From: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org (stillpt-digest) To: stillpt-digest@smoe.org Subject: stillpt-digest V2 #162 Reply-To: stillpt@smoe.org Sender: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk stillpt-digest Wednesday, July 26 2000 Volume 02 : Number 162 Today's Subjects: ----------------- comments7/25 ["Donald G. Keller" ] Re: comments7/25 ["Hilary L. Hertzoff" ] Re: comments7/25 [meredith ] b/start saving those pennies now... [meredith ] Re: b/start saving those pennies now... [Todd Huff ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 14:21:20 -0400 (EDT) From: "Donald G. Keller" Subject: comments7/25 David: I went out and bought a copy of =The Owl Service= yesterday. I own a copy somewhere, but this seemed less trouble; I can always give away the extra to some deserving soul later. Actually, given the difficulty of the book, I want to know as much beforehand as possible, to make what isn't really a "rereading" (since I read it first so long ago) as much like a "rereading" as possible; so in fact I dug out =The Mabinogion= and had a look at the myth in question (it's the latter portion of the Fourth Branch, the one used by Evangeline Walton in =The Island of the Mighty=). I have, in fact, =four= Mabinogions here: Patrick Ford, Lady Charlotte Guest ($2 from Dover, how can one resist?) Jeffrey Gantz (Penguin), and Jones and Jones (Everyman), the latter being the one cited by Garner on his copyright page. No telling when I'll actually get around to reading the novel, of course... I'll go along with =Red Shift= being "too damn difficult"; I was some years older when it came out and I read it, but Garner had raised the bar enough that I =still= Didn't Get It. But I did appreciate it enough to feel like I'd go back and give it another try. (I remember Marion Zimmer Bradley being very snippy at the time about its obfuscation.) I can't remember where I read this, now, but are you aware that the book is based on "Tam Lin"?? Something that might help a new reading. I'm surmising that you have to hand the second set of =Buffy= commercial tapes, since you've recently watched "Becoming" and "I Only Have Eyes for You." "Passion" is the other episode on the tape with the latter. The third tape being "Surprise"/"Innocence," which I recommend to you as also being the show operating at the top of its game. I see your point about =Macbeth=. (Curiously, there's a motif very similar to =Macbeth= in that section of the Fourth Branch of the =Mabinogion=.) It does give the "trick" more reason for existing. But still a trick. There's so much to say and think about in the dynamic between Faith and Buffy. Among other things, as you say, Faith has some real justification for her feelings towards Buffy; and while the way Buffy feels about Faith is =understandable=, it seems a lot less justified. There's no excuse for the many terrible things Faith has done, including to Buffy; but Buffy's coldblooded intention to, essentially, summarily execute Faith blots her side of the ledger considerably. And her unrepentant attitude in "Sanctuary" only makes it worse. I'll have to think about red herrings; I know there are some. One very minor one for now: =any= time one character says to another "I'll kill you" (or words to that effect) you can be sure it's not going to happen. I never noticed Giles' dripping blood in "Becoming," either. How many times have I watched it, again? About =X-Files=, I'm a very late-come fan, and I've only seen about 60% of the episodes. I find myself not terribly interested in the "continuity" episodes, but finding the standalone (usually "monster of the week") episodes to be, frequently, very good indeed. It =used= to be, especially first season, that I preferred =Buffy= standalone episodes, too (the Master and his minions were fairly boring to me), but this changed as the 2nd season went along (and the 2nd season standalones, early on, are pretty weak). Now I much prefer the "continuity" parts (I sometimes forget about the whole Balthazar "subplot" in "Bad Girls" because it's the least interesting part of the episode to me). Meredith: Great dream! I'll have to say that it's basically "Freudian" in the particular sense that it's all material from your personal subconscious (the anxiety/nightmare motif of the Gentlemen, for example). It's not "Freudian" in the hidden-wishfulfillment etc. sense. Of course, if everything (except the Gentlemen) comes true, =then= it would be Jungian. (And you'd be a Slayer.) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 17:42:21 -0400 (EDT) From: "Hilary L. Hertzoff" Subject: Re: comments7/25 On Tue, 25 Jul 2000, Donald G. Keller wrote: > David: I went out and bought a copy of =The Owl Service= yesterday. I own > a copy somewhere, but this seemed less trouble; I can always give away the > extra to some deserving soul later. > > No telling when I'll actually get around to reading the novel, of > course... I found this book very scary when I first read it as a kid, but also quite satisfying. I should reread it, but I just got my hands on Dorothy Dunnett's Gemini, so it will have to wait a while. > > I'll go along with =Red Shift= being "too damn difficult"; I was some > years older when it came out and I read it, but Garner had raised the bar > enough that I =still= Didn't Get It. But I did appreciate it enough to > feel like I'd go back and give it another try. (I remember Marion Zimmer > Bradley being very snippy at the time about its obfuscation.) I can't > remember where I read this, now, but are you aware that the book is based > on "Tam Lin"?? Something that might help a new reading. > Ditto. I think my favorites of his are The Wierdstone of Brisingamen and the Moon of Gomrath, and I've also reread Elidor a time or four, but I couldn't get into Red Shift at all. Maybe I should give it another try. Hilary P.S. Don, the first issue of Hellcat came out earlier this month and the second is due out the first week of August Hilary L. Hertzoff From here to there, Mamaroneck Public Library a bunny goes where a bunny must. Mamaroneck, NY hhertzof@wlsmail.wls.lib.ny.us Little Bunny on the Move hhertzof@panix.com by Peter McCarty ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 22:37:30 -0400 From: meredith Subject: Re: comments7/25 Hi! Don commented: >David: I went out and bought a copy of =The Owl Service= yesterday. I own >a copy somewhere, but this seemed less trouble; I can always give away the >extra to some deserving soul later. I have (and cherish) _Elidor_, _The Wierdstone of Brisingamen_ and _The Moon Of Gomrath_, but have never found a copy of _The Owl Service_. Sounds like I wouldn't have been able to get through it anyway ... at the time when I first read the other three, I don't think I was yet 10. (_Elidor_ remains one of the three books from my childhood that I have read so many times I can practically recite the whole thing from memory (the other two being _A Wrinkle In Time_ and _The House With A Clock In Its Walls_).) >About =X-Files=, I'm a very late-come fan, and I've only seen about 60% of >the episodes. I find myself not terribly interested in the >"continuity" episodes, but finding the standalone (usually "monster of the >week") episodes to be, frequently, very good indeed. I'm pretty much in the opposite camp - I prefer the "arc" episodes, though I agree that the whole thing is a mess. >Meredith: Great dream! I'll have to say that it's basically "Freudian" in >the particular sense that it's all material from your personal >subconscious (the anxiety/nightmare motif of the Gentlemen, for >example). It's not "Freudian" in the hidden-wishfulfillment etc. sense. Ah. Thanks for the explanation. :) >Of course, if everything (except the Gentlemen) comes true, =then= it >would be Jungian. (And you'd be a Slayer.) +==========================================================================+ | Meredith Tarr meth@smoe.org | | New Haven, CT USA http://www.smoe.org/~meth | +==========================================================================+ | "things are more beautiful when they're obscure" -- veda hille | | *** TRAJECTORY, the Veda Hille mailing list: *** | | *** http://www.smoe.org/meth/trajectory.html *** | +==========================================================================+ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 23:38:11 -0400 From: meredith Subject: b/start saving those pennies now... Hi! Just snagged from Ain't It Cool News: "The DIGITAL BITS website reports FOX Home Video will release the first season of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER on DVD in January, and follow it with the first season of THE SIMPSONS in February. Both should be loaded with features, a la the X-FILES DVD box sets FOX is releasing every six months or so." Whee!!! +==========================================================================+ | Meredith Tarr meth@smoe.org | | New Haven, CT USA http://www.smoe.org/~meth | +==========================================================================+ | "things are more beautiful when they're obscure" -- veda hille | | *** TRAJECTORY, the Veda Hille mailing list: *** | | *** http://www.smoe.org/meth/trajectory.html *** | +==========================================================================+ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 20:51:48 -0700 (PDT) From: Todd Huff Subject: Re: b/start saving those pennies now... Yeeehaw! Let's hope this is more reliable than his Oscar winners story. - --- meredith wrote: > Hi! > > Just snagged from Ain't It Cool News: > > "The DIGITAL BITS website reports FOX Home Video > will release the > first season of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER on DVD in > January, and > follow it with the first season of THE SIMPSONS in > February. Both should be > loaded with features, a la the X-FILES DVD box sets > FOX is releasing every six > months or so." > > Whee!!! > > > +==========================================================================+ > | Meredith Tarr > meth@smoe.org | > | New Haven, CT USA > http://www.smoe.org/~meth | > +==========================================================================+ > | "things are more beautiful when they're > obscure" -- veda hille | > | *** TRAJECTORY, the Veda Hille mailing > list: *** | > | *** > http://www.smoe.org/meth/trajectory.html *** > | > +==========================================================================+ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get Yahoo! Mail – Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ End of stillpt-digest V2 #162 *****************************