Project 310 - Revelations

Season 3, Episode 7 - “Revelations”

Original airdate: November 17, 1998

Project 310 re-watch date: Jan. 31, 2009

This episode was significantly better than I’d remembered. For some reason, the only thing I really remembered from this episode was that other people found out that Angel was alive, and that there was an evil ex-Watcher. But really, it’s so much more than that.

The Angel revelation is the key one in this episode. Xander spots Buffy and Angel together, and lets the gang know because, well, it’s the right thing to do. I’m not sure that was Xander’s actual motivation, but it’s very interesting to see how that whole “intervention” scene plays out. Once again, Giles really stole the show. He has the most reason to be angry that Buffy kept this a secret, but he doesn’t play it with anger. Instead, he plays it like a disappointed parent, which is really his role in Buffy’s life.

This episode sets up a lot of Faith’s trust issues for the rest of the season. Obviously, I remembered the whole thing with the fake watcher (which is why she completely blows off Wesley when he shows up), but Faith seemed legitimately hurt when she was left out of the Buffy intervention, because no one really thought of her as one of Buffy’s friends.

As for the other big revelation of the episode (beyond Angel and Ms. Post) is the escalation of the Xander/Willow pseudo-relationship. Obviously, everyone really finds out about this in the next episode, but here, the revelation is between Xander and Willow themselves -- they realize they’re not going to get past this, no matter how much they try (and oh, do they try in the next episode).

There’s only one thing that keeps this from being a 5-star episode, and that’s the fact that for some reason, no one bothers to tell Joyce that Angel is back. I would have thought that Giles, in his “protective parent” role, would have made that call -- or at least made sure Buffy told her. And now, I’m struggling to even remember how Joyce reacted when she saw Angel again, so I guess we’ll find out.

Favorite Quote:

Giles: “I won’t remind you that the fate of the world often lies with the Slayer. What would be the point? Nor shall I remind you that you’ve jeopardized the lives of all that you hold dear by harboring a known murderer. But, sadly, I must remind you that Angel tortured me ... for hours ... for pleasure. You should have told me he was alive. You didn’t. You have no respect for me or the job I perform.”

(Anthony Stewart Head would have earned an Emmy for that speech if Emmy voters took a show like “Buffy” seriously).

Project 310 - Band Candy

Season 3, Episode 6 - “Band Candy”
Original airdate: November 10, 1998
Project 310 re-watch date: Jan. 30, 2009

In a strange way, the structure of this episode mirrors the evil plot of the episode. In “Band Candy”, Mr. Trick hires Ethan Rayne to distribute cursed candy to the adults of Sunnydale, turning them into immature teenagers (not physically, though) and distracting them from the main evil plot, which is to kidnap babies and offer them as sacrifice to a demon as part of The Mayor’s plan.

How is this like the structure of the episode? Well, the reason behind the candy was to serve as a distraction for a plot so evil the adults of Sunnydale would never let it happen. In the same way, the comedy of the early part of the episode serves as a distraction for that same evil plot, which is heinous even by “Buffy” standards.

That said, the bulk of this episode is spent in comedy mode. “Buffy” didn’t do comedy often, but when the show went in that direction, it was usually pretty good. My favorite part of this episode, by far, was the relationship between Giles and Joyce. I never would have imagined them getting it on. They always seemed more a couple by appreciation than by affection.

As for Giles himself, it’s easy to miss the first time watching the episode, but when he reverts to younger mode, his accent changes. The accent that “Ripper” has is actually closer to Anthony Head’s real accent. It’s also funny, because James Marsters based his British accent on Anthony Head’s real accent, so “Ripper” ends up sounding like Spike for most of the episode.

This is also the second-to-last appearance of Ethan Rayne. For a guy who was only on the show 4 times, Ethan made quite an impact. Also, this episode fits into his M.O. He doesn’t have a big evil plan. He just worships Chaos, and every one of his schemes is designed to create chaos (“The Dark Age” doesn’t count -- that wasn’t an Ethan scheme, it was just a consequence of something he and Giles did when they were younger).

iPhoto ’09 - Not Quite Perfect

So last night I started to play around with the Faces feature of iPhoto ’09. It’s an interesting idea -- iPhoto will identify faces in your pictures, then you can tag them with identification. After awhile, iPhoto gets smart and start matching unidentified faces with people you’ve already identified.

At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work that way. Let’s see some fun examples.

I’ve got a lot of desktop wallpaper in my iPhoto library (it’s a great way to keep them organized), so iPhoto has the added task here of identifying celebrities. And no, iPhoto, Britney Spears is not Christina Aguilera.

Nor is Britney Spears the wife of my best friend. The best part is this is a poster that was in the background of a picture of my room about 6 years ago. And yet somehow, it still identified the face. That doesn’t excuse the misidentification.

Also, iPhoto, Charlize Theron is not a former NBA player who averaged 5.7 PPG during his NBA career. You don’t even get an A for effort on this one, iPhoto. More like an F-minus.

This is particularly funny to me, as a “Chamed” fan. No, iPhoto, Shannen Doherty was the one that got kicked off the show after 3 seasons. Holly Marie Combs was the dignified actress who had to suffer through stupid costumes. Fail.

Again with the Jon Barry? That, in case you’re wondering, would be Halle Berry. Last name sounds the same, but spelled differently. They’re not related, and they look nothing alike.

Project 310 - Homecoming

Season 3, Episode 5 - “Homecoming”

Original airdate: November 3, 1998

Project 310 re-watch date: Jan. 29, 2009

Holy hell is this episode funny. The comedy of Buffy vs Cordelia and Xander/Willow is so good that it actually overshadows the SlayerFest ’98 plotline for the first half of the episode.

I liked seeing Buffy try to do something “normal”, given how distracted she’d been lately by Angel’s mysterious return. Her run for homecoming queen was pretty cool, and also established that Buffy was well-known enough at Sunnydale High to earn the class protector award she got at the end of the season.

As for the Xander/Willow relationship escalation, this had been building for awhile. Remember, Willow had always had a crush on Xander, and Xander was pretty jealous of Oz when he first started dating Willow. They were best friends who were bound to end up taking it to another level at some point.

SlayerFest ’98 -- Mr. Trick’s latest plan to kill Buffy and Faith -- is extra lame. We get a handful of stupid villains, including the return of the surviving Gorch brother. The only thing it serves to do (aside from put Cordelia in mortal danger again) is put Mr. Trick on the Mayor’s radar.

As for The Mayor, we finally see him, after he’d been mentioned by title a few times earlier. He doesn’t seem imposing at all, which is kind of his appeal. He’s not like The Master or Spike or Dru. He’s actually, God forbid, nice. When we first see him in the episode, the only thing that indicates he might be a bad guy is the fact that he doesn’t freak out upon finding out there are terrorists in his town. It’s not until his meeting later with Mr. Trick that things start to not add up (if that makes sense).

Project 310 - Beauty and the Beasts

Season 3, Episode 4 - “Beauty and the Beasts”

Original airdate: October 20, 1998

Project 310 re-watch date: Jan. 28, 2009

Random Student Alert!: It’s Pete and Debbie. Pete turns out to be the bad guy, and Debbie’s a victim. We’ve never seen either of them before, and we never will again.

This episode would definitely be better if we’d never seen Pete and Debbie at all. The whole Pete is the monster plotline just serves to obscure the dangers that both Oz and Angel pose.

Oh, yeah, Angel, he’s back. He magically reappeared at the end of “Faith, Hope and Trick” with no explanation (and no mention from me in my recap, because I wanted to save it for this episode).

One of the things that always bothered me about Angel’s return (aside from never getting a real explanation as to how it happened) was the overall improbability of it. OK, let’s accept that Angel, suddenly re-ensouled, was sucked into a hell dimension. And let’s accept that time moves different there. How did he even survive? I would imagine that at some point, some evil demon would have gotten sick of torturing him and just staked him.

Also, every vampire we’ve seen of that advanced age (The Master, Kakistos, even Darla to some extent) had more of a demonic visage than Angel. Angel’s vampire face is no different now than when he was in his 200s. I understand that he’s Angel, and somehow that makes him different, but it’s still stupid.

The Oz storyline was interesting too. Since Oz first became a werewolf, that reality had been mostly played for comedic effect (i.e., people informing other people casually that Oz is a werewolf). But in this episode, we get to see the serious consequences that can stem from that. In a way, it lays the groundwork for what eventually happens in Season 4.

Fave 5 - Super Bowl Commercials

Sunday marks an important event in this country -- no, not the Super Bowl, but the Super Bowl commercials.

Now, I’m not one of those people that watches the game just for the commercials. I actually care more about the game itself, more so this year because the Steelers are one of the two NFL teams I want to see win.

That said, the commercials are always fun, so I’m going to pick my Fave 5 of all-time (and if you remember who I used to work for, No. 1 should be obvious).

5. Coke - “Mean Joe Green” (1979)

When I first heard they were re-making this one for Super Bowl XLIII, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it. But it involves a Steeler and the Steelers are in the Super Bowl, so it’s OK.

4. Reebok - “Terry Tate” (2003)

When this commercial first aired, it was a “holy crap” moment. I definitely wasn’t expecting a big linebacker to come and knock the shit out of some office worker. 5 years later, this commercial is still funny.

3. Budweiser - “Bud Bowl I” (1988)

A lot of people are more partial to the Budweiser “Frogs” commercial, but that got played out pretty quickly. This stupid stop-motion game between beer bottles actually had staying power -- proven by the fact that while I couldn't find Bud Bowl I on YouTube, Bud Bowls 2-6 were there. They’re doing a Bud Bowl again this year (I guess it’s retro year at the Super Bowl).

2. McDonald’s - “The Showdown” (1993)

3 words: Nothing But Net.

1. Apple - “1984” (1984)

This was the first true “event” Super Bowl commercial, and only aired one other time (commercials had to air twice to be eligible for awards in those days). It’s still cool, 25 years later.

Project 310 - Faith, Hope and Trick

Season 3, Episode 3 - “Faith, Hope and Trick”
Original airdate: October 13, 1998
Project 310 re-watch date: Jan. 27, 2009

And enter the other slayer. This episode serves as our introduction to Faith, who ends up being one of the primary villains of this season.

In this episode, however, she actually gets to play the role of the tragic hero. I really enjoy Faith’s whole introduction story. When you think about it, it’s actually very similar to Buffy’s origin story (from the movie). Let’s compare:

-both were found by the Watcher’s Council late in the game, and missed out on a lot of the Slayer training
-both suffered early tragedy as a Slayer in the form of the death of their Watchers
-both left high school prematurely

The only difference between Buffy and Faith -- to that point -- is the support group that Buffy got in Sunnydale. Buffy ended up with her own new Watcher, her own set of friends and even a boyfriend (even if it was a tragic, evil vampire, had to kill him type of boyfriend).

A lot of that stuff is why we see Faith doing the “single, white female” thing (to quote Buffy). She sees how Buffy got through the pain, and the loneliness, and wants that life. Unfortunately, in large part because of her personality, she never gets it, but we’ll get to that.

As for the other 2 people named in the title of this episode, Hope is Scott Hope, Buffy’s latest boyfriend dujour. Throughout the series, Buffy has 3 serious relationships (Angel, Riley, Spike) and a handful of these mini-flings (Owen, Scott, Parker, etc.). Scott doesn’t last long, so don’t pay him much mind.

As for Mr. Trick (the “Trick” in the title), he’s a red herring. Because of the timing and style of his introduction, it seems like he might be the Big Bad for Season 3, but he’s not. Not even close. Still, he’s a cool vampire.

SportsBytes #3.12 - All-Star Edition

Last week, the NBA All-Star starters were announced, and I really only have a quibble with Allen Iverson’s selection as a starting guard in the East. He just hasn’t had an all-star type season.

That said, he’s going to be an All-Star, and probably cost a more deserving guard a spot on the team. Still, 7 reserves have to be named. The league’s coaches get the job of doing that, but I’m going to take care of it for them.

Normally I just make my all-star picks on “feel”, but this year I’m going to rely on advanced statistical methods. Oh, and “feel”. I gotta have some wiggle room.

And remember, the rules require 2 guards, 2 forwards, a center and 2 “Wild Cards”.

Here... we... go...

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Guards
-Devin Harris, Nets. He’s an emerging star. He ranks second among Eastern Conference guards in PER. And his traditional stats are at an all-star level
-Ray Allen, Celtics. At first, I wasn’t buying Ray as an all-star, but he’s shooting a career high from field, and his net plus/minus is +16.9 PPG.

Forwards
-Chris Bosh, Raptors. I don’t need a whole bunch of fancy stats to back this up. He should be a perennial all-star.
-Danny Granger, Pacers. He’s 17th in the league in PER, and he’s shooting right around 40% from 3-point range.

Center
-Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Cavaliers. Sure, Z is hurt, and will end up getting replaced on the roster, but I’m not gonna cheat by listing Bosh as a center (O’Neal and Bargnani have gotten most of the minutes at center for Toronto). Z’s net plus/minus is +10.6 PPG, the best of any Eastern Conference center (Howard is +9.1).

Wild Cards
-Jameer Nelson, Magic. As good as the Magic are, they deserve two representatives. Nelson’s adjusted plus/minus ranks second on the team (behind Rashard Lewis), and his “clutch time” PPG leads Orlando, ranking 21st in the league.
-Vince Carter, Nets. It’s weird that the Nets, currently 9th in the East, have two All-Stars, but it’s not Carter and Harris’s fault that the rest of their team sucks. VC currently ranks 9th in the East in PER this season (but just 24th in the NBA).

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Guards
-Brandon Roy, Blazers. He’s 6th in the NBA in PER, and is a huge reason the Blazers are 5th in the Western Conference.
-Chauncey Billups, Nuggets. Forget the stats. Just look at the impact Chauncey’s had on the Nuggets, who were expected to fall off big time after giving Marcus Camby away in the offseason.

Forwards
-Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks. He’s 9th in the NBA in PER. It’s not his fault the Mavs are struggling.
-Pau Gasol, Lakers. Another obvious choice. 17th in the league in PER, and second among the Lakers, who are far and away the best team in the West.

Center
-Shaquille O’Neal, Suns. I’m gonna reward the big fella. He’s shooting 60% from the field and a career-best 63% from the line. Plus, his PER ranks 12th in the NBA.

Wild Card
-Al Jefferson, Timberwolves. Right behind Shaq in PER is Big Al, who’s a big reason why the Timberwolves have actually looked like a competent basketball team in January.
-Tony Parker, Spurs. Sure, he missed some significant time, but when he’s been playing, he’s been great. The only guards with a better PER than him in the West are Kobe and CP3, who are both starting, and Brandon Roy, who I picked as a reserve. I might hate Tony Parker, but I have to recognize the skills.

Project 310 - Dead Man's Party

Season 3, Episode 2 - “Dead Man’s Party”

Original airdate: October 6, 1998

Project 310 re-watch date: Jan. 26, 2009

Well, this was honestly surprising. I’d remembered liking this episode when I first saw it, but upon re-watching, it was just really uncomfortable. I think that was what they were going for with the characters, but the viewers shouldn’t feel uncomfortable too.

In the previous episode, “Anne”, we saw how the Scoobies were struggling without Buffy and were actively searching for her. And then, when she got back, they semi-treated her like crap because she bailed on them, without getting anything close to her side of the story.

I feel like the writers (Marti Noxon in this one) forced this whole tension about Buffy’s return onto everyone, rather than just focusing it on Joyce, to avoid making Joyce seem like the bad guy. But here’s the thing -- when Buffy left Sunnydale, Joyce was the only one she had a blow-up with. The tension would have made sense with her. It just comes out of nowhere with everyone else.

That said, Joyce’s big speech with Buffy is exactly what I would have wanted from her. And Buffy’s reaction is phenomenal. In that scene, we see how this episode has a lot of parallels with the beginning of Season 6. But instead of Buffy returning from the dead, she’s returning from running away. Still, she’s keeping a secret (in this case, having killed Angel after his soul was restored), and if she’d just spill on that secret, things would probably be a lot easier.

The zombie aspect of the episode was definitely funny, and Cordy once again had some great one-liners. Still, overall this episode is not one of the better ones from the first three seasons.

Division Math and Free Throw Perfection

On Sunday, I was flipping through some NBA pages on ESPN.com, and I noticed that on John Hollinger’s playoff odds, the Celtics, Cavaliers and Magic were all 100 percent locks to win their divisions. At first glance, it seemed surprising that a computer would actually say that, but let’s break this down:

-The Celtics are currently 37-9, and 14 games up on 2nd-place Philadelphia. If, by some horrible disaster, the Celtics went .500 the rest of the way, they’d finish with 55 wins. The 76ers would have to go 35-5 in their final 42 games to finish ahead of the Celtics. Not. Gonna. Happen.
-The Cavaliers are currently 34-8, and 10.5 games up on 2nd-place Detroit. Again, if the Cavs go .500 the rest of the way (meaning LeBron probably got hurt), they’d be a 54-win team. The Pistons are currently 24-19, so they’d have to go 31-8 to win the division outright. But, um, they’re not good enough for that.
-Now, for the Southeast. The Magic are 33-10, but they’re “only” 7 games up on the Hawks. Since Orlando has an uneven number of games left, they can’t go .500 the rest of the way. But if they go a game under .500 (19-20), they’re still a 52-win team. The Hawks, to get to 53 wins, would have to go 27-12. The Hawks part of that equation isn’t out of the question, but the Magic aren’t going to magically turn into a below .500 team.

So, yeah, the divisions in the East sure look like they’re locked down, meaning the only race for the Celtics, Cavs and Magic will be the race for the best record (and the home-court advantage that goes with it).

Outside of division races, there’s Jose Calderon’s quest to never again miss a free throw. Calderon is a perfect 83-for-83 on the season, and is fast approaching Michael Williams’s NBA record for consecutive free throws. But can Calderon stay perfect for the entire season? Some perspective:

-Coming into this season, 272 players have gone an entire season without missing a free throw (minimum 1 attempted).
-Among that group is 3 Hall-of-Famers (Bob Cousy, Walt Bellamy and Walt Frazier), all of whom did it in their final season, with very few attempts
-The record for most free throws made in a single season without a miss is 23 by Joe Hassett for the ‘78-79 Sonics. Amazingly, in his other 5 seasons, he never shot better than 83.8% from the line.

Because of how many free throws Calderon attempts, I feel like he’s bound to miss one eventually. But Sean Singletary, who’s played for the Suns and Bobcats this year, is currently sitting at 15-of-15, and plays significantly less time than Calderon, so he might have a shot at it.

Calderon, even if he misses one, has a good shot at the single-season free throw percentage record (among qualifiers). Calvin Murphy holds that mark, going 206-215 for the ‘80-81 Rockets, a 95.8% rate. Calderon would have to miss his next 4 free throws to fall below that mark.

Project 310 - Anne

Season 3, Episode 1 - “Anne”
Original airdate: September 29, 1998
Project 310 re-watch date: Jan. 25, 2009

Previously on “Buffy”...

... Just kidding. But it’s weird how this episode drops us into the lives of all the characters, who’ve been dealing with the fall out from “Becoming” for 3 months. And even though it catches you a little off guard at first, you feel pretty much caught up after the first scenes for everyone.

There’s a huge disconnect between the Sunnydale scenes and the L.A. scenes, with the Scoobies trying to maintain some sense of normalcy, and Buffy trying to hide and live a non-slayer life.

The first time we see Buffy in this episode is in a dream sequence on the beach with Angel. I’d forgotten how these were used early in Season 3, since, at that point, Angel was still in Hell. For people like me, who really loved the Buffy/Angel relationship, these were such sweet moments.

The L.A. story -- with Buffy running into an old acquaintance she saved in Sunnydale and falling upon a plot to kidnap distressed teens and turn them into slaves in Hell -- actually has an “Angel” type of feel to it (and I’m not just saying that because it takes place in L.A.). Also, I’ve got to give credit to the writers of the show (creator Joss Whedon on this one), for bringing back Chantarelle (now going by Lily). Who would’ve known that she’d turn into such a cool character on “Angel”.

The set for the Hell dimension was incredibly cool, and the demons actually looked pretty good. It’s a sign of a general upgrade for Season 3, that included a better version of the theme song and the logo with the famous Buffy font.

Back in Sunnydale, my favorite part of this episode was how this episode laid the groundwork for the friendship (and more, at times) between Giles and Joyce. The scene where Joyce vented to Giles was very emotional, and a rare scene between two adults having an adult conversation that didn’t revolve around demons.

On the complete flip side of that, there’s Xander and Cordelia’s reconciliation, which is played for total comedy. It also goes to show that they don’t really have a strong relationship, outside of physical danger followed by physical affection, and that will come to a head later this season.

Two last points:
-this is the Whedon-verse debut of actor Carlos Jascott, who went on to appear on “Angel” and “Firefly”, making him one of a handful of actors to appear on all 3 shows
-I never get tired of seeing Buffy’s reunion with her mother. I love that Joss didn’t ruin that moment with words. They weren’t needed.

Favorite Quote:
“I’m Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. And you are?” - Buffy
(This is the only time during the entire series that Buffy utters the phrase “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer”, and it’s incredibly cool when it happens. “Can I be Anne?” would probably be a close second in my favorite quotes on this episode).

This Week in Buffy History: January 25-31

January 25

2000 - Episode 4.12 “A New Man” airs on The WB

2000 - Angel Episode 4.12 “Expecting” airs on The WB

January 26

1987 - Andrew J. Ferchland born (played the Anointed One)

1999 - Episode 3.13 “The Zeppo” airs on The WB

January 27

1998 - Episode 2.15 “Phases” airs on The WB

January 28

2004 - Angel Episode 5.11 “Damage” airs on The WB

January 29

2002 - Episode 6.12 “Doublemeat Palace” airs on UPN

2003 - Angel Episode 4.10 “Awakening” airs on The WB

Project 310 VIDEO - Buffy Season 2

Music: “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence
Episodes Featured: “Halloween”, “What’s My Line, Pt. 1”, “Surprise”, “Innocence”, “Passion”, “I Only Have Eyes For You”, “Becoming, Pt. 1”, “Becoming, Pt. 2”

I intended this video to be a full recap of Season 2, but it turned into essentially a Buffy/Angel video. I don’t mind, since Buffy and Angel are the two characters pictured on the DVD cover and the main theme of the season is their story.

I plan on doing something like this for at least Seasons 3 and 4, and I may go back and do it for Season 1 as well (if I can think of a good song, which I’m having trouble doing).

Project 310 - Recapping Season 2 of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”

Season 2 is when “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” went from being an interesting show, but nothing special, to one of the great shows in television history.

I wrote about this in my recap of “School Hard” but I wanted to address perhaps the most debated thing about Season 2: which of the 3 vampires is really the Big Bad?

I argued then for Drusilla (using the evidence presented in Season 7’s “Lessons”) and I still maintain that. Yes, Angelus is incredibly cool, but it’s hard to accept him as the “Big Bad”, when he spends half the season with a soul and gets it back at the end of the season.

Ditto on Spike, who actually collaborates with Buffy in the final episode. No, the one of the trio who is working against Buffy the entire time is Drusilla. Among some of the things she does:

-she has Spike assemble the Judge for her birthday
-her psychic abilities lead to the discovery of Acathla
-she kills Kendra
-she uses her powers to trick Giles into giving them the information they need.

Beyond just being an imposing force herself, Drusilla’s sexuality drives the actions of both Angelus and Spike throughout Season 2. It’s almost like they do things just to impress her (something Spike later confirms in Season 5’s “Fool For Love”).

Now, time for the final Season 2 rankings.

1.Becoming, Part 2 (ep. 22)
2.Innocence (ep. 14)
3.Becoming, Part 1 (ep. 21)
4.Surprise (ep. 13)
5.Passion (ep. 17)
6.What’s My Line, Part 2 (ep. 10)
7.School Hard (ep. 3)
8.Halloween (ep. 6)
9.What’s My Line, Part 1 (ep. 9)
10.I Only Have Eyes For You (ep. 19)
11.Ted (ep. 11)
12.When She Was Bad (ep. 1)
13.The Dark Age (ep. 8)
14.Phases (ep. 15)
15.Lie to Me (ep. 7)
16.Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (ep. 16)
17.Inca Mummy Girl (ep. 4)
18.Some Assembly Required (ep. 2)
19.Killed by Death (ep. 18)
20.Reptile Boy (ep. 5)
21.Bad Eggs (ep. 12)
22.Go Fish (ep. 20)

Weighing "The Dark Knight"'s Oscar Chances

Well, "The Dark Knight" didn't get a nomination for Best Picture (and I can't speak to the movies that did, since I really haven't seen most of them yet), but it did get 8 Oscar nominations. How many wins will it get? Well, I'm gonna try and predict category by category:

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Heath Ledger as The Joker
Other Nominees: Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt), Josh Brolin (Milk), Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road), Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder)
This is a shoo-in. Ledger wins going away.

Best Achievement in Cinematography
Other Nominees: Changeling, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire
This one is tough. Benjamin Button is getting a lot of support in technical categories, but I could see The Dark Knight getting rewarded for its innovative use of IMAX technology. I'll chalk this one up as a win.

Best Achievement in Art Direction
Other Nominees: Changeling, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Duchess, Revolutionary Road
No shot. Historically, this award goes to period pieces, and The Dark Knight is a thoroughly modern movie.

Best Achievement in Sound
Other Nominees: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire, WALL•E, Wanted
Holy crap, "Wanted" is an Acadamy Award nominee. That's just weird. I'm gonna guess WALL•E takes this one -- any movie that goes dialog-free for that long has to rely on other sound, which it does pretty well.

Best Achievement in Editing
Other Nominees: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, Slumdog Millionaire
I never know what makes a movie "well-edited". Still, it seems like with the whole storytelling over time thing that "Button" has going for it, that'll be your winner here.

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Other Nominees: Iron Man, Slumdog Millionaire, WALL•E, Wanted
See, now I'm gonna give this one to "The Dark Knight", based on how well the sounds go with the action -- and knowing how hard it must have been to edit sound back since they couldn't use much original sound when filming with the IMAX cameras.

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Other Nominees: Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Iron Man
"The Dark Knight" is probably 3rd in this category. I know a lot of people want to give this to "Benjamin Button" because of the Brad Pitt reverse aging effect, but go back and watch the scene the first time Tony Stark puts on the full Mark III Iron Man suit. That's your Visual Effects award-winner right there.




Best Achievement in Makeup
Other Nominees: Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Umm, just look at The Joker. There's your best achievement right there. Done. Another TDK win.

By my count, that's at least 3 wins, and possibly as many as 5. Not bad, and yet I feel like there still should be more.

LeBron James - Keepin' it Gangsta

Back in August, during the Gold Medal Game of the Olympics, I told one of my friends (a big Lakers fan) that Kobe Bryant was the most gangsta player in the NBA, in large part due to his ability to knock down clutch jumpers with a man in his face late in games. It’s something that LeBron James has always lacked in his game.

Well, not anymore. Sure, one game does not a career make, but hitting a 19-footer as time expired last night against the Warriors was a big step in the right direction for LeBron, and will hopefully get some of his critics to shut up.

According to the good folks at 82games.com, LeBron is averaging 54.5 points per 48 minutes of “clutch time” (defining that as 4th quarter or overtime, less than 5 minutes left, neither team ahead by more than 5 points). He’s only shooting 48.0% in that scenario, but he’s getting to the line an average of 24.8 times per 48 minutes. By plenty of measures, he’s one of the most effective clutch time players in the NBA:

LeBron James in “Clutch Time”

                NBA Rank

Pts per 48 54.5 2nd

Reb per 48 19.8 5th

Ast per 48 13.6 1st

FTA per 48 24.8 4th

+/- per 48 +33  7th

Now, is he perfect? No. I’d like to see that shooing percentage go up (and I’d like to see the average of 11.2 3-pt attempts per 48 minutes go WAY down). Also, he does average more clutch time turnovers per 48 minutes than anyone in the league (in part because he ALWAYS has the ball in those situations).

Against Golden State on Friday, we saw a little of the good (8 points in the final 5 minutes, or 76.8 points per 48 minutes), a little of the bad (3 missed shots, all inside 10 feet) and a little of the ugly (1 turnover, 2 made shots by Stephen Jackson while being guarded by LeBron). But in the end, the positives outweighed the negatives, and LeBron took a big step toward gaining a reputation as a clutch player (even if the stats already tend to indicate that he’s been one for awhile).

Series of Tubes #1.11

Aside from Wednesday’s premiere of “Lost”, there were 3 particularly TV shows that I really enjoyed this week. Let’s run them down one by one:

“How I Met Your Mother”
Episode 4.13 - “Three Days of Snow”
My biggest complaint about this show is that they don’t seem to be getting any closer to the main point -- the meeting of the mother. Still, when they do an episode like this, it doesn’t matter. The story unfolded over the first 15 minutes of the episode, with Lily trying to get beer for Marshall, Marshall and Robin trying to get to the airport to meet Lily, and Barney and Ted running the bar to impress some girls. Then, the big twist came, showing that the events were actually happening over 3 days, and Marshall still had a chance to meet Lily (you really have to see the episode for that to make sense). It led to one of the sweet moments that makes this show tolerable, even when it’s not going anywhere.

“Gossip Girl”
Episode 2.16 - “You’ve Got Yale”
This show is at its best when people are forming uneasy alliances with people they don’t like to do some really messed up stuff. So seeing Lily working with Chuck was very cool. But for me, this episode was all about the introduction of Serena and Blair’s new teacher. Blair is at her best when she’s got enemies, and Rachel has already proven to be a formidable one. And Rachel’s definitely going to have a Georgina-esque effect on the Serena-Dan relationship. Oooh, this is gonna be so much fun.

“Fringe”
Episode 1.11 - “Bound”
Remember last week, when I wrote that I had completely forgotten about “Smallville” during its two months off -- well, the exact opposite was true of “Fringe”. This show is much like “Lost” in that for every question it answers, 3 or 4 more pop up, and they continue to deepen the mystery of everything. That was definitely the case this week, when, once again, the last few minutes of the episodes turned everything on its head. Who is after Olivia? What do they want with her? And who’s on who’s side?

Project 310 - Becoming, Pt. 1

Season 2, Episode 21 - “Becoming, Pt. 1”
Original airdate: May 12, 1998
Project 310 re-watch date: Jan. 23, 2009

You know what’s great about this episode (and I’m speaking specifically about Part 1, since I want to treat these episodes on their own for Project 310)? There are so many things we’ve been told about Angel’s history, but we finally get to see them all play out here.

This is the first time since her staking that we see Darla on the show, and she looks incredible. Julie Benz was made to wear Victorian clothing -- I mean, lots of women look good in dresses like that, but Julie looks fantastic.

OK, enough about 18th century clothing. More about Angel. We see him making Dru crazy. We see him getting cursed. The whole Angelus dossier plays out in front of our eyes, and lays the groundwork for the remaining 10 seasons of his character (5 more seasons of “Buffy”, 5 seasons of “Angel”).

The best non-Angel scene in this episode happens in the Library, when Buffy and the gang are all discussing, who else, Angel (seriously, he’s the driving force behind both of these episodes, more than he’s been all season). Willow and Buffy have just discovered the restoration spell, and they’re all debating what to do. Xander is the voice of human reason, arguing that Angel’s a killer and the plan should still be to stake him. Emotions boil over like they never have before and like you’d expect them to with real people. For once, Giles, Xander, Buffy, Willow and Cordelia aren’t just in “deal with the bad guy” mode. They’re experiencing the spillover between “slayer life” and “real life”.

As for the best Angel scene, well, it’s none of the ones I’ve mentioned above. It’s the entirety of the flashback with Whistler (who is probably the coolest one-appearance character on the show, and was supposed to be Angel’s sidekick on “Angel” before they went with Doyle). The gypsy curse is what turned Angelus into Angel, but this encounter is what turned Angel into the man (vampire?) he would become.

Also in this scene, we get to see Buffy doing her Cordelia act -- at Hemery she was essentially Cordy-lite, and surrounded herself with Cordettes of her own. We also get a tiny little line by Whistler that leaves an opening for the Angel backstory we’d see in the “Fool for Love”/”Darla” crossover. When Angel says he wants to be alone, Whistler says “you’ve been left alone for, what, 90 years already.” But the Manhattan flashback was in 1996, and the gypsy flashback was in 1898. When I first saw this episode, I thought it was shitty math by Whistler. I didn’t realize they were leaving an opening for a few more years with Darla, Dru and Spike.

It seems strange to have Kendra reappear on the series only to die, but it gives Buffy further motivation to abandon the quest to re-ensoul Angel, and it sets the stage for a new guest slayer. Plus the fight scene between Kendra and Dru is really freaking cool. As for the way Kendra dies (getting her throat slashed by Dru), it keeps with a pattern. The Master didn’t feed on Buffy. Dru doesn’t feed on Kendra. And going back in time further (though we won’t see it until “Fool for Love”) Spike doesn’t feed on Nikki Wood. Spike does feed on the Chinese Slayer, but there’s quite a run of Slayers who got killed in disrespectful ways.

Favorite Quote:
"Acathla the demon came forth to swallow the world. He was killed by a virtuous knight who pierced the demon's heart before he could draw a breath to perform the act. Acathla turned to stone, as demons sometimes do, and was buried where neither man nor demon would want to look. Unless of course they're putting up low-rent housing." - Angelus

Project 310 - Becoming, Pt. 2

Season 2, Episode 22 - “Becoming, Pt. 2”
Original airdate: May 19, 1998
Project 310 re-watch date: Jan. 23, 2009

This episode is truly a crowning achievement in writing. Every line is flawless. Every action is of critical importance to wrapping up Season 2 and laying the groundwork for future seasons.

At the 36-minute mark of the episode, there’s an exchange between Buffy and Angelus that really sums up the first 2 seasons of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

Angelus: “So that’s everything, huh. No weapons. No friends. No hope. Take all that away, and what’s left.”
Buffy: “Me.”

I’ve seen it more than 20 times and I still get chills.

But more than chills, this episode is about tears. I’m secure enough to admit that I’ve cried when the final few minutes of this episode plays out. What amazes me is how often during the episode there are tear-inducing moments. The scene with Buffy and Joyce, after Joyce discovers Buffy’s secret and they have their big argument which leads to Buffy running away, is probably the best example of this.

I also love the chill I get when Buffy and Whistler are talking about how to use the sword against Angelus, and Buffy says she’ll be ready to use it, because she’s got nothing left to lose. After she walks away, Whistler says, “Wrong, kid. You’ve got one more thing.” Just awesome.

As for the final 7 minutes of the episode, after Willow restores Angel’s soul, I can’t really do them justice. I still have a hard time watching it, because it’s so sad. From the moment Angel says “Buffy” (moments after his soul is restored), everything else is just heart-wrenching.

I’m not sure the creators of this episode could have picked a better song to play over the final scenes than Sarah McLachlan’s “Full of Grace”. These 3 minutes of aftermath are by far the saddest 3 minutes of the entire series, even more so than Buffy’s death in “The Gift”.

I didn’t watch the series back when it was originally on, and I’m kind of glad I didn’t. I’m not sure I could have dealt with having that ending to an episode and not getting a follow up for 4 months.

Favorite Quote:
“Close your eyes” - Buffy, to Angel, right before killing him.
(notably, it’s the same thing Darla says to Angel, right before turning him, in the first part of this episode)

Project 310 - Go Fish

Season 2, Episode 20 - “Go Fish”

Original airdate: May 5, 1998

Project 310 re-watch date: Jan. 22, 2009

I wish I could say something positive about this episode, but I can’t, therefore you’re about to get the shortest Project 310 recap so far.

First off, this episode kills the momentum from I Only Have Eyes for You. Imagine going from that great Buffy/Angel tension right into “Becoming”. That’d be awesome.

Secondly, this episode has one of the dumbest premises ever -- steroids laced with fish DNA are turning the Sunnydale swim team into monsters.

Third, Cordelia’s pseudo-emotional speech when she thinks Xander’s been turned into a fish monster (Xander joined the swim team to do some undercover work) is completely out of character and delivered poorly.

Fourth, you’ve got 3 great villains (Spike, Angel, Dru). You don’t even show 2 of them, and you reduce Angel to a vampiric steroids test. How stupid is that?

The good news: it’s only one episode (and it’s still better than “The Pack”, but only marginally). The better news: 2-part “Becoming” episode coming on Friday!

Favorite Quote:

Buffy: So something ripped him open and ate out his insides?

Willow: Like an Oreo cookie. Well, except for, you know... without the chocolatey cookie goodness

Loving Lost

Last night’s 2-part season premiere of “Lost” was everything I expected, and more. I don’t want to spoil it for those that haven’t seen it (and I don’t want to go to deep into the mythology for those that have NEVER seen “Lost”), but the execution of the island moving through time was very cool.

I thought there would be a little more progress with the Oceanic Six, but really, they crammed a lot of story into a very brief amount of time (no more than 2 days or so in show time).

On the island, Charlotte’s nose bleeds are, in my opinion, a portent of the deaths of everyone on the island (an event that has been foretold multiple times). Her symptoms are very similar to what was happening to Desmond and other people on the freighter in “The Constant”, and I think the time travel on the island is going to start to mess up a bunch of people.

The one thing that really intrigued me is that when Locke met up with Richard Alpert during one of the time travel incidents, Richard seemed to know exactly what was going on with the island. I’m not sure exactly who Richard is, or what he represents, but I feel like at this point his character is the key to unlocking all the secrets the island holds.

Fave 5 - Lost Characters on Lost

In just about an hour my favorite current TV show, “Lost”, returns to the airwaves after what seems like way too long of a time away (but really wasn’t more than we’re used to at this point). More mysteries, more questions, more psuedo-science fiction, and, probably more deaths.

That’s right, “Lost” probably has one of the highest mortality rates for key characters of any show on TV these days. And, in honor of those that have been taken from us, I’m going to pick my Fave 5 lost “Lost” characters (I say lost rather than dead, because on this show, you just never know).

5. Boone Carlyle
Boone wasn’t particularly an enjoyable character, at least, until his last few episodes when he worked with Locke on opening the hatch. But his death, all the way back in Season 1, was poignant and set the tone for the rest of the series that no one was safe.

4. Ethan Rom
Ethan was the first one of “The Others” that we met, and he still is second only to Ben in overall creepiness. When Charlie killed him, it was awesome, but I also kind of miss the guy -- I feel like a lot of secrets about the island died with him.

3. Claire Littleton
Ah, poor Claire. Her “death” (if it was a true death) was very strange. She was in a cabin that got blown up, then she seemed fine, then she started acting weird and disappeared. Still, when she was alive, she often served as the show’s emotional center. While Jack and Locke were at each other’s throats, Claire was taking care of her baby and surviving, making the best of what she could.

2. Jin Kwon
I’m not entirely convinced that Jin is dead, even though he was on the freighter when it exploded. Still, he experienced more character growth than anyone during the show’s first four seasons -- going from uptight businessman who spoke no English to devoted lover, dedicated completely to his wife. I really hope we haven’t seen the last of him.

1. Charlie Pace
Speaking of sad deaths, who wasn’t a little teary-eyed when Charlie sacrificed himself for Claire and Aaron, then gave Desmond that last haunting message, “Not Penny’s Boat”? Charlie was such a cool character -- the former drug-addicted rock star who became a caring surrogate dad to Aaron -- and he was probably more connected with all the other characters on the island than anyone else. I miss Charlie.

Project 310 - I Only Have Eyes for You

Season 2, Episode 19 - “I Only Have Eyes for You”
Original airdate: April 28, 1998
Project 310 re-watch date: Jan. 20, 2009

Before I get into my analysis/thoughts on this episode, I have to pose a question for those that watched “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” during its original run: how painful was it to go almost 2 months between the previous episode, “Killed by Death”, and this episode? I mean, seriously, that must have sucked (no vampire pun intended, I swear).

Moving beyond that, this episode is a rare type of episode -- a “only on the Hellmouth” phenomenon that actually ends up tying in to the greater story arc. Basically, Sunnydale High is being haunted by the ghosts of two former lovers, a student who murdered the teacher he loved, then killed himself. The ghosts are possessing people at Sunnydale and reenacting their final moments.

The story of the lovers itself is tragic, but its the way the final possession plays out, with Buffy and Angel, that really sells the episode. As I wrote in my recap of “Innocence”, Buffy and Angel are a unique pair of lovers, and in this episode we see a great example of that, because Buffy gets possessed by the male spirit.

One of the great beneath the surface stories in this episode is how both Giles and Buffy take the current scenario playing out in front of them and make it personal. At first, Giles thinks that the spirit haunting Sunnydale is Jenny, because of the violence surrounding her death, and initially refuses to consider any other possibility, despite the evidence in front of him -- he just wants to believe it’s Jenny, so maybe he can have one last moment with him.

The stronger identification is with Buffy, who reacts with utter disdain when the idea of forgiving James is brought up. She can’t forgive him, because she can’t forgive Angel. But James isn’t Angel.

Oh, even though by the time the climax comes and Buffy and Angel are re-enacting the ghost’s final encounter you’ve seen it 3 or 4 times in the episode, it’s significantly more dramatic when it’s Buffy and Angel. Why? Because everything James said to his lover is everything Buffy’s always felt about Angel, even after he lost his soul. And Sarah Michelle Gellar played the scene to perfection. I’m not afraid to admit that I get a little teary watching it. I’ve always been in the Buffy/Angel group of fans, so their dramatic moments always get to me a little bit more, and this one was particularly touching (even though Angel is still technically a soulless demon).

Next up: the absolute worst episode of Season 2 (at least, in my memory), then the PHENOMENAL two-part ending. But first, a break, because Wednesday is “Lost” day, so I won’t be watching any “Buffy”.

Favorite Quote
Buffy (channelling James): “I don’t give a damn about a normal life. I’m going crazy not seeing you. I think about you every minute.”

Project 310 - Killed by Death

Season 2, Episode 18 - “Killed by Death”
Original airdate: March 3, 1998
Project 310 re-watch date: Jan. 19, 2009

It’s amazing how up-and-down Season 2 was. An episode like “Passion” is so good, and so intertwined with the whole storyline of Season 2, then we get an episode like “Killed by Death”, that barely involves Angel (and doesn’t have Dru or Spike at all) and features a very lame demon-of-the-week.

The entire story centers around a demon, Der Kindestod, who is killing sick children. The catch is that Buffy is sick too (somehow, despite her slayer healing abilities) and she ends up in the hospital, sees the demon (who can only been seen by sick people, apparently) and decides she needs to slay it.

They tack on some lame tie in about Buffy’s cousin, who we’d never heard about before, and Buffy’s discovery that this demon was responsible for her cousin’s death. And it’s all from Rob Des Hotel and Dean Batali, in probably the only truly bad episode the duo wrote.

I think the episode might be somewhat more tolerable if Der Kindestod himself didn’t look so fake. This was something of a problem in the early years of Buffy -- even the most intimidating villains had a tendency to look bad. But Der Kindestod might be one of the worst. He looked like a bad Freddy Kruger rip-off, crossed with a crappy white wig.

For the most part, the episode is just a real letdown after some of the stuff we’ve had in the weeks leading up to it. But, in my mind, there is one incredible scene -- the exchange between Xander and Angel outside of Buffy’s hospital room. Angel is such a cold, calculated ass to Xander, almost trying to bait Xander into hitting him (which, I’m pretty sure, would have led to Angel biting Xander’s neck and draining him before anyone could even react). But, somehow, Xander semi-keeps his cool, and drops my favorite quote of the episode.

Favorite Quote
Xander: You’re going to die. And I’m gonna be there.
(best part of this... it ends up being true!)

Project 310 - Passion

Season 2, Episode 17 - “Passion”
Original airdate: Feb. 24, 1998
Project 310 re-watch date: Jan. 18, 2009

Did you know that this was the episode that Oz was supposed to die, and Jenny was actually supposed to have died in an earlier episode? No? Well, it’s pretty much irrelevant to the episode, which was just phenomenal.

Jenny’s death -- no matter the original timing or not -- was perfect. It was tragic in the sense that she was beginning to be redeemed in the eyes of everyone around her. It was evil in the sense that Angel didn’t even feed off her, he just snapped her neck. It was psychotic in the sense that Angel completely toyed with Giles, much in the way he toyed with Drusilla before turning her.

Giles’s reaction to Jenny’s death was just what you’d expect from him -- and it was the first time we’d really got to see Giles in a true fighting mode. And, yes, Angel would have killed him had Buffy not intervened (by the way, it’s a small thing, but in that scene, Drusilla wheels Spike away from the battle -- again setting up the M.O. that both of them would rather run away and live to fight another day than risk further harm). One small thing that I really like -- Jenny’s position on the bed when she’s dead is VERY similar to how Joyce would be positioned after HER death in Season 5.

Beyond the main point of the episode -- Jenny attempting to restore Angel’s soul and Angel killing her before she could -- we also finally get some great interaction between Buffy and Joyce, post-Buffy deflowering. In fact, its the first time Buffy talks about her relationship with Angel with her mom, and it leads to some of the best “real world” emotion during the show’s first 3 seasons. Kristine Sutherland as Joyce plays the scene perfectly.

I could write on and on about this episode, but really, it’s an episode that has to be seen to truly be enjoyed. It also helps if you know the characters, but even if you don’t, you can still enjoy it because its that well-written (credit goes to Ty King, who only wrote two episodes in his entire run on the series).

I will say this one last thing -- having the Angel voiceover run through the episode, narrating the key themes of the episode, is very creepy and adds to the overall enjoyment. It’s a technique they’d re-use a couple times on both “Buffy” and “Angel”, but I think it works best here.

Favorite Quote:
Buffy: “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t kill him for you. For her. When I had the chance. I wasn’t ready. But I think I finally am. I can’t hold on to the past anymore. Angel is gone. Nothing’s ever going to bring him back.”
(I know its clichéd cinema technique, but when Buffy says those last words, as the disk with the restoration spell falls from the desk, I get chills).

This Week in Buffy History: January 18-24

January 18
1955 - Ken Lerner born (played Principal Flutie in Season 1)
1962 - Jeff Yagher born (played the Leader of the Fell Brethren in Angel Episode 5.19)
2000 - Episode 4.11 “Doomed” airs on The WB
2000 - Angel Episode 1.11 “Somnambulist” airs on The WB

January 19
1998 - Episode 2.13 “Surprise” airs on The WB
1999 - Episode 3.12 “Helpless” airs on The WB

January 20
1998 - Episode 2.14 “Innocence” airs on The WB

January 21
2002 - Angel Episode 3.12 “Provider” airs on The WB
2003 - Episode 7.12 “Potential” airs on UPN
2004 - Angel Episode 5.10 “Soul Purpose” airs on The WB

January 22
2003 - Angel Episode 4.09 “Long Day’s Journey” airs on The WB

January 23
2001 - Episode 5.12 “Checkpoint” airs on The WB
2001 - Angel Episode 2.12 “Blood Money” airs on The WB

January 24
1969 - Stephanie Romanov born (played Lilah Morgan on “Angel”)

Project 310 - Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

Season 2, Episode 16 - “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”
Original airdate: Feb. 10, 1998
Project 310 re-watch date: Jan. 17, 2009

It’s hard to believe, but this is the first appearance of Amy Madison since the character’s debut in “Witch”, and she only appeared in 8 episodes for the entire run of the series (and in one of those, she was in the episode for about 4 seconds).

This is pretty much a comedic episode, which is sorely needed given that we’re still pretty much recovering from the turn of Angelus. Even when Angelus appears, it’s played for comedy with Drusilla being under the same love spell that is affecting everyone in Sunnydale.

It’s easy to get caught up in the quips and the lust that flies about in this episode, but I instead like to watch for Giles -- he is really geniunely angry at what Xander did, in part because he knows the consequences of being frivolous with magic (as seen in “The Dark Age”). Also, he’s still not ready to forgive Jenny for her part in the whole Angelus debacle, which doesn’t seem like a big deal until you realize which episode is coming up (something that youc an only do while re-watching the series).

As for Xander’s situation in this episode -- when his spell backfires and everyone in Sunnydale but Cordelia falls in love with him -- it’s really done hilariously. I like how the spell doesnt really seem to affect the women until they’ve seen Xander (just look at Jenny and Joyce for the best examples of this). Robia LaMorte as Jenny does probably the best job of all the actresses in her spell-induced Xander lust (though the implied Buffy nudity of Sarah Michelle Gellar is also a plus).

I never really thought of this as an episode I’d frequently watch, but having seen it again, I definitely think it’ll get added to my rotation when I want to watch a funny episode (most of the episodes I frequently watched were sad ones).

Favorite Quote:
Giles: I cannot believe that you are fool enough to do something like this.
Xander: Oh, no, I’m twice the fool it takes to do something like this.

Series of Tubes #1.10

“24” is back, but that’s not what I’m actually writing about this week.

No, it’s more the impact of “24” on my TV-watching schedule. “24” now adds an hour to my designated TV time, with “Lost” slated to take up another hour starting next week. On top of that, “Dollhouse” is hitting the air soon, and “Reaper” is coming back in March.

This puts me close to 20 hours of TV watching a week, before you even factor in the 7 episodes of “Buffy” for Project 310 and, well, sports.

Now, last year, this wouldn’t have been a problem. I was working nights, so I was watching sports at work, and then catching up on TV when I woke up in the late morning/early afternoon. Only now I’m working days, so I have to cram scripted TV and “Buffy” into the same window as live sports.

Another factor that helped last year was the writers’ strike. After the strike was over, there were some series that didn’t come back until Fall of 2008. That’s not happening this year, so instead, I’m taking control of my own network and putting a few of my series on hiatus. Here they are, along with my justifications.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
I’ve written before that the second season of this show has been pretty stupid at times, and doesn’t really seem to be going anywhere (and exactly how easy is it to send someone back from the future to a specific point in John Connor’s life, because it seems like he’s surrounded by future people/cyborgs). Plus, with the show hovering near cancellation anyway, I figure I can just catch up on the final episodes during the summer.

Eli Stone
It’s sad for me to push this show aside, but the show has definitely lost its way during season 2. The big musical sequences that brought a light spirit to season 1 have been sparse in season 2, and the recent episodes have been really dark. Also, like TSCC, this show is close to being cancelled (and some reports say it’s already been shut down).

Dirty, Sexy, Money
Another near-cancelled (or possibly already-cancelled) show, “Dirty, Sexy, Money” has just been stupid in Season 2. Nick used to have a normal life, and he was trying hard to keep that, despite the interference from The Darlings. Now, he’s essentially just another member of the Darling family. Lame.

Smallville
James Marsters’s Brainiac is not coming back. Lex Luthor is not coming back. This show is just going to continue to shit on the Superman mythology. So, yeah, I can do without that on a week-to-week basis. In fact, it’d been so long since there’d been a new episode (Nov. 20 was the last one), that I had totally forgotten about the show until this week’s episode popped up on my DVR.

Project 310 - Phases

Season 2, Episode 15 - “Phases”
Original airdate: Jan. 27, 1998
Project 310 re-watch date: Jan. 16, 2009

After having such a dramatic episode arc, it’s strange to come out to something like this, which is semi-comedic and semi-serious, and results in some serious changes for the group dynamic.

This is the episode that sees Oz get turned into a werewolf. It’s also the episode in which he and Willow kiss for the first time (and to be clear, he’s human when they do that).

I kind of like Oz getting turned into a werewolf, because it gives him more of a reason to be around the entire group, not just Willow. It also sets him on the path to eventually break Willow’s heart and leave the show, which kind of sucks.

After the seriousness of the last two episodes, it’s nice to get back to some one liners. There are some particularly classic ones between Xander and Cordy, and later Willow and Cordy. Also, as always, Oz is a font of understated humor.

Now, I do have do address the HUGE problem with this episode. Part of the main plot features a werewolf hunter, who claims he’s killed and skinned 11 werewolves prior to the one he’s hunting in Sunnydale. Only, in Season 5 of “Angel” (specifically the “Unleashed” episode), we learn that a werewolf returns to human form after its death. Now, you could chalk this up to an episode vs episode continuity error, only standard werewolf lore agrees with “Unleashed”, not “Phases”. Now, if I was going to fan-wank this away, it’d be pretty easy -- Cain, the werewolf hunter, could just be lying about the pelts and the teeth, and he just hunts for the joy of it. But I’m gonna say the writers (Rob Des Hotel and Dean Batali, the executive story editors for the first two seasons) just messed up.

Favorite Quote:
Willow: “Well, I like you. You’re nice, and you’re funny, and you don’t smoke. Yeah, okay, werewolf, but that’s not all the time. I mean, three days out of the month I’m not much fun to be around either.”
(yes, Willow compared PMS to lycanthropy)

Project 310 - Innocence

Season 2, Episode 14 - “Innocence”
Original airdate: Jan. 20, 1998
Project 310 re-watch date: Jan. 15, 2009

As good as the first part of this two-parter was, it can’t hold a candle to this episode. THIS, more so than any of the first 32 episodes of this series, is what “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is all about (and just wait ‘til we get to episodes 33 and 34, for the really heart-wrenching stuff).

There are definitely some key subplot things in this episode, but I don’t care about those right now. I care about Buffy and Angel.

It’s common to go to the analogy of “Romeo and Juliet” when discussing any set of star-crossed lovers, but it doesn’t really apply in the case of Buffy and Angel. Buffy, for the most part is pure good. Not only is she the slayer (the chosen warrior of the powers that be in the battle between good and evil), but she’s also, up until the end of “Surprise”, truly innocent.

On the other hand, Angel, in his demon form, is truly the face of evil. He is cruel, sadistic and merciless. He is the exact opposite of Buffy. In essence, they’re like the two polarities of a magnet, pulling toward each other. When Angel had his soul, the attracting force was love. Without his soul, it’s hate. I hate to use the cliche of there being a thin line between love and hate, but it really seems to apply in this case.

I think for the entire 7-season run, Angelus is probably the best villain in terms of both character and acting. To be honest, when the series started, David Boreanaz wasn’t that good of an actor (in fact, sometimes in Season 1, he was quite bad). But the scene with Buffy in Angel’s apartment was his crowning moment. I’d argue that for sheer dramatics, Boreanaz wouldn’t top this moment until “You’re Welcome” in Season 5 of “Angel”.

The final fight scene between Buffy and Angel sets the stage for the rest of the season, and does so very well. One important bit of foreshadowing is that Buffy gets the upper hand on Angel in the fight and has to take the final shot to finish him off -- only she can’t do it, because something in her hopes that there’s some little bit of Angel’s soul left. Keep that in the back of your mind for when the season finale comes along.

I wish I could explain better how I feel about this episode, but it’s just hard to put into words. Know this -- as of this point in the series, it’s my No. 1 episode, and will be for at least another... well, week and a half.

Oh, and it’s time for me to re-introduce something I did back when I posted my original “Buffy Top 10” back in 2005: picking my favorite quote from the episode (and actually in this case, it’s a change from my 2005 pick).

Favorite Quote:
Angelus: I knew it. You can’t kill me
(Buffy kicks him in the groin)
Buffy: Give me time.

Fave 5 - TV Shows I NEVER Watched on TV

Patrick McGoohan, the star and creator of “The Prisoner” passed away earlier today. For those who aren’t familiar with “The Prisoner”, it was a 17-episode British TV series from the 60s that was like nothing that ever came before it. Every TV show that hinges on an unknown overarching mystery (I’m looking at you “Lost”) owes a bit of creative debt to “The Prisoner”.

Amazingly, the show last aired 12 years before I was born, but I still love it. In fact, there are a handful of TV series that I never watched on TV that I count among my favorites. The key here is the strict application of the word “never.” I know I saw at least 2 episodes of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” during its original run, and I watched “Angel” for probably about a season (but sporadically). So those don’t count. These 5 do.

5. The Flintstones
My parents tell me that when I was a kid, I used to carry around a Flintstones T-shirt religiously. I don’t do that anymore, but I still think this cartoon was great (and before its time).

4. The Twilight Zone
The original episodes ran from 1959-1964, so obviously I couldn’t have seen any of them. But once you’ve seen a few of these, you get hooked. I still haven’t seen every episode from the original run, but I’ve seen the important ones.

3. Dead Like Me
This one is semi-cheating, because I watched it “while” the show was on TV, just not “on TV”. I didn’t subscribe to Showtime, so I had to rely on the Internet and DVD to catch the whole series, which only lasted 2 seasons. A shame, because it was great.

2. The Prisoner
After watching this series for the third time, I finally gave up trying to figure it out, and just enjoyed it for the incredibly well-produced series it was. Now with McGoohan’s passing, it’s unlikely we’ll ever get any answers on what it really all meant, but it’s still fun to watch and try and guess.

1. Firefly
Was there any doubt? There wasn’t much of a chance for me to accidentally catch an episode or 2 of this on FOX, since the network cancelled it so quickly. But man, it is good. I try to rewatch the series once a year (much easier than rewatching “Buffy”, since it’s not even a full season of episodes).

Project 310 - Surprise

Season 2, Episode 13 - “Surprise”
Original airdate: Jan. 19, 1998
Project 310 re-watch date: Jan. 14, 2009

This episode is all about couples. Xander and Cordelia, Willow and Oz, Giles and Jenny, Spike and Dru, and, of course, Buffy and Angel. See that’s the thing -- it’s easy to make this episode all about Buffy and Angel, because of what happens at the end and the consequences of it, but, really, they’re just the key figures in the circle of tragic couplings (just look at all the pairings above, and see how all of them end in tragedy).

I just want to reiterate that there is nothing bad about this episode. The revelation of Jenny’s backstory, and how it ties into Angel’s, is so sudden and so perfect. I also think it shows how the writers of the show think ahead. I can’t say for certain that Jenny was introduced with this in mind, but the signs, looking back, were there (techno-pagan thing, surprise at Buffy being the slayer and Angel having a relationship with her).

One thing that kind of gets lost in the episode is how when Jenny’s driving Buffy to the party, it almost seems like Jenny’s setting Buffy up for danger (especially after the scene with Jenny’s uncle), but really, it was just a weird coincidence. Right after that scene, Oz’s line when he finds out about vampires (“actually, it explains a lot”) is hilarious.

I’m gonna leave the Buffy-Angel aftermath for next episode, since that’s when the aftermath really happens. But the near separation of Buffy and Angel, then their temporarily happy reunion, is so great.

I do want to address the revived Drusilla. For the first half of this season, she wasn’t really a formidable foe, because she had no strength. But here we finally get to see her planning and scheming and being feared by the other vampires in her group. Not only is she powerful, but her insanity makes her more dangerous. It’s what led her to devise a plan that put the entire world in danger (something she does again at the end of the season).

It’s interesting how Buffy dreamed Drusilla would kill Angel, but instead she does something so much worse. Which makes this episode so much better.

KHAAANNNN!

Sad news out of Hollywood, where Ricardo Montalban (who played Khan in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan") has passed away.

This, just hours after Patrick McGoohan, the creator and star of the revolutionary TV series "The Prisoner" died.

Just two weeks ago I wrote about how "Star Trek II" was one of my favorite movies of all-time. And "The Prisoner" is one of my favorite TV series of all-time (if you think "Lost" is confusing, try understanding "The Prisoner", seriously). So, basically, not a good day for things I really like. We should probably get Sarah Michelle Gellar into protective custody. Preferably, mine.

Project 310 - Bad Eggs

Season 2, Episode 12 - “Bad Eggs”
Original airdate: Jan. 12, 1998
Project 310 re-watch date: Jan. 13, 2009

Simply put -- I don’t like this episode. It’s not as frustrating to watch as “The Pack”, but it’s just not good. It goes back to the Season 1 formula, does it in a cheesy way, and doesn’t advance any major story in any way.

I can’t imagine what it must have been like to be a “Buffy” fan back when the show was airing, waiting a month after “Ted” to get a new episode and ending up with this.

So, instead of harping on the negative (like how at no point in the episode do they establish any kind of motive for the mother demon, or explain ANY of the plot), I’m going to do something different.

When I’ve been watching these episodes, I usually cut them off right when the Executive Producer Joss Whedon black screen comes up. But for some reason, I let the credits run a little on this one, and there was one that stood out to me.

Someone named Brie McCaddin was apparently in the episode enough to earn a credit as “Cute Girl.” Now, there are plenty of cute extras in an average “Buffy” episode, so I went online to try and see what Brie McCaddin looks like. Only, when I got to her IMDB page, I found that this was one of just two credits she received in her acting career. She was also credited in one episode of “Pacific Blue”.

Further searching on the internet turns up almost nothing. In fact, most sites that have an entry for Brie McCaddin don’t even have the “Pacific Blue” credit, just one appearance as “Cute Girl” on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” in 1998.

This mystifies me. How does someone’s acting career (if it even was that) reach the point of making a credited appearance on “Buffy” and then doing nothing of note again. I’d love to know more about Brie McCaddin. What was her experience like on “Buffy”? What other twists and tales did her acting career take? And most importantly, where is she now?

There’s a Brie McCaddin in New Jersey on Friendster, and one who works at a custom framing shop in Philadelphia on LinkedIn, but I can’t be sure either is THE Brie McCaddin (if there is such a thing).

If anyone has any info about Brie, please send it along. I’d love to hear it. Maybe something good can actually come out of this bad episode.

Project 310 - Ted

Season 2, Episode 11 - “Ted”
Original airdate: Dec. 8, 1997
Project 310 re-watch date: Jan. 12, 2009

This is a strange episode, and not just because the bad guy is a robot played by the late John Ritter. This is the rare “Buffy” episode that’s more about the little things than the big story.

Let’s just put aside the whole robot-seeking-a-bride plot (which is pretty lame). The main thing you should take from this episode, and file it away for Season 3, is Buffy’s reaction when she thinks she’s killed a human.

When Buffy accidentally “kills” Ted (and I put that in quotations because not only is he not dead, but he’s a robot, so he couldn’t really be “killed” in a human sense), she’s completely devastated. She’s slain before, but slaying isn’t killing. This is a huge theme of the show in coming seasons, and this is the first time it really shows up. In a way, Buffy is a Batman-like hero, in that she’ll do anything to save the day, short of taking another human life.

I don’t want to go too much into this before we get to the opposite reaction from Faith in Season 3, but this episode lays the groundwork for that whole Buffy vs Faith dynamic. In that, it’s an episode that’s hard to appreciate for what it is when you first see it, but really stands out when you re-watch it after having seen the entire series.

Another one of those storylines from this episode that makes more sense the second time around is the whole Giles-Jenny story. After the events of “The Dark Age”, Jenny is still reluctant to be close to Giles (understandably so). Of course, as soon as she decides to forgive and forget, she ends up right back in the path of a vampire. This destructive behavior ends up leading her to her untimely demise (well, that and the sucking at keeping Buffy and Angel apart, but that’s a couple episodes away...).

Well, we’ve got one more filler episode, “Bad Eggs”, before we get to the REALLY good stuff.

College Football Top 10 - Post-Bowl Edition

Well, it’s finally here... the college football season ended a few days ago, but I decided to keep to the schedule and publish my final rankings on Monday. This, despite the fact that I declared Utah my national champion last week.

Here’s the funny thing about final rankings -- beyond No. 1, they don’t really matter. I mean, does anyone care where I put Texas or USC or Florida, if they’re not No. 1? No (of course, no one really cares where I rank any team, so, yeah...)

10. Ole Miss
Early in the season, their win over Florida seemed like an aberration. But the Rebels won 6 straight to end the year, including a thrashing of Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl. Look out for them next year.

9. Penn State
Big Ten+USC+Bowl Game=ouch.

8. Boise State
Part of me wants to drop them further, but no one other than Utah and Florida had a better record at the end of the season.

7. Alabama
That was just a putrid performance by a team that seemed like it never recovered from losing the SEC Championship Game. And has one offense ever needed a left tackle like the Tide needed Andre Smith?

6. TCU
Did you realize that TCU’s only 2 losses came against Oklahoma and Utah? And they beat previously unbeaten Boise State in a Bowl Game. This might be one of the more under-the-radar 11-2 teams in college football history.

5. Oklahoma
I was honestly surprised at how little the Sooners offense did against Florida. I figured that game would be much more high scoring. Goes to show you what I know.

4. USC
A lot of people are high on this team’s chances in 2009. Have you seen what they lose on defense? Pretty much everybody. While the Pac-10 still isn’t a dominant conference, it’d be hard for any team to recover from that.

3. Texas
Wow, how much does it suck that they couldn’t stop Texas Tech on that last drive? And how big is that dropped interception now? It’s basically the difference between a national title (or at least a shot at one) and a meaningless Fiesta Bowl win.

2. Florida
This isn’t really their fault. If not for a bad quarter against Ole Miss, they’d be unbeaten, and no one would care about Utah.

1. Utah
They’re the only unbeaten team left, and their bowl win came against a team that was ranked No. 1 for pretty much the entire final month of the regular season. I think that’s good enough.

Dropped out: 7 Texas Tech (lost 2 of last 3, gave up an average of 46.7 PPG in those 3 games), 10 Ohio State (choked in Fiesta Bowl).