Spontaneous Musings

Have a bit of a scratchy sore throat this afternoon/evening - brought on, I suspect, by my archiving of old files today. I'm allergic to dust and mold spores - specifically the type that attach themselves to musty old files and books, hence the reason I currently avoide library books and used book stores like the plague. Methinks I may love the kindle, when I get around to affording it. Fall, also, not my best season.

( Buffy comics - not interesting, skippable )

Unpopular fandom opinions and livejournal skirmishes and getting one's post or rather my post linked to.

( linking to posts and dealing with the occassional fallout or whinging of a frustrated lj writer )

Regarding unpopular fandom memes. I can think of a lot of unpopular opinions that are well unpopular with half of my flist. Came up with 25, believe it or not.

( warning these are meant to be unpopular and as such are bound to annoy someone )

[BEFORE READING AND COMMENTING ON THE BELOW:Please note the following is meant to be an objective gathering and explanation of facts - I'm not stating that what happened in the Roman Polanski case was not rape or the facts as I read them on the salon article and in blogs are not true - if they are? He is a douchebag, but then I always thought Polanski was a douchebag - I've seen his films, Repulsion, Rosemary's Baby and The Tenant - all make one want to squirm in their seat forever and a day. Also up until recently, I thought the reason he left the US was he was having sexual relations with then 15 year old Natassha Kiniski the star of his film, Tess of the D'Urbvilles. Polanski also is not the first person to flee for this - Charlie Chaplin did, as did Fatty Urbunkle, I believe.( But as to what actually happened in this case? Truth is I have no idea, all I know is what a lot of bloggers and op-ed commentators have stated or reported based on testimony that they've cobbled from sources or links on the internet, and I know enough to trust internet cites, including one's I've linked to, twitterers, bloggers and op-ed journalists about as far as I can throw a 300 pound gorilla, which is not that far. That again is not to say that they are not correct and this is not true. But keep in mind it happened over 30 years ago, the testimony is 30 years old, and only the people who were actually there know for certain, and the prosecutor has gone on record as to having lied about it to make his case winnable (ETA: apparently even that bit is not clear, since that prosecutor apparently lied about being involved with the case and it was a completely different prosecutor - sigh we really do live in the age of misinformation, don't we?). This means we can't know for certain what happened, we can only speculate.) Nor am I condoning Whoopie Goldberg's statement listed below, I am providing an objective explanation. So if you disagree - please do not shoot the messenger. I am just imparting information. I am giving you the information that I've discovered to provide a complete picture. Information that may or may not be true. The veracity of any of this seems to still be in question. Again please do not misunderstand any of the below to be condoning the drugging and as a direct result coercion of a young girl to have sex, I don't care if she was 13 or 54 - that is rape. By the way, if she was under 10 - it would not have been statutory rape or rape, it would have been child molestation and pedophilia which has a completely different set of laws and a far harsher set of penalities. The bit on Age of Consent in California - gives the penalities for statutory rape in the state of California. ]

The papers have been agog with the Roman Polanski issue. Spoke to a reluctant mother about it over the phone - she told me that according to the news they will probably have to dismiss the case for two reasons: 1)the prosecutor lied to the judge in the initial case causing the plea bargain to be dropped and Polanski to flee and 2) besides spending 42 days in prison, Polanski paid the victim years ago, quite a bit of money as the result of a civil suit regarding the action.

( links on the settlement and the prosecutor lying )

( difference between statutory rape and rape and Whoopie's Quote )

( What did Whoopie mean by her it is not rape-rape comment, defining statutory rape or why Angel in Buffy the Vampire Slayer would be convicted of rape under California Law )

( California Statute on Statutory Rape )
( why consent is not a factor in statutory rape cases )

( why Whoopie's statement was a major faux paus and rape statistics )

Apparently, I'm the only one who couldn't access Lj at all from Friday night until about 10 pm today? Okay, admittedly I wasn't on it from 1:30pm to roughly 8:30pm. Went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Just came back from seeing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince which was as enjoyable, possibly even more enjoyable than the book. I laughed a lot during both, not during the dark parts of course. My sense of humor may be dark but it is not that dark. I remembered the book well enough to follow the film without any difficulty whatsoever, but not well enough to notice how the film veered away from it. I was, in other words, blissfully oblivious of some of the complaints others online had regarding it. This re-affirms my belief that these films work better if you have not reread or read the novels recently.

Also enjoyed the trailers. 2012 looks like a lot of fun. Sherlock Holmes made me laugh quite a bit. Sure it looks hokey as all get out, but also a lot of fun. Was told that it has gotten abysmal reviews, but Robert Downey Jr is one of those actors that I will watch read the telephone book. I'll probably rent it and not wast time or money seeing it in the theater.

Picked up comics on Friday - enjoyed the Buffy and the Drusilla one. Juliet Landau, Brian Lynch, and Frank Urru have combined forces to create a two issue Drusilla After the Fall comic in the Angel series. Sure it is called Angel, but Angel doesn't appear in it. All Drusilla. And the art is quite lovely. The writing, spot on, and it may be the best comic I've read in a while. Lynch, hate to say this, is still putting the Buffy writers to shame - possibly because he was a fan of the tv series and like most fans, has an encyclopedic/anal retentive memory regarding it? While the original writers of the tv series, seem to have forgotten quite a bit. Landau also had a hand in the story, she not only came up with the idea, she also co-wrote the script and provided Urru with ideas regarding how it should be drawn - so we are literally seeing Dru and Dru's world through the actress who portrayed her, eyes. This provides a bit of support to my view that you can't technically count the comics as canon - since you lack the actor's pov. The actors like it or not, do bring something to the enterprise.

The art in the Dru comic in my opinion is a lot better than the art in the Buffy comics. The people are easier to tell apart for one thing, and their facial reactions are more defined. Also there's a depth and perspective to Urru's paintings that is lacking in Jeanty's. Urru is more of a realistic painter, his pictures feel more filmlike or three dimensional. As an artist, I find myself admiring his work, while Jeanty's feels at times amateurish to me. It's a subjective view - I know and based on my own background in painting and art, which granted is not extensive but...is there all the same. The color scheme is alos quite brilliant, all grays, except for a spot of color here and there - Dru's blue outfit and the blue dress she takes from the woman she kills, and Dru's demon eyes and blue eyes. We are clearly in Dru's pov.
( Drusilla Comic in Angel Issue #24 )

The title of this post is taken from a film entitled Men Don't Leave starring Jessica Lang, the film is about a single mother with two sons coping with the death of her husband. The film's title is meant to be taken ironically. Because of course men do leave. It is also to a degree a comment the mother makes to her sons - don't leave me, men don't leave.

This meta was inspired by a comment made in a post/essay by bilixi (at least I think it is bilixi) about how men keep leaving Buffy, and why the character of Spike seemed to stay by her side. In addition, I just finished watching the Buffy episodes Family and Fool for Love, along with the Angel episode Darla. All three episodes deal with the theme of paternalism as well as the somewhat contradictory theme of men leaving their wives, mothers, daughters and girlfriends - but from different points of view and in different ways.

One of things I love most about BTVS is the dramatic and thematic use of irony. We live in a paternalistic society - yet, as mentioned above, men abandon women. They do not always have a choice - we all die after all, as Spike does in Buffy S7, and as the father does in the film Men Don't Leave.

Starting chronically with Angel and ending with Spike, the meta below is meant to examine these themes and how they relate to both the characters and the series as whole, or at least up to this point.

( Angel- references the episodes  )

( Riley )

( Spike )

[ETA: the above has been significantly edited since I posted it this morning.]

Before I started writing this post, I googled the words "I Will Always Remember You" and found the following links to songs, each is a romantic tune that is somewhat wistful about someone who is long gone.

http://www.lyricszoo.com/sarah-mclachlan/i-will-remember-you/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_zpVly8vVU

http://www.metrolyrics.com/ill-remember-you-lyrics-atlantic-starr.html

Do you remember your first love? A few, very few, people marry their first loves. My brother married his, and my mother married hers. But most of us -- don't or if we do, it ends in divorce, because once the wild passion ends there is little else. In the case of my parents and my brother - it was not "wild passion" so much as friendship that built into something more over time. They did not hop into bed or do wild makeout sessions at the start, they had discussions well into the night. It was in short not the stuff of novels - which seldom end well and often focus on those wild romances. Why do the wild and intense romances not last? The writers of Buffy and Angel examine those reasons in detail.

I Will Always Remember You ("Remember You") - the eighth episode of Angel the Series is not an episode that can be watched by itself. It needs to be seen in context of both series. And it is an ironic and somewhat dark episode in retrospect, not to mention deeply tragic. It comments on the choices we make for good or ill. Complex episode when seen in context.
( rather lengthy meta on the Buffy/Angel relationship and lost love, as well as being a hero as seen through the first eight episodes of Angel S1 and the first eight episodes of Buffy S4 )

Saw this week's Dollhouse - can't remember what it was called, or the episode number.
By the way this is not a critical review of the episode and will most likely have typos as all my posts do.

In this week's Dollhouse they examined relationships, or rather how we tend to project ourselves onto others, often without realizing it. Specifically the relationship between mother and son, and friends.

( Friday Dollhouse Spoilers - Imaginary Playmates and Imaginary Sons )

That may not be the best title in the universe and to be honest, I've no clue what to call this post. But after reading several rather interesting reviews of Buffy S8 on live journal, specifically stormwreath's review and the ensuing discussion, as well as posts in londonkds, and aycheb - I decided to write about what I think may be going in these comics and why I think Whedon is writing them and what he is trying to discuss through them.

Before I do so, want to clarify a few things:

( Assorted caveats that loosely pertain to any discussion of this )

Buffy S8

First off, if you have not read the comics, you are not going to be able to follow this. Well, you could, but you might get confused. Needless to say, spoilers for the comics and the series up to and including Buffy S8 issue 22, Swell.

( Buffy's Leadership Approach )

( Is There Such a Thing as a Good Robbery? )

( Harmony vs. Buffy - A Woman's Role in Society )
( The Attack of the Vampire Kitties )

( Buffy, the Vampires, and the Frayverse - the endgame )

Okay this is incredibly long. If you made it to the end, kudos! And it took me far too long to write it. Off to take a much needed walk.

[Warning: This entry is filled with typos and paragraph gap errors, because I have no time or interest in proofing it.]

I thought they were only doing 12 issues of this series? Apparently I was wrong, since from what I've read - there's a cover for issue 14. Not that I'm complaining, I rather like Lynch's take on the Angel Series. Actually prefer it to Whedon's take on Buffy.

I've come to the conclusion regarding the Buffy comics - that they are being written for fans of Fray, if you aren't a fan of Fray, have no interest in Fray, have never heard of Fray and don't find the general themes of the potential slayers, power, leadership and war that influenced/inspired Season 7 Buffy and Firefly - you are not going to enjoy the Buffy comics very much. If however that stuff makes you jump for joy, you are probably in heaven and have no clue why the rest of us are whinging about it. Also - worth noting, the Buffy comics are not by the same writing team that did the TV series.
( Buffy Comics vs. the Angel/Spike comics )

( Angel After The Fall: Issue 11 Review - brief analysis on the unsouled vampire/human dynamic )