Spontaneous Musings

I just flipped on The Buffy Marathon on Syfy...and the speech I landed on was..."and then there's people, millions of people, like happy meals on legs.." hence the above title reference. The series looks sort of low-budget in 2013, with the square screen and the lack of digital filming. But the writing is whip-smart. Just the right edge of wit married to pathos. Just in case, you may decide to take it too seriously, the writers always throw in a joke or two to ensure you don't.

Although the marathon choices are rather interesting - almost as if someone voted on which were the best episodes of the entire series, or the most plot-worthy, and only chose those for the marathon.

If you are curious here they are:

1)Welcome To The Hellmouth
2)The Harvest
3)Angel
4)Becoming - Part 1
5)Becoming - Part 2
6)Faith, Hope And Trick
7)Lovers Walk
8)The Wish
9)Bad Girls
10)Doppelgangland
11)Graduation Day - Part 1
12) Graduation Day - Part 2
13)Hush
14)Buffy Vs. Dracula
15)Fool For Love
16)Crush
17)The Body
18)Once More, With Feeling
19)Normal Again
20) Chosen

Clearly whomever did this list was not a fan of S7, S6, S4, or S2 for that matter. Yet quite adored S3 (actually S3 was obviously their favorite) and S5, with S1 coming in 3rd. No love for S7 though. Then again it is admittedly plot/mythology specific.

This is not the list I'd have chosen for a 20 episode marathon. Then again I'm struggling to figure out what list I would do. A Non-Plot oriented one for people who know the series and don't care, or plot-oriented? This is actually a lot harder than I thought. Buffy has arguably about 15-20 excellent episodes, but it's such a serial that you sort of have to put the not so great one's in there to figure out what is going on.


1. Welcome to the Hellmouth
2. Harvest
3. Angel
4. Lie to Me
5. Surpise
6. Innocence
7. Passion
8.Becoming Part I
9. Becoming Part II
10. Lover's Walk
11. The Wish
12. Dopplegangeland
13. Graduation Day I
14. Graduation Day II
15. HUSH
16. RESTLESS
17. Fool For Love
18. The Body
19. Once More With Feeling
20. Chosen

See? Hard.

Or Take II

1. Angel
2. School Hard
3. Lie to Me
4. Becoming I
5. Becoming Part II
6. Lover's Walk
7. The Wish
8. Dopplegangland
9. Graduation Day I
10. Graduation Day II
11. HUSH
12. This Year's Girl
13. Who Are You
14. Restless
15. Fool for Love
16. The Body
17. Once More with Feeling
18. Beneath You
19. Conversations with Dead People
20. Chosen


or Take III - the 15-20 arguably excellent/memorable episodes:


1. Lie to Me
2. Innocence
3. Passion
4. Becoming I
5. Becoming II
6. Lover's Walk
7. Dopplegangland
8. Hush
9. This Year's Girl
10. Who Are You
11. Restless
12. Fool for Love
13. Crush
14. The Body
15. Once More with Feeling
16. Dead Things
17. Normal Again
18. Beneath Me
19. Conversations with Dead People
20. Lies My Parents Told Me


I don't know. Glad I don't have to do that for a living.

Anyhow...back when I was watching Buffy in the late 1990s, during my gig at the evil library reference company...I had the following conversation with a work colleague/friend on the way home from work. We often rode the subway home together, having long chats about a variety of topics. Not Buffy - she considered it beneath her. Cultural dissonance exists in all climes.

Me: I can't seem to read anything. I get a few pages in and my attention wanders. What is wrong with me?
CW: Your working hard, brain is filled with info, can't fit more in. Plus stress. What you need is...a HAPPY BOOK.
Me: Didn't realize book's had emotions.
CW: No, I mean something light, stress reducing, fluffy, you don't have to remember, keep track of characters, can just enjoy. A light breezy read. (PAUSE) Have you ever read PD Wodehouse?

Now coming up with a list of light breezy books that aren't violent and are well-written isn't easy. Also by different authors. So far...I've come up with the following, but I've read them all:

* PD Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster
* William Goldman's Princess Bride (although not sure it qualifies)
* Harry Potter (again not sure it qualifies and a children's book)

Not sure of anything else. Jane Austen is almost too deep as is Louisa May Alcott. Terry Prachett is too punny and requires attention to foot-notes. Mark Twain requires too much concentration - he's a precise writer.

And I'm not talking about "airplane books" - ie the thriller or mystery of the week series or Gerogette Heyer. I mean fluffy books, that are witty. Are there any? I know there are for kids and young adults, which may explain the sudden influx of adult readers of young adult novels. But I burned out that genre a while ago.