Do not order off the menu.*

[bending_sickle]

*waves* I'm back! Working on catching up, have loads of scribbles to transcribe and half-formed ideas to develop, as well as hundreds of photos from galavanting across Europe. Meanwhile, I'm going to snack on (burnt) coconut macarrons, tea, and the Winchesters. Folks are away until next Sunday, so I've got plenty of space and time to do as I'd like and then some.

A long while back, I went overboard in response to sylvia_bond's Review of 6x02. Thought I'd better post it all here, too. (Especially considering I can't bloody well find the comments anymore. What happened, did the cookie monster eat them or what?)

I hope you don’t think me terribly nitpicky, but when you say, "a child who can randomly switch physical traits, gender, or even nationality", I don’t think "nationality" is the word you're looking for, (which has nothing to do with appearance and everything to do with a country’s legalities), but rather (apparent-)ethnicity.

Dean has always been of the belief that if its a monster, you kill it, no questions asked. -> As Kimblery says, he's changed. The earliest solid evidence of this that I can remember is in Blood Lust when talking about letting the vampire Lenore and her troop go. Plus there's the more current evidence of him at least putting up with Ruby for the most part, teaming up with Crowley, etc. (although him going against Sam, who is very much in the "don’t kill the monster unless you have to" camp in Metamorphosis is an interesting contrast).

The Blood Lust dialogue showing this change of heart has stuck with me ever since:

Dean: What if we killed things that didn’t deserve killing? You know? I mean, the way Dad raised us...
[...]
Sam: You didn't kill Lenore.
Dean: No, but every instinct told me to. I was gonna kill her. I was gonna kill 'em all.
Sam: Yeah, Dean, but you didn't. And that’s what matters.
Dean Winchester: Yeah.

(That whole talk just stuck with me.)

He thinks he can condition the killer out of the Baby -> I understood the plan as completely the opposite: that they would use the hell out of the shapeshifter and its abilities and be all for it being a killer, as long as they had hold of the leash and it killed who they wanted and impersonated who they needed. Think was an awesome and versatile *tool* a shapeshifter could be!

Show has told us and Dean and Sam that ShapeShifters are evil. -> I'm not too sure about this. They might've gotten evil because of what they could do and what they could get away with (I'm reminded of HGWell's The Invisible Man, who did not end up nice at all). Then there's what the shifter in Skin said, "You know, everybody needs a little human touch now and then. It’s so hard to be different". This suggests that had Granpa Winchester been honest in his desire to raise the baby well, as a human, that he might have had a chance.

What this whole situation does is pose the questions whether monsters (some of them, at least) are made rather than born. The age-old nature-vs-nurture question, or our show's favorite edition of that, the destiny-vs-free-will one. Consider Metamorphosis where Sam says "Well, maybe he won't [turn]. Maybe he can fight it off." and Dean counters with "And maybe he can't, that's all I'm saying." There's this wonderful quote from Robert Stallman's The Orphan (1980) about the question of why monsters are evil which I think you might find interesting and relevant.

In all, I'm really liking the fact that the episodes are making us see the monsters in a different light, often stressing the family aspect. And I do not trust Sam entirely either. I spent the whole of 6x01 thinking he might've been Lucifer (because like salt or holy water or silver is an adequate test for that, right?).

Links of the Day:
Supernatural:
spn_d - Auf Deutsch!
spn_favorites - Fic recommendations
kajmere's Review Weekend at Bobby's
captainlon's Review Weekend at Bobby's
djlover32's Review Weekend at Bobby's, Review for Entertainment
anastdean's Review Weekend at Bobby's
jessm78's Review Weekend at Bobby's
ckll's Review Weekend at Bobby's
aelora's flocked Review Weekend at Bobby's ; Behind the Scenes Photos
tatia_kova_eng's Review Weekend at Bobby's
gwaevalarin's Review The Third Man
yaya_wr8t3r's Review The Third Man
sylvia_bond's Review The Third Man
kimberlyfdr's Review The Third Man
yourlibrarian's Review The Third Man
bardicvoice's Review The Third Man
caffeinekitty's Review The Third Man
sophie_deangirl's Review The Third Man
macha3's Review The Third Man
ancastar's Review The Third Man
tracy_loo_who's Review The Third Man
and_ed's Review The Third Man
aelora's flocked Review The Third Man
captainlon's Review The Third Man
amber3444's Review The Third Man
teand's Review The Third Man
djlover32's Review The Third Man, Review for Entertainment
lilhellsangel's Review The Third Man
adrenalineshots' Review The Third Man
threecatmama's Review The Third Man
verdande_mi's Review The Third Man
ckll's Review The Third Man
sophie_deangirl's Review Two and a Half Men
tahirire's Review Two and a Half Men - ♥ their reviews so much
tatia_kova_eng's Review Two and a Half Men
blacklid's Review Exhile on Main St. - Ditto ♥
spnfencentral's Discussion Post
fannishliss' Meta Sam/Dean vs. Dean/Lisa
muridae_ex's Meta Time heals all wounds...if you have enough of it
nina_nicky's Meta The Porch Wall Tale
cagedwriter61's Meta The Lisa Issue: An Unconventional Take
esorlehcar's Meta On Lisa, the Sam&Dean show, and taking the happiest ending possible
metallidean_grl's Meta Sam's resurrection Hypothesis - Possible 6x11 spoilers, including title
giandujakiss's Meta My Extremely Unpopular Fannish Opinion: I do not think Lisa is awesome
sammyknuddel's Poll What's Wrong With Sam? ; Poll Who brought Sam Out of Hell?
spnroundtable's Ask the Author: Leonidaslion
azephirin's Fic Vasilissa the Fair (Sam/OFC)
ash_carpenter's Fic What is a Sam girl?
ladycrystal_c's dean_sam-flocked Fic Bobby's Couch
delphinapterus' Fic Who Can Afford It ; Fic Voices Over the Phone
ladyrhyanne's Fic In The Valley of Red-Hot Steel and Fire (Welcome to the Real World)
poisontaster's Fic This Is How We Don't Belong (Pat Benetar's Thunder Overdub) (Ellen/Pamela)
jojothecr's RPF Cuddling is for Kittens (J2)
latentfunction's Fic Your loneliness panting behind you (Dean/Lisa)
leonidaslion's Fic Fumbling in the Dark Promiscuous (Hollywood Babylon), Flaw (Heart), Vile (Folsom Prison Blues) ; Beserker!Verse Fic Haunt
plainapple's Fic The Body Swap that Wasn't...Or Was It?!
i_speak_tongue's Fic A Raw Deal: Lost Verses from the Recovered Hard Drive of Carver Edlund, aka the Prophet Chuck
de_nugis' Fic Made Do
theredfeather's Fic And at the Hour of Our Death
lovedbythesun's Fic What's Mine is Yours to Make Your Own
ratherastory's Fic The Cutting Edge (the Someone Has to Bleed Remix)
wandersfound's Fic Someday Our Paths Will cross Again
nyoka's Fic Where Angels Sleep
dotfic's Fic You Still Might hear Your Own Voice
smilla02's Fic Of Moving Objects and the Stillness in Between
keerawa's Fic And the devil Got His Due (the Green-Light Remix)
bewaretheides15's Fic How Deep this Runs
lethiaw77's BtVS Crossover Fic High School is Hell (Willow/Dean, Sam/Buffy)
borgmama1of5's Fic First Time - "Dean teaches Sam a necessary skill in their line of work."
rivkat's Fic And time yet for a hundred indecisions (the yellow smoke remix) (Sam/Dean/Jo)
rockstarpeach's Fic Series Blow Me (Sam/Dean)
pylarwoman's Fic Hot Like Wasabi When I Bust Rhymes
i_speak_tongue's Fic A Rought Guide to Eating Sandwiches (Dean/Lisa)
dontknowmyname's Fic A Promise and a Ring
mute90's BtVS Crossover Fic And Blood Screams (Spike/Sam/Faith, implied Spike/Sam/Dean/Faith)
charsfic's 6x01 Coda Fic Watching Sam Leave
extra_cookie's RPF AU Fic Fire - Missed opportunity using Misha, who's house really did burn down? Yes. ; RPF AU Rising from the Ashes
usmc75's dean_sam-flocked BtVS/Angel Crossover Fic Index To Live and Die in LA (Faith/Dean)
soncnica's Fic Shut the gates at Sunset, 4/21
sandymg's 6x03 Coda Fic Dead Things
smilla02's Fic Of Moving Objects and the Stillness in Between
azephirin's Fic Recommendations Female-Character Centered, Crossovers
ladymanson's BtVS Crossover Fic Living at a Pace that Kills (Buffy/Dean)
jedimastercait's Fanvid The Vision
kaiyote's Fanvid Where Were You? (Castiel/Balthazar)
kjcharmed's Fanvid Take Good Care of my Baby
bevwa's Fanvid War Hero (Dean) ; Fanvid Na Na Na (Sam, Dean, Monsters)
jaychan85's Fanvid Orchard of Mines
ashdoode's 6x03 Fanvid Guess Who's Back
kjcharmed's Nightmare on Elm Street Crossover Fanvid Tourniquet ; Hot Mess (Sam)
etrix's Fanvid Chicks, Witches & Cars
switch842's Fanvid In the Beginning (Young!Mary, Young!John)
brihana25's Fanvid (Don't Piss Off the) Nerd Angels
ashdoode's Fanvid You and Me? We're Just Different... (Sam, John)
tearaphoenix's Fanvid Sexy Natural
dearigdaio's Fanvid I Like
bad__faith's Fanvid Set Fire to the Third Bar (Sam/Castiel) ; You Could Be Happy (Sam, dean)
secretlytodream's Fanvid Voices on the Wind
moviegeek03's Fanvidlet Just Can't Get Enough (6x02)
ash4897's Fanvid Set Me Free
marvelgirl_art's Wallpapers Dean/Faith (Angel/BtVS Crossover), Dean, Dean/Castiel
ckll's Picspam 6x02 - reasons We ♥ Supernatural
joyyjpg's Icons
violateraindrop's Icons
mydearheart's 6x03 Icons
morgentau's Icons 6x02 ; Icons
mata090680's 6x03 Icons
lere8's 6x03 Icons
e0wyn's Icons 6x02 ; 6x03 Icons
bittersweet_art's Icons 6x02, 6x02 (Sam)
kasienka_nikki's Icons 6x02
mydearheart's Icons 6x02
wicket_icons' Icons 5x15-17
aldehyde's Keep Calm and... Icons
bittersweet_art's 6x03 Icons
janie_tangerine's Icons & Wallpapers
hsapiens' Icons
secretlytodream's Icons
nito_punk's Icons
cha's Icons - Jensen as Director
longerthanwedo's Icons (Sam)
kros_21's Icons
hellybongo's Icons 6x01-02 ; Picspam 6x02
franzimania's Wallpapers
dean_sam's flocked Scans Camera Ready: Ackles fired up the crowd at Comic-Con in July with clios from his directorial debut ; Reasons we love Supernatural, The Third Man ; Picspam Jensen Ackles Directing ; Photo Op: "No Comment" (Source) ; Chicago Con Videos ; Chicago Con Videos Cont. ; Chicago Con Videos Cont.
vichan's Fanart Someday Our Paths Will Cross Again (Dean/Jimmy, Dean/Castiel)
kajmere's Picspam Chicago Con 2010, J2
mummy_daydream's A compilation of tweets from Jared & Misha breakfast at #Chicon
agt_spooky's sharing Mark Sheppard panel at Chicago Con 2010, Richard Speight singing at Chicago Con 2010, Transcript Meet and greet with Jensen, Chicago Con 2010
yourlibrarian's Transcript Jared and jensen, Chicago Con 2010
anastdean's embed On the Set with 'Supernatural' Director Jensen Ackles
cha's Jensen in Still Life
Fangasm's Jensen Ackles Loves His Job: Setting the Record Straight at ChiCon
SupernaturalWiki's Chicago Con 2010
The Winchester Family Business's Chicago Con Report: Breakfast With Jared and Misha
Hasitall's GIFs 2x09, 2x10
YouTube's J2 comment on animation ; Jensen Joins the Panel (Chicago Con 2010) ; Matt Cohen's Impersonations of Jared & Jensen ; Jensen Ackles Directing
TV Squad's Exclusive Video: On the set with Supernatural Director Jensen Ackles
WhosNews' Mark Sheppard Interview
Innsmouth's Interview: Supernatural: Cindy Sampson
Buddy TV's What's Wrong With Sam? ; 'Supernatural' Photos: Jensen Ackles Directs an Episode
Moogi's 6x03 Discussion

Doctor Who:
maddythevampire's Picspam Ten Celebration

True Blood:
nemesisofamor's Picspam True (Blood) Colours Shining Through
trueblood_lj's flocked 1x02 Discussion

Sherlock:
marshwiggledyke's Fanvid The Heliocentric Theory
qthewetsprocket's embed squee

Other Fandom:
tennant_love's embeds David Tennant Interview on Paul O'Grady ; Single Father Discussion Post, flocked Sharing Post
anythingbutgrey's Terminator: The Sarah connor Chronicles Fic Looking for the Ghost
erychan86's Single Father Picspam Episode 1
zqfans' embed Zachary Quinto: IMDb 20th Anniversary Interview
qthewetsprocket's embeded squee Trailer: The Tempest
purely_distel's Hamlet (Simm) Review
iconzicons' Beetlejuice Icons
Thorne Gazette's Single Father Tennant Revewals TV Sex Scene Woes
Markreadsharrypotter's The Deathly Hallows Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 16, Sorry I do not have another review today, but I have something else!
Neil Gaiman's Personal Assistants and Why I Am Lucky ; The Sandman Menu Defacement Perplex

Multifandom:
equinamousicons' Icons - BSG, Doctor Who, Fringe, Lost, Star Trek, Star Wars
electrical_s' Icons - Chuck, Lost, Merlin, Supernatural, Vampire Diaries
highdreams' Icons - Band of Brothers, Supernatural, White Collar
canyon_deye's Icons - Chuck, Supernatural, Glee, Vampire Diaries, Doctor Who, Conan O'Brian
mediocrechick's scans Entertainment Weekly: The 50 Most Powerful Entertainers & 40 Under 40: Hollywood's Highest Grossing Young Stars, Entertainment Weeley: Classic Casts Reunited
exp0se's Icons - Undercovers, White Collar, Nikita, The Uninvited, Supernatural, 90210, Veronica Mars, Lost
24_amends' Icons - Supernatural, Fringe
wkitkj22's Icons - Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Supernatural, Lost, True Blood, Big Bang Theory
living_end96's Icons - Supernatural, Green Day, Sherlock Holmes, Misc.
docrock06's Icons - Nikita (2010), Supernatural, Merlin
xloz_91's Icons - Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, White Collar
e0wyn's Icons - Castle, Supernatural
iconomicon's Icons
TV.com's Gilmore Girls: Where Are They Now?
Portrait Magazine's 20 Most Beautiful, Inside and Out

Random:
yumemisama's On Tupac Shakur ; Celebrity profiles
seschat's embed Elizabeth Gilbert: A new way to think about creativity
theweaselking's embed Stayin' Alive in the Wall (Pink Floyd vs. Bee Gees) ; Hypothetical Question
plinko's metaquotesed God Application - ♥
cleolinda's a video of a Pallas cat, a chicken on a rope, aerial gymnastics, and faux James Bond music
greygirlbeast's reposting If youre a monster... by Catherynne M. Valente (yuki_onna)
ursulav's Talking Shop
lucylou's Harry Potter Comic Heartbroken at Hogwarts ; Twilight Comic My Lost Weekend in the Meyer ; Sleepy Update
zqfans' embed "It gets better" - Zachary Quinto - Addressing the recent suicides of gay adolescents.
foxesdaughter's response to people who tell gay people, "there, there, it will all be OK" - "Why aren't we all blogging/tweeting/YouTubing things like, "HEY, FUCKTARD!! IF YOU BULLY A GBLTQ PERSON, YOU WILL BE SHUNNED FOR THE ASSHAT THAT YOU ARE AND IF HARM COMES FROM IT YOUR ASS IS GOING TO JAIL - YEAH, THAT INCLUDES YOU, AUNT SALLY, YOU BIGOTED COW"? Why the hell are we continuing to put the onus on the victims of bullying to suck it up, and hold on until some mythical age comes when there are no bigots??" - The juxtaposition of this link with that above it is glorious.
cleolinda's Nude beige, on the stairs - "YOU CAN'T RAISE AWARENESS OF SOMETHING IF NO ONE KNOWS WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT." See also The Non-Adventures of Wonderella's The Breast Intentions
trailer_spot's Picspam New York 2010 Day 6 Part 2: Top of the Rock, Rockefeller Center, Midtown Skyscrapers
ursulav's Schweintiz's Sunflower - Fight extinction in your own backyard!
i_am_your_spy's embed Franz Nicolay's "The Ballads of Hollis Wadsworth - "Yeah. So. It's about Hollis Mason, and it has an accordion, and is pretty great, I think."
marika_kailaya's INTERNET - WOULD YOU SPEND MONEY AND SACRIFICE YOUR CHILDREN'S FOOD FOR MY BOOKS?
THEN PLEASE, MY GOOD LADIES, GENTLEMEN, AND OTHER, FEEL FREE TO ADVERTISE literary_taste AT WILL!
oakenguy's For folks having a hard day - The noses! Oh, the noses!
Markreadsharrypotter's The Definitive Spoiler Guide for Mark Reads - Should apply to everything ever
Neil Gaiman's Big Blog on Train - With photos! Also, replica dodo skull ftw.
Discover Magazine's Squirrels masturbate to avoid sexually transmitted infections ; Women make safer financial decisions when faced with sexual stereotypes
Snopes' Alpine Ibex walking on the side of Cingino Dam - 0.0 Salt = ibex crack.
The New York Times' Scientists and Soldiers Solve a Bee Mystery - Bee colony collapse, that is.
KGW's Acid liquid thrown on Vancouver woman's face, Vancouver woman's parents apologize for acid hoax - Why would you do that to yourself?
Foxnews' Arizona mom hit with acid days after similar attack on woman in Washington - Note how while the photograph of the "Vancouver woman" says, "Police say Bethany Storro, pictured above, threw acid in her own face," the article stills gives her hoax-story of the attack. You fail, Fox. Except you, photo-caption person.
Boinbboing's School suspends crying son of murdered man because his eyes were red - Die in a beurocratic and litigious fire, school people who made that call.
Wpsd Local 6's Firefighters watch as home burns to the ground. - ON PURPOSE. They just stood there and WATCHED because the man hadn't paid his $75 to the city for firefighting services. Have you no humanity? Get the FUCK out of my species.
Wiki's Bioogical Uplift
Wondermark's Airplane fish are a genre now
OK Cupid's Gay Sex vs. Straight Sex - Crunch some numbers
Derren Brown's The Platypus Can Poison You 80 Different Ways ; Magic Software Eliminates Objects From Reality Itself
Guardian's Scientists eradicate deadly rinderpest virus - "Elimination of virus that causes deadly cattle plague makes rinderpest only the second viral disease in history to have been wiped out by humans."
Kevin & Ursula Eat Cheap's Episode 5 - "It does NOT look like rotting flesh"


* Dean Winchester, "Free to Be You and Me"