Latest news with #Waylon
Geek Dad
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Review – Absolute Batman #10: Locked in Ark M
Absolute Batman #10 cover, via DC Comics. Ray: Scott Snyder has been writing DC Comics for so long that it's hard to remember that he used to be very well-known as a hard-boiled horror writer. So he likes to remind us occasionally – Severed, Night of the Ghoul, and Dark Spaces: Dungeon are some of the most disturbing comics I've ever read. But it's even more surprising when it works its way into the main comics – and as disturbing as Arkham Asylum is in the main comics, it's nothing compared to what awaits us in Ark M. Batman broke into the compound in search of his friend Waylon, but found something else entirely – Bane, hulked-up beyond imagination and lusting for a fight. Bruce lost – in terrible fashion – and now finds himself locked up as one of Ark M's many captives and subjects. As the days tick away, Martha Wayne becomes increasingly determined to find her son, seeking help around the city – but few people are interested in the story of a missing blue-collar man. Trapped. Via DC Comics. Bruce's part of the issue is one of the most harrowing things I've ever read in a DC comic, as the mysterious Dr. Arkham oversees Bruce's many escape attempts, brutal beatings at Bane's hands, and his slow recovery. With each escape, Bruce penetrates a little deeper into the compound, getting closer to information about Waylon's fate – and discovers one horror after another. The floors and the walls here even hold horrific secrets. Bane continues to be a haunting beast of a man, one whose sheer brutality seems almost mechanical. The reveal of what's become of Waylon feels inevitable – but also is revealed in a way that still packs a big punch. What surprised me is how far Bruce goes to escape – and how he's transformed by his time locked up. This issue is packed with disturbing visuals that could probably never happen in the main line, and the tension is through the roof throughout. To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week. GeekDad received this comic for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
Forbes
13-06-2025
- General
- Forbes
9-Year-Old Boy Adopts Pit Bull Who Spent 95 Days In A Shelter
Cairo Hall dressed up to adopt his first dog, a young pit bull mix named Waylon, at PAWS Shelter of ... More Central Texas on June 1, 2025. When 9-year-old Cairo Hall headed to a shelter last week to possibly adopt his first dog, he decided to dress up. He'd wanted a dog since he was 3 years old and was excited to meet potential pets with his mom at PAWS Shelter of Central Texas in Kyle. 'It was a special moment,' he said. Then he met Waylon, a young pit bull mix who had spent 95 days at the shelter — after being pulled from an overcrowded shelter where he might have been at risk of euthanasia. The sweet 1-year-old pit bull mix was so popular with the staff that he often spent time behind the front desk as an 'office dog.' For Hall, it was 'love at first sight.' 'The first time I saw him, I just wanted him so badly,' he said. 'I just knew he was the one.' Austin resident Cairo Hall hugs Waylon. They went outside to an off-leash area to get to know one another. Hall asked Waylon to 'sit' and rewarded him with treats. Then he asked the staff many questions about Waylon — from what food he eats and whether he has any fears to tips about heartworm prevention, positive training and registering a microchip — because he'd been researching dogs on YouTube before visiting the shelter. Katheryn White, an adoption counselor at PAWS Shelter of Central Texas, said the shelter staff was deeply impressed that Hall asked so many thoughtful questions during the adoption process. 'I've been with this organization for 10 years, and we'll have kids ask, 'What's their name? Do they know tricks?' I don't think we've ever had a kid come in with an agenda, so to speak,' she said. 'He was ready to get down to business. This was serious for him. He's just mature beyond his years. He asked questions that adults have not.' Cairo Hall, 9, asked thoughtful questions about adopting Waylon during the adoption process at the ... More shelter. She'd also never seen anyone dress up to adopt a pet before, which she and the rest of the team found delightful. She's happy that Waylon found such a loving home after being overlooked for months by potential adopters, especially since big dogs are having a hard time getting adopted nationwide. 'Big dogs just sit longer, unfortunately. That can be due to many things, from weight and breed restrictions for renting apartments, or just overall, having a larger dog may seem a little intimidating,' she said. 'Waylon is the biggest gentle giant. I think what's so special is Cairo really took the time to prep and he took a chance on this dog. And now they're inseparable.' Cairo Hall and Waylon are now inseparable. It's true. Hall, who currently hopes to be an actor or a famous hockey player when he grows up (other recent aspirations include engineer and chess player), created an Instagram page named @waylonandkai to share their adventures together, which will include attending a dog-friendly minor league game and a summer vacation to the beach. In the meantime, they're enjoying playing tug of war, training and cuddling, which is one of Waylon's favorite activities — along with eating treats, according to Hall. 'He's always hungry. I think all dogs are always hungry,' he said. 'And when he wants to go outside, he'll start climbing up on the chair when I'm just relaxing and will get on me and start licking me.' His mom, Marvy Hall, is glad that on the day they were 'just looking' at potential dogs to adopt, they found Waylon. 'It's been nice seeing Cairo so happy and busy with him,' she said. 'It's just fun.' Waylon, who is 1 year and 6 months old, is a fun dog. Her son hopes other people will consider adopting a shelter dog since his experience has been so positive. 'You should really adopt a dog — any breed,' he said. 'It doesn't matter if it's a pit bull or a Dobermann — you should always adopt a dog. They're amazing.'
The Guardian
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
School Swap: UK to USA review – full of beautiful moments that make you cry big, blobby tears
'There are still pockets of liberals in the community,' says David Maxwell, principal of Mena high school, Mena, Arkansas, USA. He's in a contemplative, serious mood – you can tell because he's not wearing his cowboy hat. 'But that's fine, you have to have that. You don't want everybody one way.' Mr Maxwell is on British telly as part of School Swap: UK to USA, a documentary that sets up a good old-fashioned exchange trip. At first, it seems it might be a cheap, even dangerous stunt: teenagers from the racially diverse Elmgreen school in Tulse Hill, south London, are sent deep into the American south, Trump country. It's five hours to the nearest airport, everyone has a gun and Confederate flags are proudly flown. And the south London kids are coming here… But Mena high school and Elmgreen, and their teens and parents, have been cleverly chosen for a social experiment that will make you laugh, cry – big, blobby tears that fall when you're not ready for them – and repeatedly change your mind. You're appalled at Arkansas and proud of south London; later, it's the other way around. Then you flip back a couple more times before thinking: maybe it's time to be less appalled and less proud. Episode one tackles the question of racism in Mena head-on, but before that, we have arrivals and introductions. Dae-Jaun leaves London, travels 4,500 miles to Mena, and is shown into the bedroom of his absent opposite number Waylon, who owns six guns, a crossbow and a drawer full of knives – although Waylon's mum and dad, Stephanie and Justin, stress that all the above have been locked away for Dae-Jaun's safety. 'We had to go behind each door, make sure there wasn't a gun back there!' Waylon's room is a woody, scratchy mess with skulls of deer the boy has shot mounted on the wall. Dae-Jaun, missing his mum and visibly wondering if he's walked on to the set of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, waits for Stephanie and Justin to leave, then stands there and cries. Meanwhile, in London, Waylon is confidently regaling his host family – he's not at Dae-Jaun's place; the pairs don't match up that way – with tales of his love of hunting, which is all fun and games until he talks about killing a raccoon, and refers to it using only the second syllable of the word. That unfortunate linguistic bump having been negotiated, Waylon gets on with becoming the show's main character, and is utterly fascinating. He has a practical wisdom that makes him seem 10 years older than the British kids, not in spite of but because of the narrowness of his upbringing. He has no time for schoolwork ('I've learned how to build a fence and work cows. That's going to help me way more in life than whatever the heck geometry is.') and isn't interested in exploring other countries, apart from Canada, where he hopes one day to shoot a moose. When the Elmgreen kids go to the park after school, Waylon gets bored sitting around on the grass, shins up a tall tree, and enjoys a view across London that nobody at the school has ever seen. Back in Mena, his dad, Justin, is introducing Dae-Jaun to fishing and hunting in the stunning Arkansas lakes and forests. Soon, the serenity of the infinite outdoors and Justin's immense kindness – which becomes overwhelmingly moving when we learn that Dae-Jaun lost his dad at the age of four – have brought lovely, thoughtful, nervous 'DJ', as Justin insists on calling him, out of himself. In the UK, another beautiful relationship develops, but it's one that speaks to what is rotten in Arkansas. Jayla, who is mixed-race, is a pupil at Mena high school and she is quiet and cautious, not because she is naturally that way, but as a direct result of the bigotry of her peers. Jayla's descriptions of her everyday experiences in Mena are hauntingly melancholic – on her trip to London, in a place where the colour of her skin attracts no interest, she lights up. Her travelling companion is her Mena classmate Sailor, a blond, God-fearing, popular girl who now understands the effects of racism more starkly through witnessing how Jayla thrives when that constant hum of hatred is taken away. Jayla tells a tearful, rueful Sailor that they mustn't write Mena off entirely and, in case we hadn't grasped that point by watching Dae-Jaun find his smile, next week's second episode offers a shaming look at how healthy the Arkansas teenagers' use of smartphones is compared with young Londoners. School Swap: UK to USA confirms some of our prejudices while upending others; in both cases, there are valuable lessons to learn. School Swap: UK to USA is on Channel 4 now.
