Slayer Soundtrack Sunday ~ Beer Bad

In "Beer Bad," episode 5 of Season 4, Buffy is depressed after breakup with boyfriend Parker, who has dumped her after a one-night-stand. Depressed, Buffy starts hanging out in the local bar where Xander works, and soon begins to drown her sorrows in beer with some philosophy students.



The beer is literally a "brew" called "Black Frost" that has been hexed by vampires to turn the local kids into Neanderthals. Thus, College Buffy turns into Cave Slayer, and is taken home to her dorm by Xander. Meanwhile, Willow decides to put glib Parker in his place by letting him believe she can be seduced, then criticizing his way with women. But they both get trapped after the Cave Boys rush in and start a fire in the coffee shop. Buffy rescues them, but later knocks Parker on the head with a stick, showing she has her mojo back and he can't make her feel bad anymore.



This is one of my favorite episodes of Buffy. It's a cautionary tale about boys and alcohol, capturing the archetypal college experience of getting dumped by a boyfriend, feeling alone, and seeking solace at a bar with strangers. Drugs and alcohol make everyone act differently, so this script takes that to a new level with the cave-dweller imagery. Some fans and critics have called it a preachy message, and resented that Buffy "caved" in to depression and self-doubt, but I think the episode works best for people with a sense of humor. Lighten up and be entertained! If this happened on Gilligan's Island, people would just laugh. Wait a minute, it did happen on Gilligan's Island!

The Buffy Guide has some cool insight:

There are traces of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, in which Jekyll drank a potion which unleashed his monstrous dark side. The cave guys, which remind us of the apes in 2001: A Space Odyssey, are a pretty stereotypical depiction of the common-man's concept of cave men and Neanderthals.

From a BBC Interview with Producer Doug Petrie:

Doug Petrie: Beer Bad. Again, light and fluffy, as we say. It came from the brain of Tracy Forbes, a Canadian writer who was on our staff. We were just trying to mine the college experience as much as possible and what happens there. Well, very young people get unlimited access to alcohol and become horrible! We all do it - or most of us do it - and live to regret it, and we wanted to explore that. So the metaphor of college boys - intellectual college boys who drink and become Neanderthals - is pretty straight up. It's a metaphor.

BBC : At this point in the season we are seeing the fallout from the relationship between Buffy and Parker too.

Doug Petrie: We did want - and Joss wanted - a kind of harsh college experience. Of giving your heart and body to someone when you're not experienced in either, and having them use you and split, you know.

BBC : Do you think it was very cut and dried who was right and who was wrong, or do you think Parker to a certain extent had a point: that Buffy shouldn't have got so emotionally involved?

Doug Petrie: I think in reality the right and wrong of it is very fuzzy. I think that on our show Parker was portrayed as a little more... I think that those things do happen and I think that Parker had a little bit of a responsibility to listen to Buffy and he owed her at least a good solid conversation, and I think he just kind of blew her off. Also, the fans had a very strong response to it. We were surprised. I'm pretty sure from the internet and from what I've heard, the fans just hated it.

BBC : Hated what?

Doug Petrie: That Buffy was jumping into a relationship and that this guy would treat her so callously. But also we were getting a lot of stuff from the first half dozen or so episodes of the first quarter of the season where people were saying, "We're tired of Buffy being abused and Buffy being wimpy and Buffy being battered about by the forces of college." There was a pretty strong fan response. They felt that she was being kicked around by Spike, by Sunday, and by Parker, Not at all the strong character that people love to see.

This was a very conscious choice - we had to ride that out because we didn't want her to find her strength immediately in this new setting. But fans were pretty outspoken about how to find her sea legs now and eventually she did.

Episode Clips - notice Buffy's hair, which earned the stylist an Emmy nomination!





Music:

Kim Ferron ~ Nothing but You
Xander plays this on the Jukebox



Luscious Jackson ~ Ladyfingers
This is the Video Buffy watches on TV
"I want pretty people."



THC ~ Overfire
Oz's werewolf friend Veruca plays this with her fake TV band "Shy"

Vamps on TV ~ Commercials

Vamps are good at selling things to consumers! Even in daylight! Well, maybe not . . .

Kellogg's Nutri Grain Fruit Crunch Bar Vampire Commercial 2013


Audi 2012 Dusted by Daylight - with homage to Twilight tree climbing


Sonic Burger Commercial 2011 (thankfully not the double-meat palace)



Doritos Vamp



Diesel Jeans 2009



Cute 1990s Retro Duracell Battery Vamp

Whedon ~ New Teen Vampire Shows are "Choosing Boyfriends: The Movie"

Joss Whedon is frustrated with the latest crop of Vampire tales, and he has good reason to be. From "Twilight" to "Vampire Diaries" there are no characters to match the power of Buffy, Willow, Tara, or Anya. Most girls don't want to slay the vampires - they want to date them!

From Entertainment Weekly Via Wet Paint

"The thing about Buffy for me is–on a show-by-show basis–are there female characters who are being empowered, who are driving the narrative?”

That question mark has him disappointed in relationship-centric vampire dramas that focus on love triangles — which he did with Buffy, Angel, and Spike through the years, but in a different way — and the magazine specifically asked about Twilight and The Vampire Diaries.

“The Twilight thing and a lot of these franchise attempts coming out, everything rests on what this girl will do, but she’s completely passive, or not really knowing what the hell is going on,” he said. “And that’s incredibly frustrating to me because a lot of what’s taking on the oeuvre of Buffy, is actually a reaction against it. Everything is there — except for the Buffy. A lot of things aimed at the younger kids is just Choosing Boyfriends: The Movie.”

What kind of name is 'Buffy' Anyway?

In the first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Welcome to the Hellmouth," we have this snippet of dialogue:

Girl #1: The new kid? She seems kind of weird to me. What kind of name is Buffy?

Girl #2: [walking by] Hey, Aphrodesia.

Aphrodisia: Oh, Hey!

LOL - clearly Buffy doesn't have the strangest name at Sunnydale.

But it does beg the question about the origins of Buffy's name. Now the obvious symbolism is that she is a really strong girl with muscles - she's buff. But what else?

On her tombstone in season five her name is "Buffy Anne Summers."

From Urban Dictionary:
Buff: Very strong or having defined muscles, hot. Used mostly for guys.

From Think Baby Names

Buffy \b(uf)-fy\ as a girl's name is of English origin. Informal pet form of Elizabeth, based on a child's unsuccessful attempts to pronounce the name.
For more information, see also the related name Beverly.
Baby names that sound like Buffy are Bevvy, Bevie and Bev. Other similar baby names are Bunny, Daffy, Effy, Taffy and Tiffy.

Famous Buffies:

Elizabeth Bowles-Lyon, mother of Queen Elizabeth, was known as "My Darling Buffy" as a child.
Anissa Jones played Ava Elizabeth "Buffy" Patterson-Davis on TV's Family Affair
Folk singer Beverly "Buffy" Sainte-Marie wrote the songs "Universal Soldier" and "Until it's Time for you to Go"

Slayer Soundtrack Sunday ~ Trespasser's William

Where did the California band Trespasser's William get their name? From Winnie-the-Pooh of course.

CHAPTER III

IN WHICH POOH AND PIGLET GO HUNTING AND NEARLY CATCH A WOOZLE

THE Piglet lived in a very grand house in the middle of a beech-tree, and the beech-tree was in the middle of the forest, and the Piglet lived in the middle of the house. Next to his house was a piece of broken board which had: "TRESPASSERS W" on it.



When Christopher Robin asked the Piglet what it meant, he said it was his grandfather's name, and had been in the family for a long time. Christopher Robin said you couldn't be called Trespassers W, and Piglet said yes, you could, because his grandfather was, and it was short for Trespassers Will, which was short for Trespassers William. And his grandfather had had two names in case he lost one--Trespassers after an uncle, and William after Trespassers.

"I've got two names," said Christopher Robin carelessly.

"Well, there you are, that proves it," said Piglet.

Piglet and Christopher Robin are too innocent to understand that the entire sign should read "Trespassers Will Be Shot." So there's a hint of danger in this name.

And that fits well with the Buffy theme of various characters named "William." Spike's human name was "William Pratt" - known as "William the Bloody" to others in upper class circles thanks to his "bloody awful poetry." Angel was also originally named "Liam" which is the Irish equivalent of William. Then there are many characters named "Billy" or "Will" in the Buffy series, as listed by SlayerWorld.net

• Billy Fordham: (Buffy’s friend from LA who sold her out to Spike)
• Billy Palmer: (the little boy in the coma who caused nightmares to come to life)
• Billy Crandal: (chained himself to a snack machine in I Only Have Eyes For You)
• Billy (an unclassified demon in Angel, who brought out the worst in men with a touch)
• Willy the Snitch (demon bar tender)
• Wil or Will: the name sometimes given to Willow (yeah, this was a bit of a stretch)

Trespasser's William had two songs in Season Six of Buffy. "I Know" is from the episode "Gone," and "Washes Away" is from "As You Were."

Vamps on TV ~ Marceline the Vampire Queen

Marceline, the Vampire Queen is a main character of Cartoon Network's "Adventure Time," a show that is much more for teens and adults than children. Marceline is an ancient rocker-chick vampire who sings and plays guitar with her band The Scream Queens. Her guitar is a red battle-ax reminiscent of Buffy's in Season Seven. She doesn't drink blood, but drains the color red out of objects like apples and strawberries - quite fitting for a 2-dimensional ink-drawn character.



From LA Times Hero Complex

The Emmy-nominated cartoon is one of the Cartoon Network‘s most popular shows, consistently ranking No. 1 in its time slot among boys 2 to 14, according to Nielsen. But the show has developed its most devoted following among adults, who appreciate the dark humor beneath the inviting rainbow storybook exterior. It’s rare for an animated series to be equally informed by the likes of “Meatballs” and “An American Werewolf in London” as by fairy tales.
As whimsical as the “Adventure Time” world may appear, the series is dappled with hints that the Land of Ooo is, in fact, a post-apocalyptic version of Earth — a dark origin story for a colorful world. After all, Finn is the only human he knows, and although he is unfailingly positive, that knowledge comes with a profound loneliness."
. . . The Land of Ooo is home to a host of zany characters, including Marceline, an immortal vampire queen who feasts on the color red and turned her heirloom battle ax into a bass guitar;

From ComicVine

Wild and fearless, Marceline the Vampire Queen's origin is somewhat vague and ambiguous. She is over a thousand years old, and as her title suggests a vampire queen. She is also half demon, as confirmed by her alternate Farm World self.

. . . She is said to be a survivor of the great Mushroom War, a near cataclysmic event which dramatically altered the world at the time. Her relationship with her father Hunson Abadeer "King of the Nightsphere" was also strained after an incident in the past where he partook in eating her fries, and was further exacerbated when he stole her axe bass guitar. Although Marceline will often try to convey that she is evil and dark, it is much more of a pretense and act, unlike her actual father who is actually the lord of all evil.

. . . Despite her wild, scary and unpredictable nature, she is friends with Finn and Jake. She also appears to have a complicated love hate relationship with Princess Bubblegum hinting at a deeper and more complicated relationship. She often likes to jam on her custom made battle-axe bass guitar, she sustains herself on shades of the color red, as opposed to blood, and there is said to be no Vampire King, as Marceline is said to have killed him.

Joss Whedon's Episode of The Office "Business School"

Halloween is a few months from now, but anytime is right for vampires in the Buffyverse, right?

So indulge yourself with either DVDs or Netflix and watch The Office episode directed by Joss Whedon. In it, a bat is trapped all day inside the building, leading Dwight Shrute to believe that his co-worker Jim has transformed into a Vampire. But in the end it is bimbo Meredith who gets bitten by the little flying creature, putting her in the hospital with rabies.

But there's just as much hilarity when Michael Scott (Steve Carell) accompanies his protege, Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak), to business school to give a pep talk to the class and instead ends up destroying textbooks while furiously denying that the "paper-based business model" of Dunder Mifflin could ever fail. It's a tour-de-force for Carell.

Geek Out with Felicia Day on YouTube

Felicia Day played a "Potential" in the seventh season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and went on to sing as the sweet character Penny on Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

Of late she can be found on "Geek and Sundry" which is both an Official Website and an entertaining YouTube Channel.

Here she is on Twitter also: @FeliciaDay

There are loads of videos on the channel, so Check it all OUT! And Geek Out! Far OUT! ....Peace Out.



"Gastro Geek" is a cross between the Food Network show "Chopped" and SyFy's geeky monsterfest "Face Off" - contestants make monsters out of food and then Judges give them a VERY SERIOUS ARTISTIC critique. Featuring actors Alexis Denisoff (Angel, Much Ado About NOthing) and Colin Ferguson (Eureeka).

Exciting ~ Sarah Michelle Geller Talks Possible Buffy Movie

Wow - you don't get news like this every day! A Glimmer of Hope for the Fans from an E! Online interview with Sarah Michelle Geller.

"Joss and I always talk about [a movie]," Gellar told me during an interview for E! News. "But the thing with Buffy is that Buffy was a movie, and it ultimately didn't work as a film. And I mean, we had such miles to overcome when we were trying to do a TV show based on a movie. And one of the reasons is that the story works better over time."

And now here comes the tiny sliver: "If there was ever the right story, we would do it."

We'll take it! Right, fans? Even though Gellar also jokes that, "At this point, the stake would be my walker and I would be hobbling in."

Useful Chart ~ Know Your Vampire Hunters

This is cute, via Pinterest

Pakistan's Burka Avenger Fights Bad Guys with Books and Pens

The "Burka Avenger" is a superhero cartoon in Pakistan, inspired by a real-life hero and child-activist Malala, who survived an attack by the Taliban and was honored by "Malala Day" at the United Nations.

While she wears a burka like extreme traditional women, in her everyday life this cartoon character is a modern woman - a teacher - who doesn't wear a veil or cover her hair. The creator says he wanted the burka to be used just to hide her identity, a nice twist on the usually oppressive use of the burka to hide a woman's sexuality from the world.

And she protects children from the bad things - sweatshops and religious oppression.

Her weapons? Books and Pens only. And that goes back to something Malala said:

Let us pick up our books and our pens. They are our most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world. Education is the only solution. Education first.

Mr. Giles would certainly approve.