Weather and Buffy
Jun. 21st, 2012 07:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Another hot day...although still not as bad as KC summers. New Yorkers over-react to weather.
"OMG, it's 98 degrees today with a potential heat index of 105-110 in the city! I will never survive! Not for two whole days! Aaah!!"
Or
"OMG, it's 13 degrees, so cold, I can't handle it. I'll die."
Granted extreme temperatures in big cities that aren't used to extreme temperatures are a bit worse than elsewhere, but...one does wonder.
Having spent 17 years in Kansas, where the average temp in the summer is 95 degrees and actually that's fairly mild, we had one summer back in the 1980s in which it was between 100-110 every single day. And yes, it's humid in Kansas. During the winter? Average temp is 10 below 0 or in the teens. Had one winter in 1995 where it was 10 below or more for a month, got to the point that I just wanted to tell the weather man, look I don't need to know how many degrees below 0 it is outside, if it is below 0 - that means it's cold and I don't want to go outside.
NYC is relatively pleasant in comparison and mild. Most of June? 60s and 70s. This is the first real heat that we've had in a long time.
2. Mark Watches and his minions predictions for S6 entertain me. It shouldn't. But it does.
That's how pathetic my life is at the moment - I'm entertained, albeit mildly, by Mark Watches. He's off on S6, except for how Buffy get's brought back - ie. Willow has something to do with it, which is sort of obvious. He like everyone else on that site thinks there will be a new slayer in town or another slayer will be called. No.
Although to be fair, everyone or most everyone was confused by the whole slayer lineage bit. The line no longer goes through Buffy - it goes through Faith, so another slayer won't be called until Faith dies - this does not really get explained until S7. Although I think someone referred to it in S6, I honestly can't remember - haven't watched the series since 2008. My memory is good, but not that good, besides I have all this work stuff to keep track of. (What I often tell pedantic fans - I'm not a human index. Sorry. My memory is more scattered than that.)
Personally? I think they didn't have enough money to add another slayer to the mix and came up with the lineage mythology to get rid of that problem. If Gellar hadn't wanted to come back, there would have been a new slayer called.
*I don’t know that I like it, but Spike and Buffy will at least go on a date once.
Not exactly. Or I guess it depends on how you define date? In Life Serial she does sort of go out on a date with him...or at least he considers it a date. I'm not sure what she considers it to be. Their relationship is rather wonky in S6. I loved it - but I'm also obsessed with gender warfare in fictional storylines and gender power-dynamics. Some people were obsessed with the slayer mythology (oddly this never interested me, oddly because I minored in mythology and probably know more about it than half the people obsessed with it, I'm guessing that may be the reason it never interested me? Personally, I think that Whedon sucks at building a coherent mythology or world-building, so I tend to ignore it or I see all the flaws/Fruedian missteps/anti-feminist contradictions in his logic and want to run in the opposite direction. Part of my problem is I analyze mythology from a psychological perspective not a philosophical one. I'm guessing if you did it from a philosophical angle you may have come up with a different result or perspective. This goes without saying but I'll say it anyway because some doofus out there will most likely attack me for daring to voice my opinion on the above and tell me I'm WRONG. People? It's an opinion and thrown off the cuff at that. Don't take it to heart. I'll undoubtedly contradict myself in twenty years or two months. Wasting your time and mine fighting with me over it is just silly and I don't have the patience for it. Rather long way of saying Your Mileage May Vary - but fandom can be incredibly dense and needs to be hit over the head with it by a hammer.)
Anyhoo...The Spike/Buffy relationship blew me away and fascinated me. I don't know if I would have become an obsessed fan of the series if that relationship did not exist? Or if I'd written any essays? Or bothered coming online? In short, you can possibly blame or thank S6 Spuffy relationship for my presence on Livejournal and all those essays I wrote.
Then again, there were admittedly other factors in play at the time. So who knows?
At any rate...Mark has no idea. Although he might. I'm thinking he may be a wee bit spoiled on Spuffy.
*Dawn will start learning magic from Willow. (I mean… what else can she do now that she survived? God, I hope no one else tries to use her as the Key again.)
I wish. But instead she became a kleptomanic and/or shoplifter and whined a lot about everyone ignoring her. Seriously that was Dawn's arc. I would have preferred more on the Key - but getting back to what I said about Whedon and mythology...
*There will be an episode devoted to Xander and Anya’s glorious wedding!
Yes. But glorious isn't exactly the word I'd use for it. But hey, on the bright side..
We will see both of Xander’s parents at the same time. This isn’t going to ever happen, is it?
Be careful what you wish for...because it does happen. Unfortunately. Poor Xander. Sigh.
Poor me. I did not like Hell's Bells. Actually my least favorite episodes from that season are:
Hells Bells
As You Were
Gone
Doublemeat Palace
All the Way
Wrecked
Older and Far Away (although it is almost saved for all the cool literary references).
I know, I know...you'd think I'd pick Seeing Red or Dead Things - but I actually found those episodes fascinating and ambitious...same deal with Normal Again. There's some brilliant writing in them. The one's above just made me cringe. I tend skip over sections of them upon re-watching. Hells Bells was just so cheaply made and the production value was horrific. Same with Gone, Wrecked, Doublemeat Palace and As You Were. These are episodes I would not show to a friend that I wanted to get interested in this series.
[Your Mileage Probably Varies].
Cordelia will crossover and appear on Buffy. I still want this to happen.
Sorry no. Besides being on separate networks...Gellar and Carpenter did not get along.
Rumor has it that Whedon leapt at moving CC to Angel because it resolved a backstage bickering issue.
1) We will hear Faith’s name once, but we won’t see her. Bah. Bring back Faith. I love her. 6/11
12) Spike will get the chip out of his head by the end of season five. Nope.
Not until S7 and it's very anti-climatic. I was disappointed. I wanted that handled on-screen. Damn Whedon, I could have lived without the Andrew episode and the First Date episode...but really wanted more on Spike and the chip and Buffy's decision. This is the problem with serials - often you'll get stories you don't give a rat's ass about, or you already know the information, while the stories you want to see on-screen and really want resolved - are either resolved off-screen or never mentioned. I tend to get excited when they do get mentioned and referred to - which to be fair, Buffy did most of the time. Most of the time - Whedon resolved things I was insanely curious about on-screen and in a way I never thought he would. Most of the time. But not all the time. Oh well 60/40 ain't bad.
Besides ...I'm guessing not everyone wanted to see the same things I did. Actually no need to guess, I know for a fact that not everyone wanted to see the same things resolved that I did. Some people were more obsessed with Andrew and wanted to see Andrew show remorse for Jonathan. Personally? I didn't care. But I can see why they did.
Faith's return was also regrettably anti-climatic. We never got the Willow/Faith confrontation in Angel. Considering how they left things...or the Giles/Faith. Faith got accepted back into the group way too quickly in S7 (clearly to benefit Whedon's theme and plot). As a result it felt contrived. Her return was not earned. Nor was her position earned. Nor was it realistic. I was jarred out of the story by it and somewhat bored.
They went for the camp, not the emotion - in Dirty Girls. And I think that was a mistake.
Least favorite episodes of S7 include:
Storyteller (Andrew, not a fan)
First Night (Wood, not a fan - that date made me cringe. Gellar and DB had 0 chemistry. I don't know if they got along, most likely, because sometimes you have 0 chemistry because you do get along very well.)
Showtime (with the exception of the Spike/Buffy scenes and the first pretending to be one of the slayers)
Dirty Girls (with the exception of the Faith/Spike scene which was great)
Help (stupid plot-line...and overly melodramatic, not to mention cliche)
Same Time Same Place (gross monster...albeit effective one, the same actor that played the Gentlemen and the same master of makeup and you can tell. But it just felt uneven in places and didn't go far enough.)
End of Days (Angel's return did not work and felt out of character for both Buffy and Angel. As if the writers were forcing the characters to do something either as fan/network/ratings service or to service their plot..but it was so out of character for both, that it jarred me out of the story and felt completely contrived. When you can see the creaky gears of the plot moving along, you know there is a problem.)
Empty Places (out of character moments to service an increasingly creaky plot and theme. I never bought the let's kick Buffy who has saved our lives millions of times out of the house and elect Faith who just returned from prison after trying to kill us all as leader bit. Seriously, am I supposed to believe Giles, Willow and Xander are that stupid?)
Touched - (outside of the Spike bits...sort of silly and over the top, Rebecca Rand Kirshner went for the melodramatic.)
You'd think I'd hate Bring on the Night - but I found it oddly interesting in how it referenced Amends. Also, Get it Down...fascinated me in regards to the various character groupings and character dynamics. I can't remember the episode with Warren/Willow but it was interesting as well in how it dealt with vengeance. I admittedly did not like the Caleb arc - cheesy villain. And was disappointed in how they dealt with Angel's return and
Faith's. Both were a bit predictable and lazy rushed writing in my opinion.
That was the problem with S6 and S7...the writing felt rushed at times and tired. As if the writers were getting burned out along with some of the actors. OTOH - it was also at times the riskiest and most ambitious writing that I've seen on a television series.
They did push the envelope on what was allowed on tv and dealt with some heavy themes.
"OMG, it's 98 degrees today with a potential heat index of 105-110 in the city! I will never survive! Not for two whole days! Aaah!!"
Or
"OMG, it's 13 degrees, so cold, I can't handle it. I'll die."
Granted extreme temperatures in big cities that aren't used to extreme temperatures are a bit worse than elsewhere, but...one does wonder.
Having spent 17 years in Kansas, where the average temp in the summer is 95 degrees and actually that's fairly mild, we had one summer back in the 1980s in which it was between 100-110 every single day. And yes, it's humid in Kansas. During the winter? Average temp is 10 below 0 or in the teens. Had one winter in 1995 where it was 10 below or more for a month, got to the point that I just wanted to tell the weather man, look I don't need to know how many degrees below 0 it is outside, if it is below 0 - that means it's cold and I don't want to go outside.
NYC is relatively pleasant in comparison and mild. Most of June? 60s and 70s. This is the first real heat that we've had in a long time.
2. Mark Watches and his minions predictions for S6 entertain me. It shouldn't. But it does.
That's how pathetic my life is at the moment - I'm entertained, albeit mildly, by Mark Watches. He's off on S6, except for how Buffy get's brought back - ie. Willow has something to do with it, which is sort of obvious. He like everyone else on that site thinks there will be a new slayer in town or another slayer will be called. No.
Although to be fair, everyone or most everyone was confused by the whole slayer lineage bit. The line no longer goes through Buffy - it goes through Faith, so another slayer won't be called until Faith dies - this does not really get explained until S7. Although I think someone referred to it in S6, I honestly can't remember - haven't watched the series since 2008. My memory is good, but not that good, besides I have all this work stuff to keep track of. (What I often tell pedantic fans - I'm not a human index. Sorry. My memory is more scattered than that.)
Personally? I think they didn't have enough money to add another slayer to the mix and came up with the lineage mythology to get rid of that problem. If Gellar hadn't wanted to come back, there would have been a new slayer called.
*I don’t know that I like it, but Spike and Buffy will at least go on a date once.
Not exactly. Or I guess it depends on how you define date? In Life Serial she does sort of go out on a date with him...or at least he considers it a date. I'm not sure what she considers it to be. Their relationship is rather wonky in S6. I loved it - but I'm also obsessed with gender warfare in fictional storylines and gender power-dynamics. Some people were obsessed with the slayer mythology (oddly this never interested me, oddly because I minored in mythology and probably know more about it than half the people obsessed with it, I'm guessing that may be the reason it never interested me? Personally, I think that Whedon sucks at building a coherent mythology or world-building, so I tend to ignore it or I see all the flaws/Fruedian missteps/anti-feminist contradictions in his logic and want to run in the opposite direction. Part of my problem is I analyze mythology from a psychological perspective not a philosophical one. I'm guessing if you did it from a philosophical angle you may have come up with a different result or perspective. This goes without saying but I'll say it anyway because some doofus out there will most likely attack me for daring to voice my opinion on the above and tell me I'm WRONG. People? It's an opinion and thrown off the cuff at that. Don't take it to heart. I'll undoubtedly contradict myself in twenty years or two months. Wasting your time and mine fighting with me over it is just silly and I don't have the patience for it. Rather long way of saying Your Mileage May Vary - but fandom can be incredibly dense and needs to be hit over the head with it by a hammer.)
Anyhoo...The Spike/Buffy relationship blew me away and fascinated me. I don't know if I would have become an obsessed fan of the series if that relationship did not exist? Or if I'd written any essays? Or bothered coming online? In short, you can possibly blame or thank S6 Spuffy relationship for my presence on Livejournal and all those essays I wrote.
Then again, there were admittedly other factors in play at the time. So who knows?
At any rate...Mark has no idea. Although he might. I'm thinking he may be a wee bit spoiled on Spuffy.
*Dawn will start learning magic from Willow. (I mean… what else can she do now that she survived? God, I hope no one else tries to use her as the Key again.)
I wish. But instead she became a kleptomanic and/or shoplifter and whined a lot about everyone ignoring her. Seriously that was Dawn's arc. I would have preferred more on the Key - but getting back to what I said about Whedon and mythology...
*There will be an episode devoted to Xander and Anya’s glorious wedding!
Yes. But glorious isn't exactly the word I'd use for it. But hey, on the bright side..
We will see both of Xander’s parents at the same time. This isn’t going to ever happen, is it?
Be careful what you wish for...because it does happen. Unfortunately. Poor Xander. Sigh.
Poor me. I did not like Hell's Bells. Actually my least favorite episodes from that season are:
Hells Bells
As You Were
Gone
Doublemeat Palace
All the Way
Wrecked
Older and Far Away (although it is almost saved for all the cool literary references).
I know, I know...you'd think I'd pick Seeing Red or Dead Things - but I actually found those episodes fascinating and ambitious...same deal with Normal Again. There's some brilliant writing in them. The one's above just made me cringe. I tend skip over sections of them upon re-watching. Hells Bells was just so cheaply made and the production value was horrific. Same with Gone, Wrecked, Doublemeat Palace and As You Were. These are episodes I would not show to a friend that I wanted to get interested in this series.
[Your Mileage Probably Varies].
Cordelia will crossover and appear on Buffy. I still want this to happen.
Sorry no. Besides being on separate networks...Gellar and Carpenter did not get along.
Rumor has it that Whedon leapt at moving CC to Angel because it resolved a backstage bickering issue.
1) We will hear Faith’s name once, but we won’t see her. Bah. Bring back Faith. I love her. 6/11
12) Spike will get the chip out of his head by the end of season five. Nope.
Not until S7 and it's very anti-climatic. I was disappointed. I wanted that handled on-screen. Damn Whedon, I could have lived without the Andrew episode and the First Date episode...but really wanted more on Spike and the chip and Buffy's decision. This is the problem with serials - often you'll get stories you don't give a rat's ass about, or you already know the information, while the stories you want to see on-screen and really want resolved - are either resolved off-screen or never mentioned. I tend to get excited when they do get mentioned and referred to - which to be fair, Buffy did most of the time. Most of the time - Whedon resolved things I was insanely curious about on-screen and in a way I never thought he would. Most of the time. But not all the time. Oh well 60/40 ain't bad.
Besides ...I'm guessing not everyone wanted to see the same things I did. Actually no need to guess, I know for a fact that not everyone wanted to see the same things resolved that I did. Some people were more obsessed with Andrew and wanted to see Andrew show remorse for Jonathan. Personally? I didn't care. But I can see why they did.
Faith's return was also regrettably anti-climatic. We never got the Willow/Faith confrontation in Angel. Considering how they left things...or the Giles/Faith. Faith got accepted back into the group way too quickly in S7 (clearly to benefit Whedon's theme and plot). As a result it felt contrived. Her return was not earned. Nor was her position earned. Nor was it realistic. I was jarred out of the story by it and somewhat bored.
They went for the camp, not the emotion - in Dirty Girls. And I think that was a mistake.
Least favorite episodes of S7 include:
Storyteller (Andrew, not a fan)
First Night (Wood, not a fan - that date made me cringe. Gellar and DB had 0 chemistry. I don't know if they got along, most likely, because sometimes you have 0 chemistry because you do get along very well.)
Showtime (with the exception of the Spike/Buffy scenes and the first pretending to be one of the slayers)
Dirty Girls (with the exception of the Faith/Spike scene which was great)
Help (stupid plot-line...and overly melodramatic, not to mention cliche)
Same Time Same Place (gross monster...albeit effective one, the same actor that played the Gentlemen and the same master of makeup and you can tell. But it just felt uneven in places and didn't go far enough.)
End of Days (Angel's return did not work and felt out of character for both Buffy and Angel. As if the writers were forcing the characters to do something either as fan/network/ratings service or to service their plot..but it was so out of character for both, that it jarred me out of the story and felt completely contrived. When you can see the creaky gears of the plot moving along, you know there is a problem.)
Empty Places (out of character moments to service an increasingly creaky plot and theme. I never bought the let's kick Buffy who has saved our lives millions of times out of the house and elect Faith who just returned from prison after trying to kill us all as leader bit. Seriously, am I supposed to believe Giles, Willow and Xander are that stupid?)
Touched - (outside of the Spike bits...sort of silly and over the top, Rebecca Rand Kirshner went for the melodramatic.)
You'd think I'd hate Bring on the Night - but I found it oddly interesting in how it referenced Amends. Also, Get it Down...fascinated me in regards to the various character groupings and character dynamics. I can't remember the episode with Warren/Willow but it was interesting as well in how it dealt with vengeance. I admittedly did not like the Caleb arc - cheesy villain. And was disappointed in how they dealt with Angel's return and
Faith's. Both were a bit predictable and lazy rushed writing in my opinion.
That was the problem with S6 and S7...the writing felt rushed at times and tired. As if the writers were getting burned out along with some of the actors. OTOH - it was also at times the riskiest and most ambitious writing that I've seen on a television series.
They did push the envelope on what was allowed on tv and dealt with some heavy themes.
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no subject
Date: 2012-06-24 02:40 pm (UTC)I think it's horrific how Darwin's name has come to be associated with things he would have been appalled by. (The phrase "survival of the fittest" - NOT HIS WORDS - he never said that.) Yes, the theory of evolution does rest on the recognition that limited resources mean that not every life has survived and reproduced, and that traits that help an individual survive in a particular environment are more likely to be passed on.
(In a particular environment is key - the same trait that is essential in one environment is fatal in another) (the idea that evolution is teleological and everything is getting "fitter" over time is absurd - the point isn't "fitness" it's diversity - loss of genetic diversity in a species always leads to extinction -
Infinite Diversity in Infinte Combinations is what it's all about.)
Darwin was a sensitive and thoughtful man (and an extreme introvert, prone to depression and anxiety) and he was very much aware of the tragedy as well as the beauty of nature.
I LOVE the words that Darwin used to end The Origin of Species:
There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone circling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved."
In a way, the story of my life has been the story of trying to reconcile myself to the tragedy as well as the beauty of nature (http://green-maia.livejournal.com/519622.html).
Currently overwhelmed by engineering, algebraic equations, and how you design and build railroads.
:-)
(I hope I haven't offended you with these comments; please feel free to delete if you like.)
(Also: I think you really might like Bolen's books. I've moved away from Jungian psychology, but I still re-read Bolen's books several times a year. Her descriptions of the 7 Olympian goddesses are archetypes in women's lives has had a HUGE impact on me, and helped me understand myself and other women SO MUCH. In particular, her description of the Hestia archetype has helped me to understand myself.)
no subject
Date: 2012-06-24 06:48 pm (UTC)Not at all.
Behavioral psychology and evolutionary psychology are two completely different things. And, from what I've read of Charles Darwin the person, he would have been appalled by the former.
Oh I know. Wasn't clear, sorry. Studied the two separately. Dabbled in evolutionary. Got more of behavioral than I wanted - undergrad specialized in behaviorialism.
Have a mentally exhausting occupation - which means I only read fiction or for pleasure in my free time right now. Hence the crappy romance novels I keep posting on. ;-)