Month: September 2002

If you’re within commuting distance, or any distance, of Manhattan, and you do not attend the annual New York is Book Country fair, then you should be making every endeavor to do so in the future. Yesterday’s was predictably crowded, but also just as predictably chock-a-block with all manner of interesting things to see and folks to talk with. It’s the only event where I actively seek autographs. At the NBM table we encountered Peter Krupp and Bill Plympton. Heading in the media celebrity direction, we got children’s books signed by Julie Andrews and John Lithgow. Also ran into the board moderator and one of the denizens of the “Peter David Speaks” folder from AOL, although we got permanently separated when Kath and I went over to say hi to Frank Miller at the DC booth. No Marvel booth, which was a shame. Not a *surprise*, mind you, but a shame.

PAD

Okay, last night’s FIREFLY was a bit more like it. More engaging than last week’s episode (ironic considering that one was by Joss Whedon whereas last night’s was Tim Minear), we’re starting to get more of a feeling of the universe they’re living in. None of the characters are really singing to me yet, with the exception of Kaylee (but only because of the actress and also she reminds me of Willow) and the prostitute–and I have to admit, it totally fractures me that she’s the one who is treated with the most respect wherever the crew goes. Then again, I have to admit I side with George Carlin who questions the illegality of the world’s oldest profession: “Selling is legal. Sex is legal. How can selling sex be illegal?” Personally, I have trouble with the notion of being pro-choice and anti-prostitution. How can you say that a woman doesn’t have a right to sell her body if she’s so inclined…but that she does have the right to expunge an unwanted embryo from it?

I also think it’s bold not to have aliens anywhere in the series, particularly considering alien characters always come across as far more interesting than the humans…and considering most of the humans we’ve seen thus far still come across as pretty flat, that would make the deficiencies all the more apparent. People still seem to be drawing parallels between the loopy sister and Drusilla, but I don’t know that that’s fair. Individuals with visions who are thought to be nuts goes all the way back to Cassandra, so what’s wrong with re-exploring the same source material? And her fascination with the stars was one of the show’s more engaging moments.

Now let’s just hope the ratings support the show. JOHN DOE, by the way, is turning out to be some truly riveting TV. In fact, Friday’s become a cool TV night when you have FIREFLY at 8, JOHN DOE at 9, and then MONK at 10 on the USA channel.

PAD

The other night I attended Ariel’s “Meet the Teachers” night–or, as we call it, Run Around the School Night, because you go from class to class in imitation of your kid’s schedule…except you spend about eight minutes per class as the teacher tries to cram in a description of the entire year’s curriculum.

The English class did not bode well, though. There was a big sign at the front of the class encouraging “INDEPENDANT THOUGHT.” Nothing like seeing a word spelled incorrectly in 30 point type at the front of an English class. The best, though, was the student essay up on the wall in the back in which the 6th grade student wrote how he was choking on some food until his older brother intervened. He wrote, “First my brother punched me in the stomach, and then he gave me the Hemlock maneuver.” Ah yes, the Hemlock maneuver. The good news is, there’s a 100% success rate in stopping choking. The bad news is…

PAD

It occurred to me that if they ever ran plays as double-bills, the way they used to do with movies, they should do a double feature of “The Vágìņá Monologues” and “Puppetry of the Pëņìš.”

It then further occurred to me that, with genitalia pretty much covered (or uncovered) in the theatrical world, other organs should get equal time. Herewith a list of possible future plays:

“Venting My Spleen”

“Liver Spots”

“Brain Farts”

“A Detailed Appendix”

“Tongue Lashing”

“By the Short Hairs”

“Bowel Movements”

“My God, What an Úšhølë” (alternate

“Prostate of the Union”

“Throat Cultures”

“Bûŧŧ Mûņçhìņg”

“Elbow Grease” (that would be the 50s rock version)

Other suggestions are welcome, frighteningly enough.

PAD

Okay, so here’s my overall prediction for the year’s arc. I do this every year, and I have yet to be right.

As I mentioned yesterday, I think Buffy is squaring off against the First. We would know for sure if those robed guys at the beginning had no eyes. It is my further belief that the First was responsible for the creation of the Hellmouth. What I think is that the First is going to be endeavor to open more Hellmouths throughout the world. And that in the final confrontation, Buffy will manage to not only seal the Hellmouth beneath Sunnydale, but get rid of it entirely so that Sunnydale will effectively be a normal town and Buffy and Dawn can lead a normal life.

That’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.

PAD

How could I have been so dense.

I bet Buffy’s dealing with the First. The primary evil that lurked around below Sunnydale, had an assortment of eyeless priests working for it, and drove Angel nuts back in “Amends” by shifting into the forms of various people he’d killed, including Jenny Calendar. After introducing the concept of the First back in season #3, we haven’t heard boo about it since then.

So either Whedon is repeating himself by having a Big Bad with the exact same MO…or it’s the same evil entity that’s been laying low since shortly before the destruction of the school.

We’ll see.

PAD

Buffy may have missed out on being Homecoming queen years ago, but that pales in comparison to the welcome homecoming of the new season. With as much lack of subtlety as we saw the miseries of adulthood hammered home upon our heroes (so much so that they forgot to *be* heroes most of the time), so too was there no subtlety in letting the fans known that all is well (i.e., evil) in Sunnydale once again. Except in the latter case it could not have been more welcome.

The instant I heard there was a new principal, I thought, “Bet he’s black.” There hasn’t been an ongoing black character since Mr. Trick, and he was only in the first half of season 3. But that was the only truly predictable aspect of the episode. Spike’s return couldn’t have been more perfectly timed, all manner of plot threads were put into place, and I feel truly sorry for anyone who is a newcomer because they couldn’t begin to appreciate the cameo heaven of the last two minutes. Even the charming comic book injoke of Willow’s witch teacher being “Miss Harkness” (an impossible-to-ignore reference to Marvel’s witch in residence, Agatha Harkness) showed that Whedon’s sensibilities were firmly back in place.

Welcome home, Buffy and Co. We missed you last year. Glad you’re back.

PAD