He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children. —Psalm 113:9

March 3, 2008

Quickly, before I have to race the sleet and snow home

Links of interest on this dreary Monday morning:

This is quite possibly the neatest web design in the history of web designs.

This free online Tales of the Slayer comic by Drew Goddard is pretty funny. Lo, the spider-eating man-bitch returneth.

Elsewhere in the galaxy of Buffy alumni, Amber Benson directed a Common Rotation video.

Giving away books online seems to be all the rage these days: Go and read Neil Gaiman's American Gods for free.



In Which I Rant About This Year's "Best Picture"

We used my Friday off to finally see No Country for Old Men. The consensus between me, Husband, and Husband's friend: Eh? It felt like two different movies mashed together. One was a quiet little introspective film about growing old while the world changes around you and you feel helpless to stop it, and in the middle of this somebody plopped the first two-thirds of a really kick-ass action/thriller. We loved the action/thriller part--and Javier Bardem definitely earned that Oscar. That guy was CREE. PEE.--that got us all worked up and invested in Josh Brolin's character and his plight, only to have it end abruptly, any resolution having happened off-screen and returning to the introspective old man movie, which also ended abruptly, and pretty much left the three of us sitting there going, "What the eff was that?" That said, the acting, cinematography, dialogue, etc. were all excellent. But I have many, many issues with the story structure and pacing, and I feel like the intent was to play around with story structure in unexpected ways for the sake of ART, at the audience's expense, and really, I can't stand that crap. I want a resolution to my story. What's more, I want a resolution to the story I spent almost two hours getting really invested in. I want characters that exist for more than the sake of getting killed in shocking and violent ways. I don't want to be jerked around and left feeling like I just had my lunch money stolen. Boo, Cohen brothers. Boo.

4 comments:

vtbyers said...

Are you reading the Buffy comic? Or have you just seen the news stories about Buffy's lesbian encounters in the new comic?

I think I am slightly disturbed. I would have rather seen her hook up with Xander than this! :(

Jean Bauhaus said...

I haven't read the new issue yet, but I saw the NYT interview with Joss. I'm glad I got spoiled so I could brace myself for it. Honestly, it's got me considering canceling my subscription. Not so much because of the lesbianism, but because I'm not thrilled with a lot of the characterization, and I think I prefer to remember the characters as we left them in Chosen.

As far as Spuffy goes, this doesn't hurt my little Spuffy heart as much as a hook-up with Xander would, because you know Spike would be only too happy to get in on some girl-on-girl Slayer action. That said, I think a hook-up with Xander would accomplish all of the things Joss says he's going for with this encounter without seeming so... I don't know. It feels like an exploitive ratings stunt to me. I guess I should read it before I make that call, but from what I've seen so far it just doesn't seem in character. So yes, I'm disturbed.

Jean Bauhaus said...

Heh, I've got more to say. Something that's really been bothering me about Season 8 is the Faith arc, specifically Buffy's reaction to Faith. I could have sworn that they made peace with each other in Season 7, so Buffy's knee-jerk assumption that Faith was evil and her fury at Giles working with Faith seemed way out of left field to me.

vtbyers said...

I agree. The lesbianism itself doesn't bother me much, but the fact that it just doesn't seem to fit with Buffy's character does. Yes, she's lonely. Yes, she's got "daddy" and "men leaving her" issues...however, I don't think that it is a realistic jump for her to all of a sudden go bi-curious. Maybe if they would have let the relationship with her Satsu develop over a couple of issues, I could have understood it more...but it all seemed fairly sudden and unbelievable to me.

As for Xander, I could understand a quick one night stand with him more so as one out of solace and loss after Sunnydale (kind of how Anya and Spike grieved for the loss of their relationships before)and then they realized the mistake of it (perhaps because it would cure Xander's barely contained crush from season 1). It has been alluded earlier in the comic that something did happen between them "that one time" so I think I would have rather seen a flashback to that if they wanted to comment on Buffy's loneliness and lack of deep connection.

And seriously, can't we cut Faith a break? Hasn't she done enough penance yet to trust her?

Has Joss been away from the show for so long that he's forgotten his characters?

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