Eve of Destruction

Generally resting up today - ankle slowly getting better, but not enough for long hikes through the park yet, even if the weather wasn't rainy crap anyway. So, sitting about, reading books, pondering what to cook for dinner. FX keeps playing previews for that Brendan Fraser movie Bedazzled, in which Elizabeth Hurley is the devil. Cute film, and with an actually coherent vision of the afterlife. Huzzah!

FX playing Buffy rerun "Bring on the Night," an episode which never ceases to amaze me on the following points a) the way everyone seems content to sit around for the bulk of the ep exchanging funny glances while Buffy talks about "rescuing" Spike b) Willow's magic coke-snorting scene in which The First tosses the Scoobies around the living room (gee, guess Buffy and the writers had forgotten all about that little hazard by "Get it Done") c) The First's not-exactly-logical persuasion toolkit for getting Spike to "choose a side" (beating and... more beating! You want to hang with us bad guys, right? this is fun, right? how about some more beating? and try some drowning too, although you're a vampire and don't need to breathe, whathfu-?), d) the pointless inclusion of Joyce, e) the pointless inclusion of Weirdly Chillly Giles, and f) the UberVamp. Like, we saw Buffy kick a hellgod's butt and she's getting her clock cleaned by a guy in a latex suit and elf booties? One new observation however - The First's rep in this episode is a Slayer candidate named "Eve." Hm.

I'd note also that the B/S undercurrents were probably never stronger than in this and its partner ep, "Showtime." Given where the series left off with that 'ship, no idea what to make of that. When the chips are down, she likes having him around, I guess. Does any of this still relate to current AtS plotlines? Dunno, except Spike sucks up a lot of torture in it. Strictly on the torture-meter, especially given "Damage" and the like, Angel's falling behind fast. Not sure what percentage that gets you in the AtS worldview.

Looking to update the Just Stake Me site. Especially now that Angel will be winding down, I feel the need for completeness. Need to finish up my episode reviews there, and compile a lot of my AtS thoughts into lucid reviews. Might undertake a redesign as well - the black background is starting to bother me, for some reason. Might turn over a new look in classic white. Hm. Contemplating pruning the guestbook, since it's mostly filled with random messages and even a suspiciously spamlike post, but having a hard time finding the heart to do it. Somehow, reading messages like "I have hotmail!!!!!!!! I rule the world!!!!! We are up and running!!!!!!!!!!" cheers me up, even though it has dickall to do with the site. Ain't the Internet fun?

She Just Had to Make Me Horny

Since I just pimped herself_nyc in one of the last couple of posts somewhere, I've given up being shy about making fic recs, if I ever was. Whole hog now, baby.

nautibitz just updated her story "Crash and Burn." This is the first everybody's-human AU story I've ever really, really liked. So, goes without saying, it's really, really good. Want to explore the social class issues in Buffy/Spike without all that pesky vampire/soul/slayer, etc. croft creeping in? This is your story - she's a spoiled Valley girl spending daddy's money, he's a ne'er-do-well musician (gasp!). Watch the sparks fly! Half the fun is seeing how Nauti manages to work the rest of the cast into the story. (I particularly appreciated her take on Angel - you'll never see this one coming, yet it's strangely apt). And unusually for Nauti (as you might guess from her site, Naughty Bits, she typically does raunchy stuff), the story stays on the sexual tension tip for a long, long time. But this latest chapter finally has sex in it. Like, rowr! Fanfic is a wonderful thing.