Drama Queens (and Kings, let’s be honest) are just about everywhere on the internet. You can barely enter a forum without encountering at least one, and they are easy to “trigger.” So it is appropriate that Dramamine has unveiled a spokes-animal that is an actual drama-llama, trying to get Rachel nervous about an upcoming flight…
…walking with her, the drama llama reminds the air traveler that she got nauseous during a previous flight, that the flight may get bumpy, and that she has a middle seat. But when Rachel whips out her box of Dramamine, the llama audibly gasps, stands back as the jet door closes, and tells the passenger that he or she is gonna wait right there!
Although the llama’s voice sounds male, if female would the drama llama be a momma? And at night time, would she be a drama llama in pajamas? Inquiring minds wanna know…
So if you see a drama llama, don’t feed it unless with Dramamine…and don’t confuse a drama lama with an emo alpaca, either… 🦊
This commercial for Mountain Dew blew me away…totally! It’s definitely furry-friendly. Three persons figure in it. A guy is working on his computer in a large office. He stares at his complexion on his monitor, and he is reptilian. A young womanin a diner happens to stare out the window, and sees her reflection as an exotic bird. A third guy is throwing out garbage in an alley, looks up, and sees his image as feline. This furry trio has gotta do the town, and they do!
We see these guys individually and collectively, the reptile viewing his reflection in an elevator glass and the big cat viewing his paw appendages. They go places, too, like a pool hall, making a fine entrance and getting admiring glances. The reptilian is shown performing in some kind of trendy club, playing to a receptive audience. Two of them are shown in an off-road vehicle.There’s no stopping these guys as they make the world their own in their idealized furry forms…
So enjoy…I think that someone out there in commercial-land finally understands the furry experience, and the inner self!And I’d drink a boatload of Mountain Dew if it would transform me… 🦊
The notion that monsters make the best heroes has been previously explored, for example in shows like Being Human, whose characters featured a werewolf, vampire. and ghost. The Imperfects on Netflix has a similar cast of unlikely prime characters, this time a banshee, a succubus, and my favorite, a chupacabra-shifter, who in his transformational state rather closely resembles a werewolf with the exception of external spiny projections that go from his forehead down his back…
Now Juan Ruiz, the chupacabra-shifter, essentially blacks out when he transforms, and in that transformational state has enhanced speed, razor-sharp claws and teeth, and one assumes, enhanced vision and hearing as well. He tends to eat at least part of his victims in his feral state, and when transformed back, has no recollection of how he got blood on his face or what he was doing that caused that. In all fairness, most of his victims were posing a serious threat to himself or his female companions the banshee and succubus. Just to be safe, however, those companions have been known to keep Juan bound up in situations where he is likely to be “triggered.” They’ve been known to playfully refer to him as “Chupi,” even going to far as to torment him by saying things like “cute Chupi” or “You’re a good Chupi.” “I hate you guys!,” responds Juan…
Now the show’s unlikely trio appear to be in their late teens to early twenties, prompting some to call this series a “coming of rage” show. Their condition is the result of a rogue scientist experimenting on them without their permission using stem cells, and their powers are unfortunate side effects of that experimentation. The trio spend much of the series pursuing the rogue scientist in an effort to get him to “fix” them, all the while being pursued by armed and shadowy agents intent on their control or if necessary, extermination. This in turn leads to some epic confrontations along the way. “They want monsters?,” notes the banshee, “We’ll GIVE them monsters!” With that, the banshee can blow people away with her voice, the succubus emits pheromones that can get their pursuers to fall under her control and shoot each other, and the chupacabra springs, bites, slices, and dices…
Now variations on the show’s themes as mentioned have been done before, and probably better. Still, the show has promise, which makes it unfortunate that Netflix cancelled the series after one season. Still, it remains possible that fan demand might bring the show back, since it was just finding its footing after one one season, and there are different directions that the series could go with just some tweaking…
(language and graphic violence warnings for the following clip. This ain’t Barney the Purple Dinosaur, folks…)
Everyone is someone else’s idea of a monster, so they say…so I guess that makes me one, too, at least in spirit…
It was back in the 1960’s that we first encountered the Gorn in the Arena episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. Who can forget William Shatner as James T. Kirk grappling with a hulking rubbery-suited reptilian creature intent upon killing him? Great stuff then, and a comic delight now!
The Gorn also appeared to fight with Captain Archer in the under-rated series Enterprise; he shot one multiple times, presumably to ensure that it was dead. Guess who won’t be joining The Federation any time soon? So it’s good to see the mean keen green guys revised, revamped, and updated for modern times, for the Gorn are classic Trek“ heavies…”
Unlike Kirk, the young Spock that we see in Strange New Worlds did not spare the life of an offending Gorn, but in all fairness it was either the Gorn or Spock and company who were going to be offed. Yes, the Spock of Strange New Worlds can go medieval when the situation calls for it…whoever would have thought?!
The Gorn have been reimagined, too, into a faster, far morenimble and ambulatory species reminiscent of thealiens which plagued Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley. They even implant human hosts! Captain Pike, he of the uplifting hair, considers them “monsters.”
With the season cliffhanger ending with intelligent, space-faring reptilians descending on an outnumbered Enterprise, Captain Pike will have to pull something out of his hair to defeat the lizard horde.- – What a pity we have to wait to see Part 2!
I was shocked and deeply saddened by the recent death of actor and comedian Paul Reubens, not knowing that he was battling cancer. Best known for his Pee-Wee Herman character in his red bow tie, white shoes, and several sizes too small gray suit, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse ruled 1980’s Saturday morning kid’s television, presenting us with a twisted world that appealed to children and secretly adults alike…
I grew up watching wild and crazy children’s TV hosts like Soupy Sales and Sandy Becker, and Pee-Wee Herman was just the logical extension of the demented kiddie show host, a perpetual 10-year-old boy trapped awkwardly in a man’s body. I’m a man-child too, ‘ya see, the 10-year-old in me still secretly loving Godzilla movies…
Paul Reubens recognized the enduring power of childhood. A few other comedians have too, as did the late great Andy Kaufman when he memorably lip-synched the theme to Mighty Mouse, complete to a vintage recording with earnest expressions and dramatic gestures…
Pee-Wee Herman in his Playhouse created an entire twisted world for us, a microcosm of madness complete with a cowboy, a sea captain, dinosaurs, anthropomorphic furniture and devices, a robot, and even a genie in a box! It was a world of enchantment far preferable to reality, and we felt that we belonged there! Paul Reuben’s “Playhouse” world was a fully fleshed out alternative reality drawn from bits and pieces of our childhoods, the better parts, really…
Pee-Wee Herman expressed the inner child in all of us, and represented the way that we wished we could respond to inflexible humorless adults if we were not ourselves expected to be respectable grown-ups. Pee-Wee was Peter Pan with a sarcastic sense of humor…
Paul Reubens was more than just Pee-Wee Herman, too. He had movie and TV roles in which he was virtually unrecognizable, such as The Spleen in the under-rated film Mystery Men, was a vampire in the Buffy series, and played the father of Batman villain The Penguin…
But it is as Pee-Wee Herman that Paul Reubens will best be remembered, and while not everyone’s cup of tea, it’s certain that he’s left many of us smiling….and just remember that if you hear the Secret Word, scream real loud! Adults hate it when you do that…
Like Discovery, Star Trek’s Strange New Worlds is set slightly prior to the time of The Original Series, but for my money is a more emotionally cogent and relatable series than Discovery. Money is what I’m paying to see it, too, since it airs only on Paramount+.
Now Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) is helming the Enterprise in this series, and we do get to know Captain Pike quiet well, and he’s partway between Kirk and Picard, an older captain with his own charms. Number One (Rebecca Romijn) is also there as Pike’s first officer, and a younger Spock (Ethan Peck) is engaging and well-played as a science officer still learning the ropes of Starfleet.
Despair not…you’ll get to meet a younger James T. Kirk, also working his way up the ranks, quite engaging with an edge of being brash and cocky.You can believe this guy evolving to be William Shatner’s Kirk, so adept is Paul Wesley at conveying Kirk’s mannerisms and style…
Strange New Worlds also gives some previously minor characters an upgrade, and a chance to shine. Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) is young, blonde, and hot, a versatile and dynamic character who would like to do more than just mind meld with Spock…
Uhura too (Celia Rose Gooding) is finally given given the more major role that her earlier character begged for but never fully achieved in the original series and films…
So catch Strange New Worlds if you possibly can. It has all of the right stuff to be a worthy addition to the Star Trek franchise, with better linkage to the characters, spirit, and content of the original series…
S Worlds if you can, a promising and solid-looking show with a better linkage to the characters and spirit of the original series than we’ve seen before..
Set in the monochrome hell of a bleak, dystopian future where artificial intelligence has driven civilization into the ground and all but eradicated humanity, three scavengers enter a warehouse in search of needed supplies to help an injured companion. They extract a box which looks promising, but hidden behind the box is a robotic guard dog…
The Robo-dog, like the creations of Skynet, is an efficient killing machine. It sprays the three humans with tracking shrapnel, and kills one swiftly with a firearm integrated into a limb. The two survivors flee to their vehicles with the Robo-dog in pursuit; this mech is relentless and merciless, and it gallops after them, smashing into one vehicle and killing the driver…
That leaves only the one woman, Bella, alive to battle the robotic horror. Fortunately she’s cut from the same cloth as Linda Hamilton and Sigourney Weaver, crashing her vehicle in an attempt to crush the metalhead but only damaging one of its limbs. That damage renders the robotic dog incapable of climbing a tree, and loss of battery power forces it to power down until it can do a solar recharge. It does so, however, and the pursuit continues…
The Robo-dog selects a knife as an alternative weapon, but the survivalist woman blinds it’s visual sensors with paint. It continues to come after her using auditory sensors, and it takes two shotgun blasts to put it down. Before being destroyed, however, the killer Robo again sprays the woman with tracking shrapnel, one of which lodges hopelessly beyond removal in her jugular.
The tales of Netflix’s “Black Mirror” seldom have happy endings, however, and more robo-dogs are on the way, far more than could be out-battled. The dark tale does, however, end with a twist, leaving the viewer dazed and dazzled…what a rush!
I have to admit that I was wrong in my earlier negative opinion of the rebooted Lost In Space series on Netflix that had been based solely on the initial episode that I was able to view at that time for free. I couldn’t connect with the redefined series characters at that time, and felt that the whole reboot was a pointless exercise. Since that time armed with a Netflix subscription and so able to get further into the series, I can say that the series does get appreciably better after the first episode, when they spent entirely too much time trying to get daughter Judy out of a frozen lake…
Now what really makes the series perk?
This guy! Not the “Robot” from the original series who looked like he was made from a vacuum cleaner and several kitchen appliances, but this sexy alien construction who looks like he was designed by H.R. Giger. There’s not a flat surface on him, nor facial features but rather a faceplate within which swirl colored lights, red if he’s going into “attack mode,” and blue if he’s becoming reflective and empathetic. There’s a bit of the T-800 Terminator in this robot as he does have a dark past, but has bonded with the ever-so-familiar Will Robinson, through whom he’s being schooled in such concepts as restraint and friendship. The Robot’s potential for destruction is channeled into defensiveness and protection as he incorporates human emotion. Heck, he even does primitive cave wall paintings! This Robot can knock down trees, but can also be calm and cool even if a tad unpredictable. He’s a work in progress…
The Robinsons are really much better off with the Robot, who is largely controllable through Will Robinson. Portrayed as a highly intelligent 12-year-old boy, Will is nowhere as annoying as say, Wesley Crusher. Father John Robinson, re-envisioned as a former Navy Seal, is a stalwart and dedicated family man and almost indestructible, capable of surviving in a drill pit after being impaled on a rebar stake, then returning to work almost immediately afterwards. Mother Maureen Robinson has had her IQ bolstered several dozen IQ points from the original character, and is an endlessly resourceful modern take-charge woman who can fix something with almost nothing, saving their backsides multiple times in the process. Major Don West is now a resourceful space smuggler and rogue, a bit like the early Han Solo, who will make the right decisions when the Robinsons are in jeopardy, which is often. Judy Robinson is an adopted daughter portrayed as 18-years-old, and although trained as a medic she can apparently perform almost any life-saving procedure. Middle-child Penny is highly intelligent, intuitive, and creative.
Aww! Isn’t this nice! The Robot at dinner with the Robinsons! This illustrates how while masquerading as science fiction, Lost In Space is essentially a sappy family drama. In almost every episode, there are invariably hostile planetary monsters, killer robots, or a disintegrating planet in environmental upheaval.You know that they will all survive, however, and that there will invariably also be, at the end, a whole lotta hugging going on!
I have to admit, though, that I’m really more interested in the killer robots depicted in the series. I’ve always loved robots, you see, and am willing to put up with the gratuitous hugging of family members if it gets me to one…
Being kidnapped by a giant rabbit is probably not one of the fears or phobias that you have, but after viewing this commercial, it may become one! These aggressive pursuit-rabbits are physically waylaying people in a variety of settings, carrying or dragging them to the Tubi streaming service rabbit hole, and casting them into it! Think that you’re safe in your car? Think again…the bunnies mob a group of vehicles stopped in traffic, extracting their occupants. They’ll kick your chair out from under you, and drag you by your heels! It’s a curious mix of cuteness meets the unexpectedly terrifying. Yes, there’s a Donnie Darko vibe here, and the rabbits are not especially gentle…
As they are flung down the enormous rabbit-hole (one is kicked) , the victims do not suffer cardiac arrest, but seemingly have expressions of surprised delight on their faces from the many Tubi offerings that they behold during their descent. So much for fear of falling…this may be the last thing that you see…
Not the best known streaming service, Tubi’s intent during their 2023 Super Bowl ads seems to be to make people aware of their existence through a novel device. “Find rabbit holes you didn’t know you were looking for?” You may never see rabbits the same way again… 🙀
I hope that you’ll indulge me one more time if I expand my previous post to elaborate a bit on Wednesday Addams’ catsuit as she memorably wore it in team competition during the Netflix series. The catsuit is leather-like, pieced-together, and evocative of that worn by Edward Scissorhands in the Tim Burton movie of the same name. Wednesday wears it well, Murrr! Sorry, she’s bringing out the feral in me…
Copies of the outfit are presently selling briskly! Actress Jenna Ortega had to request that the outfit be modified to allow for…err, bodily functions, as originally there was no provision for that in the suit’s design. Once you were in the catsuit, you were in it for the day’s filming…
And in addition to gravedigging, performing autopsies, and staring uncomfortably, Wednesday enjoys dancing, performing this memorable turn in the series as seen below. I’ve heard the dance compared to an elaborate mating dance by a Bird of Paradise. Notice the claw-like hand movements, and the “broken neck” pose at one point in the video. Wednesday gives us all freedom to be weird, and I appreciate her for that, even if she is a bit dead inside. I guess I’ve always had a “thing” for bad girls like Catwoman, Cheetah, and Wednesday. Yeah, I know that good girls go to heaven, but bad ones go everywhere, and Wednesday will make her own way… 😸
(Now if Wednesday was an anthropomorphic fox performing her dance, you might have something like this…) 🦊
FOXSYLVANIA 
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