Joss Whedon Commencement Address

Joss Whedon was honored with a Doctorate by Wesleyan College in Connecticut.
Full Commencement Speech Transcript Here

From Tor.com

Whedon was present to accept an honorary Doctor of Letters from his alma mater (class of ’87) and was charged with delivering the commencement speech for the graduating class of 2013. In it, the writer touched upon what it is to go forth and change the world, and how it begins with being present for the changes within yourself.

. . . I don’t know if your parents have explained this to you about the world but we…broke it? Ummmm, we’re sorry? It’s a bit of a mess. It’s a hard time to go out into it.

And it’s a weird time in our country. And the thing about our country is…oh, it’s nice. I like it! But it’s not long on contradiction or ambiguity. It’s not long on these kind of things. It likes things to be simple. It likes things to be pigeonholed. Good, or bad. Black, or white. Blue, or red.

And we’re not that. We’re more interesting than that.

. . . The connection we have is part of what defines us on such a basic level. Freedom is not freedom from connection. Serial killing is freedom from connection. Certain large investment firms have established freedom from connection….

But we as people never do, and we’re not supposed to. We are individuals, obviously, but we are more than that.

So here’s the thing about changing the world. It turns out that’s not even the question, because you don’t have a choice. You are going to change the world because that is actually what the world is.

You do not pass through this life, it passes through you. You experience it, you interpret it, you act, and then it is different. That happens constantly. You are changing the world. You always have been.

Joss Whedon on Jimmy Fallon

From Variety:

After confirming that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver would be in “Avengers 2,” Joss Whedon gave some clarity to why he chose those characters to appear in the next pic on Friday nights Jimmy Fallon Show.

. . . “I found their powers to be very visually interesting,” Whedon explains. “In the last film a lot of the characters had very ‘punchy powers’ where they were always punchy something and that got kind of boring after awhile.”

Whedon added that no one had been cast yet and Fallon followed up by jokingly suggesting Selena Gomez and Channing Tatum.

Slayer Soundtrack Sunday ~ Buffy and Angel Love Themes

There are two different Buffy and Angel "Love" Themes, both by Christophe Beck and both quite beautiful: "Close Your Eyes" and "Moment of Happiness."

More About Buffy on Christophe Beck's Official Website
Amazon's Christophe Beck Store

The composer's biography from his website:

Canadian composer Christophe Beck started piano lessons at five, and by eleven he was learning Bee Gees songs by ear and performing with his first-ever band, the unfortunately-named Chris and The Cupcakes. During high school he studied piano, saxophone, and drums, and wrote many tender 80's love ballads.

While studying music at Yale, Beck wrote two musicals with his brother Jason (a.k.a. Gonzales, the Paris-based pianist-producer-TV Host-prankster), as well as an opera based on "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe.

Upon graduation, Beck moved to Los Angeles to attend USC's prestigious film scoring program, where he studied with Jerry Goldsmith. A personal recommendation from the legendary Buddy Baker, head of the USC Music Department, led to his first assignment for a Canadian TV series called "White Fang." Several TV series later, he was asked to score the second season of WB Network's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Beck received the Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for his score to the "Buffy" episode, "Becoming, Part 1."

In 2000, the cheerleading comedy "Bring It On" launched Beck's film career, which has included such credits as "Under the Tuscan Sun," "Saved," "The Pink Panther," "We Are Marshall," "Year of the Dog," "What Happens in Vegas," and more recently, "The Hangover," now the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time.

Close Your Eyes plays in the Season Two Episode "Becoming." It is included on Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Album (1999 Television Series)

The meaning of the title comes from the tragic fact that Angel can't be happy with Buffy because as soon as they find perfect happiness together, he loses his soul and she has to kill him. We see the flashback in "Becoming Pt. 1" just before the vampire Darla kills Liam in order to turn him to Angelus, she tells him to "Close your eyes." In "Becoming Pt. 2", just before Buffy kills Angel, she too says, "Close your eyes."


The "Moment of Happiness" version appears in "Innocence" and is included on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Score

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Trailer 2

Trailer 2 is out - looks good!

Sarah Michelle Geller Tenth Anniversary Quote

Huffington Post had a nice quote from Sarah Michelle Geller:

From Huff Post

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" ended 10 years ago on May 20, 2003. Yes, it's been a decade since the Slayer and the Scoobies closed the Hellmouth in Sunnydale, California.
. . . At the CBS 2013 upfront red carpet last week, Gellar was surprised by how much time has passed since she last wielded a wooden stake on TV.

"Wait, wait. Hold on. Really?" she replied when The Huffington Post told her the 10th anniversary of the "Buffy" finale was upon us. "Wow. God, you just blew my mind." Williams, who accompanied Gellar on the red carpet said, "It's kind of wonderful."

"It is," Gellar said. "I'm incredibly proud of that show -- proud of everybody on it, of what we did ... You can't be prouder of that show. It still holds up in reruns and I'm blessed every day ... I've been pretty lucky."

There was also this quote from Danny Strong, who played "Jonathan" - a classmate at Sunnydale High and in later seasons a member of the "Nemesis" gang of three who fought against Buffy.

"It just gets bigger each year. It's really exciting how much it penetrated this public consciousness in a way. People teach courses about it and there are Joss Whedon courses in universities. People write their dissertations on it," he told The Huffington Post. "It's incredibly flattering and I'm really honored just to have been a part of it. It's very exciting."

I definitely agree - people are even still creating new blogs about Buffy after all these years. :)

Slayer Soundtrack Sunday ~ Laika's "Black Cat Bone"

"Laika" is the name of the first dog the Russians put into orbit around the earth, but ironically the band with that name may be best known for a song "Black Cat Bone" which is played in Season six, the episode called "Wrecked."

The song is included on Laika's album Good Looking Blues as well as the extended UK version of Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Radio Sunnydale Click links or pics to buy the albums.







Willow is going through a crisis due to magic, with the analogy to drug addiction - the meaning of the title. She follows her old pal Amy the ex-rat (Elizabeth Anne Allen) to a private "magicks den" where she trades some of her power to a sort of guru/junkie called "Rack" (Jeff Kober) for a psychedelic mystical experience.

The song "Black Cat Bone" by Laika plays during Willow's mind-trip, and captures the sinister illogic of it.

We know her experience isn't entirely pleasant because Willow has to take a shower afterwards to "sober up."


But Willow hasn't had enough, so she returns to Rack's house - rhymes with crackhouse - dragging along Buffy's teenage sister Dawn, who is creeped out but who can't leave. When Willow realizes she has accidentally conjured a demon during her bad trip, they have to steal a car to get away, ending in an accident which injures Dawn.

Buffy is ticked-off to say the least. But Willow is forgiven because Buffy isn't acting responsibly either, finally consumating her flirtation with Spike during which they literally "bring the house down" on themselves - another meaning of the title "Wrecked." At the end of the show, a contrite and sober Willow is alone and so is Buffy, surrounded by cloves of garlic to keep out the amorous Spike.

The Real Joss Whedon on Twitter

Director and Writer Joss Whedon is really, actually on Twitter now - and he's funny, of course!!!

Imagine if Xander Harris was on Twitter - yeah, that's it. :) This is going to be a fun Follow.

It's me! Joss!My own account!No more hiding under studio skirts!I'm FREE! @muchadofilm @agentsofshield @marvel @roadsidetweets #free
— Joss Whedon (@JossActual) May 13, 2013

I'm on a plane!I'm having tea!I'm wearing shoes!This is how twitter works, right?I tell you guys EVERYTHING. Great! #syphilis
— Joss Whedon (@JossActual) May 13, 2013

Ugh... Out late with the SHIELD peeps. Feel like all that drinking & partying is hanging over me somehow -- should there be a term for that?
— Joss Whedon (@JossActual) May 15, 2013

Can there be no more action movies where the lead is named "Jack"? Lazy. (Jack Ryan gets grandfathered in, I guess.) #upsetaboutdumbstuff
— Joss Whedon (@JossActual) May 16, 2013

Seattle is actually beautiful and soothing, like a... beautiful, soothing... soothing beauty I HATE WRITING IT'S HARD!' #stabstabregret
— Joss Whedon (@JossActual) May 16, 2013

"SIX CENTAURS TEAR AT US!!!" - what John Wilkes Booth actually yelled #insanityplea
— Joss Whedon (@JossActual) May 17, 2013

People keep questioning my use of hashtags, but I know what I'm doing, okay? #peoplekeepquestioningmyuseofhashtagsbutiknowwhatimdoingokay
— Joss Whedon (@JossActual) May 17, 2013

If I could have dinner with any three people, living or dead, I would probably choose the Olive Garden.
— Joss Whedon (@JossActual) May 19, 2013

Firefly Marathon on Science Channel May 19, 2013

Here's the Schedule:

09:00 AM The Train Job

Mal (Nathan Fillion) and his crew are hired to pull off a train heist but the cargo turns out to be badly needed medication intended for sufferers of a deadly disease.

Guest stars include Tom Towles, Andrew Bryniarski, Michael Fairman, Gregg Henry and Valerie Red-Horse.


10:00 AM Bushwhacked

The crew discovers the sole survivor of a Reaver attack aboard a derelict spacecraft, leading to an encounter with an Alliance commander bent on capturing Simon (Sean Maher) and River (Summer Glau).

Guest stars include Doug Savant, Branden R. Morgan, Jared Poe and Lancer Dean Shull.

11:00 AM Shindig

Hoping to initiate a smuggling transaction, Mal (Nathan Fillion) attends an elegant social event with Kaylee (Jewel Staite). But when Mal upsets a wealthy man who hired Inara (Morena Baccarin) as his companion, he is challenged to a sword fight.

Guest stars include Mark Sheppard, Edward Atterton, Larry Drake, Carl Bresk and Larry Pennell.

12:00 PM Safe

Book (Ron Glass) is critically injured when the crew of the Serenity is caught in the crossfire between policemen and outlaws; a backward people in need of a doctor kidnap Simon (Sean Maher) and mistake River (Summer Glau) for a witch.

Guest stars include Isabella Hofmann, William Converse-Roberts, John Thaddeus, Andy Rolfes, Matthew Ferreira, Justified's Erica Tazel, Morina Pierce, Skylar Roberge and Zac Efron.



01:00 PM Our Mrs. Reynolds

After ridding a peaceful planet of a group of bandits, Mal (Nathan Fillion) and his crew are honored for their heroism. But when he returns to the Serenity, a horrified Mal is told he inadvertently married one of the local women during the celebration.

Guest stars include Mad Men's Christina Hendricks, Benito Martinez, Erik Passoja and Bob Fimiani.

02:00 PM Jaynestown

When the Serenity crew travels to a planet to strike a smuggling deal, Jayne (Adam Baldwin) discovers the populace worships him as a hero; Inara ( Morena Baccarin) makes a man out of a magistrate's 26-year-old virginal son; Book's (Ron Glass) nerves fray as he tends to River (Summer Glau).

Guest stars include Gregory Itzin, Daniel Bess, Kevin Gage, Zachary Kranzler and Ronald Craig Williams.

03:00 PM Out of Gas

The crew is forced to abandon ship when the Serenity is crippled by an explosion, leaving behind a dying Mal (Nathan Fillion), who recalls how he first acquired the vessel and assembled the crew.

Guest stars include Steven Flynn, Ilia Volok, Lyle Kanouse, Dax Griffin and Roderick McCarthy.

04:00 PM Ariel

Disguised as medical personnel, the crew infiltrates a hospital with the intention of stealing valuable supplies; meanwhile, Simon (Sean Maher) uses a high-tech imaging device to study River's (Summer Glau) brain in hopes of curing her, only to be betrayed by Jayne (Adam Baldwin).

Guest stars include Blake Robbins, Jeff Ricketts, Dennis Cockrum, Tom Virtue and Roma Chugani.

05:00 PM War Stories

The crew stages a rescue mission when Niska (Michael Fairman) takes Mal (Nathan Fillion) prisoner and subjects him to torture; Inara (Morena Bacarrin) raises eyebrows when she takes a female client.

Guest stars include Michael Fairman, Katherine Kendall, Rolando Molina, John Dunn and Michael Bentt.

06:00 PM Trash

Mal's (Nathan Fillion) "wife" Saffron (Christina Hendricks) resurfaces with a plan to steal a valuable gun from a collector, but the plan goes awry when the gun's owner turns out to be another of Saffron's husbands.

Guest stars include Mad Men's Christina Hendricks, Franc Ross, Dwier Brown and John Eric Bentley.

07:00 PM The Message

Mal (Nathan Fillion) and Zoe (Gina Torres) receive a crate containing the body of an old wartime friend, but the man turns out to be very much alive and smuggling a secret cargo.

Guest stars include Jonathan M. Woodward, The Sentinel's Richard Burgi, Al Pugliese, Tod Nakamura, Craig Vincent and Morgan Rusler.

08:00 PM Heart of Gold

The Serenity crew defends a bordello from a gunslinger who got a prostitute pregnant and now intends to collect the child; Mal (Nathan Fillion) falls for the bordello's madam.

Guest stars include Melinda Clarke, Kimberly McCullough, Fredric Lehne, Tracy Ryan, Heather Black, Angie Hart, Doan Ly and Sandy Mulvihill.

09:00 PM Objects in Space

A bounty hunter (Richard Brooks) bent on apprehending River (Summer Glau) (and collecting the reward for her capture) boards the ship at night, catching the crew off-guard. He soon grows confused when River claims she's become one with the Serenity.

Guest stars include Richard Brooks.

10:00 PM Firefly 10th Anniversary: Browncoats Unite

Ten years have passed since Serenity took flight in Joss Whedon's Firefly. Now the crew will reunite. With footage from Comic-Con, and a roundtable interview, the cast, Whedon, Tim Minear, and Jose Molina will unearth memories from both sides of the camera

11:00 PM Heart of Gold
12:00 AM Objects in Space
01:00 AM Firefly 10th Anniversary: Browncoats Unite
02:00 AM The Message

Behind the Scenes with "The Crazy Ones"

Funny new behind-the-scenes trailer for "The Crazy Ones" TV show starring Sarah Michelle Geller and Robin Williams.

Fall 2013 on CBS.



I haven't seen it confirmed anywhere, but the title of the show seems to come from the "Think Different" ad campaign in the 1990s from Apple Computer. Below is the quote and the video, with a voice-over by Richard Dreyfus

Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine.
They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world,
are the ones who do…

From Wikipedia

"Think different" was an advertising slogan for Apple Computer (Apple Inc. as of 2007) in 1997 created by the Los Angeles office of advertising agency TBWA\Chiat\Day.[1] It was used in a television commercial, several print advertisements and a number of TV promos for Apple products.

. . . The words "think different" were created by Chiat/Day art director Craig Tanimoto. The text of the various versions of this commercial was written by Rob Siltanen and Ken Segall. Music was composed by Chip Jenkins for Elias Arts.

The one-minute commercial featured black-and-white footage of 17 iconic 20th century personalities. In order of appearance they were: Albert Einstein, Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King, Jr., Richard Branson, John Lennon (with Yoko Ono), Buckminster Fuller, Thomas Edison, Muhammad Ali, Ted Turner, Maria Callas, Mahatma Gandhi, Amelia Earhart, Alfred Hitchcock, Martha Graham, Jim Henson (with Kermit the Frog), Frank Lloyd Wright and Pablo Picasso. The commercial ends with an image of a young girl opening her closed eyes, as if making a wish. The final clip is taken from the All Around The World version of the "Sweet Lullaby" music video, directed by Tarsem Singh; the young girl is Shaan Sahota, Singh's niece.[4]

Slayer Soundtrack Sunday ~ Lover's Walk

In this episode, the featured song is "My Way," the Frank Sinatra hit. Spike is shown singing it to himself after he returns to Sunnydale looking for his lost love Drusilla.

At the end of the episode after he captures her again, he drives away from Sunnydale singing along with the version of "My Way" sung by actor Gary Oldman in the movie "Sid and Nancy" about the life of Punk Rocker Sid Vicious and his girlfriend. They are clearly somewhat of an inspiration for the "Punkish" Spike and the totally whacked-out insane Drusilla.




Another thing fans love about this episode is the way Spike goes on and on about his love for Drusilla, even crying on the shoulders of both Joyce, Buffy's mother, and Willow when he takes her hostage so she will make a love potion for him.


He's totally obsessed by love and only love. This places him the "Byronic Hero" category which certainly becomes evident later in the series when his devotion to Buffy is tested again and again until he becomes the true champion.

Spike: What do you know? It's your fault, the both of you! She belongs with me. I'm nothing without her.
Buffy: That I'll have to agree with. You're pathetic, you know that? You're not even a loser anymore, you're a shell of a loser.
Spike: Yeah. You're one to talk.
Buffy: Meaning?
Spike: The last time I looked in on you two, you were fighting to the death. Now you're back making googly-eyes at each other like nothing happened. Makes me want to heave.
Buffy: I don't know what you're talking about.
Spike: Oh, yeah. You're just friends.
Angel: That's right.
Spike: You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll be in love till it kills you both. You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other till it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends. Love isn't brains, children, it's blood...blood screaming inside you to work its will. I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it.

In fact, the title "Lover's Walk" is ironic because Spike is the ONLY character who ends up with his true love.

Buffy and Angel finally go their separate ways so each can concentrate on the greater good.

Angel: Hey. I was wondering when you were coming.
Buffy: I'm not coming back. We're not friends. We never were. And I can fool Giles, and I can fool my friends, but I can't fool myself. Or Spike, for some reason. What I want from you I can never have. You don't need me to take care of you anymore. So I'm gonna go.
Angel: I don't accept that.
Buffy: You have to.
Angel: How can...There's gotta be some way we can still see each other.
Buffy: There is: tell me that you don't love me.

Buffy is unaware that she would be taking many a "Lover's Walk" with Spike in future episodes.

Things end much more unhappily for Cordelia and Oz, who are shocked when they catch Xander and Willow embracing and finally sharing an innocent and tragic kiss at just the wrong moment. Cordelia runs away and is impaled on a large metal spike, which is symbolic on so many levels - love, vampires, Spike himself who is the reason the gang is in the old warehouse looking for Willow - but this definitely ends her relationship with Xander. She is next seen in "The Wish" making a deal with Anya the Vengeance Demon who nearly destroys Sunnydale by fulfilling Cordelia's wish that Buffy had never come there. Also ironic because Cordelia has to leave the show to make a place for Anya, who also falls in love with Xander and nearly marries him.

But Willow's romantic interest in Xander is also over. She and Oz continue to date into their college days until Oz suddenly has to leave town to find himself because actor Seth Green was leaving the show.

There is one more piece of music in this episode, which is the meloncholy guitar instrumental "Loneliness of Six" written by Christopher Beck, who composed the scores of many of the later episodes. The "Six" referred to in the song are Buffy, Angel, Xander, Cordelia, Willow and Oz. Spike would make a magical 7th, except he is not lonely anymore.

Preview of Whedon's S.H.I.E.L.D. Show Sunday May 12

ABC has confirmed that Joss Whedon's show "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." will join the network next Fall. And there will be some type of sneak preview tonight, Sunday May 12. When a video becomes available I will post it here.

UPDATE - Here's the video. Looks Good!



Via Wired

Viewers will get their first chance to take a look at the show this Sunday, when a special trailer for the series (which leaked online yesterday, before being quickly removed by Disney’s ever-vigilant lawyers) airs during the season finale of Once Upon A Time on ABC.

Here's the official show description via Wired:

Clark Gregg reprises his role of Agent Phil Coulson from Marvel’s feature films as he assembles a small, highly select group of Agents from the worldwide law-enforcement organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Together they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary. Coulson’s team consists of Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), highly trained in combat and espionage, Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) expert pilot and martial artist, Agent Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker); brilliant engineer and Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) genius bio-chemist. Joining them on their journey into mystery is new recruit and computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet). From Executive Producers Joss Whedon (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” ”Buffy the Vampire Slayer”); Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” pilot co-writers (“Dollhouse,” “Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”); Jeffrey Bell (“Angel,” “Alias”); and Jeph Loeb (“Smallville”) comes Marvel’s first TV series. “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is produced by ABC Studios and Marvel Television.

Slayer Soundtrack Sunday ~ The Triangle

"The Triangle" is an episode from Season 5 in which a Troll who was once involved with Anya appears to wreak havoc on Sunnydale. The title of the episode applies not just to Xander-Anya and the Troll, but to Buffy mourning the absence of Riley while Spike is falling in love with her.

The Troll is mostly a humorous charactor, but the giant Troll Hammer which he leaves behind plays an important part later when Buffy fights the goddess Glory at the end of Season 5.

There are two songs played in this episode.

The first is "There's no Other Way" by Blur which plays at the Bronze. The song is included on the album Independent Stuff (CD Compilation, 20 Tracks, Various, Diverse Artists)




The second is The Dandy Warhols "Bohemian Like You" from their album Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia.
It's included on both the American and UK versions of Radio Sunnydale. Click the pictures to buy either album.

Nicholas Brendon at Awesome Con

Hilarious interview with Nicholas Brendon (Xander on Buffy) via ReelFilm News. Currently he is co-starring on "Criminal Minds," after his Fox Show "Kitchen Confidential" was cancelled. He talks about that in detail, as well as "Firefly" and "The Avengers."

This is only Part One - I will add Part Two when it is posted.

Priceless Quote about Darla the Vampire

via captainoftheteas.tumblr.com


From Buzzfeed: 27 Reasons Darla is the Best Vampire in the Buffyverse

Like, check this out. She was dying of syphilis, sired by the Master, staked by Angel, resurrected by Wolfram and Hart, turned again by Drusilla, and impregnated by Angel. Then she staked herself to save her son.
. . . And she did it all with perfect hair.

via accidentaltheme.tumblr.com