaths he tells Sam that the wishes turn bad, real bad, and that the coin is Babylonian. It comes from Tiamet, the God of primordial chaos and the only way they can stop things is to find the first wisher. Only that person will be able to remove the coin from the well.


Meanwhile, Teddy has shot his stuffing out, but lived to sob about it and Dean's sleep is plagued by hellish nightmares. When Sam confronts him about his bad dreams and drinking, Dean brushes it off. "Can we stow the couples therapy?"


They come to realize a beauty and her geek may be where the wishing started. They confront Wes, a nerd who inexplicably has a gorgeous fiancee who loves him more than anything, and learn that his grandfather found the wishing coin in North Africa. Wes used the coin because he could never get Hope's attention, but he has noticed that her desperate love is not healthy. Still he's unconvinced that things in town are really that bad until he sees Tiny Todd terrorizing a group of boys who'd previously bullied him. When Todd overturns a SUV, Wes thinks maybe things are out of hand. Dean stays behind to deal with the kid while Sam rushes Wes to Lucky Chin's only to be struck right out of his shoes by a bolt of lightning that Hope wished upon him. She didn't want anyone to take away her love for Wes. Scared, but seeing just how insane things are getting, Wes pulls the coin from the well. Hope doesn't remember him, Sam lives, Dean is saved from his pint-sized tormentor and everything else reverses. The brothers melt the coin down to make sure it can never again create chaos.


As they're about to leave town, Dean tells Sam he doesn't want to lie anymore. He does remember. Everything.


"The things that I saw. There aren't words. There is no forgetting. There's no making it better. Because it is right here. Forever. You wouldn't understand. And I could never make you understand."


And there, amidst a hugely funny episode, is something heart wrenchingly raw and real. The juxtaposition is brilliantly played out. We laugh. We cry. And we remember...be careful what you wish for.

Adjunct Interests

I know, stupid title. But...

One night a couple of weeks ago, I kept waking up with memories of odd dreams. I dreamed of this blogging and of my fellow SPN Sisters, and of some woman who wanted to blog here but I had to figure out how because we weren't going to make her a permanent member.

At one point--I think it was at 4:48 a.m. when I carried the door-scratching cat down to the bathroom--I thought, "Adjunct interests. I've got to blog about that!"

And guess what? When I went to log it on the schedule, I found I'd somehow skipped a week, and had no topic for today! How fortuitous!

I just love when things fall into place like that.

Okay. Adjunct interests. Like I said, weird title, but I felt I had to be true to the dream inspiration.

When fans are passionate about something like a TV show, they create a demand for more. Smart powers-that-be seek to fulfill that demand through tie-in products and events. Supernatural is no different.

Some official products include:

Supernatural Magazine

Each month, either in your mailbox or on the newsstand, you can find this big, glossy magazine full of interviews, articles, analysis, and reminders of past episodes. Lots of insider information. Lots of typos, too, but we won't mention that.






Tie-in novels

When you can't get enough of Sam and Dean's adventures, you can turn to these novels that describe some of the "episodes" that never make it to screen.











Official Season Companions

These are kind of like extended versions of the magazine. They break down each episode in a full season, talking about the legends that inspired the story, and interviewing all of the players--big and small--who build the Supernatural world. The Season 3 companion goes on sale next week.







John's Journal

This book is modeled after John Winchester's "real" journal (real in the context of the show) and has exorcisms, notes about jobs and monsters and the boys' childhoods. Talk about diving into the meaty details...







We've already talked about some of the other stuff spawned by Supernatural:


With a bit of investment, you can travel around the country to see our favorite stars and guest stars speak on stage, and get personal autographs and photos with them. Some conventions are specific to the show, some are more genre-oriented, with several fandoms intermingling, and some are gigantic fests, like Comic-Con.


There are two sets of comic book prequels so far: "Origins" and "Rising Son." Ask your local comic book store to order them, or find them online.

And, as discussed in yesterday's review, you can find fan-centric essays combined in such volumes as In the Hunt: Unauthorized Essays on Supernatural.

Then, of course, there's actual merchandise. Some official, like mugs and calendars you can obtain via The WB, or posters, patches, and T-shirts offered by places like Creation Entertainment. Some unofficial, like you'll find at Zazzle and Café Press. There's some pretty clever stuff out there, and you can find everything from bumper stickers to thongs.

Sometimes, this demand for more leads fans to broader interests. My favorite, most personal example is Jason Manns. I don't spend a lot of time surfing for new stuff on the show and its people. But a while back, a friend linked me to a video that shows Jensen Ackles singing "Crazy Love" at a friend's wedding. The video was posted on the accompaniest's MySpace. Wondering how I knew the song, I went to iTunes to see who had also recorded it (turns out it's like, eleventy-hundred people) and saw that Jason Manns had an album. I listened, loved, and bought, and he quickly became my favorite singer/musician.

I'm not the only one. His popularity has grown since that video got passed around, and he's been asked to do concerts at Supernatural conventions (including the one I'm going to next week!). Steve Carlson is another singer/musician who has gained the same benefit of being friends with Jensen Ackles.

Trivia note: In the episode "Lazarus Rising," when Dean gets into the Impala and there's an iPod hooked up, the music playing is one of Jason's songs.

Another ripple in the pool of entertainment comes from the "six degrees" phenomenon. Casual watchers of any particular show might have a vague feeling that some guest star looks familiar, but passionate fans will recognize them right away:

"Hey, the son was Michael in 'Something Wicked,' season one! And his dad was in 'A Very Supernatural Christmas'!" (The Mentalist, 1.12)

"I'm so watching Leverage. The computer guru thief is played by Jake! You know, the guy who knifed Sam in the back!"

"I don't care if Kristin at E! Online can't recommend Harper's Island. Can you believe it's got Jim Beaver (Bobby) and Katie Cassidy (Ruby season 3) and Gina Holden (That Haley Girl, "Wendigo") and Chris Gauthier (Ronald Reznick, "we're not working for the Mandroid!") and Amber Borycki (Sophie Carlton, "Dead in the Water") and Julia Anderson (hooker at bar in "Sin City") and Ben Cotton (some Businessman in "The Magnificent Seven" I don't know) and Anna Mae Routledge ("we're walking, we're walking, and we're not touching that" in "Long-Distance Call") and Sean Rogerson (maybe fileted by a hooker from God in "Houses of the Holy," and can you believe I just looked all that up?"

Some upstart TV shows get a bigger percentage of their following than they know from people like us, who love a show so much we'll follow its stars and guest stars and even extras just to see what they're doing now.

It works for movies, too, as we've attested to before. How many of us would have seen Friday the 13th last week without the draw of Jared Padalecki, or even known about Ten Inch Hero (starring Jensen Ackles, now available for rent at Blockbuster and to preorder for purchase here)?

Because of my love of Supernatural, I wound up here!

So what "adjunct interests" have you developed due to your love of the show?

You Guys Gotta Read This...

Even though the 5 of us who contribute to this blog are published writers, we don’t use this as a forum to pimp our books. While it might be tacky of me, just for random example, to rave about my April romantic comedy getting an 4 1/2 star Top Pick review— ahem —I think you guys will allow me to make an exception that’s directly related to Supernatural. So today I am tooting a collective horn—on behalf of myself, MJ and some familiar names that have popped up in the blog comments—to tell you about In The Hunt: Unauthorized Essays on Supernatural.

This is a collection of essays from BenBella Smart Pop, who previously gave us anthologies pertaining to Firefly, Halo games, the Matrix movies, Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels, superheroes, Grey’s Anatomy, the Psychology of Harry Potter and about 200 other pop-culture topics. In the Hunt was written for and by Supernatural fans, whether those fans also happen to be published authors, licensed psychotherapists, or one of the three winners of an on-line fan essay contests. (Speaking of fans, there’s a Kripke quote on the back of the book which describes Supernatural as having “the smartest, most passionate, most intelligent fans of any show on television.”)

If you like Supernatural, if you have opinions about Supernatural, if you know more trivia about Sam and Dean’s upbringing than you do about, say, your own family members, if you get antsy during hiatus or whenever the show is up for renewal (I hear it was just picked up for next season—yay!), this book is for you! It goes on sale Mar 1 and you should be able to find it at most bookstores and/or on line. It’s a smart, affectionate, sometimes critical, occasionally funny, often educational look at our Show.




Some of the pieces are “forest” essays, looking at overarching thematic elements of the show across the first three seasons (this book was compiled and edited before season four aired), class systems in the show, some of the anthropological roots of the lore used in different episodes, and even the nature of good versus evil. Other essays are more “tree” focused, analyzing individual episodes, addressing specific concerns such as how to hunt demons on a budget, or secondary characters such as John Winchester, Gordon, the Trickster, Jo, and the Impala/aka Metallicar (who got two essays devoted to her, one written by our own MJ, both bringing up excellent points and complementing each other nicely). I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve had time to read so far, including one whimsical but clever contribution by Heather Swain. Hers isn’t actually an essay but more a short story written as a series of emails and other communications detailing how one die-hard Supernatural fan eventually converts a naysaying skeptic to see the value and depth of the show. At the other end of the writing spectrum were more academic essays on the gender undertones and overtones of the show; one of these was written by Jacob Clifton, whose name I recognized from his BSG recaps on TWoP. His In the Hunt essay was exactly the kind of insightful, densely written, thought-provoking piece I would expect after reading (and occasionally having to re-read) his episode summaries of other shows.

And of course, no book about Supernatural would be complete without essays focused on the brothers themselves such as Dodger Winslow’s “The Burden of Being Sammy,” my own “Dean Winchester: Bad-Ass…or Soccer Mom?” and Amy Garvey’s “We’ve Got Work to Do.”

I love the range of tones and subjects. I even love some of the titles (ie "Who Threw Momma on the Ceiling?") There seems to be a little something for every Supernatural fan in this book…except, I’m forced to note, one obvious lacking gift to us fans. Note to BenBella (apologizing in advance for sounding like my kindergartener when she's frustrated with a big book): There are no pictures!

Perhaps if they do follow up anthologies for seasons 4 and 5, they can include a pictorial essay! Until then....

Winchesters and Women

I am writing this after a hellacious day, so forgive my lack of insight. I started this weekend with a different format, and then duh, came up with this more cohesive one.

The Winchester men have complex relationships with the women they encounter as they do their job. I find it interesting that Sam seems to have more relationships than Dean, despite having lost Jessica and Dean so clearly longs for a family. Why, I wonder?

First we have John and Mary. John clearly adored his wife, still wearing his wedding ring 22 years after her death, was so driven to find her killer that he took his boys on the world’s longest road trip, stripping them of their home. Did he look at his children and see his wife, knowing he had to protect them as he hadn’t protected her?

No doubt he had encounters with other women later, as apparently the episode “Jump the Shark” will reveal. But Mary was his be-all and end-all love. I wonder if he ever discovered she didn’t trust him enough to tell him the truth about who she was.

Sam had a normal life for a few years, something he always longed for. He had a beautiful girlfriend who supported him in a way his family never did, who encouraged his strengths. Losing Jessica in the way he’d lost his mother crushed him. He knew he couldn’t have a normal life until the Yellow-Eyed Demon was destroyed, and so he went on the hunt.

He had an almost kiss with Lori in “Hookman,” and shared things with Meg as he hadn’t with anyone since Jessica’s death in “Scarecrow.” In “Provenance,” he met beautiful, smart, charming Sarah. When he tried to give her the whole, “People around me get hurt,” she essentially told him to snap out of it.

One of my favorite exchanges in the whole series is between Sam and Sarah.


Sarah Blake: [watching Sam and Dean dig up a grave] You guys seem to be uncomfortably comfortable with this.
Sam Winchester: Well, this isn't exactly the first grave we've dug. Still think I'm a catch?

(Funny, I just realized that every one of those episodes is on my iPod.)

Sarah is the first girl he kisses after Jessica dies, months later, remaining faithful to his dead love all that time. I loved Sarah, and would love to see her return, though I know things would be way different between her and this grown-up Sam.

We don’t see Sam in relationships in season 2, until Madison. Ya know, the werewolf chick. He babysits her and resists her efforts at flirtation, not knowing if she’s a monster or not. And when they are successful (they think), he’s more than willing to celebrate by pinning her to the wall, and….guh. The arms make their first appearance.



And then he realizes she isn’t cured. She’s still a monster and he hunts monsters. When she asks him to end her suffering, he mans up. And it knocks him back into himself, more unwilling to risk himself than ever.

I think that’s why he chooses to continue his sexual relationship with Ruby. She knows what the stakes are. She knows what she risks. She can protect herself. In Sam’s eyes, she’s safe. Still, I don’t think he lets himself care for her. That she’s a demon has a lot to do with that, of course, but I think he’s just already given too much of himself. He knows there’s no light at the end of the tunnel, that there will be no happily-ever-after. He’s resigned he can’t go back to a normal life, and so he settles with a relationship with Ruby.

For all that Dean wants a family, he doesn’t let himself get involved with women the way Sam does. Yes, he charms them, but his more meaningful relationships were in the past-Gumby Girl (okay, that was mostly sex, but he did think he had a kid) and Cassie. With Cassie, Dean broke the Golden Rule of the Winchesters, don’t tell ANYBODY the truth. Dean, who never went against what his father said, told Cassie the truth and she freaked. Showed him. You see he doesn’t have any real relationships with women now. Heck, how can he?

She believed him easily enough when she needed him, though, right?

I’ve heard some people call her whiny, but I liked her enough. And that love scene was Smokin’. I ended up buying the Bad Company CD for that song.

I don’t even want to talk about Jo, because that was just such an unnatural pairing, so forced. I liked Alona Tal in Veronica Mars, but loathed the Roadhouse women. Yeah, don’t want to talk about that.



I’m not sure if Carmen, from “What Is and What Should Never Be,” counts. After all, she was a product of Dean’s imagination. She was a down-to-earth girl, though. Wouldn’t it be lovely if Dean did get a girl like that, who understood him and kept him on an even keel?

And then there’s Anna, the Angel. Again, I felt this relationship was a bit forced, though I liked the conversation they had on the hood of the Impala, when she talks to Dean about following the orders of a father she didn’t know and couldn’t understand. What kind of relationship do you think the two of them might have when she returns?

I know I didn’t do justice to Dean’s relationships, and I’m sorry. Maybe you could help me flesh that out?

Which relationship do you think met each boys’ needs best? What kind of woman do you think each boy needs? Why do you suppose Sam gets more love than Dean?