all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

just made a cup of tea so catastrophically awful i had to pour the whole thing down the sink

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

so, ever-so-slightly late to the punch, but ive been watching buffy the vampire slayer for the first time! given ive now finish s1 (well ive seen a bit of s2 now but whos counting) heres some disorganised thoughts on it

as a preface: this will not be a joss whedon defending post. hes a piece of shit, should never work again and should never have been given the chance to work here tbh

he really did have the sauce once upon a time. you can see why everything since knocks off his style; the sheer density of quips means that at least one lands in each scene, but what the imitators forget that still works here is that they add levity to the proceedings without undermining them. the part in the series finale when buffy realises shes going to die and breaks down is heartbreaking, for instance

that being said, though i dont doubt whedon had a hand in his episodes, david greenwalt is the true progenitor of the "writers trying so hard to be ultra-quippy but just being annoying"

i do love how campy and cheesy it is, but without outright mocking itself. it might not take itself overly seriously but it still does take itself seriously, which is crucial

it clearly does speak to teenage anxieties very well. episodes subtextually (and textually) about being ignored, not fitting in, bullying, living up to your parents... i can really see why it hit so hard for so many

by and large the show does a good job of treating the characters as young and immature but not stupid. usually when they misjudge a situation its reasonable for the circumstances, which either gives a good sense of dramatic irony or lets the viewer be as surprised by the twists without us going "are you fucking stupid." thinking especially of willow being upset and defensive about her cyber-demon boyfriend but still being able to see red flags

willow is sweet and precious, and i would kill for her. especially if it was xander i was killing. please.

fr im sure xander was endearingly awkward back in the day but hes just irritating. and kind of incel-y. mind you i guess hes an accurate teenage boy, as giles said

if he gets with buffy in the end ill be mad though. having looked into the future (ive seen two episodes of s2) i think it would be extremely funny if cordelia and him became an item

angel is fine i guess but im not looking forward to watching a full show about him

"the witch" is easily my favourite episode of the series, and im glad everyone seems to agree with me that the praying mantis one is a total bloody clanger

im trying to watch this with a detached view of whedon's awfulness; its in the back of my mind but im not treating the show as riddler-esque "mr policemen i gave you all the clues" but for abuse. that being said, seeing anthony head standing over the grave of a teenage girl wondering if he could have done more to protect her made me shift a little uncomfortably in my seat

honestly though i really regret i didnt see this when i was like 16, it absolutely wouldve changed my life. i get a weird hollow sense of nostalgia for something i never had every time i watch an episode

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

macbeth adaptation where macduff is born of a trans man

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

watching enterprise for the first time (just finished s1) and i have some thoughts ill write up soon, but most important: malcolm and trip are possibly the archetypal Blowjob Brothers

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

possibly my most cancellable take is that im like the "taylor sw*ft is a lesbian" truthers except its for pete townshend

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

i don’t know how to explain to you people that no matter what a country’s government is like i do not and will not support the US indiscriminately bombing that country’s civilians and i don’t know why that’s a controversial take tbh

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

"are you stupid? those ARABS will kill you for being queer" - zionist who wants to kill you for being queer

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look i very much don't wanna hand it to tucker carlson on anything but like... what is wrong with journalism as an institution if "guy pushes member of government to see if they actually know what they're talking about" is a pleasant shock. what's going on. if watergate happened now theyd both sides it and unquestioningly report nixon's viewpoint

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

as im getting onto jazz im starting to realise i need to listen to more jazz that just kinda sucks?

like pop music is so ubiquitous that you will just hear shit pop music wherever you go, so i can tell how good, like, fleetwood mac or david bowie are from how much better they are. with jazz im obvs seeking out the good stuff but i have no point of comparison so i can be impressed more easily

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

We need to go back to using sailing ships full time like immediately. Yes it would take longer to get places but the Aesthetic is unmatched

Like there is nothing sexier hthan this

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

if you're interested about what's going on in the uk rn we're about to decide that stabbing an mp to death while yelling the name of a far-right political party isn't terrorism but spray painting a plane is

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

cant believe neil young wrote barstool blues when he was so blackout drunk he couldnt even remember writing it. when im blackout drunk i just ruin friendships

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

honestly idk about the whole cinema experience but it was interesting apparently being the only person at my screening to get the two ronnies joke

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

if you haven't seen doctor who get the fuck off social media now until you do

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

after barely listening to him since... pretty much since he died actually, a friend motivated me to get back into david bowie, so over the last nearly-a-year ive completed his discography, and here's a slapdash ranking from best to worst

a few notes under the cut:

the only albums without a duff track are low, blackstar and, uh, outside actually (yes i like the segues fuck you)

hunky dory and ziggy are so canonical to me its hard to rate them, i grew up with them to the point i can basicall play them note for note in my head

diamond dogs through to aladdin sane form the "hell if i know" range; their ranking is largely arbritrary, and on any given day they can all swap with each other

same with hunky dory through scary monsters tbh

low is 100% firm tho

nothing on tm2 matches the best songs on tm, but it has the good grace not to have a full second half of filler so its much more palatable as an album

space oddity is probs too high but everything below has bits i dread

in all honesty i couldnt bring myself to relisten to nlmd but the title track singlehandedly raises it a notch

this will almost certainly change once i digest some of the recent listens, i already wanna bump blackstar and outside up

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

Careful, RTD—you're running out of Time Lords to reintroduce. At this rate, you’re going to have to reveal the Meddling Monk was secretly everyone all along.

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

a microcosm of the last eight years of doctor who