sundries

[rm]

So, world travel and shit. See previous post. Also we leave for the UK on Thursday. And Patty is a dear and is calling the airline for several reasons including trying to get a gluten-free meal for me.

We had a fabulous dinner last night at Cafeteria. I know it's a bit played out, but it was a great time and the spicy roast chicken was actually spicy and fabulous. Afterwards, we went to Burdick's for cocoa.

Got asked to contribute to an anthology related to a given set of media properties this morning. Go go gadget go.

It's Elevenses Day!

Some elements of the radical right fringe are even fringier than we thought. Or something. coyotegoth explains.

Jews around the world react to the pope's personal preacher comparing the world anger at the church of sex-abuse scandals to the persecution of Jews. On the long list of things that are not like sexually abusing children: being a Jew. People, my family is Catholic and Jewish. This has personal, extremely unpleasant and awkward repercussions for us and the Vatican saying that this is not their position? Meaningless.

Cracking down on unpaid internships. Right on.

An update to the preppy handbook. While meant to be tongue-in-cheek then and now, it was regarded as no joke in the world I grew up in. We read it cover to cover to learn how to be our parents and summer damn well was a verb. I'm discomforted by it's reappearance, and the Times's framing of the article, but then it wasn't meant for people like me. (Also, did I see that right, the Times somehow thinks being Jewish fits in the world of Chip and Muffy? They'd be wrong. And trust me, I'd know). *shudder*

With the werewolves in (that I fear are going need major edits), we're back to Buffy.

Buffy 4.13 "The I in Team" and Buffy 4.14: "Goobye Iowa":

It's sort of ridiculous to talk about these two episodes separately, so I won't.

In the end, I really hated Walsh. And not in a "bad guy we're supposed to hate" way, but in a "we never really understood her motivations or who she was and they switched midstream and ultimate she seemed insecure and competitive with other females and isn't that played out and what's with the mommy thing?" way.

On the other hand, I loved that Buffy tweaked to Wash trying to murder her right off. I was worried that Buffy would make up excuses for it and it would drag out. I also loved her speaking into the cam com and all. Well done.

Adam -- wow, a little heavy-handed with the Frankenstein's monster thing there.

Patty told me the demon in the ep was after a fan's screen name at the time. I find that hard to process -- not that things like that don't happen (lots of fans have been referenced in Torchwood-related materials), but because I can't imagine things like that happening without causing EPIC HIERARCHY WANK.

Speaking of heavy-handed: Buffy, Riley, sex and fighting. Oh, clumsy and heavy handed and it sort of made me laugh. On the other hand, that's when I started shouting "Weevil hunting" at the TV and wondering if there was anything RTD didn't lift from these shows (hi alien demon with bone dagger that comes out of arm thing).

Guy who plays Riley can actually act.

Giles/Spike!

What's up with Tara purposely fucking up that spell? Was that a heavy handed "will you still like me if I don't get you off perform awesome magic?" Now sure how I feel about all that yet. Tara has a face that makes her always look as if she's just been crying.

Obligatory remark about spanking joke here.

Comments

[amand-r.livejournal.com]

What's up with Tara purposely fucking up that spell? Was that a heavy handed "will you still like me if I don't get you off perform awesome magic?"

::knowing smile::

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

*teehee*

[sevendayloan.livejournal.com]

In the end, I really hated Walsh. I don't know, she just confused me. In the end, I pitied her more than anything. Which I think says there's something wrong with me. ;)

Guy who plays Riley can actually act.: Not going to lie, this threw me! Riley kind of bores me, to be honest, and I just assumed that his actor had a limited range. But nope! He's actually quite good.

Adam -- wow, a little heavy -handed with the Frakenstein there. Agreed. I liked that they seemed to pull from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein though, as opposed to the movies. It was nice to see the monster philosophizing.

On the other hand, that's when I started shouting "Weevil hunting" at the TV and wondering if there was anything RTD didn't lift from these shows. Um, I'm thinking about it and ... no, not really. xD

What's up with Tara purposely fucking up that spell? You'll see!

[therealycats.livejournal.com]

I haven't watched these episodes in a really, really long time, but Walsh was a pretty horrible character in terms of development, in my opinion. I couldn't stand her as soon as she came on the scene. The Giles/Spike relationship is awesome. I can't remember the spanking comment you're referencing, just a line that Drusilla says in season 5 about "Spank us til Tuesday" that I really enjoyed. I can't remember the Tara spell thing either, but there's pretty much a reason for everything she does. She's a lot more in tune with the power of magic and how it should be used than Willow is. She's one of those love or hate characters; I happen to love her.

[amand-r.livejournal.com]

"I watched Passions with Spike."

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

The gossip about Walsh is that the actor who played her wanted off the show almost as soon as they started shooting the season, and that S4 wound up with a structure that veered quite a bit off course compared to what they'd originally intended, as a result.

Sadly I don't know details. I've always wondered what the season was originally supposed to be like.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Any word on why she wanted off the show? Or was this one of those "get me out of the sci-fi ghetto" actor tantrums we hear about from time to time?

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

The actor who played Walsh reminded me so much of my mom, it was actively creepy.

S4 Tara bugged the shit out of me, but I just started on S5, and she seems much more like a sentient human with an actual sense of self.

Note to the peanut gallery: I've never watched Buffy before either, so I'm sure this is foreshadowing of some sort, but don't tell me? Thnx.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Re: Catholic-Jewish Thing; I think the worst thing about this (beyond the horrendous Atnisemtisim coming from the Vatican and the anti-Catholic sentiment coming from this, shall we say, debacle), is that the RCC is refusing to face facts and be accounted for their actions on the earthly front. That what they did matters and that they owe their people.

I dunno. This is all very angering and confusing on my side of things.

[marchek.livejournal.com]

I TOTALLY FORGOT TODAY IS ELEVENSES DAY!

I guess I've been so focused on the U.S. premiere. I'm much more excited about this than I thought I would be.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

Giles/Spike!

*blinks*

Whoa. Unexpected excellent visual is unexpected. I'm, uh...huh. Well!

ETA:

A Vatican spokesman said the comparison "is absolutely not the line of the Vatican and of the Catholic Church."

This would be the same Vatican for the same Catholic Church which dogmatically holds that the Pope is their direct line to the Bearded Fellow in the Sky? And decides what the Catholic Church thinks about things?

...

*facepalm*

ETA2: in fairness, it wasn't the actual Pope who said this, but one of his people, and even that wasn't an 'official' statement of the sort that becomes dogma, but still.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

The Adam storyline is not my most fav, though I do love what they did with Spike and the Initiative...it seemed to me that the show sorta lost some rhythm with this arc, but it gets its grove back.

Giles/Spike = awesome.

Random: Over the span of the shows, I probably love the change/development of Spike and Wesley, followed by Willow. I preferred "Angel" to "Buffy" overall because (and this is probably unfair of me) "Angel" was allowed to be a more adult show. There are times when it seems to me that Buffy is almost painfully yoinked back into acting like a child instead of the woman she should be becoming.

More random: Has anyone ever written Anita/Buffy crossover fic? Early Anita "oh shit I'm becoming a sociopath" might have interesting things to discuss with Buffy.

Or maybe I just need more coffee, as now "oh shit maybe I'm a sociopath too" Gwen just poked at me.

[karathephantom.livejournal.com]

If you're referring to Anita Blake, then most definitely. Here. (http://www.tthfanfic.org/Category-1-3/Anita+Blake.htm) (If not, my bad. Also, no claims to quality since I haven't read any of them.)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

The preppy handbook! I think I still have my copy somewhere; it was greeted with great squees of joy by my peers because my high school was mentioned by name. Not very flatteringly, but a bit accurately.

...which tells you rather a lot about me right there, doesn't it?

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

(Also, did I see that right, the Times somehow thinks being Jewish fits in the world of Chip and Muffy? They'd be wrong. And trust me, I'd know)

The difference between Hewitt and Dalton: How many Bat Mitzvahs you get invited to.

Trust me, I was surrounded by Jewish kids who definitely knew "summer" was a verb.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Whoa, Chip Kidd is involved in the preppy handbook sequel? *makes note*

Did you see this article in the Times real estate section? Charmed Obsolescence:

When it comes to the attractions of a particular house or apartment, there’s little mystery as to why space-starved New Yorkers are drawn to generous square footage, high ceilings and jaw-dropping views.

But over time, residents find less-obvious design elements unexpectedly alluring, not only faux fireplaces but also weirdly shaped alcoves, decommissioned dumbwaiters, Juliet balconies, claw-foot bathtubs, minuscule shelves carved into staircases, transoms atop doors, brass keyholes and vintage radiators. The list includes even more unlikely details, among them servants’ buttons, speaking tubes, original metal thermostats and shaving closets. (Most people don’t even know what a shaving closet is: a shallow alcove with a sink just large enough for a man to trim his whiskers.)

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

There's a Burdick's in Manhattan now?! Damn. It was one of the few things I had to console myself with about staying here in Boston.

[eac.livejournal.com]

I'm honestly agog at the "persecution of Jews" comparison. I cannot believe the Catholic hierarchy on this one. Every time I think my jaw has dropped enough about the sex abuse scandal, some moronic priest or other manages to do even better.

Bah.

[graene.livejournal.com]

Remember yelling at my mom? Another reason she was predisposed to like you even before that is you were supposed to be the key to getting me started with summering in the Hamptons in her mind. I went to the right (equivalent) school in Chicago, after all and that's what she wanted for me.

[lefaym.livejournal.com]

What's up with Tara purposely fucking up that spell?

Joss is good. Joss is very very good.

[kel-reiley.livejournal.com]

Patty told me the demon in the ep was after a fan's screen name at the time. I find that hard to process -- not that things like that don't happen (lots of fans have been referenced in Torchwood-related materials), but because I can't imagine things like that happening without causing EPIC HIERARCHY WANK. - wow, really? i never knew that (thought whedon pretty much ignored stuff like that)
though the green alien dude in "love and monsters" of doctor who was supposedly representative of some very well known fan in old Who circles

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

I adore well-done Giles/Spike. :D

Tara grew on me.

Weevils, yes!!

/drive-by pointless comment

[gement.livejournal.com]

Have you tried Spike/Xander?

It's... I've actually liked two out of the three I've seen just on a random search. Someone wrote an alt S4 where Xander ended up coming out of the closet instead of Willow and it was all complicated and he'd been kicked out of his house and power dynamics with Spike finding him a flophouse and touching moments with Giles doing the awkward father figure thing and... Yeah. I was surprised by Spike/Xander.

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

Unpaid internships: segue-way into white collar workforce? I think not. I wish the author of that article had done another feature on entertainment industry internships in particular. You see more unpaid internships there than anywhere else, I think, and the best you can ever hope for is a minimum-wage entry-level part-time job straight out of college...if you're even that lucky. Me? I did THREE internships. One in the summer of 2008, two in the summer of 2009 just before graduating. And what do all of the tiny handful of music business employers say to applicants for their entry level positions? "Must have at least 3-5 years of industry experience." Newsflash: 3-5 years of experience in the same industry is NOT ENTRY LEVEL. It really is more about who you know than how dedicated you are. It's even rarer that the same employer who gave you your internship will hire you right afterwards - I think they view it as "shitting where they eat."

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

Oh, and if you're wondering...yeah, I am bitter. Oops.

[realtsunamigirl.livejournal.com]

Lots of fans have a hate-on for Riley, but I've always had a soft spot for the guy, due at least in part to the fact that yes, Marc Blucas can act.

And yes, the speech over the camera to Walsh is chills-inducingly awesome.

[gwyd.livejournal.com]

I went to one of the schools listed in the Preppy handbook. I'll back you to the hilt on jews not being allowed into the world of Chip and Muffy. neither were Puerto Rican or black kids or Italians or faculty brats. Those schools will take Jewish money (or black or hispanic or italian), but mummy and daddy never would let their children date anyone not as inbred as themselves. It's usually subtle, they lack of invitations to birthday parties from about forth or fifth grade on, the kids whose money is not old enough or who's parents hadn't been aristocracy for so long and interbreeding so long they all look like cousins edged out socially, not included, forced into less prestigious social groupings. Out right ethnic slurs were not the style. That could be fought, protested, resisted. Bland exclusion, a sort of general sense that some people were not the thing was the way of it. Class written into accents and the sort of car people or their parents drove, quiet cruelty, much of it sexual and for the boys, endless casual violence and humiliation.

That campus looked beautiful, but I always thought of it as a prison.

[austengirl.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately the UK seems to have gotten on the internship bandwagon in a big way in the last few years, especially in light of the recession. Journalism and the arts seem to be the main fields where people I know have been doing unpaid work to get their feet in the door both during and after university.

I've actually got an interview for one coming up at a Prestigious Art Museum who is more than well-funded enough to pay for a three-month summer placement. *shakes head* It probably says more about me and how much I hate my current job that I'm willing to work for free just to get a reference and have it on my CV. *If* I get it, which is by no means certain, since there will be loads of arts grads literally gagging for this.

[meirion.livejournal.com]

we leave for the UK on Thursday

I imagine all your time is committed at least twice over, but if not it would be great to meet up.

[rm.livejournal.com]

This trip, probably (although we're still slotting things in, but we're both dealing with work stuff while there), but it looks like we're going to be there a lot this year. Are you in London or....?

[missdeanna.livejournal.com]

What's up with Tara purposely fucking up that spell?

Heh. My theory when I first saw that episode was that she didn't trust Willow to perform the spell. But like others have said, it makes sense later on. One thing I like about Joss is I feel that, when given the opportunity, he's good at following through on things.

I wasn't a big fan of the Adam story, or the Initiative arc as a whole. Season four is my least favorite in terms of the "Big Bad," but it wins points on some of the other plots and individual episodes.

[sanginmychains.livejournal.com]

The "I" in Team is an episode I love, because it always read like a turning point to me, for Buffy's arc. In a lot of ways, of course, it's something we've seen before. "Passion" said your boyfriend is not going to be there for you. The end of S2 said your mother is not going to be there for you. The end of S3 took away her doppelganger, and it took away the Watchers, her father figures. The father himself was already gone by the end of S1. Not going to be there for you. S4, this episode, here is where she loses institutions, social structures. School won't do it, and not the military either. So - more of the same, but still this felt like a turning point because I guess it was the last bastion of external structure/support. And she doesn't wibble about it. She gets pissed. She tells them that they have clearly underestimated what a Slayer is. I seems to me that from here on in, Buffy starts really thinking about what she is, all by herself.

Yeah I love this episode. And incidentally I always thought that the fandom's distaste for Riley was unjust. He was a cool character, written well, acted superbly.