Angel's dull as a table lamp. And we have very different coloring!

[sarea]

I'm changing the way prizes will be awarded for the DG Feast. See, it occurred to me that it wouldn't really be fair if you wrote the best story/submitted the best recipe and won first place ... only to get a prize that you don't actually want. Or if there were a prize that you wanted more, but you placed too well to get it. That doesn't make sense. So instead of delineating placements to match them up with prizes, the winners will be able to choose their desired prize from the three offered, in the order in which they place. That should also encourage people to try and do their best, so that they won't aim for third place, for instance, because they want Draco's wand (who doesn't want Draco's wand?). ; ) The only person who won't get to choose will be the third-place winner, but they weren't going to get to, anyway – no one was. This way, the first two winners have a choice in their prizes, and the third-place winner has the opportunity to get a prize they wouldn't have gotten before. :D The Jade-written story with your elements, however, will still go to the first-place winner in addition to the material prize, unless, of course, s/he chooses to pass (though I can't imagine that, either).

Thank you muchly for the comments in response to PP3b!! You all rock. It was quite entertaining to see that we're all just a bunch of smut mongers and conspiracy theorists. Heehee. I think the worst offender was probably ropo, who isn't in HP fandom and hasn't even read beyond the first HP book, but clicked on the link to have a gander anyway. I'm also glad to hear that some of your, uh, personal relationships have, uh, benefitted positively from the chapter. An unforeseen result, to be sure, but I'm glad for it nonetheless. I was going to respond to some of your theories (cryptically, of course), but there's only two parts left so you'll know the truth of the matter soon enough. Or will you? :D I will say that some of you are right, and some of you are wrong. And some of you are right and wrong at the same time. :))

I mentioned in one of my previous posts that I've been watching my BtVS S7 DVDs. It's still one of the show's weakest seasons by far, but I've found that on rewatch, I wasn't hating it as much as I did when it first aired. I daresay I might even like it. Certainly not as much as I like S5 or S2, but there's some liking going on. I've been thinking about why that is, and what I've liked
about it, and other random things.

* Being able to watch all the episodes in close succession makes me less bitter every time an episode ends and still nothing has happened, so this has helped me like it more. I don't have to deal with weeks of going without and then anticipating, only for it to turn out to be a disappointment.

* I've totally regained my Spuffy love. I lost it, I think, after Chosen and a whole year of Spike being on AtS without Buffy, but now it's back. I'd completely forgotten how B/S friendly S7 was, even though at the end it didn't quite pan out to what I wanted.

* Initially I hated what they had done to Spike -- he was just such a doormat and boring with a soul -- but he started coming back mid season, and I was really thrilled with the way he and Buffy's relationship progressed.

* Two episodes from the end, I have to say that the worst episode of the season so far is the premiere. It's not often that Joss gets this distinction, but he gets it here.

* My favorite episode of the season is Lies My Parents Told Me, which is yet another anomaly since I normally can't stand David Fury. But he had Drew Goddard making up for his typical crap, so that explains that. I've also enjoyed the eps penned by Rebecca Rand Kirshner.

* ANDREW! Always my favorite of the geek squad, he made S7 tolerable the first time around, and he continues to entertain on rewatch. Storyteller is probably my second fave ep.

* The potential Slayers are slightly more tolerable this time around, although I still despise Kennedy. Kennedy suxors, and I thought her forced romance with Willow was unnecessary and a travesty to Tara's memory.

* Speaking of the Potentials, it still doesn't make any sense to me that the First could just get rid of all of them and thereby end the Slayer line. IMHO you won't end the Slayer line until you kill off all the females in the world, because otherwise it will simply find the next most fitting gal.

* For some reason, the preacher man Caleb seemed to last forEVER the first time, but now I realize he only showed up about four eps from the end. Still, what's his deal? Do we ever figure out where the heck he gets all his powers from, and why he would show up now? This speaks to the disjointed way the whole season was handled -- there didn't seem to be any real plan, and what there was of it, sucked and/or made no sense.

* I still say there should have been a "Dawn, the Vampire Slayer" spin off, with Andrew and Connor as Scoobies: TNG. I never liked Dawn much as a character, though she was okay in certain episodes. (Blood Ties and Potential come to mind.) Maybe it was MT who I didn't like.

* Giles should have been the First!

Comments

[selinakyle47.livejournal.com]

Did they ever explain if that was Joyce or The First in Conversations with Dead People?

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

Not really. We're led to believe she is the FE ... but then she starts showing up in Buffy's dreams in a 'good' capacity, so... I think it's just a matter of our own interpretation. I would say that the person/creature who appeared to Dawn was the FE. But I would certainly have no problem w/ it if someone wanted to believe otherwise. <g>

[empressvesica.livejournal.com]

I rather liked both seasons 6 and 7 when they actually aired, which made my friends think I was nuts. The plot was so-so for S7 but it had some really rich character interactions and oodles of fodder for ficcing (Faith as leader, Andrew (!!), how the potentials were found/what they went through..) I really liked the final episodes with the interaction between Buffy & Faith, Angel & Buffy, Spike & Buffy, Spike & Faith, Giles & Faith..wait, there's a theme here. :)

Honestly, I cried like a baby at the series ending. No matter how little sense the spell made, no matter the long term consequences of sealing Sunnydale's Hellmouth - I could only see Buffy getting what she wanted in Episode 1, "Welcome to the Hellmouth" - to not be the ONE who always had to save the world and (in later seasons) to have a slim chance at having a life. *sniffle* Tears me up just thinking about it. Still, there were massive plot holes in S7. Did I mention Andrew rocks?

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

I didn't mind S6 when it was airing -- it was just toward the end, when the B/S relationship was disintegrating and then they randomly decided to have Spike attempt to rape Buffy where they lost me. I mean, she had had no problem kicking his ass on any occasion before that, and then suddenly she was this helpless girl, so they could make their point? Please.

But I'm getting off track. On rewatch, I did enjoy many of the relationships you named -- particularly Buffy/Faith. That one has always held a lot of interest for me, because they're such opposites (or were), and yet they're the only ones who can truly understand the other. I really dig that. I've already said how much I like the B/S ... I'm 'eh' on the Angel/Buffy, since I find that relationship wholly uninteresting.

I didn't cry while watching Chosen the first time, but I watched it last night and I totally cried. <g> But mostly during the two Spike-related parts (I've often said if not for that character, I couldn't have watched the show as consistently as I did). And I was glad, like you, that Buffy shared her power and it was a really 'fitting' circle for the series to come around to (even if, as you point out, so many bloody things don't make sense). It's also possible that I wasn't as moved by the ending when I first saw it, not just because I was unimpressed w/ the season as a whole, but because it took me a long, long, LONG time to like Buffy. I just did not like her. And now, she's okay in my books. :D

Andrew = <3333 I haven't written in the BtVS universe at all except for one drabble, and he was the reason for it.

[empressvesica.livejournal.com]

I think it's the circle part that appealed to me. I know a lot of people who hated the chit-chat scene where they (Buffy, Willow, and Xander) are talking about going to the mall and what they'll do after the battle. But I adored it, particularly Giles' line about 'the world is doomed' because it echoed the end of "Welcome to the Hellmouth". Closure is good. Part of my reaction was probably because I had been watching since the night it premired and have lots of great memories of watching in high school and college with friends and having season opener/season closer parties etc. It was the end of an era for me. :)