Funny The Way It Is

Said goodbye to a special someone tonight.  We haven’t really been hanging out for a terribly long time but I have still really enjoyed spending time with her, having intelligent conversations (as well as not so intelligent conversations) together, and just being around her awesome personality.  I’m really stoked for summer, yet I am not so excited to only be able to talk with her over the phone.  It’s strange how terrible the timing can be with things like this.  Bugger.

In other news, I’ve been watching a fair bit of Angel recently and after about a season and a half of snooze alerts and Clifford the Big Red Dog kind of episodic connection, I have finally hit the good stuff.  The episodes have finally begun to get hazy and non-existent at the corners and have started turning into one big story instead of several episode length tales coincidentally involving the same folks.  Angel has started to do for me what Buffy was able to do so well; it is telling a story that makes sense, is compelling, is imaginative, and is comfortable with what it is.  Sure, it would be easy for a show like this to either be way too serious (I mean, come on, it’s about a vampire who finds many of his answers by singing for a demon in a bar) or else way too goofy.  Instead, Joss and the other producers were able to level out Angel in a way that allows for a stellar plot progression supplemented by comedy, drama, and spoofy fun.  To anyone starting out with this show, I have the following message: Push on, brave soul, and you will be heartily rewarded.  I just hope it continues along this path.

Also, as a final note, this from Jonathan Carroll’s twitter today.

Makes me wonder why I define love the way I do.

Not much

Just a quick post about a few random things.

I now look decidedly like Sonic the Hedgehog’s older human brother.  My dreadlocks are too short to actually fall and they are too waxed up to bend so the result is several inch long dread-spikes protruding from my skull.  They might be terrible if I didn’t freaking love them.  Now if I can only start smoking pot and not caring about things I can complete the stereotype…

I had an idea for a new story tonight.  It pretty much only reached through the first line but it was exciting nonetheless.  I scratched down a few words about where I would possibly like to go with it before scampering off to the real world with real statistics homework.

I skimmed through some of my favorite Buffy episodes from season 2 tonight.  I can still remember blazing through those final two episodes of that season and being totally and irrevocably in love with that show.  Even though the BSG finale was totally incredible, Becoming Part 2 still reigns supreme as my single favorite episode of television in the long history of ever.  That show deserves a full run rewatch this summer.

Speaking of redoing awesome things from the past, these are the few things that I have planned out so far to re-watch/read this summer:

1. Buffy in its beautiful entirety

2. The Dark Tower

3. The Lord of the Rings

4. Lisey’s Story

5. The Chronicles of Narnia

6. BSG

Preparing for the beginning after the end

Break is almost here.  Holy Jeebus, break is almost here.  It’s funny because I find myself anticipating time away from school with no schedule, no plan, nothing that I need to do but at the same time, I have a list as long as a long list of books and movies and tv shows that I intend to watch.  I guess it just comes down to having the ability to set up or tear down a schedule at will.  It’s true that I’ve set up a reading list for myself but it’s also true that I can choose to sleep in every single day, wake up at 2:00 in the afternoon and eat Nacho Cheesier Doritos for the rest of the day.  I have a sneaking suspicion that I would come out of that schedule looking like a double-plus big Ua but I could do it without any teacher looking at me with a disappointed glance as he or she slips me a paper with a nice, capital F on it.  Break is just ahead, I can see its shadow through the rain and I’ve got some serious planning already done.

Books (most likely in this order)

Dombey and Son

Kissing the Witch

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Walking Dead (Trades 6-8 )

Inkspell

Umbrella Academy (Trade 1)

A Christmas Carol (On Christmas Day)

TV Shows

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (As much as possible)

Heroes (Keeping up with new episodes)

Battle Star Galactica (Hopefully up through the 1st season)

Movies

Event Horizon

Quantum of Solace

Twilight (Again…?)

It’s going to be an awesome-filled break but I have a few things to do before I get there.  A senior sem. presentation, two tests and a fiction portfolio are blocking my sight but I’m going to get there, one way or another.  Hopefully I’ll still be sane enough to enjoy my plans when I get there.

Journeys end

I’m currently working my way through Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  The first season was pretty solid but the show really caught for me during season 2.  Currently I am finished with season 3 but I know that if I watch more without letting some of my excitement out, I may spontaneously combust…Dickens style.

The show has everything that I would hope for in a Joss Whedon show.  It has sympathetic characters, dynamic plot action, strength, weakness and a whole basket more.  I’ve been trying to pin down exactly why Buffy has become my new favorite part of existence and I can’t come up with a single answer.   I keep hoping to develop some amazing insight into the show that illuminates its hold over me, but the fact is, I’ve got nothing save for a few mediocre responses and a whole bunch of mad Buffy love.

I just finished with the episode titled “The Prom” and I’m a little speechless, hence the typing.  The episode represented one main theme of the show that I really love: bittersweet wishes.  Joss has a lot of relationships and the slayer story churning around the core of a complicated girl’s passage through high school and life.  I appreciate the complexity of the show but more than that, I appreciate Joss’s ability to catch me.  I was hooked with Buffy and Angel’s relationship from the beginning and my involvement in the show follows every tear and laugh that they experience.  Yet I know that it can’t work.  Joss has made it pretty clear that they can’t stay together and I trust that but the thing is, he’s good enough at giving you enough evidence to hope for and not quite enough to feel safe with.  I hate Joss Whedon for this, just a little less than I love him.

The last episode of season 3, “Graduation Day Part 2″ has some of the best bits of Joss magic that I have seen yet.  Particularly, I’m thinking of the scene in which the mayor, only a few moments before he is going to ascend into a pure demon, gives a speech to the students.  For me, his speech represented everything that this show has been.  He tells the students (and us) that “journeys end” but its not about where you end up but about the places that you were along the way.  It has been great to follow Buffy and the gang along their journey to get where they are now and in following them, I too have traveled and reached my destination, but not without distractions, both good and bad along the way.