NLM x 8...or....9....or was it 11?.

I rewatched Never Leave Me.

Why do I keep doing this? Well, for one thing, I've been kicked out of my room till Sunday, for my aunt. It's the couch for me. But, the couch is in the living room, which is near the big TV.

I rewatched Smashed first though, on teh tail-end of the marathon. You know, in all the gushing over the sex, I'd forgotten how funny it was. Especialy Amy-- her timing was hilariously perfect with the line, "Do you have any...cookies?---Any kind. But no cheese." I was luaghing loudly, because it was so *rat*-like. Very well done. Spike with Mr. Fett was again terribly funny too.

Anyway, I rewatched NLM, and was trying to compare the music at the end of Smashed to the basement scene of Sleeper to the OTHER basement scene of NLM. The Smashed music is unique to that ep, but very pretty, and I wish they'd use it again. In Sleeper and NLM, there's the same music-- a very low, soft score that's slow and haunting--- the kind of background music you have to listen *for* otherwise it'll blend right into your watching of the story and you won't really register it. Which is what it was supposed to do-- just add to background atmosphere when the focus of BOTH those scenes was on the dialogue. So the music score was there, but it was very very subtle.

In the end of the NLM scene ((**sigh**... it was my excuse to rewatch it over and over again))... from the part where Buffy tells Spike he can be a better man, a slightly louder piano starts. Very very pretty, soft score. Unfortunately, it only is able to go about 30 seconds before the harbringers ((damn them!)) interupt, and we get Fight!Music.

I was thinking about the very end too--the Spike torture. The only other person whose blood opened the seal is dead. But as of now Spike's not. Nor do I think he will be. But will this create a link between Spike and the First Vampire? (who was rather corny loooking/standing... they should have adotped "see less, fear more" method.) Will Spike be used in the future to somehow destroy this Vampire, as it was his blood that gave him "life"? Will we be able to learn any more this season about Sires & Children, and will Spike's lingering bond with the FV (if there is one) resemble that other bond in any way? Could ME use the possible bond between Spike & the FV to compare the Childe/Sire bond, so that we learn by the contrast?

Just some unspoiled speculation. I think it'd be neat, though. And it'd go with Spike already beign close to the BB this season.

(no subject)

Where Did Your Soul Originate?
brought to you by Quizilla
---
You come from the Ocean. You've always been drawn to the sea, the sound of the waves, the crystal blue water, near the sea is where you belong.
---

Yes, well, I am a sailor. I know this already.

buildings go BOOM

On other thing from NLM, that I was gonna mention, but I forgot when I made my earlier post.

ME goofed up with the Watcher HQ. I checked VERY CAREFULLY, and the building they blew up is NOT the building they showed in the first shot. It's close, but the building they first shot was real. We had corner-view of it, and on the corner there was a round portion-- a 'partition'? Anyway, it was round. The image fo the building they blew up was CG, and it's corner partition was squared. It came to a corner/point.

I'm not kidding. And it was a BIG part of the building-- not some little gargoyle out of place. The rest of the buiding was the same, though, so I think it WAS supposed to be the same Watcher's HQ getting destroyed... I just wonder how they could have goofed so bad when they designed the explosion image. Didn't they have a picture of the damn thing to look at?

The West Wing and Le Pacte des Loupes

Just watched my recording of Wednesday's West Wing.
I absolutley LOVED Bartlet''s yelling on the phoen to the UN diplomat about the parking ticket. And I loved Charlies lead-in. That whole scene was hilarious. One of my favorite all-time WW scenes. Why are these characters always the most humorous when they rant?

~***~

I watched Le Pacte des Loupes last night. Also known as: The Brotherhood of the Wolf (though don't ask me why the french title is plural and the english one isn't).

Overall review: Thumbs up!!!

This is a kick-ass movie. In scope it reminded me of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, though this one was not as unbelievably amazing as that-- it was still an unusually high quality action/historical/horror mystery.

I wasn't sure what it would be about, but it met and surpassed all my expectations, and gave me a story I was sucked into. It's VERY dark, and sad in places, and somewhat bloody (more than Crouching Tiger, less than Saving Private Ryan). It is wonderfully filmed, but the cinematography, though fascinating, also has mucht o do with the mood f the film, so its very dark and bleak overall, with lots of wet, rainy forrests and hillsides, lots of grey skies, and lots of grim colors (though the oft-seen bright green foliage was quite pretty, as it stood out so brightly against the gim greyness of the sky and the cotsumes).

One important thing-- you have to watch this movie in French. Yes, the subtitles seem distracting at first, and are sometimes hard to follow in rapid-fire group conversations, but to be appreciated this movie HAS to be seen in its original dialogue, with the voices by the original actors. You get used to it fast (the movie's 2 hrs, 45 min.), and its critical to the story, to the acting. Acting which, btw, was absolutely fantastic.

The plot, not spoiling the movie for you:

In 1764, in a province of France, a Beast has been preying on the populace (and they pronounce it w/ a capital B). Villagers-- men, women, children-- have been killed over a two year period. A few sruvivors report it as a not a wolf, but far more monster-like.

Tales of the mosnter have reached Paris, and two men are sent out by the King to hunt down the Beast and capture/kill it. One is the royal taxidermist, a knight and a scientist. The other (Mark Docascus, of tv show The Crow: Stairway to Heaven)is an Iroqois (sp?-- I don't remember) Mowhawk, and is hinted to be a medicine man. He is also presented from the first scene as a hell of a fighter (sure he was using eastern martial-arts type fighting instead of the wrestling that the Native Americans actually used, but he looked so fucking cool doing so that believe me, I didn't care.) I'm not gonna say much about their backstory (because it's best presented in the film), except that the two men are very close and have a highly respectful companion/working relationship, and have been travelling together for a long time.

But I'm getting caught up in the damn details again. Anyway, they hunt the Beast, and in doing so go much deeper into the deception that's everywhere around them than they could possibly have imagined when they began. This movie has an extremely complex plot, with several characters and intricate politics. Its defintely something you have to pay close attention too. There's a love story sub-plot, but thankfully they toned it down to concentrate on the plot as a whole-- the horror mystery-- and the romance arc does further that major plot along nicely as well, and isn't just there to take up our time. The story is dramatic and scary, and sometimes quite disturbing. Certainly R-rated... I wouldn't let anyone under 14 or 15 watch it. For one, some of its subtleties (the more mature scenes, the complexities of the relationships, disturbing imagery) would go over their heads, and two, it's very violent.

The best part of the movie? The fights, of course.

This has some great, great fight scenes. Very physical, some with weapons, some without. They were inventive though, and not your average movie-fare. The scene with the Beast and the traps vaguely reminded me of Predator, and some of the forrest battles brought to mind The Last of the Mohicans.

The main character's entrance into the final fight scene-- god it was so cool. ( spoilers )

The score is excellent, haunting and creepy. The movie on the whole was creepy, but it wasn't scream-like scary... it was the tension, and the drama, and the underlying suspense all the time that made it hard to watch. But I love well-done suspense.

This was a cool movie. I'll go a while before watching it again-- there was enough her to turn my stomach for a while-- but I'm glad I did. And I'm glad I saw it on a large tv, with popcorn. Kinda regretting I didn't see it in theaters, actually.

cute

~ * Your Magic Fairy's Name * ~
(thanks to ipomoea
From http://www.emmadavies.net/fairy/default.asp

~,`~,`~,`~

Rashaka Donnelaith

Your fairy is called

( Error: Irreparable invalid markup in entry. Raw contents behind the cut. )