I'm watching "Ground State," and I just noticed that they shipped Gwen off to a school in Gills Rock, WI. This is where I go for the 4th of July every year. I noticed that while they chose hilly country (and Door County peninsula is moderately hilly), the hills aren't what you find there. The trees are wrong and the fact you can see bare ground between them? Nu and uh. Very green, very lush, and if'n it was fall? Leaves that had changed color already or dropped them. Oh, well, they did the best they could without leaving California.

I'm watching "Ground State," and I just noticed that they shipped Gwen off to a school in Gills Rock, WI.

Did anyone else catch her last name? The head-mistress (or whoever that was) called her parents Mr and Mrs Raiden.

Well, I cought that her name was Gwen Raiden when it was on, but I had not the Japanese folklore angle to say "Cool!"

So: Cool.

It's amazing how many pop- and non-pop-culture references the writers can fit into the Jossverse. I'd forgotten how fun it could be to research that kind of stuff. I may have to pay more attention to the episodes, start keeping notes again. I used to watch every episode a minimum of three times. Once, just to see it. Then a second time to take notes and a third to get the really fine points fleshed out. It got to be too much work, though, and some of the enjoyment of just going with the story went away. But breaking it down really made me appreciate just how much effort Joss and his writers put into developing their storylines and mythology.

Oh, that's too funny. Raiden I caught, but I only made it back as far as Mortal Kombat.

I am heathen.

I probably only would have made it to Mortal Kombat, myself, if it hadn't been for my obsession with Big Trouble in Little China.

I probably only would have made it to Mortal Kombat, myself, if it hadn't been for my obsession with Big Trouble in Little China.

I only made it to MK, but I love that movie. I mean, a dude blows up. Literally.

When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, looks you crooked in the eye and asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Jack?" "Yessir, the check is in the mail."

I still have a Buffy/Jack Burton crossover fic half plotted out somewhere....

Ah, here is the parody of that Jack Burton spiel I came up with:

"They call the town Sunnydale, but believe me, it's hard to be sunny when a city is sitting on the mouth of hell.

"Take a tip from ol' Jack, stay away when darkness falls, or there'll be hell to pay... Watch your back and watch your neck.

"But if you're ever in a jam in Sunnydale, look up a little lady by the name of Buffy. She'll be the one kicking ass and not taking names when the demons come out to play.

"Tell her Jack Burton sent you."

what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that:

Who?

"Me. Jack Burton."