Nilly, in Dude, Where's My Precious:

My watching of TTT got a special meaning regarding the last terrorists' attack on Israel - my youngest brother was nearly late for the movie because he was comforting one of his best friends on the phone, because he (the friend) had been there where terrorist broke into his 'yeshiva' and killed four of his fellow students, one of them a dear friend. My brother is not even 20 yet. He is soon to enlist to the army, because he has to, and he is one of the sweetest pure-hearted people I know.

I think this is why Sam becomes the core of the story for me, at one point: most of us can't run for three days and three nights in pursuit of kidnapped friends, most of us can't jokingly count how many Evil Things we've killed, while still shooting bows or waving an ax. Most of us can't fight huge blackness and flame ancient monsters or volunteer to carry the world's fate on our shoulders in a minute's notice. One of the young men who were murdered last night made sure to lock a door which leads to the room where 100 people sat and ate their shabbat dinner, that's what had been his first priority. Not running and saving himself, not hiding - exposing himself to the bullets in order to save many others. I don't know about you, but I don't know whether I were able to do that. Then again, inserting myself to an illusion shatters it a bit, for me. But Sam is a different matter - he's loyal to his friend, he goes along with him, he cries, he breaks, he keeps believing that there's good in the world. He's not motivated by the power and glory, or by the 'big' fate of the world. He loves his home, his life and his friends, and wants to keep them as safe and as undamaged as possible. And I can identify with that. He sits there and he's crying and he's all alone with Frodo becoming more and more Gollum-like and ring-possessed, with the third party he can't trust and he is unwilling to connect to what is going over his beloved friend, and his heart is breaking, and he keeps on going. That's an amazing thing to do, don't get me wrong - that's probably the biggest thing someone can do for somebody else or for an idea. Especially when that's the only thing you can do, and you simply offer yourself up like that.

I'm sorry, I've got entangled in my words. I'll try to say it differently: it's very difficult for me to identify with heroic characters. I think one of the reasons that the early seasons of "Buffy" are so loved, for example, is because of this ability to identify with not-perfect-but-still-trying characters. Willow was not yet a dreadfully-powerful-witch downsiding her strength, she was the shy girl thrilled she was able to say the word 'date' to the cute guitarist. And they were afraid, failed and cried a lot. Now they're too far away from just 'people'. And I'm not saying it's a bad thing, because I'm glad the characters are developing, I'm just saying that it makes it harder for me to identify with them. Those are not struggles that I feel I am going through, the way I used to feel about a lot of what Willow went through, for example (and I can write an even longer post about that, I'm afraid). So I can't really identify with Aragorn or Legolas or Gandalf. I can think (and I do) that they're amazing heroic characters, portrayed really well, three-dimensionally, acted marvelously - I'd follow Aragorn as captain, I'd watch Legolas move in washing dishes without being bored, I'd adore the magnificence of Gandalf, and so forth - but I can't identify with them. I can identify with Sam, even though what he is doing is so much greater than anything the not-a-character-from-a-story me can ever do, because it's being built up on things I know and understand and see in me (or wish to) for some extent - love and friendship and loyalty, wanting to be there for a loved one, no matter the cost, missing all the things I know and love while protecting them. And maybe I'm more susceptible to this because of where I live and how so many people here have to lead their lives - practically every man I know has served in the army, has had to face dangers that most other people (including, of course, me) only saw on movies. You can watch "Band of Brothers" or the like - all I need to do is sit down and talk to my people I know IRL. And they have stories which are just as amazing. I TA people that movies could be produced about. And they have amazing courage, love and spirit. I'm not sure I'm expressing myself well here (not because of the English, because I'm not a good writer) but these things that we encounter in fiction, they exist in the real world. Not many Great Heroes who can lead everybody to victory, perhaps, or great old Wise Men who can drive out evil spirits from a lonely king's mind, but those people who walk step by step, don't leave their friends, keep believing there's good in the world that's worth all their cold and hunger and longings - they're real. I am lucky enough to know a few of them. I admire them. Their feet are less hairy, and their companions a little taller, perhaps, but their hearts are just as big and courageous.

I'm babbling so badly

I think only the second paragraph really needs to be white-fonted.

tralfamadore2001:

Brownies get patches for eating s'mores, so I figure Connor could probably earn the equivalent of a bronze award at least. He showed initiative and, you know, slicing body parts off of criminals has to count as some sort of community service.

not because of the English, because I'm not a good writer)

The tears on my cheeks reading that beg to differ, Nilly.

ita, that's S3 AtS.

Betsy:

You call that a stompy foot? You call that stomping?

Yeesh, what are you, Miss Manners with a whip?

Fay on Justin Timberlake:

He's cute, I guess - certainly looks impressively bendy.

From Angel, definitely spoily for Season 4:

Madrigal Costello :

Which would mean that Angel'd become a father, then a grandfather in less than three years. And it'd complicate the family tree. But it would also mean that the CoCo puff would be half vampiric human, 1/ 4 floaty platitudy demon and 1/4 cheerleader - just like so many university roommates.

Pinwiz:

Or Cordy in High School?

Matt the Bruins fan :

I think my attitude toward the Cordelia/Connor pairing is similar to what pioneers must have had toward getting cowpox rather than smallpox. Not lethal like the alternative it wards one against, but hardly enjoyable.

wolfram:

Being an active member of this board requires more reading than law school.

Deena, proving why she's fitting in so well around here:

Oh, re: pen and paper D&D, I can't quite seem to get into it. My husband, son and I tried to play once, but I kept hitting on all the other characters and getting porny, and then laughing like a loon must laugh if it does laugh. My son, who was trying to DM, got rather disgusted with me and didn't find me funny at all. I can't imagine it. It's amazing the number of things I can say that require his now standard response, "Never.say.that.in.my.hearing.again." I'm keeping count. We're up to about 563. Also amazing how innocuous the content can be when the delivery is "right".