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

[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.