Archive for August, 2007
Monday, August 27th, 2007
I highly recommend a very readable book by David Jennings called Net, Blogs and Rock ‘n’ Roll. It is a look at how people use the Internet to listen to music, to find new music and to make new friends.
Andy, my husband/partner/spouse, gets a mention several times including a chapter that begins with his name. I’m feeling warm from all that glory. Seriously, he should be proud of what he has done over the years, I know that I am. David has posted this rather wonderful post profiling Andy and A Head Full of Wishes.
Posted in Music, Other people's written work | No Comments »
Sunday, August 26th, 2007
I’m not entirely sure what this list is. It could be a list of what I consider to be the best episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or they could be my favourites or they could be both.
It’s in chronological order but I have starred my favourite.
1. “Prophecy Girl”
Season one BtVS is a lot of fun and often very enjoyably silly but it hasn’t ramped up the drama yet but there are two scenes (Buffy quits and Willow and Cordelia discover a room full of murdered students) in this episode that make you realise that there is enormous depth as well as zingy dialogue.
2. “Surprise” and “Innocence”
“Surprise” is just the starter before the main course. SMG continues to amaze as an actress but she is outstripped by an utterly adorable Alyson Hannigan who in “Innocence” establishes herself as the reason why I started to love BtVS. Her scenes with Nick Brendon and Seth Green are wonderful.
3. “The Wish”
This is an alternate reality and, of course, it’s going to have a happy ending but Willow and Xander are so mean, Cordelia is murdered by them and Buffy gets her neck broken by the Master. It’s so deliciously horrible.
4. “Doppelgangland”
The funniest episode of BtVS which is full of superb dialogue and great acting. Willow as Vamp Willow waves at Oz and she is so endearing. And let’s not forget she’s “kinda gay”.
5. “Graduation Day, Part I” and “Graduation Day, Part II”
Buffy tries to kill Faith. That is all.
6. “Hush”
Sometimes when something as a reputation as being one of the greatest, if not the greatest, something or other then I have the tendency to grab the word “overrated” except that this isn’t. We have scary villains, an overhead projector, suggestive miming, an exciting chase, a thrilling fight in a clock tower and my top BtVS moment as Tara and Willow link hands and make magic.
7. “Who Are You?”*
“I am you know”, “And you know why I don’t? Because it’s wrong.”, “So Willow’s not driving stick anymore.”, “Plus, she was, um, she was kind of mean.”, “I trust you”, “What’s a stevedore?”, “You’re nothing! Disgusting! Murderous bitch! You’re nothing! You’re disgusting!”
8. “New Moon Rising”
This is certainly not among the best episodes of BtVS but it has hand holding, “overhelping”, a reminder of why Oz was so great, Willow’s coming out and an extra flamey candle.
9. “Restless”
I don’t love this but is a tremendous piece of TV.
10. “The Body”
This surely has to be on any list of best episodes.
11. “Once More, With Feeling”
Another audacious episode from Joss Whedon. “Going Through the Motions”, “I’ve Got a Theory/Bunnies/If We’re Together”, “Under Your Spell”, “I’ll Never Tell”, “The Parking Ticket” and “Walk Through the Fire” are the musical highlights.
12. “Tabula Rasa”
For some people this is the episode that almost literally jumps the shark but I love it because a) it’s a very funny episode topped and tailed by two heartbreaking scenes, and b) this was when I fell for Tara (and Amber Benson), I felt so bad for her hurt and sadness that I realised I totally loved the character and that she had inched her way into my heart.
Posted in BtVS, Television | 11 Comments »
Saturday, August 25th, 2007
Posted in BtVS, Screencaps | 3 Comments »
Saturday, August 25th, 2007
The Body (Joss Whedon)
Maybe the best 40 odd minutes of TV ever.
There are certainly consistently good serials like I, Claudius and Edge of Darkness but surely no long running series comes close to producing anything like this remarkable episode. Joss Whedon created three extraordinary episodes in “Restless”, this and “Once More, With Feeling” and while episodes like “Hush” and “Doppelgangland” are outstanding they are not as unusual as the aforementioned and even “Restless” and “OMWF” couldn’t have been difficult to pitch because they are recognisable as being part of the BtVS world while “The Body” (except for one key moment) is entirely ordinary.
There are some objectives to the intrusion of the supernatural but I think the vampire in the morgue is a necessary moment because it clearly states that no matter what happens to Buffy she still has a job to do and nothing should stop her from her duty. She is no longer the same girl who ran away to LA at the end of season two.
There are two things that jar in this: the first time Buffy imagines Joyce’s recovery pulls me out of the drama and irritates me as a gimmick and Dawn’s tears in the toilets are a heavy-handed way of contrasting adolescent troubles with the real ones to come.
The scenes following Buffy’s discovery of Joyce are unsettling: the camerawork and the diegetic sound create an eerie and tense atmosphere reminiscent of a horror film like The Innocents. The small details like Buffy cracking a rib, pulling Joyce’s skirt down, throwing up, opening the back door and soaking up the vomit are richly observed.
“We’re not supposed to move the body!”
Dawn crying is boring anyway and knowing the real pain to come it is really hard to emphasize. I feel like a rubbernecking car crash spectator as I watch Buffy telling Dawn as if I am one of the pupils watching through the glass.
The dorm scenes have several of the most exceptional moments in BtVS with superb acting from Alyson Hannigan, Amber Benson and Emma Caulfield.
“God, why do all my shirts have such stupid things on them? Why can’t I just dress like a grown-up? Can’t I be a grown-up?”
Willow’s hunt for a suitable top is payback for all the stupid clothes she has ever worn and ever will wear. She gets increasingly distressed and then Tara does what every lover would do: she comforts her. The kiss between them is quite something on a variety of levels. At its basic level it is the first kiss we see between them and Joss Whedon is smart enough to get the hottest kiss on mainstream US TV by disguising it as a comforting moment. Of course, it’s not just a disguise, it also illuminates the relationship between the couple that suddenly doesn’t seem quite so one-dimensional. Tara is behaving as a person in her own right, as an equal partner giving her strength and support to Willow. Any complaints about a lack of chemistry between the actresses are surely dispelled when we see them relating in a way that any hetero couple would be seen doing as a matter of course.
Anya’s angry and confused outburst is perfectly pitched by Emma Caulfield as she speaks for many of us and asks how and why it happened. That downwards inflection she uses in her voice works effectively towards the end as she grows sadder:
“I don’t understand how this all happens. How we go through this. I mean, I knew her, and then she’s, there’s just a body, and I don’t understand why she just can’t get back in it and not be dead anymore. It’s stupid. It’s mortal and stupid. And, and Xander’s crying and not talking, and, and I was having fruit punch, and I thought, well, Joyce will never have any more fruit punch ever, and she’ll never have eggs, or yawn or brush her hair, not ever, and no one will explain to me why.“
Andy has an interesting idea as to why everyone decides that they need to get food and drink urgently leaving Tara and Buffy alone. They sit there with one definitely thinking “Don’t leave me alone with her!” and the other possibly thinking the same when the most beautiful exchange occurs. It is a lovely scene and both of them are tremendously awkward and poignant.
“I’m sorry, you have to go through all of this.” “You don’t have to worry about me.” “Everybody wants to help. I don’t even know if I’m, here. I don’t know what’s going on. Never done this. That’s just an amazingly dumb thing to say. Obviously, I’ve never done this before.” “I have…my mother died when I was seventeen.” “I didn’t know. I’m sorry.” “No, no, I didn’t mean to…I’m only telling you this because, I know it’s not m-my place, but, there’s things, thoughts and reactions I had that, I couldn’t understand or even try to explain to anyone else. Thoughts that made me feel like I was losing it or, like I was some kind of ho-horrible person. I know it’s different for you because it’s always different, but, if you ever need…” “Was it sudden?” “What?” “Your mother.” “No. Yes…it’s always sudden.“
In the meantime, Dawn has been forgotten. She needs to see her mother and she needs to know the truth that her mum has gone. The final shot of her reaching out is the perfect way to end a truly brilliant episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I personally can’t see that Joss Whedon will never write or direct anything as honest and heartfelt.
There are a multitude of other points to note or discuss about this episode including Sarah Michelle Gellar’s performance but this’ll do for now.
Posted in BtVS, Buffy Season 5, Television | 3 Comments »
Monday, August 20th, 2007
This post on Feministing leads to this entire website devoted to the same depressing thing.
And then I remembered my disappointment when I saw this: it’s too much.
Posted in Buffy Season 8, Comics, Female thinking, Images | No Comments »
Sunday, August 19th, 2007
I Was Made to Love You (Jane Espenson)
This is such a good episode. It makes you care about the demise of a robot and that is some feat. It also has some of the best dialogue, interactions and smart moments that we have seen for a while.
And it’s no coincidence that there are lots of nice Tara moments. I do like the opportunities Tara gets as a character in scenes with people other than Willow: she does a super eye roll after Anya describes her website with its “huge photo” of herself. Tara spots April’s roboticity before the others which is consistent with her spotting Buffy wasn’t herself in “Who Are You?”. Her particularly good intuition doesn’t go any way to excuse the pathetic behaviour of the others in “Intervention”. I’m not sure why she apologises for her “genuine moulded plastic on her ass” line but maybe that’s me. Tara is protective of Dawn when Spike comes to the Magic Box and that reminds me that season 8 has such a cheek making out Willow was like a mother to Dawn. I’m not sure I like her being jealous, though.
There are two giddy scenes with Joyce that are in retrospect quite cruel. Buffy and Dawn teasing her is fun and I love the scene when Joyce teases Buffy: “I left my bra in his car.” “Mother!” “I’m joking.” “Good god, that’s horrible. Don’t do that.” “I left it in the restaurant.” “No more! No more! No more!” “On the dessert cart!” It seems that even joking about sex in BtVS can lead to death.
April throwing Spike through a window is just wonderful particularly since he has been so annoying just before: “You cannot make those suggestions to me. I have a boyfriend”.
Is Warren such an unusual name? He is a totally “creepy little dweeb” though and I think it was a waste of Adam Busch to have him as part of the execrable trio.
The round table discussion in the Magic Box is a superb example of ensemble acting with each actor giving lovely subtle performances. Alyson Hannigan looks with varying emotions at her embarrassing girlfriend and looks discomforted by Xander mentioning Oz. Nick Brendon burbles on as Emma Caulfield looks on proudly at her self control. Amber Benson makes faces as she tries to say that April may be a sexbot (something Xander manages to say). Anthony Head looks amused and Sarah Michelle Gellar looks pained as she contemplates her life.
And later, we are treated to another marvellous ensemble scene when Giles tells Spike in no uncertain terms that “We are not your friends. We are not your way to Buffy. There is no way to Buffy.” - pity it wasn’t true.
The picture quality in two scenes near the end is abysmal: when Xander talks to Buffy about carpentry and she blows Ben off and when Spike asks Warren to build him a Buffybot.
Posted in BtVS, Buffy Season 5, Television | 4 Comments »
Saturday, August 18th, 2007
Unfortunately, the angle makes it look like we weren’t 1327 feet above sea level. We were though! I stopped to admire that view many times on the way up.
Originally uploaded by grange85.
Posted in Images | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 8th, 2007
I was thinking about the last three episodes of Angel’s season two and it occurred to me that my son - my ten year old son - might have enjoyed watching them. And then it occurred to me that is what was wrong with them. This is an adult show that aired after 9 pm and it was like watching a kids’ show and a poor one at that. I have no objection to another dimension or an alternate universe, I have seen enough Star Treks in my time so that’s not my problem. There is no reason why children should have to put up with an inconsistent plot, stupid dialogue, bizarre character development (yep, Cordy loves her visions) and a lack of logic (yes, Wesley would be in charge because Gunn has no experience in waging battle) just because they are children. Moreover, we shouldn’t have to either.
I am getting steadier more and more bewildered at the inconsistency of the series. Are You Now or Have You Ever Been? was an early stand out and when Angel shut the doors on a room full of lawyers in Reunion, I was more than ready for the series to take off. I put up with Happy Anniversary and The Thin Dead Line because nobody’s perfect, and even Disharmony didn’t make me quake too much and then came Over The Rainbow…
Finally, I do object to Cordelia’s costuming: a lot. Joking about it doesn’t make it more palatable.
Posted in Television | 4 Comments »
Sunday, August 5th, 2007
If there is an Alfred Hitchcock film I haven’t seen, it is probably missing or called Topaz or Family Plot. Topaz stars Frederick Stafford and Dany Robin while Family Plot stars Karen Black and Bruce Dern, and that’s not quite the same as Laurence Oliver and Joan Fontaine or Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant.
I prefer the Hitchcock of the 20s, 30s and 40s to the Hitch of the 50s, 60s and 70s when he is supposedly at his most mature. I would argue that Hitchcock never outgrew his adolescence and as his obsession with beautiful women grew tawdrier, his films gradually became creepier and creepier resulting in one of the most ugly films ever, Frenzy, which in its misogyny is the cumulation of all that is wrong with Hitchcock’s films.
A few films:
The Lodger An atmospheric silent with London fog, Ivor Novello turning pictures to face the wall and pacing back and forth filmed through a glass ceiling.
Blackmail “Knife…knife…knife!”
Sabotage Any film with Sylvia Sydney is worth seeing. Her big beautiful and expressive eyes suck you into a film. The film itself is memorable for a boy carrying a bomb on a bus. Say no more.
Young and Innocent This stars Nova Pilbeam who is so perky and sweet we had to name a cat after her. This is a classic chase Hitchcock with a stunning crane shot that moves from a hotel lobby to the twitching eye of a guilty man.
The Lady Vanishes This is my favourite British Hitchcock. The cast is superb from Googie Withers to “Charters and Caldicott” to Linden Travers to Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood, and all the others I have missed out. It is funny and exciting and I like Iris and Gilbert a lot which is the main reason why I prefer this over The 39 Steps because I never really warm to Richard and Pamela.
Rebecca I’m more of an Olivia fan than a Joan fan but Joan Fontaine is wonderful in this as is Judith Anderson as the malevolent Mrs Danvers (but let’s draw a veil over the insinuation that lesbians are nutters). The attention to detail is masterly (though we should thank Selznick for that) and it is thrilling.
Foreign Correspondent This may have a clunky message tacked on at the end but there are some superb set pieces such as the chase through the umbrellas and the windmill turning in the wrong direction (creak, creak) and the plane crash.
Shadow of a Doubt If I put a list of my top ten films together this would be there. I think Teresa Wright is an unjustly forgotten and under-appreciated actress of the forties (despite her Oscar nominations). Her performances in The Little Foxes, this, The Best Years of Our Lives, Pursued and The Men are outstanding. If Blue Velvet explored the sordid underbelly of small towns then this did it first and better. Joseph Cotten is also superb:
What do you know, really? You’re just an ordinary little girl living in an ordinary little town. You wake up every day and know there’s nothing in the world to trouble you. You go through your ordinary little day. At night, you sleep your ordinary sleep filled with peaceful, stupid dreams. And I brought you nightmares. Or did I? Or was it a silly, inexpert, little lie? You live in a dream. You’re a sleepwalker, blind. How do you know what the world is like? Do you know the world is a foul sty? Do you know if you ripped the fronts off houses, you’d find swine? The world’s a hell. What does it matter what happens in it? Wake up, Charlie. Use your wits. Learn something!
Notorious Two of the most beautiful people ever seen on the planet in a film together with ravishing photography by Ted Tetzlaff. Sexy, tense, morally ambiguous, another great crane shot and a desperate Claude Rains, a classic.
Rope The combination of Patrick Hamilton and Alfred Hitchcock results in a thoroughly misanthropic film. The single set and the long takes are a success as far as I am concerned and James Stewart is especially good.
Rear Window There is something off about the youthful Grace Kelly coupled with the ageing James Stewart. I’m not a big fan of Grace Kelly: she was beautiful but there was no spark to her acting and I find it mind-boggling that she ever won an Oscar and not least the same year as Judy Garland in A Star is Born. Once again, an experiment by Hitchcock is brilliantly executed.
Vertigo When this was released in the eighties I was mesmerized but now I am more aware, I see a creepy middle aged man manipulating and obsessing over a young woman and it feels wrong. And I hate the fact that she dies at the end.
North By Northwest The age difference doesn’t bother me so much in this because the older man is Cary Grant while Eva Marie Saint is a much more mature and accomplished actress than Grace Kelly. This is just the classic thriller and chase film. The crop duster scene is an iconic moment in cinema and watching the athletic Grant climbing around the Frank Lloyd Wright influenced house near the end is a treat. James Mason is a born villain.
Psycho Completely horrible, completely watchable.
The Birds Tippi Hedren was a truly wooden actress and her lifeless performance does this misfire no favours. It is horrible and pointless but the atmosphere created is menacing and the opening titles are genius.
Many of the images here are taken from the Hitchcock Gallery.
Thanks!
Posted in Films | 1 Comment »
