Susan Hated Literature

Thursdays. You gotta^[1] love Thursdays. Only one more day to the weekend. Not that I have any great plans for the weekend, but that isn’t the point. Indeed it is quite far from the point, possibly it is a blunt hole^[2] But this weekend I may not even get my lie-in, cause the digital peoples are coming on Sat morning, and that is about as definite as they get time-wise, so I’ll have to be up and dressed then. And on Sun the parentals may be around. Two of de brothers are going to the rugby^[3] so they were thinking of driving up and doing some shopping^[4] Course they might not be travelling yet, and even if they do they might not come to my place, so maybe I’ll get my snoozing done then.

Oops, saved this many many years^[5] ago and meant to post it, but didn’t. And now I’ve forgotten if I had more to add or if all this rambling was all that I was going to say. Here, amuse yourselves with this:

Tara Maclay 45% amorality, 36% passion, 72% spirituality, 63% selflessness

What a woman! (Or man, as it may be…) Tara is a moral, centered, spiritual and selfless person… rather, I suspect, like you. People like this make those around them love them. Congratulations! (and stay away from windows, just in case) If you enjoyed this test, I would love the feedback! Also, you might want to check out some of my other tests if you’re interested in the following: Nerds, Geeks & Dorks Professional Wrestling Love & Sexuality America/Politics Thanks Again! — THE 4-VARIABLE BUFFY PERSONALITY TEST

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Season two ended on a bit of a downer, what with the sending Angel to hell and the running away from home, and the expulsion from school, and the death of Kendra, so this season starts off a bit slowly as we meet up with Buffy as she fends for herself. Earning a living as a waitress and shutting herself off from her life as the slayer.

But monsters are never far away and Buffy soon finds out that she has to be the slayer. That is what she is. So she returns to home, to face her friends and family and deal with that aftermath in the second episode.

Continue Reading »

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Had a really nice weekend doing absolutely nothing. Nada. Not a thing. Was great. I had had vague plans to do a bit of a clean up, hoover etc on Sunday, but then after heading out to buy the paper I just vegged in front of the telly for the day. Lovely Jubbly, because I wasn’t actually watching the telly (well, apart from catching the X-Factor result. How is it that Chico is still there?) I was watching my Buffy dvds. Finished off season 2 and have just begun season 3. The two best seasons of Buffy, imo. Course then I’ll get to intersperse the rest of my Buffy-watching with Angel-watching. I have season 3 and 5 of Angel on order^[1] so hopefully they’ll arrive on time so I won’t have to pause my viewing. It’ll be a bit weird seeing Nathan play Caleb after watching and loving him as Mal in Firefly, same for Gina in Angel.

Course, then I woke up this morning and checking my phone’s calendar I realised that this Fri is the last Fri of the the month, which in turn meant that I was supposed to have sent over the library assistants’ hours last Thurs so they could get their dosh. Ooops. Fucking div or what? So I came into work a bit early and emailed them over. Lucky I did, cause at half 8 (when I’m supposed to start) the internet and email went down for 2 hours, so if I hadn’t've been early I would’ve been very late with them.

And now I’ve got to find someone to cover the lunch hour on Fri if I want the day off. Had someone lined up, but her niece has gone into hospital in Germany so she has to fly over. Fingers crossed I can get someone, otherwise I won’t be going home on Thurs like I planned.

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Spoilers

cause you know this has been out for how many years now?

Finally made my way through the final few episodes of Buffy, season 2 this weekend. Have to say this and season 3 are my favourite of Buffy. Course these two do sort of blur into one in my head because when I started watching it was on TV3 and they pretty much showed seasons 1 through 3 or 4 without a break as they were playing catch-up.

This season is where Buffy really takes off. The witty dialogue, the humour interspersed with the horror.

There have been quite a few academic type articles and books on Buffy. Many exploring what lies beneath the surface in the Buffy ‘verse. But the surface is what gets your attention first. Without the shiny surface that makes the show fun to watch, easy to engage with, you’d never really bother to tune in again. But there is more than that to Buffy, and that is what makes it fun to rewatch.

We start off with bad girl Buffy as she comes to terms with her death in season 1, but pretty soon the big bad of the Anointed One has been replaced by Spike and Drusila, the coolest mockney vampires ever Although at times Spike’s accents veers all over the world, mainly through South Africa.

And of course the revelation that Giles isn’t as squeaky clean and boring as had been previously thought.

Then there is Kendra of the strange accent and the unexpected fact that there are now two vampire slayers. Which is kinda lucky as Angel is transformed from hero to Big Bad, with much resulting coolness.

There is also death, death and more death. And not just of randoms who turn up specifically for that purpose. But characters that the viewers actually know. Jenny Calendar’s being the most shocking.

Season 2 has some really great episodes. Innocence, Surprise, School Hard, Passion. But also one of my all-time favourite Buffy episodes; I Only Have Eyes for You.

This episode dealing with the love story from the 50’s and the ghostly possessions could have been overly melodramtic but Marti Noxon does a really great job in blending Buffy’s guilt with James’. Plus it gives us some wonderful scenes between Buffy and Angel, revealing that David Boreanaz is much more than a pretty face.

This episode also reveals the fact that Snyder and others in Sunnydale know all about the Hellmouth. Foreshadowing the mayor storyline of next season.

And then there is the season finale, Becoming, parts 1 & 2. And even if these two episodes were crap, which they aren’t, would stand out purely for Spike’s speech to Buffy. Although we really have to ask, would he really support Man. Utd?

“We like to talk big, vampires do. ‘I’m going to destroy the world.’ It’s just tough guy talk. Strut round with your friends over a pint of blood… the truth is I like this world. You’ve got dog racing. Manchester United. And you’ve got people. Billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs. It’s all right here. eone comes along with a vision. With a real… passion for destruction. Angel could pull it off. Goodbye, Piccadilly. Farewell, Leicester Bloody Square. You know what I’m saying?”

But quite apart from the wonderful dialogue we also get flashbacks^[1] and Darla makes a return, if a very brief one.

Mr. Whedon doesn’t really like ending on a high note does he? Sure, Buffy saved the world but look at all the downers. Not a happy ending at all.

So, on the season three next.

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Was browsing on Whedonseque when I came across a link to a very snotty article in the Denver Post.

While the columnist was at his library he stumbled across “an unfortunate soul in his mid-30s checking out a half-dozen episodes of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” or some such thing, and instantly I question the function of the library system - and humanity’s mental state in general.”

He goes on to question the function of a library, and to insinuate that by stocking DVDs, CDs and trash literature libraries are focusing too much on what people want (junk), and not enough on what they should be reading.

What crap!
Yes, a library should be a place where you can be educated and where you can expand your mind, but it should also be a place where you can come simply to be entertained. To pick up and read a book you wouldn’t spend money on, but that may prove slightly entertaining. Or simply because, like me, you can’t afford to purchase all you would like to read.

There are some valid points raised; but the overall tone of the article annoyed me. Besides, any one with intelligence can clearly see that Buffy has many more levels than simply being about monsters in your school. Not only that, but the classic literature the author would like to see was probably once regarded as populist rubbish. Shakespeare, for example, played to the common as well as the high, and had to write his plays with that in mind.

Not only that, but in this modern world, everything must be seen to be doing business. Statistics on library usage and library patrons influence budgets rather more than the quality of the stock. Maybe that isn’t right, but it is the way the world works today. And anyways, who gave you the right to decide what is “quality” stock, and what isn’t. Censorship by a different method

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