The Ramblings of Elyse

It is now time for my favourite thing ever to write! Yay! Favourites!



It is time for Inadvertently Ask Elyse, where I take all the people who have stumbled upon my blog with their questions and answer them like they were actually asking me.

I can only hope that I have taught people the value of the side hug and the most appropriate places to side hug (with photos!) 

And since the last Inadvertently Ask Elyse was here and that was like a year ago, I have a lot to catch up on.
I do know that the most frequent search request I get is about kid goats and I have that covered for all you goat lovers out there. Read that and look at the cute pictures of goats.
With a closer inspection, not only is the kid goat number one my searches, it also appears another 11 times within the list of searches.

Where is all this goat loving coming from?
I think I've doomed my internet writing career to goats and hugs.

You know, I don't have a problem with this.

Should we move onwards because I do have a lot of stuff to write about hugs.

One Sided Hugs
The first thing we need to clarify with the one sided hug is do you mean that it is emotionally only one sided. The longing hug you give when you are madly in love with the person you are hugging but they are just hugging you in a platonic manner, or the "I'm hugging you, why aren't you hugging me?" 
Like this:

The wolf is not enjoying the bear hug.

The alternative is that it is just a two person side hug, which means that only one side is involved.

You can also have a situation that combines the two:

I actually stole this photo. Which is the only reason I included it.

Side Hug From A Guy

I can only assume if you are getting a side hug from a guy are concerned about it, you have seen this and you are just doing your Christian duty, so you keep up the good work until there is a ring on that finger.

The Christian Side Hug is never not funny.

Side Hugs are For Friends
Woah, step back there.
Side Hugs are for EVERYONE!

Ramblings of Elyse
That's me!
In fact, this search might have been mean...
Apparently I suck at answering my own questions. Oh... well... Moving along!

When writing songs don't be literal
This is a hard one, since I do listen to a lot of musicals and when you are writing an exposition song, which is a very important part of writing songs to a musical, you need to go the literal place. If all your exposition is in metaphor then your plot becomes like the wind and hard to see, you can feel it in places but it is just all over the places.
See what I did there?
I doubt it because that wasn't a metaphor, it was a simile.
There is a place for metaphors, simile, euphemisms and other ways to talk around things. Yeah, we get you are trying to woo the man or woman of your choice through song, but you can just put it straight out there and it works or you can go straight up confusing metaphor.  

Just try and remember what words actually mean.


"a short poem or other set of words set to music or meant to be sung"
What is a ballad?

"leave our boats behind"
I know this as a song that is the Galilee Song, however, that is not as fun.

This is what I would yell across that sea as my pirate saying, and then if they didn't leave their boats behind, I'd shoot cannons and force them do so and then those boats would be mine. Muwhahahahaha!

Are literal versions of songs real?
They are real in the terms at they exist as a piece of music, but they are not performed by the people who wrote the original song, nor are they the same lyrics. Naturally, this is what makes it funny.
But why would that stop it from being real?

Best literal version of song
Total Eclipse of the Heart, without a doubt. I would link but it is no longer available in my country and I just died on the inside.

Buffy lore crosses
The cross in Buffy is used as a repellent against vampires, it doesn't actually kill them it merely burns them and while the vampire doesn't like it, they can stand it in situations such as at the end of the Buffy episode Angel where Angel and Buffy kiss and Buffy is wearing a cross necklace, the one she got from Angel in Welcome the Hellmouth, and when she leaves there is a close up of Angel's chest which features the burnmark of the cross.
In most cases it works to repeal, but in the case of vampire nutbags such as Kralik from Helpless who kind of digs the pain, but you know nutbag.

The cross is also used in rituals such as the vampire uninvited spell that requires hanging of the cross. I believe in traditional vampire law the cross is representative of the faith of the person wielding it and that is where the power comes from, so it is debatable whether a Star of David would have the same effect for someone that is Jewish, such as Willow in the world of Buffy. It is worth mentioning that since when Willow is putting up the cross she makes a comment about how her Jewish dad is not likely to be happy. 
As the series progresses vampires become less and less prominent as villains and as a result there is less and less cross play in Buffy.

Can a hug be assault
Yes, it can, but I'm pretty sure at that point we wouldn't call it a hug.
The best example of this would be the bear hug, which is an actual attack move, as well as a particularly strong hug.
There is a fine line in some cases and it comes down to intent.
Also, good life advice: Don't hug real bears. Even the wolves don't like it.

Don't Stop Believing Australia Rob Mills
No, Australia, please stop believing in Rob Mills. Go away Millsy! GO AWAY!!


Elyse Fillion
That is who I would be if I married Nathan Fillion, and last time I checked that wasn't in the cards. I wouldn't say no, but you know, just gotta wait for that one.
Sorry Taylor.


Elyse needs
Oh, I need so many things... So, so many things.
I think I might start with Nathan Fillion to call me.


I just want to know why so many people are googling hugging?
Really?
Though, I like to consider myself an internet hugging authority.

For regulars or anyone that has ever talked to me, I'm a massive Buffy fan.

I'm the go to Buffy knowledge person, I can tell you many things, many, many things. I'm a pretty big Angel fan as well.

My opinion changes frequently on which one I prefer, and it depends of timing. The biggest advantage of Angel is that features Cordy and doesn't feature Spike. Please refer to my previous posts about my feelings on Spike (or recapped "What the fuck? Seriously?").

So, I laugh at anyone that dear question my Buffy cred, but then we get to Firefly.

Apparently Firefly is the go to thing. I've gotten into many arguments about Firefly and my dislike of it. Yeah, that's right, I do not like Firefly.
Try and convince me that it's the greatest thing ever and I say you're fucked and hate it a little bit more.

This never became more apparent that one day when I was at the Friday night LAN night I go to every now and then, and there was a new dude who went to uni with one of the regulars. But new dude, new dude was a Fanboy and as a result of that conversation next time I saw New Dude he is all like "so there's the Firefly hater".
New Dude, fuck you, and take my pamphelet of my new campaign for world peace and stop being a douche.

Not only did New Dude not respect my dislike of Firefly but this somehow took away from my nerd cred and was all like "You'd be destroyed if you met (someone whose name I don't remember)".
Once again, fuck you.

Yes, I don't like Firefly and it went for 14 episodes and was canceled with 4 of those episodes not going to air, so, I'm not the only person that didn't like it.

But my main issue with Firefly is the fucking fanboys like New Dude mentioned above. Seriously? That is what is taking away from my Nerd Cred. I've seen every episode and know enough about it to get by, I own the DVD and have spread the DVD love around and that's not counting everything else?
Yeah, well, whatever.

The Fanboys that insistent it is the greatest piece of Television ever, guess what guys. It's not.
14 episodes. They are not good odds, though, if you manage to truly fuck up in 14 episodes then wow, no words for that.
I've gotten into the conversation many times "how can you call yourself a Joss Whedon fan if you don't like Firefly?"

Well, for starters, I don't.
That guy is a douche. All his fanboys are douches.

I point to Season 6 and 7 of Buffy as this, Season 6 in particular.
Season is considered by the Buffy fans I speak to as a whole bunch of crap. The particular issues- The lack of commitment into Willow going from the power of magic corrupting to a drug metaphor (the change happens in Smashed) which provides a nice little cop out for the evil of Willow, the inconsistency of Spike (evil/Best.Boyfriend.Ever/Buffy's confidante/whatever) resulting in the almost rape in Seeing Red, Giles shodding reason for leaving and then the adding of Amber Benson being added to the credits upon the episode which Tara is murdered. I think the Spike getting a soul also a major issue.

The killing Tara created lots of fan backlash, especially from the gay and lesbian community who loved them some Tara and Willow action, in especially the way she died and then Willow tries to kill the world, which fits into some kind of stereotype of dead/evil lesbians. I'm not sure about that so Enjoy this link about some of that Backlash... It's interesting.

Anyway, these things are not apparently the responsibility of Joss Whedon, oh no, these developments are at the fault of Marti Noxon, who was a writer on the show since season 2 but became the showrunner and executive producer is Season 6.
Yes, all these developments are her fault.
Which, bullshit. Joss would of had to sign off on them and most of the developments are heavily featured if not start in episode of Season 6 that Joss Whedon wrote- Once More with Feeling.

So, I call bullshit.
And Fuck you Joss Whedon, he is not my master.

But back to Firefly.
The problem with Firefly is that it starts off with 9 cast members. So, there are 9 main characters that are all introduced at the same time and as a result some characters are going to be mariginalised.
Shepard Book is my prime example of this, mainly, what the fuck is the deal with Shepard Book?
And don't give me this "They are making a comic about Shepard Book that will be released soon" because that is a cop out. It's been 6 years it ended and they had a movie and what happened?
They killed him in a scene that was completely just to propell Captain Mal into Reaver territory and that's not the fact that in the scene prior to that Captain Mal coming to Book for some kind of advice or whatever, which never fit into what happened in the series.

Plus, I don't think there was a scene in Serenity (the movie, not the episode) with Jayne and Book, who tended to do a lot of stuff together in the series.

The things of the movie and series are annoying.
The movie sucked, but then again, I hate River.
Especially the end that since River is no longer crazy she is just fucking awesome at everything. Fuck you, River.

Don't get me wrong, I like the cast. I think the cast is awesome and makes up for the lack of incoherent plot or at least things that don't make sense for a series that takes place in space.

Basically, I don't like it and many of the things just do not make sense.

I haven't watched it enough to be able to go through and make detailed lists of why I don't like Firefly.

But it's the fanboys who tell me it is the greatest thing ever that piss me off the most and convinced me for a long time to never give it a chance.

And for the love of god, Shut up, River!

Ok, these are just the questions I was asked about my hate Spike.

The other video is just much longer.
I'm pretty sure this involves less swearing.

Also, apologies for the audio being crap, this one was just recorded on my laptop and the mic distorts at a point and can't handle my Spike hate.
I assure you, it bothers me a lot, so apologies for that.

I probably should have also edited the end, just to clean it up a bit, but that one was no editing, so once again it will be things that annoy only me.

Today, I got involved in a conversation with someone and it left me feeling, really, really angry and you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

Then I got to thinking what I was angry at.
And I was angry about the fact that someone was meant to have their shit together and have some stuff organised.
That stuff hasn't happened.

The bigger issue is, if you can't organise something, ask someone to help you. This is what being a leader is about. Seriously, fucking delegate. Basically, get your shit together.

I was pissed off at this, so very, very pissed off. Have we identified a theme?

Then it hit me.
I had promised to make my Spike rant into a video and I promised this sometime ago and had yet to follow through.
Thus, how could I be pissed off at someone for not organising something when I had been lying to people on this for so long?

So, I did it.
I set up my video camera and started ranting.
The rant goes for about 29 Minutes and 29 seconds. Minimal editing and I would say, very much NSFW since there is a lot of swearing.
There are also a lot of comments about my pants, but I am wearing them, so it's pretty much the swearing that is an issue.

Elyse's Angry Spike Rant from Super Flyse on Vimeo.

I also need to add that I love the screen shot of that, I feel I'm about to fight ninjas or break out into a rap.

I was over on Facebook today, yeah, only the once and it's not like it was on my phone at work or anything like that because I would never do anything like that...

Um... ANYWAY...

There I was on Facebook, when I noticed that Adam is finally up to Once More with Feeling.

Yes, it's an episode of Buffy.
If you aren't familiar with it, I no longer know you.

It is indeed the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It is something that is mentioned all the time, especially in terms of TV shows doing musical specials.

The musical is a huge film phenomenon, they have been getting made for such a long time and the 1950s and 1960s were the hey day of the film musical, but they still get their reprises, most recently with the film production of Nine, starring a whole bunch of other people.
Unlike most other genres that have been massive in movies, the musical has never progressed to being awesome in TV.
They have tried, so many times and there have been shows that have been musical in style but not so much in the having characters express thoughts and emotions through song in the vein of the traditional musical.
While Glee is a show that features a lot of music and singing, it is not the same kind of style as a musical.

So, when shows try and do musicals, such as BtVS, Xena:Warrior Princess and Scrubs, the Buffy example will forever be the shining example.

Which as a TV show musical, it should be.
It is pretty awesome and the cast for NON-singers, they do fantastically, but what fun is it if I just lather praise on my two favourite things?
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Musicals.

Allow me to first say that when it comes to Joss Whedon Musicals, I find Dr Horrible's Sing a Long Blog to be a lot better.
If only because Neil Patrick Harris and Felicia Day are much better singers then the majority of the Buffy cast, which not surprising since it is cast as a musical.
Nathan Fillion does alright, but he isn't much of a singer and can't even compare to NPH, but he plays the douche so well, that he is perfect for Captain Hammer.

Anyway.
Once More With Feeling!

I shall start off with my big controversial statement, now I've stated that I love BtVs and I love musicals, it seems only natural that my next statement be that the two combined is the greatest thing ever. But, it's not.

The controversial statement:
Once More With Feeling is NOT my favourite episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it's not even my favourite episode of season 6.

That's right.
I went there.

And why?
Why do you ask?

It's called plot holes.

You can try and swoon me with your bard like powers, Joss, but it won't work.
I see your ridiculous plot holes and contradictory statements and annoying things and cement such horrible things.
There are also some flaws with the performances, but you know, plot holes first.

First and foremost, it was Xander that called forth the demon?
The same Xander that seemed to learn his lesson about playing with the dark powers in SEASON 2! Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, people.
Going back to BB&B (It's a long title, I'm lazy, suck it up) where when he notices horrible things are happening he immediately goes to Giles and is all like "Dude, I fucked up" and while Giles, not happy about it and yells at him a bit, Xander still cops it sweet. (ha!)
Then we fast forward 5 seasons and all of a sudden Xander upon finding out that people are dying because of the singing "Give me an axe and show me where to put it", doesn't own up and go "hey, I summoned the singing demon".

No, that's right, it goes right down to the finale and when Xander sees Buffy almost having the singing kill her, doesn't say a thing for the sake of a very, very bad joke. "Does that mean I have to be your queen?".
The answer should be yes, you don't beat the bad guy and the joke isn't that funny.

Unfortunately, this lack of being accounted for the deaths and destruction that are either in-directly or directly your fault are not in the game plan of the later seasons.
I can't even single out people for that since it kind of happens to all of them.
Responsibility was a major theme of the early season and here it just spits in it's face.

My Spike hate is pretty legendary. Once More with Feeling doesn't make it wane in any way shape or form.
The thing that bothers me most about Spike is "Rest in Peace", and I'm not sure who it is more of a comment on.
But James Marsters, the man can sing, he is actually in a band or was, but either way he can do the singing.
However, this is a musical. Singing is only half the act. The thing with musicals is that it is emotion through song.
It is the conveying of those emotions that set it apart.
This is just a performance thing in general, but you can be technically perfect, but if you don't have the emotion behind the song then it falls flat.

And that is where Spike and the song fails.
It is a rock song. It has the heavier chords and even the theme, when it is sung it needs to have the edge on the voice, a bit like a growl especially since the song is basically "Fuck off Buffy", and it's not there.
It is technically good but there are parts that just have no feeling behind and it should.
The chorus it is particularly bad, when it goes from the acoustic open chords to the electric, distorted power chords, that is when you need that rock edge. The vampire growl.
It's something that is very lacking. I can go through the lines that need something with the rock edge and it's not there and it takes away from the song and you can't have that in a musical, when it's about showing the true emotions.
That's the entire theme of the episode!

It's the one place that it really is out of place since that was totally the feel of the song they were going for.

That isn't going with the whole theme of Spike, who is all about the stalking of Buffy and isolating her and whatever now he is all "stay away" and for the reasoning, according to the commentary that he did the two things that makes every girl want them, telling them you don't want them.
Seriously?
Fuck you, Joss. It's coz of comments like that I hate Joss Whedon.

Let's not forget that the first instance of Spuffy (that's Spike and Buffy together, in the world of the interwebz) is played a joke.

And then of course, it is Spike that saves her.
Not her friends and family that WATCH START TO BURN!
That is a matter of making everyone look bad, so Spike can look good.

Then Giles not sending out the troops so Buffy knows?
What kind of plan is that?
Then again, Buffy was always the one with the plans. She generally had the plan of attack and I'm not entirely sure when that changed, but a little odd.
And Walk Through the Fire is my favourite song, which shouldn't be a surprise since it is totally ripped off my favourite song from West Side Story (the Quintet... which is the song that gets them to the Rumble for those non-name knowing WSS fans).

Plus, fire engines!

The episode really belongs to Anthony Stewart Head and Amber Benson, who break my heart into tiny, tiny pieces with the Standing/Under Your Spell (reprise).
Giles' reasoning is seriously flawed, seriously, seriously flawed.
Good songs don't cover the fact you are abandoning your pseudo-daughter so she can fend for herself?
AFTER SHE DIED AND IS CLEARLY REALLY FUCKED UP?
You fucking kidding me?
They need a better rationale then that.
The dude was fired because of his father's love for his slayer.
Come on, what the fuck ?

It kind of showcases everything that is wrong with season 6- no Giles with shoddy reasoning, Spuffy, Bad Willow and Xander not manning up, not with his demon summoning or his marriage with Anya. Anya called that in season 5, he proposed because they were going to die and he was a pansy and was having second thoughts really, really early on and didn't mention it to Anya?
And even then, didn't even man up to announce to the people there it wasn't happening.
This is not the Xander of yore.

The singing is great, it really is. Except for you know the "hea-van" not which is beyond awful, it is written awful and SMG tries her hardest and it sounds even worst.

SMG really doesn't get enough praise for the episode, she does a lot of singing for someone who doesn't even pretend to be a singer and she does a fine job of it and rarely gets any love for it, since NOT a singer, she wasn't cast as a singer but does it anyway.

Though, David Fury and Marti Noxon... You two will forever be my favourite parts.
Marti, the interwebz hate you, but I don't.
They also have cameos in Dr Horrible.
David Fury is the mustard man and Marti Noxon is the parking ticket lady. They are both writers. David Fury also the puppeteer from Smile Time on Angel.

For some strange coincidences Marni Nixon does the singing voice of Maria in the film version of West Side Story.

Once More with Feeling, you try and I love you, but you'll never be my favourite.
Favourite of season 6 is Tabula Rasa.

My blog is going to very quickly become "Elyse's Rambling about Buffy" and I think I'll love it.

There was a bit of Twitter contraversay about my last post, from Mr Cheezy McWang who posted this:

@Superflyse Why is that my fault? PS I found a Buffy lore error in the rant so obscure I may be the only person who noticed. Go me!

And then it was on!

I know Mr McWang... who I'm never refering to as that again.
He hasn't even seen all of Buffy, he is working his way through it, but has asked me a number of the finer pointer questions.

It's cool, just how I roll, I know my Buffy trivia.. Except for what colour socks Buffy wears in Killed by Death as she leaves her hospital room to go after Der Kindestod. Stupid question!

Oh, sorry. That wasn't important.

But I was called out, my Buffy knowledge QUESTIONED, by what?

This is what came next:
"@Superflyse Willow didn't kill Warren. Bam."

One thing I will forever do is call bullshit on this one.
Yeah, they try and take that away in the comics that one.

Apparently, in the Season 8 comics, it is revealed in a shocking twist that Willow DID not kill Warren but in fact was save at the point on incineration by Amy.
You remember Amy, she appears in about 9 episodes. Witch, Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered, Gingerbread, Something Blue (HILARIOUS! Ok, Elizabeth Anne Allen, we are going to get you to come back, but you are only going to be in one scene, have no lines and be completely naked. You cool with that?), Smashed, Wrecked, Doublemeat Palace, and the Killer in Me.

Want to know why these things are important?
Because Amy is a tool to the plot!
She is a character plot device.
I love her so, she is my favourite plot device, but her character is very inconsistent.

Like Magic in the Buffyverse! What up!

The character development of Amy never made sense, and her reason for revenge with Willow in Season 7 is so messed up, but the power of Season 7 compared to Willow, the apparent greatest witch eva in the history of the world?
That just doesn't add up.

What also doesn't add up?
AMY DOESN'T KNOW WHO WARREN IS! Why would she save him from Willow?

More importantly, Willow flays Warren and then incinerates him, yeah, she does that. I think she's gonna notice and be pissed if her revenge isn't fulfilled.

Please.
She hunted him down and tortured him, you don't let the corpse of the dude you murder just get away with that.

Oh wait, the thing is, Warren isn't actually dead.
What the hell?
No seriously, what the hell?

The biggest mark as against this is that The First in Season Seven appears as Warren. ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS! Lessons in the Big Bad line up at the end and then more notably in Conversations with Dead People to Andrew to convince good ol' Andy to kill Jonathon.

The First can ONLY appear as dead people, that's it's entire schtick.
Appearin' as dead people to fuck around with people. As seen in Amends, and then season seven.

If Warren isn't dead because of some kind of twist in the comics then it messes around with so much that happened in Season Seven.

Warren as the First was a MAJOR plot point, I personally think it was misdirected and could be used much more awesomely against Willow, but whatevs.

So that is the direct mistake of why the Warren not being dead is messed up.

The implication is that Willow is no longer a murderer. She didn't murder anyone, which kind of destroys her arc of season 7 of having to deal with that and deal with all the guilt that went with it.
I'm not saying they did it well, because Season Seven is a schmoozle, but it was still important.


I haven't read the comics, but I do know what happens in them.

They are not my cannon. They will never be my cannon because of that very reason.

My Buffy lore is the 7 Seasons that appeared on Television. There is a whole world of various comics and associated work, it doesn't mean a thing unless it was on the air.

That's my stance on Season 8 Comics, I call it "I call bullshit".

Some days I need to watch something entirely fictional that I know will break my heart into tiny, tiny pieces.

There are two things that will do it so incredibly well, well that I think will, I haven't entirely tested the second one but the first that I know will do it incredibly well is Becoming. The Season Two finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Yes, I said "Becoming" because I mean the full episode. It is really the last part of Becoming part 2 that does it, but the entire double header is fantastic.

But before I get started allow me to explain some things.
Buffy is definitely, without a doubt my favourite TV show of all time. I know every episode and know a lot of quotes and trivia, I can quote it in my sleep.
That isn't a lie, I was once at a Buffy night and I was super tired and started to fall asleep on the lounge and as doing so I was talking along with the TV. It was School Hard, episode three of Season Two. The introduction of Spike. *shudder*.

I can go in a lot of depth about Buffy and I can and will identify the faults. I've yet to find a Buffy fan that has a problem with this, I know plenty of Firefly fans that seem to take great issue with it.

The Fanboys make me not like Firefly.
I'll probably write my issues with Firefly at a later stage and I'm sure it will get me plenty of abuse.
I've been told that my Firefly views would get me either killed, maimed or banned from a Geek Club.
Which, I find insulting to geeks because clearly talking about these details to a crazy degree is awesome! It's also fun with people that have opposing views.
Oh sorry... Firefly fans... They don't have that.


Anyway, where was I?

Becoming part 2 is the high point of Buffy.
Becoming part 1 is all set up, so it is a bit hard to judge, I like it enough, but all the pay off is in part two.
That being said, I love Angel flashback episodes... Except Amends coz that kind of sucks, but all the episodes that deal with Angel's past are awesome!
When they involve more Spike, not so awesome. I'm looking at you, Fool for Love and Why We Fight. Though, Fool for Love is more Spike's story and pales compared to Darla, which is the Angel episode that aired at the same time.

Ultimately, the biggest set up is my favourite scene in all of the Buffy, Angel and Firefly and that is the scene after Angel and Buffy fight in the cementary and lays the trap that brings the entire season full circle.
It's not always about Buffy and indeed, she does fall for it every time and in that moment Buffy gets the fucks out of there and runs to the library, but alas, she is too late.
That scene as Buffy runs through the hall way of Sunnydale High in Slow mo as the music plays, it is the Angel and Buffy theme which is called "Close Your Eyes", very apt, no?
With the voice over from Whistler and I'm not going to lie, I kind of love voice overs.
That and the voice over from Passion are some of the greatest lines ever.
Not so much in quoting, because I think one day if started quoting them, I'd get called a nutbag.

So, I'm going to block quote, because I can.
This is the Becoming part 1 Whistler Voice Over:

Bottom line is, even if you see 'em coming, you're not ready
for the big moments.
No one asks for their life to change, not really. But it
does.
So what are we, helpless? Puppets? No. The big moments are
gonna come. You can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that
counts. That's when you find out who you are.

And the Passion Monologue.
This is actually broken up into three pieces in the episode.

"Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping ... waiting ... and though unwanted, unbidden, it will stir ... open its jaws and howl. It speaks to us ... guides us. Passion rules us all. And we obey. What other choice do we have?

Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love ... the clarity of hatred ... the ecstasy of grief.

It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow. Empty rooms, shuttered and dank. Without passion, we'd be truly dead.

I kind of wish I didn't love them so much, I have a way too deep association with them.

It is the passion that kind of makes things interesting.
I've been told far too often statements regarding passion in various things, it's generally in a work context that you've got to be passionate about it and I think it was thrown around at the meeting on Sunday.

I really don't think they'd appreciate me quoting that in the context of a Christian Youth Group. It would be kind of funny though.

The big moments are gonna come, nothing is gonna stop them, but it is what happens afterwards that counts.


I lost my train of thought somewhere.
I think it was when I was called downstairs for more or less a family meeting... which now makes that Whistler speech very appropriate.

I know it is a very big call to state that my favourite scene is the Buffy running down a hall, but it is beautifully shot, combined with the music and the voice over. Nothing can come close to that.

The thing that makes the big difference between this season of Buffy and what comes afterwards is that they weren't afraid to not go all the way out. No one was safe.

I watch Passion and EVERY Single Time, I think that Buffy is going to save Miss Calender or that Giles is, anything other than "This is where you get off", with the shot of Angel taking great glee in snapping the neck of Miss Calender.

In Becoming, Kendra dies and not a heroic death. Kendra doesn't save anyone, she dies, Giles is kidnapped and tortured, Willow is almost killed, Xander's arm is snapped and Cordy stands around until told to get out and runs for it- "not so brave".

The thing that is even better, much like in Season One when Buffy is prophesied to die, she does. They don't find a magic bullet that saves the day. She dies. It was written. She died. There was no twist, nothing to save her.
Xander brings her back, but not in time.

Becoming is the same, if Angel opens it, then only Angel can close the portal. Willow gets her spell in time, but it's not enough.
There was no magic bullet.
It was straight, He opens it, then he has to die.

After that, it doesn't happen any more.
In Season three- Faith survives. She's in a coma, but she survives.
Season four- no one is in any serious danger
Season five- Dawn HAS to die! If the portal opens, then she dies! Oh wait... no... It's ok, Buffy can die for her.
You try season 5, you try so hard, but got nothing.
Season 6- Tara dies, much controversy on the interwebs! Willow wants revenge... Kills Warren, wants more revenge tries to kill Andrew and Jonathon and then tries to destroy the world?
Wait... what?
Sorry?
But yes, unlike everyone else that has ever tried to destroy the world doesn't get killed in the end. Buffy doesn't even get to save the day.
Season 7, oh season 7. You cause so much heartache for my Buffy loving ways. So, so much heartache.
I've watched you in full once. I hate Chosen most of all.
Chosen recieves a lot of my ire.
Once again, Buffy doesn't save the day and her plan is STUPID!
However, not the place for that rant.
Xander should have died in Dirty Girls. He should have died instead of just getting his eye removed.
How much more fucking awesome would it be if Xander died and then the First used his form to taunt everyone.
Seriously.
Fucking awesome, but nope, not how they went through with it.


Basically, they tried for the shocking in later seasons, but nothing can compare to the unbridled shocking revelations that happened in season 2.
Season 2 is perfection.

Not technical perfection, there are a lot of holes and some of the one offs are pretty dodgy, but the entire emotion of the season?
I can't beat that.

Faith ending up at the Mayor's Door at the end of Consequences is nothing compared to Buffy coming to Angel's door during Innocence wondering what happened to her boyfriend. The "you were a pro" statement, way more shocking.

Angel returning to the Spike and Dru fold, changed the dynamics of that crew as well as the season, if not the entire show, way more then Faith's turn to the dark side.

I need to clarify.
I like Faith, I think she is pretty awesome. In Season 3 and definitely in Season Seven, when once she is back is a different ball game and it brings it up to a completely different level.
I love what Faith does in Season 3 to everyone, the not so stable aspect and all that kind of thing.

Faith and Buffy have the best fights of the entire series, from Revelations to Graduation Day part 1 and the epic This Years Girl fight where the entire Summers' House is a weapon. The only fight that comes close is the sword fight in Becoming part 2, no matter how obvious the stunt doubles are.

I lose my track way too easily when I talk about Buffy, too many tangents.

I'm trying to stick with purely Becoming part 2, but it's hard to do not in context with anything else.

So, I'll go back to the beginning.
The reason why the episode breaks my heart like no other?

It's the montage.
I lose it every time as soon as Sarah McLachlan's Fully of Grace starts up.
I actually have that song on my iPod, ok, I have a lot of music that has appeared on Buffy on my iPod but every time that song comes up, I just get the montage in my mind and lose it a little bit.

It's actually not the only time Sarah McLachlan is played in Buffy, she also has a song in Grave, the finale of Season 6, the song being "The Prayer of St Francis"
Which is the actual Prayer of St Francis of Assisi being sang, which a little weird now I think of it.
That montage just WISHES it was the Full of Grace version.

It is the imagery that goes with it.
Buffy won. She beat the bad guy... except, in the end he wasn't the bad guy because Plan A had worked. Willow worked the mojo, Angel got his soul, except too late. She still had to send him to hell.
Buffy walks home in the early dawn...
Sarah McLachlan continues...

If I could find the montage legally, I would link it.
It also features my favourite piece of Buffy clothing.
The Sad Overalls!

I forgot they were even the montage, which shocks me.
But Buffy watching her friends from afar and thinking that is the last she'll see of them.
Man, just man.

I have no words to describe the utter hopelessness.

One of the things that I have never noticed before my viewing today is Buffy's own resolve face.
Joyce gets a lot of crap on the interwebs for throwing out the "you leave here, don't expect to come back", which is the only card she has left.
Buffy has just laid everything on the table and explained the past 2 or 3 away and just dropped it and has to leave. She's just discovered that ultimately she has no power in the mother/daughter game EXCEPT for the threat of you leave, don't expect to come back.
And there is just this look when Buffy leaves that is very much a mentally preparing that she is going back, she leaves and Joyce regrets it there.

It's that look of resolution that I've never noticed, Willow points hers out, but no way as impressive as that one scene.

Then leaving the note and fleeing.

Talking about card metaphors... We have the ace in the hole of Spike.
I have no problem with Spike is Season 2. Well, other then a few inconsistencies, which were much more apparent over time.
The main one is in the first description of the books of Spike.
Spike has always been shown that he is way too impulsive and rash for torture, the whole railroad spike through the head?
Nah, I could never believe it. Thankfully, Fool For Love agrees with me on that one.

There was also a few times when he got away way too easily, but I do appreciate the survival instinct and the flight option, it was a nice change.

My issues with Spike come from his later appearances and generally back track, but he annoys me less.

I like the Spike ace in the hole, other then Buffy invites him in to her house and leaves him unaccompanied with Joyce. Still sworn enemy and hasn't done all that much for that kind of trust.
I'm thinking of the Darla incident in Angel... The episode Angel.

I particularly like the exchange "I hate you" "and I'm all you've got".

Spike was coming from a purely selfish point of view and not trying to be noble, but trying to save his own skin and get Dru back because he is a ponce trying to act tough to try and match up to the top dog.
Which is the most consistent portrayal of Spike there is.

The Spike rant in all it's glory will eventually come to a computer screen near you.


I think there is too much Buffy knowledge right there.

So, til next time,
I'm Elyse and that was my rant.



I will take requests on rants, especially if they are Buffy related.

Brief preview of my next blog:

The Infamous Elyse Spike Rant...


Video Blog.
I'll talk to my camera man about it and see what I can get done.



I've had this rant with many people the most interesting person of note was a Priest who was a fan of Spike and his whole "redemption" thing.

If you want to ask some questions about my thoughts on Spike or you Buffy the Vampire Slayer in general, ask away and I'll include it.