Nerds Gets Spooky: Lorne’s Timely Advice Becomes Reality in ‘Angel’s’ “Life of the Party”
Nerds and Beyond is getting spooky for October. Each day one of our staff members will be sharing one of their favorite Halloween-themed television episodes to get you into the Halloween spirit. On this third day of October, we are hitting the dance floor with Angel season 5, episode 5, “Life of the Party.”
Originally aired on October 29, 2003, this episode follows Lorne, the gang’s friendly peace-loving empath demon. The former club owner turned head of Entertainment at Wolfram & Hart in Los Angeles, after Angel Investigations takes over the firm, finds himself in a tailspin as he prepares for the company’s annual Halloween bash. Lorne finds himself under an extreme amount of pressure to make sure this party is a blowout. Lorne decided to have his sleep removed, which is proven to be dangerous for an empath demon.
During the party, Lorne’s timely advice to his friends started happening literally. Winifred and Wesley get drunk without drinking after Lorne tells them they aren’t having fun because they are sober. Eve and Angel have sex after Lorne tells them to get a room. Gun starts relieving himself on everything he sees when Lorne suggests that he marks his territory. But the things get even stranger yet when guests, including the advisor to Archduke Sebassis, the firms headlining guest, wind up dead.
It turns out Lorne’s friends weren’t the only victims of his sleep deprivation. The dark side of the demon’s subconscious had manifested itself into a hulked out version of Lorne. To destroy it, Winifred and Wesley needed to return Lorne’s sleep.
I always enjoy holiday-themed episodes, especially Halloween ones. What stands out to me the most with this episode is the fact that, yes, it is a Halloween themed episode, but the plot as a whole is not about Halloween. The focus of the story is about the characters and the awkward and hilarious situations they find themselves in. Angel is a supernatural show, built around dark themes. You have characters who have portal jumped, and the main character is a vampire with a soul. It’s not a program with very relatable characters. However, this episode did an excellent job of humanizing these characters. While each character was under supernatural influences, it had a way of showcasing what it was like being put into situations you typically wouldn’t find yourself.
I think that is something everyone has had to deal with at some point in their life. Even as the characters began to piece together what was going on, they were able to recognize that they were not their authentic selves.
Even with the moral realizations of the story, the episode will make you laugh out loud. If you are familiar with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you will recognize Angel as being the mysterious, handsome vampire hero with a chip on his shoulder. One of my favorite laugh out loud moments was when Lorne seeks him out, only to find Angel hiding in his office while sitting in the dark. Lorne is trying to get Angel to do his job, which is playing host. Angel is reluctant. When asked what he is doing, Angel replies, “I’m brooding.” Quickly, you learn he is watching hockey, and his team is losing. Not only was it funny, but it picked at a dominant personality trait in his character. That subtle way of making fun of the characters without actually making fun of them, to me, is a sign of quality writing. Fictional characters are flawed. Writers need to be able to recognize those flaws in their storytelling
Creating the reality you want is not so hard when you know how to leverage universal laws to work for you:
DIEMEN, Netherlands, Sept. 29, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- From living in a beautiful villa in Amsterdam, Judith Hirsch became homeless living on the streets. Why did this happen? She did not "play the game" according to the rules of the universal laws. It took her many years of additional dramatic falls and a renewed rebirth to discover the rules she reveals to readers in “You Are the Driver of Your Life" trilogy.
This Book 1: "The Awakening” shows readers how to play the game of life differently. It shows them how to leverage 13 powerful laws of the universe to their advantage in order to win every game, create the reality they desire and enjoy this gift called life. Here, Hirsch shares her insights with people who are looking for answers, in a plain language, using examples and stories from her personal roller-coaster-like life, to help the readers see the invisible physical universal laws that are being activated by the reader's sets of beliefs, and so helps them understand that they hold the key to the world they wish to create for themselves.
“This book couldn't be more current and more needed than in this present time during this devastating COVID-19 pandemic, as people are desperately looking for answers and seeking guidance that can help them gain their power back, and help them steer their lives with more confidence in creating a more desirable reality for themselves within this abnormal life circumstances,” Hirsch says. “This is a workbook. I kind of demand from the readers to actively participate in the process of their own personal development. I ask them to stop reading and think about what they just read and write their thoughts down in a dedicated notebook. Through writing, they start to become aware of their own hidden beliefs" "It's crucial," Hirsch says, "because the very first thoughts, the automatic ones, that come up in them as reactions to what they see, hear, smell, touch and taste, are their true beliefs that drives them to action. By writing their thoughts down on paper, they not only identify the cause of their reality, but they can witness their own progress and personal growth, as everything in life, starts with a thought.”
“You Are the Driver of Your Life" Book 1: "The Awakening: Understanding the Law of Cause and Effect” aims to make readers understand that they are the masters of their own world — the creators of their reality. That they are responsible for all that is happening in their lives within their life's circumstances, and as such, with all the knowledge that they have acquired in the book, they can start creating life according to their own design, and succeed this time. For more details about the book, please visit https://www.balboapress.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/775798-you-are-the-driver-of-your-life
“You Are the Driver of Your Life Book 1: The Awakening”
Hardcover | 6 x 9in | 250 pages | ISBN 9781982209520
Softcover | 6 x 9in | 250 pages | ISBN 9781982209544
E-Book | 250 pages | ISBN 9781982209537
Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
About the Author
Judith Hirsch was born in Israel to Holocaust survivors. This trilogy is a result of 55 years of self-observation, trying to figure out how she has managed to create an empire of a multi-million dollar business all by herself and achieve all her important goals, despite her life's circumstances: coming from a very poor background, suffering abusive childhood, no formal education and being an underdog for years, going through a violent and abusive marriage to a diplomat, divorcing, then starting her career at the age of 38, with nothing, except for a big dream: to become a millionaire and get back her children, that her husband took away from her.
Her questions were; "What made it possible for me to rise up again and again after each blow and succeed, even after I lost all my money and became homeless for a few years?" and "What 'secrets' do I possess that I was not aware of?"
Her revelations became a burning desire to write this self-help book for everyone that is looking for answers.
Balboa Press, a division of Hay House, Inc. – a leading provider in publishing products that specialize in self-help and the mind, body, and spirit genres. Through an alliance with the worldwide self-publishing leader Author Solutions, LLC, authors benefit from the leadership of Hay House Publishing and the speed-to-market advantages of the self-publishing model. For more information, visit balboapress.com. To start publishing your book with Balboa Press, call 844-682-1282 today.
How virtual reality has become my happy place in quarantine:
Ive been feeling very disconnected from reality lately, but thankfully, virtual reality is keeping me grounded. It doesn’t make any sense, but slipping on a plastic cowl and entering another dimension has been working wonders for my mental and physical health. Both of those spinning plates are at risk of crashing to the ground under current measures, but grafting virtual reality into my daily routine has helped me to achieve a sense of control within the mayhem.
We’re under local lockdown where I live, and I decided to cancel my gym membership months ago when the pandemic first reared its ugly head. For me, heading to the gym was more about self-care than it was about results. Being able to leave my house – also known as the office – and go somewhere for a few hours to get out of my own head was something I depended upon, so being stripped of that luxury was tricky to deal with. I had tried to replicate that feeling at home with weights and an old exercise bike, but ultimately it started to feel like another job.
The Thrill Of The Fight is a virtual reality boxing game that I’ve had in my Steam library for years. I’ve never boxed in my life, nor did I ever really have any intention to, which is why it’s such a shock that I now go three rounds every day. In spite of the frankly terrifying face models, the game pulls me into the present moment and clears my head very easily.
The haptics in the controllers give you enough force feedback so that you feel like you’re actually hitting something, therefore doling out proper punches come more naturally as you start to adapt to the in-game AI. This is a surefire way to get some frustration out and work yourself into a hefty sweat. Hell, even some professional boxers like Tamuka Mucha have started using the game in their regime. But what if you’re not looking for something so aggressive? I’m pleased to report that virtual reality has that range.
For cardio, I use a relatively new game called Stride, which I caught wind of after the electronic producer Porter Robinson started streaming it on Twitch. In the most simple terms possible, Stride is Mirror’s Edge in virtual reality, or as close as we’re going to get to it for now. You run by waving your hands by your side and have to physically pull yourself up and over platforms, running the gauntlet with a Glock in your armpit to take out goons.
The game launched into early access on September 4 and only has one endless mode at the moment, but I’ve already sunk hours into it. It’s both frantic and serene in equal measure, offering by far the best parkour mechanics I’ve ever experienced in VR, and I can’t wait for developer Joy Way to flesh it out even further.
Last week, I managed to make it into the game’s third zone and crack the Top 200 in the world, which gave me more momentary joy than most professional adult achievements. I’ve found that progressing slowly with a learned skill like a language or an instrument can be beneficial for my mental health, and it feels like Stride is giving me those same little lifts.
As well as being another great cardio workout in VR, Beat Saber has now become a processing tool for my brain. As my arms take care of the notes, my mind tends to drift and work out the worry kinks in my head, helping me achieve a sense of clarity and come up with ideas.
There’s something important about being able to actively engage with music rather than just let it flow into your ears passively. Thrashing to the beat of a song can be cathartic but also strangely emotional. The negative space of virtual reality can really coax out the resonance in the lyrics and the true power of the arrangement, I’ve found. At some point it goes beyond being good for your body and starts being good for your soul too.
But as far as VR mindfulness is concerned, I only have two words for you: Tetris Effect. I use this game to cool down after a workout, and despite the fact I must have beat it three or four times, it’s still such a powerful tool for dispatching emotion through vicious frisson.
Heralded by Tetsuya Mizuguchi of Rez and Lumines fame, Tetris Effect deals in synaesthesia; the beautiful marriage of visual stimuli with carefully crafted music courtesy of composer duo Hydelic. It’s a game that paints an exciting future for virtual reality as a tool for catharsis and healing. The game’s Journey Mode is a spiritual adventure of the senses, something I can’t recommend enough if you’ve got your hands on a headset.
The only problem with recommending virtual reality as a means of mindful escape is the costly barrier of entry. You usually need a high-end PC and an expensive head-mounted display to get in on the action. Production of entry-level devices like the Lenovo Explorer appear to have stopped, but more accessible budget options are starting to crop up. The recently-launched Oculus Quest 2 offers a tetherless window to the world of virtual reality for £299. I’m yet to make the jump to wireless VR, but I’m sure it’s even more immersive and powerful.
