31st July
Monday, July 31st, 2006Audrey’s Visible Forms and Espers’ Espers II are out on the same day: fantastic.
And it’s my sister’s birthday.
Archive for July, 2006
That’s right! The, the volume. The text. The volume-y text. You know?
Thursday, July 27th, 2006
With gratitude to the folks at Screencap Paradise.
Did anyone ever tell you you’re kind of a sexy fuddy-duddy?
Thursday, July 27th, 2006The Dark Age (Dean Batali and Rob Des Hotel)
An episode about Giles’s past and I can barely remember any of it (that’s before checking the transcript, of course). Jenny and Giles’ relationship hits the buffers in this which is a shame because Jenny’s teasing of Giles is a pleasure. However, her reluctance to get over it is highly understandable and good work by the programme makers.
Anywhere but here: “Amy Yip at the waterslide park”
“He was home alone drinking?” “But, tea, right?”
“No, he seemed perfectly normal yesterday when I saw him talking to the police” “And you waited till now to tell us this because?” “I didn’t think it was important” “We understand. It wasn’t about you” - the tension between Cordy and Xander is rising!
Ethan has a droll touch: “You sold me that dress for Halloween, and nearly got us all killed!” “But you looked great” and the not so droll “Now, this may sting a little just at first. But don’t worry, that’ll go away once the searing pain kicks in”
“It’s complicated, Buffy, and quite frankly, it’s private” “I don’t care from private! I care from dead guys attacking us. I care from you lost weekending in your apartment” (as much as I love BtVS dialogue, I can’t see Buffy being a big Ray Milland fan)
Again, Buffy is felled with one blow – grr to this inconsistency.
Not large with the butch?: “Hey! We don’t have time for this! Our friends are in trouble! Now, we have to put our heads together and, and get them out of it! And if you two aren’t with me a hundred and ten percent, then get the hell out of my library!”
“Bay City Rollers. Now, that’s music” “I didn’t hear that” - neither did we
Without it
Thursday, July 27th, 2006I love the Internet which I suppose is as inane as saying I love books but plenty of people do say they hate or distrust the Internet so snap.
Anyway, two things I have discovered lately which I owe to the ‘net. One is that the stretch marks I have on my stomach were the result of simply being pregnant and normal and not the result of being inadequate, fat and old. Secondly, the film “diary” I kept when I was teenager was not unusual or strange or sad or silly but something people who love films and in particular, the films bought by Leslie Halliwell for Channel 4 did.
Ours is a forbidden love
Tuesday, July 25th, 2006Lie to Me (Joss Whedon)
Many of my headlines are quotes about Angel, which is odd because I’m not a big fan.
This is a serious episode about how we could deal in extreme circumstances with pain versus immortality but the best thing about it is the Divinyls conversation and Willow’s face as she slowly catches on (I am shallow and easily pleased). Other notables: a lovely scene between Angel and Willow in her bedroom; I find it unlikely that Jenny would like monster trucks much less take Giles to a show; I liked the scenes between Ford and Spike; Buffy tells Angel she does love him; Ford thinks he has it all planned out and can justify his actions but his mind is as sick as his body; Buffy gets knocked out by a human, she’s the bleeding Slayer, that shouldn’t happen.
Dialogue:
“and Marie Antoinette cared about them. She was gonna let them have cake!” and with that Cordelia disappears from this episode
“He’s not in school, right? He looks older than her” “You’re not wrong” “Whoa! Cold hands!” “You’re not wrong.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna have to go with Dead Boy on this one” “Could you not call me that?” – once again Xander is jealous of Angel
“What? Whating a what?” – Buffy is a terrible dissembler which means she is very funny
“A couple more days and we’ll get to do the two things every American teen should have the chance to do: die young, and stay pretty.”
“There aren’t two of those in the world” – not until Doppelgangland anyway
“In no way do we stick out like sore thumbs” “Okay, but do they really stick out?” “What?” “Sore thumbs. Do they stick out? I mean, have you ever seen a thumb and gone, Wow! That baby is sore!” “You have too many thoughts” – each of them endearing
“Don’t be ashamed! It’s cool that you’re open to it. We welcome anyone who’s interested in the Lonely Ones.” “The Lonely Ones?” “Vampires” “Oh! We usually call them the nasty, pointy, bitey ones.” “So many people have that misconception but they who walk with the night are not interested in harming anyone. They are creatures above us. Exalted!” “You’re a fool.” “You don’t have to be so confrontational about it, other viewpoints than yours may be valid, you know.”
“I’ve known you for two minutes, and I can’t stand you.”
I’m almost complete with my quotes from this episode and I have only just remembered that this is a Joss episode which explains the sheer amount of good stuff.
“Now you let everyone out, or your girlfriend fits in an ashtray.” – once again Buffy fails to take out somebody who proves fatal to many more people in the future
“What happened? “We’re stuck in a basement” “Buffy?” “She’s not stuck in the basement.”
“You mean life?” “Yeah. Does it get easy?” “What do you want me to say?” “Lie to me.” “Yes, it’s terribly simple. The good guys are always stalwart and true, the bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats, and, we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies, and everybody lives happily ever after.” – sob
Sepia
Friday, July 21st, 2006
The meadows near in the Grand Union Canal in Hanwell one glorious evening in July.
My midwife said my bikini days were over (not that they had ever started)
Wednesday, July 19th, 2006oh. my. god. - someone has taken pictures of my stomach and posted them on their blog!
Silhouette
Monday, July 17th, 2006
Silhouette
Originally uploaded by moley75
It was a beautiful evening and Adam was having a whale of a time inventing a new religion.
Still, I think I prefer being able to vote. Or I will when I can.
Monday, July 10th, 2006Halloween (Carl Ellsworth - apparently he was fired which is a shame because I liked this episode a lot)
A fantastic standalone episode. Unusually, the low point was SMG as an unconvincing 18th century damsel in distress – I just didn’t believe in her. There was a fine smirking performance by Robin Sachs as Ethan Rayne and hello Larry!
Xander lived off “army man” for a fair few episodes and Cordelia as ever is very funny (I really never appreciated her first time around).
Willow may have stunned many in her skimpy costume but to me she looked too skinny – she was much sexier as Vamp Willow but it is always a pleasure to watch an episode in which Willow takes charge.
Two classic lines: “she couldn’t've dressed up like Xena?” and “who died and made her the boss?” (the latter is one of those clever lines that make you buff your imaginary fingernails because you got the joke).
“the ghost of what, exactly?”
Willow uses the word spaz (not for the first and certainly not the last time): “Oh, I don’t get wild. Wild on me equals spaz” and this was, unsurprisingly, cut for the BBC broadcast. I have long been intrigued as to why this word isn’t considered offensive in the USA and so just for my reading public (that’s you, Andy) I found this interesting article.
The Alienist
Tuesday, July 4th, 2006I read this because another book, which is on my tbr pile, has been described as this meets Buffy. I don’t usually find the whole “meets” thing very helpful but when I read the blurb for this, I thought it did sound promising.
I was surprised that it wasn’t at all intellectual which for some reason I had expected it to be. In fact, it is a straightforward serial killer novel but set in the 1890s. However, it is the period detail that won me over to the book, I loved Sarah Waters’ Victorian novels for several reasons but not least because I was utterly convinced by the setting and it is the same here.
The early forensic science, the first days of psychiatry, the appalling social conditions, nascent feminism - all added to the chilling atmosphere.
My only gripe was the slightly disappointing ending with too many “just in the nick of the time” moments. My only puzzle is just what we are supposed to make of the extra eyes in the apartment?