Archive for July, 2007
Tuesday, July 31st, 2007
Blood Ties (Steven S. DeKnight)
This is the best episode of the season so far. It has a jolly exciting climax in the hospital: Spike gets put in his place (and there’s more of that soon), the witches get to do something and Buffy’s indignant “He is not my boyfriend!” is very funny.
Dawn and Spike’s relationship is sweet while Buffy and Dawn’s bitching at each other at the beginning is fun (and Glory is better looking).
Spike painting his nails and falling into the sarcophagus is a treat too.
Michelle Trachtenberg is mostly excellent (though I think she should be a tiny little bit more terrified in her scenes with Glory). Personally, I love her “get out, get out, get out, get out!, and her sad “Is this blood?” and “Am I real? Am I anything?” is distressing.
Actually, it’s these lines that make me saddest: “she’s a brain-sucker?…at least vampires just kill you.”
The dialogue is particularly strong in this episode:
“How can she not be real?” “She’s real, she’s just…kinda…new.”
“Well, we thought you’d get lots of crossbows, other killy stuff.” “Yeah, so we figured, less killy, more frilly.” “Gotta look. Oh, it’s just so lovely! Oh, I wish it was mine!” “Oh, like you weren’t all thinking the same thing.” “I’m fairly certain I wasn’t…I’ve got one just like it.” ASH’s delivery here is perfect.
“Look, it’s blood. It’s Summers blood. It’s just like mine. It doesn’t matter where you came from, or, or how you got here. You are my sister. There’s no way you could annoy me so much if you weren’t.” Sisters. Adam can’t believe it when I tell him what terrible things my sisters did to me when we young (”terrible” is a relative term, of course).
Other things:
In the fight between the knights and the minions, one of the minions manages to find a rope to swing from which is a fun prop but strange.
Ah, tiresome tv trope, someone overhears a conversation but only hears the bad part. Has it actually happened in real life?
Just why is Giles looking behind things and in dumpsters? If he is serious that he may find Dawn in any of those places then he should maybe look a bit more concerned.
This had everything: good acting, a strong plot, fine dialogue, lots of new information, exciting action, funny situations, and a classic swearing but not swearing moment with Glory.
Posted in BtVS, Buffy Season 5, Television | 4 Comments »
Monday, July 30th, 2007
Andy and I recently watched The Seventh Seal, he for the first time and I for the first time in several years, and it was amazing: deeply symbolic, dense and multi-layered with two extraordinarily moving scenes (the burning at stake and Death at the castle) but at the same time accessible and easy to understand.
Unlike Persona, which although entirely gripping, left me with the humbling feeling that I didn’t actually understand any of it.
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Saturday, July 28th, 2007
Aimee Mann at Indigo2
The Dome was a mass of humanity particularly along Entertainment Avenue. It was like Blade Runner but without the rain: thoroughly depressing. The Scissor Sisters were also playing in the Arena and there was a disappointing lack of outrageous clothing and campiness.
Aimee Mann was as accomplished as all the live performances I have downloaded suggested she would be. She was pleasantly rude about Posh and Becks, charmingly forgot her lyrics and concluded with the “I have never played this live before”, Superball. The sound was superb and yet the venue was lifeless. It might have been different in the stalls but up in gods it was lacking in any atmosphere. There was no excitement, no anticipation, no squeals of recognition when a song began, just polite applause. There is no way I’d go there again. No amount of being able to see properly makes up for the thrill of feeling the atmosphere of Espers at the Bush Hall even though I couldn’t see Meg and Helena at all.
So sadly, the highlight of my evening wasn’t Aimee but the journey back to Waterloo on a catamaran. It was drizzling, it was chilly, it was fabulous: racing down the Thames watching commerce and history go by. The boat was full to capacity and buzzing with excitement unlike the O2.
Posted in Images, Music | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, July 24th, 2007
Checkpoint (Jane Espenson and Douglas Petrie)
Episodes like this leave me a bit stuck for words: the Watchers’ Council has that effect. The bizarre “Englishness” of the characters doesn’t help (maybe Joss as an Old Wykehamist hasn’t actually met any ordinary Brits) and if you are going to hint strongly about a paternalistic organization why not go the whole hog and stop foisting female Watchers on us. And if a Watcher is paid then why isn’t the Slayer?
The highlight of the episode is the amusing montage of interviews in which Willow actually manages to be cute. It’s a well worn but fun device next seen in Entropy. My favourite bit is when Tara makes an inspired guess at level five.
Buffy’s speech may be the last of the effective ones. I love the gang watching from the gallery with their legs dangling over the edge (except - oh, go on, have a drink).
Poor Amber getting saddled with lines like this: “Are you sure they’re English? I-I thought English people were, um, gentler, then, uh, normal…”
I owe Clare Kramer an apology. She is getting into her stride as Glory and her relationship with her minions is fun.
And a big hello to the Knights of Byzantium.
Posted in BtVS, Buffy Season 5, Television | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, July 24th, 2007
Wow. The poster is promising.
Posted in Films, Images | 3 Comments »
Sunday, July 22nd, 2007
It rained on Friday morning and the result was that the river Brent at the Grand Union Canal was over three feet above its normal level.
Originally uploaded by grange85.
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Friday, July 20th, 2007
Triangle (Jane Espenson)
I like Jane Espenson. Some of the funniest episodes, scenes and lines have been written by her. However, based on Pangs and Triangle, she seems to really dislike Willow. Willow is just an utter cow in this episode. She’s not funny (well, she is but I didn’t mean to laugh), she’s mean and selfish.
I’m also tired of women bitching with each other over men. What I loved about Homecoming was that Buffy and Cordelia were bitching over each other: in this it’s the usual rubbish.
And as for Tara and Willow’s reunion in the Bronze! “Reunited” is a strong word when they don’t touch other and Willow doesn’t even acknowledge Tara. Perhaps Tara was horrified to find the girlfriend she was so worried about is still behaving atrociously and decided there’s no way I’m hugging that. More to the point it feels like that they are not allowed to show affection in front of others even though they are allowed to be affectionate with non-partners.
The episode opens with Xander moping that Riley has left and that “relationship debris is kind of piling up on the Buffy highway”. I don’t think it’s supposed to be insulting, it’s just meant to contrast with Buffy in a nunnery but we are not off to a good start.
“Yeah, do you, do you have to be like super-religious?” “Well, uh…” “How’s the food?”
“We can come by between classes! Usually I use that time to copy over my class notes with a system of different coloured pens. But it’s been pointed out to me that that’s, you know, insane.” “I said ‘quirky.’”
Spike and the mannequin is once again funny. It’s also cool that the chocolate box he smashes up here is the same one he brings for Buffy’s birthday in Blood Ties.
I can’t actually bring myself to think any more about the scenes between Willow and Anya except the “hello, gay now!” remark which beautifully delivered and funny but seems to suggest that there is a gay switch and that you are one or the other.
The scene between Tara and Buffy would be perfect if SMG wasn’t quite so strained with the tears but as it is I love her illogical panicky inferences and poor Tara’s struggle to stop Buffy losing it.
Olaf has funny lines: “Puny receptacle!” “Barmaid! Bring me stronger ale, and some plump, succulent babies to eat.” and my favourite bit “You there! Do you know where there are babies?” with Spike’s reply “What do you think, the hospital?” and “What are you fighting for, minuscule blonde one? Your friends? These two? They will never last. Anyanka is very difficult to live with, and he is ludicrous and far too breakable. Their love will never last.” (I wish he had mentioned Tara and Willow)
Spike is trying so hard: “What are you doing? “Making this woman more comfortable. I’m not sampling, I’ll have you know. Just look at all these lovely blood-covered people. I could, but not a taste for Spike, not a lick. Know you wouldn’t like it.” “You want credit for not feeding on bleeding disaster victims?” “Well, yeah.” “You’re disgusting.”
I want to love Willow again.
Posted in BtVS, Buffy Season 5, Television | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007
Literary criticism is hard for me so here is a list of the recently read:
- The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney. Stef came in for a hard time because she has never been to Canada and yet wrote a book about the place. I guess she has never been to 1867 either. Stupid, stupid criticism of a moody book which has maybe too many fascinating characters with their all too brief stories. Recommended and I am looking forward to her second book already.
- Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. Ah, speculative fiction or sf as it is usually known. Despite Atwood’s lack of commitment to the genre, this is science fiction and very well written too, unlike:
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy which I could not get into due to the liberal chucking around of obscure words. I don’t know how it ends, I returned it to the library.
- Carol (aka The Price of Salt) by Patrica Highsmith. Apparently first published as pulp fiction. What a treat to read pulp this good. Trademark unsympathetic characters but entirely gripping.
- As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann. Slash fiction. Jacob is a pig of a man but I loved reading his story and his love for Ferris. Impeccable Civil War detail. Someone else whose next novel I am looking forward to.
- 1984 by George Orwell. First read at school, I read this every few years and never tire of it. It always seems particularly revelant. He was a genius.
- Observations by Jane Harris. Written in Scots and Northern Irish dialect, this was really easy to get into. However, despite the thrilling feeling that it was going to all Fingersmith on us, it didn’t and just ended poorly. Nice try though.
Posted in Books | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007
Posted in BtVS, Buffy Season 8, Comics, Images | 1 Comment »
