I just realized -- just realized -- that Wesley and Cordelia do the same thing in S3. They both... okay, it was years ago, but I'll go under spoiler cuts because... I feel like it. ( spoilers for all of Angel, but mostly S3 & S4 )
Meme: favorite character in four fandoms
Sep. 6th, 2011 02:25 pm• Reply with "Fuck yes fierce ladies (and awesome dudes, too)" and I'll give you four fandoms.
• Write about your favorite character from each fandom.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fauxkaren gave me: Buffy, Doctor Who, The Vampire Diaries and Angel the Series.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
( Seasons 1-5: Xander Harris; Seasons 5-7: Buffy Summers )
Doctor Who
( Rose Tyler )
The Vampire Diaries
( Elena Gilbert )
Angel: the series
( Fred Burkle; Wesley Wyndam-Pryce )
• Write about your favorite character from each fandom.
fauxkaren gave me: Buffy, Doctor Who, The Vampire Diaries and Angel the Series.( Seasons 1-5: Xander Harris; Seasons 5-7: Buffy Summers )
( Rose Tyler )
( Elena Gilbert )
( Fred Burkle; Wesley Wyndam-Pryce )
Vampires: TVD & Jossverse
Feb. 3rd, 2011 08:59 amI was never that into Spike. Or Angel, for that matter. My favorite 'version' of Spike was S7 Spike and it took about four years of Angel for me to get really attached to Angel. In the Jossverse, my sympathies tended to lie pretty firmly with the humans.
What's different about the vampires in The Vampires Diaries?
( spoilers through all aired episodes of Jossverse and the Vampire Diaries )
What's different about the vampires in The Vampires Diaries?
( spoilers through all aired episodes of Jossverse and the Vampire Diaries )
Meme: Character Patterns
Jan. 25th, 2011 10:15 amFound on my flist:
List fifteen of your favorite characters from different fandoms, and ask people to spot patterns in your choices, and if they're so inclined, to draw conclusions about you based on the patterns they've spotted.
I forced myself to only pick one per fandom and I'm still leaving out some people that I really love in some smaller fandoms.
( Fifteen favorite characters in alphabetical order )
List fifteen of your favorite characters from different fandoms, and ask people to spot patterns in your choices, and if they're so inclined, to draw conclusions about you based on the patterns they've spotted.
I forced myself to only pick one per fandom and I'm still leaving out some people that I really love in some smaller fandoms.
( Fifteen favorite characters in alphabetical order )
Break the Dawn
by Michelle Williams
Summary:
Friendships, family, and love helps with the dark times.
(avi file 37.2 MB; zipped download)
Or streaming on vidders.net: here
Vid WIP Amnesty:
Apr. 30th, 2009 10:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kuwdora had what I thought was a really good idea about posting Vid WIP/Dead-in-the-water vids that are either totally dead-dead or just 'unsure' dead but that people might be interested in. She's doing hers to celebrate the opening of Dwth, but I'm just doing it in general.Here is my (incomplete) list of WIP/stalled vids, in rough order of how done they are:
( Read more... )
First five requests will have the unfinished vids uploaded and shown to y'all.
Odds and Ends
Apr. 29th, 2009 02:58 pmMy entries/icons/tags/comments/etc have been imported from LJ to Dwth, so that's working out nicely.
What I'm personally trying to do is only have people in one place (if they are crossposting). Because my Dwth journal is newer and thus has a smaller list to read, I'm privileging that journal if there's consistent crossposting, in an effort to make both lists look smaller. But if you would prefer for me to read you on LJ instead of Dwth, let me know!
I'm determinedly not reading Doctor Who spoilers at the moment. I want to wring every last bit of anticipation and joy out of my last RTD/DT Who experience and that works best on a no-spoilers basis (as long as I trust the showrunner, which I do with RTD and with Joss Whedon). I've seen... some casting spoilers and inferred others and suspect that I will be satisfied (and probably heartbroken) at the results.
Had occasion to watch some Buffy and Angel and discovered that they still make me cry as much as they ever did (the last Wesley scene always kills me, of course).
I've got tickets for myself, a couple of friends, and my mom to see Star Trek on the 8th. My mom is one of the original TOS fans (the ones that wrote in to save the show from being canceled), so I really, really hope that she likes the new version (I'm pretty sure that I will, because I'm fairly easy-going when it comes to these things).
I'm also planning on watching 17 Again this weekend. Because I like Zac Efron and I'monly slightly not at all ashamed.
What I'm personally trying to do is only have people in one place (if they are crossposting). Because my Dwth journal is newer and thus has a smaller list to read, I'm privileging that journal if there's consistent crossposting, in an effort to make both lists look smaller. But if you would prefer for me to read you on LJ instead of Dwth, let me know!
I'm determinedly not reading Doctor Who spoilers at the moment. I want to wring every last bit of anticipation and joy out of my last RTD/DT Who experience and that works best on a no-spoilers basis (as long as I trust the showrunner, which I do with RTD and with Joss Whedon). I've seen... some casting spoilers and inferred others and suspect that I will be satisfied (and probably heartbroken) at the results.
Had occasion to watch some Buffy and Angel and discovered that they still make me cry as much as they ever did (the last Wesley scene always kills me, of course).
I've got tickets for myself, a couple of friends, and my mom to see Star Trek on the 8th. My mom is one of the original TOS fans (the ones that wrote in to save the show from being canceled), so I really, really hope that she likes the new version (I'm pretty sure that I will, because I'm fairly easy-going when it comes to these things).
I'm also planning on watching 17 Again this weekend. Because I like Zac Efron and I'm
Character Meme
Sep. 6th, 2008 11:15 pm1. Comment on this post.
2. I will give you a letter.
3. Think of 5 fictional characters and post their names and your comments on these characters in your LJ.
spiletta42 gave me the letter 'D'. Because she wanted to make it very easy for me.
Donna Noble (Doctor Who): I think that I fell for Donna when she calmed down on the rooftops of London and sat with the Doctor and talked with him. She gave him a moment to grieve, showed no interest in him sexually (which was nice because while I find Tennant incredibly sexy, not everyone does and it's good for the show to acknowledge that), and got miffed at him when he talked about her like she didn't matter. All the wonderful things that Donna 'becomes' in S4 she already is in that scene. Donna Noble is a good person, who is capable of standing up to (quite possibly) the most remarkable man in the universe. She's magnificent and always will be.
Dexter Morgan (Dexter): A funny and sympathetic serial killer. Before I actually saw the show, that description would have turned me off so hard. But he really is a very strong, interesting, compelling character. And, with Debra, he also has one of the few intense sibling relationships on TV that vibes as solely sibling-ekse, rather than borderline incestual. His relationship with Rita and her kids has been fascinating to watch. Brilliant show, brilliant character.
Daniel Jackson (Stargate SG-1): Oh, Daniel. SG1 is definitely 'the Daniel show' to me. Even S6 is defined in terms of his story arc. I love his mind, his passion for knowledge, his interactions with his team -- pretty much everything. I'm a canon serial monogamist -- I ship Daniel/Sha're, Daniel/Jack, and Daniel/Vala.
Darla (Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the Series): She was the first character on-screen to show us Joss Whedon's two BtVS rules: 1) the cliche is going to be subverted and 2) the female characters are never as helpless as you think they are. She ended up getting character depth and a great arc and some really fantastic lines. Darla was amazing and tough and a pretty damn good actress. She was true to herself when she was evil and when she wasn't. She told (what she believed to be) a priest scolding her for not going to church that maybe he should have visited her (as a prostitute).
Draco Malfoy (Harry Potter): I have a bit of a weakness for the bratty nemesis who was never as important to the hero as he wanted to be (see: MacDonald, Lindsey). While I think that JKR could have done more with Draco (and, in fact, any of the themes she brought up in the first six books), I'm pretty happy with what I got in Half-Blood Prince. He's snotty and racist and listens too much to his parents... but he isn't a killer and he isn't an irredeemable monster.
Attack of the BtVS/AtS love!
Jun. 13th, 2008 02:51 pmThere are two people on my flist who are watching stuff for the first time (one of them has seen BtVS but not AtS and the other is watching both for the first time) and reading their posts has reminded me of how much I love these people.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer! The show that helped me realize I was attracted to girls (thank you, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Amber Benson, in particular). I think, more than any other show, these shows are what have made me define what I look for in television. I said, once, that if you added up all the shows I was currently watching, it would equal the joy of a Jossverse show. This is still mostly true. The closest that I have come to finding a show that has given me as much giddy joy has been RTD's Doctor Who.
( character squee, spoilery for both shows )
I just... I profoundly, deeply adore these people. That's all.
Also! I'm going to go watch "Once More, With Feeling".
nl index link
I fell in love with Fred in the 'Jasmine' arc at the end of Season Four of Angel, when she ran off from the still-spell-bound members of AI and figured out a way to save them. I'd been intrigued by her crazy survival-based self in her introductory episodes and then disappointed when she seemed cured too quickly. The Jasmine arc showed me that she wasn't, that everything that she'd been in Pylea was still there, and that made me look at her differently. Respect her more for still having that fear and pain but overcoming it every day.
Fred's defining characteristic is that she's a survivor (it could be argued that the Illyria arc is a point against that, but considering Illyria's desire for Wesley's companionship, I don't believe that Fred's soul was truly destroyed). Starting with Pylea, Fred is the one who goes through hell and comes out the other side -- not without losing significant things, but still, she survives. She was a modern-day girl placed into an impossible world, where her choices were slavery or death -- instead of allowing either, she managed to escape, to live completely alone in the caves, to become something close to feral and insane, but never forgetting what made her arrive there in the first place. She never stopped hoping that she'd find a way home -- Fred never gives up. "This is my power: to not let them take me."
( Five Moments )
Fred had a hell of a lot of willpower and heart, two things that I admire very much. She had a moral code and hope, and, with every breath in her body, she fought against the things that would destroy her.
Note: I've decided that if I miss someone's day as a result of busyness, I'm going to post about them next month instead -- so far, that's Arwen, Tara, Frannie, and Boomer.
Unrelated Note: If you're American and you haven't voted yet, please take the time today to do so. I know that it's frustrating to see the same thing eighty-million times, but this is such an important thing, something that will change all of our lives for years to come. Thank you.
Sunset Boulevard
as sung by John Barrowman
Summary:
Blood on his hands.
(spoilers up to Angel 5x22 -- Not Fade Away)
(divx file 29.88 MB; zipped
smaller wmv file available here)
Many thanks to paraviondeux for lending space and to jic for advice and support. Feedback is always appreciated.
Dreams are not enough to win a war.
I finally figured out where I knew Jeffrey Dean Morgan (the dad on Supernatural) from (one of those -- "Hey! I coulda sworn I knew that guy..." kinda thing). He was a shady business man (hmm... was he the shady one or was it someone else?) in Provider, in Season Three of Angel.
He's much hotter as John Winchester, I must say.
Icon Post (and update on tagging)
Jun. 21st, 2005 04:05 amFirst off, in the corner, we have Tom and Peter from The Talented Mr. Ripley. Because they're pretty.
I also uploaded two new Star Wars icons that I will use when appropriate.
and 
( halfway through 2003... )
And I went and updated my user info bio, as the bullet points were boring me.
Oh, and I've been reading some of my posts on Connor (AtS) and, OMG! Anakin is Connor!
There are two kinds of tragedies. There's the kind where it's all inevitable and it's tragic because no one had a chance or a choice. Then there's the kind where there were a million different possibilities that could have stopped all the pain and death, and it's tragic because you see each of those happier possibilities get closed off one at a time.
Like Connor, Anakin lived the second kind of tragedy (and, like Connor, in death he found new life).
Note: An example of the first kind of tragedy would be Moulin Rouge -- Satine was dying before Christian ever met her.
I also uploaded two new Star Wars icons that I will use when appropriate.
( halfway through 2003... )
And I went and updated my user info bio, as the bullet points were boring me.
Oh, and I've been reading some of my posts on Connor (AtS) and, OMG! Anakin is Connor!
There are two kinds of tragedies. There's the kind where it's all inevitable and it's tragic because no one had a chance or a choice. Then there's the kind where there were a million different possibilities that could have stopped all the pain and death, and it's tragic because you see each of those happier possibilities get closed off one at a time.
Like Connor, Anakin lived the second kind of tragedy (and, like Connor, in death he found new life).
Note: An example of the first kind of tragedy would be Moulin Rouge -- Satine was dying before Christian ever met her.
Summary:
The three angles of one triangle.
(mpg file; 50.4 MB; zipped
available as a smaller wmv file on request)
Please believe me when I say
I love you.
So, a while back, when I first saw Boni's Mal vid to Hallelujah (Rufus Wainwright), I thought -- this is almost a Wesley song.
But it wasn't, not quite, so I put it out of my mind. Then, I heard Jeff Buckley's version of the song and I blinked and said -- wow, that's Wesley. This song is about Wes. Then I had to wait about a year before I started actually vidding. This is also the vid that I've made using half of my month free try-out of Adobe Premiere, which is a very interesting program.
Hallelujah
Summary:
Wesley. Love. Damage.
(mpg file; 56.5 MB; zipped
also available here; right-click and save
available as a smaller wmv file on request)
It goes like this:
the fourth, the fifth,
the minor fall, and the major lift.
But it wasn't, not quite, so I put it out of my mind. Then, I heard Jeff Buckley's version of the song and I blinked and said -- wow, that's Wesley. This song is about Wes. Then I had to wait about a year before I started actually vidding. This is also the vid that I've made using half of my month free try-out of Adobe Premiere, which is a very interesting program.
Summary:
Wesley. Love. Damage.
(mpg file; 56.5 MB; zipped
also available here; right-click and save
available as a smaller wmv file on request)
It goes like this:
the fourth, the fifth,
the minor fall, and the major lift.
Fandom meme-age
May. 31st, 2005 08:48 amBecause, well, on occasion, I will do this. You know, for sufficient reason and with good enough excuse to babble about what I love.
( 1. Fandoms that I still care about (20 total) )
( 2. First Fandom )
( 3. Most Recent Fandom )
( 4. Five Fandoms that Mean Quite a Bit to Me, Really )
( 1. Fandoms that I still care about (20 total) )
( 2. First Fandom )
( 3. Most Recent Fandom )
( 4. Five Fandoms that Mean Quite a Bit to Me, Really )
BtVS/AtS -- Initial Buffy&Wes thoughts
May. 28th, 2005 03:37 amThe Buffy the Vampire Slayer series finale, Chosen, really resonated with me, right from the first viewing. But I was never able to find just the right words (words are, in the end, always inefficient -- they never encompass the deepness of what I feel).
Interestingly, the making of the Wesley vid is giving me some of the right words.
The reason that season seven resonates with me on an emotional level is because of the completion of a series-long theme -- deconstructing the demonization of female power. The Watchers have long been a symbol of patriarchy on the show ('this is how women and men have behaved, since the beginning'). The switch-and-bait aspect of the Slayer myth is an essential part of it all.
It's about the reduction of female power.
About taking female power and putting limits on it, putting it into the control of men (as we see in Restless, the First Slayer in chains). It's about making it sound dangerous and unnatural (side note: many people also disliked Family, an episode that deals with exactly the same issue of falsely claiming that female power was, in essence, demonic).
And we get to see that from the other side in Damage, where the Slayers are free from outside control (and, again, this is interpreted by many fans as a bad thing). This issue is also addressed in the direct demonization of Cordelia and Fred (again, on Angel, we see the issue from the viewpoint of male-directed characters instead of female).
In many ways, Wesley starts out as a parody of a Watcher but, in the end, he understands what a Watcher should be -- nothing at all like his father and nothing at all like a general. With Illyria, their relationship is one of equals, and he's not a Watcher but a Guide, giving Illyria a reason to care about humanity and about fighting the good fight.
I mentioned the other day that I feel a connection between Buffy and Wesley's arcs, not the least because they are the ones that illustrate to us (separately) that the ideal relationship is not that of a Slayer and her Watcher, but of a Guardian and a Guide. It's not about killing, but about protecting. It's not about instructing, but about sharing knowledge.
Other reasons include, but are not limited to, the Buffy/Spike=Wesley/Lilah line of thought and thoughts regarding the earlier comical aspects of each character (Movie!Buffy and BtVS!Wesley).
Interestingly, the making of the Wesley vid is giving me some of the right words.
The reason that season seven resonates with me on an emotional level is because of the completion of a series-long theme -- deconstructing the demonization of female power. The Watchers have long been a symbol of patriarchy on the show ('this is how women and men have behaved, since the beginning'). The switch-and-bait aspect of the Slayer myth is an essential part of it all.
It's about the reduction of female power.
About taking female power and putting limits on it, putting it into the control of men (as we see in Restless, the First Slayer in chains). It's about making it sound dangerous and unnatural (side note: many people also disliked Family, an episode that deals with exactly the same issue of falsely claiming that female power was, in essence, demonic).
And we get to see that from the other side in Damage, where the Slayers are free from outside control (and, again, this is interpreted by many fans as a bad thing). This issue is also addressed in the direct demonization of Cordelia and Fred (again, on Angel, we see the issue from the viewpoint of male-directed characters instead of female).
In many ways, Wesley starts out as a parody of a Watcher but, in the end, he understands what a Watcher should be -- nothing at all like his father and nothing at all like a general. With Illyria, their relationship is one of equals, and he's not a Watcher but a Guide, giving Illyria a reason to care about humanity and about fighting the good fight.
I mentioned the other day that I feel a connection between Buffy and Wesley's arcs, not the least because they are the ones that illustrate to us (separately) that the ideal relationship is not that of a Slayer and her Watcher, but of a Guardian and a Guide. It's not about killing, but about protecting. It's not about instructing, but about sharing knowledge.
Other reasons include, but are not limited to, the Buffy/Spike=Wesley/Lilah line of thought and thoughts regarding the earlier comical aspects of each character (Movie!Buffy and BtVS!Wesley).
God, I love Angel.
I rewatched Life of the Party. I was planning on just going through to see what I needed for the vid and... ended up going out and rewatching the episode. It made me laugh and think and... happy place. Buffyverse is such a happy place for me now. Closing canon does an odd thing for me -- if I like something enough, I end up not having any real complaints. I'll complain and get pissy when a show is running, but if it's over, then even the things that would have bothered me are only part of the larger canvas. Take anyone or anything out, and you change the pattern.
So, I love it all, because it fits and it works.
It was only after Riley left that I appreciated his story, because that's when I could decide what his story was. If I understand a character right away, I will love it right away, but for some characters, I need to see the entire arc to understand (and then love) them. Because once I do understand them? I can't help but love them.
( Personal levels of understanding about BtVS/AtS characters )
Oh, and on a completely different note, apparently Ewan and Hayden greeted each other with a kiss at the London premiere of Sith (link seen atros_fod's journal). Yay for affectionate casts.
I rewatched Life of the Party. I was planning on just going through to see what I needed for the vid and... ended up going out and rewatching the episode. It made me laugh and think and... happy place. Buffyverse is such a happy place for me now. Closing canon does an odd thing for me -- if I like something enough, I end up not having any real complaints. I'll complain and get pissy when a show is running, but if it's over, then even the things that would have bothered me are only part of the larger canvas. Take anyone or anything out, and you change the pattern.
So, I love it all, because it fits and it works.
It was only after Riley left that I appreciated his story, because that's when I could decide what his story was. If I understand a character right away, I will love it right away, but for some characters, I need to see the entire arc to understand (and then love) them. Because once I do understand them? I can't help but love them.
( Personal levels of understanding about BtVS/AtS characters )
Oh, and on a completely different note, apparently Ewan and Hayden greeted each other with a kiss at the London premiere of Sith (link seen at
ros_fod's journal). Yay for affectionate casts.Double character/pairing meme
Apr. 4th, 2005 04:42 pmBecause I'm tired and have no original thoughts, I will meme.
a. Post a list of 10 TV shows you watch(ed).
b. Have your friends list guess your favourite character and/or pairing from each show.
c. When guessed, tell us why you like that character/pairing.
( 10 shows, all pairings and characters are now guessed )
a. Post a list of 10 TV shows you watch(ed).
b. Have your friends list guess your favourite character and/or pairing from each show.
c. When guessed, tell us why you like that character/pairing.
( 10 shows, all pairings and characters are now guessed )
Connor and Nihilism
Dec. 18th, 2003 12:06 am(Originally in a response thread to this post by masqthephlsphr.)
Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence. A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy.
( I didn't feel anything! I can't feel anything. )
masqthephlsphr.)Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence. A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy.
( I didn't feel anything! I can't feel anything. )
