Watching Supernatural

On November 27th, the first official Supernatural magazine hit stores, courtesy of Titan Magazines.
According to a press release by executive producer and creator Eric Kripke,

“This publication is for you and you alone. And we’re working hard to make it worthy of your affection… There’s dozens upon dozens of artists and geniuses who care so much about Supernatural, who make it the show that it is. Starting with this issue, you’ll get to know them.” (Source)

This issue, one of six total issues already set to be published, will feature and in-depth interview with Eric Kripke himself, in which he talks about how the show was created with the help of a tabloid reporter. There are interviews with Alona Tal (”Jo Harvelle”) and Katie Cassidy (”Ruby”), as well as special effects supervisor Randy Shymkiw.

As expected, there’s a full spread with Jared and Jensen, where they discuss their characters and how they were ‘born to play’ them. Kim Manners and the Special FX team also have their say. All in all, the magazine seems to be a welcome respite to the doldrums of the upcoming winter hiatus in the show. Definitely seems worthy of your money.

You can subscribe to all six issues at the Supernatural site at Titan Magazines.

TAGS: supernatural, supernatural magazine

I apologize for the late news - due to personal reasons and the holidays, I was unable to update until today. That, of course, means that you’ll be getting a lot of news your way today!

First item of business: Jensen Ackles’s film Ten Inch Hero is still looking for a distributor. In the meantime, fans were alerted on the movie’s blog on the 26th that a Youtube clip of Priestly was up. 50,744+ views, 1027 ratings, and 691 comments later, the video has won 10 honors on the site (including #1 Top-Rated This Week and #1 Top Favorites This Week). You can view it in all of it’s glory (and I do mean glory, since I was in stitches afterwards) here. Once again, Jensen’s comedic timing, delivery, and commanding presence are awe-inspiring.

TAGS: supernatural, jensen ackles, ten inch hero

Based on the recommendation of Henry Jenkins, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Comparative Media Studies Program and the Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities at M.I.T., New York Magazine will feature the fan vidder Luminosity, along with other media artists. You might recognize Luminosity’s work from the “Women’s Work” vid above, which I believe was featured in a Supernatural Fan Convention.

Regardless of what you think of the themes running through the above fanvid, you have to admit that it’s like a sucker punch to the gut when you first see it. Back when I first saw it this past spring/summer, I distinctly remember that some people claimed it made them cry. Others ranted about how completely one-sided the views in the vid are. To me, that’s the mark of a truly lasting and worthy piece of fanwork: one that’s so distinctive and provocative that you can only either love it or hate it. There are no grey areas within the vid itself, and it certainly doesn’t allow for much ambiguity of feeling.

As to all the hoopla surrounding this vid, Luminosity says:

“Women’s Work” is a critique of the eroticization of the violence done to women in all media, not just Supernatural. Women are sexually assaulted, murdered, and then laid out in artistic tableaux, chopped into pretty, bloody pieces. They usually further the plot, but they’re hardly ever a part of the plot. We wanted to point out that in order for us to love a TV show–and we do–we have to set this horrible part of it aside. A lot. Often. Sisabet [the co-vidder of the project] and I believe that we could have made this vid using almost any show, from Heroes to CSI, but we are fans of Supernatural. We care so much about a show that we want share it, make an argument, highlight a character or situation, lampoon something, evoke a mood. I’ve also made four other Supernatural vids that celebrate the show, the arc, the relationship between the brothers and the genre itself. (Source)

TAGS: supernatural, fanvid, Luminosity

(Ben Edlund with daughter Ezra on the picket lines.
IImage by Jim Stevenson, from here)

This news broke on Friday the 16th, but was confirmed over the weekend. Both sides will meet after Thanksgiving to negotiate once again. Hopefully this will bring about a swift resolution to the crippling strike!

There are also some new campaigns underway to show fan support for the strike. The Pencils2MediaMoguls campaign involves pooling money together to deliver huge boxes of pencils to the six men who run the media conglomerates in the U.S. By taking a page from the Jericho campaign, concerned fans hope to make a huge impact in this way.

All pencils are made from sustainably harvested wood (not deforested) by the California Republic Stationers. To donate (it costs $1 a box), visit this page and add it to your cart.

TAGS: supernatural, pencils2mediamoguls, WGA strike

(This press release was sent by the fans of Supernatural. For more information on Creation Entertainment’s “Salute to Supernatural, Smallville and Buffy/Angel”, please contact Monica Gillen at monica@creationent.com)

Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki received a very special honor on Sunday, November 11, 2007. Ackles and Padalecki, stars of the CW’s television program, Supernatural, were special guests at Creation Entertainment’s “Salute to Supernatural, Smallville and Buffy/Angel” in Schaumburg, IL.

Master Sergeant Kevin Wise, a Special Forces soldier, was in attendance at the convention. Wise joined Ackles and Padalecki on stage to announce that Supernatural Season One and Season Two are the most requested DVDs among armed forces personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Wise also reported that Warner Brothers Entertainment, Inc. and Kripke Entertainment, Inc. are going to send 3,000 copies of the DVDs to soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Wise next presented Ackles and Padalecki each with a thank you letter from General David H. Petraeus, Commander of the Multi-National Force in Iraq, as well as an honorary Special Forces coin from his unit.

Wise explained that five active Special Forces Groups are in existence. Each group has its own unique coin. Wise is a part of the 12-member Special Forces Unit ODA 045 or “Team Texas.” To receive a coin, recipients must either become a Green Beret or be given one by a Green Beret. Civilians are rarely given a coin.

Ackles and Padalecki were very touched by the gesture, and presented Wise with a shooting script, signed by the Supernatural cast and crew.

This wonderful honor received by Jared and Jensen has been helped, in part, by the workings of Operation: Winchester, a website dedicated to sending care packages, along with a Supernatural DVD, to the troops.

You can help by logging onto Operation: Winchester and signing up to send a package to one of the troops stationed overseas. Any information you may need about assisting with this venerable project can be found at the Operation: Winchester website: http://opwinchester.supernaturalunderground.com/.

For other details about the Creation Convention, you can find descriptions here.

TAGS: supernatural, jared padalecki, jensen ackles

Over the years, fans have often complained that Warner Bros. never compiled a soundtrack for the show. Not to fret, fans, you can finally download them on iTunes, and do it for a good cause as well!

Through December 31, 2007, Firefox News is donating 100% of its affiliate sales commissions to the Actors Fund to help support writers and crew members affected by the WGA writer’s strike. Firefox News makes a 5% commission per sale. At The Music of Supernatural page, you’ll find a list of songs used on the series with a link to download on iTunes. (Source)

On the download page, you can find most of the music from seasons 1 and 2, except for artists that aren’t actually on iTunes, such as AC/DC. In fact, some of these songs were new to me, and ones that I never knew were in the episode.

In case you were wondering, the list songs come directly the Supernatural Wiki.

TAGS: supernatural, music of supernatural, WGA strike

Dean: What do you want me to do, Sam, huh? Sit around all day writing sad poems about how I’m going to die? You know what, I’ve got one. Let’s see, what rhymes with “Shut up, Sam”?

To read other recaps/reviews of this episode, check out CW Source, Starpulse, TV Fodder, SyFyPortal, Firefox News, and TV Squad

This episode, for all its gore and dark storylines, is definitely one of the top five episodes of the series so far. It is also the best episode of the third season thus far, hands-down. I’ve been watching other professional reviews for this episode as well as fan opinions, and it’s really shocking just how many people enjoyed it.

The reasons for the such universal enjoyment are two-fold: (more…)

Ducky Does TV has been lucky enough to get promotional videos from Supernatural that discuss all of those little details that go into making our show what it is. This is some very interesting stuff here, so I really recommend that you watch these two, as well as the SPFX Makeup.

TAGS: supernatural, behind the scenes, visual+effects

E!Online.com recently interviewed both Katie Cassidy and Lauren Cohan about the rest of Season 3.

Both women expressed some relief over the fact that fannish outcries have diminished somewhat as the season continues, which means they haven’t read this blog and probably the majority of fan blogs out there.

However, we do discover some very interesting spoilers about the upcoming episodes. Cassidy spilled that

“Most of Ruby’s scenes have been with Sam up to this point, but Dean and Ruby end up working together in an upcoming episode. There’s going to be something the two of [them] basically have to overcome.” (Source)

TAGS: supernatural, katie cassidy, lauren cohan, bela, ruby

Well, this was certainly a surprise.

Katie Cassidy, better known as ‘Ruby’ from Season 3, has been arrested for underage drinking (she’s only 20 years old) by Tucson, Arizona cops two weeks ago, as reported by the Smoking Gun.

To make matters worse, Cassidy reportedly pretended that she was Taylor Cole, a 23-year-old actress from Texas. Interestingly enough, Cole was in a Season 1 episode entitled “Provenance,” playing the role of Sarah.

The only reason Cassidy gave for the lie was that “she is a Hollywood actress and that this would not look good for her.” That’s funny - if she was so aware that it wouldn’t look good for her, why do it in the first place?

TAGS: supernatural, katie cassidy

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, better known as John Winchester to you fans, has just been named one of the Sexiest Men Alive in 2007 by People Magazine. People.com has video of the actor here, where he discusses his ‘puppy love.’ Congratulations, JDM!

TAGS: jeffrey dean morgan, supernatural

In light of the ongoing WGA strike, many Supernatural fans have responded to writer Sera Gamble’s comments about the strike and opted to show their support by sending food to the strikers along with the “Write No Evil” flyer above in support.

If you live in the L.A. area and would like to send some food to our writers, contact toastedtravesty@gmail.com. If you don’t live in the area but would like to donate money to purchase the food, you can access the Paypal account.

TAGS: write no evil, supernatural

There have been rumors of it, but it’s finally here! Titan Magazines is launching an official Supernatural magazine, complete with interviews, posters, and a look at the special effects that go into making the episodes. As the site advertises, “get the kind of access to the weird and wonderful world of Supernatural that no true fan of the exploits of Sam and Dean Winchester can afford to miss!”

TAGS: supernatural, supernatural magazine

Operation: Winchester is a project that aims to support the hard-working troops overseas by sending them care packages that include a few of the comforts of home, along with copies of the “Supernatural” Season 1 DVD sets. In the process, we put some much-needed supplies and quality entertainment in the hands of a lot of deserving people, and help spread the word about “Supernatural” at the same time. (Source)

Operation: Winchester has launched it’s second phase, which is a collaboration with the Staten Island Project Homefront to send Supernatural DVDs to U.S. troops overseas. If you’d like more information on how to help out, please check out the above links and make a donation!

As a side note, I’d first heard of the Staten Island Project Homefront in conjunction with the similar campaign to send nuts on behalf of Jericho fans. In fact, that campaign was particularly successful, as you can see in the video below (taken by fan JerichoBaginz):

For more joint fan promotions between Jericho and Supernatural fans, check out the We Are Fandom Campaign.

TAGS: supernatural, operation winchester, we are fandom, staten island project homefront, jericho

This weekend was a fan convention, labeled Creation Con in Chicago, Illinois. Various other fandoms were also represented there, including Buffy, Smallville, and Angel.

On Saturday were two panels held by Samantha Ferris (Ellen) and Fred Lehne (Yellow-Eyed Demon, aka Azazel). They were faithfully described by the CW Source here and here.

On Sunday were Jensen and Jared’s panels. They both held individual ones and then one combined one. The CW Source has described the highlights here, but one fan did a much more detailed version here. As expected, both Jensen and Jared had great chemistry on stage, and it seems like a good time was had by all.

TAGS: supernatural, jensen ackles, jared padalecki, samantha ferris, frederic lehne, creation con