sundries

[rm]

Okay, Team Internet, here's another one: snufflesdbear has a friend who just lost their house in a fire. I've seen the news stories on this and have additional information I've been asked not to share, that compels me to post this. Take a look at the post and see if you have any help you can offer in the area.

The nomination period for a new award for authors' blogs is open. Anyone can nominate. vua reannon.

Coming Out -- The Epic. Yes. This. Totally. Cab drivers. Shop clerks. Can I be gay and still get what I want? And the way it can get tied up in our other -isms at the end of the piece -- I wish the writing had been a little more deft there, but I think it's a true thing that I often see where I have to work on my own biases because of who I'm concerned about outing myself to. via andrewducker.

The Washington Post is defending its front page publication of a photo of a gay couple kissing as equal marriage rights come to DC.

Also in the region, the new attorney general of Virginia has been aggressively working to remove the limited protections LGBTQ peopel currently have in that state. Scary stuff.

Forgot who I found this through, but Australia allows issuance of identity papers with N instead of M or F gender identity.

A badly written article about a sex study that perpetuates the belief that women don't really like or want sex, at least not as much as men do. Many of the quoted individuals try to explain reasons for the results regarding female sexuality including culture bias and training, so that's good. But the whole thrust of the piece still ticked me off.

Alexander McQueen's final collection has a lot of amazing stuff in it.

OMG, Corey Haim has died.

So last night, having watched the first episode of Buffy, season 4, we started watching Angel season 1. Now the first two episodes of Angel aren't great, but it was disturbing how much the show felt more comfortable to me. I've been loving the hell out of Buffy but even in its sucky first episodes and featuring a main character I don't even like Angel suits me so much better it's a little bizarre. Also, underground lair? broods on rooftops? really? That was a little funny.

That said, I've gotten to the point with both Angel and Buffy where I just look over at Patty sometimes and say "rapetastic plotline #873."

Last night we also, after going to one of our favorite restaurants, stopped in at New York's newest gluten-free bakery, Tu-Lu's. Go. Go there now. The cupcakes are about a billion times better than at Babycakes and since they use sugar instead of agave nectar, the icing is the texture you expect -- which is to say red velvet cupcake with cream cheese icing = heaven. NOW NOW NOW, people. SO GOOD.

Patty heads back to Ohio for about ten days as of tomorrow. And I will be lonely, but we're booking London tonight and it will be well and truly spring when she returns.

Comments

[elisi]

Also, underground lair? broods on rooftops? really? That was a little funny.
Ooooh yes. Angel (the show) is in many way to Buffy what Torchwood is to Doctor Who. (Or the other way round, since BtVS came first. Also I have a deep and abiding love for brooding heroes, and Angel & Jack fit into that perfectly.) And since S1 of AtS is very uneven in terms of quality (and went on to be awesome), I was ready to forgive S1 of TW a lot, because I could see the same potential.

And thank you for linking to 'Coming Out -- The Epic'.

[rm.livejournal.com]

RTD has been pretty upfront about where Buffy influenced DW and TW, but there are lots of things I'm seeing where I'm like "and you didn't fess to that? You've gotta be kidding me."

[jgcr.livejournal.com]

Angel is a highly uneven show. (yes, more uneven than Buffy.) And yet ... it does somehow just work better, for me at least. Possibly it's the "adults in the city" rather than "teen angst" thing.

[browneyedgirl65.livejournal.com]

Definitely agreed. It was so uneven I didn't even bother with season 5 when it aired. I didn't see it until someone gave me that dvd set...and that's one of the best seasons! On rewatching Buffy/Angel, I found it really helped to do as you're (rm) doing, watching it in approx broadcast order, in a few weeks of marathon watching.

Gender & Sex

[nysidra.livejournal.com]

In a similar vein I read that some actress talked about her love and adoration for sex and added "I should have been born a boy." That thinking is even worse, and it's been told to me several times as well.

Enjoying sex (lots of it, in copious amounts, as often as possible) isn't a male trait, and females with it shouldn't write it off like that. :/

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

I can see Angel being more your style, aesthetically, but be warned: it fails spectacularly on gender.

And yes, when I saw the first episode of Torchwood, I made this icon. The similarities were quite obvious. (:

[rm.livejournal.com]

Jack's coat is sooooooooooooooooo much better.

But yeah... I mean, Patty says Angel is about reinventing noir. It's pretty hard to have noir without epic gender!fail of which I feel like I've already seen plenty in just two episodes.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

S1 of Angel is pretty terrible in that regard, yes; initially when it aired I bailed after ep 2 because of all the helpless-woman-saving and didn't come back until the second season after my friends were all "But! But...but!"

And it can be a very rewarding show. But honestly? The noir-ish stuff kind of goes away after a while, so don't make that what you stay for.

Me, I was all about Cordelia and Wesley. And then Lorne. And there are excellent vids, when you're ready for them.

No arguments about Jack's coat. (:

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm not actually a fan of noir in general, so I'm surprised that this is working for me as much as it is.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Many people also argued that Angel was the more mature show -- that it dealt with more sophisticated issues in a more sophisticated manner. Again, we see the parallels between BtVS/AtS and DW/TW (except with TW it means "sex! teh ghey! swears! HOMG!" and with AtS it means "bring on the existential man-pain!").

I can buy that the characters on Angel were older than on Buffy and often dealing therefore with more grown-up issues, but I actually don't think the show is more adult or nuanced than Buffy, especially when you factor in Buffy's later seasons.

I also noticed that most of the people who argued that Angel is a better show than Buffy were men.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Wow, I haven't heard anyone claiming Angel was a more mature or deeper show. At it's best, it was brilliant comedy, & it was often quite fun, but Buffy (especially seasons 3-5) often tackled serious issues, and Angel really never did. I'm reminded of a comment a friend of mine made where he claimed that Smile Time was not merely the best Angel episode ever, it was the best Angel episode possible. I'm rather inclined to agree.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

I certainly prefer David Boreanaz's work when he's being funny, but I would never think to describe the show as a comedy, Smile Time notwithstanding.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

I agree, but I also think that it was at its best when it was comedy. I also think that it generally fell pretty flat when trying to be serious.

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

I think it is a disservice to Buffy to say Angel is more mature if you're considering mature as a value judgement, since Buffy is by no means unsophisicated and it is what it is very intentionally and successfully. But I do think Angel reflects a more grown up outlook, thematically - it's sort of post-heroism in a lot of ways, I think, whereas Buffy is always essentially a story about the good guys winning. Buffy as a character is naturally heroic; Angel as a character has to practise his heroism, and it's not always clear, at the end of an episode, who's won or even who should have won. I think Angel engages with its own moral ambiguities in a way Buffy never really did.

I admit I'm a bit bemused you think Angel never really tackled serious issues; I think it did plenty of that, and very successfully, though I grant it didn't do Very Special Episodes on Issues of the Week in quite the way Buffy did. It was more content to be a fantasy show and explore its own internal complexities rather than finding allegories with real life, but I don't think it was any less serious for that in its themes. I do agree it could be very funny, but I don't think being funny negates it being serious; things can be both.

[missdeanna.livejournal.com]

I think it can be difficult to compare the two shows, myself. I felt like they both dealt with some serious issues, but had very different themes. Buffy was largely about growing up and dealing with responsibility, which is why I was able to relate to it so well when I first started watching it. I think there was some moral ambiguity, especially in the later seasons, but yeah, the horror/supernatural parts were pretty clear-cut for the most part.

As for Angel, I think post-heroism is a good way to put it. It more explored what heroism is.

I think one of the strengths of both shows is that they were able to balance seriousness with humor, not just in terms of the occasional light-hearted episode but in terms of banter between characters and whatnot.

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd agree it's difficult to make direct comparisons, and as I said, I don't think it's fair to make a comparison into a value judgment, because Buffy wasn't trying to do what Angel did and vice versa. I guess it's no surprise that people who like one don't automatically like the other, because they are very different.

As for Angel, I think post-heroism is a good way to put it. It more explored what heroism is.

Nodnod. I think the nature of heroism is sort of taken as a given in Buffy whereas Angel addresses what that means more head on. One of the things I love about Angel's team (why don't they have a cool name like the Scoobies?) is that they're all people who've failed at heroism before, and they're working under the knowledge that they could fail - and not just because of external factors, but because of themselves.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Seasons 3-4 looked fairly good to me, and wasn't bad in season 2. Of course, seasons 1 was fairly dodgy wrt gender, and 5 was amazingly offensive.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

S2 is definitely my favorite, but I won't spoil rm as to why. (:

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Omigod, the last look in the McQueen collection? The gilded feather coat with the big collar? I would wear the hell out of that.

[abnormal-apathy.livejournal.com]

Cori Haim, what???? I actually thought he was dead years ago. But still.

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

Also, underground lair? broods on rooftops? really?

Immortal protagonist. Angsting. Brooding. Demons Aliens. As you said, RTD has said he liked Angel as well as Buffy. Actually, I did hear Angel before Buffy. I'm not into the earlier seasons of Buffy either; probably because I did start watching it as an adult. (And this is why, unlike some people, I prefer the last three seasons.)

I've read a few Angel/Jack stories! :D

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

Corey Haim!? What fuckery is this?

That said, I've gotten to the point with both Angel and Buffy where I just look over at Patty sometimes and say "rapetastic plotline #873."

This. And you know, I still can't entirely decide if this is Joss perpetuating dumb things about culture or Joss being really savvy to real elements of risk and discomfort in the culture.

Stupid Joss.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'm sort of at "neither" on that question. I think he, like many creators, has an obsession he can't work out, and keeps trying to work it out in his stories. Peter Jackson can't let go of romantic friendship. Baz Luhrmann can't let go of prostitution narratives. Sam Mendes is all about domestic horror. Whedon can't let go of rape, but I sure as hell don't know why -- the reasons could be reasonable or they could be revolting. All I know is that it reads to me like a preoccupation that shows up even when he doesn't mean it to.

[dr-is-in.livejournal.com]

Shocked about Corey Haim...feels like a part of my childhood just went up in smoke there.

And where did you decide on in London? I don't know if you've been before, but I've loved it the 2 times I've gotten to go.

As others have said, Angel is very hit and miss with its eps. When its good, its brilliant. When its bad, its either rage inducing or snore inducing. Still love it though, especially the later seasons. And you are on one of my least favorite seasons of Buffy because of a character that will be introduced about halfway in.

[rm.livejournal.com]

We've narrowed it down to three places, although due to locational convenience, I think that's just become two. We'll decide tonight.

[username-ha.livejournal.com]

I want a cupcake.

[tod-hollykim.livejournal.com]

I thought the last season of Angel was the best. There is one episode, Smile Time, you have to watch out for.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Oh, "Smile Time"! One of my favorite hours of TV ever. It feels like everyone connected to the show -- writers, actors, crew -- said, "Fuck, let's just go for it."

[kargashina.livejournal.com]

indeed, awesome with awesome sauce!

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

Put another way (in my opinion), the episode shouldn't work AT ALL, but it works damn well. Funny and dramatic and disturbing. You're in for a treat.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Smile Time was amazing, but most of season 5 was filled with an abundance of helpless women in skimpy costumes, and almost no women who weren't both helpless and in skimpy costumes that I found both surprising and upsetting after seasons 2-5.

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

I don't tend to seperate my fondness for the two shows, but if I were forced to pick, Angel would be my favourite. I found more to relate to in the themes and the characters (maybe because I have no American high school frame of reference), and I like its complexities and ambiguities. On a purely shallow level, too, I think it's funnier, as well as being unutterably sad, and that's a combination that really works for me.

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

The lead and title of the article about sex drive was certainly off-putting! However, I think some good points were raised, especially where doctors are concerned. I keep hearing all over the place that while doctors are all too happy to prescribe Viagra to a man with ED and find ways to bring back his sex drive, far too many women's sex drives are totally ignored, especially once they hit menopause. I can't even think of a pill that's been invented to boost female sex drive, and there are very few products to counteract dryness in the vaginal/cervix area. I've also heard that many doctors simply don't address female sex drive, even after a woman has undergone an operation or treatment that effects how her sex organs function or how her hormone levels change.

Of course, this is all hearsay, so I don't have hard facts. It's just that hearing this sort of thing publicized is not a big surprise for me.

-----

That article on coming out hit a personal note for me, especially since I'm living in a completely new part of the US and I'm still meeting new people. One problem I neglected to consider when I moved down here was the fact that I'm both gender-fluid and bisexual, and there are several things about telling new people about myself that make it really hard. For one thing, for all that Nashville is supposed to be the liberal part of Tennessee (and it is!), it's nothing compared to Boston. Most people outside of the groups focused on LGBTQ rights and community are squeamish about, if not outright offended by, the possibility that I might be anything other than straight. The fact that most times I'm seen with my male fiance further leads people to expect that I'm straight, even among LGBTQ circles, and it doesn't even occur to me to bring it up unless it's pertinent. And I have my own insecurities about vocalizing the fact that I'm not a cisgendered woman, even if I appear to be. I don't identify as the opposite gender or my gender, just something in between (or neither), and other people couldn't see that unless I told them. I'm never sure when it's safe: when there's a risk of driving off a potential connection, or when the person will just be taken aback for a few second and then choose to get over it. Of course, if they're driven off, logic follows that they wouldn't have been a very good friend or connection in the first place, but being that I'm insecure, I don't very much like finding out. What it all boils down to is cowardice...I'm still working on it. Good piece, though.

[weirdquark]

and it doesn't even occur to me to bring it up unless it's pertinent.

This is about where I've always been, which is why I'm in the strange and amusing position of not having been out at work when I lived in the Boston area (I didn't really talk about my personal life at work unless someone asked, and mostly I wasn't dating anyone at all, so I would talk about doing things with friends -- during the time I actually had a girlfriend, the only time something came up was when a co-worker complimented my haircut, and I could say, 'thanks, my girlfriend cut it for me.') but I'm out now that I've moved to Texas because my roommate got a job down here and I'm listed as her partner in her contract (because they offer job getting help to spouses and partners of faculty.) And on the one hand, my roommate is my roommate and not my girlfriend. On the other hand, 'partner' would be a perfectly fine description of our relationship (because we (and several other long-time friends) intend to continue living together for the foreseeable future) except 'partner' feels misleading, and it's not like I'm straight. We introduce ourselves as roommates, and I never know who is assuming that we're being subtle and who is assuming that we do mean roommates.

So I'm left wondering what and how much I should tell people, because while I'm perfectly happy to tell people if the subject comes up that I'll date men or women, if there's a man or a woman that I find interesting, or that I don't think gender is binary and I have modes of gender presentation that I consider male drag and modes of gender presentation that I consider female drag -- unless you're talking about gender and sexuality -- how do you bring that up? (And really, I think it's more important to be out in Texas, and I've actually joined GLBT groups down here, which is something that I never got around to doing anywhere else, because I think it's important to be visibly an ally, whether or not you're also visibly queer.)

[dabhug.livejournal.com]

After I finished the last episode of Angel, I determined that show to show, episode for episode, Angel is the better show. It has issues, yes, and I wouldn't be surprised if you wanted to throw the whole thing out the window around mid-S4, but hang in because it's worth it.

I'm enjoying reading your thoughts about the shows.

Corey Haim was a bit of a shock this morning, even though I shouldn't have been surprised, poor thing. I really need for my childhood to stop dying.

[jendaby.livejournal.com]

Wow,what a link roundup! Thanks for posting!

I think it is so awesome that The Washington Post used that picture! I am always heartened to see pictures that remind me there is still love and happiness in the world! Much better than some of the glaring, violent, nasty pictures that get plastered on papers all over the country. Leading with love is such a better option, even when there might be some other negative news to report inside (which, in a country so full of hateful people, there always is.)

Corey Haim. Wow. I must go email my childhood best friend. We went to all of the Corey movies together in junior high. They were kind of our Edward and Jacob. LOL.

I stopped watching Angel regularly after first season because I was just on TV overload and Buffy was a bigger priority to me, and because I had a crush on a character who ended up going to a different show and leaving the cast of Angel. I hear it ended up getting pretty cool, though.

I'll totally have to check out that bakery the next time I'm in the city. Thanks for the rec! :)

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

New York's newest gluten-free bakery, Tu-Lu's.

Awesomeness!

[thunderemerald.livejournal.com]

Are you planning to watch Buffy and Angel in the order in which they aired? That's what I did when I marathoned them about three years ago. Really interesting stuff!

Also, thanks for the bakery link. Yay, presents for mom!

[rm.livejournal.com]

We're watching them in the order of a list people have linked us to for the best show chronology/logic.

[snufflesdbear.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the signal boost. There has been some helping coming to them locally. Things are still getting sorted out. They have a long, rough road ahead. Knowing how many people are willing to help is helping a lot.

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

The Australian article refers only to New South Wales - transmen in Western Australia are currently in a nasty legal battle to be recognised as men without having to have a total hysterectomy. It's good news, but it's only one state!

[featherofeeling.livejournal.com]

the new attorney general of Virginia has been aggressively working to remove the limited protections LGBTQ peopel currently have in that state

Knowing him, I wasn't in the least surprised. But my campus is Not Happy and showing it, including the president.

[frodo-esque.livejournal.com]

Coming out-the epic was such an interesting read. I always think of coming out as being a one time thing you do with family and friends, but OF course it's not.

I always far preferred Buffy over Angel, but Angel certainly has it's elements that are hard to resist.

[kargashina.livejournal.com]

Ap is saying that the governer of va overruled the ag.. I can't link cuz it was on my work intranet site.. I'll look more later

[lyorn.livejournal.com]

Also, underground lair? broods on rooftops? really? That was a little funny.

I used to describe Torchwood as "mood of 'Angel', theme of "Men in Black', context of 'Doctor Who'" to friends and was amused to find it described on Metaquotes as "It's a bit like what would happen if Doctor Who and the X-Files had a baby and then let Joss Whedon babysit."

[missdeanna.livejournal.com]

I have to say, I'm curious about how you react to Angel in terms of its similarities to Torchwood. I can't believe that RTD wasn't heavily influenced.

[sanginmychains.livejournal.com]

Sexy immortal with immoral past and amoral moments in the present, overdone superhero coat, underground lair, rooftop brooding, the vivacious, slightly vapid, but sincere blonde who got him on the path to Right Living - uh, yeah. I've always said that RTD was a bit of a sad imitation Joss, who wants to do what he did, without at all understanding how he did it. Not that I don't love love love me some Torchwood, clearly, but - yeah. There are definitely more than a few borrowed elements.

The time of live burial...the character played by James Marsters who provides an uncomfortable reminder of the past he's trying to forget...the list goes on and on. Jack does get laid a fair bit more, though.

But hey! They're good elements. No reason not to use them.

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

I had much the same reaction upon starting to watch "Angel." I'd never seen the appeal in him, but his series turns out to be very compelling and explores more sides to his character. You'll probably continue to like it.