Podcast Friday: Buffering the Vampire Slayer

Buffering the Vampire Slayer is a different podcast than usual. Musician Jenny Owen Youngs and her wife Kristin Noeline Russo discuss every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in order. They are big fans of the show that choose to talk about what's great about the show and about it's very many flaws.  For a show from the late 90's, it was progressive for its time with its well drawn characters, kickass women, turning tropes around, and commentary on social situations through a supernatural lens. However, it still suffered from dated effects, out of character actions, and racial insensitivities just to name a few. I've watched the show almost 3 times through, dating back to the original run of the show, and they have pointed out quite a few things that I didn't notice. Xander in particular has a pretty rough start in season 1. A lot of his insensitive and misogynistic actions are glossed over in my memory because of his character development later in the show. It is jarring to hear them talk about him slut shaming Buffy while trying to oggle her undressing. Ick. It's nice to see the show celebrated, but also called out for its flaws.

Jenny and Kristin have a few different things they do every episode. First, they do a one sentence recap of the episode to jog the memory and then go deeper into the events and characters. They give a couple the Sexual Tension Award who usually isn't a canon or a conventional couple like Ethan Rayne and Giles (so much sexual tension) in any given scene with them together or Cordelia and Willow hiding in a closet during School Hard. One of them points out the effects of the PATRIARCHY in each episode that ranges from rich men considering women disposable as sacrifices for income in Reptile Boy or Xander and Blayne's masculinity contest in Teacher's Pet. Their friend Kate Leth (pictured below with Cordette and Slayerette pins in her collar) occasionally drops in with her informative 90's fashion updates, the best of which talked about Giles' different kinds of tweed. 

My favorite part of the show is the music. Characters sometimes earn jingles, the first being Cordelia's that celebrated Jenny and Kristin's love for her. They truly changed my mind about season 1 and 2 Cordelia because of how strong, honest, and unflappable she was despite all her mean girl bullying. Drusilla has her own spooky jingle and Spike will probably earn his soon. Kristin recently mentioned that Spike and Dru love should have its own since it's the strongest relationship on the show at this point. At the end of every episode is an original song recapping the episode usually from Buffy's perspective. These songs are so amazing because they are written by Jenny and Kristin weekly with good production value, thoughtful lyrics, and varied styles. I'm considering becoming a Patreon supporter just to get the songs before they are released as a complete season CD. (They are also available to listen to on Spotify and for purchase practially any site music is sold.) I had coincidentally seen Jenny perform when she opened for Amanda Palmer a few years ago, so I was already a fan of her music. However, the quality and variety of songs written in such a short amount of time made me an even bigger fan.

Occasionally, Jenny and Kristin have episodes that don't follow an episode, but answer fan questions or interview actors from the show. The fans are very knowledgeable and offer their own view of things, answer questions, send gifts, and are all around pretty awesome. My favorite interview episode was with Armin Shimerman, famous for playing the odious Principal Snyder. I loved his frank account of how he thought himself above Sarah Michelle Gellar because of her background as a soap opera actress. He cam to respect and befriend her over time, but his initial feeling about her helped solidify his interpretation of Principal Snyder that had him coming back long after he was expected to. The best non-recap episode is the one titled Happy 20th Anniversary, Buffy! where they talk about how they came to the show and what it means to them even after so many years. Jenny and Kristin released their song Demons to Fight about the shows meaning. It's available for free forever.

I love this show that challenges and celebrates Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They are only currently on Season 2, Episode 9 so there's still plenty of time to start another rewatch of the show to go along with the podcast. I hope Jenny and Kristin will cover the entire series because this show brings me joy and an awesome song each and every week. 

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

Happy 20th Anniversary to Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

It's been 20 years since Buffy the Vampire Slayer first aired on television with Welcome to the Hellmouth. I was 11 when it came out and I watched it live for the first 6 seasons with my family. It means a lot to me and helped shaped me as a person. Buffy, Anya, Cordelia, Willow, Tara, and so many other female characters showed me that there were so many different ways to be strong, capable, and human. Even though the first season is now a little hard to watch, it's instrumental to forming the solid relationships moving forward in the series. All the bad acting and bad effects can't hide the solid origins of the show.

Season 6 in particular has changed for me as I got older. When I was a kid, it seemed too depressing, too messy, and too different especially compared to the rest of the series.  I related more to the earlier seasons when the themes in high school and early college were more topic for me. Now, season 6 is so raw and realistic. It didn't really have a Big Bad until the very end. Life and reality were the true villains of that season. Characters dealt with toxic relationships, attempted rape, depression, becoming a parent, dealing with debt, dropping out of college, losing loved ones, and above all feeling hopeless. It acknowledged all of these feelings instead of stamping them down.

This show is so many things to so many people because it's still very relevant today. Anyone who has felt like an outsider can relate to the Scooby Gang. Awesome articles have been coming out for the anniversary including the AV Club's interview series, The Atlantic's praise of The Body, and io9's 20 Things We Still Love about Buffy 20 Years Later. Google anywhere and you will find the love of Buffy, especially from the stars of the show like Sarah Michelle Gellar, David Boreanaz, and Clare Kramer. Go forth and celebrate Buffy!

Women in Horror: Women of the Buffyverse Part 2

1) Tara Maclay

Tara comes to the show late and leaves so much earlier than she should have. She is the most moral and sweet person in the cast. At first, her timidity and uncertainty act as a barrier between her and the Scooby gang. Her abusive family fed her lies like they did all the women in her family and the effects showed in her behavior. She expected people to be mean to her because that's how she was treated for most of her life. When she grows closer to the group and finally realizes she isn't a demon, the others come to her for advice. Tara has a quiet strength that isn't physical like Buffy and isn't in magic like Willow, but her resolve and moral compass are formidable. She doesn't tell Glory anything despite her god powers. The dark side never tempts her because she doesn't want or need it. When Willow becomes abusive, Tara gives her opportunities to change and leaves when Willow continues to lie and abuse magic. She doesn't allow herself to be abused anymore and leaves no matter how much it pains her to be separated from Willow and their friends. Tara shows that strength doesn't have to be loud or obvious.

2) Cordelia Chase

Cordelia starts the show as a queen bee mean girl who is cruel to Buffy, Willow, and Xander. She serves as a foil for Buffy, showing what Buffy could have been had she not been the slayer. Over time, it shows that Cordelia uses cruelty as a cover to protect herself. Surrounded by her Cordette toadies, she feels alone and knows that people only spend time with her to be popular by proxy instead of actually caring about her. Ironically, the Scooby gang, who spent so much time being tormented by her, were some of the first to accept her for who she is and not what her status could bring them. Throughout the series, she never loses her edge of brutal honesty, shown explicitly in the Earshot episode when she's the only one to say exactly what she thinks. Her character blossoms more on the Angel series (except for season 4), but the foundation of a subversive woman who asserts herself, feels confident, and gets what she wants.

3) Faith Lehane

Faith is the third slayer seen on the show, called after Kendra is killed. Her life has not been easy as she's been living alone, supporting herself with a healthy mistrust of others. The others see her stories as something to be envied but she doesn't share with them the harsh realities she experienced. Underneath her bravado, she's in pain and lonely. Her relationship with Mayor Wilkins is the first loving and supportive ones maybe ever, so it's no surprise that she switches sides. After being defeated and left comatose, she awakens to magically steal Buffy's body and finds a moral center when parodying and parrotting Buffy's goodness. She allows herself to be taken to jail to serve her sentence even though she could easily escape. Faith's road to redemption wasn't as easy as Willow's because her support system was gone. The Scoobies would never accept her as she was because she didn't have the same connection. Faith is a strong, brash person who made mistakes on the way to finding friends and family. She returns in the final season not as an enemy, but as a friend who challenges Buffy's decisions. I love her character arc. She's the only character to go from being good to being so entrenched in evil and back.

Women in Horror: Women of the Buffyverse Part 1

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of the most amazing shows ever on television, so I though I'd feature my favorite female characters to celebrate Women in Horror Month.

1) Buffy Summers

Of course Buffy is going to be first! Her whole existence is due to turning a horror trope on its head. A random girl is almost always killed in slasher films during the first few minutes of the film. She's always pretty but we never get to know much about her because she signals danger and introduces the killer. Joss Whedon turned this around and created an amazing character who would be equipped and able to fight back against evil. Her journey through the series is astonishing. She starts as a teen mourning her loss of a real high school experience and transitions into someone fully accepting of her calling to save their world a lot. Even though her romantic endeavors never turned out well, those relationships never defined her or broke her. I always thought season 6 was one of the weaker seasons, but we get to see Buffy dealing with much more real world problems like depression, grief, debt, and generally struggling in her normal life which we never really saw before. Buffy makes plenty of mistakes and be sanctimonious, but she never gives up. She always fights with everything she has no matter how hopeless it seems with pithy quips and fashionable clothes to boot.

2) Willow Rosenberg

Willow has a drastic character arc throughout the series. She starts off as a stereotypical nerd, but when you peel back some of her layers, she has unexpected strength. Her skills always help the Scooby gang at first with her computer and research skills and later with her growing powers as a witch. Her vulnerable moments are some of the most heartbreaking because of Alyson Hannigan's remarkable acting. Every time her face crumples, I can't help but cry. Willow goes through heartbreak and breakdowns but also periods of profound happiness and love. Her relationship with Tara blossoms organically and it was amazing to see that in a time when it wasn't as accepted as today. Her dark moments were the worst of anyone in the show except for some of the Big Bads. She had the strength to come back from that, kick her magic addiction, and become a functioning member of the gang again. In the depths of her addiction and leading up to it, she was insufferable especially to Giles, but still managed to stay likeable and relatable. Her relationship with Xander and Buffy is so strong that even murder and attempting to end the world can't break it. Willow constantly saves the day with her knowledge and inner power in conjunction with others.

3) Anyanka AKA Anya Christine Emmanuelle Jenkins

At first, Anya seemed like a replacement for Cordelia as the brutally honest person who doesn't quite belong. However, her journey learning what it is to be human and a part of society is an interesting aspect that the show had not seen before. After centuries of being a soulless demon who delights in violence and vengeance against men, it's hard to readjust to caring about people and finding her place in this alien society. She falls in with the Scooby gang mostly because they are the only link to her world, but then she makes lasting relationships and becomes a valued member of the gang. Her experience with demons gives her knowledge even better than Giles because she had hundreds of years of first hand experience. It's easy to forget why she doesn't understand social niceties and all the unspoken rules that we have learned over the years. Her reaction to Joyce's death is one of the most raw and emotional performances ever. She doesn't understand what death means in this new existence and doesn't know how to deal with it. I appreciate her frank attitude and her honest enjoyment of things like sex and money. It annoyed everyone else, but it wroked to break the stigma against women being enterprising in business and women being sexual. She is one of the rare people to go from enemy to friend and brings something unique to the group.

SDCC 2016: Panels Part 3: Luke Cage, John Barrowman, and Once More with Feeling

More panels!

* Luke Cage

I had to see the Luke Cage panel. I'm a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I'm especially impressed with Marvel's Netflix series Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Luke Cage made a big impression in Jessica Jones and I can't wait to see him in his own TV show. Most of the panel was clips from the new show and it looks amazing! The cinematography is awesome and Luke Cage is badass. The villain is introduced and he's pretty menacing. The music is different than the other shows as it focuses in rap and hip hop. It's not my favorite genre, but it fits with the show and the Harlem setting. All the stars were there: Mike Colter, Mahershala Ali, Simone Missik, Theo Rossi, Alfre Woodard, Frank Whaley, and showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker. Theo talked about emoting through dark sunglasses as Shades. Alfre described how the script drew her in. I wish they could talk a bit more, but I also wanted the panel to be an additional hour. They also announced the Iron Fist TV show and a tiny teaser for The Defenders show. This was the best panel I've seen even if the security gestapo tried to get people to stop taking pictures.

* John Barrowman

John Barrowman is crazy fun and delightful. He has a huge personality and isn't afraid to laugh at himself or his own stories. He dressed in a Zack Branagan costume for the event. Soon after his arrival, he was told he was flashing too much (as the outfit was quite short) and donned a rainbow tutu to help with coverage and white "slut heels" (as he describes them) just for fun. He sang songs when requested (except for Springtime for Hitler) which you can see in the short videos I took below. He also shared bunches of hilarious stories from the sets of Arrow and Torchwood plus his every day life including peeing in a fountain at hotel unwittingly on camera, playing pranks on coworkers and at fan photo-ops, and accidentally showing his husband naked on a live video on Facebook and the fallout afterwards. John made sure to thank us and reiterated many times that he wouldn't be where he was without his fans. I look forward to seeing him at many more conventions.

* Once More with Feeling

Every year, the musical episode of Once More with Feeling is played at the end of Comic Con a la Rocky Horror with people shouting things at the screen and singing along. I love it! It also got my fiance to give the series a chance because the songs are integral to the plot instead of just silliness. This year, Juliet Landau, who played Drusilla, introduced a documentary series she's doing called A Place Among the Undead where she and her team interview various famous people about vampires, including Tim Burton, Anne Rice, Gary Oldman, Joss Whedon, Willam Dafoe, and many more. It looks pretty interesting, but she has some dramitization (where she stars) that look honestly pretty cheesy. I would watch it for the interviews though.

That's it for panels, but there will be more cosplay and stuff!

SDCC 2012: Panels Part 4: DC, Buffy, and more Buffy

I didn't have tickets to Saturday of Comic Con, so no panels that day. :( I came back on Sunday with a plan and a vengeance. The plan went to crap anyway, but I still managed to go to 2 panels and a screening.

1) DC Nation

I sat in on this panel primarily to make sure I got to see the next one, but it turned out to be really awesome. The panel consisted of animation producers: Glen Murakami, Mitch Watson, Michael Jelenic, Aaron Horvath, and Jeff Prezenkowski, who were moderated by the always hilarious and foul mouthed Kevin Smith. He restrained himself and only cursed about 10 or 15 times. They revealed new DC cartoons that would air on TV and they sound fantastic!

Beware the Batman sounds like an awesome new show. Unlike previous animated Batman shows, this one is made completely with CGI. Just the processes to get the lighting were very complex and surprisingly realistic.  This new show offers a different Batman than in series past. He is 5 or 6 years into his career as Batman and in his early 30's. I liked that they talked about how his demeanor changes from Bruce Wayne to Batman. Batman has a clipped, efficient way of speaking while public Bruce Wayne doesn't. Private Bruce is very introspective, a little obsessive, and very particular about things. I was surprised to see a younger Alfred wielding guns beside Batman in this poster.

Alfred is never a major player in the action, but supports Bruce behind the scenes. It will be nice to see him in a different role than usual. His sidekick will not be Robin as usually, but instead Katana, who I had never even heard of before that day. It will be interesting to see how her role will differ from Robin's. The villains will be very different as well. Instead of recognizable villains like the Joker or the Penguin, they have chosen to go with more obscure villains that aren't well known, like Mr. Toad. I haven't watched a Batman show since Batman the Animated Series, but I would definitely watch this show.

The other show that looks crazy awesome is Teen Titans GO. It takes the Teen Titans characters and puts them in much more light hearted, cartoony situations. All of the original voice actors from Teen Titans will return to voice their respective characters. I only saw the original show here and there, but what I did see was impressive. I will definitely keep my eye out for this one.

2) Buffy the Vampire Slayer 20th Anniversary

When I heard about this panel, I wasn't very impressed because big names like Joss Whedon or Sarah Michelle Gellar weren't going to be there. I decided to go because I met Nicholas Brendon that day and I really wanted to see what he had to say about being on the show and seeing what he was doing currently. There were some surprises from the beginning. The panelists were listed to be Kirsty Swanson (Buffy from the film), Jane Espenson (writer), Scott Allie (Dark Horse editor), Clare Kramer (Glory on the TV show), Nicholas Brendon (Xander from the TV show), and Georges Jeanty (illustrator for the comic book). Kristy Swanson wasn't there, but Randall Batinkoff, who played Buffy's boyfriend in the movie and broke up with her answering machine, was there instead. Also surprise guest and fan favorite James Marsters was there was well.


Nicholas Brendon was hilarious throughout the panel and made everyone laugh. He almost didn't even get the role as Xander, but I am thankful he did. Even though his character never had special powers or abilities, he was a significant character in the Scooby gang. James Marsters didn't even want to do the show at first. He was desperate for work to support his new family, but he was reluctant to work on Buffy. He watched one episode and he was sold. He also talked about Spike's changing role on the show. He started as a villain who could have just left with one episode, but then returned as the Big Bad in the following season. Later, he became the annoying neighbor after he was chipped and stayed with Giles and Xander. He failed as a Cordelia replacement and thought he was going to be fired, but the writers always molded his character in an organic way to fit the show. Marsters was surprised that the character had such longevity and how he was constantly surprised and challenged as an actor on the show.

Scott Allie talked about the evolution of the comics over time. When the show was still running, the show and the comics didn't interact much until Fray, which Whedon wrote. It built a relationship between the two and made it possible to continue the show in comic book form for seaon 8 and 9. The actors were happy that the story continued in comics. James Marsters mentioned that his time with that character is over and it's great that Spike can live on in comics. The panel ended with a quiz with comics signed by the panel as prizes.  I consider myself a hard core Buffy fan, but I would never remember Buffy's home address or know how many total vampires she killed over 7 seasons (133).

This panel was wonderful and it's nice to see that the Buffy fandom is still alive and well. I hope more of the cast will come together at later Comic Cons like Firefly's cast did this year.

3) Buffy the Vampire Slayer screening: Once More with Feeling

After this panel was the singalong screening of the awesome Buffy musical episode, Once of More with Feeling. It was wonderful to see it on the big screen among other fans of the show. My boyfriend even agreed to watch at least the first 2 seasons of the show with me because of it. Yay! I hope to see this again next year.