Stargate: A Million Light Years From Home and Still Killing Girlfriends (and Boyfriends!)
March 13, 2023
Welcome, my friends, to your introduction post for our latest contestant franchise, Stargate. Oh, and what a franchise it is, having the third-longest runtime of any sci-fi series ever (behind Doctor Who and Star Trek, which are both much older).
The premise of Stargate can be summarized as, "The US Air Force discovers an ancient device that allows instantaneous travel between planets. Adventures ensue."
#CoupleGoals: Stuff my Husband Says during Blog Research
February 10, 2023
Lately, I've had several English students ask me what dating is like in the USA, and I always struggle to answer, because I haven't been on a first date since (checks notes) 2010. I met my husband in high school.
Wait, you actually married your high school sweetheart? That's just too idyllic.
-former boss of mine
Yes, seriously. In fact, here's a yearbook picture of the DePaul Catholic Music Ministry, with us both in it:
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January 26, 2023
My social media manager/sister and I have decided to start a proper email list for this blog, at which you can be notified about new posts. Sign up below if you're interested:
So what about dead boyfriends?
January 6, 2023
Whenever I explain the DFGRR to a new person, I inevitably get one of two potential reactions:
a) "Sounds cool! Who are your contestants? Which genres do you cover?"
b) "Aren't there female characters whose boyfriends all die? Your blog sounds sexist."
In honor of/to spite everyone in B camp, therefore, I've decided to research the Dead Fictional Boyfriends of American media. My first step was to pull up the Cartwright Curse page on TV Tropes and skim through the TV section for the names of women whose boyfriends tend to bite it. There are a handful, as it turns out, including:
- Samantha Carter of Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007), Stargate Atlantis (2004-2009), and Stargate Universe (2009-2011)
- Maggie O'Connell of Northern Exposure (1990-1995)
- Buffy Summers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
Interestingly, however, each of those curse descriptions comes with a caveat.
MacGyver: How to Kill A Girlfriend with a Hairpin and a Piece of Duct Tape
October 25, 2022
Wait, they only hired 1 woman in season 3 and just had her play all the roles? That's something that a parody of a TV show should do!
- My husband, after reading about Elyssa Davalos in my last MacGyver post
Welcome, dear readers, to Part II of my MacGyver analysis, in which we will finally learn how many women MacGyver narrowly saves using hastily improvised contraptions...and of course, how many girlfriends he fails to save. Let us begin with a few words on...
The Character
Carol Varnay: Do something.
MacGyver: What?
Carol: You're the one who picked the embassy lock with a lightbulb filament and ground-up pencil lead. You're also the one who shorted an alarm system with a chewing gum wrapper and a half a lemon. Come ON!
- "For Love Or Money" (1987-05-04)
MacGyver has a heart of gold, a lot of random knowledge, and strong improvisational skills. He is, in fact, a man after my own heart, and I choose to believe that he'd be a DFGRR reader if he were real.
Women Will Die: Requiem for Roe v. Wade
June 27, 2022
[Author's Note: This entry was originally written June 27, 2022. I have added updated 2023 information in brackets, where relevant. The first and most important update is this: women have died.]
Saturday is the 1-year anniversary of Dobbs: 68 percent of OBGYNs said Dobbs has made the management of pregnancy-related medical emergencies worse, while 64 percent said the ruling has worsened pregnancy-related mortality. https://t.co/Cfg12TueWs
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) June 22, 2023
My friends, I assume you have heard that the Supreme Court of the United States has overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the federal case law that required states to legalize abortion until fetal viability - a 50-year-old precedent. You probably know that abortion is now fully illegal in 9 states, with at least 12 others poised to follow suit, and the situation is shifting day by day.
[2023 update: abortion is now banned in 14 states, and severely restricted in 6 others. An additional 9 states have attempted to ban abortion but been blocked in the courts. Source]
It is not my place to claim any particular insight into the issues surrounding pregnancy, motherhood, and abortion. I'm a practicing Catholic, and an opponent of the death penalty, and a registered organ donor, and a regular fixture at my local blood bank, so I'm in favor of saving lives whenever possible. But I'm not a person who has ever been pregnant. So you may very well not be interested in what I've got to say, and that's OK. Come back next post when we're back to the funny stuff. I'll be here.