The comicshop boy had not yet unpacked enough boxes to get to either the Darkhorse or the Vertigo stuff. I am, sadly, Frayless for another day.

Curse him, wee comicshop geeky boy!

And I have to apologise to billytea for my wrongness. There are indeed, Aussie pie and Heinz sauce chips, Ham and Keens mustard chips and, wait for it... Mighty Bighty Bega cheese chips. I saw them tonight in the box of much temptation (aka, the snack food machine at work.)

I'd offer to send them to the F2F so that all the non-UnAmericans can experience the .. erm .. glory, but that just sounds like cruel and unusual punishment. And I'm Australian, we're mostly used to being on the receiving end of that one.

my favourite so far is the actress who played Sunday in The Freshman.

hmm.. Sunday herself was too flip, I think. And I'm having trouble thinking of the actress outside of the role. I do know that whenever they talk about "so and so" auditioning for Buffy (was Katie Holmes one that I read about recently?) I always shudder to imagine it.

the view that Azura Skye... is utterly fantastic

I really liked her in 28 Days (that was her, yes? And ooh.. a Tudyk connection!) but that whole "Zoe, whatit, whosit and Jane" show was appalling.

that whole "Zoe, whatit, whosit and Jane" show was appalling.

I kind of liked it. It was like a MiniMe version of 'Friends', and I generally watched it whenever I happened across it - which wasn't very often, admitedly, but, still... And she had the cute short dark hair thing going on, which I like way more than blondeness. With the snark. And Michael 'Lex' Rosenbaum. Um.

And she had the cute short dark hair thing going on, which I like way more than blondeness

Oh Fay, you read my deleted secret extra line from that post. I think she looks much much more attractive with darker hair. Less washed out, her features are more distinct, and the colouring suits her better.

But then, I will admit that my lack of actual knowledge of Z,D,J&J prevented me from remembering what colour her hair was then.

I do associate that with the whole Two Guys, A girl, A pizza whatever because, I think, they aired here together (And then I got sidetracked into six degrees of Mutant Enemy) but I was never a watcher of either. On the other hand? I'm a superior judge of television from commercials. No, really, it's an art :)

Both shows have turned out to be unexpectedly rich in the post-show careers of their stars. Good casting, anyway.

There is no Buffy but SMG and apparently I'm her prophet.

Sheeesh. UnAmericans. Can't live with 'em. Can wage a pre-emptive war if they keep it up, though. At least there's small comfort there.

Cindy - I KNEW IT! First it's about WMD, then about SMG. Is there an acronym you people won't invade over?

Hmmmm. Let's see. BLT. OPP. OTP. LSD. ABC. SOS. Nope. Oh, wait.

SARS - we won't invade over SARS.

Most used direction in my repertoire? "Left, Left! The other left!!"

Yeah, chalk me up as another reasonably intelligent person who has issues with discerning left and right. I got better at it once I started driving, because I figured out that the left-hand turn is the harder one (since you're crossing traffic). If I ever end up driving in UK/Australia/Japan/etc, I'm screwed.

My husband suffers from the same affliction, which makes road trips fun.

Me: (spots the right turn ahead) Okay, turn left up there.

Husband: Okay. (turns right)

Me: Good.

Of course, this condition can lead to embarrassing situations. The first year I taught, I gave a test on giving and following directions in Spanish. Basically, the kids had a printed map with directions written in Spanish; they had to follow the directions and write where they ended up.

So, sure enough, about 5 minutes into the test the hands started going up. "Ma'am? These directions take me...off the paper."

So then I had to stop the test and say "Okay, in number 4 where it says 'derecha'? Change that to 'izquierda'. In number 6 where it says 'izquierda'? Change that...."

Tonight, me me me gets new Fray. Not a bloody moment too soon, I say.

• ears perk up* Fray? Fray? New Fray? Now? *Runs off to check the Other Media thread*

See, I've decided this season that I really don't like Buffy, but I think it's mostly down to SMG.

See, I like SMG as Buffy.

Now, I kinda waver between the two of these. This season I've been loving Buffy partly in abstract, because there have been entire episodes where I get so preoccupied by how frail SMG looks that I just can't believe in whatever it is she's doing (mostly a me thing, and possibly a fight-scene direction thing). There's also the Spuffy factor, because the way SMG seems to play those scenes, IMHO, is remarkably similar to the performance of someone whose facial muscles have detached themselves. Add that to my sudden disinterest in Spike, who somehow manages to be even more pathetic than Angel at the whole, "I've killed... well, who can remember exact numbers, but what's important is that your strangely non-expressed love gives me the strength I need to refrain from having bad hair" schtick... uh, well, to me neither JM or SMG comes out of their scenes looking like masters of the acting craft.

On the other hand, I simply cannot imagine anyone but SMG playing Buffy and I have a great big stockpile of good-will for the past six or so years of great acting, and whenever I begin to think that the 'distant' thing is solely because of Sarah's disinterest, I remember how unbelievable I'd find it if I got back my quippy, mopey "it's all about me" Buffy from seasons 1-4.

t Uh, sudden pro-Buffy rant. Character development isn't always about becoming a better person, sometimes it's just about changing, sometimes that change is for the worse. I think Buffy went through hell - no, actually, she grew up in hell, and now she shuts herself off because she's decided hell's really not all it's cracked up to be. Perhaps not the best way to approach maturation, on the whole, but it is (for me) believable and understandable. Which means that personally, I still love the character, regardless of her current brittle, non-cuddly exterior. t /End of rant

Put more simply, I agree that SMG acting can sometimes be unconvincing, but lord knows DB has given some truly unconvincing performances in his time and I'm still waaayy too enamoured of Angel.

Edit - or what Cindy said...plus fake-tag fun.

I agree with pretty much everything Leigh said. Buffy grew up. I would add that a major factor of her new attitude was season 5, where she lost her own mother and gained a little sister, so she suddenly had to be responsible not just for herself, but for someone else. Gave her a whole new outlook on life.

I think that Buffy's development has been very logical, but that doesn't mean it's been as fun to watch. It's like meeting up with an old friend that you used to do wild and crazy things with, only to discover that he's married and has a few kids and an investment job and just isn't into that crazy stuff anymore. You can't fault him for growing up, and he can't go back again, but you still kinda miss the old crazy guy you used to know.