Dear Vampire Diary: Should’ve Said There Was Another Witch

by maryhelenc, posted in Vampire Diaries

Dear Vampire Diary:

This week was full of twists and turns and werewolves oh my!

(Spoiler alert! Don’t read if you haven’t watched)

The Salvatore brothers have had enough of Katherine and are determined to finally be rid of her. Teaming up with Jeremy Gilbert, Alaric, Caroline and Bonnie, the Scooby gang team up to take on the psychotic vamp.

The plan nearly falls flat when Kat kills a random drunk who picked the wrong time to tell “Elena” that she looked sensational. Kat showed her dark side once again by killing the girl. Stefan wavered in his resolve to kill Katherine, but Damon helped keep Stefan focused.

Meanwhile, Katherine’s plan to get a werewolf worked, as Tyler inadvertently killed a drunk girl (compelled by Katherine to get the job done if Matt couldn’t) after Caroline saved Matt from destruction. Tyler was horrified at what he would become, Caroline reached out with understanding, showing him her black eyes after his turned werewolf amber.

Jeremy & Bonnie played their parts well, with the former serving as a pawn and the latter casting a spell keeping Katherine caged. Caroline managed to fool Katherine and lure her into what should have been her demise. As the Savatores attacked their former lover, Elena (who snuck out from the not so watchful eye of Alaric. Seriously, worst babysitter ever) suffered every blow, thanks to Lucy, Katherine’s witch friend Stefan, unable to strike Katherine knowing his beloved Elena would suffer, interrogated Katherine, who taunted him comically. Damon had finally had enough of Katherine’s antics & vowed to stake her once Elena was safe.

However, Lucy had grown annoyed that Katherine had misled her; she failed to mention to her that there would be another witch. After winning Bonnie’s trust, Lucy gave Katherine the moonstone, which had now been tainted with magic. With Katherine subdued & Elena free from harm, the Salvatores were free to dispose of her by putting her in the place they thought she was all along: the Fell’s Church tomb. As Katherine explained that the Salvatores needed her to protect the doppleganger (Elena), Damon closed the door on Katherine, hesitated, & walked away.

With Katherine gone, Stefan rushed to Elena in hopes to be with her once more. Elena however, wasn’t ready to return to Stefan’s arms…yet. Deciding to take some time alone, Elena declined her brother’s offer to drive her home & was abducted by a masked man, leaving us on a cliffhanger.

Will our heroes save their beloved or will death finally claim Elena? Will Jeremy’s awkward advances on Bonnie work? We won’t know until next week!

Dear Vampire Diary: I don’t Think I’ll Like Plan C

by maryhelenc, posted in Vampire Diaries

Dear Vampire Diary,

Love hurts so much it can rip your heart out, especially in Mystic Falls.

(spoiler alert! Don’t read on if you haven’t watched)

The episode started off promising, as Elena and her vampire soulmate forgot they were supposed to pretend to fight & made love. Werehottie Mason Lockwood enjoyed his morning as well, with Katherine sharing his bed. Katherine wants the moonstone and Mason plans on giving it to her…later.

New vamp Caroline is having family drama (I’m sure we can all relate to the problems that come from locking your mom in a basement when she finds out you’re the walking undead). After spending the day educating her mom on the vampire way of life, Sheriff Forbes agreed to keep her daughter’s secret & admitted how proud she is of her daughter. Caroline knew her mother would never protect her makers (the Salvatores) in the same manner, so she compelled the moment away & set her mother free. Things are just going to get worse for Caroline, as Katherine has a plan for her beloved ex boyfriend Matt, but more on that later.

The romantic entanglements came to a head when Bonnie bumped into Mason and got a vision of him kissing “Elena”. Stefan put two and two together and along with Bonnie and Damon, set out to “talk” to Mason and get the moonstone.

Stefan’s leap into a an old well to get the moonstone nearly proved fatal as it wad full of vervain. The ladies worked as a team to save him & Elena let him feed from her in order to revive him (LOVE Bonnie, Caroline, & Elena working together again, let’s see more of this in future eppies). Meanwhile, Damon’s playtime with Mason ended with the tortured vampire ripping out the werewolf’s heart in a jealous rage. Damon’s mocking call to his former vamp lover put Katherine in revenge mode, compelling Elena’s Aunt Jenna to attempt suicide and Matt to sacrifice himself so Katherine can have a werewolf.

Elena, racked with guilt left Stefan, claiming Katherine won. Damon humbly apologized, but Elena was gone. The Salvatores know that to win the woman they love back, they need to kill Katherine. With Alaric (he wants to defend his beloved Jenna and her niece), Jeremy and Bonnie also wanting Kat dead, she best have nine lives.

How can it be pedophilia if all the kids are grown?

by maryhelenc, posted in Celebrity Fluff, Seriously WTF?

GQ Magazine’s Glee-ful cover had tongues wagging this week as fans were treated to cast members dressed scandalously. The Parent Teacher Council claimed the shots were “borderline pedophilia” as stars Corey Monteith, Lea Michelle and Diana Aragon play teenagers on the Fox dramedy. The PTC says the men’s magazine is promoting the sexualization of young people.

While one can applaud the PTC for speaking out against the objectification of children, Monteith, Michelle and Aragon are all adults (Monteith is 19 and his ladies are both 24). Rolling Stone featured an equally as salacious Glee cover earlier this year where a draft swept up Michelle’s skirt, exposing her panties. The cover was met with rave reviews & no PTC complaints.

While the actors do play teenagers, they aren’t teenagers themselves. This isn’t the first time an adult playing a teen has posed provocatively for a magazine. Jessica Biel famously posed topless for Gear magazine in an attempt to get fired from 7th Heaven. Another 7th Heaven alum Ashlee Simpson posed in Maxim’s Blender Magazine promoting her first album (while still playing virginal Celia). Neither spread received flack. Not to mention that GQ is a men’s magazine. It’s not like these shots made their way into Teen Beat.

I’m surprised the PTC hasnt spoken out about nine year old Willow Smith, who has recently released her first music video. Surely that violates child labour laws. Either way, more people are talking about Glee, which makes Ryan Murphy very gleeful indeed.

Till Death Do Us Part, Or Until We’re Like Really Bored

by maryhelenc, posted in Celebrity Fluff, Relationships

Hollywood supercouple Courteney Cox & David Arquette announced their separation after 11 years of marriage, an announcement that blindsided the gossip rags.

Cox & Arquette were one of the few Hollywood marriages that actually seemed to work, despite ups and downs & his craptastic attempt to start a pro wrestling career. After 11 years, what could tear them apart?

I guess it saddens me because I’m a huge believer of the idea of “Death do us part” & hate that it’s just so easy to walk away. It’s funny that this news came on the heels of a horrid argument between myself & my own husband. Voices were raised, tears were shed & friends were called for comfort. It was a particularly crappy day for my marriage, but I still wouldn’t want to throw in the towel.

I’m not saying stick it out if you’re living a nightmarish life with adultery and domestic violence, but the idea that you “grew apart” seems strange to me. Of course you’re not the same exact person you were when you said “I do” but a true marriage means you evolve together.

My parents told me that a successful marriage means knowing you won’t always love (or even like) your partner, but you love them enough to learn to fall in love with them again so the good times outweigh the crappy ones. Too many people find it too easy to just walk away.

I think the reason that so many marriages end is that we don’t take the time to get to know ourselves well enough to know what we need in a partner. We get so caught up in the idea that we need anyone beside us that we don’t look for our other half. Because we haven’t found that person who makes us feel complete, it’s easy to just leave.

I hope for the sake of the Arquette/Cox & Aguilera/Bratman marriages, this is a separation that comes with a reconciliation. Sometimes you need to be away from someone to realize how much you need them. If not, may they continue to coparent their children in a healthy manner. In the meantime, we can all wonder how Will Smith & Jada Pinkett-Smith keep it together.

Who’s Thankful For What?

by maryhelenc, posted in Relationships

I have a love/hate relationship with Thanksgiving.

While I do so love making tonnes and tonnes of food for my family and friends, the idea of sitting around with relatives we barely see (or make any attempt to contact otherwise) and talk about how we’re all thankful for each other is kind of weird. I guess it’s because (as I’ve mentioned in previous posts) that I’ve never really had strong extended family ties so the whole idea of it is strange.

I make it a point to get together with family and dear friends and make a huge meal but I never ask what we’re thankful for. I think we should make it a point to be thankful for things all year long, not just while Aunt Ann is passing the sweet potatoes. By the time pie is served, we’ve all forgotten what we’re thankful for and by the next day, we’ve reverted back to the bitter bees who don’t appreciate the life we’ve been given or those we have to share it with.

There are alot of things we should be thankful for but aren’t, things like oppurtunities and chances. So many of us waste oppurtunities because of momentary distractions or because we’re straight up afraid to fail. The world would be alot better if we saw the chance to succeed as a victory of it’s own. Many people don’t even have the chance to try and yet so many of us throw away a chance thinking we can revisit it once we’re done playing around. However, oppurtunity rarely knocks again and NEVER leaves a voicemail. We should be thankful for each step we take in the journey and not focus on the end result. I know I used to be terrible for making excuses for why I didn’t just take steps because it was a long shot or because what if I wasn’t good enough. Now I know that I wasted alot of time that could have been spent succeeding. People should be thankful for the chance to try, instead of afraid to fail.

Family is another thing we take for granted. Family doesn’t necessarily mean blood ties, but the people in your life who make your life better. So many people don’t appreciate their children until they’ve grown and have lives of their own or their spouses until they’ve left. We don’t appreciate the friends who held our hands until you forgot to hold theirs and they moved on. Why wait until Thanksgiving to tell people that you love and appreciate them?  We live in a generation of self-absorption, why not pull yourself back a bit and take a moment to reflect on the people who have helped you get where you want to be?

I am guilty of this myself. I tend to be unappreciative of my job, despite it providing me financial security and focusing on how much it sucks. I have other goals, but I let things get in the way and I don’t think I show my family and friends enough love, so I need to take my own advice. I think we’d be a society of happy people if we took chances for ourselves while choosing to surround ourselves with the people who truly have our back. Then we could be thankful for the food on Thanksgiving instead of reciting the same old greeting card sentiment around the table.  After all, family, friends, and life are every day, but we can only enjoy stuffing three times a year at the most. So, let’s take the oppurtunity to enjoy it.

Dear Vampire Diary: Being A Vampire Teenager Sucks

by maryhelenc, posted in Vampire Diaries

Dear Vampire Diary,

This week we learned that even teenage vampires have mama drama.

(Spoiler alert! Don’t read if you haven’t viewed it yet)

Newborn vamp/drama queen Caroline Forbes showed some pretty open hostility to her mother, prompting even the self absorbed Damon to rush to the Sherrif’s defense.  The relationship between mother and daughter was strained during the first season, but after Logan Fell’s abduction of Caroline and her car accident, relations seemed to have thawed. That of course was before Caroline became a daywalking vampire.

Relations between mother and daughter came to a head thanks to canine hottie Mason Lockwood. Despite Stefan’s best attempt to repair vampire/werewolf relations (“Awww…but I don’t want peace), Mason was determined to wipe Stefan and Damon out. After convincing Sherrif Forbes that the Salvatore hotties were indeed vampires, he used a little girl to bring Damon lemonade spiked with (gasp!) Vervain. Sherrif Forbes pumped the brothers full of wooden bullets and began to torture Damon before Elena and Caroline made the save. Caroline’s mother was horrified to see her daughter was now a vampire and swore her daughter was “gone” and refused to see her, reducing the girl to tears. Damon’s sparing of Caroline’s mother and even defending Caroline’s humanity melted the ice between Elena and Damon as well.

Speaking of Caroline, she got to show off her bad assery when she kicked the crap out of Mason Lockwood. Knowing Mason’s attitude towards women, his ego is bruised alot more than his body. I hope Damon makes fun of him in another episode.

Damon also managed to thaw relations between Elena and Stefan. After weeks of pretending to quarrel and his inability to recover after the Forbes beating, Stefan realized Damon was right; he does need human blood to have the strength to protect Elena from Katherine. Drawing on what Katherine said about building a vervain tolerance, Stefan plans to build up a tolerance to human blood by consuming little bits at a time. Elena is initially angry, as blood drunk Stefan makes for a bad boyfriend, but Damon takes up for baby brother, pointing out that Stefan really does need it to survive. Realizing that Damon is right, she allows Stefan to drink her blood, claiming they need to fight Katherine together.

Katherine kept a safe distance from the Salvatores, instead to claim the sacred moonstone from werewolf lover Mason. Mason got the stone from nephew Tyler, who was nearly cursed after an incident with the stairs and a drunk girl. Jeremy admitted he knew Tyler’s secret, forming an unlikely bond (I guess they needed more in common then having dead parents and doing Vicki Bennett). Katherine’s real agenda is revealed; she wants the moonstone and manipulated Mason Lockwood into accepting his “gift” so she could retrieve it. However, she seems to have an interest in BOTH Salvatore brothers and insists that Mason stay away. I guess all that professing of love for Stefan was a ploy to divide and conquer the brothers, or was it?

Next week’s preview shows another Damon/Bonnie showdown and Elena receiving some pretty serious threats from Katherine. What’s gonna happen next? Luckily for us, VD never makes us wait too long to find out!

For Sale: My Family’s Legacy

by maryhelenc, posted in Relationships, Seriously WTF?

While surfing e-bay, I stumbled apon a listing for some World War II memorbilia. Namely, a man’s medals, logbook, cufflinks, medals and stripes. There were several auctions like this, apparently someone wants to sell off their late grandfather’s things and pocket the cash. There was another auction similar where someone was auctioning a longtime family heirloom, passed down over six generations because she wanted a vacation.

This angers and saddens me. My family has no real history to speak of. After my father’s untimely passing, a relative took most of our family possessions and ran. My mom doesn’t really talk much about my grandfathers (who both served in WWII) and it wasn’t until I married my husband that I really understood how important it is that you know where you came from. I’m rather sad that my daughters don’t have anything passed down to them besides an onyx ring and their great grandfather’s service cap. The fact that these people can’t see the value in something like that makes me sad. The medals are the worst, as Grampa risked life and limb to earn those stripes and medals. A museum would gladly take those off of your hands. I actually bid on something from this guy’s collection of auctions because it made me sad to see something that was likely once so prized being sold with unlocked iPhones and Justin Bieber’s hair.

I understand desperate times sometimes call for things we once loved to be sold but some things should be kept sacred IMO. My sister in law proudly wears her grandmother’s wedding rings and I imagine short of life saving surgery for one of her daughters, nothing would pry those things from her finger. I can’t imagine my husband putting his grandfather’s service cap on ebay. I would rather eat glass then sell my wedding rings. You get the idea.

While yes, they are just meager things, they are things that connect you to your roots and tell a story. Someday, Gramma and Grampa are long gone and the only thing that keeps them with us are the stories, the knicknacks and the treasures. Why give those things away?

I guess I don’t get it because the idea of family means so much to me. It wasn’t until I was a teenager until I felt like I was part of one and my husband entertains my constant need to build memories and traditions and all of the things that it seems were lost with my parents’ generation. Either way, I would hate to think that something I wore (or earned) and cared enough about to give to someone would end up auctioned off to a stranger, who would never know it’s true value.

Sticks and Stones and Glass Houses

by maryhelenc, posted in Celebrity Fluff, Seriously WTF?, support Windsor!

In the wake of five teenage boys who committed suicide (a Rutgers University student most recently) as a response to bullying, the famous and infamous are speaking out.

After Ellen Degeneres’s passionate pleas to stop the hate; other celebs followed suit including pseudo-celebrity blogger Perez Hilton. This is all well and good, except that Hilton (real name Mario Lavandeira Jr) has made his notoriety as a cyber bully (who favours Miley Cyrus, Fergie, Vanessa Hudgens and Kristen Stewart as his favourite victims).

I understand that Hilton is a homosexual man and this cause hits close to home for him, but you can’t pick and choose who deserves to be bullied.  This man often targets Miley Cyrus, a teenager 14 years his junior as a target and refers to her as “Slutty Cyrus”, a “skank” or “Mileybird the slut”. These childish taunts prompted 15 year old Phoebe Prince to take her life in January. Hilton offered nary a mention to teenage girls who may be living in a similar situation to Prince but continues to speak out to stop the bullying of  LGBT teenagers. The message Hilton is sending is that while it’s wrong to bully LGBT teens, it’s okay to torture the crap out of  straight teen girls.

It’s hard enough to be a teenager without the constant torment that comes from bullying. In this Facebook/blog/Twitter/text age, there is no escape. I was bullied in elementary school, but at least I could go home. Kids have no escape anymore. Social networking can be a deadly weapon in the hands of a bully, something Hilton knows very well.  Hilton used YouTube to launch a campaign against Miss USA finalist Carrie Prejean (who said she was against gay marriage), encouraging people to call her a “c**t”. He also used Twitter to launch a childish tirade against Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.Am, whom he claimed punched him after Hilton reduced fellow Peas member to tears at the Muchmusic Video Awards and later called Will.i.Am a “f****t”.  Hilton offered no apology to either Peas member for the slurs and continues to taunt them on his site.

While Hilton’s attempts to help LGBT teens is admirable, the fact is that he’s built his infamy on the tears of others. Unless he is willing to admit what he is and apologize to the men and women he’s hurt over the years and practice what he preaches, he’s no different then the kid in detention who writes an essay on being nice; everyone knows he doesn’t mean it and the kid who finally spoke out is getting a beatdown in the locker room. Hate is hate, regardless of who is on the receiving end and bullying needs to stop so that every single teenager can enjoy their high school years and look back on them fondly, instead of with the sadness that carries into adulthood.

***ASH Multimedia would like to remind everyone that bullying is WRONG and should never be tolerated. If you or someone you know at your school is being bullied, make sure you come forward. Tell a teacher, your principal or parents. If you don’t feel you can talk to them, remember the Kids Help Phone (1-800-668-6868). It’s not funny, or a game, or a joke. It’s CRUEL. Coming forward is not tattling or pussying out, it’s doing the right thing. Don’t let your friends or yourself be a victim.***

Dear Vampire Diary: Pretend Games Are Fun!

by maryhelenc, posted in Vampire Diaries

Dear Vampire Diary,

My boyfriend’s a vampire, his psychotic ex is trying to kill me & my best vampire friend is working with said psychopath to ruin my life.

(spoiler alert! If you missed it, don’t read on)

Katherine allowed Stefan to torture her as she revealed some more details about the Lockwood werewolves, while she continued to get in Stefan’s head. While trying to convince him that he loved her, Stefan tried to stake her. Too bad his humanity (& her resemblance to his beloved Elena) stopped him. Elena & Stefan staged a public breakup to convince Katherine, Caroline, & Damon that they were no more. Meanwhile, Katherine stared @ the moon longing for Stefan, adding a twist to an already winding road.

Meanwhile, Damon played Pictionary with Mason Lockwood, in hopes to expose him as a werewolf. Wolfy McAbs wasn’t playing & offered Damon a truce, too bad Damon wasnt buying & stabbed Mason in his rock hard stomach. McWolfy told our sexy vamp that truce time is over. Meanwhile, Tyler was shocked when Uncle Mason told him taking human life is the key to the curse. The moonstone may be the key to breaking it & Katherine seems to know something.

Damon & Katherine shared a moment where she warned him to avoid the wolves. Damon’s open anger & Katherine’s concern makes me wonder if these two are truly done.

So, what happens next? Stefan is willing to go blood crazy to protect Elena & Caroline’s mom is getting closer to finding out that her daughter is a vampire. Will Damon stop the wolves or will Katherine manipulate him again? With this show’s fast paced action, we’ll know soon enough!

Kiss the brides?

by maryhelenc, posted in Celebrity Fluff, Relationships

The debut of the show “Sister wives” has everyone talking polygamy.

This isn’t a new idea & dates back to the new testament. Jacob had two wives, Rachel & Leah. While the whole idea prompts many a joke about two husbands forgetting to take out the garbage or two nagging wives, the big question is: can you love more than one person?

To me, the answer is yes, but in different ways. Deep down, we will always have a soft spot for our first love, long after the romance is gone. I have friends I love more than anything (granted I don’t want to marry them) & value their companionship. I couldn’t picture my life without them, but I love my husband more than life itself. Polygamists are capable of loving more than one person in a Romantic & sexual sense.

I just love the irony of a society built on casual sex & adultery has such a problem with multicommitment. While it isn’t for everyone, no one is getting hurt. Meanwhile, every weekend another girl cries because he didn’t call or a guy comes home from work to find his girl & another guy.

I guess (while not for me) it’s just not a big deal to me. Everyone is okay with it & seems to be happy. Maybe we should just let them be a family. After all, it wasn’t too long ago that blended or same sex families were taboo.

So, if the idea of having double the nagging wives or double the forgotten anniversaries appeals to you, have fun! Perhaps if more people focused on their own marriages & not the polygamous ones, more would be successful. I’ll stick with one husband; mine is a handful.