When I was a kid, events were much earlier. Sometimes, around dinner time, we would sit around a medium-sized television and see a familiar game show. At one point, we tried to faithfully keep up when one contestant was winning more than five games in a row. My siblings noted, along with Alex Trebek, that Mormons don’t drink, but Ken Jennings had nonetheless answered every question correctly about alcohol. He cheerfully told Alex the next day that his wife had helped quiz him with flashcards. Even though his winning streak broke, the impact on Jeopardy! had certainly not changed. …

It seems that most American shows have a shrinking episode. We have the Honey I Shrunk the Kids franchise to thank for that. Since then, there is an episode in most cartoons where the characters end up small. Ducktales has done it in both the original show and reboot, and so has Gravity Falls, Voltron: Legendary Defender, and even Dragon Tales. Now we see The Owl House version, which has more of a malevolent intent behind the shrinking.

“Ignoring red flags” is the running theme for this episode. As King tries to spend time with his only favorite human, Eda wishes to crank in the big bucks. While Eda is coerced into doing another person’s bidding, King follows some bad advice to get the chance to win friendship bracelets for himself and Luz. They both ignore the obvious danger to get what they want. …

Full disclosure: I’ve submitted a story to one of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s anthologies and was continuing to do so when she was an editor for The Dark. She is a great editor to work with if you have fantasy or horror on hand. This novel is proof that she knows her speculative genres, and how to weave a narrative.

A good horror story knows how to keep us surprised, even if there aren’t necessarily twists. In this case, a strange family keeps an upper-class lifestyle, but have a messed-up secret that involves their history. …

We got a premiere of a reboot that seems to be an apology for all the terrible ones that preceded them. After a few teaser trailers that hinted at the greatness, Animaniacs premiered on November 20, 2020. It went viral, receiving praise and critique.

The Warner Brothers — and the Warner Sister — start to return to the film set and end up at their home, the Water Tower. Wakko disappoints Yakko by imitating him and seemingly making their mark on the reboot. Yakko tries to micromanage Dot’s first line until she gets upset and whacks her brothers with a hammer. …

Marisel is a mother of two, who was recently looking to get back into a fitness routine. But she was having problems committing to her workouts, having neither the time nor the headspace.

Then the pandemic happened. Marisel quickly found that she had tested positive for COVID-19 and despite having no preexisting conditions or autoimmune issues, found herself hospitalized for oxygen support and medication — even coming close to ending up in the ICU.

A Time to Heal

In the hospital, Marisel could only rest and let her body recover. It was a scary time, since she didn’t know if she would get better, and what would she do if and when that happened. She spent her time watching TED talks, to nurture her mind as well as to find out what she could do to become healthier. Marisel learned that stress can negatively impact the brain, causing higher cortisol levels and potential heart attacks. But with regular exercise, she learned she could reduce stress, and strengthen her immune system, helping her recover from her condition. …

I like Will Ferrell when he’s trying not to be a manchild. It is one of his shticks but I like him better when he’s either playing the straight man or serving as a giant supervillain. (Megamind is one of the best-animated movies you can see about subverting hero and villain expectations.)

Of course, Ferrell has had twenty years to hone the manchild image. The issue is that our world feels too cynical for saccharine Christmas moments where a character is allowed to be naive to the point of hurting others, even by accident. Elf is living proof of that. …

Twitter brings up the most fascinating talking points about media. You get to hear varying viewpoints about television shows from the past or present, while we anticipate those from the future.

One tweet, which I will not link out of respect for the poster, said that Zack Snyder’s Superman films were considered angsty while Smallville was lauded for doing the same. I disagree and will outline my points below.

We are going to be talking about the show from start to finish, so SPOILERS as a warning.

What Was Smallville?

Smallville was a WB live-action show. It featured an alternate continuity where there is no Superboy. Instead, Clark Kent grows up as a Kansas boy, after a married couple finds a rocket ship with a toddler in it. …

Having acne is such a curse and not necessarily a gift. I have many memories of trying painful creams and some antibiotics to reduce the amount of them. Thank goodness that my skin has mellowed before Accutane went on the table. The side effects scared me, and I considered the fact that my outer appearance was a bigger issue than what I had on the inside. Instead, I switched to sheet masks and using clay to reduce potential breakouts. Unsure if I have grown a lot on the inside, but a person can hope for that.

In Smooth, good skin is not the be-all solution to confidence. Heck, even the journey towards having good skin can lead to complications, from debating if you need to keep it a secret or what to do about your mood swings when they start coming with the peeling skin and dry lips. Smooth poses the question of if a magic bullet can solve all your problems. The answer is no, but it’s also not that straightforward. People have more problems in their life than bad skin. The question becomes if you are brave enough to see them and change your mind. …