bending_sickle | Look, you're my brother and I'd die for you.*

But there are some things I need to keep to myself.*

Supernatural Review of 99 Problems:

My main thinky thoughts are here, because as I've said, I'm better at meta-conversations than doing it solo.

As for Dark Side of the Moon, I have one final point that struck me, especially whilst watching the memory of Sam leaving for Stanford. It struck me that Sam and Dean are a bit like what I saw Firefly's Simon and River having.

Apart from the overall similarities of both pairs of siblings having had strong childhood relationships followed by a separation for the education of the younger, with the older sibling freaking out, and then the siblings reuniting, escaping peril and then being forced to go on the run... Woah, that's a lot more similarity than I realized.

Anyway, apart from all that, I realized something about what Sam wants, or wanted. What Sam wanted was to not be a hunter, to live a normal life with a normal family. At the same time, Sam wants to be with Dean. But what Sam wants clashes with what Dean wants, or even with what Dean is. Dean can't even see the distinction between Sam's two wants.

Dean: Sam never wanted part of this family. He hated this life, ran away to Stanford the first chance he got.

Sam: ...I wanted to go to school and live my life, which in our whacked out family made me the freak.

How many times has Dean gone on about how hunting is his life, like it or not, and that the other side of life, the civilian side, is a world he can't live in? Lots. So Sam wants to be somewhere, do something, that basically bars Dean from entering.

Dean: This is the night you ditched us for Stanford, isn’t it? This is your idea of Heaven? Wow. This is like one of the worst nights of my life.

And this is a bit like what was happening with Simon, who wants to be a doctor and work at a hospital - Saving people, ~~hunting things~~ - but also wants to take care of River. But hospitals, doctors, and all things medical freak River out because of what they did to her at the Academy. Hospitals are where Simon flourishes, where he is in his element - just watch Ariel - just as Sam blossomed when he got away from John (and, unfortunately, Dean), be it running away and hiding out with a dog two weeks or going off to Stanford.

As I said in Undertow:

How unjust of the ‘verse it was that she could never share in Simon’s haven.

I just find it so sad that the life Sam wants to live - the life Simon wants to live - does not have a place for Dean or River, their only family, the only person they need. In the end, they choose the person they love - the person they want to be with - over the life they want - over who they want to be.

River: You gave up everything you had to find me. You found me broken. It's hard for you. You gave up everything you had.
Simon: Mei-mei. Everything I have... is right here.

Dean: Come on, if you could wish yourself back, you know, before it all started... Think about it .You'd be some big yuppie lawyer with a nice car and a white picket fence.
Sam: Not what I'd wish for.
Dean: Seriously?
Sam: It's too late to go back to our old lives, Dean. I'm not that guy anymore.

Links of the Day:

Supernatural:

canyon_deye's Icons

the_fmly_bzns's Review 99 Problems

alleysweeper's Review 99 Problems

cowards_kiss' Review 99 Problems

yourlibrarian's Questions on dreams, demon wars, motivation and the family metaphor

leonidaslion's Fae!Verse Fic Fire

roadtripper666's Stick Art: Dean and Cas and Ice Cream

el1ie's Fanvid I Ain't Scared (Dean character study)
LeBluu's Fanvid Dean the Pooh - D'awww!
Mouette79's Fanvid Rock Bottom: A Winchester Brother's Tribute - WATCH THIS (and weep)
Papy2O0O's Video Misha Collins Being Shy at The JIB Convention in Rome 2010
DigitalSpy's Mark Pellegrino Interview: Supernatural star: 'Lucifer is sincere'

Lost:

iconseeyou's Benry Knows Best and Lost Icons
Comic: Benry Knows Best: I'll Have You

Multifandom:

acidpenguin46's Icons - Ashes to Ahses, Inglorious Basterds, Doctor Who, Kill Bill, Skins, Zombieland, Miscellaneous

Other Fandom:

sue_denimme's Picspam Masterlist The Power of Ten

lindest's Life on Mars Picspam and Fanmix Mo More Mr. Nice Guy

iconzicons's Sleeping Beauty Icons ; Star Trek: The Next Generation Icons

obsessive24's Perhaps Love Fanvid My Love is Deeper Than Yours

chaosvizier's Movie Reviews: Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, Shutter Island, There Will Be Blood

45eugenia's flocked Reason #189 Why You Should Be Watching Burn Notice

Random:

marika_kailaya's Girl of Eighteen, Fell in Love With Everything: On Heroines in Typical YA Novels ; Burning the Sound: You Are So Damn Lucky

fandomsecrets' Secret 134: Apparently there's an age-limit to being in fandom. - If the you meant something else and whine about how everyone's misunderstanding your secret, then write better secrets Also? Obsessive behaviour at any age is Not Good - being young doesn't get you a Not Crazy card.

extemporanea's Shane MacGowan, Nick Cave, Chrissie Hynde, Johnny Depp, Mick Jones (on fire extinguisher) and others cover "I Put a Spell on You" in aid of Haiti relief ; Put That Baby Spell On Me: On the enormous cultural pressure from a large number of sources which is exerted on women to make them think that child-bearing is not only desirable, but inevitable

padparadscha's On Evolutionary Psychology, Intelligent Design, and Scuba Gear

yumemisama's Answers questions of, "In the US, do they really...?"

qthewetsprocket's Depression is a disease

bergann's embedded The Best Navy Carrier Squadron in the world to work on: Singing and dancing, oh my!
Wiki's List of fictional medicines and drugs

* Sam, Bloody Mary, SPN