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bloodygranuaile"In case de curse does not succeed, dis is me lucky stake. I have killed many vampires wit it. I call it Mr. Pointy."
I have certain too-cool-for-school biases that I am learning, slowly, to get over. They have caused me to deprive myself of too many of the wonderful things in life. Like Joss Whedon shows.
One of the unfortunate things that tends to happen to people when they discover Joss Whedon is that they get very, very excited and, regardless of whether or not they'd first mention Buffy or Firefly if someone merely asked them "What's the best television show ever made?", the moment they find out you haven't seen it they go completely evangelical berserk on you. Any militant nonconformist, like many of us styled ourselves in high school, have a knee-jerk bad reaction to this sort of enthusiasm. As such, I put off watching Firefly for a very long time. How was I supposed to know people were actually *right* about how awesome it is?
I had similar snobbery issues with Buffy, for many years. Got sick of people always bringing it up when someone mentioned vampires; developed a sort of "hexcuse me, I am busy reading Montague Summers here, I do not have time for the crappy 90s television version of this myth" *FLOUNCE* attitude. Also, highly biased against the recent development of vampires completely transforming their physical appearances to feed--in books, they look like what they look like. Any physical changes are limited to eyes flashing red (very old old demonic trait) or their fangs getting longer (logical, biting's sort of a big thing with vamps). When was the last time you read a book that was all "and then his eyes flashed red and his fangs grew longer, and his skin turned sort of green and his nose got all squished, and his forehead grew bigger..."? Yeah, didn't think so. Also, WTF sort of name is "Buffy"? Dumber than "Sookie," seriously.
And I still, actually, think the vampire makeup and the name "Buffy" are kind of dumb. But this is more than outweighed by the fact that the show is awesome.
Some people have compared Twilight to Buffy. Actually, no, that's not true. People have said that they'd ASSUMED Twilight would somehow compare to Buffy, but NOBODY with reading comprehension can draw more than superficial similarities. I mean, you can compare anything, and you can especially always compare one paranormal romance to another. You can compare True Blood to Twilight, and not just 'cos they're both popular. But they're nothing *like* each other. And Buffy really reminds me a lot more of True Blood, mostly in that the main character has a personality and is not so militantly emo-ly Outside Teh Shallow Cultural Mainsteam OMG Aren't I Better Than Everyone Else? I mean... seriously, I'm a Goth, I probably *have* more in common with Bella on the socially awkward not-going-to-school-dances end (and CERTAINLY did in high school!), but I really LIKE that Sookie and Buffy *aren't* dark and brooding. Sookie and Buffy are strong, with the occasional appreciation for being "girly," like wearing no pants, ever. Bella covers being a stereotypically weak female by being concerned with ~deeper things~ than girliness. MAN UP and LIGHTEN UP, Bells. This is almost making me want to go blonde.
The vampire boyfriends in all three stories are still dark and brooding; it's apparently necessary. (Only Edward is a CHRONICALLY PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE MANIPULATIVE CONTROLLING ARSEHOLE about it, though.) The Buffy/Angel thing did clear up part of what looked like inconsistency in Twilight for me, though (because OF COURSE it can't be Stephenie Meyer being inconsistent!), the whole bit where Edward was like BUT I CANNOT SHAG YOU, IT WILL BE FATAL but then does anyway and it doesn't kill her? It is not fatal because he will squish Bella with ~vampiric manliness~, it is because if he shags her, he will NOT BE EMO FOR TEN SECONDS, and this is the kiss of death for melodramatic vampire boyfriends of human chicks. IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW.
The show also has a nice balance of vampire-related plot to other-paranormal-stuff plot, although as the show is progressing they're getting more and more interrelated to form a recognizable plot arc, which I guess is standard for most shows--more episodic at first, more cohesive as it progresses. But it stops the vampires from getting to be too much. And all the other weird shit they run into is just so much fun. (My favorite episode so far is still when Xander and some other kids get possessed by hyenas, partly because hyena-Xander has so much more class than normal Xander. Also they ate the principal. Which... made me hungry?)
I supposedly have to wait until school starts again to get season 3 from Simon, although I might have to find a way around that. Or I could chill out and read the next three Sookie Stackhouse books. I should probably do that. (And watch the Sopranos. Variety is good.)
In other news, the gym Mom joined is ridiculous. I'm very glad to have a gym to go to over break, since I always eat too much and spend most of the day reading/watching movies, for three weeks, which is bad. Paul has agreed to take me for an "advanced driving" lesson on Saturday, and I'll be taking a defensive driving course sometime this break, and then maybe we'll be able to start looking at replacing my car and having me actually be prepared to not crash it this time. (Have been trying to deal with the anger and embarrassment by looking at this as a learning experience. I have learned that sometimes I'm *not* just being a wimp when I'm not comfortable with something, that grown-ups aren't always right and copying them is not the way to learn things, and that some things are dangerous to learn by mucking about by yourself. Next, I'm going to learn to drive better.) It's almost Christmas: I love baking, I hate sappy Christmas music (Make cake, not love!). I am still being antisocial and haven't seen any of my friends since I got home. Hanging out with Mom is fun but if she's not around I'd rather it just be me and my mood swings. I never thought I'd write that sentence, ever. Crate & Barrel is selling those adorable half-size martini glasses they have at Moynihan's, and I am coveting them for post-Christmas shopping, even though I have a ridiculous number of martini glasses already (and all from Crate & Barrel). And that is about the most exciting stuff going on in my life right now. It's so good to be on break.
I have certain too-cool-for-school biases that I am learning, slowly, to get over. They have caused me to deprive myself of too many of the wonderful things in life. Like Joss Whedon shows.
One of the unfortunate things that tends to happen to people when they discover Joss Whedon is that they get very, very excited and, regardless of whether or not they'd first mention Buffy or Firefly if someone merely asked them "What's the best television show ever made?", the moment they find out you haven't seen it they go completely evangelical berserk on you. Any militant nonconformist, like many of us styled ourselves in high school, have a knee-jerk bad reaction to this sort of enthusiasm. As such, I put off watching Firefly for a very long time. How was I supposed to know people were actually *right* about how awesome it is?
I had similar snobbery issues with Buffy, for many years. Got sick of people always bringing it up when someone mentioned vampires; developed a sort of "hexcuse me, I am busy reading Montague Summers here, I do not have time for the crappy 90s television version of this myth" *FLOUNCE* attitude. Also, highly biased against the recent development of vampires completely transforming their physical appearances to feed--in books, they look like what they look like. Any physical changes are limited to eyes flashing red (very old old demonic trait) or their fangs getting longer (logical, biting's sort of a big thing with vamps). When was the last time you read a book that was all "and then his eyes flashed red and his fangs grew longer, and his skin turned sort of green and his nose got all squished, and his forehead grew bigger..."? Yeah, didn't think so. Also, WTF sort of name is "Buffy"? Dumber than "Sookie," seriously.
And I still, actually, think the vampire makeup and the name "Buffy" are kind of dumb. But this is more than outweighed by the fact that the show is awesome.
Some people have compared Twilight to Buffy. Actually, no, that's not true. People have said that they'd ASSUMED Twilight would somehow compare to Buffy, but NOBODY with reading comprehension can draw more than superficial similarities. I mean, you can compare anything, and you can especially always compare one paranormal romance to another. You can compare True Blood to Twilight, and not just 'cos they're both popular. But they're nothing *like* each other. And Buffy really reminds me a lot more of True Blood, mostly in that the main character has a personality and is not so militantly emo-ly Outside Teh Shallow Cultural Mainsteam OMG Aren't I Better Than Everyone Else? I mean... seriously, I'm a Goth, I probably *have* more in common with Bella on the socially awkward not-going-to-school-dances end (and CERTAINLY did in high school!), but I really LIKE that Sookie and Buffy *aren't* dark and brooding. Sookie and Buffy are strong, with the occasional appreciation for being "girly," like wearing no pants, ever. Bella covers being a stereotypically weak female by being concerned with ~deeper things~ than girliness. MAN UP and LIGHTEN UP, Bells. This is almost making me want to go blonde.
The vampire boyfriends in all three stories are still dark and brooding; it's apparently necessary. (Only Edward is a CHRONICALLY PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE MANIPULATIVE CONTROLLING ARSEHOLE about it, though.) The Buffy/Angel thing did clear up part of what looked like inconsistency in Twilight for me, though (because OF COURSE it can't be Stephenie Meyer being inconsistent!), the whole bit where Edward was like BUT I CANNOT SHAG YOU, IT WILL BE FATAL but then does anyway and it doesn't kill her? It is not fatal because he will squish Bella with ~vampiric manliness~, it is because if he shags her, he will NOT BE EMO FOR TEN SECONDS, and this is the kiss of death for melodramatic vampire boyfriends of human chicks. IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW.
The show also has a nice balance of vampire-related plot to other-paranormal-stuff plot, although as the show is progressing they're getting more and more interrelated to form a recognizable plot arc, which I guess is standard for most shows--more episodic at first, more cohesive as it progresses. But it stops the vampires from getting to be too much. And all the other weird shit they run into is just so much fun. (My favorite episode so far is still when Xander and some other kids get possessed by hyenas, partly because hyena-Xander has so much more class than normal Xander. Also they ate the principal. Which... made me hungry?)
I supposedly have to wait until school starts again to get season 3 from Simon, although I might have to find a way around that. Or I could chill out and read the next three Sookie Stackhouse books. I should probably do that. (And watch the Sopranos. Variety is good.)
In other news, the gym Mom joined is ridiculous. I'm very glad to have a gym to go to over break, since I always eat too much and spend most of the day reading/watching movies, for three weeks, which is bad. Paul has agreed to take me for an "advanced driving" lesson on Saturday, and I'll be taking a defensive driving course sometime this break, and then maybe we'll be able to start looking at replacing my car and having me actually be prepared to not crash it this time. (Have been trying to deal with the anger and embarrassment by looking at this as a learning experience. I have learned that sometimes I'm *not* just being a wimp when I'm not comfortable with something, that grown-ups aren't always right and copying them is not the way to learn things, and that some things are dangerous to learn by mucking about by yourself. Next, I'm going to learn to drive better.) It's almost Christmas: I love baking, I hate sappy Christmas music (Make cake, not love!). I am still being antisocial and haven't seen any of my friends since I got home. Hanging out with Mom is fun but if she's not around I'd rather it just be me and my mood swings. I never thought I'd write that sentence, ever. Crate & Barrel is selling those adorable half-size martini glasses they have at Moynihan's, and I am coveting them for post-Christmas shopping, even though I have a ridiculous number of martini glasses already (and all from Crate & Barrel). And that is about the most exciting stuff going on in my life right now. It's so good to be on break.
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no subject
Date: 2008-12-24 04:46 am (UTC)Hey, am I one of those people who went evangelical beserk on you about *not* watching Firefly? Yeah, probably. I do have that reaction about movies/shows that are a-fucking-unbelieveably-awesome-tastic. Yep. In other funny, anecdotal-type news, my friend is now totally hooked on Twilight (and Edward *gag*) and she yelled at me for getting her addicted. I told her to yell at my cousin, who introduced me to the crack-tastic series in the first place. And my cousin said..."Well, I had to get other people addicted so I wouldn't be alone in rehab"
no subject
Date: 2008-12-24 05:27 pm (UTC)Haha, you were, but you were the one I actually listened to because I know you have good taste in movies 'n' things. But I also got a lot of random nerd people just being like IT'S SO AWESOME, YOU SHOULD WATCH IT COS ITS AWESOME and I'd be like, what's so awesome about it? and they'd be like IT'S JUST AWESOME, JUST WATCH IT and frankly, "some nerds get real excited about it" isn't enough of a recommendation for me, all things considered...
If there were Twilight rehab centers, it'd be the biggest party EVER.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-24 06:11 am (UTC)buffy is awesome, i am jealous that you're getting to continue it..i'll have to make a stop by blockbuster and pick it up.
i also feel like it's awesome because i love the humor in it.
ohhh i am totally going berserk on you and still can't wait until you see the musical/'hush' ep.
edward. bane of my existence.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-24 05:30 pm (UTC)There is a musical episode? o.O
Edward=teh suck. Except not in the fun sense. *waves "Team Bill Compton" flag*
no subject
Date: 2008-12-24 01:44 pm (UTC)And I must admit that True Blood is something special. The whole civil rights movement thing cracked me up.
Now Twilight... I thought about reading it... I mean I LOVE vampires... BUT when I read the summary on the back of the book I just thought "CHEESY!".
And I am suspecting that it might be a bit Mary-Sue-ish. I think I am not desperate enough. Give me another year being single. I might reconsider.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-24 05:33 pm (UTC)No amount of being single should be able to screw with your brain enough to make you think Twilight is a decent romance. It's horribly Mary-Sue-ish, except for the bit where the main character doesn't have any strengths or redeeming qualities at all. But it's addictive in the "so bad it's good" sort of way.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-24 03:05 pm (UTC)So, despite myself, I've kind of fallen in love with it. I totally understand your reasoning throughout most of this (and I need to get my hands on the Sookie Stackhouse books ASAP), and it's nice to know that someone is giving the vampires their fangs back.
Incidentally, I wish I had room for my own cute martini glasses. Jealous...
Give me a call when you have any desire to hang out with people, we can grab lunch or something that slowly introduces you back to the outside world ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-12-24 05:36 pm (UTC)Lunch would be fabulous. Are you around Friday, or this weekend?
no subject
Date: 2008-12-25 07:28 am (UTC)Yay Firefly!!