Podcast appearances and mentions of Patrick Stewart

It's All Been Trekked Before #458  Season 14, Episode 11  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #4.04 "Indiscretion"     Olivia James says Patrick Stewart is a 4th-place captain. Stephen can relate to being a widower… sort of. Keith remembers his first watch through.    Edited by Olivia James, with assistance from Resound.fm   It's All Been Trekked Before is produced by IABD Presents entertainment network. http://iabdpresents.com Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ItsAllBeenTrekkedBefore  Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iabdtrekked/  Support our show on Patreon for exclusive episodes, extended video versions weekly, and more: https://www.patreon.com/IABD

A Ghostly Plea For Appreciation.Based on a post by SandyMarl, in 4 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Steamy Stories.A Christmas Ghost Story For ScroogeDana got ready to roll the movie as The Chix settled in. “What’s the movie?” asked McNally.“A Christmas Carol, it’s the classic tale by Charles Dickens.”“Damn. Not a Christmas movie? Did I ever mention that I am so over Christmas right now? Bah Humbug!”Annie snorted, “McNally, you make a better Scrooge than Patrick Stewart.”“I’ll drink to that,” McNally said as she tipped her stemware to wash down a handful of popcorn. “Let me say it again, Merry Fucking Christmas, because I am so done with Christmas.”“Merry Fucking Christmas” was echoed around the room, followed by giggles among gathered good friends as the opening scene played.Annie was dabbing at her eyes as Tiny Tim cried out in the movie’s final scene, “God bless us, everyone!”As the credits rolled, Annie turned to McNally, “Well, Ebenezer Scrooge, do you still hate Christmas? Or did the ghost of Christmas Future shake you from your Bah Humbug! ways?”“I don’t hate Christmas; I just get worn out by this time of year. Christmas has been going on since before Halloween and that’s way too long, even for a vibrant spirit like me,” replied McNally.“Are you still so entrenched in your ‘Bah Humbug’ world-weary ways Ebenezer McNally or is it possible that visitations of the cinematic Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Future have softened your hardened holiday heart?” pried Patricia.“Don’t be picking on McNally, she’s just been more emotionally honest. I have heard Scrooge speaking through all of you. Chix, take a look inside and tell me if Christmas hasn’t lost its magic for all of us this year, or for that matter, several years running.” Dana’s call for introspection brought the room to silence.Dana continued, “Let me play Ghost of Christmas Past; let me take us back to time when we were young, and Sander and I stretched our budget and bought this cabin and had The Chix and their boys up here around Christmas time? Remember those times?”“Those were the good days,” recalled McNally. “I remember Orlando mixing exotic cocktails for everyone to try. The guys kept making sweet drinks and urging us girls to taste one new one after another. I’m sure they were in cahoots, working on the theory that 'Christmas candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.’”Patricia chimed in, “Yeah, I remember that year, I remember laughing a lot of silly laughs and being chased around the cabin and out into the snow by three horny abominable snowmen until I finally let one catch me and haul me off to his lair where he threw me on the bed and ravaged me.”“I sort of remember that too - only I think I enjoyed Orlando’s cocktails too much too soon to fully remember every detail. But I have a vague memory of laughing on my way to a strange bed as I hung over Nelson’s shoulder as I pounded on his back as a captured maiden, but not really feeling much distress. I remember trying to help Nelson undress me, but I was too giggly, so he just ripped my clothes off.”Dana reminisced, “Anybody remember the year we all wore those sexy Santa’s Naughty Elf costumes?”“I still have mine in a closet somewhere I think,” snickered McNally. “We put on a pretty good show for the guys that one year when we performed in those outfits. Thanks to Annie for sewing them,” McNally tipped her glass toward Annie.“It was your choreography McNally, and your audacious moves that gave me the confidence to bump and grind along with the rest of the Chix. I’d never have been able to even think of doing something so feminine and sexy if it weren’t for you McNally,” complimented Patricia.“I still get wet every time I hear Eartha Kitt sing 'Santa Baby’ and I think of how hot we Chix looked and how mercilessly we teased those boys,” chuckled McNally.“Speaking for me,” said Patricia, “I’d say all of that dance practice and the sexy dance tips from everyone else showing me how to strut my wares. Our sexy little routine was well worth it a little later that night.” All The Chix giggled and nodded with Patricia, each recalling the thrill of having their men rush the stage and cart off the four costumed naughty little helper elves for a roll in the sheets.“Dana are you sure you’re alright with us bringing up these memories?” asked Annie in a cautious tone.“Annie, I’ve already told you that good memories and present friends are what are important to me tonight.”“Allow me to play the Ghost of Christmas Present,” said Dana in a soft voice. “If the Ghost of Christmas Past has drawn for you scenes of past holiday lovers, good times and Christmas cheer; what do you see when the Ghost of Christmas Present hovers above your lives tonight and points to your actions and attitudes of this present Christmas?”The Chix again sat thinking in silence.McNally answered Dana’s challenge first, “Well, I’ve already told everyone my grim view of this present Christmas. There is a poverty of spirit where I operate; Christmas has become nothing but joyless deadlines for me. I’ll confess, 'Bah Humbug!’ is truly what the Ghost of Christmas Present is pointing at in my life.”“Or would Scrooge use a more contemporary phrase, maybe something like 'Merry Fucking Christmas?” needled Patricia.“Yeah but…” Annie joined in, “…Those really were Merry Fucking Christmases in the past - literally. Those years when we all used to come up here with our hubbies and enjoy playing games and cooking together, remember? And it seems like every night ended in a night of passionate love making,” she added wistfully. “Why did we let that slip away? Where did the holiday love magic go?"I have a confession too, McNally has nothing on me, I’m just as much of a Bah Humbug personality as McNally - if not more so. Only I’m just a Scrooge still in the closet. I guess it’s time I came out to my friends. It was me who first suggested that I’d be ready to exchange Nelson for someone to clean my house. Honestly, how Scrooge-like is that?"The Ghost of Christmas Past showed that Scrooge rejected his old flame, Belle, to pursue a respectable wealthy status above love. Like Scrooge, I’ve let the passion for my old flame, Nelson dim, and for what? A respectable status of a well cleaned house? I’ve been saying 'Bah Humbug!’ from inside my Scrooge closet."I chided McNally for her poor attitude when we first drove up this afternoon,” recalled Patricia. “But then I fell right in with her complaining about my grueling holiday schedule and all I had endured. So, I guess that makes me not only a Scrooge, but a hypocrite as well. How’s that for a bare-bones confession to the Ghost of Christmas Present?" Dana’s Christmas Ghost"Excuse me,” declared a mildly irritated McNally, “enough indulging in this group psychotherapy playing with literary ghosts. I can’t stand it any longer, I’ve gotta find out from Dana if Sander’s ghost is really visiting us here.”McNally’s abrupt demand brought a heavy hush to the room.All eyes were locked on Dana. “All I can say is that I came up to our cabin for the first time since the accident. I hoped I was ready, but I wasn’t sure. The real reason that I invited everyone to join me was so I couldn’t back out, even if I wanted to, since I had extended an invitation to The Chix. Patricia, Annie, McNally; you’re my insurance as I forced myself to be a brave widow."I came two days ago for solitude. I thought I would be alone up here. I hoped I’d be brave enough to finally be alone with my thoughts. I was going to force myself to stay here until reinforcements arrived in the form of a carload of wild, raucous and fun-loving Chix."To my surprise, I had it all wrong. I was not alone here. Sander was waiting for me. It was good to find him here; he has been a comfort for me. I told him I was sorry for making him wait. He let me know that he understood why I waited. He assured me that it was alright for me to wait, coming only after I was ready."When Sander came to me the first night, he comforted me, bringing good memories of us in this place, like the Ghost of Christmas Past. He reacquainted me with faded memories of Patricia and Will, Annie and Nelson and McNally and Orlando all gathered in this place with me and Sander back in those days at the beginning. The images he brought to me made me feel grateful for all of you."I told Sander that those were lovely, warm memories, some of the best; but that they were far in the dim past. When Sander wrapped those memories around me; I felt warmth and saw a radiating brightness, happy for what we had once shared together. He said that that is why he had to brighten them for me; otherwise, neither I nor anyone else in those images would be able to clearly see them as they once were."I began to cry as those bright images of our past passions and fellowship with our friends began to fade before my eyes. I cried even more at the fear of losing him and everything good once again."He warned me that squandered time, tyranny of the mundane and careless love will steal from the human soul, draining the treasures of passion and good memories, leaving murky, pathetic sketches in place of those forgotten treasures. Sander let me know that I still had all of you wrapped around me to shield me with love. He was pleased that The Chix had taken such good care of me after he was taken from me."Sander told me he could not keep the past images bright, the power to do so was only given to the realm of the living."I cried in my grief and in my fresh fear of loss. I tried to hold him, but of course, I could not. I pleaded, 'How can I keep those memories of you and warm feelings bright?’ I didn’t know how to find the power to keep from losing all that was meaningful to me. I cried, 'Please Sander, show me, show me how not to lose you and everything again. Don’t let me drain away into the murky darkness where all warmth and love have been stolen from the human soul.’"I cried, kneeling on the floor. Sander said nothing as he stood close to me as a kind and gentle spirit with a comforting patience waiting for me to finish my hot tears. When I wiped away my tears and looked into his face, he pointed and guided me to look for my answer. I saw The Chix checking their messages, returning calls, checking their calendars trying to squeeze in a meeting, an appointment and a Christmas cookie exchange. I saw that we were rushing to the shopping mall, ordering online, checking our phones and returning home exhausted, drained of warmth and love, leaving nothing for those around us."I was shown Will, Nelson and Orlando taking the cars in for servicing because it was time. I saw these men checking their messages and making out-of-the way runs to pick up store items and a few groceries because their wives had sent them a text message. I witnessed The Dix on their own initiative coming home with a takeout meal that they served to their exhausted wives and then taking out the trash the night before pickup without a reminder. The guys were up late at night, opening the bills and writing the household checks and balancing the accounts, toiling like the loyal Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s unappreciated clerk. I had been shown Christmas Present. I was sad to have seen that exhausted misery spread to all of our present lives."I cried, 'Oh Sander, where is the joy and the love for our friends? Everyone looks so exhausted and joyless and without hope or purpose. Tell me Sander, what is going to happen to them?’ Sander looked sad and did not answer me."He began to fade into the darkness, and I begged with renewed tears, 'Sander please don’t go, please don’t leave me alone again.’ But he was gone.I crawled off the floor, lifting myself into bed and cried myself to sleep. I remembered his words, 'Squandered time, tyranny of the mundane and careless love will steal from the human soul, draining the treasures of passion and good memories and leaving murky, pathetic sketches in place of those forgotten treasures.’"When Sander slipped away from me that night, I understood that he had shown me that the same was happening to Orlando and McNally, Will and Patricia and also to Nelson and Annie. His visit was a warning. Just as I lost Sander, everyone here is facing a Christmas Future where you will discover that you’ve lost all that really matters in life."Sander came again the next night. I was glad to see him. I wanted to know if it was too late for our friends to rekindle the love that had somehow drained away. 'Please, Sander, tell me that there is yet hope for them this Christmas Season,’ I begged."He showed me some bright and warm memories from long ago, some personal and some with The Chix. He showed me those visions to let me know that I still had love and support from you guys. But I was haunted by those visions of Christmas Present that I’d been shown the night before. He was happy that I was so well cared for now. And yes, he was happy to know that I got surprised by some needed loving attention from a partridge, a turtle dove hunter and an old barnyard rooster who had a few tricks to make a French hen cackle. Yet, the peril of the bleak Christmas Present remains, unless friendship and love is cherished and attended, it too will soon perish, and I’ll see my friends fade away into murky darkness as Sander had."Again, I looked into his gentle eyes and asked, 'There is still time isn’t there? We haven’t squandered our time, it’s not too late, tell me sweetheart, there are warm and bright memories of love and affection still to be made, nourished and cherished.’ Sander smiled his warm smile of assurance that I had missed so much, and I was happy."I woke, realizing that the sun was shining off a fresh morning snowfall and I threw off my heavy quilt. I sat up in bed, remembering that on our last morning together; Sander had been working on something secret that morning before the accident. I remembered asking him, 'Sweetie buns, what are you working on the hill behind the cabin?’"He smiled that warm, smug smile of mischief on that last morning that we were together and told me, 'I’ve got a Christmas surprise to show you tonight, it has to be revealed once it is dark. So, you’ll have to wait until we finish a few runs on the slopes this afternoon.’"Of course, we never came back here together. I had forgotten about Sander’s promised secret Christmas surprise until yesterday morning. When Sander told me he had a Christmas gift waiting for me after dark, he was holding an electrical extension cord behind his back with his mischievous smile stretched across his ski slope tanned face. 'I’ll plug this in to brighten your night tonight, as a token of how you have brightened my life,’ he said. Recalling some of his last words, I jumped out of bed and checked this morning; that cord is still lying on the deck where Sander left it last year.Annie was crying, as usual, but so were Patricia and McNally.Dana reached for her purse and pulled out her phone and looked at her messages and began to text, as The Chix took a few moments to rein in their emotions and check their composure before speaking or asking Dana any questions.Annie brushed her cheeks, "Oh Dana, that is the sweetest, saddest story I’ve ever heard… Excuse me, I can’t stop weeping… I don’t even know if these are tears of joy or grief… excuse me, I don’t know what to feel or say,” she said as the flood gates reopened.Patricia felt it was her role to wade in and tidy things up and drain the emotional swamp in which they all found themselves wallowing in. “Dana, it sounds like you’ve started to find some peace after last year’s events. I am glad that you shared with us how you are coping with Sander’s passing…”“Patricia, Jesus Christ on a bicycle! Don’t be such a cold and analytical mother hen all the time for us Chix. Dana’s story is not about coping, it’s about us - all of us and all that we once had and what we might lose, including Will, Nelson and yes, Orlando too. Dana, your conversation with Sander really got to me there…” McNally paused, looking emotionally rattled.“I guess everyone can tell, your story about Sander got to me also,” said Annie after managing to dry out enough. “I feel like McNally. Dana, what you said really touched me; I don’t know what to say… Yes, I actually do, I want to say that what Sander said is right; my joy has been stolen from my soul, I feel drained inside, I have let the things I hold most dear fade away. I am Scrooge - and I’m sorry, but so are all of you.”Turning to Patricia, Annie asked, “Don’t you feel what McNally and I feel? Don’t you feel that you and I and McNally, and certainly Dana, have lost something precious? Together as The Chix, we are a sum greater the whole - and that has, or should, include our husbands. I believe Sander told Dana to warn us all before it is too late. Patricia, don’t you feel like me that we should do something before the Ghost of Christmas Future makes the vision of an estranged and murky end to all that we enjoy a grim reality?”Patricia teared up and nodded silently. Then lifting her head, she asked Dana, “Is there hope? Did Sander give you hope for us?”“There is hope. There is still love here, and where there is love, there is hope. Sander showed me that the future can be changed by what we do now. Sander showed me that there is hope for us, hope for The Chix.”“And… And… What is that hope?” asked McNally. “And… And… And I got lots of questions about you and Sander up here in this cabin, but first - that was a gripping Christmas ghost story with Sander, but it seemed kind of weird that as soon as you finished driving your emotional steamroller full speed over our sympathies that you then broke character, ignoring us to check your phone. Isn’t checking your messages part of that tyranny of the mundane that Sander warned you about? Who is so important that you were texting them rather than dealing with us in this room and our emotions?”“The Ghost or the Ghosts of Christmas Future,” was Dana’s curt, cryptic reply.“You asked about our future, you asked about hope; I don’t know exactly how to answer those questions,” said a thoughtful Dana. “But I know where I want to look for starters. There is Sander’s unrevealed Christmas surprise waiting for me - or us, on top of the hill behind the cabin. It was Sander&rsq

A Ghostly Plea For Appreciation.Based on a post by SandyMarl, in 4 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Steamy Stories.A Christmas Ghost Story For ScroogeDana got ready to roll the movie as The Chix settled in. “What’s the movie?” asked McNally.“A Christmas Carol, it’s the classic tale by Charles Dickens.”“Damn. Not a Christmas movie? Did I ever mention that I am so over Christmas right now? Bah Humbug!”Annie snorted, “McNally, you make a better Scrooge than Patrick Stewart.”“I’ll drink to that,” McNally said as she tipped her stemware to wash down a handful of popcorn. “Let me say it again, Merry Fucking Christmas, because I am so done with Christmas.”“Merry Fucking Christmas” was echoed around the room, followed by giggles among gathered good friends as the opening scene played.Annie was dabbing at her eyes as Tiny Tim cried out in the movie’s final scene, “God bless us, everyone!”As the credits rolled, Annie turned to McNally, “Well, Ebenezer Scrooge, do you still hate Christmas? Or did the ghost of Christmas Future shake you from your Bah Humbug! ways?”“I don’t hate Christmas; I just get worn out by this time of year. Christmas has been going on since before Halloween and that’s way too long, even for a vibrant spirit like me,” replied McNally.“Are you still so entrenched in your ‘Bah Humbug’ world-weary ways Ebenezer McNally or is it possible that visitations of the cinematic Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Future have softened your hardened holiday heart?” pried Patricia.“Don’t be picking on McNally, she’s just been more emotionally honest. I have heard Scrooge speaking through all of you. Chix, take a look inside and tell me if Christmas hasn’t lost its magic for all of us this year, or for that matter, several years running.” Dana’s call for introspection brought the room to silence.Dana continued, “Let me play Ghost of Christmas Past; let me take us back to time when we were young, and Sander and I stretched our budget and bought this cabin and had The Chix and their boys up here around Christmas time? Remember those times?”“Those were the good days,” recalled McNally. “I remember Orlando mixing exotic cocktails for everyone to try. The guys kept making sweet drinks and urging us girls to taste one new one after another. I’m sure they were in cahoots, working on the theory that 'Christmas candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.’”Patricia chimed in, “Yeah, I remember that year, I remember laughing a lot of silly laughs and being chased around the cabin and out into the snow by three horny abominable snowmen until I finally let one catch me and haul me off to his lair where he threw me on the bed and ravaged me.”“I sort of remember that too - only I think I enjoyed Orlando’s cocktails too much too soon to fully remember every detail. But I have a vague memory of laughing on my way to a strange bed as I hung over Nelson’s shoulder as I pounded on his back as a captured maiden, but not really feeling much distress. I remember trying to help Nelson undress me, but I was too giggly, so he just ripped my clothes off.”Dana reminisced, “Anybody remember the year we all wore those sexy Santa’s Naughty Elf costumes?”“I still have mine in a closet somewhere I think,” snickered McNally. “We put on a pretty good show for the guys that one year when we performed in those outfits. Thanks to Annie for sewing them,” McNally tipped her glass toward Annie.“It was your choreography McNally, and your audacious moves that gave me the confidence to bump and grind along with the rest of the Chix. I’d never have been able to even think of doing something so feminine and sexy if it weren’t for you McNally,” complimented Patricia.“I still get wet every time I hear Eartha Kitt sing 'Santa Baby’ and I think of how hot we Chix looked and how mercilessly we teased those boys,” chuckled McNally.“Speaking for me,” said Patricia, “I’d say all of that dance practice and the sexy dance tips from everyone else showing me how to strut my wares. Our sexy little routine was well worth it a little later that night.” All The Chix giggled and nodded with Patricia, each recalling the thrill of having their men rush the stage and cart off the four costumed naughty little helper elves for a roll in the sheets.“Dana are you sure you’re alright with us bringing up these memories?” asked Annie in a cautious tone.“Annie, I’ve already told you that good memories and present friends are what are important to me tonight.”“Allow me to play the Ghost of Christmas Present,” said Dana in a soft voice. “If the Ghost of Christmas Past has drawn for you scenes of past holiday lovers, good times and Christmas cheer; what do you see when the Ghost of Christmas Present hovers above your lives tonight and points to your actions and attitudes of this present Christmas?”The Chix again sat thinking in silence.McNally answered Dana’s challenge first, “Well, I’ve already told everyone my grim view of this present Christmas. There is a poverty of spirit where I operate; Christmas has become nothing but joyless deadlines for me. I’ll confess, 'Bah Humbug!’ is truly what the Ghost of Christmas Present is pointing at in my life.”“Or would Scrooge use a more contemporary phrase, maybe something like 'Merry Fucking Christmas?” needled Patricia.“Yeah but…” Annie joined in, “…Those really were Merry Fucking Christmases in the past - literally. Those years when we all used to come up here with our hubbies and enjoy playing games and cooking together, remember? And it seems like every night ended in a night of passionate love making,” she added wistfully. “Why did we let that slip away? Where did the holiday love magic go?"I have a confession too, McNally has nothing on me, I’m just as much of a Bah Humbug personality as McNally - if not more so. Only I’m just a Scrooge still in the closet. I guess it’s time I came out to my friends. It was me who first suggested that I’d be ready to exchange Nelson for someone to clean my house. Honestly, how Scrooge-like is that?"The Ghost of Christmas Past showed that Scrooge rejected his old flame, Belle, to pursue a respectable wealthy status above love. Like Scrooge, I’ve let the passion for my old flame, Nelson dim, and for what? A respectable status of a well cleaned house? I’ve been saying 'Bah Humbug!’ from inside my Scrooge closet."I chided McNally for her poor attitude when we first drove up this afternoon,” recalled Patricia. “But then I fell right in with her complaining about my grueling holiday schedule and all I had endured. So, I guess that makes me not only a Scrooge, but a hypocrite as well. How’s that for a bare-bones confession to the Ghost of Christmas Present?" Dana’s Christmas Ghost"Excuse me,” declared a mildly irritated McNally, “enough indulging in this group psychotherapy playing with literary ghosts. I can’t stand it any longer, I’ve gotta find out from Dana if Sander’s ghost is really visiting us here.”McNally’s abrupt demand brought a heavy hush to the room.All eyes were locked on Dana. “All I can say is that I came up to our cabin for the first time since the accident. I hoped I was ready, but I wasn’t sure. The real reason that I invited everyone to join me was so I couldn’t back out, even if I wanted to, since I had extended an invitation to The Chix. Patricia, Annie, McNally; you’re my insurance as I forced myself to be a brave widow."I came two days ago for solitude. I thought I would be alone up here. I hoped I’d be brave enough to finally be alone with my thoughts. I was going to force myself to stay here until reinforcements arrived in the form of a carload of wild, raucous and fun-loving Chix."To my surprise, I had it all wrong. I was not alone here. Sander was waiting for me. It was good to find him here; he has been a comfort for me. I told him I was sorry for making him wait. He let me know that he understood why I waited. He assured me that it was alright for me to wait, coming only after I was ready."When Sander came to me the first night, he comforted me, bringing good memories of us in this place, like the Ghost of Christmas Past. He reacquainted me with faded memories of Patricia and Will, Annie and Nelson and McNally and Orlando all gathered in this place with me and Sander back in those days at the beginning. The images he brought to me made me feel grateful for all of you."I told Sander that those were lovely, warm memories, some of the best; but that they were far in the dim past. When Sander wrapped those memories around me; I felt warmth and saw a radiating brightness, happy for what we had once shared together. He said that that is why he had to brighten them for me; otherwise, neither I nor anyone else in those images would be able to clearly see them as they once were."I began to cry as those bright images of our past passions and fellowship with our friends began to fade before my eyes. I cried even more at the fear of losing him and everything good once again."He warned me that squandered time, tyranny of the mundane and careless love will steal from the human soul, draining the treasures of passion and good memories, leaving murky, pathetic sketches in place of those forgotten treasures. Sander let me know that I still had all of you wrapped around me to shield me with love. He was pleased that The Chix had taken such good care of me after he was taken from me."Sander told me he could not keep the past images bright, the power to do so was only given to the realm of the living."I cried in my grief and in my fresh fear of loss. I tried to hold him, but of course, I could not. I pleaded, 'How can I keep those memories of you and warm feelings bright?’ I didn’t know how to find the power to keep from losing all that was meaningful to me. I cried, 'Please Sander, show me, show me how not to lose you and everything again. Don’t let me drain away into the murky darkness where all warmth and love have been stolen from the human soul.’"I cried, kneeling on the floor. Sander said nothing as he stood close to me as a kind and gentle spirit with a comforting patience waiting for me to finish my hot tears. When I wiped away my tears and looked into his face, he pointed and guided me to look for my answer. I saw The Chix checking their messages, returning calls, checking their calendars trying to squeeze in a meeting, an appointment and a Christmas cookie exchange. I saw that we were rushing to the shopping mall, ordering online, checking our phones and returning home exhausted, drained of warmth and love, leaving nothing for those around us."I was shown Will, Nelson and Orlando taking the cars in for servicing because it was time. I saw these men checking their messages and making out-of-the way runs to pick up store items and a few groceries because their wives had sent them a text message. I witnessed The Dix on their own initiative coming home with a takeout meal that they served to their exhausted wives and then taking out the trash the night before pickup without a reminder. The guys were up late at night, opening the bills and writing the household checks and balancing the accounts, toiling like the loyal Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s unappreciated clerk. I had been shown Christmas Present. I was sad to have seen that exhausted misery spread to all of our present lives."I cried, 'Oh Sander, where is the joy and the love for our friends? Everyone looks so exhausted and joyless and without hope or purpose. Tell me Sander, what is going to happen to them?’ Sander looked sad and did not answer me."He began to fade into the darkness, and I begged with renewed tears, 'Sander please don’t go, please don’t leave me alone again.’ But he was gone.I crawled off the floor, lifting myself into bed and cried myself to sleep. I remembered his words, 'Squandered time, tyranny of the mundane and careless love will steal from the human soul, draining the treasures of passion and good memories and leaving murky, pathetic sketches in place of those forgotten treasures.’"When Sander slipped away from me that night, I understood that he had shown me that the same was happening to Orlando and McNally, Will and Patricia and also to Nelson and Annie. His visit was a warning. Just as I lost Sander, everyone here is facing a Christmas Future where you will discover that you’ve lost all that really matters in life."Sander came again the next night. I was glad to see him. I wanted to know if it was too late for our friends to rekindle the love that had somehow drained away. 'Please, Sander, tell me that there is yet hope for them this Christmas Season,’ I begged."He showed me some bright and warm memories from long ago, some personal and some with The Chix. He showed me those visions to let me know that I still had love and support from you guys. But I was haunted by those visions of Christmas Present that I’d been shown the night before. He was happy that I was so well cared for now. And yes, he was happy to know that I got surprised by some needed loving attention from a partridge, a turtle dove hunter and an old barnyard rooster who had a few tricks to make a French hen cackle. Yet, the peril of the bleak Christmas Present remains, unless friendship and love is cherished and attended, it too will soon perish, and I’ll see my friends fade away into murky darkness as Sander had."Again, I looked into his gentle eyes and asked, 'There is still time isn’t there? We haven’t squandered our time, it’s not too late, tell me sweetheart, there are warm and bright memories of love and affection still to be made, nourished and cherished.’ Sander smiled his warm smile of assurance that I had missed so much, and I was happy."I woke, realizing that the sun was shining off a fresh morning snowfall and I threw off my heavy quilt. I sat up in bed, remembering that on our last morning together; Sander had been working on something secret that morning before the accident. I remembered asking him, 'Sweetie buns, what are you working on the hill behind the cabin?’"He smiled that warm, smug smile of mischief on that last morning that we were together and told me, 'I’ve got a Christmas surprise to show you tonight, it has to be revealed once it is dark. So, you’ll have to wait until we finish a few runs on the slopes this afternoon.’"Of course, we never came back here together. I had forgotten about Sander’s promised secret Christmas surprise until yesterday morning. When Sander told me he had a Christmas gift waiting for me after dark, he was holding an electrical extension cord behind his back with his mischievous smile stretched across his ski slope tanned face. 'I’ll plug this in to brighten your night tonight, as a token of how you have brightened my life,’ he said. Recalling some of his last words, I jumped out of bed and checked this morning; that cord is still lying on the deck where Sander left it last year.Annie was crying, as usual, but so were Patricia and McNally.Dana reached for her purse and pulled out her phone and looked at her messages and began to text, as The Chix took a few moments to rein in their emotions and check their composure before speaking or asking Dana any questions.Annie brushed her cheeks, "Oh Dana, that is the sweetest, saddest story I’ve ever heard… Excuse me, I can’t stop weeping… I don’t even know if these are tears of joy or grief… excuse me, I don’t know what to feel or say,” she said as the flood gates reopened.Patricia felt it was her role to wade in and tidy things up and drain the emotional swamp in which they all found themselves wallowing in. “Dana, it sounds like you’ve started to find some peace after last year’s events. I am glad that you shared with us how you are coping with Sander’s passing…”“Patricia, Jesus Christ on a bicycle! Don’t be such a cold and analytical mother hen all the time for us Chix. Dana’s story is not about coping, it’s about us - all of us and all that we once had and what we might lose, including Will, Nelson and yes, Orlando too. Dana, your conversation with Sander really got to me there…” McNally paused, looking emotionally rattled.“I guess everyone can tell, your story about Sander got to me also,” said Annie after managing to dry out enough. “I feel like McNally. Dana, what you said really touched me; I don’t know what to say… Yes, I actually do, I want to say that what Sander said is right; my joy has been stolen from my soul, I feel drained inside, I have let the things I hold most dear fade away. I am Scrooge - and I’m sorry, but so are all of you.”Turning to Patricia, Annie asked, “Don’t you feel what McNally and I feel? Don’t you feel that you and I and McNally, and certainly Dana, have lost something precious? Together as The Chix, we are a sum greater the whole - and that has, or should, include our husbands. I believe Sander told Dana to warn us all before it is too late. Patricia, don’t you feel like me that we should do something before the Ghost of Christmas Future makes the vision of an estranged and murky end to all that we enjoy a grim reality?”Patricia teared up and nodded silently. Then lifting her head, she asked Dana, “Is there hope? Did Sander give you hope for us?”“There is hope. There is still love here, and where there is love, there is hope. Sander showed me that the future can be changed by what we do now. Sander showed me that there is hope for us, hope for The Chix.”“And… And… What is that hope?” asked McNally. “And… And… And I got lots of questions about you and Sander up here in this cabin, but first - that was a gripping Christmas ghost story with Sander, but it seemed kind of weird that as soon as you finished driving your emotional steamroller full speed over our sympathies that you then broke character, ignoring us to check your phone. Isn’t checking your messages part of that tyranny of the mundane that Sander warned you about? Who is so important that you were texting them rather than dealing with us in this room and our emotions?”“The Ghost or the Ghosts of Christmas Future,” was Dana’s curt, cryptic reply.“You asked about our future, you asked about hope; I don’t know exactly how to answer those questions,” said a thoughtful Dana. “But I know where I want to look for starters. There is Sander’s unrevealed Christmas surprise waiting for me - or us, on top of the hill behind the cabin. It was Sander&rsq

A Ghostly Plea For Appreciation.Based on a post by SandyMarl, in 4 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Steamy Stories.A Christmas Ghost Story For ScroogeDana got ready to roll the movie as The Chix settled in. “What’s the movie?” asked McNally.“A Christmas Carol, it’s the classic tale by Charles Dickens.”“Damn. Not a Christmas movie? Did I ever mention that I am so over Christmas right now? Bah Humbug!”Annie snorted, “McNally, you make a better Scrooge than Patrick Stewart.”“I’ll drink to that,” McNally said as she tipped her stemware to wash down a handful of popcorn. “Let me say it again, Merry Fucking Christmas, because I am so done with Christmas.”“Merry Fucking Christmas” was echoed around the room, followed by giggles among gathered good friends as the opening scene played.Annie was dabbing at her eyes as Tiny Tim cried out in the movie’s final scene, “God bless us, everyone!”As the credits rolled, Annie turned to McNally, “Well, Ebenezer Scrooge, do you still hate Christmas? Or did the ghost of Christmas Future shake you from your Bah Humbug! ways?”“I don’t hate Christmas; I just get worn out by this time of year. Christmas has been going on since before Halloween and that’s way too long, even for a vibrant spirit like me,” replied McNally.“Are you still so entrenched in your ‘Bah Humbug’ world-weary ways Ebenezer McNally or is it possible that visitations of the cinematic Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Future have softened your hardened holiday heart?” pried Patricia.“Don’t be picking on McNally, she’s just been more emotionally honest. I have heard Scrooge speaking through all of you. Chix, take a look inside and tell me if Christmas hasn’t lost its magic for all of us this year, or for that matter, several years running.” Dana’s call for introspection brought the room to silence.Dana continued, “Let me play Ghost of Christmas Past; let me take us back to time when we were young, and Sander and I stretched our budget and bought this cabin and had The Chix and their boys up here around Christmas time? Remember those times?”“Those were the good days,” recalled McNally. “I remember Orlando mixing exotic cocktails for everyone to try. The guys kept making sweet drinks and urging us girls to taste one new one after another. I’m sure they were in cahoots, working on the theory that 'Christmas candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.’”Patricia chimed in, “Yeah, I remember that year, I remember laughing a lot of silly laughs and being chased around the cabin and out into the snow by three horny abominable snowmen until I finally let one catch me and haul me off to his lair where he threw me on the bed and ravaged me.”“I sort of remember that too - only I think I enjoyed Orlando’s cocktails too much too soon to fully remember every detail. But I have a vague memory of laughing on my way to a strange bed as I hung over Nelson’s shoulder as I pounded on his back as a captured maiden, but not really feeling much distress. I remember trying to help Nelson undress me, but I was too giggly, so he just ripped my clothes off.”Dana reminisced, “Anybody remember the year we all wore those sexy Santa’s Naughty Elf costumes?”“I still have mine in a closet somewhere I think,” snickered McNally. “We put on a pretty good show for the guys that one year when we performed in those outfits. Thanks to Annie for sewing them,” McNally tipped her glass toward Annie.“It was your choreography McNally, and your audacious moves that gave me the confidence to bump and grind along with the rest of the Chix. I’d never have been able to even think of doing something so feminine and sexy if it weren’t for you McNally,” complimented Patricia.“I still get wet every time I hear Eartha Kitt sing 'Santa Baby’ and I think of how hot we Chix looked and how mercilessly we teased those boys,” chuckled McNally.“Speaking for me,” said Patricia, “I’d say all of that dance practice and the sexy dance tips from everyone else showing me how to strut my wares. Our sexy little routine was well worth it a little later that night.” All The Chix giggled and nodded with Patricia, each recalling the thrill of having their men rush the stage and cart off the four costumed naughty little helper elves for a roll in the sheets.“Dana are you sure you’re alright with us bringing up these memories?” asked Annie in a cautious tone.“Annie, I’ve already told you that good memories and present friends are what are important to me tonight.”“Allow me to play the Ghost of Christmas Present,” said Dana in a soft voice. “If the Ghost of Christmas Past has drawn for you scenes of past holiday lovers, good times and Christmas cheer; what do you see when the Ghost of Christmas Present hovers above your lives tonight and points to your actions and attitudes of this present Christmas?”The Chix again sat thinking in silence.McNally answered Dana’s challenge first, “Well, I’ve already told everyone my grim view of this present Christmas. There is a poverty of spirit where I operate; Christmas has become nothing but joyless deadlines for me. I’ll confess, 'Bah Humbug!’ is truly what the Ghost of Christmas Present is pointing at in my life.”“Or would Scrooge use a more contemporary phrase, maybe something like 'Merry Fucking Christmas?” needled Patricia.“Yeah but…” Annie joined in, “…Those really were Merry Fucking Christmases in the past - literally. Those years when we all used to come up here with our hubbies and enjoy playing games and cooking together, remember? And it seems like every night ended in a night of passionate love making,” she added wistfully. “Why did we let that slip away? Where did the holiday love magic go?"I have a confession too, McNally has nothing on me, I’m just as much of a Bah Humbug personality as McNally - if not more so. Only I’m just a Scrooge still in the closet. I guess it’s time I came out to my friends. It was me who first suggested that I’d be ready to exchange Nelson for someone to clean my house. Honestly, how Scrooge-like is that?"The Ghost of Christmas Past showed that Scrooge rejected his old flame, Belle, to pursue a respectable wealthy status above love. Like Scrooge, I’ve let the passion for my old flame, Nelson dim, and for what? A respectable status of a well cleaned house? I’ve been saying 'Bah Humbug!’ from inside my Scrooge closet."I chided McNally for her poor attitude when we first drove up this afternoon,” recalled Patricia. “But then I fell right in with her complaining about my grueling holiday schedule and all I had endured. So, I guess that makes me not only a Scrooge, but a hypocrite as well. How’s that for a bare-bones confession to the Ghost of Christmas Present?" Dana’s Christmas Ghost"Excuse me,” declared a mildly irritated McNally, “enough indulging in this group psychotherapy playing with literary ghosts. I can’t stand it any longer, I’ve gotta find out from Dana if Sander’s ghost is really visiting us here.”McNally’s abrupt demand brought a heavy hush to the room.All eyes were locked on Dana. “All I can say is that I came up to our cabin for the first time since the accident. I hoped I was ready, but I wasn’t sure. The real reason that I invited everyone to join me was so I couldn’t back out, even if I wanted to, since I had extended an invitation to The Chix. Patricia, Annie, McNally; you’re my insurance as I forced myself to be a brave widow."I came two days ago for solitude. I thought I would be alone up here. I hoped I’d be brave enough to finally be alone with my thoughts. I was going to force myself to stay here until reinforcements arrived in the form of a carload of wild, raucous and fun-loving Chix."To my surprise, I had it all wrong. I was not alone here. Sander was waiting for me. It was good to find him here; he has been a comfort for me. I told him I was sorry for making him wait. He let me know that he understood why I waited. He assured me that it was alright for me to wait, coming only after I was ready."When Sander came to me the first night, he comforted me, bringing good memories of us in this place, like the Ghost of Christmas Past. He reacquainted me with faded memories of Patricia and Will, Annie and Nelson and McNally and Orlando all gathered in this place with me and Sander back in those days at the beginning. The images he brought to me made me feel grateful for all of you."I told Sander that those were lovely, warm memories, some of the best; but that they were far in the dim past. When Sander wrapped those memories around me; I felt warmth and saw a radiating brightness, happy for what we had once shared together. He said that that is why he had to brighten them for me; otherwise, neither I nor anyone else in those images would be able to clearly see them as they once were."I began to cry as those bright images of our past passions and fellowship with our friends began to fade before my eyes. I cried even more at the fear of losing him and everything good once again."He warned me that squandered time, tyranny of the mundane and careless love will steal from the human soul, draining the treasures of passion and good memories, leaving murky, pathetic sketches in place of those forgotten treasures. Sander let me know that I still had all of you wrapped around me to shield me with love. He was pleased that The Chix had taken such good care of me after he was taken from me."Sander told me he could not keep the past images bright, the power to do so was only given to the realm of the living."I cried in my grief and in my fresh fear of loss. I tried to hold him, but of course, I could not. I pleaded, 'How can I keep those memories of you and warm feelings bright?’ I didn’t know how to find the power to keep from losing all that was meaningful to me. I cried, 'Please Sander, show me, show me how not to lose you and everything again. Don’t let me drain away into the murky darkness where all warmth and love have been stolen from the human soul.’"I cried, kneeling on the floor. Sander said nothing as he stood close to me as a kind and gentle spirit with a comforting patience waiting for me to finish my hot tears. When I wiped away my tears and looked into his face, he pointed and guided me to look for my answer. I saw The Chix checking their messages, returning calls, checking their calendars trying to squeeze in a meeting, an appointment and a Christmas cookie exchange. I saw that we were rushing to the shopping mall, ordering online, checking our phones and returning home exhausted, drained of warmth and love, leaving nothing for those around us."I was shown Will, Nelson and Orlando taking the cars in for servicing because it was time. I saw these men checking their messages and making out-of-the way runs to pick up store items and a few groceries because their wives had sent them a text message. I witnessed The Dix on their own initiative coming home with a takeout meal that they served to their exhausted wives and then taking out the trash the night before pickup without a reminder. The guys were up late at night, opening the bills and writing the household checks and balancing the accounts, toiling like the loyal Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s unappreciated clerk. I had been shown Christmas Present. I was sad to have seen that exhausted misery spread to all of our present lives."I cried, 'Oh Sander, where is the joy and the love for our friends? Everyone looks so exhausted and joyless and without hope or purpose. Tell me Sander, what is going to happen to them?’ Sander looked sad and did not answer me."He began to fade into the darkness, and I begged with renewed tears, 'Sander please don’t go, please don’t leave me alone again.’ But he was gone.I crawled off the floor, lifting myself into bed and cried myself to sleep. I remembered his words, 'Squandered time, tyranny of the mundane and careless love will steal from the human soul, draining the treasures of passion and good memories and leaving murky, pathetic sketches in place of those forgotten treasures.’"When Sander slipped away from me that night, I understood that he had shown me that the same was happening to Orlando and McNally, Will and Patricia and also to Nelson and Annie. His visit was a warning. Just as I lost Sander, everyone here is facing a Christmas Future where you will discover that you’ve lost all that really matters in life."Sander came again the next night. I was glad to see him. I wanted to know if it was too late for our friends to rekindle the love that had somehow drained away. 'Please, Sander, tell me that there is yet hope for them this Christmas Season,’ I begged."He showed me some bright and warm memories from long ago, some personal and some with The Chix. He showed me those visions to let me know that I still had love and support from you guys. But I was haunted by those visions of Christmas Present that I’d been shown the night before. He was happy that I was so well cared for now. And yes, he was happy to know that I got surprised by some needed loving attention from a partridge, a turtle dove hunter and an old barnyard rooster who had a few tricks to make a French hen cackle. Yet, the peril of the bleak Christmas Present remains, unless friendship and love is cherished and attended, it too will soon perish, and I’ll see my friends fade away into murky darkness as Sander had."Again, I looked into his gentle eyes and asked, 'There is still time isn’t there? We haven’t squandered our time, it’s not too late, tell me sweetheart, there are warm and bright memories of love and affection still to be made, nourished and cherished.’ Sander smiled his warm smile of assurance that I had missed so much, and I was happy."I woke, realizing that the sun was shining off a fresh morning snowfall and I threw off my heavy quilt. I sat up in bed, remembering that on our last morning together; Sander had been working on something secret that morning before the accident. I remembered asking him, 'Sweetie buns, what are you working on the hill behind the cabin?’"He smiled that warm, smug smile of mischief on that last morning that we were together and told me, 'I’ve got a Christmas surprise to show you tonight, it has to be revealed once it is dark. So, you’ll have to wait until we finish a few runs on the slopes this afternoon.’"Of course, we never came back here together. I had forgotten about Sander’s promised secret Christmas surprise until yesterday morning. When Sander told me he had a Christmas gift waiting for me after dark, he was holding an electrical extension cord behind his back with his mischievous smile stretched across his ski slope tanned face. 'I’ll plug this in to brighten your night tonight, as a token of how you have brightened my life,’ he said. Recalling some of his last words, I jumped out of bed and checked this morning; that cord is still lying on the deck where Sander left it last year.Annie was crying, as usual, but so were Patricia and McNally.Dana reached for her purse and pulled out her phone and looked at her messages and began to text, as The Chix took a few moments to rein in their emotions and check their composure before speaking or asking Dana any questions.Annie brushed her cheeks, "Oh Dana, that is the sweetest, saddest story I’ve ever heard… Excuse me, I can’t stop weeping… I don’t even know if these are tears of joy or grief… excuse me, I don’t know what to feel or say,” she said as the flood gates reopened.Patricia felt it was her role to wade in and tidy things up and drain the emotional swamp in which they all found themselves wallowing in. “Dana, it sounds like you’ve started to find some peace after last year’s events. I am glad that you shared with us how you are coping with Sander’s passing…”“Patricia, Jesus Christ on a bicycle! Don’t be such a cold and analytical mother hen all the time for us Chix. Dana’s story is not about coping, it’s about us - all of us and all that we once had and what we might lose, including Will, Nelson and yes, Orlando too. Dana, your conversation with Sander really got to me there…” McNally paused, looking emotionally rattled.“I guess everyone can tell, your story about Sander got to me also,” said Annie after managing to dry out enough. “I feel like McNally. Dana, what you said really touched me; I don’t know what to say… Yes, I actually do, I want to say that what Sander said is right; my joy has been stolen from my soul, I feel drained inside, I have let the things I hold most dear fade away. I am Scrooge - and I’m sorry, but so are all of you.”Turning to Patricia, Annie asked, “Don’t you feel what McNally and I feel? Don’t you feel that you and I and McNally, and certainly Dana, have lost something precious? Together as The Chix, we are a sum greater the whole - and that has, or should, include our husbands. I believe Sander told Dana to warn us all before it is too late. Patricia, don’t you feel like me that we should do something before the Ghost of Christmas Future makes the vision of an estranged and murky end to all that we enjoy a grim reality?”Patricia teared up and nodded silently. Then lifting her head, she asked Dana, “Is there hope? Did Sander give you hope for us?”“There is hope. There is still love here, and where there is love, there is hope. Sander showed me that the future can be changed by what we do now. Sander showed me that there is hope for us, hope for The Chix.”“And… And… What is that hope?” asked McNally. “And… And… And I got lots of questions about you and Sander up here in this cabin, but first - that was a gripping Christmas ghost story with Sander, but it seemed kind of weird that as soon as you finished driving your emotional steamroller full speed over our sympathies that you then broke character, ignoring us to check your phone. Isn’t checking your messages part of that tyranny of the mundane that Sander warned you about? Who is so important that you were texting them rather than dealing with us in this room and our emotions?”“The Ghost or the Ghosts of Christmas Future,” was Dana’s curt, cryptic reply.“You asked about our future, you asked about hope; I don’t know exactly how to answer those questions,” said a thoughtful Dana. “But I know where I want to look for starters. There is Sander’s unrevealed Christmas surprise waiting for me - or us, on top of the hill behind the cabin. It was Sander&rsq

A Ghostly Plea For Appreciation.Based on a post by SandyMarl, in 4 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Steamy Stories.A Christmas Ghost Story For ScroogeDana got ready to roll the movie as The Chix settled in. “What’s the movie?” asked McNally.“A Christmas Carol, it’s the classic tale by Charles Dickens.”“Damn. Not a Christmas movie? Did I ever mention that I am so over Christmas right now? Bah Humbug!”Annie snorted, “McNally, you make a better Scrooge than Patrick Stewart.”“I’ll drink to that,” McNally said as she tipped her stemware to wash down a handful of popcorn. “Let me say it again, Merry Fucking Christmas, because I am so done with Christmas.”“Merry Fucking Christmas” was echoed around the room, followed by giggles among gathered good friends as the opening scene played.Annie was dabbing at her eyes as Tiny Tim cried out in the movie’s final scene, “God bless us, everyone!”As the credits rolled, Annie turned to McNally, “Well, Ebenezer Scrooge, do you still hate Christmas? Or did the ghost of Christmas Future shake you from your Bah Humbug! ways?”“I don’t hate Christmas; I just get worn out by this time of year. Christmas has been going on since before Halloween and that’s way too long, even for a vibrant spirit like me,” replied McNally.“Are you still so entrenched in your ‘Bah Humbug’ world-weary ways Ebenezer McNally or is it possible that visitations of the cinematic Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Future have softened your hardened holiday heart?” pried Patricia.“Don’t be picking on McNally, she’s just been more emotionally honest. I have heard Scrooge speaking through all of you. Chix, take a look inside and tell me if Christmas hasn’t lost its magic for all of us this year, or for that matter, several years running.” Dana’s call for introspection brought the room to silence.Dana continued, “Let me play Ghost of Christmas Past; let me take us back to time when we were young, and Sander and I stretched our budget and bought this cabin and had The Chix and their boys up here around Christmas time? Remember those times?”“Those were the good days,” recalled McNally. “I remember Orlando mixing exotic cocktails for everyone to try. The guys kept making sweet drinks and urging us girls to taste one new one after another. I’m sure they were in cahoots, working on the theory that 'Christmas candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.’”Patricia chimed in, “Yeah, I remember that year, I remember laughing a lot of silly laughs and being chased around the cabin and out into the snow by three horny abominable snowmen until I finally let one catch me and haul me off to his lair where he threw me on the bed and ravaged me.”“I sort of remember that too - only I think I enjoyed Orlando’s cocktails too much too soon to fully remember every detail. But I have a vague memory of laughing on my way to a strange bed as I hung over Nelson’s shoulder as I pounded on his back as a captured maiden, but not really feeling much distress. I remember trying to help Nelson undress me, but I was too giggly, so he just ripped my clothes off.”Dana reminisced, “Anybody remember the year we all wore those sexy Santa’s Naughty Elf costumes?”“I still have mine in a closet somewhere I think,” snickered McNally. “We put on a pretty good show for the guys that one year when we performed in those outfits. Thanks to Annie for sewing them,” McNally tipped her glass toward Annie.“It was your choreography McNally, and your audacious moves that gave me the confidence to bump and grind along with the rest of the Chix. I’d never have been able to even think of doing something so feminine and sexy if it weren’t for you McNally,” complimented Patricia.“I still get wet every time I hear Eartha Kitt sing 'Santa Baby’ and I think of how hot we Chix looked and how mercilessly we teased those boys,” chuckled McNally.“Speaking for me,” said Patricia, “I’d say all of that dance practice and the sexy dance tips from everyone else showing me how to strut my wares. Our sexy little routine was well worth it a little later that night.” All The Chix giggled and nodded with Patricia, each recalling the thrill of having their men rush the stage and cart off the four costumed naughty little helper elves for a roll in the sheets.“Dana are you sure you’re alright with us bringing up these memories?” asked Annie in a cautious tone.“Annie, I’ve already told you that good memories and present friends are what are important to me tonight.”“Allow me to play the Ghost of Christmas Present,” said Dana in a soft voice. “If the Ghost of Christmas Past has drawn for you scenes of past holiday lovers, good times and Christmas cheer; what do you see when the Ghost of Christmas Present hovers above your lives tonight and points to your actions and attitudes of this present Christmas?”The Chix again sat thinking in silence.McNally answered Dana’s challenge first, “Well, I’ve already told everyone my grim view of this present Christmas. There is a poverty of spirit where I operate; Christmas has become nothing but joyless deadlines for me. I’ll confess, 'Bah Humbug!’ is truly what the Ghost of Christmas Present is pointing at in my life.”“Or would Scrooge use a more contemporary phrase, maybe something like 'Merry Fucking Christmas?” needled Patricia.“Yeah but…” Annie joined in, “…Those really were Merry Fucking Christmases in the past - literally. Those years when we all used to come up here with our hubbies and enjoy playing games and cooking together, remember? And it seems like every night ended in a night of passionate love making,” she added wistfully. “Why did we let that slip away? Where did the holiday love magic go?"I have a confession too, McNally has nothing on me, I’m just as much of a Bah Humbug personality as McNally - if not more so. Only I’m just a Scrooge still in the closet. I guess it’s time I came out to my friends. It was me who first suggested that I’d be ready to exchange Nelson for someone to clean my house. Honestly, how Scrooge-like is that?"The Ghost of Christmas Past showed that Scrooge rejected his old flame, Belle, to pursue a respectable wealthy status above love. Like Scrooge, I’ve let the passion for my old flame, Nelson dim, and for what? A respectable status of a well cleaned house? I’ve been saying 'Bah Humbug!’ from inside my Scrooge closet."I chided McNally for her poor attitude when we first drove up this afternoon,” recalled Patricia. “But then I fell right in with her complaining about my grueling holiday schedule and all I had endured. So, I guess that makes me not only a Scrooge, but a hypocrite as well. How’s that for a bare-bones confession to the Ghost of Christmas Present?" Dana’s Christmas Ghost"Excuse me,” declared a mildly irritated McNally, “enough indulging in this group psychotherapy playing with literary ghosts. I can’t stand it any longer, I’ve gotta find out from Dana if Sander’s ghost is really visiting us here.”McNally’s abrupt demand brought a heavy hush to the room.All eyes were locked on Dana. “All I can say is that I came up to our cabin for the first time since the accident. I hoped I was ready, but I wasn’t sure. The real reason that I invited everyone to join me was so I couldn’t back out, even if I wanted to, since I had extended an invitation to The Chix. Patricia, Annie, McNally; you’re my insurance as I forced myself to be a brave widow."I came two days ago for solitude. I thought I would be alone up here. I hoped I’d be brave enough to finally be alone with my thoughts. I was going to force myself to stay here until reinforcements arrived in the form of a carload of wild, raucous and fun-loving Chix."To my surprise, I had it all wrong. I was not alone here. Sander was waiting for me. It was good to find him here; he has been a comfort for me. I told him I was sorry for making him wait. He let me know that he understood why I waited. He assured me that it was alright for me to wait, coming only after I was ready."When Sander came to me the first night, he comforted me, bringing good memories of us in this place, like the Ghost of Christmas Past. He reacquainted me with faded memories of Patricia and Will, Annie and Nelson and McNally and Orlando all gathered in this place with me and Sander back in those days at the beginning. The images he brought to me made me feel grateful for all of you."I told Sander that those were lovely, warm memories, some of the best; but that they were far in the dim past. When Sander wrapped those memories around me; I felt warmth and saw a radiating brightness, happy for what we had once shared together. He said that that is why he had to brighten them for me; otherwise, neither I nor anyone else in those images would be able to clearly see them as they once were."I began to cry as those bright images of our past passions and fellowship with our friends began to fade before my eyes. I cried even more at the fear of losing him and everything good once again."He warned me that squandered time, tyranny of the mundane and careless love will steal from the human soul, draining the treasures of passion and good memories, leaving murky, pathetic sketches in place of those forgotten treasures. Sander let me know that I still had all of you wrapped around me to shield me with love. He was pleased that The Chix had taken such good care of me after he was taken from me."Sander told me he could not keep the past images bright, the power to do so was only given to the realm of the living."I cried in my grief and in my fresh fear of loss. I tried to hold him, but of course, I could not. I pleaded, 'How can I keep those memories of you and warm feelings bright?’ I didn’t know how to find the power to keep from losing all that was meaningful to me. I cried, 'Please Sander, show me, show me how not to lose you and everything again. Don’t let me drain away into the murky darkness where all warmth and love have been stolen from the human soul.’"I cried, kneeling on the floor. Sander said nothing as he stood close to me as a kind and gentle spirit with a comforting patience waiting for me to finish my hot tears. When I wiped away my tears and looked into his face, he pointed and guided me to look for my answer. I saw The Chix checking their messages, returning calls, checking their calendars trying to squeeze in a meeting, an appointment and a Christmas cookie exchange. I saw that we were rushing to the shopping mall, ordering online, checking our phones and returning home exhausted, drained of warmth and love, leaving nothing for those around us."I was shown Will, Nelson and Orlando taking the cars in for servicing because it was time. I saw these men checking their messages and making out-of-the way runs to pick up store items and a few groceries because their wives had sent them a text message. I witnessed The Dix on their own initiative coming home with a takeout meal that they served to their exhausted wives and then taking out the trash the night before pickup without a reminder. The guys were up late at night, opening the bills and writing the household checks and balancing the accounts, toiling like the loyal Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s unappreciated clerk. I had been shown Christmas Present. I was sad to have seen that exhausted misery spread to all of our present lives."I cried, 'Oh Sander, where is the joy and the love for our friends? Everyone looks so exhausted and joyless and without hope or purpose. Tell me Sander, what is going to happen to them?’ Sander looked sad and did not answer me."He began to fade into the darkness, and I begged with renewed tears, 'Sander please don’t go, please don’t leave me alone again.’ But he was gone.I crawled off the floor, lifting myself into bed and cried myself to sleep. I remembered his words, 'Squandered time, tyranny of the mundane and careless love will steal from the human soul, draining the treasures of passion and good memories and leaving murky, pathetic sketches in place of those forgotten treasures.’"When Sander slipped away from me that night, I understood that he had shown me that the same was happening to Orlando and McNally, Will and Patricia and also to Nelson and Annie. His visit was a warning. Just as I lost Sander, everyone here is facing a Christmas Future where you will discover that you’ve lost all that really matters in life."Sander came again the next night. I was glad to see him. I wanted to know if it was too late for our friends to rekindle the love that had somehow drained away. 'Please, Sander, tell me that there is yet hope for them this Christmas Season,’ I begged."He showed me some bright and warm memories from long ago, some personal and some with The Chix. He showed me those visions to let me know that I still had love and support from you guys. But I was haunted by those visions of Christmas Present that I’d been shown the night before. He was happy that I was so well cared for now. And yes, he was happy to know that I got surprised by some needed loving attention from a partridge, a turtle dove hunter and an old barnyard rooster who had a few tricks to make a French hen cackle. Yet, the peril of the bleak Christmas Present remains, unless friendship and love is cherished and attended, it too will soon perish, and I’ll see my friends fade away into murky darkness as Sander had."Again, I looked into his gentle eyes and asked, 'There is still time isn’t there? We haven’t squandered our time, it’s not too late, tell me sweetheart, there are warm and bright memories of love and affection still to be made, nourished and cherished.’ Sander smiled his warm smile of assurance that I had missed so much, and I was happy."I woke, realizing that the sun was shining off a fresh morning snowfall and I threw off my heavy quilt. I sat up in bed, remembering that on our last morning together; Sander had been working on something secret that morning before the accident. I remembered asking him, 'Sweetie buns, what are you working on the hill behind the cabin?’"He smiled that warm, smug smile of mischief on that last morning that we were together and told me, 'I’ve got a Christmas surprise to show you tonight, it has to be revealed once it is dark. So, you’ll have to wait until we finish a few runs on the slopes this afternoon.’"Of course, we never came back here together. I had forgotten about Sander’s promised secret Christmas surprise until yesterday morning. When Sander told me he had a Christmas gift waiting for me after dark, he was holding an electrical extension cord behind his back with his mischievous smile stretched across his ski slope tanned face. 'I’ll plug this in to brighten your night tonight, as a token of how you have brightened my life,’ he said. Recalling some of his last words, I jumped out of bed and checked this morning; that cord is still lying on the deck where Sander left it last year.Annie was crying, as usual, but so were Patricia and McNally.Dana reached for her purse and pulled out her phone and looked at her messages and began to text, as The Chix took a few moments to rein in their emotions and check their composure before speaking or asking Dana any questions.Annie brushed her cheeks, "Oh Dana, that is the sweetest, saddest story I’ve ever heard… Excuse me, I can’t stop weeping… I don’t even know if these are tears of joy or grief… excuse me, I don’t know what to feel or say,” she said as the flood gates reopened.Patricia felt it was her role to wade in and tidy things up and drain the emotional swamp in which they all found themselves wallowing in. “Dana, it sounds like you’ve started to find some peace after last year’s events. I am glad that you shared with us how you are coping with Sander’s passing…”“Patricia, Jesus Christ on a bicycle! Don’t be such a cold and analytical mother hen all the time for us Chix. Dana’s story is not about coping, it’s about us - all of us and all that we once had and what we might lose, including Will, Nelson and yes, Orlando too. Dana, your conversation with Sander really got to me there…” McNally paused, looking emotionally rattled.“I guess everyone can tell, your story about Sander got to me also,” said Annie after managing to dry out enough. “I feel like McNally. Dana, what you said really touched me; I don’t know what to say… Yes, I actually do, I want to say that what Sander said is right; my joy has been stolen from my soul, I feel drained inside, I have let the things I hold most dear fade away. I am Scrooge - and I’m sorry, but so are all of you.”Turning to Patricia, Annie asked, “Don’t you feel what McNally and I feel? Don’t you feel that you and I and McNally, and certainly Dana, have lost something precious? Together as The Chix, we are a sum greater the whole - and that has, or should, include our husbands. I believe Sander told Dana to warn us all before it is too late. Patricia, don’t you feel like me that we should do something before the Ghost of Christmas Future makes the vision of an estranged and murky end to all that we enjoy a grim reality?”Patricia teared up and nodded silently. Then lifting her head, she asked Dana, “Is there hope? Did Sander give you hope for us?”“There is hope. There is still love here, and where there is love, there is hope. Sander showed me that the future can be changed by what we do now. Sander showed me that there is hope for us, hope for The Chix.”“And… And… What is that hope?” asked McNally. “And… And… And I got lots of questions about you and Sander up here in this cabin, but first - that was a gripping Christmas ghost story with Sander, but it seemed kind of weird that as soon as you finished driving your emotional steamroller full speed over our sympathies that you then broke character, ignoring us to check your phone. Isn’t checking your messages part of that tyranny of the mundane that Sander warned you about? Who is so important that you were texting them rather than dealing with us in this room and our emotions?”“The Ghost or the Ghosts of Christmas Future,” was Dana’s curt, cryptic reply.“You asked about our future, you asked about hope; I don’t know exactly how to answer those questions,” said a thoughtful Dana. “But I know where I want to look for starters. There is Sander’s unrevealed Christmas surprise waiting for me - or us, on top of the hill behind the cabin. It was Sander&rsq

Grab your Bat'leth and prepare to experience bij as our Casual Heroes once more find themselves dealing with the Shakespearean Shouty Men of Space, the Klingons! In their first episode ‘A Little Private War,' we get very little Klingons and a lot more allegories for the Vietnam war as Kirk and McCoy get involved in shennanigans which have little to no purpose and then in ‘Sins of the Father,' Picard and Worf get to do Space Opera intrigue on the Klingon homeworld while Wesley Crusher gets bullied by Tony Todd and we see the start of Worf's ever continuing dissolusionment with the Klingon people and then finally, in ‘wej Duj,' Boimler's attempts to get a bridge buddy escalate into a web of lies while we see what Klingon and Vulcan Lower Deckers do on their own ships. Hey, is that T'Lynn? It doesn't matter because you know how I told you to prepare to experience bij? EXPERIENCE BIJ!EPISODES DISCUSSED: A Private Little War (10:31), Sins of the Father (42:37) and wej Duj (01:06:22)TALKING POINTS INCLUDE: We've never done Hirogen episodes, Iron Lung, Kill James Bond, Miles goes on a rant about James Bond, it's a metaphor for Vietnam, Gene Roddenberry and Chris Claremont's fetish journals, it's been a while since we've had an episode be both racist AND sexist, Kirk doesn't do a Starfleet, Miles realises that in SF… you can just make shit up, Miles tries to summon the Candyman and we legitimately get to talk about Brighton, an appropriate Mighty Boosh reference, proper Space opera with cloaks and knives, Kurn bullies Wesley in a weird form of prison rules, Patrick Stewart glad to do some proper theatre shouty acting, Worf's long life of moral compromises begins, Miles and Charlie are probably too British to watch ‘For All Mankind,' we finally crack why we hate Ed Sheeran, Miles would rather be watching Cronernberg-pervefest Shivvers than listen to Sheeran at work Miles is definately the Garrett of his place of work, Rowan Atkinson would make an amazing Romulan and so much of space travel must just be allieviating boredom, even for Star Trek.

Grab your Bat'leth and prepare to experience bij as our Casual Heroes once more find themselves dealing with the Shakespearean Shouty Men of Space, the Klingons! In their first episode ‘A Little Private War,' we get very little Klingons and a lot more allegories for the Vietnam war as Kirk and McCoy get involved in shennanigans which have little to no purpose and then in ‘Sins of the Father,' Picard and Worf get to do Space Opera intrigue on the Klingon homeworld while Wesley Crusher gets bullied by Tony Todd and we see the start of Worf's ever continuing dissolusionment with the Klingon people and then finally, in ‘wej Duj,' Boimler's attempts to get a bridge buddy escalate into a web of lies while we see what Klingon and Vulcan Lower Deckers do on their own ships. Hey, is that T'Lynn? It doesn't matter because you know how I told you to prepare to experience bij? EXPERIENCE BIJ! EPISODES DISCUSSED: A Private Little War (10:31), Sins of the Father (42:37) and wej Duj (01:06:22) TALKING POINTS INCLUDE: We've never done Hirogen episodes, Iron Lung, Kill James Bond, Miles goes on a rant about James Bond, it's a metaphor for Vietnam, Gene Roddenberry and Chris Claremont's fetish journals, it's been a while since we've had an episode be both racist AND sexist, Kirk doesn't do a Starfleet, Miles realises that in SF… you can just make shit up, Miles tries to summon the Candyman and we legitimately get to talk about Brighton, an appropriate Mighty Boosh reference, proper Space opera with cloaks and knives, Kurn bullies Wesley in a weird form of prison rules, Patrick Stewart glad to do some proper theatre shouty acting, Worf's long life of moral compromises begins, Miles and Charlie are probably too British to watch ‘For All Mankind,' we finally crack why we hate Ed Sheeran, Miles would rather be watching Cronernberg-pervefest Shivvers than listen to Sheeran at work Miles is definately the Garrett of his place of work, Rowan Atkinson would make an amazing Romulan and so much of space travel must just be allieviating boredom, even for Star Trek. [ Additional Show Notes ] Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn. Read Miles's blog or Charlie's blog. [ Support this show on Ko-fi ] Subscribe to this Podcast: Apple PodcastsSpotifyAndroidRSSThe post 91. Qapla', I Guess first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

Kev and Rob decide to stage this week's episode of the podcast, discussing "The Life of the Stars" (SA) as a piece of amateur theatre in a spare conference room on board the ship. They then reflect on other adventures upon the stage from episodes past, "The Conscience of the King" (TOS) and "Frame of Mind" (TNG).SA 1×08 The Life of the StarsOur Town Our Town at the Welsh National Theatre William Shakespeare Leonard Nimoy “The long way round”: Doctor Who's history with this phrase explained Sylvia Tilly VOY 3×22 Real Life Parrises squares Hologram Janeway Kasq Our Town 2003 Broadway production with Paul Newman as Stage ManagerTheatre Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Star Trek II: The Wrath of KhanTOS 1×12 The Conscience of the KingJames T. Kirk Kevin Riley TOS 1×06 The Naked TimeTNG 6×21 Frame of MindEvery Good Boy Deserves Favor Photo of Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes from their production TNG 5×18 Cause and Effect Brannan BragaPRO 1×13 All the World's a Stage(00:00) - Episode 89: Theatre (SA 1×08 The Life of the Stars) (00:34) - SA 1×08 The Life of the Stars (23:53) - Theatre (25:42) - TOS 1×12 The Conscience of the King (41:33) - TNG 6×21 Frame of Mind Music: Distänt Mind, Brigitte Handley

Logan (2017) Review kicks off this week's episode of Born to Watch, and boys… this is not your usual superhero movie.Whitey, Gow and Damo head into the wasteland of 2029 to talk about the final outing for Wolverine, and right from the start the big question is asked, is this actually a superhero movie at all… or is it a western wearing claws?After nearly two decades of Hugh Jackman playing Logan, the X-Men universe throws away the colourful costumes, the CGI sky beams and the multiverse nonsense, and replaces it with dust, silence and a dying hero who just wants it all to end.This week, the boys dive into: • Why Logan feels closer to a Clint Eastwood western than a Marvel film • The emotional weight of Professor X and Logan's relationship • Laura (X-23) stealing the movie without saying much at all • The brutality and why the R-rating actually matters • Whether this is the greatest superhero film ever madeWhitey argues that this is the natural evolution of comic book movies, a character study about regret and aging rather than saving the world. Gow admits he expected CGI chaos and instead got a real film. Damo questions the timeline, the X-Men continuity and whether the emotional ending works if it doesn't match the earlier movies.The discussion also covers how Logan was clearly inspired by classic westerns, especially Shane, and why the movie works best when it forgets it's part of a franchise entirely.Hugh Jackman delivers possibly his best performance as a broken warrior who no longer heals, drinks too much, hurts constantly and carries decades of guilt. Patrick Stewart's Professor X adds heart and tragedy, while the road-trip structure slowly turns the film into something surprisingly intimate.And then… there's the ending.No big sky battle.No final speech.Just consequences.The boys debate whether Logan's death lands emotionally, if Laura is the future of the character, and why this film changed how studios approached superhero movies afterwards.Is Logan the peak of comic-book cinema? Or just a really good western accidentally starring a superhero?JOIN THE CONVERSATION Is Logan the best comic book movie ever made? Does the R-rating improve superhero films? Is this secretly just a western?Drop us a voicemail at https://www.borntowatch.com.au and be part of the show.Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.Don't forget to LIKE, SUBSCRIBE and follow Born to Watch for your weekly dose of nostalgia, arguments and completely unnecessary movie rankings.#Logan #BornToWatch #MoviePodcast #Wolverine #HughJackman #XMen #FilmReview #WesternMovies #SuperheroMovies #MovieDebate

It's "Engage!", "Make it so!", and "Space—the final frontier!" as NostalgiaCast crosses another item off its bucket list with STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT, directed by Jonathan Frakes and starring Patrick Stewart, James Cromwell, Alfre Woodard, Alice Krige, and the entire NEXT GENERATION crew. Jonny and Darin welcome director, photographer and fellow Trekker/Trekkie Rachel Masters to the 'Cast for a discussion of the stellar performances, timeless FX, and terrific balance of TREK lore and blockbuster filmmaking that define what is arguably TNG's finest big-screen adventure. Listen now or risk assimilation!   Check out Rachel's podcast Film Fritter, here: https://www.youtube.com/@filmfritter   Check out Rachel's music video work, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1HhIXH-v1g

On this episode, the X-Men meet the JPI-Men in the clash of the millennium. It's the concession stand kids vs the black leather mutants. James & Nick tackle the original X-Men trilogy in 2026 leading up to their appearance in Avengers: Doomsday. We discuss little known fun facts, the Bryan Singer controversy, and how this movie kicked off a quarter century run for Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. As good of a jumping off point this film was for superhero flicks, we can't help but think how much better it would've looked in yellow spandex. Thanks for tuning in. For more, follow us on Instagram & YouTube @justplayitpodcast & X (fka Twitter) @justplayitpod

Send a textCinemondo reacts to the Avengers: Doomsday Teaser Trailer and a bootleg of trailer 4!  Avengers: Doomsday is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers. The film features an ensemble cast including Chris Hemsworth, Vanessa Kirby, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, Wyatt Russell, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Simu Liu, Florence Pugh, Kelsey Grammer, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Joseph Quinn, David Harbour, Winston Duke, Hannah John-Kamen, Tom Hiddleston, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, Channing Tatum, Pedro Pascal, and Robert Downey Jr. In the film, the Avengers, Wakandans, Fantastic Four, New Avengers, and the X-Men team up to face Doctor Doom (Downey).Support the show

On this week's episode, Tim is joined by the one and only Derek, Co-host of the Little Bracket of Horrors podcast, to discuss Jeremy Saulnier's 'Green Room'!Listen as they discuss the social media side of indie podcasting, the authenticity of the violence and music in the film, Patrick Stewart's stand out performance as 'Darcy', and much more on this week's episode!The Little Bracket of Horrors Podcast : https://linktr.ee/littlebracketofhorrorsPatreon (All Content is Free) : https://www.patreon.com/Horrorflicksguitarpicks

Movie buffs everywhere should remember the great Tobe Hooper, who terrified audiences everywhere from Texas to Salem's Lot.  Even a television set became spooky if it wasn't tuned into a channel.  This underappreciated 1985 flick I'm talking about this time features some more vampires, but they suck in a different way.  They're from space!  And one of them is a beautiful and quite often naked young lass.  They want to drain humankind of its collective energy, so if you're feeling tired, lazy, lethargic...this podcast will spark some life back into you!  Did I mention it also features Patrick Stewart?  A couple of years before he took the Captain's chair as Jean-Luc Picard, he was in this.  Don't tell Starfleet Command.  So, if you love mid-1980's special effects, zombie vampire chaos and boobs, this is your ticket to cinematic paradise, my friends!  

RMR 0350: Special Guest, Curt Boirum, joins your hosts, Chad Robinson and Russell Guest for the Retro Movie Roundtable as they revisit Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) [PG-13] Genre: Comedy, Musical, Satire   Starring: Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis, Roger Rees, Amy Yasbeck, Mark Blankfield, Dave Chappelle, Isaac Hayes, Megan Cavanagh, Eric Allan Kramer, Matthew Porretta, Tracey Ullman, Patrick Stewart, Dom DeLuise,, Dick Van Patten, Robert Ridgely, Mel Brooks, Steve Tancora, Joe Dimmick, Avery Schreiber, Zitto Kazann   Directed by: Mel Brooks Recorded on 2025-12-23

Send us a textCinemondo reacts to the Avengers: Doomsday Teaser Trailer and a bootleg of trailer 4!  Avengers: Doomsday is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers. The film features an ensemble cast including Chris Hemsworth, Vanessa Kirby, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, Wyatt Russell, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Simu Liu, Florence Pugh, Kelsey Grammer, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Joseph Quinn, David Harbour, Winston Duke, Hannah John-Kamen, Tom Hiddleston, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, Channing Tatum, Pedro Pascal, and Robert Downey Jr. In the film, the Avengers, Wakandans, Fantastic Four, New Avengers, and the X-Men team up to face Doctor Doom (Downey).Support the show

Shannon Burkett has lived about six lives. Broadway actor. SNL alum. Nurse. Filmmaker. Advocate. Cancer survivor. And the kind of person who makes you question what you've done with your day. She wrote and produced My Vagina—the stop-motion musical kind, not the cry-for-help kind—and built a global movement after her son was poisoned by lead dust in their New York apartment. Out of that came LEAD: How This Story Ends Is Up to Us, a documentary born from rage, science, and maternal defiance. We talked about everything from The Goonies to Patrick Stewart to the quiet rage of parenting in a country that treats public health like a hobby. This episode is about art, anger, resilience, and what happens when an unstoppable theater nerd turned science geek Jersey girl collides with an immovable healthcare system.RELATED LINKSShannon Burkett Official SiteLEAD: How This Story Ends Is Up to UsEnd Lead PoisoningLinkedIn: Shannon BurkettBroadwayWorld ProfileFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sci fi fan fiction book. 3 of 5Key words: science fiction, Star Trek, fan fiction, outer space, Patrick Stewart, books, booktok. Please support my patreon.https://www.patreon.com/posts/148872905?utm_campaign=postshare_creator

The Brothers discuss Jeremy Saulnier's 2015 film "Green Room," which is another feel-bad movie. Along the way they discuss Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Dead Kennedys, and the magic of Patrick Stewart.   Housekeeping starts at 48:30 during which they discuss the parents' new shower, Mr Rogers' sweater, and The Lazarus Project television series.   File length 1:06:15 File Size 52.8 MB   Theme by Jul Big Green via SongFinch Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts Listen to us on Stitcher Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Send your comments to show@notinacreepyway.com Visit the show website at Not In A Creepy Way

Avengers: Doomsday has OFFICIALLY released 4 Teaser Trailers now, which the Russo Brothers are now encouraging fans to dive deeper on for clues & hidden details! We also get a first look at Sophie Turner as Lara Croft Tomb Raider, Major Star Wars shakeup: Kathleen Kennedy is stepping down as President of Lucasfilm and discuss the week's movie news at large! Black Panther & Fantastic Four Will Return | Avengers: Doomsday Trailer Reaction:    • AVENGERS DOOMSDAY TRAILER 4 REACTION!! Fan...   The X-Men Will Return | Avengers: Doomsday Trailer Reaction:    • AVENGERS DOOMSDAY X-MEN TRAILER REACTION! ...   Thor Will Return | Avengers: Doomsday Trailer Reaction:    • AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY TRAILER REACTION! Thor ...   Steve Rogers Will Return | Avengers: Doomsday Trailer Reaction:    • AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY TRAILER REACTION!! Stev...   As the road to Doomsday heats up, Joe & Anthony Russo are encouraging viewers to study each of the film's recent teaser trailers in-depth for clues and hidden details — because fans are already decoding potential connections to Avengers: Endgame and other key moments in the MCU narrative. The first four teasers have spotlighted major characters including Chris Evans' Steve Rogers/Captain America, Chris Hemsworth's Thor, the return of X-Men icons Patrick Stewart's Professor X and Ian McKellen's Magneto, and James Marsden's Cyclops, along with glimpses of the Fantastic Four (Vanessa Kirby, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn & Ebon Moss-Bachrach), Letitia Wright's Shuri, Winston Duke's M'Baku, Tenoch Huerta's Namor, and more, prompting theories about emotional beats, timeline clues, and narrative setup for Marvel's next epic event. We also discuss the major Star Wars leadership shakeup, with Kathleen Kennedy stepping down as President of Lucasfilm and Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan stepping into new leadership roles — a shift that could signal a new creative era for the franchise. What details can be pieced together by scrubbing every frame of these teasers — and will the third time be the charm for the Tomb Raider franchise? Join Coy & Aaron as we break down this week's movie news! Follow Aaron On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealaaronalexander/?hl=en Follow Coy Jandreau:  Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@coyjandreau?l... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coyjandreau/?hl=en Twitter:  https://twitter.com/CoyJandreau YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwYH2szDTuU9ImFZ9gBRH8w Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Wakandans and the Fantastic Four meet in the fourth teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday. Join The Watchers as we break it down and also discuss the NFL's wildly entertaining Wild Card Weekend. #avengersdoomsday #avengers #marvel #mcu #blackpanther #wakandaforever #fantasticfour #nflplayoffs #nflwildcardplayoffs Avengers: Doomsday (2026) is a superhero movie directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Vanessa Kirby, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Hayley Atwell, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, Wyatt Russell, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Simu Liu, Florence Pugh, Kelsey Grammer, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Joseph Quinn, David Harbour, Winston Duke, Hannah John-Kamen, Tom Hiddleston, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, Channing Tatum and Pedro Pascal. Avengers: Doomsday teaser trailersSteve Rogers: https://youtu.be/UiMg566PREA?si=Dw9AvoSav0PuheI0Thor: https://youtu.be/1clWprLC5Ak?si=d9r-ixmgy-05nUwwX-Men: https://youtu.be/kH1XlwHQv9o?si=mux29uqXG4ew_LkoWakandans & Fantastic Four: https://youtu.be/399Ez7WHK5s?si=sUFwF4_E97hlpSyOWatchers Assemble! Check out our previous coverage of Earth's Mightiest Heroes!Avengers: Endgame May 2019 review: https://youtu.be/UFAG19oNCyITop 5 moments from Avengers: Endgame: https://youtube.com/live/iGVy42mKzNEAvengers: Age of Ultron 10-year anniversary celebration: https://youtube.com/live/GWmvIjh20Subscribe, rate and review! Follow The Watchers in the Basement on social media! Use #WatchersBasement to comment about the show!facebook.com/watchersbasementtwitter.com/WatchBasement instagram.com/watchersbasementthreads.net/@watchersbasementanchor.fm/watchersbasement#avengersdoomsday #avengers #rdj #doctordoom #ironman #tonystark #victorvondoom #robertdowneyjr #chrisevans #steverogers #captainamerica #avengersendgame #peggycarter #hayleyatwell #thor #chrishemsworth #loki #mcu #marvel #marvelcinematicuniverse #marvelstudios #xmen #fantasticfour #thunderbolts #newavengers #avengersassemble #antman #falcon #blackpanther #shangchi #spiderman #spidermanbrandnewday #watchersbasement #avengersdoomsdaytrailer #professorxavier #professorx #magneto #charlesxavier #eriklehnsherr #patrickstewart #ianmckellen #cyclops #jamesmarsden #scottsummers #blackpanther #shuri#nfl #nflplayoffs #nflwildcardplayoffs #nflfootball #nflnews #larams #carolinapanthers #greenbaypackers #chicagobears #buffalobills #jacksonvillejaguars #sanfrancisco49ers #philadelphiaeagles #lachargers #newenglandpatriots #houstontexans #pittsburghsteelers

The Mutants have entered the chat — and the Marvel Cinematic Universe — as the third teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday focuses on some X-Men legacy characters: Professor X, Magneto and Cyclops. Join The Watchers as we discuss the new spot for the December 2026 film. #avengersdoomsday #avengers #xmen #marvel #mcu #cyclopsAvengers: Doomsday (2026) is a superhero movie directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Vanessa Kirby, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Hayley Atwell, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, Wyatt Russell, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Simu Liu, Florence Pugh, Kelsey Grammer, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Joseph Quinn, David Harbour, Winston Duke, Hannah John-Kamen, Tom Hiddleston, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, Channing Tatum and Pedro Pascal. Avengers: Doomsday teaser trailersSteve Rogers: https://youtu.be/UiMg566PREA?si=Dw9AvoSav0PuheI0Thor: https://youtu.be/1clWprLC5Ak?si=d9r-ixmgy-05nUwwX-Men: https://youtu.be/kH1XlwHQv9o?si=mux29uqXG4ew_LkoWatchers Assemble! Check out our previous coverage of Earth's Mightiest Heroes!Avengers: Endgame May 2019 review: https://youtu.be/UFAG19oNCyITop 5 moments from Avengers: Endgame: https://youtube.com/live/iGVy42mKzNEAvengers: Age of Ultron 10-year anniversary celebration: https://youtube.com/live/GWmvIjh20Subscribe, rate and review! Follow The Watchers in the Basement on social media! Use #WatchersBasement to comment about the show!facebook.com/watchersbasementtwitter.com/WatchBasement instagram.com/watchersbasementthreads.net/@watchersbasementanchor.fm/watchersbasement#avengersdoomsday #avengers #rdj #doctordoom #ironman #tonystark #victorvondoom #robertdowneyjr #chrisevans #steverogers #captainamerica #avengersendgame #peggycarter #hayleyatwell #thor #chrishemsworth #loki #mcu #marvel #marvelcinematicuniverse #marvelstudios #xmen #fantasticfour #thunderbolts #newavengers #avengersassemble #antman #falcon #blackpanther #shangchi #spiderman #spidermanbrandnewday #watchersbasement #avengersdoomsdaytrailer #professorxavier #professorx #magneto #charlesxavier #eriklehnsherr #patrickstewart #ianmckellen #cyclops #jamesmarsden #scottsummers

SENTINELS!! The X-Men Return In Avengers Doomsday Trailer 3 Reaction & Breakdown featuring comic accurate Cyclop as the famous Marvel characters prepare to face off against Robert Downey Jr. Doctor Doom! The film will also feature Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm / Invisible Woman), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson / Captain America), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier), Letitia Wright (Shuri / Black Panther), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang / Ant-Man), Wyatt Russell (John Walker / U.S. Agent), Tenoch Huerta Mejía (Namor), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm / The Thing), Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), Kelsey Grammer (Hank McCoy / Beast), Lewis Pullman (Sentry), Danny Ramirez (Joaquín Torres / Falcon), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm / Human Torch), David Harbour (Red Guardian), Winston Duke (M'Baku), Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Patrick Stewart (Charles Xavier / Professor X), Ian McKellen (Magneto), Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), James Marsden (Cyclops), Channing Tatum (Gambit), & Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic) Follow Coy Jandreau:  Tik Tok:⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@coyjandreau?l...⁠ Instagram:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/coyjandreau/?hl=en⁠ Twitter:  ⁠https://twitter.com/CoyJandreau⁠ YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwYH2szDTuU9ImFZ9gBRH8w⁠ Intense Suspense by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. ⁠https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...⁠ Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Apparel! ⁠https://www.rejectnationshop.com/⁠ Follow Us On Socials:  Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/⁠  Tik-Tok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@reelrejects?lang=en⁠ Twitter: ⁠https://x.com/reelrejects⁠ Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/⁠ Music Used In Ad:  Hat the Jazz by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. ⁠https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/⁠ Happy Alley by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. ⁠https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...⁠ POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit⁠ https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo⁠ and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! Head Editor:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/praperhq/?hl=en⁠ Co-Editor: Greg Alba Co-Editor: John Humphrey Music In Video: Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.⁠ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/⁠ Ask Us A QUESTION On CAMEO:⁠ https://www.cameo.com/thereelrejects⁠ Follow TheReelRejects On FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & INSTAGRAM:  FB:  ⁠https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/⁠ INSTAGRAM: ⁠ https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/⁠ TWITTER:  ⁠https://twitter.com/thereelrejects⁠ Follow GREG ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: INSTAGRAM:  ⁠https://www.instagram.com/thegregalba/⁠ TWITTER:  ⁠https://twitter.com/thegregalba⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Patrick Stewart, CEO of the Library Foundation San Diego, discusses the foundation's mission to support the San Diego Public Library through philanthropy, advocacy, and outreach. Stewart highlights the library's 37 branches and the challenges of underfunding and book bans. Stewart emphasizes the importance of literacy and the role of libraries in supporting diverse communities. He introduces the "Books Unbanned" initiative, a collaboration with several public libraries to provide access to challenged books through e-libraries. The program has seen over a million signups, underscoring the need for continued advocacy against book bans.About Spotlight and Cloudcast Media  "Spotlight On The Community" is the longest running community podcast in the country, continuously hosted by Drew Schlosberg for 20 years.  "Spotlight" is part of Cloudcast Media's line-up of powerful local podcasts, telling the stories, highlighting the people, and celebrating the gravitational power of local.   For more information on Cloudcast and its shows and cities served, please visit www.cloudcastmedia.us. Cloudcast Media | the national leader in local podcasting.   About Mission Fed Credit Union  A community champion for over 60 years, Mission Fed Credit Union with over $6 billion in member assets, is the Sponsor of Spotlight On The Community, helping to curate connectivity, collaboration, and catalytic conversations.  For more information on the many services for San Diego residents, be sure to visit them at https://www.missionfed.com/About Spotlight and Cloudcast Media  "Spotlight On The Community" is the longest running community podcast in the country, continuously hosted by Drew Schlosberg for 20 years.  "Spotlight" is part of Cloudcast Media's line-up of powerful local podcasts, telling the stories, highlighting the people, and celebrating the gravitational power of local.   For more information on Cloudcast and its shows and cities served, please visit www.cloudcastmedia.us. Cloudcast Media | the national leader in local podcasting.   About Mission Fed Credit Union  A community champion for over 60 years, Mission Fed Credit Union with over $6 billion in member assets, is the Sponsor of Spotlight On The Community, helping to curate connectivity, collaboration, and catalytic conversations.  For more information on the many services for San Diego residents, be sure to visit them at https://www.missionfed.com/

The second teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday – released online today – focuses on Thor. What role will the God of Thunder play in the film? Join The Watchers as we break down the latest look at Avengers: Doomsday. #AvengersDoomsday #Avengers #Thor #Marvel #MCU #DoctorDoomAvengers: Doomsday (2026) is a superhero movie directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Vanessa Kirby, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Hayley Atwell, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, Wyatt Russell, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Simu Liu, Florence Pugh, Kelsey Grammer, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Joseph Quinn, David Harbour, Winston Duke, Hannah John-Kamen, Tom Hiddleston, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, Channing Tatum and Pedro Pascal. Avengers: Doomsday teaser trailersSteve Rogers: https://youtu.be/UiMg566PREA?si=Dw9AvoSav0PuheI0Thor: https://youtu.be/1clWprLC5Ak?si=d9r-ixmgy-05nUwwWatchers Assemble! Check out our previous coverage of Earth's Mightiest Heroes!Avengers: Endgame May 2019 review: https://youtu.be/UFAG19oNCyITop 5 moments from Avengers: Endgame: https://youtube.com/live/iGVy42mKzNEAvengers: Age of Ultron 10-year anniversary celebration: https://youtube.com/live/GWmvIjh20Subscribe, rate and review! Follow The Watchers in the Basement on social media! Use #WatchersBasement to comment about the show!facebook.com/watchersbasementtwitter.com/WatchBasement instagram.com/watchersbasementthreads.net/@watchersbasementanchor.fm/watchersbasement#avengersdoomsday #avengers #rdj #doctordoom #ironman #tonystark #victorvondoom #robertdowneyjr #chrisevans #steverogers #captainamerica #avengersendgame #peggycarter #hayleyatwell #thor #chrishemsworth #loki #mcu #marvel #marvelcinematicuniverse #marvelstudios #xmen #fantasticfour #thunderbolts #newavengers #avengersassemble #antman #falcon #blackpanther #shangchi #spiderman #spidermanbrandnewday #watchersbasement #avengersdoomsdaytrailer

Let's breakdown the Doomsday trailer featuring Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, and JAMES MARSDEN! 

An update on the story about an Apple developer who lost access to their Apple ID. Apple receives clearance to activate the Apple Watch hypertension detection feature in Australia. Italy fines Apple $115 million over App Tracking Transparency. And we say goodbye to one of the original MacBreak Weekly panelists. Apple developer's account restored after compromised gift card incident. Apple receives clearance to activate Apple Watch hypertension detection/notification feature in Australia. Apple agrees to third-party App Store alternatives in Brazil. Apple's iOS 26.3 will introduce proximity pairing to third-party devices in the EU. Free two-hour delivery from Apple Stores now available for a limited time. 1.5 TB of VRAM on Mac Studio - RDMA over Thunderbolt 5. Italy fines Apple $115 million over App Tracking Transparency. Apple announces more ads are coming to App Store search results Apple quietly discontinued flyover city tours in Apple Maps. Why Apple's foldable iPhone may be smaller than expected. Apple TV releasing Pluribus season finale early. Picks of the Week Alex's Pick: Homey Pro Andy's Pick: Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas & Patrick Stewart's 'A Christmas Carol' Jason's Pick: Some of his favorite books, TV shows, and podcasts from the past year. Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, and Jason Snell Download or subscribe to MacBreak Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsor: auraframes.com/ink

An update on the story about an Apple developer who lost access to their Apple ID. Apple receives clearance to activate the Apple Watch hypertension detection feature in Australia. Italy fines Apple $115 million over App Tracking Transparency. And we say goodbye to one of the original MacBreak Weekly panelists. Apple developer's account restored after compromised gift card incident. Apple receives clearance to activate Apple Watch hypertension detection/notification feature in Australia. Apple agrees to third-party App Store alternatives in Brazil. Apple's iOS 26.3 will introduce proximity pairing to third-party devices in the EU. Free two-hour delivery from Apple Stores now available for a limited time. 1.5 TB of VRAM on Mac Studio - RDMA over Thunderbolt 5. Italy fines Apple $115 million over App Tracking Transparency. Apple announces more ads are coming to App Store search results Apple quietly discontinued flyover city tours in Apple Maps. Why Apple's foldable iPhone may be smaller than expected. Apple TV releasing Pluribus season finale early. Picks of the Week Alex's Pick: Homey Pro Andy's Pick: Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas & Patrick Stewart's 'A Christmas Carol' Jason's Pick: Some of his favorite books, TV shows, and podcasts from the past year. Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, and Jason Snell Download or subscribe to MacBreak Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsor: auraframes.com/ink

An update on the story about an Apple developer who lost access to their Apple ID. Apple receives clearance to activate the Apple Watch hypertension detection feature in Australia. Italy fines Apple $115 million over App Tracking Transparency. And we say goodbye to one of the original MacBreak Weekly panelists. Apple developer's account restored after compromised gift card incident. Apple receives clearance to activate Apple Watch hypertension detection/notification feature in Australia. Apple agrees to third-party App Store alternatives in Brazil. Apple's iOS 26.3 will introduce proximity pairing to third-party devices in the EU. Free two-hour delivery from Apple Stores now available for a limited time. 1.5 TB of VRAM on Mac Studio - RDMA over Thunderbolt 5. Italy fines Apple $115 million over App Tracking Transparency. Apple announces more ads are coming to App Store search results Apple quietly discontinued flyover city tours in Apple Maps. Why Apple's foldable iPhone may be smaller than expected. Apple TV releasing Pluribus season finale early. Picks of the Week Alex's Pick: Homey Pro Andy's Pick: Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas & Patrick Stewart's 'A Christmas Carol' Jason's Pick: Some of his favorite books, TV shows, and podcasts from the past year. Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, and Jason Snell Download or subscribe to MacBreak Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsor: auraframes.com/ink

An update on the story about an Apple developer who lost access to their Apple ID. Apple receives clearance to activate the Apple Watch hypertension detection feature in Australia. Italy fines Apple $115 million over App Tracking Transparency. And we say goodbye to one of the original MacBreak Weekly panelists. Apple developer's account restored after compromised gift card incident. Apple receives clearance to activate Apple Watch hypertension detection/notification feature in Australia. Apple agrees to third-party App Store alternatives in Brazil. Apple's iOS 26.3 will introduce proximity pairing to third-party devices in the EU. Free two-hour delivery from Apple Stores now available for a limited time. 1.5 TB of VRAM on Mac Studio - RDMA over Thunderbolt 5. Italy fines Apple $115 million over App Tracking Transparency. Apple announces more ads are coming to App Store search results Apple quietly discontinued flyover city tours in Apple Maps. Why Apple's foldable iPhone may be smaller than expected. Apple TV releasing Pluribus season finale early. Picks of the Week Alex's Pick: Homey Pro Andy's Pick: Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas & Patrick Stewart's 'A Christmas Carol' Jason's Pick: Some of his favorite books, TV shows, and podcasts from the past year. Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, and Jason Snell Download or subscribe to MacBreak Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsor: auraframes.com/ink

An update on the story about an Apple developer who lost access to their Apple ID. Apple receives clearance to activate the Apple Watch hypertension detection feature in Australia. Italy fines Apple $115 million over App Tracking Transparency. And we say goodbye to one of the original MacBreak Weekly panelists. Apple developer's account restored after compromised gift card incident. Apple receives clearance to activate Apple Watch hypertension detection/notification feature in Australia. Apple agrees to third-party App Store alternatives in Brazil. Apple's iOS 26.3 will introduce proximity pairing to third-party devices in the EU. Free two-hour delivery from Apple Stores now available for a limited time. 1.5 TB of VRAM on Mac Studio - RDMA over Thunderbolt 5. Italy fines Apple $115 million over App Tracking Transparency. Apple announces more ads are coming to App Store search results Apple quietly discontinued flyover city tours in Apple Maps. Why Apple's foldable iPhone may be smaller than expected. Apple TV releasing Pluribus season finale early. Picks of the Week Alex's Pick: Homey Pro Andy's Pick: Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas & Patrick Stewart's 'A Christmas Carol' Jason's Pick: Some of his favorite books, TV shows, and podcasts from the past year. Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, and Jason Snell Download or subscribe to MacBreak Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsor: auraframes.com/ink

An update on the story about an Apple developer who lost access to their Apple ID. Apple receives clearance to activate the Apple Watch hypertension detection feature in Australia. Italy fines Apple $115 million over App Tracking Transparency. And we say goodbye to one of the original MacBreak Weekly panelists. Apple developer's account restored after compromised gift card incident. Apple receives clearance to activate Apple Watch hypertension detection/notification feature in Australia. Apple agrees to third-party App Store alternatives in Brazil. Apple's iOS 26.3 will introduce proximity pairing to third-party devices in the EU. Free two-hour delivery from Apple Stores now available for a limited time. 1.5 TB of VRAM on Mac Studio - RDMA over Thunderbolt 5. Italy fines Apple $115 million over App Tracking Transparency. Apple announces more ads are coming to App Store search results Apple quietly discontinued flyover city tours in Apple Maps. Why Apple's foldable iPhone may be smaller than expected. Apple TV releasing Pluribus season finale early. Picks of the Week Alex's Pick: Homey Pro Andy's Pick: Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas & Patrick Stewart's 'A Christmas Carol' Jason's Pick: Some of his favorite books, TV shows, and podcasts from the past year. Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, and Jason Snell Download or subscribe to MacBreak Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsor: auraframes.com/ink

MERRY CHRISTMAS, FROM THE BMC! Join hosts Dominic Lawton & Ken B Wild as they cover the only festive film of the month and the most requested Christmas film by our listeners. It's the 1987 classic - SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT PART 2! The guys discuss festive eyebrow raising, festive recaps of the previous film and GARBAGE DAY!!! Meanwhile, Dom enjoys the umbrella death scene, whilst Ken pops up throughout the film in minor but incredibly annoying roles! The film pitch makes a return for Christmas and sees Bruce Willis as a down-on-his-luck and perennially hungover cop on the hunt for a serial killer known as Slay Bells, offing his victims in the style of the song "The 12 Days of Christmas." The MO is strikingly similar to someone The Christmas Chief of Police Carl Weathers had put behind bars years ago. Is it a copycat or did The Chief finger the wrong man? It's SLAY BELLS: THE 12 SLAYS OF CHRISTMAS! Starring Bruce Willis, Halle Berry, Finn Wolfhard, Dominic Lawton, Ken B Wild, Patrick Stewart as Ian McKellen and Carl Weathers as Police Chief Carl Weathers! Have you got a question, want to suggest a film to review or would you like to send us your own film pitch that we will read out on the podcast? Email us! Visit our website for more episodes & written reviews : WWW.BADMOVIECULT.COM Follow us on TWITTER Follow us on INSTAGRAM Join us on FACEBOOK Dominic Lawton can be found on TWITTER Ken B Wild can be found on TWITTER Got a spare minute? Leave us a rating or review on iTunes!

Avengers: Doomsday is slated to hit theaters on Dec. 18, 2026. But today – literally a year before the movie opens – we get our first look (though it leaked online earlier in the week) at the Marvel Cinematic Universe's next major crossover event. Join The Watchers as we discuss the first teaser trailer for the film. Avengers: Doomsday (2026) is a superhero movie directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Vanessa Kirby, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, Wyatt Russell, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Simu Liu, Florence Pugh, Kelsey Grammer, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Joseph Quinn, David Harbour, Winston Duke, Hannah John-Kamen, Tom Hiddleston, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, Channing Tatum and Pedro Pascal. Watchers Assemble! Check out our previous coverage of Earth's Mightiest Heroes!- Avengers: Endgame May 2019 review: https://youtu.be/UFAG19oNCyI- Top 5 moments from Avengers: Endgame: https://youtube.com/live/iGVy42mKzNE- Avengers: Age of Ultron 10-year anniversary celebration: https://youtube.com/live/GWmvIjh20ZYSubscribe, rate and review! Follow The Watchers in the Basement on social media! Use #WatchersBasement to comment about the show!facebook.com/watchersbasementtwitter.com/WatchBasement instagram.com/watchersbasementthreads.net/@watchersbasementanchor.fm/watchersbasement

Rebecca and Tori are joined by Debra to delve into Round 3 of the 2025 Scrooge-Off. This episode's contenders are the Patrick Stewart and George C. Scott. And, the winner is...MusicApache Rock Instrumental by Sound Atelier licensed through Jamendo Music.A Christmas Tale by Aleksey Voronin on PixabaySound EffectsRecord Scratch: Sound Effect free on Pixabay

Send us a textThis week we review the season five episode The Paragon of Animals.Joe thinks Patrick Stewart is great, but still not as good as the Hamlet from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Sarah isn't sure what the Pak'ma'ra agricultural colony does, and Mike gives suggestions about the Season 5 Bingo Card.Spoiler-free discussion: 0:00:00 - 1:03:09Spoiler Zone: 1:03:09 - 1:04:24Next Episode and other Shenanigans: 1:04:24Music from this episode:"Surf Punk Rock" By absentrealities is licensed under CC-BY 3.0"Please Define The Error" By Delta Centauri is licensed under CC-BY 3.0"The Haunted McMansion" By Megabit Melodies is licensed under CC-BY 3.0

Rebecca and Tori are joined again by Debra to continue with Scrooge-Off 2025. Guy Pearce returns after trouncing Reginald Owens in Round 1. Pearce is up against Patrick Stewart. Who will emerge the winner of Round 2?MusicApache Rock Instrumental by Sound Atelier licensed through Jamendo Music.A Christmas Tale by Aleksey Voronin on PixabaySound EffectsRecord Scratch: Sound Effect free on Pixabay

Mark and David Corse discuss the 1985 sci-fi epic Lifeforce. Directed by Tobe Hooper, and starring Mathilda May, Patrick Stewart, Steve Railsback, and some naked space vampires, the movie focuses on what happens when space vampires attack London. In this episode, they also talk about space ladies, committed performances, and the excellence of Tobe Hooper. Enjoy!Head over to https://www.davidcorseauthor.com/ to pick up David's amazing books.

Meridith Baer grew up on the grounds of San Quentin prison, acted in TV and movies, wrote scripts in Hollywood … and then, at 50, started over – and built one of the best known home-staging companies in real estate.Meridith's life unfolds like a movie: As a teenager, she was forced to give up her baby for adoption. In her twenties, she was a writer for Penthouse. In her thirties and forties, she was a screenwriter in Hollywood, hobnobbing with Sally Field and dating Patrick Stewart.But in her late forties, Meridith hit a wall. Her writing career stalled, so she poured her energy into fixing up the house she was renting. When the owner sold that house almost immediately, she stumbled onto a strange new idea: why not stage homes for a living?From there, Meridith turned a few pieces of thrift-store furniture and potted plants into a full-blown business: trucks, warehouses, hundreds of employees, and high-end homes across Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and beyond. Along the way, she weathered the pressures of scaling a creative service into an operational machine—without ever raising outside capital.What you'll learn:How to reshape a career at 50 (or any age) without a master planHow Meridith priced her work based on value created, not hours workedWhy you don't always need investors to grow a multi-million-dollar service businessThe psychology of home staging: designing spaces that make buyers fall in love in the first 10 secondsHow Meridith thinks about legacy, stepping back, and seizing new opportunitiesTimestamps: 06:08 – Growing up as a warden's daughter inside San Quentin11:01 – Teen pregnancy, forced adoption, and reunion decades later12:43 – From Pepsi commercials to Penthouse magazine19:58 – Selling a major movie script, recoiling at the finished product22:47 – How a breakup with Patrick Stewart totally reshaped Meridith's life27:41 – The accidental first staging job at age 5035:17 – Early days of the business: vans, day laborers from Home Depot, and naming her price47:18 – Unexpected struggles: tax trouble, a cancer diagnosis51:07 – The business expands to New York and beyond1:00:22 – Running a 320-person company at 78—and what comes next1:05:56 – Small Business SpotlightThis episode was produced by Alex Cheng, with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Neva Grant, with research help from Noor Gill. Our engineers were Patrick Murray and Kwesi Lee.Follow How I Built This:Instagram → @howibuiltthisX → @HowIBuiltThisFacebook → How I Built ThisFollow Guy Raz:Instagram → @guy.razYoutube → guy_razX → @guyrazSubstack → guyraz.substack.comWebsite → guyraz.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Derek Ferguson is back and there's plenty to catch-up on including his son, Lewis Ferguson's heroics with the Scotland National Team that sees him heading to the World Cup in USA, Mexico and Canada this summer as well as the latest restructuring at Rangers with Patrick Stewart and Kevin Thelwell losing their jobs this week amid fan pressure at Ibrox!The lads also discuss the impending arrival of Wilfried Nancy as the new Celtic boss ahead of their trip to face Hibs at Easter Road on Sunday! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Derek Ferguson is back and there's plenty to catch-up on including his son, Lewis Ferguson's heroics with the Scotland National Team that sees him heading to the World Cup in USA, Mexico and Canada this summer as well as the latest restructuring at Rangers with Patrick Stewart and Kevin Thelwell losing their jobs this week amid fan pressure at Ibrox!The lads also discuss the impending arrival of Wilfried Nancy as the new Celtic boss ahead of their trip to face Hibs at Easter Road on Sunday! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Major news broke from Ibrox this week that Kevin Thelwell and Patrick Stewart have been let go from their senior positions at the club! Si Ferry, Slaney, Andy Halliday and Tony Watt discuss what this means for Rangers going forward as well as discuss the latest news coming out of the SPFL weekend's action plus the apparent imminent arrival of Wilfried Nancy to Celtic! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We discuss the news from Ibrox as Rangers sack chief executive Patrick Stewart and sporting director Kevin Thelwell, with Andy Burke, Tom English and the Rangers Review's Joshua Barrie.

Gordon Duncan is joined by Marvin Bartley & Gordon Dalziel as the fall out from Livingston's denied penalty continues, Marvin talks about how he was mistakenly booked on Saturday, Could Gordon Dalziel be off to rejoin management with Dougie Imrie set to join Raith Rover and Billy Davis taking the reigns at Greenock Morton. Callers have their say as the appointment of Wilfried Nancy comes closer and there's more reaction to the news that Patrick Stewart & Kevin Thelwell have been sacked by Rangers. Plus Beat The Pundit & The Full Time Teaser

Idrissa Gueye sees red for Everton at Man Utd & did Tottenham get the gameplan wrong? Mark Chapman is joined by Joe Hart, Chris Sutton and The Observer football correspondent Rory Smith. Former assistant referee Darren Cann has his say on the Gueye red card. Chris reveals his similar career path to Ebere Eze. And Rangers sack their chief executive Patrick Stewart and sporting director Kevin Thelwell while Celtic close in on appointing Wilfried Nancy as boss.02:45 Idrissa Gueye's bizarre red card 07:30 Did Tottenham get the gameplan wrong? 29:30 Are Tottenham a ‘big-six' club? 33:10 Transformational moment for Eze? 37:00 Chris was also released as a child 42:45 Rangers sack chief exec and sporting director 49:00 Celtic set to appoint Wilfried Nancy as bossBBC Sounds / 5 Live commentaries: Tue 2000 Chelsea v Barcelona, Tue 2000 Man City v Bayer Leverkusen on Sports Extra, Wed 2000 Arsenal v Bayern Munich, Wed 2000 PSG v Tottenham on Sports Extra, Thu 1745 Feyenoord v Celtic on Sports Extra, Thu 2000 Rangers v Sporting Braga on Sports Extra, Thu 2000 Aberdeen v Noah on Sports Extra 2.

Gordon Duncan, Andy Halliday and Roger Hannah are here to react to the news that Rangers have parted ways with Sporting Director Kevin Thelwell & CEO Patrick Stewart. It's also not the end of the VAR controversy at both Rangers v Livingston & St Mirren v Celtic as Roger tries to work out what will feature higher on The Willie Show next monthCaller Jordan in Cupar was delighted that the Thelwell 'refer a friend scheme' was over and done with and Stevie in Eaglesham believes Rangers are now a STICK ON for the league! Plus Andy Halliday takes on Ewan, also in Eaglesham, in a BTP that we could probably have sent to VAR ourselves

Jim Hill and Dan Graney unwrap a stocking full of Marvel mayhem in this fourth episode of the Marvel Us Disney reboot — a show equal parts MCU, theme-park history, and pop-culture cheer. They start with LEGO's new Marvel Avengers: Strange Tails (yes, that's T-A-I-L-S), plus a check-in on Jeremy Renner, David Harbour, and this year's Marvel merch blitz, Unwrap the Universe. From there it's on to the big one: Avengers: Doomsday. The Russos return, Robert Downey Jr. re-enters the MCU — as Doctor Doom — and the franchise looks to reset the board ahead of Secret Wars. Later, Jim and Dan explore Simu Liu's “love letter to superhero movies,” Patrick Stewart's possible farewell, and a “What If” worth debating — would Marvel even exist without the MCU? Finally, Jim opens the vault for Theme Park Archaeology, uncovering the Marvel attractions that never were — from Hong Kong's Oscorp Tower of Terror to Disneyland's unbuilt Wakanda expansion — and a first look at Rocket & Groot's Galaxy Spin coming to Disney Cruise Line. HIGHLIGHTS LEGO Marvel Avengers: Strange Tails debuts Nov 14 on Disney+ Avengers: Doomsday trailer drops Dec 19 with Avatar: Fire & Ash Simu Liu's “love letter” to superhero movies & Patrick Stewart's rumored retirement MCU legacy talk: Kang, Shuri, and the future of Black Panther Theme Park Archaeology: the Marvel rides that never made it to the parks Rocket & Groot's Galaxy Spin sets sail March 10, 2026 aboard the Disney Adventure Hosts Jim Hill — @JimHillMedia | @JimHillMedia | jimhillmedia.comDan Graney — @TheHubbubbery | @TheHubbubbery | thehubbubbery.com Support the Show Enjoy Marvel Us Disney? Support us on Patreon for exclusive content and early-access episodes:patreon.com/jimhillmedia Follow Us Facebook: @JimHillMediaNews | YouTube: @jimhillmedia | TikTok: @jimhillmedia Production Credits Edited by Dave Grey Produced by Eric Hersey — Strong Minded Agency Sponsor This episode is brought to you by Unlocked Magic — the smarter way to book Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando tickets, with real discounts up to 12% off, including after-hours events like Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and Jollywood Nights. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Check out the collection of fidgets Team Shiny loves! We gotta be able to handle hearing people talk about us, even when it's triggering and hard, because it can ultimately show us where the work is. And maybe you can be an expert on soething without having it yourself (like ADHD) but perhaps it requires a sense of curiosity, empathy, or some kind of introspection that recpognizes your lane, your scope, and your own biases? From anthropology and sociology to X-Men and who is Magneto and Charles Xavier, David and Isabelle meander through what it means to be an ally and also set up some solid recent hyperfixations.---We gotta tolerate hearing people talking about what they think about us, including people who have lots of degrees and expertise, and also know that each person doesn't have the answers. Maybe it has to do with conversations that people have about us without us ADHDers? Then again there are journalists, who don't have expertise but who can report on the data they get. David names that there are good and bad journalists, and there is critical thinking. How much about people's ADHD ‘expertise' includes interpersonal work and understanding about attachment, relationships, your own identity. Like, if you're an expert on ADHD and you're not friends with people who have ADHD outside of your work (if you yourself don't have it)—something to look at? David names that as therapists, we have this debate about multicultural approaches—do you need to have a white therapist to work with white clients, a Black therapist to work with Black therapists? You need to know your lane and your expertise. David's own therapist is not an expert in ADHD. And neither is Isabelle's. They know to ask us questions, can ask “how does this relate to ADHD?” We might be the person with ADHD that helps them better understand that. Allies don't want to get rid of parts of you, they want to help parts of you. An ally is different than a researcher, Isabelle wants to name that you need to be enough of an ally to a topic and be curious. In undergrad, she studied anthropology and archaeology, and it's a blend of super specific science and also lots of educated guessing. She remembers learning about participant observation in anthropology, that just by observing a culture or a group you are impacting the group. It's way more about noticing what your own biases are. David's own background in sociology, the idea of intersectionality. David didn't really think about ADHD or neurodiversity as a culture until college. He's a big comic book fan and he loved the X-Men. They're trying to hide their mutant powers to not be exploited by the government and the X-Men are trying to help these mutants and take them to saving. Charles Xavier and Magneto were portrayed to be iconic people. Magneto was Malcolm X while Charles Xavier was based on Martin Luther King, Jr. It's two different portrayals around protecting yourself—do you get violent and active or passive? Maybe the mutants are a great metaphor for neurodiversity as well as the civil rights war—if you have been marginalized you can have empathy toward other people who are marginalized. It's not so personal, people do things to us that they do to other marginalized groups. It can also signify that we have a culture. It would be if everyone says they have a pile of unfolded clothes that threaten your identity, your pile of mail—-culturally both David and Isabelle are both connected to the plan that they didn't want to leave it there. When we connect about parts of our culture. Isabelle and David so appreciate this conversation. Isabelle names asynchronous processing—she can't just off the cuff rattle off her ideas and also needs time to talk it out, externalize, and think about things beyond the initial moment or conversations. How important it is for us to keep having these conversations. Isabelle wonders if David is like Charles Xavier. He wishes he could be Charles Xavier. Isabelle might be Charles Xavier. Because maybe she loves or identifies with Patrick Stewart so much. So maybe David is Magneto—in the comic books they were best friends, and he was like “they'll never learn, we need to protect our people” whereas as the other is like “don't give in to our aggressive urges.” David needs to shout out: Dungeon Crawler Carl. Not wearing any pants, the cat jumps out of his house trying to get the cat out of the tree, and Carl can then go on an 18 level dungeon crawl and can save the planet earth. The audio book is a treasure, David is a big fan of role playing games, he consumed all seven books in less than three weeks. Isabelle names why cats get stuck in trees, their claws go the other way so they get stuck—but big cats can go backwards. Isabelle mentions an enneagram book that she really appreciates. She was hooked on Borders and loved it as a kid and would keep trying to have someone explain me to me, and one of those books was on the enneagram (which makes David feel like he went to the bathroom during learning fractions and never picked up on it). And she mispronounced it and would read the book at people. Because tell her she's neurospicy without telling her she's neurospicy.Stephanie Sarkis is an ADHD expert who also has ADHD  X-Men and more on Patrick StewartThe American Psychological Association vote on 'homosexuality' being listed as a diagnosable mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) happened back in the LATE 80's (WHAAAATTTTT? yes).--there is a long history to depathologizing sexual identities, deeply impacted by tons of activism and advocacy. For more, you can see this NIH article on this history.Dungeon Crawler Carl seriesCats getting stuck on trees because of claw shape -- fascinatingly, going down backwards is a skill some cats can learn. Also, here is this website: Catrescueguy.com. *(you're welcome)*The amazing enneagram book Isabelle was trying to remember the title of -- The Unfiltered Enneagram by Elizabeth Orr------Cover Art by: Sol VázquezTechnical Support by: Bobby Richards Here's a nifty little promo code for those who either delayed gratification or who let this episode run through to the end because they were busy vacuuming.

It's Grandpa to the Rescue!This week on Trekcast, we're kicking off our Star Trek: The Next Generation movie reviews with Star Trek: Generations. Does the film still hold up after all these years? We'll share what we loved, what didn't age so well, and what we'd change. Plus, Starfleet Academy finally has an official premiere date!One Star Trek actor opens up about how intimidating their role really was.And believe it or not, we almost got an evil version of Captain Kirk on Enterprise! All that and more in this week's episode of Trekcast: The Galaxy's Most Unpredictable Star Trek Podcast!News:Star Trek Academy Premiere Datehttps://www.wnypapers.com/news/article/current/2025/10/17/164354/star-trek-starfleet-academy-reveals-official-trailer-jan.-15-premiere-on-paramountActor Admits he was Afraid of his Star Trek Rolehttps://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/tv/articles/star-trek-star-admits-really-025626198.htmlWe almost got evil Kirk on Enterprisehttps://www.denofgeek.com/tv/evil-kirk-star-trek-enterprise/Star Trek Generations is a 1994 American science fiction film and the seventh film in the Star Trek film series. Malcolm McDowell joins cast members from the 1960s television show Star Trek and the 1987 sequel series The Next Generation, including William Shatner and Patrick Stewart. In the film, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise-D joins forces with Captain James T. Kirk to stop the villain Tolian Soran from destroying a planetary system in his attempt to return to an extra-dimensional realm known as the Nexus. Generations was conceived as a transition from the original cast of the Star Trek films to the cast of The Next Generation. After developing several film ideas concurrently, the producers chose a script written by Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga. Production began while the final season of the television series was being made. The director was David Carson, who previously directed episodes of the television series; photography was by franchise newcomer John A. Alonzo. Filming took place on the Paramount Studios lots, and on location in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada, and Lone Pine, California. The film's climax was revised and reshot following poor reception from test audiences. The film uses a mix of traditional optical effects alongside computer-generated imagery and was scored by regular Star Trek composer Dennis McCarthy. Star Trek Generations was released in the United States on November 18, 1994. Paramount promoted the film with merchandising tie-ins, including toys, books, games, and a website—a first for a major motion picture. The film opened at the top of the United States box office in its first week of release and grossed a total of $118 million worldwide. Critical reception was mixed, with critics divided on the film's characters and comprehensibility to a casual viewer. It was followed by Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/star-trek-podcast-trekcast--5651491/support.

Season 7 wouldn't be complete without a conversation with James Patrick Stewart. We learn his secret to creating Dick Roman, his favorite moments from the season, all things leviathan, and how he got his start in acting. Rob and Rich nerd out a bit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices