Wednesday! Wednesdays are my favorite!

I have no student for this hour, so a quick blog entry before I go retire to my classroom and enjoy John Burdett’s “Bangkok 8″ novel. This novel is awesome by the way. I just love the main character, “Sonchai” a half-Thai, half-American cop/brothel owner who is as cynical, defiant and funny as they come.

But before I do that, check out bitchmagazine.org.

I like this article:

“New Moon’s success means women hate sex. Obviously.”

“OK, I’ll be the first to admit that the whole Twilight phenomenon is interesting. Here at Bitch we’ve written about the movies, the books, the parody videos, and tons of other sparkly vampire stuff over the past year. People are obsessed! It’s compelling! However, lately it seems like every single teenage behavior is being connected to the franchise in some way, from negotiating gender identity to interacting with parents. Could it be that Twilight is the compass with which we can navigate the state of Young People Today? Do we never have to think about the nuances and complications of human existence again because Stephenie Meyer has done that dirty work for us? Well, Jonathan Zimmerman at the Chicago Tribune certainly thinks so.

According to Zimmerman’s article “Hooking up’s gender gap,” the number of young women who saw Twilight Saga: New Moon (which was a lot) tells us that, “Girls want love, not just sex.” And he got this from New Moonhow, exactly?

To be fair, Zimmerman is citing a University of Missouri study that polled 4,000 Twilight fans of all ages on why they liked the franchise. I was unable to locate the original study, but reports of the results state that “many teen girls — who make up the core of Twilight’s audience, along with a few moms — are drawn to the story about love beyond the physical.” No statistics were given in anything I could find, but apparently lots of young teens like the love story that’s present in Twilight. No surprise there, since it’s a romance (even if it is a creepy one). “

For more read here.

Buffy studies 101: Bidet of evil vs. Buffy (The best of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 7)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 7, is the last season of, possibly, the best fantasy show ever on television.

In this season, the first, the original, the most ancient and most dangerous of evils, “The First”, declares war on Buffy, Faith and all the potential slayers that ever existed and will exist in the world. This comes about because Buffy has upset the balance by having come back from the dead. The First is thus killing off all potential slayers, and is out for Buffy and Faith’s blood. The first has taken up residence in Sunnydale’s Hellmouth, and has recruited the best and brightest of evils, among them, all the villains Buffy has ever encountered and battled, the Turok-Han (the ancient vampires), an army of devoted eye-less, tongueless minions and demons. AS Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) races against time to

defeat “The First”, she must also deal with recovering witch and best friend, Willow (Alyson Hannigan), Xander (Nicholas Brendon), Faith (Eliza Dushku) coming back into town, Anya (Emma Caulfield) and her deadly, murderous vengeance demon ways, absentee-watcher/father figure Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), Spike (James Marsters) and his ambivalent, ambiguous ways brought about by a newly-recovered soul, her younger sister who’s slowly growing up and taking an interest in her slaying ways, and a whole army of potential slayers, led by the annoyingly bratty Kennedy (Iyari Limon), who are looking to Buffy for leadership and inspiration as “The First” threatens to annihilate the world.

1. Season 7: the season of closures – the best thing about this show and this season is the fact that Joss Whedon et. al. has never let down its fans. Every loose end ever untied in this show is tied, every character in need of a closure confronted and dealt with. Hence Buffy deals with Angel, Spike, her watcher, the first slayer, her friends (and the fact that she has a propensity for trying to kill each and everyone of ‘em), her death/s, her power and her ultimate destiny and what it means for the world. Willow deals with Tara’s death, and her attraction to potential slayer Kennedy. Xander and Anya deal with their failed relationship. Faith deals with Buffy and their (almost homoerotic – I just had to say it!) relationship. Giles deals with Buffy, Buffy with Dawn, Buffy with her past life and her future.

2. Kennedy – Yeah, the pierced tongue is sexy, but I am a staunch Tara fan, so. ‘Nuff said.

3. The First - Because obviously the harder the evil to fight, the cooler the story.

4. Anya – Because she was a vengeance demon with a conscience. Because she thought making spells with Willow was sexy (the look on Willow’s face? Priceless). Because if she’s not having sex, nobody else should. Because she is not afraid to use other people as shields to protect herself (at least Andrew anyway).

5. We finally get some girl-on-girl action - Better late than never, is what I say. Even though it was in the third to the last episode.

6. The fascinating dynamic of the Scooby gang – I am still amazed at the evolving complexity of the gang, the consistent inconsistencies, how everyone can be so loyal to Buffy at one point, and betray her by ousting her as the defunct leader of the army of potential slayers. I liked the complex, tender relationship that Buffy finds with and develops with Spike, even though they both know Buffy does not love Spike. I like how Anya and Xander develop the same kind of relationship as well.

7. Faith is back! Yay! – Because Faith is awesome.

8. Best use of word ever – “Bidet”. As in “bidet of evil”. The only other thing that comes close is “tumescence”. Nuff said.

9. Blink and you’ll miss Ashanti and a whole slew of familiar Hollywood faces -
Yep, Joss Whedon et.al. were not stingy with the guests. This was a spectacular season for guest stars. I’m surprised Tara didn’t make a cameo. IN fact, she was the only one who did not show up – as all the people who have ever appeared in this show – from Angel, to Joyce, to Glory, to Adam, to the Mayor and the Principal, have all appeared. Then again, I didn’t see Cordelia or Oz, so, that evens it out.

9. The spectacular finale! The Action! The metaphors! The symbolisms!- Buffy proves to the worthy general of this army of slayers. She brilliantly orchestrates the activation of all potential slayers through a spell Willow makes, making every potential a full-blown slayer. And of course action-wise, this season does not disappoint. Blink and you’ll miss the subtle metaphor of having one slayer every generation as planned by ancient male shamans, to that of the control of female sexuality by males (contraception, female genital mutilation, the reproductive health debates ). Awesome, no? Makes Buffy’s decision to give every potential slayer power all the more sweet and powerful. The message is none too powerful: you have the power and take control of your destiny. This is feminism at its best, made all the more awesome by the fact that it was helmed by a male creator (Whedon) and that it succeeded in its message without having any stupid, preposterous, pointless PSA (like those things in The L-Word).

IN other words: Buffy is the best show evah!

Now must go back to reading John Burdett’s “Bangkok 8″. Awesome book!

Reading like a maniac: Reading “Grails – Quest of the Dawn” & John Burdett’s “Bangkok 8″

Just finished reading “Grails: Quest of the Dawn” (Martin Greenberg, Richard Gillliam and Edward Kramer, editors), an anthology of fantasy stories about the Holy Grail. Bought it because it featured Neil Gaiman, Jane Yolen, Orson Scott Card and who can resist Neil Gaiman? Got stuck at Orson Scott Card’s Noah/Atlantis/The Great Flood novellete, but otherwise okay. The stories were pretty standard fare, but the stories towards the end of the anthology are pretty good. I recommend it to anyone who is crazy about Holy Grail stories.

I was actually alternating between reading Thoreau’s “Walden” and “Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance”, but got sidetracked when I spotted John Burdett’s “Bangkok 8″ at the bookshop (along with Bitch magazine). So I am reading that instead. I must say, I am enjoying reading “Bangkok 8″ immensely, so far.

More later.

DVD Junkie: Review of Mylene Dizon’s “100″

I have always had low expectations about Filipino movies. Apologies to staunch Filipino film advocates. I just feel that since Pinoy greats Ishmael Bernal and Lino Brocka died, nothing of great significance has been made. The Golden Age of Pinoy Cinema seemed to have ended when they died and while yes, Brillante Mendoza et.al., have done wonders for Pinoy Cinema with the accolades he and others have reaped for us, except I am not really into films that are usually about macho dancers, illicit sex and affairs, rape, torture, kidnapping and death – unless it is sensitively portrayed. But that’s just me.

Last year, I heard about a Cinemalaya-backed indie film getting rave reviews on the indie and mainstream circuit entitled “100″. It starred Pinoy indie regulars Mylene Dizon (of “Rome and Juliet” fame), Tessie Tomas and Eugene Domingo. Since Mylene Dizon had me “Rome and Juliet” I thought it might be  a cool film. So when I came across the DVD I bought it and waited with bated breath as it loaded on my  laptop.

Anyway, about a couple of hours later after I watched the film, I had that unsatisfying feeling only left for films that kind of ended way too soon before we actually got to the good stuff. Mostly because the story does not start until well into the middle of the film. The film may have benefited more from tighter editing and more development.

The story is about a cancer survivor, played by Mylene Dizon, who has come up with 100 things to do before she dies. Some of these 100 things are innocuous things, like eat as much cake as possible (death by chocolate, yay!), guzzle as much booze as possible, smoke yourself to death, eat as much Pinoy food as you can and so on. Others are about doing those things that she has been meaning to do all her life: go to Disneyland, Madame Tussaud, go to Enchanted. But the most important part would be dealing with her death itself: settling her accounts, telling her family and friends about it, telling her ex-boyfriend, breaking up with her present, married lover, having closure, dealing with her anger.

All great, yes, but in the middle of this film, I suddenly grew bored (in fairness to this film, I had spent most of my waking, free hours watching fantasy/sci-fi action shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, “Dollhouse”, and “Battlestar Galactica”, so that would probably account for my boredom. I half-expected aliens, vampires, demons and robots to devour Mylene..just to make the story interesting). There seemed to be a lull in the storytelling, hampered by all these tasks she needs to do, most of which are okay, but they don’t seem to facilitate the advancement of the story or the growth of the character – especially the main character, Mylene’s. In fact, for most the film, Mylene Dizon’s character almost always seems angry, with no room for the quiet acceptance, resignation and redemption I’d expect from the character. I found no insight into death and dying from anywhere in the film. Arguably, the character is projected as the kind who is defiant from beginning until the end, but still, I would imagine that beneath this defiance is a tender, sensitive, complex exploration death and being, which I found lacking in this film. In fact, I found most of the film slightly self-indulgent and underdeveloped.

However, this movie gets points for being better than most. Like most serious film geeks, I find the yearly installments of “Shake, Rattle and Roll”, “Mano Po”, “Lastik Man”, “Okay ka, Fairy Ko” and others, simply repulsive. But just because it’s different from the others doesn’t mean there shouldn’t have been anymore room for improvement. I liked the cinematography though, and the professional lighting, and all the other technical aspects of it. The cast gives a stellar performance, although I feel like this is Mylene Dizon playing Mylene Dizon, instead of Mylene Dizon playing a character. I liked her more as “Rome” in “Rome and Juliet” – there was a character change, organic character development and there was this sensitive, tender portrayal she brought to the character, heretofore unheard of in other portrayals of lesbians on Pinoy film.

Overall, a good film, that may have probably needed more development.

GGJ: DVD Junkie discovers Joss Whedon’s “Dollhouse”

So when I heard that Joss Whedon was 1) doing another show with 2) Eliza Dushku, I was beside my geeky self.

Afterall, part of the fun of watching Buffy on TV was seeing the interesting dynamic between Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Faith (Eliza Dusku). Besides, Eliza Dushku rocks.

So I found me a DVD copy of “Dollhouse” season 1 and it lay on my bed untouched while I re-watched Season 7 of Buffy (Geeky, much?).

When I was finished with that I popped the DVD into my laptop and have been addicted since.

What can I say? It’s an awesome show.

It looks like a more mature Joss Whedon at the helm – but mark my words, he hasn’t lost his touch for irony, wit, humor and loads of that nuanced, sensitive storytelling combined with a riveting plot, a giant government conspiracy, a massive evil corporation, mysterious characters with checkered pasts, morally ambivalent (probably delusional) villains, and at the center of it all, an ever-growing stronger (uber)hero, Echo (Eliza Dushku) who is slowly resisting the imprints and evolving and regaining her will.

The story is about a giant, advanced tech, secret corporation, the Dollhouse, which has discovered, through its (annoying) tech guy, Topher Brink (Fran Kranz) that they can, much like computers, program humans: wipe away their whole identity, personality, past, and upload different personalities – personalities which are pimped to the highest, richest bidders in politics and business. Headed by Adele DeWitt (Olivia Williams), the Dollhouse is run like a top-secret, underground, regimented, peaceful Eden, with its “dolls” living like clueless, serene zombies until an “engagement” takes them outside into the real world. What happens though is that while Topher believes his systems and methods are full-proof, and that the “dolls” will never cause problems, such as old, original personalities re-asserting themselves, dolls going berserk, residual personalities coagulating into one doll and creating composite, suicidal dolls.  The rise of “Alpha” (interesting name that – can it be more obvious?) who goes on a rampage and almost succeeds in killing everyone, makes the Dollhouse’s existence a bit more fragile but guarded. However, Echo has shown signs of evolution: while she is still responsive to the “treatments” (the mindwipes Dollhouse does to its dolls to erase previous personalities), Echo as Echo can and does think for herself, and as a different personality, consistently shows creativity, innovation against all odds, a mind of her own, an instinct for survival and of saving other people, and exhibits memories of her previous original life, and of past personalities downloaded on her.

The story isn’t anything unfamiliar: Atom Egoyan’s “Dark City” was premised on the idea of a dying alien race which kidnaps human beings to understand what makes humans “human”. They do this by getting all the memories of the humans and mixing them up, injecting them in each human, hoping doing so would help them survive more. One of the subjects evolves and begins resisting the experiments and defeats the aliens (still one of my all-time favorite movies). “The 13th Floor” was premised on mind-trips as well, as is “Existenz”, “The Matrix” trilogy, “Gattaca”,  “Surrogates”, “Neuromancer”, and many others besides. At the same time, it reminds me of “Being John Malkovich” as well – in that at times, the show goes to the metaphysical level and asks interesting questions about humanity. And it also calls to mind “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”  – the idea that you can erase someone’s memories, but you can’t erase that person’s essence…or the person’s destiny and proclivities. The show actually even reminds me of a better, cooler, more well-written version of James Cameron’s now-defunct “Dark Angel” (and other TV shows with similar storylines, like “Mutant X”): superhuman hero, evil organization, scary, villain, good story.

And yet, while the premise is familiar, Joss Whedon still succeeds in making it his, making it original and creative. Ultimately what makes this series interesting, and worth watching,and worth investing money on is the fact that it is a thought-provoking meditation on self, identity, personality, identity, consciousness, the subconscious, essence, existence, soul, spirit, self-determination, free will, choice, reality, freedom.

And in the end, this is what makes this series worth it:

Because at the core of it is an exploration, finally, of what makes us human.

Jobhunting Pinoy Style: Now I got me a job (yay!)

So I now have me a job.

As all job applications go, this one was  a doozy.

My friend texted me before the New Year to tell me about an academy looking for English teachers.

I thought what the hell. I have plans, but while I’m waiting for the plans to come through, I might as well get me some cash.

The application is as follows:

1. Submit your application letter, transcript and certificates.

2. Take a TOEIC exam. I’d heard about TOEIC exams. Korean students practically lay down their lives to get a high score in these exams. I took it and I found it hysterical. This is what you die for?!? Piece of quiche!

3. I had an interview.

4. I had a training (this consisted of observing teachers teach English as a second language).

5. I got the job.

But this is not the exciting part.

The exciting part is getting your health card certifying that you are fit to work with students (insert smile here).

This consisted of the following procedures:

1. Go to your local health center.

2. Look for the man who looks like he can more or less tell you how to obtain a health card, amidst the long queues of men and women belligerently and confusingly trying to process their own documents before the deadline.

3. When you have found said man, said man, after much inquiry will direct you to a handwritten poster on the wall (in pentel pen ink) about the directions.

4. Go back to said man to ask for form as poster has indicated on wall.

5. Leave the building in a huff when said man refuses to give you form to fill in since you don’t have a 1 x 1 photo ID card (No ID card, no form).

6. Go to nearest photo studio to have your photo taken.

7. Struggle to keep your last shred of sanity when the power goes out.No power, no picture, no developing of picture, no form.

8. Wait a few minutes for the power to come back on.

I say jump...jump for my love...

9. Realize that you must beat the deadline since there is a 10am cut-off and thus you must go there before 10am. It is now 9:45am.

10. Power goes back on so you rush breathless to the health center.

11.  Ask man again for next step in health card processing.

12. Go to x-ray department and be relieved that you don’t need to have an x-ray since you already.

13. Get annoyed at the lady behind the immunology/serology/fecalysis counter when she looks at you funny when you jump around in joy, brandishing stool in a canister,  because you have beat the deadline.

14. Go back at 3pm to have your physical examination, which consists mostly of a lady in a white lab coat examining your fingernails.

15.  Go to next floor to get your health card.

16. Repeat after 6 months.

I now am a proud owner of the government health card that certifies that I am fit to teach foreigners English.:-)

I rest my case.

Buffy studies 101: The Best (and Worst) of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6

In continuing my homage to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I now go to BTVS Season 6 and discuss what makes this season interesting.

1. Buffy dies, Buffy lives – This is a very dark season and if you need further proof, look no further than the first episode of Season 6 of BTVS.  Buffy dies in the last season, having prevented the many realities and worlds from bleeding into each other and imploding by throwing herself into the mystical portal. Season 6 finds our Scooby gang (with the new and improved Buffy bot formerly owned by Spike) being given the unenviable task of continuing to patrol Sunnydale sans Buffy and her superpowers. Willow finds a loophole in Buffy’s death, and that is that since Buffy died from mystical forces, then she can be resurrected (very mythological, that. Ever heard of a hero that never came back from the dead? The ultimate biblical hero, in the New Testament, even He came back from the dead). She is resurrected and all hell breaks loose. Not just for this season but for the next season as well. Buffy lives and the pathos continues.

2. Buffy loves, Buffy hates – Buffy was torn away from heaven and thus is understandably detached from this world when she is brought from the dead. She thus develops a disturbing, violent, intensely sexual relationship with Spike. It’s disturbing and fascinating at the same time.

2. Good Willow, Dark Willow – Character development is in full swing in this season. None more so than in Willow, who goes from dork and geek, to Buffy groupie, to rockstar girlfriend, to simply rockin’ lesbian, to full-fledged witch, to magic junkie struggling to keep it all together.  Magic goes to her head, everybody knows she is way in over her head, but she doesn’t know it, until Tara leaves her, and until she almost kills Dawn and the rest of the gang when she makes a spell that is supposed to make Tara and Buffy forget about bad past experiences. Scary dark Willow though, the Willow that lost Tara and went all berserk and apocalyptic, is all scary and creepy. However, she still rocks the “lesbian witch” character.

3. Tabula Rasa – Must be my favorite episode from this Season. Willow screws up a spell that’s only supposed to make Buffy forget that she was in heaven, and make Tara forget that they have been having fights about Willow’s growing dependence and eventual addiction to magic. The spell goes bad and everybody forgets who they are. So Buffy becomes “Joan”, Dawn “Umad”, Giles thinks he is engaged to Anya (who pronounces her name “Enya” – ah, Anya, how I adore thee!), Spike thinks his name is Randy and that he is Giles’ son, Xander thinks he and Willow are going out, Willow thinks she might be gay and thinks Tara is her study buddy. I liked this episode because it has that “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” vibe about it. We can have our memories erased but our essence, destinies and proclivities cannot be erased and we will always gravitate towards those people, interests and things that we are interested in. Brilliant, that. Eventually each character figure out who they are, Buffy knows she is the leader, Buffy and Dawn figure out they may be related and Willow suspects she might be gay. The story ends badly though, since Tara leaves Willow, but this is still an awesome episode.

4. Tara and Willow: break up to make-up to break-up to make up to break up…permanently – It is hard to watch this season when you see the disintegration of the most normal relationship (which happens to be gay). Harder still to watch knowing that Tara will eventually die. As of this season, Tara and Willow (as played by Amber Benson and Alyson Hannigan) are the last couple standing. But Willow’s addicted forays into the dark side of magic effectively dooms their relationship. But some good news: Tara grows a spine and seems feister in this season. Seems like the (lesbian) relationship has done both good.

5. They sing, they dance, they stake things (“Once more with feeling” the musical) – blink and you’ll miss the fact that future “Hairspray” director Adam Shankman choreographs this episode (like blink and you’ll miss pre-critically acclaimed, Oscar buzzed Amy Adams as Tara/Amber Benson’s cousin in season 5). I haven’t seen this in its entirety when it came out on TV, it was nice to watch it on DVD. Spike rocks his songs. And so does Giles.

6. Anya the good, Anya the bad- Because thousand year old ex-demons with inexplicable fears of bunnies are awesome. Because she is funny whether loved or scorned. Because when Xander leaves her at the altar, Emma Caulfield plays the character sympathetically. And how cool is that that she becomes a demon again and proves instrumental in the season finale?

7. The Revenge of the Nerds – Andrew, Jonathan and Warren are equal parts annoying, excruciating to watch and just…well…annoying. Part of me loathes having to see them onscreen (and I skipped most of their scenes), but part of me appreciates the fact that these nerds/geeks seem like a nod to the nerds/geeks who are the loyal fan base of this show. The best parts of this trio are the scenes in which they just do normal geeky things like discuss which James Bond is better, reference Star Wars, Star Trek and other popular culture and profess unabashed allegiance to geekdom.

Anyway, I gots to go.

More later.

Next stop: Season 7 and Dollhouse.

Tired, tired, tired..but the Oscar nominations are out!

Here at an internet shop near my house just blogging quickly before I head home. I’ve been debating whether to get my own internet connection (post-paid) or get one of those pre-paid Globe Tattoo/Smart Bro thingies.

I find I like surfing in an internet shop. There is something communal about surfing with other like-minded wilfers.

Anyway, today is week four of my ESL teaching. It’s exhausting, but great. I had fun discussing the intricacies of pronunciation as applied in Mariah Carey’s songs (heheh). I have a Taiwanese student, so this should be interesting.

More later, when I’m more coherent and less tired.

But let me just say..interesting line-up of nominees this year:

Best Picture

Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Best Actress

Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Best Supporting Actress

Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo’Nique, Precious

Best Actor

Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Best Supporting Actor

Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Director

Avatar, James Cameron
The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow
Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino
Precious, Lee Daniels
Up in the Air, Jason Reitman

I wonder who will win? My money’s on Sandra Bullock, Penelope Cruz, James Cameron and Avatar.

What about you? What do you think?

For full list, check out afterellen.com here.

Buffy Studies 101: The best (& worst) of Season 5

Reliving the Buffy days is quite fun and to celebrate Season 8 I discuss Season 5 and what makes this one of the best seasons of BTVS.

1. Glory/Glorificus – Bitchy hell-god Glory (played by Clare Kramer) who has been banished from another demon dimension and is planning to go back via a mystical energy called “the Key” is the ultimate villain . Powerful, crazy, diabolical, scary, she is equal parts worthy opponent and villain worthy of Buffy and the Scoobies.  The fact that she has a nice med student brother who shares the same body with her – a brother for whom Buffy shares an unwitting brief attraction makes this season very exciting. Long after she is defeated by Buffy and the gang, I will always remember this season as the season that turned it around for Buffy and the gang, and really showed how far the show had come.

2. Dawn Summers – Having a thousand-year old mystical ball of energy that is the key to opening the many demon dimensions be trapped in the body of a bratty 14-year old younger sister to The Slayer is a stroke of genius. My sister and I, who had followed BTVS religiously the first time it was shown on TV where absolutely blown away by how clever this plot twist was. It makes the big reveal – that Dawn is just a construct and that all the memories Buffy and the Scoobies have about her all the more dramatic…and heartbreaking.

3. Anya - Whether being rude to customers are the Magic Shop, offering her friends a chance to stroke the cash in the cash register to make them feel better (since it makes her feel better), offering to sleep with Willow after Tara is brainwashed, battling an ex-demon boyfriend, pressuring boyfriend Xander to marry her, or trying to figure out what death is all about, or coming up with the initial plan to defeat Glory (the dragon’s sphere, the demon’s ax, the Buffy-bot), while still managing to convey her repulsion and hate for bunnies,  Anya, as played by Emma Caulfield, always manages to be repulsive, effusive, adorable, funny and emphatic. She may be as dead as the TV series from whence she came, but she is still one of my favorite supporting characters on BVTS ever.

4. Tara and Willow’s relationship is taken to the next level – I’d missed this when I was watching it the first time many years ago but this season had hinted at Willow’s future forays to the dark side of magic. This season explores the complexities of relationships and it is portrayed sensitively in Tara and Willow’s relationship. Willow, sheltered and safe in the arms of a good childhood and good company,  is in for a maturity journey when Joyce dies and Tara is hurt by Glory. Pretty awesome, that.

5. Spike and Buffy’s ambivalent, ambiguous relationship -  Spike and Buffy have always had a love-hate relationship but this season makes their relationship more interesting: Spike falls in love for Buffy and though Buffy adamantly refuses to reciprocate his feelings, Spike proves his loyalty and love when Glory tortures him to the point of death, hoping doing so would make Spike squeal. Spike refuses to say who the key is, and earns a kiss and respect from Buffy.

6. Joyce dies -I know this is depressing, but my all-time favorite episode in this season has to be the two-part episode of Joyce Summers’ (Kristine Sutherland) sudden death. Surreal and existential, this two-part episode manages to convey the heartbreak, loss and pathos of losing someone close to you. The performances from all the actors are stellar and the writing is so superb as to deserve to have earned at least an award. And this is why this show is the best.

7. The awesome fight scenes –  Buffy is about the action as well and this season does not disappoint. From Buffy’s fight scenes with the Buffy-bot, with demons, with weird demons from outerspace, with Glory, to Willow’s gutsy fight with Glory, this season delivers.

8. The season finale –  This season finale is only matched by the show finale in Season 7. When despite all odds, and a spectacular fight involving the sphere, the demon ax, Willow’s powers combined with Tara’s, Spike’s strength and the killing of Ben, Glory’s brother-in-the-same-body, Glory’s minions succeed in bleeding Dawn so the portal can open, Buffy decides to sacrifice herself instead, I guarantee you not a few tears may have been shed. Which just goes to show, it’s not how you start that matters… it’s how you end that matters.

And so…many years later, it is any wonder its loyal fan base is still as loyal as hell?

Nuff said.

You know it’s Panagbenga Fest in Baguio when…

So I got up early today, because I was pooped about my lecture yesterday. I slept early and skipped the Buffy fest.

I thought I was early enough to beat the early morning traffic, when imagine my surprise when the jeepney I was riding told us he could only take us as far as SLU (Saint Louis University), which is a long way off from downtown, so I had to walk from SLU to Session Road, and down near Tiong San Harrison for the jeepney stand of my ride going to Kennon Road. Imagine my surprise when the jeepneys weren’t there. Somebody had thoughtfully and considerately left a note saying the jeepneys had temporarily transferred a long ways off, to Harrison Road, past Tiong San, past Patriotic High School, and all the way to Petron Station.

Imagine my surprise when I get there and I had to look for  the jeepneys going to Kennon Road! It was total chaos there! All the cars, jeepneys, taxis, vans, every mode of transportation imaginable, was there and it was every man/woman for himself/herself! So I knew it was already Panagbenga in Baguio City.

Looking back at that it made me think about the other things that make me realize it’s already Panagbenga in Baguio City:

You know it’s Panagbenga when:

1. There is heavy traffic.

2. When the pollution levels are higher than usual.

3. When there are more people than usual.

4. When the rubbish is more than usual and is uncollected.

5. When there are a lot of people wearing shirts and/or caps or henna tattos that have sunflowers on them.

6. When you constantly hear the Panagbenga theme song playing over and over and over again.

7.  When you feel like going out and strangling the first Panagbenga tourist you find.

Don’t get me wrong – Panagbenga is great, but it’s always so chaotic and annoying and confusing and stressful.

Here’s hoping this month will be stress-free!