Saturday, September 29, 2012

What Would Buffy Do?

Today, I am writing primarily to announce that I will be going to Illinois tomorrow to visit my grandma and will have limited internet access until I get back Wednesday evening.  There was a time in my life when stepping away from the internet meant panic, and a feeling of disconnection, and guilt over any unresolved business that may come my way while gone.  Now, I mainly just announce these things out of habit...and also because I wouldn't want any of you to think I was ignoring you should you make an effort to contact me. :)

This woman means business.
But I'm also writing today to say that in the future, I should write lots of blog entries about the greatest television show ever:  Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I loved so much that the part of me that was interested in watching serialized television kind of died when it (and its spin-off, Angel) went off the air.  I haven't watched the full series since 2009 or so, but this past week, I've watched a few highlight episodes and just like every other time I've spent some quality time with Buffy and the Scooby Gang, I'm amazed all over again at how well they speak to what's going on in my life.

Much like the seven books of the Harry Potter series, the seven seasons of Buffy are unique entities tied together by series-long story arcs and character development.  Settling on a favorite season of Buffy is kind of like picking a favorite Beatles album.  It's not an easy process, but once you've found your home, it tends to be fairly easy to defend your position.

My favorite season?  Five.  Buffy is as badass as she ever was in season five.  She worked up to it in seasons one through four...and then she fell (the way people do) into a pit of despair and self-loathing in season six, until finally pulling herself back up again in season seven.

But in season five, she is Buffy the motherfucking vampire slayer. 

I don't have an overarching point today.  I just wanted to say that Buffy Summers is (still) pretty awesome.

11 comments:

  1. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AWESOME!!!

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    1. And SO definitely the best TV show EVER!!

      Season 5, huh? I got to rewatch the whole series, me thinks! :-) I watched a few random episodes a while back, and just like you I reflected on the awesomeness that is Buffy (and the Scooby gang, of course). I can hardly remember what happens in the different seasons, but the gentlemen from the ep "Hush" still scares me silly *shudder*

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    2. Oh, and also, have a great time at your grandma's! :-)

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    3. Thank you, Malin! Just got back...it was a wonderful time (every once in a while, it's nice to be reminded of how wonderful your family is :D).

      "Hush" is so on my list of episodes to rewatch!! In fact, if the presidential debate wasn't on tonight, I would totally watch it. Maybe tomorrow... But I second your motion to rewatch the whole series! Season 5 holds a special place in my heart because that was the season that I went from being a fan to being a super-fan, but how could I not with the story they were telling?! :) :) :)

      Ahh, such good television!!!!!

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  2. I KNOW!! Best show ever. And I was just commenting about it today at work how the "what would Buffy do?" should be our guiding inspiration in life (as opposed to "what would my boss do? Well, then I'll do the opposite because I'm actually sane") and how Joss Whedon in an interview was asked the question:
    "Why do you write such strong female lead characters?"
    to which he answered:
    "Because you still ask me that question"

    Ah, my hero :-) If I didn't have like every second of every day filled up with things to do I'd totally start the rewatch... Maybe one day, when I'm unemployed and poor ;-)

    How did the debate go?

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    1. That is SUCH a Joss answer! And such a good one... (Kind of reminds me of one of the many reasons why I originally fell for Jake. There was an interview where he was told that he was the "thinking woman's heartthrob" [or something along those lines] and he responded, "I would hope all women were thinking women." *sigh* He really had so much potential to be awesome, damn him!)

      Er, so, um, the debate wasn't the best 90 minutes I've ever spent watching politics...but it actually went about how I expected it would! Incumbent presidents have a tendency to lose their first debates and while I'm not personally ready to say he "lost" by ANY means, the overall media narrative today is that Romney was more on top of things. But I'm not too concerned. Obama'll pull it together (like he always does) for the next two and I'm not sure anyone was really swayed one way or the other last night anyway.

      The big thing was that Barack was pretty subdued through the whole debate. And this may be a perfect example of pulling out a "What would Buffy do?" moment. Because I think it's clear: Buffy would kick Romney's ass until it was a new shape. And maybe we'll see that with the next debate!!

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  3. Haha, yeah I remember reading that comment thinking Jake was just too good to be true (which turned out to also be the case).

    I heard the "news" or the presentation that Obama lost the debate, which made me so incredibly sad. I just hope it hasn't caused too much damage. Having Romney win would be a greater tragedy that I think I could handle, so much is so wrong in the world as it is, we sure don't need him to make an even bigger mess of things.

    How I wish we lived closer to each other so that we could spend a few hours discussing this!!

    And I definitely feel that Obama could use Buffy's counsel in the matter.

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    1. I know!! You and I could talk forever about these things... I really don't think that much damage was done. Strangely enough, after the initial reports, the dominant news coverage here has been, "Why didn't Obama say THIS?" or "Why didn't Obama fight harder?" Yes, it's negative toward Obama, but I think it's even *more* negative toward Romney, since it seems the media is kind of doing the job that Obama made should have during the debate itself (i.e., pointing out Romney's lies, talking about how Obama is fully capable of taking him down, indicating that Romney won only on style but not on substance, etc).

      The vice presidential debate is this week (I think), and then the next presidential one comes up not that long after that. Barring something truly awful happening during one of these things, I think it's going to be really, really difficult for Romney to pull ahead at this point. (Or at least I hope so!)

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  4. Well, I'll hold my thumbs that this goes our way :-) AND cross my fingers just to be on the safe side

    (not sure how I'll be able to do both at the same time. Maybe I'll hold one thumb with one hand and cross fingers with the other so it's hoping in Swedish and in English simultainously (or however THAT word is spelled...))

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    1. Haha!! I think I’ll join you in making use of both hands! :D There’s just a month left to go and all the sudden I'm starting to pay a lot closer attention to everything...with all this back and forth, my nerves may be completely shot by election night... Eek!

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