Quickly, before I have to race the sleet and snow home

Links of interest on this dreary Monday morning:

This is quite possibly the neatest web design in the history of web designs.

This free online Tales of the Slayer comic by Drew Goddard is pretty funny. Lo, the spider-eating man-bitch returneth.

Elsewhere in the galaxy of Buffy alumni, Amber Benson directed a Common Rotation video.

Giving away books online seems to be all the rage these days: Go and read Neil Gaiman's American Gods for free.



In Which I Rant About This Year's "Best Picture"

We used my Friday off to finally see No Country for Old Men. The consensus between me, Husband, and Husband's friend: Eh? It felt like two different movies mashed together. One was a quiet little introspective film about growing old while the world changes around you and you feel helpless to stop it, and in the middle of this somebody plopped the first two-thirds of a really kick-ass action/thriller. We loved the action/thriller part--and Javier Bardem definitely earned that Oscar. That guy was CREE. PEE.--that got us all worked up and invested in Josh Brolin's character and his plight, only to have it end abruptly, any resolution having happened off-screen and returning to the introspective old man movie, which also ended abruptly, and pretty much left the three of us sitting there going, "What the eff was that?" That said, the acting, cinematography, dialogue, etc. were all excellent. But I have many, many issues with the story structure and pacing, and I feel like the intent was to play around with story structure in unexpected ways for the sake of ART, at the audience's expense, and really, I can't stand that crap. I want a resolution to my story. What's more, I want a resolution to the story I spent almost two hours getting really invested in. I want characters that exist for more than the sake of getting killed in shocking and violent ways. I don't want to be jerked around and left feeling like I just had my lunch money stolen. Boo, Cohen brothers. Boo.

I totally feel you, Megan.

I miss Buffy the Vampire Slayer too.

Various & sundry

Some links and items of interest:

FOX has yanked the licensing for the Buffy Sing-along. If you were hoping to catch a viewing of that in your neighborhood someday, you can sign the petition here.

James Marsters is still pretty adorable.

Chrome-jobs have feelings too, apparently: We Were Centurions

...that's all.

Thursday Thirteen #6: Quotable Buffy Edition

Thirteen Lines from Buffy the Vampire Slayer Notice I didn't say favorite lines, because that would be impossible to choose. To keep this short and sweet, I kept myself mostly to one-liners (although I cheated a little), leaving out dialog exchanges and big speeches. Interactivity Bonus: I'll send a Dancing Lessons: War! soundtrack CD to the first person to correctly identify the speaker and episode for each quote. 1. Well, this is just...neat. 2. Go monkey! Choose monkey! 3. The who whatting how with the huh? 4. No, sir, no more chick pit for you. 5. I mock you with my monkey pants! 6. I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it. 7. I like the quiet. 8. It's a ritual sacrifice, with pie. 9. That'll put marzipan in your pie plate, bingo! 10. Don't taunt the fear demon. 11. Check. No more butt-monkey. 12. Hecate hates that! 13. Poor Watcher, did your life flash before your eyes? Cuppa tea, cuppa tea, almost got shagged, cuppa tea? Find links to other Thursday Thirteens in the comments!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Shiny Whedonverse DVD Goodness from Best Buy!

All seasons(!) of Buffy and Angel are on sale for $15.99 each at Best Buy! Angel Season 5, you will at last be mine! MINE! Mwah-hahahahaha! (Via Whedonesque)

*ahem*

Also, the Serenity CE set is only $17.99, and they're giving away a free Serenity comic, co-written by Joss, along with it.

Shiny!

Thursday Thirteen #3: Once More With Feeling

Thirteen Things about the Buffy Singalong So apparently, it's Buffy week here at Sparkle Motion (what's that you say? Every week appears to be Buffy week at Sparkle Motion? Too true. And what's the downside of that?), and since I haven't gotten around to properly recapping my night at the Buffy Singalong, I'll give an overview of it here. An MTV News clip they showed to give us an idea of what to expect described the Buffy Singalong as "a less slutty Rocky Horror." This turned out to be an apt description. It could stand to go longer. Maybe show more fanvids, or add another round of "Buffy-oke"? At $10 per person (plus online purchase fees), I expected a little more; and from a fan perspective, it was just over too soon. Speaking of fanvids, when I squeezed in around Fenwic's computer monitor three summers ago to watch sdwolfpup's "Coin Operated Boy" video (below), I thought it was awesome, but I never dreamed I'd eventually see it on a big theater screen. (P.S. Her Take A Chance On Me video is drenched in even more awesomeness.) The audience at my showing was packed with Spike fans. I felt right at home. Except for my husband, who prefers Angel, and who was attending his very first ever fandom event, and as such had no idea what to expect. He was an excellent sport about it all. We arrived early to the midnight showing and they still had plenty of goodie bags for everybody, but they were already out of audience participation instruction sheets by the time we got there. So we found ourselves with bags full of goodies we didn't know what to do with. But then the host read the directions to us before the show, so it all worked out okay. During "Under Your Spell," the host threw real pink daisies into the audience. Husband caught one and put it in my hair. Awwwww. I was, as usual, more of an observer than a participator. I sang my heart out along with the musical, and used the props they gave me, but I didn't do any of the stand-uppy or hand-holdy-with-strangers parts. I did, however, win a candy prize for answering a trivia question before the show (Q: Who was the first recurring character to appear on Buffy? If you know the answer (without looking it up), leave it in the comments. I was amazed at how many people got it wrong.). The props: a little rubber monster finger puppet, a champagne popper, a set of plastic vampire teeth, a bottle of bubbles, and a kazoo. The monster puppet was for going "Grr! Arrgh!" at the projector guy to signal him to start the show (and for singing along with the little Mutant Enemy ghoul at the end). The popper was to, aherm, "finish" for Tara at the end of her unfinished song. The teeth were supposed to be worn when Spike vamped out during his big number. The bubbles were to be blown during Dawn's ballet number, and the kazoo was to help Buffy sing "Heaven" on key. We were also instructed to shout "Hotness!" when Spike first appeared on screen, and "Shut up, Dawn!" pretty much any time she opened her mouth. This last task especially was met with great enthusiasm. It was one of the most fun things I've done this year, and totally worth staying up late for. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here, but any links left past 5PM Central tonight will have to wait until Monday to be added.)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

TV Boyfriend Tuesday #2: Bad Brit Boys of Sunnydale

I attended a local showing of the Buffy Singalong this weekend (more on that tomorrow), and this picture, one of my favorites from back in the day, kept going by on the preview screen and making me all nostalgic.

And so, full of renewed Spike love, and in honor of all of the work Marsters is getting lately, and in honor of the forthcoming Ripper movie, and as a reminder of why Alexis Denisof deserves to be so very much more than Mr. Allyson Hannigan, I bring you Sunnydale's British Hotties (ignoring the fact that two of them are faux-Brits).

I'll eschew commentary on this one (mostly) and just let all the pretty speak for itself.

SPIKE





JAMES







RIPPER








ALEXIS




SO James Bond


I wanted to include Prom Chaperone Giles in his tux for symmetry, but believe it or not, I couldn't find a picture. Sigh.

As usual, any requests to see your own personal TV Boyfriends can be left in the comments.

Buffy fans recognize! Plus: 'Ripper' movie news. TV giveaways, and more

I have a lot of busy-work to catch up on today, which makes for a slow blogging day. Instead of coming up with content of my own, here's what's loaded in all my Firefox tabs at the moment, most of which is Whedonverse related, natch:

@ Physics of the Buffyverse author Jennifer Ouellette reviews Allyson Beatrice's book Will the Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby? True Adventures In Cult Fandom. Which, I gather, is more memoir than expose. I avoided The Bronze, so Beatrice never made it onto my BNF radar, but I still think I need to check out this book.

@ Lots of juicy news bites coming out of Joss Whedon's Comic-Con panel, not the least of which is an announcement that the Ripper movie is a go! Yay! Also touches on plans for Angel: Season Six and Buffy: Season Eight (and Nine!!!), including "casting" spoilers for the latter.

@ Nothing But Red is seeking submissions for an upcoming anthology, to be published through Lulu.com, the proceeds of which will go to benefit women's rights organizations (most likely Equality Now). Their mission statement:

The purpose of Nothing But Red is to bring attention to the issue of violence against women worldwide, as well as the continuing need for equality, through art—both written and visual—and by raising money for a charity that strives to help women of all faiths, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds, with the support of dedicated volunteers who share a desire to promote equality.

This project was inspired by Joss Whedon's now-famous essay about the televised "honor-killing" of Dua Khalil, who was stoned to death by the men in her family after she had been seen in the company of a man from another faith. I'm still trying to decide whether I'll submit anything, but either way I want to spread the word.

@ On a happier, and non-Whedon-related note: 5 Minutes for Mom is giving away a TV! All you have to do for a chance to win a 37″ Flat-Panel LCD HDTV, courtesy of Best Buy, is go comment and then spread the word. Done and done.

@ Finally, one for the Potter-maniac knitters on my list: This Dark Mark Illusion Scarf pattern is made of cool and dipped in awesome sauce. I only wish there were more Harry Potter fans in my inner circle of family and friends, so I'd have an excuse to make one for somebody for Christmas. Hmm, looks like I'll just have to knit one for myself instead. Tragedy!

Fannish tidbits

@ Buffy Singalong this weekend! Yippee! I am, however, kicking myself, because I knew about it months ago, but didn't order tickets right away because A) I was hoping I could convince some friends to come with us and B) I was afraid my husband would change his mind about going. And then I forgot about the whole "needing to buy tickets" part. When I finally remembered and went to buy the online the other day, the 10:00 PM showings on both nights were sold out. So we're going to a midnight showing. Husband is most displeased. He still says he's going, though, 'cause he's all wonderful like that.

@ I ordered my copy of Deathly Hallows, and thanks to a free trial of Amazon Prime, it should arrive tomorrow. I'm still going to try to hold out until I'm done re-reading the other books, though. I'm enjoying reading about Harry's early, more innocent days with the bittersweet knowledge of what's in store for him, but without the ultimate knowledge of how it will all end for him. So long as I manage to stay unspoilt. *knocks MDF*

@ I think I saw somewhere that Buffy: S8 #5 actually ships this week, which would mean it's out today and waiting for me at my comic shop as I type this. I should probably look into that.

@ I haven't had time for a review, but I did watch Dr. Who this weekend. Can I just say that I love Ten? Because I do. He's made of awesome.

@ I caught a new TV spot for Moonlight the other day that showed a little more promise than what I'd seen previously. Greenwalt's influence was coming through loud and clear. That can only be a good thing.

@ My mom just agreed to switch back to Dish Network in exchange for two free DVRs, one of which she'll let us have in our apartment. No more having to share the downstairs TiVo and camp out down there to catch up on my shows on Saturday mornings. This makes it very tempting to scrap that whole "moving to Tulsa" plan and just stay put. Yes, we're cramped and we have no kitchen and the commute is hellish and expensive. But my very own free TiFaux! Priorities, people!

Buffy has physics?

I kept meaning to blog this one yesterday, but forgot until I saw it turn up again on Whedonesque this morning: Ficlets interviews Jennifer Ouellette, author of The Physics of the Buffyverse (affiliate link). Because why simply suspend your disbelief when you can fill an entire book with science wank that makes it all seem plausible?

My husband is a bit of a science geek, and we've had plenty of discussions about how stuff works in the Buffyverse, usually ending with me declaring in frustration, "It's magic, okay? Let it go!" I think we need this book.

Someday soon Big Brother will start and give me something to talk about besides Buffy.

Actually... my mom has been TiVoing Traveller and telling me that I absolutely need to watch it. I think by now there are about five or six hours' worth of it saved up. Anybody been following this show? Is my mom right, and is it worth a big chunk of my Saturday morning?

The Long Way Home

With the first four-issue story arc out of the way, Pink Raygun recaps and reviews Buffy: Season 8 so far. It's a pretty positive, occasionally gushy review, and a good recap if you can't bring yourself to pick up a comic but would like to know what's going on in the Buffyverse these days. I only have two nits to pick: one, I'm pretty sure the spell on Willow and Kennedy that was referenced was when Amy turned Willow into Warren, and not something more recent; and two, I take exception to the statement that Willow is everybody's favorite character. I know too many Willow haters for that to be true. I only find her mildly irritating, myself.

I read issue #4 the weekend after it came out, and I'm not sure how it escaped mention here. My review can pretty well be summed up in two words:

Like, whoa.

I have plenty more to say, of course, but it's all spoilery, so I'll keep it in the comments. Feel free to join me there.

~~~

Unrelatedly, out of curiosity I checked The Wayback Machine to see if any of my old blog designs were still up, and they are. Including this one, my personal favorite, which just might enjoy a comeback if I can figure out how to convert it to New Blogger format. I'm pretty fond of this one, too, for its cheery colorfulness and simplicity. It's just nice to be reminded that I used to actually know a thing or two about web design. I miss Web 1.0.

Cheap DVDs!

All FOX Television DVD sets are on sale for $19.99 at Best Buy. It says FOX TV, but it must include 20th Century Fox productions that aired elsewhere, because Buffy and Angel are included. Angel Season Five, you will at last be mine!

(Psst! And if you buy them at the store in person and use this coupon, you can get them for only $9.99!) Never mind. I didn't realize when I linked it that it's not an online coupon, it's just a scan of a hard copy somebody picked up in the store. I'm pretty sure printing copies and trying to use them isn't kosher.

Found via Whedonesque.

It only took me five years.

This essay on the Buffy episode "Flooded" has a lot of good insights not only into this particular episode, but also Season 6 as a whole. It made me see what I always took for a lackluster episode in a new light and gave me a new appreciation for the thought that went into the season.

It also gave me a new insight into the choice to have Spike sexually assault Buffy, something that has never jibed with me or felt true to the character. I could never understand why they (the writers) couldn't have achieved the same result (prompting Spike to seek out a way to get back his soul) simply by having him do something more seemingly in nature with his character, e.g. attempting to bite Buffy, instead of going for the shock value of an attempted rape, not only apparently betraying his character, but also reducing an iconic feminist superhero to a rape victim cliche in the process.

I still suspect that the writers didn't fully think through the consequences of this choice; several comments I've read over the years from the former writing staff, and from Whedon himself, have indicated that they planned an all-out romance between Spike and Buffy in the show's final season, but they had to pull back because of the outcry surrounding the rape attempt. But the following has at least helped me to understand the reasoning behind the decision:

During season six, for the first time it is Sunnydale’s human monsters that take centre stage. These human monsters certainly include the Trio (who slowly become more and more villainous as the season progresses) but it also includes characters like Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Spike; each one of whom will commit monstrous acts at some point in the season.

What I believe I'm finally starting to get is the necessity, at least insofar as keeping with the central theme of the season, of having it be an act of human violence and betrayal that ultimately lead Spike to choose between his lingering humanity and his demonic nature, ultimately making the choice to be a better human being. As this essay also points out, each of the Scoobies in turn succumbed to the darkest parts of their nature, and each of them had to deal with their own penchant for monstrosity before they could grow into healthy adults.

Spike was no different. The monster inside him was more blatant, closer to the surface, and literal than the rest, but ultimately it wasn't the demon in him that attacked and betrayed Buffy. That attack had nothing to do with him being a vampire. It was the man who was broken and defeated by Buffy's refusal to even allow for the possibility of his existence, who ultimately snapped and tried to dominate her and force her to acknowledge and validate him in the most violent way possible. And it was the man who then chose to overcome his dark nature and seek out redemption. Anything else he could have done to her could and would have been attributed to the demon, but it wasn't about his demon nature. It was about humanity, the good, the bad, the disgusting, and the sublime.

That's... actually pretty cool, and I'm sorry it took me so long to get it. The writers deserve kudos for sticking to their guns and knowing what they were all about, even when the rest of us didn't.

Link: “It’s unbelievably important”: “Flooded” as Blueprint For Season Six

Tired again. But not too tired to beg a favor.

I had to stay late to get another huge construction drawing order out last night, which was the second such night in a row, so I'm feeling pretty worn out right now. Trusty Pedometer said I walked/jogged/stair-climbed the equivalent of 5(!) miles in the course of getting them done yesterday afternoon. Who needs the gym when you've got semi-hard labor?

Of course, I wouldn't be nearly so tired today if I hadn't stayed up to watch Lost. I'm glad I did, though, because it was co-written by my old Mutant Enemy boyfriend Drew Goddard, and it was good, and provided some actual answers, and featured actual communication between some of the characters. How novel! It even managed to genuinely creep me out for a minute there, which I don't think it's done since the first season. Well done, Drew! Not that you'll ever read this or even know who I am.

***

Fan-ficcers, I need a favor, and it's a shallow one: I keep getting review notifications from Elysian Fields. As much as I insist on leaving my fanficcing days behind me and moving on, I'm still a shallow praise whore, and if somebody's saying something nice about my writing, I'd like to be able to read it. Trouble is, this here Net Nanny has begun to spank me whenever I try to do so. Seems it finally figured out that site contains a shameful amount of vampire pr0n. I would appreciate it muchly if somebody would go over there and copy the reviews from the last couple of months for Butterfly Effect and Dead Leaves and paste them somewhere I can get to them, such as in an e-mail, or even right here in the comments.

Weekend Pop Culture Roundup

May is probably not the best time to start a regular feature that mainly focuses on what I watched on TV, considering that the current season is about to wrap up. But summer will bring with it plenty of its own TV goodness, plus we're sure to see more than our usual share of movies, so I'm sure there will still be plenty to talk about once May is over. At any rate, here are brief, single-paragraph reviews of the things that fed my brain over the weekend. All but the first two entries contain spoilers, so if you haven't seen/read them and don't want to be spoiled, just don't read past the title.

In theaters: Hot Fuzz - The reviews were split for this one in the Bauhaushold. It's not quite the laugh-out-loud hilarity of Shawn of the Dead, but even so, I loved it. Matt, however, didn't, and thought it was a major let-down. He thought this movie had less heart than Shawn, but I think it just had its heart in a different place. Where Shawn was, in essence, a romantic comedy, Hot Fuzz is in essence a classic Buddy Cop movie, and I thought it hit every note it was trying to hit perfectly. Also, I laughed. A lot.

From Netflix: Casino Royale - Not a huge fan of Bond movies, but I liked this one. Mostly because Daniel Craig is a beautiful specimen of manhood, and I am a shallow, shallow gal.

On the TiVo: Heroes - First, I was relieved to find out that Sylar, and not Peter, was really the man-bomb--and not just because future Peter was Teh Sexay--until I found out he wasn't, and that he was posing as Nathan, at which point I actually shouted "OH MY GOD!" at my TV, and then I couldn't decide whether I was more sad that Nathan was dead or relieved that he wasn't an evil genocidal hypocrite. The sad thing, of course, is that I totally believed Nathan could turn into an evil genocidal hypocrite. Also: Bennett's still my daddy.

Grey's Anatomy - The part of the show that was actually the show was rather meh. I have to say, I heartily do not approve of this Izzie & George business. This has Marti "Let's make Buffy a rape victim!" Noxon written all over it. Also, yes, we GET IT: it sucks to be Meredith. As for the part of the show that was really a pilot for Kate Walsh's new spin-off vehicle, I'm in favor of anything that heavily features both TimDaly AND Taye Diggs. Did you see the part up there where I'm shallow?

America's Next Top Model - ...speaking of shallow. Man, Brittney was my girl, until she went and unequivocally proved her immaturity to her haters and made a complete embarrassment of herself and anyone rooting for her. Now I think I'm actually kind of secretly rooting for Renee, mainly because I think she's achieved more self-awareness than anyone else in the competition this "cycle," and because I can't help feeling for the girl that everybody hates, even if it is because she started out being a heinous bitch to each and every one of them. But if you ask me, I'll probably say I'm rooting for Natasha, because only the hardest of hearts could remain untouched by that level of naivete.

On live TV: The Amazing Race - Up until last week, I was rooting for Danny and Oswald, so for me it once again came down to trying to decide which would be the least objectionable victory. I actually went with Eric and Danielle, only because they had so much bad luck thrown at them over the course of the race, and managed to get yielded TWICE, and so I thought it would be damned impressive if they won, which they did, so... yay, I guess?

In comics: Buffy: Season 8 #3 - HA! It was Ethan, which also triggered MY "barflex." And triple HA! to Buffy's threesome fantasies. Really, who can blame her? Of course, the big question is, who kissed her? I don't believe it was Xander, as he's obviously moved on to yet another Slayer crush. Also, Warren: Eek! And eew.

Supernatural: Origins #1 - Even wee Dean is a total woobie. I'm sure that comes as a surprise to no one. I liked this... it's an intriguing story, tracing a believable path from how Daddy Winchester went from a stunned and clueless victim to badass vengeful demon hunter. I just wish I could say the same for the artwork. Yuck-o.

Of course, if you're following any of these series, I would love to discuss them with you in the comment thread. Here, let me get you started: Dean Winchester, Peter Petrelli, or James Bond: who's prettier?

Fan-girly

All of my Buffy: Season 8 fangirl squee is hidden in the comments, so as to protect the virgin eyes of those who have yet to read it.

Die Bunny Die

I spent my allotted novel-writing time this morning working out the next chapter, since the turn the last chapter took kind of screwed up that part of my outline. I think I know what needs to happen in it now, but I need to let it stew a bit longer before I commit to it.

I'm ten chapters in now on the total rewrite. As progress goes, that's not too shabby.

Part of what's slowing me down today is that I finally got around to reading the new Buffy: Season 8 comic, thoughts on which I'll elaborate in the comment thread a bit later, and now my head is full of fic bunnies. Kill them! Kill the bunnies! No fanfic! Die!

*ahem*

As for the rest of my day, I really need to concentrate on my actual job. I've been slacking off on anything job-related that doesn't require immediate attention, and things are noticeably piling up, so it's time to roll up my sleeves and get back on top of it all. I need to find some good podcasts to get me through the mindlessness of logging my files. Anybody got any recs?

If you're thinking of missing Grindhouse... Don't!

I'm alive. And in case you're wondering, I had a pretty nice, if hectic, long weekend, once Matt recovered from his thing, his stomach nastiness failed to jump to me, and I got over my headache and general bleah-ness. It involved, in random order, the following: getting taken out for Chinese food, getting taken out for Indian food, getting the previously mentioned pedicure (my toes look so pretty!), exchanging Easter baskets with Matt, going shopping for girly stuff with my mom, getting to pick out some clothes and makeup on her dime, going to see Grindhouse, getting to shop for jewelry on Matt's dime (my new gold dragonfly necklace is also so pretty!), visiting the in-laws, eating cake, eating more cake, eating a canole, eating candy, and eating many other things that just aren't good for me. What it did not involve nearly enough of for my liking was sleep, and vegging out, and getting things done around the house. It was fun, but it was really too much fun for one weekend, and I could use a day off to recover. But since I won't get one, today I'm just focusing on getting back into the swing of things. Productivity can wait until tomorrow.

For the record, we loved Grindhouse, although we both loved the Planet Terror half more than the Death Proof half, and not just because the former featured one of our honeymoon destinations, although that was pretty awesome right there. We both mainly felt that Tarantino could have tightened up the pacing a bit, and Matt was downright disgusted with Kurt Russel's characterization toward the end, but I can't say more without spoiling it, so I won't (other than that I've loved Tracie Thoms since Wonderfalls, and I love her still). Even so, it was the most entertaining movie either of us has gone out to see in a good long while.

Unrelatedly, Whedonopolis has a very Buffy-centric interview with Jim Butcher, author of the Dresden Files novels, wherein he confesses that in his fantasy casting, Smidge plays Murphy. This makes me inexplicably happy.

I know I can think of a few ways it changed mine...

Remember that essay contest Dark Horse ran, "How Buffy Changed My Life" in 250 words or less, to win a "guest spot" in Buffy: Season 8? One of the readers of said essays has a touching post about the results, how it surprised her, and why yes, Buffy does still matter.

This link's for me

Because I don't really want to bookmark it, and because I think some of you regular folks might be interested in this: Jane Espenson blogs ideas for short comedy pieces for aspiring TV writers to add to their portfolios. I'm not really an aspiring TV writer, but I still think her list contains some great prompts for writing exercises. I've got my eye on "menu turns into lunch lady rant," but I'm still trying to figure out how to keep from tying it to "Earshot" and making fanfic out of it.

Finished!

...mostly.

I've got a draft written, at any rate. I'm going to take it home and read over it tonight, and tomorrow I'll polish it and submit. I also need to get clear on how they want sources to be cited, because their submission guidelines are a little fuzzy on that point. They give you the format, but don't mention whether it goes in the article next to the info being cited, or at the end, or if they want us to format the links, or if they do that, or what. Anyway, I'll figure that out tomorrow.

For now, I've got lunch leftovers to put away and disposable dishes to toss, and once that's done, I'm going home.

Oh, wait... I can't go home until after I've gone by the comic shop because OMG IT'S WEDNESDAY AND BUFFY SEASON 8 IS HERE PEOPLE!!!1!eleventy!!!!

You thought I forgot, didn't you?

PhD student regrets choosing Buffy The Vampire Slayer as thesis topic -- This is an Onion-esque article about academic Buffy studies. You know, it really is silly. I'm sure glad I didn't waste any time writing lengthy academic papers tying Buffy into whatever topic I could wrangle it into when I was in college... what?

Five years ago, Wasserman believed that Buffy was a "uniquely nuanced cultural text", a view she now believes was prompted solely by her enthusiasm for the popular TV show. "I thought that Buffy was a new type of cultural apparatus that could establish the co-ordinates of a more fluid, less repressive form of gendered indentity," she says. "But looking back, I think I just had the hots for Giles."

Hee.

Via Whedonesque.

Got some love to share

Firstly, if you haven't yet read Geek Monthly's four-part interview with Joss Whedon, then you are a sad, deprived soul. Of course, if you're avoiding spoilers for Buffy: Season Eight, then you need to stay deprived. Me, I'm not exactly whoring for spoilers, but I'm not running from them, either, and I will simply tell you this: I'm about as excited for this comic as I would be if they brought back the show. It's all I can do not to let myself start writing fanfic again. The article in question can be found here: 1, 2, 3, and 4.

As if the comic's mere pending existence weren't excitement enough, Dark Horse is also teaming with Joss for an essay contest. In 250 words or less, explain how Buffy has impacted your life. Joss himself will pick the winner, who will subsequently find themselves written into the comic. This is the closest to actually getting to become part of the Buffyverse that any of us are likely to ever get.

Moving along to Buffy's lovechild (with X-Files being the baby-daddy), TV Guide has a mildly spoilery (but not really too revealing) interview with Erik Kripke about the future of Supernatural. If you haven't given this show a chance lately, then you don't know what you're missing. Think X-Files as re-imagined inside the Whedonverse with all of its accompanying angst, where all of the monsters are real, and Agent Scully is neither a skeptic nor a woman, but just really effective at stomping monster ass. I haven't seen this week's ep yet (it's on the TiVo), but I hear that this one was more reminiscent than ever of X-F's quirky humor stylings. Also, I have to confess an unabashed love of late 1970s stadium rock (blame my brother), and the minute this show's soundtrack is released on CD, I'm so there.

If I haven't managed to convince you, then head over to the Whedonesque thread where I picked up the link, and read all of the SPN love spilling all over the comment trail.

Um. squee?

I did not sleep well at all last night. Neither did Matt. He tossed and turned, feeling too hot and unable to get comfortable. I had leg cramps and over-thinky brain. We were both too irritable to let romance take its course, so finally he moved out to the living room where it's colder and I hunkered down in the middle of the bed and read until my brain got tired enough to be quiet and go to sleep.

It'll be interesting to see how the lack of sleep affects today's writing output. Sometimes I do my best work when I'm sleep deprived; but more often it just exacerbates my ADD and I can't focus for doo-doo. Maybe I'll get lucky and today will swing toward the former.

~~~

Thanks for the input on my hook. The feedback I've received so far has been extremely helpful.

~~~

I can't believe nobody (save garnigal) has shared in my Buffy: Season 8 squee. Is it because you're all avoiding spoilers? Is it that you can't get excited over a comic book, even one that's written by Joss himself and has been declared an official continuation of the show? Or is it simply that you've all accomplished what I've been unable to do and have finally gotten over Buffy? Seriously, you guys, what gives? It's no fun to squee alone.

Oh Buffy Squee, How I've Missed Thee

TV Guide has a new interview with Joss Whedon. I haven't had time to read it yet, but I think it's safe to assume it has spoilers for Astonishing X-Men and various other projects, including and especially Buffy Season Eight.

From the latter there is also artwork and full pages from the first issue written by Joss himself. The lettering is teeny and tiny and almost impossible to read on a screen, but somebody over at Whedonesque went to the trouble of transcribing the dialogue and making it legible. It's pretty spoilery, but I will say this: at least one of my fics and everything that upset me about a certain S5 AtS episode has now been Jossed by a single throwaway line. You have to scroll through the comments if you want to see what I'm talking about. The squee, she is restored.

And it has to wait until March! Grrr, arrgh indeed!

The comments section of this post is reserved for discussion of The Spoiler In Question, so join me in there if you want to share my squee.

Squee!

Thangsgiving GMP

Spike's unhappy Thanksgiving:



Wishing all of my fellow Americans a happy Ritual Sacrifice With Pie.