Angels, and Demons, and Ghosts! Oh my!

Supernatural focuses on Sam and Dean Winchester (played by Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles), two brothers who work through their familial struggles in order to save people and hunt things, namely ghosts, demons and other monsters that go bump in the night.  Though violent and very graphic in its later episodes, Supernatural also manages to tug at the heart strings.

With each season I watch, I become more impressed with the way religion is used in the show.  This show incorporates many different religions, ranging from Hinduism to ancient Pagan religions.  Episodes that utilize these religions are based on the folklore of these religions, so the audience is being exposed to many different religions they might not be aware of had they not watched the show.
    Though the majority of the series involves conflict in the Judeo-Christian religions, God is not actually present in the series.  God is mentioned in a few of the seasons, but He is always missing or absent.  No religion is portrayed as better or worse than any other.   Despite the show’s involvement with religion, writer, Eric Kripke, ensures that the show does not get preachy.  The audience is not being persuaded to convert to any religion.  Religion is simply being used as a tool to make the audience question their morals and the themes presented in the series.

One major theme presented in this film is whether one should act in order to save the greater good or to save a few of your loved ones.  With a fierce war happening in Heaven, Castiel (played by Misha Collins) is forced to choose between saving Sam and Dean or fighting for his cause to save the people of Earth.  Another interesting topic addressed in this series is the concept of fate vs. free will.  In Season 4, Zachariah, an angel on a serious power trip, attempts to make Sam and Dean follow the path that has been planned for them in order to stop the Apocalypse from coming.  Sam and Dean, however, fight against this plan in an attempt to follow their own path and save each other.  
     

Though the supernatural entities used in this show are unique to different cultures and religions, the themes portrayed in the show are universal.  Supernatural provokes questions of  what happens after we die and the importance of family, morality, and free will.

GISHWHES!

What is GISHWHES, you ask? Well, it is the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen! Actually though.
Here is a link to a promotional video for GISHWHES 2012!
GISHWHES is an international scavenger hunt that was created by actor Misha Collins from the popular CW show Supernatural. Misha is not only known for being a great actor, he is actually known for just being an awesome person.
With this scavenger hunt, Misha encourages participants to step outside of their comfort zone. For 7 days, participants go on an adventure to try to capture certain 'items' with their camera. Some of the tasks this year include capturing picture or video of a storm trooper in full costume cleaning a pool, using a Zamboni to draw a giant frowny face on an ice-skating rink, knitting a scarf over 12 feet long, giving a puppet show at a children's hospital, going shopping for diamonds in a wig made of popcorn, making a kilt entirely out of cucumbers, creating a mock news show, and 145 more!
I am one of the lucky ones to be participating in this year's hunt and our team, I think, is actually doing really well! We might actually have a chance at the grand prize, which is staying in a private haunted castle in Scotland with none other than Misha Collins himself! Our team of 15 has people from all over the United States. My group consists of girls from Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York, Michigan, and Minnesota. Our team name is Hawkeye and the Awkettes loves crossstateepicness, but we're also known as crossstateavengers for short. Together we have been working hard since late Monday night to complete as many tasks as possible. I would post some of our work, but we're not allowed to yet until the scavenger hunt is over. Tonight we completed the mock news program, as mentioned above, in Studio B of Park and then next, us Ithaca girls, are going to create an 'erotically charged' scene with dialogue that only talks about grammar and font. This should be very fun to shoot!
A participant from last year's hunt, Savannah Comilla, said, "GISHWHES isn't just a scavenger hunt, it's like 10 days of pure thought, inspiration & creation."Although this year it's only 7 days, after 3 days alone, I have had some great experiences that have required me to think very creatively, artistically, and outside of the box. I hope this scavenger hunt becomes a definite annual thing because I am having so much fun!