“I don’t toss away pancakes”
Saturday, November 25th, 2006
and with that line, Ugly Betty officially became the best and funniest programme on television at the moment. America Ferrera is utterly charming and the ensemble cast is superb.
Archive for November, 2006
and k. d. lang
Thursday, November 23rd, 2006
Andy sent me this link and for me it’s Aimee Mann and k.d. lang (the woman has the voice of a goddess but I don’t want to be inflicted with Madeleine Peyroux, Alison Moyet, and Norah Jones just because Ingenue is a work of genius).
And then a sudden need for cheese.
Saturday, November 18th, 2006Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (Marti Noxon)
I feel ambivalent about this episode - it is undoubtedly very funny in parts but I feel uncomfortable with so many woman behaving like idiots - I know they are under a spell but it still makes me feel bad.
The scene between Xander and Buffy at the beginning makes me almost like him but it is the subsequent events that make me feel he’s not such a bad guy after all. There is a lot of enjoyable and heartfelt Xander and Cordelia moments. She gets her priorities wrong and hurts Xander quite brutally when she rejects him (maybe Buffy was right with her heart comment “Does she know what one of these is?”). Another great scene when Xander asks for his gift back and it turns out Cordelia is wearing it. They worked very well together and looking ahead I think they probably worked better than Xander and Anya which is something I am surprised to find myself writing. The writers never got the chance to lose interest in Cordy the way they lost interest in Anya so maybe that explains it. Cordy comes good in the end when she turns on Harmony and co: “You’re a sheep. All you ever do is what everyone else does just so you can say you did it first. And here I am, scrambling for your approval when I’m way cooler than you are cause I’m not a sheep. I do what I wanna do, and I wear what I wanna wear. And you know what? I’ll date whoever the hell I wanna date. No matter how lame he is.” (I wonder if there is a connexion with Xander’s bedroom sheep?). Xander is so miscast as a dork - he looks great walking down that corridor to the Average White Band.
Willow is adorable yet again when she tells Amy “My boyfriend’s in the band!”. Angelus is so bad - Spike is beginning to boil as he watches nasty old Angelus flirt with his girlfriend and give her better Valentine’s gifts. The fighting in BtVS is my least favourite aspect of the show partly because of the discrepancy in build between Sophia Crawford and SMG which jars and partly because of the ability of the newly risen to fight really, really well.
Amy does her best Hypnotoad impersonation (or is the other way around?) when she hands in her invisible homework.
I’m not sure if I have mentioned this before but Sarah Michelle Gellar has really hairy arms - what gets me is I didn’t notice this until season five or so. I find it odd that in an era when some (a lot of?) women shave so much of their body hair that arm hair is generally left alone.
Buffy saying “Mom?” in a puzzled tone just makes me shudder.
I love the way Amy leans to look past Xander.
Buffy is in some terrible outfits in this episode - the scarf is bad enough - but the tiny leopard print mini-skirt (with a slit!) makes her look like a hooker. (I can’t find a decent grab of it but trust me.)
Buffy commiserates with Xander and as they face each other you can see her starting to fancy him - SMG does this extraordinarily well. 
Xander mentions lap-dancing which strikes me as odd - surely, he’s underage? Anyway, Buffy comes on strong and it’s quite disturbing as well as funny to see her flirting outrageously. Xander runs home to find Willow in his bed and, omg, this scene is hilarious (and a little sad). Is she wearing his shirt? Does she really suck on his ear and does she really say “force is okay”? And why does it say sheep on Xander’s wall? Robia LaMorte does the infatuation thing really well complimenting his shirt and rubbing her hand up his bicep. Buffy in a raincoat is a Xander fantasy come true and he does the right thing. Buffy hits Amy far too hard considering she isn’t a demon and it’s pleasing when Amy turns Buffy into a rat. Oz hits Xander which was kinda fun. “Joycie” kissing Xander’s neck and handling him with her “mom aged mitts” was a moment to be savoured. Willow doesn’t entirely disappear from the angry mob in the basement but it puzzles me that we weren’t rewarded with a hurt face as she realises how her humiliating behaviour was with Xander.
Oz chasing Buffy in the basement is dull and gets in the way of the Xander Cordy affair but it is worth it for the pay-off as she is de-ratted: “I seem to be having a slight case of nudity here” ” “But you’re not a rat. So call it an upside.” I have to ask - was Buffy a plain rat or was she Buffy-rat? And, big big annoyance, if she can be changed back to a human so easily then why was Amy-rat left to run round her wheel by super-witchy Willow for so long? Not only does it say a lot about Willow (and Tara’s) lack of manners, it deprived us of more of Elizabeth Anne Allen.
“Sorry to say, Xand, slaying is a tad more perilous than dating” “Well, you’re obviously not dating Cordelia”
“My boyfriend’s in the band!” “Cool” “I think you’ve now told everybody” “Only in this hemisphere”
“Dear Buffy. I’m still trying to decide the best way to send my regards” “Why don’t you rip her lungs out? It might make an impression” “Lacks…poetry” “It doesn’t have to. What rhymes with lungs?”
“I want you, Xander…to be my first!” “Baseman! Please tell me we’re talking baseball.”
Greenbriar Picture Shows
Tuesday, November 14th, 2006
I have just found this great website devoted to old films and luminaries like Teresa Wright, Ingrid Bergman, Claudette Colbert, Olivia de Havilland, etc.
11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month
Saturday, November 11th, 2006
Today is Remembrance Day, a day bound up with the Royal British Legion and the Poppy Appeal.
I don’t want to wear a red poppy: the British Legion supports servicemen and not the civilians who gave their lives in munitions factories, shipyards, coal mines and their own homes and I want to remember them too.
The White Poppy seems to be a better alternative or just quiet inner reflection.
Catching up with a whole new world
Saturday, November 11th, 2006When I was a child I used to read The Beano, the Broons and Oor Wullie, and moved on to Tiger and Roy of The Rovers (The Safest Hands in Soccer was my favourite story: initially it was beautifully drawn and it was about a goalkeeper who was Scottish so…bliss) but as I got older I left that all behind except for a brief sojourn as a student to read Maus. In 2005, the tv showing of the film of Ghost World prompted me to get the graphic novel from the library which was absorbing but didn’t enchant me. Andy, who was a collector of Crisis as a younger man, remembered Watchmen so we read and enjoyed that but my interest had still not been excited.
As I have said before Buffy has ruined my life except what I actually meant was that Buffy has improved my life. And one of those improvements has been the encouragement to get further into the world of comics aka graphic novels aka sequential art. And it’s all Amber Benson’s fault and the fact that Ealing Libraries has a healthy collection of Buffy trade paperbacks. I slowly fell in love with Tara 
on BtVS and with Amber Benson: the more I know about her the more there is to admire.When I realised she had co-written a Buffy comic I had to get it. I liked it well enough but wasn’t that impressed. I have subsequently come to believe that the more sequential art you read the more you appreciate it.
However, it was Amber Benson’s afterword for WannaBlessedBe is the thing that did it for me:
“As someone unexposed to comics, I had no idea that there was such a plethora of genres out there. All I knew was the superhero. I think if I had been turned on to Promethea or Strangers in Paradise as a kid, my whole comic outlook would have been changed. Here are comics that deal with things that appeal to me as a female. As a kid, I could have so related.”
These are the comics I have read so far:
Buffy: The Death of Buffy - various (”Lost and Found” by Fabian Nicieza is excellent)
Buffy: Willow and Tara - various (the Terry Moore illustrated WannaBlessedBe has the classic line “My heart doesn’t stutter” but I thought Tara and Caitlin looked too much alike - in fact, my only criticism of Strangers in Paradise is the sameyness of some of the characters)
The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones - Alan Moore and Ian Gibson (it took a while for me to warm to this but by the time Halo got to Moab, I did not want it to end - the art work is dated which takes a bit of getting used to)
Ghost World – Daniel Clowes (I need to read this and to see the film again - “Ghost World” by Aimee Mann is one of my favourite songs)
Maus - Art Spiegelman (the subject matter is unforgettable but what I remember most distinctly is that Volume 1 just ended and it cost me a lot of money)
The Plot– Will Eisner (the story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion told superbly)
Preacher: Gone to Texas - Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon (oh my word, this is unpleasantly gruesome and, well, graphic - intriguing story but the style is just too much)
Promethea Book One/Two/Three – Alan Moore and J. H. Williams III (this started off brilliantly and then got bogged down in philosophical and metaphysical musing and, quite frankly, by Book Three I was bored - fantastic art work though, it looks gorgeous)
Shadowplay: Demon Father John’s Pinwheel Blues – Amber Benson and Ben Templesmith (this is graphic and gruesome but unlike the traditional look of Preacher it has an arty quality (you can tell I haven’t done art appreciation) which I liked - the story itself is intriguing and tantalizingly brief)
Strangers in Paradise: Pocket Book 1 - Terry Moore (wonderful - worth a post of its own)
Strangers in Paradise: Love Me Tender – Terry Moore (I read this first and I just adored it - apparently I have been Katchoo’d but I do relate more to Francine)
Stuck Rubber Baby – Howard Cruse (I liked this but I couldn’t love it - Toland was too dull)
Watchmen – Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (I need to read this again)
How to fold scarves
Thursday, November 9th, 2006Google Analytics has revealed that my site is very popular for people looking for information on folding scarves (in fact it’s number four for the search: “how to fold scarves”). They must be mighty disappointed to find this place then!
So here’s some links:
How to Accessorize your Wardrobe with Designer Scarves
Ways to Wear a Scarf to Accentuate Your Look
Knitty (very nice though it’s actually a how to knit scarves thing)
Paula Frazer’s scarves
The Daily Lit update
Thursday, November 9th, 2006Okay, I failed miserably with two of my three choices: life is too short to read Bleak House and Notes from The Underground. I am continuing with The Time Machine and have started reading The Woman in White which really is more my Victorian cup of tea.
I didn’t jump. I took a tiny step, and there conclusions were.
Sunday, November 5th, 2006Phases (Rob Des Hotel & Dean Batali)
This episode opens with Oz looking at the cheerleader trophy and he comments on how its eyes seem to follow you - this what one of the (many) reasons I love BtVS - its continuity which generally is quite subtle. Willow is wearing one of a series of silly backpacks
which is so not in character - her backpack would be very organised with compartments for everything (like say, different coloured pens) and I can’t see her emptying her bag every night just to put in all in a new one the next day. She is, of course, wearing a hat. (These reviews are so not deep.)
Cordelia and Xander’s conversations are always amusing with the actors’ great line readings.
The self defence class is a hoot - Oz tucks in Willow’s tag and Xander gets very jealous, Larry was bitten by a “huge dog” while Oz was bitten by his little cousin (”My cousin Jordy just got his grownup teeth in? Does not like to be tickled”), Willow tries to get Buffy to restrain herself (”Don’t forget, you’re supposed to be a meek little girlie-girl like the rest of us”) but how can she resist flattening big bully Larry.
Larry Bagby III is fantastic as Larry. He got the obnoxious over-compensating bully nailed, becomes really sweet
when he thinks Xander has him rumbled and realises he doesn’t need to hide his true nature. The scene when Xander confronts Larry is hilarious as Xander slowly gets a clue about what he has said about himself.
Giles is comical as he suggests asking the car occupants in Lovers Lane if they had seen anything, Buffy does a great look and verbal put-down.
The conversation between Willow and Cordelia in the Bronze is another example of what I like about BtVS - two mismatched people having an intimate conversation e.g. Anya and Spike in Where the Wild Things Are, Tara and Buffy in Dead Things, there must be others but these are my faves.
I love the way the door is closed shut behind Buffy as she enters the Bronze - little things like that are yet more reasons I love this show - have I ever mentioned that I love this show before?
I also love Oz’s “Huh?”
when he wakes up and his low key reaction to Aunt Maureen’s news about young Jordy. I feel much love for this episode.
Here’s the no love: the hunter is a cliche and a dull one at that. No fun at all from him. The wolf costume is plain naff.
The scene in the funeral parlour with Theresa coming to as a vampire is great. Buffy is hit for six with the remark that “Angel sends his love”, Xander stakes Theresa, they hug, Buffy is grateful for the comfort (Angel is not just evil but mean with it) but Xander still wants more (despite Cordelia being so much hotter than Buffy) and it’s moving.
Willow’s two confrontations with Oz are as awesome as you would expect and may I say that Willow is lucky that it’s only three days out of a month she’s grumpy but if they are lucky they might synchronise.
“I know, I know, it’s me. I’m, I’m goin’ through some…changes.” “Well, welcome to the world! Things happen. Don’t you think I’m going through a lot?” ” Not like me.”
“I spoke to Giles. He said I’ll be okay. I just have to lock myself up around the full moon. Only he used more words than that. And a globe.”
“You mean, you’d still…” “Well, I like you. You’re nice and you’re funny. And you don’t smoke. Yeah, okay, werewolf, but that’s not all the time. I mean, three days out of the month I’m not much fun to be around either.” “You are quite the human.” “So, I’d still if you’d still.” “I’d still. I’d very still.” “Okay. No biting, though.”
The best of the rest:
“How far have you gotten?” - cut - “Nowhere. I mean, he said he was gonna wait until I was ready, but I’m ready. Honest. I’m good to go here.” “Well, I think it’s nice that he’s not just being an animal.” “It is nice. He’s great. We have a lot of fun. But I want smoochies!” “Have you dropped any hints?” “I’ve dropped anvils.” “Ah, he’ll come around. What guy could resist your wily Willow charms?” “At last count, all of them. Maybe more.”Well, none of them know a thing. They all get an ‘F’ in Willow.” “But I want Oz to get an ‘A’, and, oh, one of those gold stars.” - what fantastic dialogue, saying so much directly and indirectly and with a touch of foreshadowing.
“What relationship? I mean, what life could they possibly have together? We’re talking obedience school, paper training, Oz is always in back burying their things, and that kind of breed can turn on its owner.”