30 Days of Buffy: Day 2

Posted on Tuesday 6 July 2010 by Hazel
Day 2: Favourite Episode This is hard but I note that it is favourite and not best so instead of “Hush” or “Once More With Feeling” or “The Body” or “Innocence” or “The Wish” or even “Doppelgangland”, I say it’s “Who Are You?”.

I just adore this episode.

It has everything: Sarah Michelle Gellar at her best, fabulous dialogue from Joss, lots and lots of Tara, a thinly disguised metaphor for sex, the word stevedore, “tiny, tiny babies”, rubbish English accents (ok, that’s not adorable), “because it’s wrong” and Faith and Buffy beating each other up.

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30 Days of Buffy: Day 1

Posted on Monday 5 July 2010 by Hazel

Day 1: Favourite Season

Oh, tough one. I love, love, love a lot of episodes S4 but overall the season isn’t completely satisfactory so it’s between S2 and S3. And I can’t remember what I chose before so it must be close!

…

It’s S2 because “Some Assembly Required”, “Reptile Boy”, “Bad Eggs” and “Go Fish” are still better than “Dead Man’s Party” and “Beauty and the Beasts”.

ETA: the last time I did this I did say it was S4. Oops.

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30 Days of Buffy

Posted on Monday 5 July 2010 by Hazel

30 DAYS OF BUFFY!

Day 1: Favorite Season
Day 2: Favorite Episode
Day 3: Favorite Song Used In An Episode
Day 4: Favorite Female Character
Day 5: Least Favorite Female Character
Day 6: Favorite Male Character
Day 7: Least Favorite Male Character
Day 8: Favorite Friendship
Day 9: Favorite Romance
Day 10: Least Favorite Season
Day 11: Least Favorite Romance
Day 12: Least Favorite Episode
Day 13: Favorite Potential Slayer
Day 14: Favorite Female Villain
Day 15: Favorite Male Villain
Day 16: Episode You Like That Everyone Else Hates
Day 17: Character You Relate To The Most
Day 18: Character Who Didn’t Get Enough Screen Time
Day 19: Character You Like That Everyone Else Hates
Day 20: Best Spike-centric Episode
Day 21: Best Willow-centric Episode
Day 22: Best Xander-centric Episode
Day 23: Two Characters You Wanted To Get Together That Never Did
Day 24: Favorite Example of 90s Special Effects
Day 25: Favorite Buffyverse Saying
Day 26: Favorite Scooby Moment
Day 27: Cutest Moment
Day 28: Character You Love To Hate
Day 29: Episode You Hate That Everyone Else Loves
Day 30: What You Think Made Buffy So Great

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Superheroes

Posted on Monday 5 July 2010 by Hazel

As a family we are only really partial to one superhero (and his sidekicks) and that is Batman. Andy hit the nail on the head when he said it was because Batman is aspirational. You can be Batman or Robin or Batwoman but you can’t be Superman (he’s an alien for a start) or Spiderman or Wonder Woman.

I am quite interested in the X-Men which I think is because they all seem to struggle with their powers and some aren’t that super.

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Random quote #5

Posted on Saturday 12 June 2010 by Hazel

I’m an atheist; I suppose you can call me a sort of libertarian anarchist. I regard religion with fear and suspicion. It’s not enough to say that I don’t believe in God. I actually regard the system as distressing: I am offended by some of the things said in the Bible and the Koran, and I refute them.

Emma Thompson being Emma Thompson in The Australian 15th October 2008

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Honours

Posted on Saturday 12 June 2010 by Hazel

I was happy to read today that Anne Reid has been made a MBE although I was rather taken aback that she wasn't at least that already. You'd think being Ken Barlow's wife would have been enough but when you add in Wendolene and Jean in dinnerladies and a host of other excellent performances I really was rather surprised.

If I had been given an honour years ago I would have been thrilled (and also puzzled because I haven't actually ever done anything) but now I think I would refuse one. I blame Benjamin Zephaniah for opening my eyes.

I am very interested in who have refused one and always disappointed when it turns out they were just waiting for a better one…: however, according to a leaked document, the painter LS Lowry turned down the most honours and I do note that Emma Thompson still hasn't got one (don't let let me down).

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A cycle to Kensal Green Cemetery

Posted on Sunday 6 June 2010 by Hazel
Andy and I cycled to Kensal Green Cemetery today mostly via the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal.

The cemetery is full of the famous and the non-famous (nice to see so many locals). We found many of them with the aid of a map. We also missed a great many (Wilkie Collins, William Whiteley, John Passmore Edwards, Thackeray, Trollope, Henry Mayhew, etc) but we did manage to see Blondin, Pinter, Dr James Barry, the Brunels, Babbage, etc.


My favourites were the memorials to Robert Owen and to other reformers (I was delighted to see how many of them were women):

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Silent comedies

Posted on Monday 31 May 2010 by Hazel
On Saturday, I attended a showing of two silent films accompanied by live music at Kings Place. I had never heard of Kings Place before the F Word blog alerted me to the Birds Eye View Sound and Silents events there.
Kings Place is a lovely venue (but I do think it is missing an apostrophe). Hall One where the films were shown is covered in an oak veneer which was wonderful. However, the stage seemed a bit high and, due to the fact that the films were projected over the heads of the musicians, my view from the third row was rather awkward. I would like to go back to have a coffee next to the canal basin on a nicer day.

I found The Danger Girl with Gloria Swanson a little incoherent. It was nevertheless quite amusing and the few stunts that it had were jaw-dropping: a car passed within inches of a horse (twice), a car stopped in front of a person just in time and a small bus burst into a restaurant full of diners. The female vocal trio Juice did a fabulous job of adding to my enjoyment. They were a lot of fun.

Ich möchte kein Mann sein aka I don’t want to be a man was a disappointingly superficial three-reeler by Ernst Lubitsch. I suppose if it hadn’t played with gender roles quite so explicitly then I might have not have been quite so dissatisfied. The three leading performers were very funny and some of the situations were amusing (the governess smoking, Ossi being measured for a suit and, of course, the kissing) bit overall it fell a bit flat. The music by Zoe Rahman accompanied by her drummer was marvellous but by my cloth ears it didn’t quite suit the film.

This clip is from another Ossi Oswalda/Ernst Lubitsch collaboration and it is a huge amount of fun with a great new score.

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There’s always one

Posted on Saturday 22 May 2010 by Hazel
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And not a helmet in sight.

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A Con Dem Nation

Posted on Tuesday 11 May 2010 by Hazel
I feel sad that Labour are no longer in government. I waited years for the Liberal Democrats to come to power and now that that they are, I feel nothing but dismay because of who they are in power with.

Best case scenario: the Con-Lib coalition becomes hugely unpopular because of the cuts that any government has to make. Labour come to power at the next election but only after dumping their commitment to every illiberal law they have made and on a mandate to have a referendum on effective proportional representation.

And I will never vote for any of the three main parties ever again. I should add that I have only ever voted for one of them.

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