The Chronicles of Lady T

"I got the gun. You got the briefcase."

2009-11-08T23:47:44Z

So, even though movies have been disappointing lately, TV has not been that way at all. I zipped through season two of The Wire last week and I really think this is the greatest television show of all time. It's just unbelievably good. I don't even feel like I'm watching TV - it's like reading a great, complex novel.

There are just SO many interesting characters. It's almost impossible to pick a favorite, though I try - my dad's is Bunk, Jesse says he thinks Prez has the best storyline over the course of the series, but I think I have to agree with my mom, who loves Omar the best. He just KILLS me.

As for upsetting character deaths...lord. You think Joss Whedon is bad? You think J.K. Rowling is bad? You think Lindelof & Cuse are bad? You think GEORGE R.R. MARTIN is bad? NOTHING compared to David Simon.

WALLACE! Watching poor Wallace get gunned down by his two best friends...I don't think I've ever watched anything that upset me that much. He was such a good kid. He had potential to get the hell out of that life, and then they killed him. And his murder was what almost turned D'Angelo around...and then THEY KILLED D'ANGELO! Who was (arguably) co-lead in season one! WTF?! He had potential too! I mean, yes, he got off on a murder charge in his first episode but his HEART WASN'T IN IT!

I haven't watched season three, but I know Stringer gets what's coming to him at the end of it. I'm of two minds. I do want to see him get killed after orchestrating the deaths of both Wallace and D. But...two whole seasons without seeing that man's gorgeous face and perfect body? He's SO beautiful.

I'm going to take a break before watching season three. It was a lot of fun to see Amy Ryan as Beadie Russell. She can pull off a slightly naive cop just as expertly as she can play a cracked-out neglectful mother in Gone Baby Gone. Wonderful actress.

Fall movies

2009-11-08T14:55:54Z

Did I really only update twice in the past month? Huh.

Anyway, it's November, and I wanted to update my fall movie to-see list. It's officially Oscarbait season, which means we'll get a lot of treacly schlock mixed with legitimately good movies.

I want to be psyched. I want to look at the fall movie preview and get excited and schedule viewing dates, meeting up with friends and arguing over what to see.

But really? There are only three movies I care at all about seeing this fall: Precious, The Princess and the Frog and New Moon. Only two of those I expect to be *good* movies; New Moon is purely for the LOLZ. I *was* excited to see The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, but Terry Gilliam is dead to me for signing the Free Polanski petition and I don't want to support him financially. (This REALLY irks me because one of my Monty Python DVDs is missing and now I can't replace it!)

I don't know - am I missing something? What good movies are coming out this year?

Oh, and fox1013 alerted me to this.

Filmmakers, why are you trying to destroy our childhood? First you gave Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs a plot, then you gave the Wild Things all these Adult Issues and Angst, and now you're making the Berenstain Bears interact with PEOPLE?!

Where the Wild Things Are was an issue of adults dumping all their issues on a story and projecting their problems through someone else's characters. It made a children's book into a Movie For Adults ABOUT Childhood...wow, deep. I swear, sometimes I really love autism, because I saw that film with my brothers and the best part about it was watching Daniel crack up laughing during the movie's biggest "emotional" scenes.

But now? Now the Berenstain Bears will be a ZANY comedy about bears meeting people...except the entire point is that they live in a society of ONLY BEARS.

Some children's books just aren't meant to be movies, darnit. A kid's book/YA book that WOULD make a good movie? The Westing Game. But nowadays I don't trust anyone to do it right.

GAH

2009-09-30T22:33:25Z

My icon is directed at the Free Polanski pledge going around and all the morally bankrupt fuckers who signed it.

Terry Gilliam! TERRY GILLIAM! You are a member of MONTY PYTHON. Shame on you. SHAME ON YOU. You too, Martin Scorsese. And you, Woody Allen - although, that's not a shocker, really.

I am pleased, at least, that the public opinion against Polanski seems quite strong.

Polanski is a rapist and pedophile and should have to serve time. I don't care how good his movies are.

queenofdenile @ 2009-09-27T16:30:00

2009-09-27T20:36:45Z

Yeah. No.

This country is so deeply divided on every issue, it's nice to know that there's at least ONE thing Democrats and Republicans can agree on - BOTH sides see students as nothing but walking test scores, and they know fuck-all about education or how kids learn. Make the school days longer? Sure, if that means schools can bring art, music, and PE back! But if it means EVEN MORE reading and math drills? Combined with three hours of homework they get every night? For the love of all that is holy, let kids be kids.

queenofdenile @ 2009-09-23T18:26:00

2009-09-23T22:28:02Z

Thanks for the well wishes on my last post, everyone. I appreciate the good vibes.

In other news, HIMYM is love, and as much as I love BroTP to the point where I sometimes make them my LJ mood theme, I loved Proffessor/Professor Ted even more. "My name is Professor Mosby. What up, dudes? SILENCE!" Hee hee. Ted as teacher >>> Lily as teacher.

"You came back wrong."

2009-09-13T15:13:45Z

I decided to pick up with season six of BtVS just when the new TV season is starting! I know, it's the worst timing ever, but as much as I'm enjoying this season of Top Chef, as much as I'm looking forward to HIMYM and 30 Rock and Dexter and The Simpsons (yes, STILL), I doubt there's any show that will grip me like BtVS does. There's nothing else out there that has the same wonderful blend of melodrama, tragedy, comedy, horror, sci-fi, cheese, and the macabre like this show does. In fact, I should stop being silly and pretending like it's only my second-favorite show of all time - it's tied with The Simpsons for first.

- For some reason, I always remember it as Xander not realizing that something’s up with Willow until Spike calls his attention to it in “Afterlife.” But this time, I saw that he was the most concerned about doing the resurrection spell and more vocal about it than Tara or Anya, that he wanted to stop the spell mid-way because of what Willow was doing, that he tried to bring up the snake-out-of-mouth issue before she insisted it wasn’t the right time to talk about it. He’s really the first one to see that Willow’s on a bad path, and since he’s the one who saves her in the end…it’s pretty neat.

- I love the Xander-Spike scene outside of Buffy’s house in "Afterlife". I love how Xander is initially snarky with Spike, and then when he sees how upset he is, actually seems sorry and a little apologetic. And Spike – it just really hit me this time that, if Buffy had come back horribly wrong and retained just a tiny part of her real self, he wouldn’t have let Willow send her back. He would have taken zombie Buffy over no Buffy. That’s so unsettling, and Spike *knows* it, too. It’s really interesting, because Spike is so sweet in these episodes, but it’s obvious that he still has twisted ideas and has a ways to go in his redemption.

- I think Willow and Tara have more chemistry in S6 than they did in S4 and S5 and I chalk that up to the UPN allowing them to actually touch each other, but I still think AB stinks and their dialogue – “Pancakes can go in bellies!” – makes me want to hurl.

- I think this season goes too far with the “everyone dumping everything on Buffy” theme. Xander, Willow, Tara, and Anya drag her from heaven and then ignore her problems and go "oh by the way here are all the bills we spent while you were gone thnx bye!" Dawn whines. Giles leaves her. Spike is her only source of comfort, and even he alternates between treating her well and treating her poorly once he realizes he has a chance with her after all.

At the same time, I can’t think that any of this behavior is out of character for the Scoobs. Xander and Willow, for once, have lives that revolve around something besides Buffy’s mission – it was easier for them to be the super-supportive friends in high school when they had very little else going on. Anya and Tara aren’t really Buffy’s friends so much as they’re Xander and Willow’s SOs and Buffy’s sort-of friends by extension. Giles has been in the process of leaving Buffy since “The Freshman,” and I think he wants to separate himself both from being thrust in a father role that he didn’t want, and from having to watch Buffy die all over again. Spike is having the monster vs. man internal struggle and Buffy not knowing what she wants makes him even more confused.

So I find the “everyone dumps everything on Buffy” theme just a little overkill, yet I find the characters’ actions mostly realistic. The key to the solution, I think, is Dawn (hey, look what I did there!) In this season, we have a sixteen-year-old girl flounce about and whine because her older sister’s friends are busy, and act like a martyr because in HIGH SCHOOL she can’t make her own damn breakfast. (Granted, my dad made me breakfast all throughout high school, but only because he was up at that time anyway making breakfast for my little brothers – on mornings when he wasn’t available, I took care of myself and didn’t feel lonely and ignored). Her being much younger than her age sort of worked thematically in season five, but as she’s no longer the Key and treated like a real person with no mystical history, she should act her age. I really feel like the writers should have gone in the other direction with Dawn. They should have highlighted how guilty she feels for having Buffy die in her place, and have her overcompensate for it. Instead of waiting to be served breakfast, she gets up early to make breakfast for everyone, taking care to make freshly-squeezed orange juice and funny-shaped pancakes for Buffy. She takes care of the majority of the household chores. She doesn’t steal, but in fact gets her own after-school job at a different branch of the Doublemeat Palace to contribute to the household funds. At the same time, she works her pants off trying to keep her grades up so that social services doesn’t get suspicious and come after them. And Buffy doesn’t notice any of this effort – not because she’s a bad, bad Mommy, as the show likes to imply, but because she feels so dead and disconnected. The climax of this storyline still occurs in “Older and Far Away,” and they all realize that Dawn is cracking under pressure and there’s a confrontation and a hug-and-cry. A guilty-feeling Buffy tries to make her quit her job, but Dawn insists on keeping it because Buffy has enough pressure, so they compromise and Dawn cuts back on her hours. At the series finale, Buffy still has the revelation that she needs to teach Dawn how to protect herself, but it’s not presented that Buffy’s a Bad Bad Mommy – she just realizes how mature Dawn has become and that she really can handle herself.

The alternative to this plan is simply having Willow accidentally erase everyone’s fake memories of Dawn in “Tabula Rasa,” which leads to Dawn acting out and whining and feeling neglected but actually having a good reason to feel so left out.

- I didn't think this scene bothered me so much, but when Tara simpers, "I would love some chicken" after Buffy brings a bucket home, I just want to smack her so hard in the face. Yes, THAT'S the way to make Buffy feel better! Don't contribute to the household funds, don't get jobs, don't come up with constructive solutions to her problems - eat the fried chicken you brought home! GOD, Tara, you SUCK SO MUCH. So does everyone else in that scene, really, but I pick on her because of the simpering.

- Once again, I have to comment on some of the dark, weird humor in S6. It gets a rap as the most depressing season ever, but stuff like kitten poker is right up my alley. As is the vampire in the Hanson T-shirt.

queenofdenile @ 2009-09-01T13:12:00

2009-09-01T17:15:08Z

I hate September. Between paying my tuition, paying for my books for grad school, and buying supplies for my classroom, my credit card bill is so high that, after I pay it off, I have very little left for October. Meaning I can't do anything fun for my birthday. Very annoying, especially since I'm turning 25 this year AND my birthday falls on a Saturday.

For never was a story of more woe

2009-08-11T00:52:00Z

When did Romeo and Juliet become the poster children for dumb, irresponsible teenagers who kill themselves because they have no lives?

Did I miss the entire point of Shakespeare's play? I thought the whole idea was that it was the parents, the Montagues and the Capulets, who were caught up in an extremely petty feud, that the sins of the fathers (and mothers) were visited upon the sons (and daughters).

Did I miss the part where Romeo, a lovesick fool with his head in the clouds at the beginning of the play, tries to avoid a duel with a hotheaded Paris ("Tempt not a desperate man."), because he's over the whole family feud bullshit and Paris is still a foolish boy playing with a sword?

Did I miss how Juliet was a completely docile complying little lamb at the beginning - "I'll look to like, if looking liking move/but no more deep will I endart mine eye/than your consent gives strength to make it fly" - and how she changes into someone who refuses to be essentially sold into a marriage, to someone who refuses to let her father dictate her life?

Yes, in the end, they kill themselves, and yes, it's because the other one is dead. But it's the parents, the authority figures, who are to blame. ("Heaven conspired to kill your joys with love.") Anytime people criticize Romeo and Juliet for being stupid and irresponsible, I always feel like they're (the critics) are putting their own modern sensibilities on an Elizabethan play and trying to show how "edgy" and "cool" they are for not buying into the whole star-crossed love thing.

Come on. It's Romeo and Juliet. No one's saying you have to love it - it's certainly not his best tragedy - but you're not edgy or cool for completely misinterpreting the story.

This reminds me of my other big Shakespeare argument irritation - the modern view of Ophelia of a archetypal "woman scorned" who goes crazy and kills herself because her boyfriend dumps her. Yes, a woman who can't handle being dumped is SO much more interesting than the *actual* Ophelia who goes insane and kills herself after her father dies because he dominated her life so completely that she's nothing without him. Sure, either interpretation means that she's all wrapped up in a man, but in one version she's a whiny ninny who overreacts to a breakup and in another she's a victim of her father's dominating, controlling persona.

queenofdenile @ 2009-08-09T23:21:00

2009-08-10T03:22:34Z

Ask me my fannish Top Five [Whatevers]. Any top fives. Doesn't matter what, really! And I will answer them all in a new post. Possibly with pictures.

(Meme stolen from several people on my flist).

People continue to suck

2009-08-06T04:38:47Z

The late, great George Carlin wrote in one of his books that people should be allowed 1 legal murder per month. 12 murders a year - but they're not cumulative. Just 1 legal murder per month.

In a world where this was legal, I would like to use my first murder on any racist jackoff who whines about Barack Obama's so-called racism against the poor repressed white people and then immediately turns around and insist that he wasn't born in the United States, but in KENYA, where all the BLACK PEOPLE live, and don't see that that claim IN OF ITSELF is a racist one.

"Be brave. Live. For me."

2009-07-27T15:40:15Z

Tough Love
The most interesting thing about “Tough Love” to me is the Buffy and Willow relationship. They each try to comfort each other and convince each other of the other’s point of view, but of course neither is successful. Willow likes school, the school argument would work for her, so she thinks it would work for Buffy, and of course it doesn’t, and she’s not picking up on the meaning behind, “It’s *really* important Dawn does her homework.” Later on, Buffy assumes she’s gotten through to Willow when she hasn’t. It just shows to me that they love each other but they’re growing apart and have less and less in common. Anyway, I can’t decide what aspect of Tara’s illness is most offensive to mental patients: the uncombed hair, the dressing her in pajamas, the Appasauce for Da Baby, or Amber Benson’s “acting.” Oh my God, Crazy Tara is the worst acting I have ever seen on this show, bar none. I mean, AB always looks vaguely autistic…but perhaps that’s unfair, as autistic people tend to have a glimmer of intelligence in their eyes…

Spiral
The image of knights attacking a gas station is just…so ridiculous I can’t even describe it. Spike’s also obviously not completely on the redemption wagon yet, is he, if he wants to drive away with just Buffy and Dawn and leave the rest of the gang to suffer. I enjoy how Spike and Xander seem to rotate places, take turns as Buffy’s right-hand man – she gets the RV with Spike, she takes Xander with her to make a deal with the knights.

The Weight of the World
YAWN. The Ben/Glory morphing scenes just go ON and I have never once found the gang’s confusion over “Ben is Glory? Do they have a connection?” anywhere near funny, and Spike’s “Is everyone here very stoned?” < Willow’s “Say, you all didn’t happen to do a bunch of drugs, didja?” I like getting into Buffy’s head, though, and Willow kicks ASS in here after annoying me only two episodes ago.

The Gift
Buffy died and everybody was sad. I love the way Giles fulfills his own statement earlier in the ep, how he has to protect this world and do things that others can’t, by smothering Ben because Buffy Would. Never. Take. A. Human. Life. (Except for those knights a few episodes ago on the RV, not that I hold those against her, or Faith to feed to Angel, but never mind, Buffy would NEVER TAKE A HUMAN LIFE!!!) Xander’s proposal…ack, Anya is so right that he’s only doing it because he thinks he’ll never have to go through with it. You know, I can believe Xander loves Anya when it’s just the two of them in the scene, because he really is quite affectionate and sweet to her, but whenever they’re with his friends he can’t hide how embarrassing he finds her and that just bothers me so much. Oh, and I love that Buffy totally forgot that she dis-invited Spike. Anyway, I manage to be moved by “The Gift” even though so little of it makes sense and is the biggest author-wanky season of BtVS (though still not as author-wanky as AtS). The Christophe Beck score helps.

S5 as a whole: It started off with everyone looking pretty good – Xander had a really hot period from about “Out of My Mind” to “Listening to Fear” – and by the end everyone’s hair looks like total ass except for Buffy/Dawn/Spike, and Anya in “The Gift.” But this IS Buffy’s most gorgeous season in terms of hair/skin, and looks especially good following S4, her worst appearance-wise. I found S5 easier to enjoy this time around, though I still hate Dawn, Riley, and the score. “The Replacement” aside, Xander is much less of a buttmonkey in season five, but his treatment of Anya is disturbing – he cheated on Cordelia and I still think he treated Cordy with more respect than he does Anya. I think I’ll take a break before starting S6; there’s only so much Buffy in pain that I can take for awhile.

queenofdenile @ 2009-07-26T21:52:00

2009-07-27T01:52:40Z

STOP RAINING, NEW YORK!

Song of Ice and Fire TV show

2009-07-22T03:56:05Z

So Sean Bean has been cast as Ned Stark in the HBO Song of Ice and Fire series.

I am pretty pleased. Peter Dinklage is playing Tyrion, and so far the actors playing Robert and Jon Snow look close to the descriptions of them - although now that I saw someone mention Skandar Keynes (Edmund from The Chronicles of Narnia) as an ideal casting for Jon, I can't get that idea out of my head!

I just need people to PLEASE stop suggesting Josh Holloway for Jaime because OMG that would be AWFUL. Jaime Lannister is supposed to be smart and charming, not greasy and smirky. I mean, I have about zero fear about this actually happening since they seem to be going for a British cast, but the very idea just makes me shudder.

Oh, and I've heard people mention the idea of Tricia Helfer as Cersei...that works for me, but now I'm wondering how the series can possibly employ James Callis. The first idea that comes to mind is Petyr Baelish, y/n?

This post is brought to you by the Association of People Who Are Forcing Themselves to Get Psyched Up for the HBO Series Because We've Given Up On GRRM Finishing the Damn Books.

bangs head

2009-07-15T20:49:28Z

After reading a lot of reviews of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I'm starting to dread seeing it. I'm really not looking forward to another round of, "Harry Potter and Hermione Granger are the MOST PERFECT BEINGS EVER SO BRAVE AND WONDERFUL, oh and Ron Weasley is also there, kind of, fucking up a lot, GOD, why are the perfect Harry and Hermione even friends with him in the first place?" I've had enough of Ron getting the Xander Harris post-season 2 treatment.

a million hearts

2009-07-15T17:21:26Z

Triangle
In the Anya-Willow argument, I’m 100% on Anya’s side. I get really annoyed with Willow for being all, “I’ve helped out a lot here too!” in ItW, because first of all, I didn’t see her do shit except gift-wrap one thing badly, and second of all, that wasn’t the point – the point was that Anya didn’t feel anyone was taking her seriously (and she’s right). In this one, she says she’ll help Anya run the store when Giles away, and does that by…stealing ingredients and undermining Anya’s authority. Hoookay. And then she has the audacity to be annoyed with Anya for being upset about the cash register – “All she cares about is money!” Willow, you dumb bitch, of course she cares about the money; this job is her livelihood. (Wow, this is the most annoying I’ve found Willow in this entire re-watch). Anyway, I don’t like this one because the slapstick is bad and it’s got more of Buffy blaming herself for Riley, and it’s overall un-funny. But Olaf the troll is funny, and I like Spike with the Buffy-doll.

Checkpoint
People talk about missing Jeff Pruitt and his choreography. Personally, I feel the loss of Christophe Beck as a composer more. I hate the bland tinkly stuff that passes for “wacky” music that the new composer uses in the comic scenes, and the screeching brass used in the fight scenes. Other than that, I enjoy all the Scooby action, especially Anya proving her human roots by making references to her American patriotism, hee, like English watchers give a shit that she’s patriotic. Buffy and Giles, I feel like the writers go out of their way to embarrass them in order to bring them back up later, so I don’t love the ep on that front. I do like that Buffy referenced Xander’s “field time” as why he’s important to the group.

Blood Ties
Anya owns me. “You make a very pretty little girl!” “This is all extremely suspenseful!” Also, Dawn whines and Buffy is a cold bitch to her – seriously, her first reaction to seeing a deep cut on her sister’s arm is to yell at her? And this is exactly why the Dawn stuff bugs me so much; I don’t *like* thinking these things about Buffy. I don’t *like* thinking that Buffy’s being cold or unfair to a poorly-acted little whelp that’s not even real. I think this is also the beginning of “Buffy and Dawn have shiny gorgeous hair, Spike is super-pretty, and the rest of the cast looks like shit” arc of S5. But I love that Buffy allows herself to be vulnerable in front of Spike, and it’s not because he’s causing her vulnerability (hello, Angel). Oh, and Xander likes that a teenage girl is into him. So very funny, at any minute I’m sure to laugh.

Crush
Hee! Spike dresses up in preppy clothing to hang out with Buffy at the Bronze! Tara can go fuck herself with completely mangling the point of Victor Hugo’s novel, and Amber Benson never acts naturally – she always looks like she’s waiting for someone else to say the lines so she can then say hers. It’s such a shame, because I think she has a very palatable, naturally warm speaking voice that would make her an appealing actress if she could, you know, act. Anyway, in the beginning, I see Spike being so cute and Buffy being so mean to him and I feel bad for him (even though *rationally* I know that she has every reason to treat him this way and he deserves even worse). At the end, I’m impressed that she didn’t just stake him outright. I love the way she looks at him after he bounces off of the barrier at her door, making sure that he gets it, but also like she’s disappointed in him, like she didn’t want it to have to go this way.

I Was Made to Love You
Aww, Puffy Xander is such a good friend to Buffy in terms of her relationships…so why’d he have to be such an ass before? Anyway, my favorite thing about this very enjoyable episode is the Buffy/Warren parallels. “She was exactly what I wanted, and I didn’t want her” = Riley. Whereas “She was really funny and was always giving me a hard time” = Spike. I also didn’t notice until this time that Xander described himself as finally being “someone you’d want around,” and just, GAH! I appreciate that, since after “The Replacement,” Xander has been portrayed as mostly competent and a crucial member of the gang, but there’s this sense that he just recently got off his useless ass and finally started contributing. Not like he ever saved Buffy’s life, not like he ever rescued Giles, not like he ever rode Cordelia (hee) through fire, not like he ever offered himself to mummy girl to save Willow, or anything, no, he JUST NOW became useful.

I got a chance to see a very appealing new musician on Saturday night at one of the free music shows at one of the bars in my neighborhood. Her name is Adrien Reju and describes her style as acoustic/indie/roots music. The first artist that comes to my mind to compare her to is Ingrid Michaelson, but I think she's even better. Check it out; her voice is beautiful.

"You think we're dancing?" "That's all we've ever done."

2009-07-12T05:10:43Z

No Place Like Home
I can’t decide whether Dawn or Glory is more annoying. With Dawn, half the problem is her and her grating personality – she has *no* character traits other than “annoying younger sister,” oh and I guess she likes to read – and the other half is the indulgence she gets. Willow calls her “the baby” – she’s a teenager. Anyway, the trance-y spell was cool, and this has “Out for a walk – bitch,” and that *hilarious* Buffy-Giles staredown with him dressed in the wizard costume, heeee. And while I can’t stand Dawn, Buffy’s reaction to Dawn seems very true to me. I kind of felt the same way she did – wanting to choke the little brat all throughout the episode, and after finding out the truth, feeling sorry for the girl who doesn’t know she’s not real. I still wish the fake memories had disappeared after awhile because it’s SUCH a violation.

Family
Dawn’s running around like a little kid at Tara’s party. Why they made her fourteen when she was clearly written to be younger, I’ll never know. I didn’t hate this like I expected to; I still think it’s mawkish and overly sentimental but there’s a fair amount of funny dialogue, and Tara’s family wanting to control the “demon” when they’re really trying to control the lesbian is interesting. Then again, there’s the GAG-worthy exchange in the opener, “I don’t need to be snuggled”/“Vixen!” Overall, I can’t get too het up about this one; I tend to just forget about it. Xander looks really hot in it, the longer hair actually working for him and him wearing a tight blue T-shirt, so I can’t complain too much.

Fool for Love
*happysigh* Easily one of my top 10, despite Petrie making the Scoobs look like idiots on patrol while Riley is puffed up, though I always feel a little “aww” when Willow tells Xander, “I think you’re cool!” I can’t see Buffy telling Spike, “You’re beneath me,” as any way out of line considering what he said to her, and I still want to hug the poor little sweetie after she walks away. That is the main reason why I love their relationship; the show is completely honest about the fucked-up things that he does without whitewashing it, and we can still sympathize with him. The back porch scene at the end is a thing of beauty. I love his tentative back-patting and I have to admit I crack the fuck UP when I see the look on Buffy’s face as he does it, all, “Could my life possibly make any LESS sense right now?” He doesn’t know what to do after that but he can’t leave, and she doesn’t really want him there but can’t tell him to go away. It’s funny, it’s poignant, and the breathing in sync is the icing on the cake.

Shadow
I’ve noticed that in both this episode and LtF, Xander comes down on Riley for his isolationist loner crap, and basically says, “Buffy’s dealing with a lot right now, what the hell is your problem?” I can’t decide if this will make Xander’s upcoming asshattery in “Into the Woods” more or less forgivable, knowing that he tried to talk some sense into Riley first.

Listening to Fear
Okay, the Scoobs are such idiots. Well-meaning idiots, but idiots. They so badly want to not burden Buffy with the stuff about the Queller demon, but even after they make the connection between Queller = crazy people, they don’t think to call Buffy and tell her, “There’s a demon that’s attacking mentally ill people, we’re on top of it, but here’s a heads up in case it comes by your house?” Ridiculous. And I’m *sure* Riley made the connection, and there’s absolutely no reason he shouldn’t have called Buffy to let her know, and I’m certain that he didn’t do it because he wanted to be the big hero rushing in and saving the day. So I absolutely love it that he rushes in to see Buffy and Spike holding hands, and she doesn’t say a word to him and just runs upstairs to check on her mother.

"Into the Woods" is going to have its own post because I tend to ramble and even cite feminist authors with that one.

Inside every silver lining there's a dark cloud...

2009-07-11T01:58:26Z

I just made curried stir-fried potatoes and they were yummy. I'm proud of myself. But please tell me that cooking becomes faster with practice, because the recipe time was 20 minutes and it took me an hour just to chop and mince the potatoes/onion/cilantro.

How do you like my darkness now?

2009-07-10T03:38:03Z

Buffy vs. Dracula
Both BvD and “Restless” mention the Slayer’s power rooted in darkness and all that and I’m looking forward to seeing the Slayer mytharc develop. Anyway, this is not my favorite season premiere but still tons of fun, although I agree with Xander that we’re ALL sick of him being the buttmonkey. Remember when Xander used to make jokes and wasn’t *the* joke? Also, it’s funny to me how Gellar and Blucas had zero chemistry as “hot” lovers in S4, yet in S5, when Buffy and Riley have clearly lost the “zing” and have fallen into boring routine, they *do* have appropriate chemistry.

Real Me
Tara looks tremendously pretty in this episode. Up-dos work really well on her. I’m also not finding W/T nauseating yet. I *am* finding Dawn super-annoying, even more than I usually do. It’s the personality, the shrieking, the everyone catering to her every whim and her complaining that *Buffy* gets whatever she wants. And yeah yeah, I know it’s the spell that’s making people overprotective, but that doesn’t make her any less annoying. Let me put it this way: I have a brother with a severe lifelong disability and we don’t cater to him the way they all cater to Dawn. And suddenly I find myself over-identifying with Buffy which, much as I love her, hasn’t happened this intensely before. (I will say that I don’t hate Dawn when she’s talking about how cute Xander is, because, uh, that’s when I over-identify with *her.*) Meanwhile, I find every single Harmony scene completely tedious, although this is the first time I’ve bought her as a queen-like popular girl. Mercedes McNab is very pretty but she always looked far too wholesome in seasons 1-3 to fit her character. One thing about the Dawn arc that *does* work for me? SMG and Kristine Sutherland look even more like mother and daughter than ever, and MT looking decidedly *not* like either one of them is neat, considering that she’s fake. Okay, a lot of ranting here, so to sum up? This would’ve been a lot more entertaining if we’d seen Spike and Giles watch Passions together.

The Replacement
I love the Snoopy dance and any reminder of Xander and Willow’s lifelong friendship (I said *friendship.*) And I still can’t decide if this episode is largely complimentary to Xander or insulting to him. It highlights his competent, skilled side, but he’s also a bad influence on himself. I HATE the “I get in trouble and Buffy saves me” bit, like HELLO, has everyone forgotten about Prophecy Girl, Becoming II, Graduation Day II as the key guy, or the less epic times he’s shoved other people out of harm, or riding on the gurney through FLAMES to save Cordelia? Okay, I think I’ve fallen on the “insulting” side. FUCK YOU, ZEPPO! I like the foreshadowing here, though, with the Buffy-Dawn extended conversation about Dawn giving Joyce a headache. I don’t know if it’s canon that the insertion of Dawn gave Joyce the fatal tumor or if I’m making it up, but either way, I’m convinced it’s true. Riley goes back and forth from making me like him (his awkward but well-meaning attempts to distract them all from Xander’s family’s drunken fighting), to making me hate him (getting all macho about fighting Toth, putting his hands over Buffy’s book when she’s trying to read). Also, Willow, despite being biased given that she doesn’t like Anya, is pretty intuitive about Xander/Anya: “You’ve known all this time, and you didn’t think of Anya till just now?”

Out of My Mind
I can sympathize with Riley to a point. It’s not easy to go from having a purpose and then feeling like you no longer do, nor is it easy to feel strong and then suddenly feel weak. I can even sort of feel bad for him in regards to Buffy, because ultimately I do think he’s right and that he’s not enough for her…but then I part ways, because he’s wrong for her in a different way than he thinks. He thinks he’s not superman enough for her; I think he just doesn’t understand what being the Slayer means and what it means to Buffy, and the supernatural aspect of the Slayer power is incredibly unsettling to him. This is the third time we’ve seen him say a variation of “I love you” to Buffy, and every time she’s not said it back – “Tell me about it”/*silence*/ “I don’t know why,” and I wonder how long I’ll be able to feel bad for him about that. I’m amused that almost every time Riley gets his own story, Spike’s there to serve as a parallel to him – they’re both going crazy, Riley because he doesn’t think Buffy wants him and Spike because he thinks Buffy’s never leaving him alone, and the dream kiss at the end sneaks up and you and WHAT a delightful surprise it is!

You think you know - what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun

2009-07-03T17:01:44Z

Assorted thoughts on the second half of season 4 – I’m trying to make this post a little shorter and not go episode-by-episode. This is my summation of the quality of the second half:
Episodes I love: This Year’s Girl, Restless
Episodes I like: A New Man, Who Are You, The Yoko Factor
Episodes that are okay: New Moon Rising, Superstar
Episodes I will never watch again unless forced to: The I in Team, Goodbye Iowa, Where the Wild Things Are, Primeval

I think his dreaded speech in “Into the Woods” makes us all forget that, early on in the B/R relationship, Xander doesn’t seem to care for Riley at all. He attacks Riley verbally after Maggie tries to have Buffy killed, and in “This Year’s Girl,” when Riley says going undercover is the least he can do, Xander snarkily replies, “You’re right – it is the least you can do.” I think he starts to change his mind around “The Yoko Factor.” He looks at Riley, who is not able to hold a candle to Angel (in Buffy’s eyes, anyway), and feels empathetic. I’m of the opinion that Xander has been over Buffy for a long time, but at this point is still not over her initial *rejection* of him, especially when she rejected him because she preferred Angel, whom he hates. So he starts to warm up to Riley because he seems them as being in the same boat. Obviously, they’re not, as Xander reacting to Buffy’s rejection in “Prophecy Girl” makes me want to give him a big squishy hug, and Riley’s reaction to Buffy’s rejection in “Doomed” makes me want to punch him in the face.

Alyson Hannigan has a serious bronchitis problem. It’s not just in the W/T scenes either; she sounds congested all the time except in “The Yoko Factor” fight. Speaking of TYF, I’d say that Buffy and Willow are the two who are the two and Xander’s the other one, not that he’s made any more of an effort to see them as they have to see him.

It occurs to me why I so preferred Xander/Cordelia and Willow/Oz to Xander/Anya and Willow/Tara. Cordelia and Oz, though devoted to their partners and to the Scooby cause, had friends and interests outside of them. Anya is all wrapped up in Xander, and Tara doesn’t seem to have *any* friends outside of Willow – which seems like it can be fairly common for a lonely freshman away from her controlling home for the first time, but does she ever have a life outside of Willow when they’re together?

I don’t think Eliza Dushku is the most skilled or gifted actress out there, but she’s just full of energy and charisma and adds a much-needed electrical shock to a tepid season. I do love Fatih’s interpretation of events, that Buffy abandoned the people that “really matter” (meaning her) and that she didn’t deserve what happened. Oh, Faith, honey, you may not have deserved Buffy turning you into Angel food, but you definitely had something coming to you. I do feel for the girl; even in her murderous revenge state she still deep down wants to be Buffy’s BFF.

I feel ill-equipped to comment further on “Restless,” but it’s still brilliant.

The arc in season 4 is SO much better set-up than the “arc” in season 3. The Initiative story isn’t revealed right away but slowly developed from the very first episode, with major and minor revelations and changes dropped here and there, all to come to a conclusion that makes sense. In fact, I think Adam is the only Big Bad who has a good reason for not wanting to kill Buffy, aside from “I’m so strong and this little girl will never defeat me!”: she’s a key element in his plan and she’s simply more useful alive to him than dead. Compare that to the Mayor, whose idea of a great battle strategy is to have Faith attempt to take out Angel instead of Buffy. BUT, and this is a BIG but – who would you rather watch, the Mayor and Faith, or Adam and Riley? Which season has prettier lighting and setting – season 4 or season 3? Honestly, I’m convinced that season 3 gets the rep as the best season ever half because of its gorgeous lighting. I can think of at least eight season 4 episodes that I either LOATHE or don’t enjoy enough to rewatch, and only four I really like. With season 3, I can only think of two episodes I dislike and I wouldn’t classify either as BAD episodes. S3 is not my favorite season – it ranks fourth or maybe even fifth – because there’s arc-y stuff that ENRAGES me, but there’s still a HUGE gap between it and S4 for me.

In my version of S4, Buffy dates an Initiative soldier who is not Riley and their relationship is largely in the background, and her arc involves choosing to go undercover at the Initiative, scoping it out, and eventually deciding to bring it down from the inside once she sees what the operation is like, and she gets help from her boyfriend who is not so attached to the military and just looks at it as a job. This causes much conflict, though, because Xander joined the Initiative early on and felt like the military was giving him a real purpose that he was missing, and Buffy and Xander’s friendship is threatened by this whole thing. Willow is caught in the middle in a big way, and tries to avoid picking sides by distracting herself with a hot rebound fling with Percy. Meanwhile, she also helps Riley pursue Buffy, who is about to ask her out until he sees Willow with Percy, and realizes Willow is the one he really loves. Fortunately for him, the Percy fling runs its course after half a season of hot sexy fun, and he wins Willow’s heart after saving Oz from the Initiative. The resolution is similar, except the Scoobs have to save Xander from the Initiative, and they manage to do this in time to perform the enjoining spell to defeat Adam – they can’t do the spell without him, after all.

I think I agree with blixie: Spike and Giles are the only reason to watch S4.

"Are we gonna fight, or is there just gonna be a monster sarcasm rally?"

2009-07-01T12:11:41Z

I’ve been watching this string of episodes – second half of season three, first half of season four – while in Jersey watching my brothers while my parents are on vacation. My almost-fourteen-year-old brother Luke is watching with me. In some ways he’s a much better BtVS-viewing partner than either of my parents or my boyfriend were. He asks too many questions but genuinely seems to like the show a lot, while my dad and my boyfriend each liked maybe half of the episodes, and my mom liked “The Pack” and only “The Pack.” So far he says that Buffy’s his favorite character, and Spike and Willow are tied for second. Boy’s got good taste.

S4 means no more Angel! Yay! I love the guy, but NOT as Buffy’s boyfriend.
It also means no more Cordelia. Boooooooo.

The Freshman: The high points are the Monet/Klimt tallies, Xander’s Dadaist pep talk, and, “Are we gonna fight, or are we just gonna have a monster sarcasm rally?” I truly adore that line. The rest? I fell asleep.

Living Conditions: I think this episode is funny but in a very un-Buffy way. I feel like I’m watching some supernatural sitcom that just happens to also star Sarah Michelle Gellar. Kathy should’ve stayed on the show – having a demon roommate who’s not into killing and really just wants to go to college would’ve been interesting, since this season attempts to explore issues relating to demons and their supposedly black-and-white evil nature.

The Harsh Light of Day: All men just want one thing and women are their victims. Victims of sex. Except for Spike being hot as hell, I have to give this one a mighty *Yawn.* I’m feeling Anya, but not Xander/Anya. Oh, and it’s always fun to watch Buffy and Spike ~~having sex with each other~~ fighting each other. Notice how the campus, packed with students, is all of a sudden vacant of students once they start to fight? Kind of a metaphor for their relationship – when they’re interacting with one another, the rest of the world ceases to exist. It’s beautiful, really.

Fear, Itself: Very funny and effectively creepy. I like it. It’s even better in hindsight; Buffy may be able to squish the fear demon underneath her foot, but all the characters’ fears that manifested come back to get them later on. With Oz, it’s in two episodes, and Buffy, Willow, and Xander all have to deal with fears of abandonment, inadequacy, and invisibility for the rest of the series. And can I just say that I *love* Aly as bratty, jealous Willow. “We found the stairs! *Buffy* didn’t find the stairs, no sir!”

Beer Bad: You know, I really don’t think this one is very funny. People have proudly declared that their unpopular BtVS opinion is that they LOVE “Beer Bad,” and I’ve heard it so often that I really think disliking it is the unpopular opinion. I don’t dislike it, and I laugh at certain points, particularly at “Nothing can defeat the penis!” But if I have to pick an ep where people act silly because of magical properties in something they ate/drank, I’ll take “Band Candy” over “Beer Bad” any day. Oh well. At least Xander gets three great lines – the aforementioned penis one, “Excuse me, Mr. I spent the sixities in an electric Kool-Aid funky Satan groove,” and “That’ll give them the time to ponder the geopolitical ramifications of being mean to me!” Oh, and I think Buffy thumping her chest and saying, “Buffy strong!” is completely adorable, and I love that she has hero fantasies that involve saving the lives of the men she likes. So there are quite a few moments that amuse me, but overall I find it dull.

Wild at Heart: Oz’s taste in women has gone DOWN. Veruca sucks. Really good performances from Seth and Aly, though. I’m going to pay close attention to pinpoint when Aly becomes a congested mouth-breather because her acting in early S4 is good.

The Initiative: People have pointed out the Riley/Spike parallels before, so I won’t comment on that except to say that I get absolutely giddy when Riley doesn’t recognize Buffy in the dorm hallway but Spike totally does. Willow and Riley are also adorable together and so should have hooked up. Riley can’t be in a relationship with a woman who’s physically stronger than he is, as we’ll soon see, but I think he could handle, even enjoy, being with a woman who’s his intellectual superior. Actually, Riley might do the impossible and interest me in this rewatch; he’s giving me thoughts about the nature of chivalry and “gentleman”-like behavior and prescribed gender roles. Oh, and Xander and Harmony’s slap-fight doesn’t in of itself bother me – I think it’s a pretty funny parody unlike a certain ZEPPO – but the string of humiliating moments for Xander is hard for me to handle.

Pangs: Oh, poor Angel, I am so feeling your pain about stalking Buffy. I’m glad you’re hiding to keep from “distracting” her, because she’s such a silly overemotional little girl. I love that both Giles and Willow call him on his behavior, and annoyed that they both eventually agree to keep Angel’s presence a secret from her. It’s rather fitting that Xander, always the most honest about his feelings for Angel (*too* honest), is the one to spill the beans. Oh yeah, and there was also Thanksgiving.

Something Blue: Tee hee. Aww, JM and SMG are clearly having so much fun. I'm also smiling at the memory of watching this show with my boyfriend; I think he laughed for about five minutes at, "Stop whatever you're doing - you smell like fruit roll-ups." Anyway, I used to get super-annoyed with Willow for moaning and whining all over the place, but then I remember how I acted after I got dumped by my college boyfriend after going out for a total of five weeks, how obnoxiously upset I was, and Willow's starting to look like the picture of stability and rationality in comparison, so...yeah. Then again, I never complained that my friends weren't being good enough listeners or that people weren't understanding my pain, nor did I cast a spell that fucked all my friends up, so there's also that. Basically, I think the show does a really good job of portraying breakups and how they affect people's friends - you feel bad for the other person, you can listen to them endlessly up to a point, but then you reach the breaking point where oh my GOD if she mentions Oz/Parker/Angel ONE MORE TIME I'm going to get stabby.

Hush: I’m always intrigued by Tara the first time I see her. I wonder how long I’ll like her this time around. As for Buffy/Riley, I like their first kiss a lot – fitting that they can have chemistry as long as there’s no actual talking between them.

Doomed: My brother, after watching the second scene in which Riley and Buffy talk and he makes all these assumptions about her life: “He’s disrespecting her. He doesn’t even know what she does or what being the Slayer means.” *sniff* I am just SO proud of him. (None of my viewing partners have commented on that before, but to be fair, my dad's eyes glazed over anytime Riley was onscreen, and my guy...I couldn't subject him to this episode or the goodbye in iowa, I love him too much). In other news, the scene between Willow and Percy used to just annoy me, but knowing that the writers were actually considering making him Willow’s next love interest and didn’t…well, I mourn for the possibilities.

Now I'm sad. "A New Man" is a delight, but The I in Goodbye Iowa is coming up and I don't waaana waaatch it.

Apathy on the rise: no one cares.

2009-06-29T23:40:32Z

I’ve marathoned Buffy S3. I’ll try to keep comments to a paragraph length:
Helpless: The “taken literally, incredibly gross” B/A scene is a WAY better parody of B/A than the one in “The Zeppo.” And of course Buffy finds it sweet that Angel fell in love with her when she was a lollipop-sucking 15-year-old and followed her for a year without saying a word to her. Anyway, I wonder why Giles is more easy forgive in this ep than he is in “Lies My Parents Told Me,” despite his actions here being worse, and I’m looking for an answer other than the obvious, “Everything was better in the first three seasons,” because he really does seem colder to me in LMPTM. Also, I’m surprised that the Council never tried to off Buffy and make it look like an accident so they could get a newer, more compliant Slayer.

The Zeppo: Aside from the last few minutes and Were-Oz being “oddly full” the next day (hee hee) I’m officially tired of this one. The humor just seems so…off. Maybe because I expect humor to be funny? And can I just say that it seemed like, in “Gingerbread” and “Helpless,” the stage was set to re-integrate Cordy into the Scoobs – she saves the day in “Gingerbread,” helps Buffy twice in “Helpless” and shows her human side…they were so ready to get her back in the group and get her back together with Xander at least for the rest of the season, and they DIDN’T. WHY?!

Bad Girls: There are some plot/character development issues in here – when exactly did Buffy and Faith become best friends again? Was it between their tentative making up in “Amends” and their not interacting at all whatsoever in the two subsequent episodes? But it’s fun, so it’s easy to ignore. I love pissy Giles, dorky Wesley (much more than I love dark Wesley), Balthazar the whiny demon…ha ha ha.

Consequences: You know, I’m not sure I understood the difference between Buffy and Faith just based on their hair/clothing choices, but after Faith smarting off to the cop and Buffy meekly answering his questions, I think I FINALLY understand the Good Slayer/Bad Slayer parallel. Anyway, I know people have problems with Angel being made to be SO SPECIAL that of COURSE he’s the only one who can reach Faith, but this I actually buy. Buffy’s right – she’s too close to the situation to be able to help Faith, and Angel has some experience in that area. I also don’t mind Willow’s bathroom crying jag so much, because this time she at least does it in private and doesn’t unload on Xander, plus Faith also tried to kill him.

Doppelgangland: What’s fun about this is watching how much of Vamp Willow’s personality resurfaces in Dark Willow. For a brief period in S3 I actually love Angel for refuting – or starting to, anyway – Buffy’s claim that vampire personalities have nothing to do with human personalities, because that is a BIG LIE. Plus, PERCY, who is so hot and SO into Willow it’s not even funny.

Enemies: This also has major plot issues, as others have addressed – why does the Mayor want Angelus back, when did Buffy figure out Faith was betraying her, did Giles just have this shaman friend of his on call, and all that, but the thing that bothers me the most is Buffy’s “I’m better than you” speech to Faith. It’s too mean. A Buffy who really thought that Angel had turned evil has every right to make that speech and hit Faith where it hurts. A Buffy who was in on the plan the whole time…well, she has the right to say anything she wants to a person who’s about to torture her and reveling in it, but it just feels cruel to talk about how much better she is than Faith when she’s had every advantage in life that Faith hasn’t. The girl with all the privilege is mocking the one with none. And best of all, they use ANGEL to prove that one is “better” than the other – Faith is clearly better because Angel wants her, and Buffy is clearly better because the “real” Angel really wanted HER, or something. Blech.

Earshot: So, just to confirm, Buffy’s uneasiness about the whole Faith/Angel issue has nothing to do with Angel easily slipping into Angelus – no, she’s worried that Angel liked kissing Faith. Spare me. Otherwise, I *love* this episode. A great balance of pathos and comedy. In fact, I think a lot of the individual S3 episodes are like that. For one-offs, this is a great season; too bad it has very little arc to speak of.

Choices: *Yawn.* You know how people hate it when Xander gets nasty with Buffy about Ms. Calendar and Angel, especially since he was arguably the least affected by Angelus’ reign of “terror?” I agree, and that’s how I feel about Willow’s smackdown of Faith. When she’s all, “Boo hoo, you had more in your life than some people!” I just want to shake her. Yes, girl from middle-class privileged background, go ahead and lecture the abused and neglected one about life choices! I don’t think Faith’s bad childhood is an excuse for her actions as an adult, but I also don’t think Willow has the right to lecture her on it. Growing up with Sheila Rosenberg couldn’t have been fun, but all things considered, she’s been FINE. Other than that, I think it’s important for me to mention that, for the most part, I’m really enjoying Willow in season three. Aly looks amazing – great haircut and her skin is so clear it’s almost glowy.

The Prom: Ah, the beautiful episode where Angel breaks up with the woman he supposedly loves in a sewer because her mom told him to, because the grown-ups need to make the decisions for the lost little girl. And he shows up to the prom after breaking her heart, only to disappear right afterwards, because that’s what he does – dangle little crumbs in front of her so she can never fully get him out of her head. Asshole. Anyway, I love the Class Protector award, and I love that the perfect Buffy high school moment was NOT dancing with Angel but getting recognition for all the great work that she does. Xander/Cordelia stuff is nice, I guess, but I still wanted an early reconciliation. Boo.

Graduation Day: OMG, ANGEL, GO AWAY! GO AWAY AND LEAVE HER ALONE! YOU SAID YOU WOULD LEAVE – THEN LEAVE! STOP SENDING MIXED SIGNALS SO SHE’LL NEVER BE ABLE TO GET OVER YOU! And it’s been said before, but I can’t buy their relationship as a good thing if her love for him is what inspires her to murder a human and FEED her to a vampire, thus betraying everything a Slayer stands for, and if it also inspires her to forsake her duty and put herself in the line of danger and possible death just so her murdering boyfriend can live. And, I love that it’s the Council refusing to help save the life of one of the most vicious vampires of all time that convinces Buffy to “graduate” from them, and NOT the Council putting her life in serious danger. But somehow, Buffy wanting to feed Faith to Angel is more forgivable than Buffy telling Wood she wouldn’t protect him from Spike, for some reason.
I still get misty-eyed at the graduates rising against the bad guy. I get so caught up in it that I never remember exactly why the Mayor wants to turn into a big snake. S3 is such a weird season. I think it’s the strongest in terms of balance between pathos and comedy, and actually is the funniest season overall. But I think it definitely has the weakest arc. Faith’s arc is strong, but when the strongest arc is NOT for the titular protagonist but for the secondary character who’s not even in the main cast, that’s problematic. I mean, I find the Mayor a HELL of a lot more entertaining than Glory and I looove him, but I at least understand Glory’s motivation – I don’t understand the Mayor’s at all. And now on to season 4 – the arc that has the best setup and execution and is truly in an arc-y form, yet suffers from being NOT REMOTELY INTERESTING.

Real-life update coming soon, complete with details about brothers' graduations.

"Is this love? Because maybe on you it doesn't look that different."

2009-05-29T02:25:16Z

There's a ship meme going around and I feel like I need to explain myself before I put up my faves (and anti-faves). There are couples that I like, and there are ships that I like. I consider them two different things, though related. The difference between saying, "I *love* that couple," and "I totally ship them," has to do with competition. If the two characters ending up together is a foregone conclusion and there's never any uncertainty involved, I say I just love that couple - see Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, Benedick and Beatrice, Turk and Carla on Scrubs, Marshall and Lily on HIMYM, Homer and Marge Simpson. All couples that I love, but I don't root for them because they're already together and there's no competition - it's not like we really have to worry about Mr. Darcy and Caroline Bingley. If I ship a couple, though, it's because there's either a viable romantic rival, they've broken up and there's an *actual* chance they won't work it out, or there's a chance that something will happen to one of the members of the duo before they can get together.

With all that said,

1) Barney and Robin, How I Met Your Mother. I'm not sure anyone has ever been more perfect for each other.
2) Ron and Hermione, the Harry Potter series. My two favorite ship kinks are "Hate turns into love" and "Best friends fall in love," and R/Hr have BOTH. (I don't believe JK Rowling ever had any intention of them ending up with anyone but each other, but I was very worried that one of them would die).
3 and 4) Xander and Cordelia, Buffy and Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I put them together because they're from the same show and I love them for pretty much the same reasons.
5) Joey and Pacey, Dawson's Creek. For such a cheesy show they really did make me believe in their love story.
6) Helo and Sharon, Battlestar Galactica.
7) Desmond and Penny, Lost - the only romantic relationship on the show the writers *haven't* managed to completely fuck up for me.
8) Angel and Darla, Angel. Not in the sense that I want them to be together forever, but in the sense that I enjoyed the hell out of them and they were HOT.
9) Daniel and Betty, Ugly Betty. Not that I've watched this show in forever but they're still hella cute.
10) Sandor Clegane and Sansa Stark, A Song of Ice and Fire series. You want a fucked-up ship? I'LL give you a fucked-up ship. I'm rooting for a dangerous insane beast of a man and a twelve-year-old virgin! In my defense, the story takes place in medieval times when twelve was, like, twenty. Plus, he totally saved her life, and Sandor/Sansa would be LESS creepy than Sansa and Joffrey or Sansa and Petyr Baelish (gag). Y'all totally need to read these books.

...I feel like I'm missing something really obvious and important.

As for my anti-ships, I think I hate most of the same ones as swsa and molly_may: Willow/Tara, Buffy/Riley, Carrie/Big, Juliet/Sawyer.

LOST thoughts

2009-05-16T15:04:25Z

I was so excited for Lost coming back. Then Jack spent the whole season doing things differently because he admitted he was wrong about everything, and Juliet sacrificed her life to save Sawyer. It's like the writers tapped into my brain and put on the screen everything I *least* wanted to see.

My distaste for Sawyer/Juliet is not just about my disappointment over Jack/Juliet, by the way. I was rooting for J/J all through seasons three and four and convinced myself that the show paired Jack with Kate and Sawyer with Juliet as a temporary distraction, yes, and I'm super sad that the ships ended up the way they did, but that's not the only reason why I hate S/J. I hate it because I hate Sawyer and I love Juliet. I hate it because I can't think of a damn thing they have in common other than their experience and I can't imagine what they would have to talk about. I hate that it's supposed to be a relationship based on this "beautiful mutual respect," when I don't believe for a second that Sawyer deserves the respect of a woman like Juliet. I hate that Juliet, despite her lying and manipulations, was really one of the most realistic, pragmatic characters on the show, a doctor who cared about her patients and would've done anything to get off the island to see her sister and nephew. Now, she's content being Sawyer's little wifey and doesn't care that she's not a doctor anymore, and this cool, pragmatic woman is suddenly content playing pretend in 1977. I hate that Sawyer FINALLY stops being a jackass in a too little, too late way, and gets to be the Best Leader Ever that Jack Never Could Be. I have no problem with making Sawyer less annoying, and the little I saw of James LaFleur was a lot more tolerable than the old Sawyer, but that doesn't mean I want him to be in charge and lauded as the perfect leader while making Jack come up short in comparison. Sawyer had a lot more resources and knowledge of the island available to him when he started to lead, while Jack had NOTHING, but this isn't acknowledged - no, Sawyer, the guy who sat on his ass and sexually harassed the women on the island while Jack scrambled around trying to keep people safe, is just naturally a better leader? Fuck that noise.

For me, there was ONE saving grace of the Sawyer/Juliet storyline. I was afraid that Juliet would have to deal with being consolation prize *again* and that Sawyer would remember that it was Kate he really loved. Based on the clip I saw of her death - I had to watch the last scene of my favorite character - it seems that Sawyer really did love her, more than he ever loved Kate, and at least Juliet didn't have to be sloppy seconds to BOTH guys in the quadrangle. And I must begrudgingly give some props to Holloway, who normally irritates me, because I bought his grief for Juliet.

Anyway, if Juliet was my favorite, Jack was my second, and I couldn't constantly watch him get humiliated every week. He has to humble himself to Locke AND Sawyer? Dear God, do the writers really hate his character that much? And does he ever mention Claire or Aaron, or is his mission all about stupid Kate? (Kate, ironically, is the one who DOES care about Claire and Aaron, and the fact that she came back to the island for Claire and NOT Sawyer makes me like her more).

I just don't feel the writers really care about the characters anymore. Sawyer's development didn't feel genuine; it felt like fan pandering. Obviously the show is better plotted than it was in season one and they have an endgame in mind, but it seems very plot-centric rather than character-centric. Character development isn't as important as wacky time travel! Time travel bores me, anyway, which is another reason I stopped watching.

ONE thing I like is that Locke was really dead and someone else was using his body all season. Awesome. It's totally fitting that Locke met his end by Ben punk'ing him. And despite all the crap he's done, I really felt bad for him when he was crying in despair before hanging himself - O'Quinn rules. I may have to go back and download the Ben-centric, Locke-centric, and Miles-centric episodes for this season (because I *love* Miles like crazy), but that's it. This show has disappointed me greatly.

Suggestions needed!

2009-05-12T03:16:03Z

I NEED TITLES!

I need suggestions for books and movies about goal-setting; the main character should have a goal, should achieve his/her goal, but not without a lot of hard work and smart thinking. They can be non-fiction or fiction, though I would prefer fiction, and the characters should be teenagers, as I'm looking for texts to use for a unit at work.

queenofdenile @ 2009-04-15T13:59:00

2009-04-15T17:59:25Z

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