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.

See, the whole design of Canberra with all its little 'town centers' spread out everywhere is good for preventing traffic jams, and for the scenery, but yeah, less population density means less places open at obscure hours...

But Kingston's one of the more medium-density suburbs of Canberra (lots of apartment blocks, a number of relatively upscale ones too). Yet Manuka, just down the road, is doing quite nicely for weekend dining.

I love the multi-nuclear design myself. (That it freaks out interstaters is just a bonus.) I place a pretty high premium on easy driving and the garden city status.

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.)

t laughing like a drain Should I mention that Bec grew up in Bega? (A cattle farm just outside, to be precise.)

Yeah, chalk me up as another reasonably intelligent person who has issues with discerning left and right.

Yeah, me too. Hopeless at it. I basically have to stare at my hands for a couple of seconds to work out which is which (I do the 'L' thing). Most interesting experience was trying to direct a taxi-driver in Cairo, in Arabic. When you don't even know the words for left and right...

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).

I can understand that. I don't find it distracting in SMG's case, personally, but knowing that Charisma was pregnant I found myself watching AtS and cringing any time she did anything remotely actiony. Even though Cordy wasn't pregnant at that point.

So, yeah.

Wrt SMG and her acting - I like Buffy well enough, but for me the engagement has always been with the show as an ensemble piece. Totally. Ditto for AtS. I've taken SMG's acting for granted and not really thought 'Hey, that's good/bad/indifferent' until the few occasions when she ripped out my still beating heart and I was all "Good grief! You're doing all this on purpose! Wow!"

Er. If that makes any sense? I thought that her Faith impression was fabulous. And, of course, there's The Body. In which everyone just combined to make me weep like a baby.

She was stunning as Fuffy. And it's her little reactions and line deliveries I like so much. Although not as adorable, I think she's a far better actress than Allyson Hannigan.

Oh, I don't have any problem at all with the way Buffy - or indeed most of the characters - have developed over the years. It's a perfectly believable progression, made even more so by the acting, which I also cannot fault.

I just had a little "a-ha" moment when I realised I don't think I particularly like SMG. However, as I mentioned before, it is really hard to separate SMG from Buffy, who I do like. But one way to try is to imagine another actress in the role. It's difficult, but interesting.

Katie Holmes would have been good, I think. (I've never watched DC, I hasten to add). Can't imagine her as a blonde, though. Would Buffy have to be blonde?

I love Katie Holmes, but Buffy needed to be ditzier than she can do for the initial premise to work. Katie Holmes can't do airhead. SMG does airhead better than anyone working today - CF the Buffybot eps.