(no subject)

1. So I was hunting something, and found myself in the middle of an old SMG interview on Reddit, when she was doing the Crazy Ones. Two things? Reddit is impossible to follow and how can people stand it? It gave me a headache. Second...The fan asked her, for the millioneth time, which character she felt Buffy should be with and who she preferred? And she said Angel. Everyone got upset. Until one poster said -- "I don't think you guys realize how invested she's always been in Buffy/Angel. I mean she was really upset at the end of I Will Always Remember You. David even whispers at one point, "It's okay, Sarah." She needed them to be together. It devastated her that they weren't."

I laughed my head off.

Folks? Don't ask television and film actors about what their character's motivations were or where the story should go or who they should end up with or which character their character should love. They aren't writing the story. They don't know. They are hired to play whatever the writer gives them. The character is in the writer's head not theirs. They aren't the character. And just like us, they have their preferences.

[I mean television writers and film directors are rather evil when it comes to how they deal with actors -- they love nothing more than to throw two actors who despise each other together into a relationship. As Whedon once stated in a commentary to a rather shocked Seth Green, that it actually worked better when the actors didn't get along, the film really picked up on the chemistry between them and made it great to watch. He said this in response to Seth's question as to whether Marsters and Gellar got along well together during a Wild at Heart Commentary. (These a reason these people are paid upwards to $100,000 an episode if not more. Although the actors on Buffy weren't making that much, it was low budget unlike Bones.)

It's not in the writer's best interest to put two actors who love each other in an on-screen relationship. What if they broke up? And refused to act together. Much better if they were ambivalent or dislike each other at the outset, but have great on-screen chemistry. Most on-screen television couplings in tv shows featured actors who didn't like each other. Examples?

Lauren Graham and Scott Patterson (Gilmore Girls)
Nina Dobrev and Ian Sommerhandler (Vampire Diaries)
Ellen Pompelo (Meredith) and Patrick Dempsey (Derek) (Grey's Anatomy)
(Castle) and (Kate) ( Castle)

Never ask an actor who their character should be in love with -- you're assuming they like their co-star or that their opinion matters. It doesn't. To anyone, well except for their fans, maybe. I find it hilarious people got upset with SMG for her opinions on this. She had no power. Or felt validated. Again. No power. SMG and Whedon did not agree on Buffy's emotional trajectory after Season 5.

Also, they don't see the whole show, they just see their script. Few even have watched it. They can tell you how they approached the role (well for the most part, sometimes it's intuitive and they've no clue how to explain it), or what it was like to perform the scene. OR how they wish it went or what their desires were for it. Or what happened backstage between takes. Or how they prepared. Or what they used to make it work. Stuff like that. But Sarah Michelle Gellar can't tell you what Buffy the character is thinking, feeling or wants. Sarah isn't Buffy. Joss Whedon, Jane Espenson, Marti Noxon, Stephen DeNight, etc can and they'll probably fight over it.

The best art is when these questions aren't easily answered and open to interpretation. Makes it more real.

2. It's still cold, but spring is whispering its way in, through the cracks here and there. Either that or certain living things are a tad confused and ahead of the program. The trees, for example are used to budding in late March and early April. So they are budding. Or trying to at any rate. They keep getting snowed on. And the birds are making nests and flying north. Only to change course in mid-flight and go back, because it's frigging freezing, WTF? The daffodiles, azealas, and pretty purple flowers that I can't remember the names of, are in full bloom. The Super keeps wrapping them in plastic bags and blankets at night.

But hey, progress. The grass is being particular and waiting a tad longer. Wise grass.

Sunny, with a smattering of clouds across a delicate robin's egg blue. Not quite as blue as it was this morning without the clouds. But hey better than yesterday, when there was nothing but clouds.

And, I'm back on the restricted Paeolo Diet - basically off all grains, sugars (even fruit), diary, caffeine, alcohol (see sugar), soy (which I've always been off of...). Back to nuts, greens, veggies, meats, fish, eggs, water, and tea.

Why? Pain. IBS. Arthritis. Back. Knee. And frequent breakouts. Also I can't fit into 90% of my clothes. So there's that.

Let's face it I can't do sugar. Need to go off it for a while until I can get things back into balance. Then introduce fruit back in. Along with a few other things.

(no subject)

1. ( Woman issues )

2. Completed typing in Chapter 9, have written 87,880 words and 198 pages of new novel. YAY.

Making progress when not distracted by youtube vids.

3. Have gotten fixated on the acting/filmmaking process in Buffy and other television series. The actors on these Youtube vids are very informative.

For instance?

* They don't remember specifics at all. They remember making the series and what it was like, but not specific scenes or character points. For some it is a complete blur.

* Marsters on sex scenes? "I really don't like doing them. I like sex. I just.. I think it is a private thing. And I don't like having people watch me doing it. But when you are, it's not sexy at all. And you really have to trust the person you are working with to make you feel safe. It's not unlike a fight scene. Also when you kiss someone, it's all about the lighting. So I really don't know what it is like to kiss them, because you have to make it look good. It's not sexy at all."

Amber Benson is nodding in complete agreement.

* Marsters and Brendan are asked what their single memory is of working on Buffy. "Pain." They both state. Marsters elaborates in two separate Q&A's "it was exhausting work. We were only supposed to work 18 days and that's it, but they'd stretch to 22, and splinter it off into separate shots and have us doing things we weren't supposed to be doing. So we'd work 12-24 hour days. Sarah worked the hardest, she was in every scene. Most shows don't do that. But they were ambitious."

"Also it wasn't just physically painful, it was emotionally and mentally painful too. I became terrified of what they'd have me do next. I used to worry about getting scripts. And be scared to death to read them."

Brendan nods in agreement. "Yep, Ditto. What he said about Pain."

Brendan states, " We weren't allowed to say anything that wasn't in the script. If we got a word wrong. Whedon would come up to us and say, yes, the emotion is on target, you delivered it well, but I have the word "the" in there for a reason."

He's right. I saw the making of Once More with Feeling. And he went up to Marsters and said, "it should be "whisper in a dead man's ear" not "whisper to a dead man's ear".

Apparently, Whedon got burned with the movie, and the actors changing up the lines. And swore NEVER again. Also remember he came from Roseanne. So when he got his own show, he made sure the actors said the lines as written. No improv.

Now if you know ANYTHING about acting -- that's really hard to do well.

Marsters: "People think acting is easy. Because we make it look that way. It's not."

No, it's hard. I was watching outtakes taken during S6. Boy that was a tough season.

Also, when they were asked if they ever get injured? "All the time." Apparently Marsters was crawling to and from a chiropractor after Angel completed. (Hmm, wondering if a chiropractor would help me out?)

Very happy I don't do that for a living. Also happy I'm not married to an actor.