Ahrg. sknnnnnnnxxxxkkkkzzzz

Has sara joined the cast of the Dark Crystal?

Timelies all!

I took the afternoon off so we could get an early-ish start up to Pittsburg for Confluence. Alas, because he had to wait for the plumber yesterday, G can't get out of work as early as he was originally planning. We'll still get there earlier than we have in previous years, but later than we would have liked.

Yeah. I know, Jars, BMI is so backwards. I love that I'm a size 4 and overweight according to them. It makes me giggle everytime.

Unless you're about 3'8", this is BANANAS.

Morning. Slept like shit, got about 4 hours. Dreamed I went back to high school as an adult. It was fun, although I had a really hard time persuading my dad that he wanted to buy Apple and Microsoft stocks.

I am having a little more (too strong) coffee, and then getting ready to go to court. Bleargh.

Hey Sheryl. Your Neil Gaiman tag reminds me that I suggested last week that my son read Good Omens. He liked it so much he read it straight through in a couple days and is now reading it again. This pleases me.

Why for the going to court Erin? Jury Duty? Getting hitched?

Sara's trying not to fall asleep.

Officemate accidentally dropped a really large box. That'll probably buy me five minutes.

Please to provide a viewing report, Hec.

I tried to pick eps that weren't overfamiliar. So these weren't my all-time favorite episodes in each series. To the the contrary, they were ones that I felt needed a reconsideration, or a new viewing.

BtVS: "Conversations With Dead People." My favorite S7 episode and it gave us an excuse to pop the cherry on our still wrapped-in-plastic set. I always think of this episode primarily for the Holden / Buffy interaction - and that is still great. Some of Joss best writing that season. I'd forgotten how freakin' creepy Dawn's scenes are. Ultimately they don't have that much emotional carry because it's just the First fucking with her, but there are some very very unsettling images in that one. Willow and Cassie's scenes are heartbreaking - both actresses are just spot on. Really doesn't hurt the scene at all that they couldn't get Amber back. And the Jonathan and Andrew scenes are very funny and then very tragic. Warren is super creepy in his First incranation. Commentary was great with Drew, Jane, Tom and Danny. In my mind, it's comparable to Casablanca as a made-by-committee piece that is better for all the hands on it, instead of worse.

Angel: "Deep Down." Remember how jazzed we were when we saw this episode in its first run? "I'll take away your bucket." Justine in the closet. Fred tasering the fuck out Connor. "Sit down." Angel going down on sucking blood from Wesley. "Daddy's not done yet." This time Gunn and Fred were reminding me of Willow and Xander going on patrol while Buffy was gone for the summer.

Firefly: "Bushwhacked." This episode never stuck with me that much except as "guy goes Reaver and staples his face." So I'm looking at the box and Written and Directed by Tim Minear is looking back. I love Tim's direction, so I figure I'll watch the episode and focus on that. How it was shot. Which is an interesting way to watch this episode because he's doing interesting thing with light sources all through the episode. It has a bit of Aliens and a bit of Silence of the Lambs in it. I forgot this is the ep with the interrogations. Alan rocks so hard in his, and the cut from Zoe ("We're very private people" ) to Wash is still very funny. Gina has an underappreciated gift for mining comedy out of deadpan dignity. When this first aired I missed the beginning, so I had missed the Calvinball scene to start. (I've watched the episode several times since. Firefly is the series I've watched the most from beginning to end.) The story concludes too abruptly, I think, and also this whole angle on Reaverdom kind of gets Jossed later on. But you could really feel Tim's dark/noir elements in the writing.

Wonderfalls: "Cocktail Bunny." We only got to start watching this before JZ conked out. It really made me miss the actors - Lee in particular. I was having pangs of missing these characters and wishing we had more stories about them. Missing Caroline as Jaye. I haven't seen her in anything else. If she's going to be in Canada she could at least have the decency to apper in Slings and Arrows, dammit! It's a heartbreaking episode, isn't it?

I had never read the sonnets all in one fell swoop - I've read many of them piecemeal. I know that the sonnets were most likely arranged by the editor, but the fact that there is a narrative arc is cool!

Exactly. In fact, it makes a great novel in my head - the combination of historical and social and biographical context and the sonnets. Young writer starts off seeking patronage and rather cynically sucking up to his patron. Then starts to obsess and fall in love with this beautiful young man. Eventually grows disillusioned, but never entirely free of his obsession. Falls into a dark, self-destructive intensely sexual relationship with a woman. Tim Minear should direct it. Very noir.