GingerWall

If you haven't seen the BBC Radio 1 interview with Mila Kunis and rookie reporter Chris Stark, you are missing out (and the New Yorker agrees with me.

The message in this song is extremely simple, but so earnest and catchy that I don't care. It's about the irresistible temptation of that one person who you mustavoid, because if you don't, you'll probably end up having unprotected sex in a dark, grimy, semi-public alley and come home with stains from dirt and who-knows-what all over your clothes. In short: mid-season 6 from Buffy's perspective.

(Or, alternatively: an only slightly exaggerated version of my life with the guy from my high school who I had a very Spuffy-like relationship with. Oddly enough, aside from him making some really bad decisions, I was more like Spike and he was more like Buffy. But anyway, back to the music...)

if you ask me / i'll say / yes please / to you today / so don't ask me / cuz i'm weak that way / just don't ask me / o.k.

The first time I heard the second verse I was immediately reminded of Buffy avoiding Spike at all of those places where he awkwardly went to go bother her:

if you see me / walk by / you better just let me / walk by / you better not / bat your pretty eyes / you better not / stop me to say hi

When I first heard her Ani DiFranco in college, I couldn't stand her voice, so I definitely understand people who don't like her. But she's such a talented musician and song-writer, and her quirky/radical/hilarious/feminist personality comes through so well, that it's hard not to grow to love her if you can keep listening. (Or at least love some of her songs - I find it hard to sit through whole albums of hers, but they all have at least a couple truly amazing songs on them.)

Not only that, but she's incredibly versatile, and her sound ranges everywhere from light-hearted coffeeshop girl-with-a-guitar (Fire Door) to funky jam band (O.K. and Red Letter Year Reprise) to soulful balladeer (You Had Time) to mixes of all of the above (Little Plastic Castle). In fact, the most recent album of hers that I have is listed as "country" in my media player.



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Get your prizes while you still can! They need about 6,000 more backers to break the record (87,000ish), so even if you can just pledge a $1, every person helps.

Plus the promo video on the kickstarter page is so fucking cute.

(Side note, how do people feel about f-bombs in posts? That's pretty much how I talk most of the time, so it feels weird editing it out, but if people are offended, obviously I can do that.)

Costumes are not consent. It’s a phrase you may be hearing a lot lately, and one we need to keep talking about. In the past few weeks, the internet has exploded with women speaking up about the treatment we receive at conventions and online. This isn’t a new problem that has suddenly presented itself. The issues have always been there. What is happening now is we finally feel we are allowed to speak up, that doing so will not result in us being ostracized from our community – because we are now acting as a community, a support structure, to create a safe environment for all costumers and convention goers.

A few weeks ago at PAX East an incident happened that would open the door for many costumers to come out and speak up. Meagan Marie, known for her amazing costumes as well as her presence within the gaming industry, encountered a situation that opened up many eyes to the way women are treated at conventions. During a press event, featuring several Lara Croft costumers, a journalist began asking some lewd questions of the ladies. When called out for his actions, he put the onus on the girls; saying that because they were dressed sexy, they were obviously okay with such questions being asked.

Rest at the source, http://www.geeksaresexy.net/

who doesn't know what reservoir chickens are? Okay, problem solved.

And when I google it, the only intellgible results I get are links to papers like: "Chicken as Reservoir for Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli." Which gets me very excited about the spread of pathogens, but no closer to understanding.

I'm not usually a fan of songs about love and domestic violence. Eminem's song with Rhianna made me really uncomfortable, to the point that I couldn't listen to it when it came on the radio. But for some reason, Kiss With a Fist is just a really enjoyable song.

I think there are a lot of reasons why the violence in this song doesn't bother me, and most of those are the same reasons why the song applies so well to Buffy's fight with Spike right before they have sex for the first time in Smashed.

First, the violence is described using extremely cartoon-ish language:

You hit me once
I hit you back
You gave a kick
I gave a slap
You smashed a plate
Over my head
Then I set fire to our bed

I can almost see the little "POW!" boxes coming out of our characters' fist, and the ridiculousness of setting a bed on fire actually makes sense in the context of a fight that ends with our heroes literally collapsing a house around them.

Both characters in the song give as good as they get, which removes a lot of the exploitative and gendered components that accompany most domestic violence. This isn't about a powerful bully beating up a weak kid, this is about two equals taking each other on and apparently loving every second, ending the fight with a awkwardly friendly call to hang out together:

So let's sit back and watch the bed burn

It doesn't seem like there are any lasting physical repercussions either:

Your slaps don't stick
Your kicks don't hit
So we remain the same

In the final two lines of the chorus, the music drops out and exposes what could be interpreted as part of a dialogue between Buffy and Spike: she tells him that he's "in love with pain," and he replies that he'll take whatever he can get:

A kick in the teeth is good for some
A kiss with a fist is better than none

The song is also extremely catchy and fun to listen to. The upbeat punk guitar has just enough distortion to be interesting without sounding over-produced. The relatively sparse music gives Florence's voice the opportunity to shine, even though her vocals are more constrained here than on the rest of the album, Lungs. If you haven't already listened to it, I would definitely recommend checking out the whole record. Although it's not seamless from start to finish, there's not a single bad track, and it's much, much better than her follow-up Ceremonials.



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The first track of my fanmix addressed Spike's one-sided obsession during most of season 5; this second track skips past Buffy beginning to trust Spike at the end of season 5 and goes right to Buffy's struggle with depression at the beginning of season 6.

Initially I was torn between two songs off of Bon Iver's debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago (2007): Skinny Love and The Wolves (Act1 and II). Both are excellent songs and have the same melancholy sound and despondent lyrics. In the end though, The Wolves was just too slow and long to put on a record that's not specifically designed to make you end up weeping in a fetal position. (The entire album was written during one bleak winter while the group's singer-songwriter Justin Vernon was living alone in an isolated cabin in Wisconsin in an attempt to recover from mononucleosis, a failed relationship, and the break-up of his previous band. And, in the words of Cordelia, boy howdy, can you tell.)

The opening line, Come on skinny love just last the year, is a spot-on portrayal of Spike’s feelings towards Buffy when she first returns to the rough reality of living in the world after having sacrificed herself to save her sister and experiencing the blissful peace of Heaven. Spike is the only one who can truly see her pain (though they can all see the bones sticking out of her thin frame), and he’s desperately trying to help her get through each day, one at a time.

Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer depicts Buffy’s bewilderment staring at the bloody hands she used to dig her way out of her grave as Dawn helps clean her up in the Summers' bathroom.

The refrain is literally the repetitive chorus of the Scoobies pressuring Buffy to feel better by telling her how they each think she should be feeling:

And I told you to be patient
And I told you to be fine
And I told you to be balanced
And I told you to be kind

The song ends with a series of questions that the beginning of season 6 poses to Buffy. She’s completely lost and has no idea which of her friends to confide in or trust (or distrust, in the case of the last question, which could be interpreted as referring to Willow and foreshadowing her magical decline).

Who will love you?
Who will fight?
Who will fall far behind?

(The band’s name is pronounced “bohn eevair,” the French phrase for "good winter" and spelled wrong on purpose, since apparently Vernon thought “hiver” looked too much like “liver.”)



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Any album needs a strong song to start off with, and this one does an amazing job of combining a seductive sound with powerful and vivid lyrics. I don't think I've had sex while listening to this song, but I want to now that I'm thinking about it.

This line in particular gets me every time I listen: I'd love to collapse with you / and ease you against this song. I love the language - how they switch mid-sentence from delivering what you think is literal imagery to what turns out to be a metaphor - and how it captures the sensual nature of Spike's fantasies.

But the whole song can be interpreted as a description of Spuffy from various points in Seasons 5 and 6. He's trying to convince her that getting together is a good idea any way he can think of: with logic, with pleading, with promises, with questions. It is the epitome of lyrical and passionate desperation. It even includes the phrase, "Your love makes a fool of you," which is about as direct a reference you can hope to find in a fanmix song.

It might be impractical / To seek out a new romance / We won't know the actual / If we never take the chance / ... I think we're compatible / I see that you think I'm wrong / ... Anytime will do / What choice of words will take me back to you.

In the context of my grand vision for this fanmix, the song is referring to all of Season 5 leading up to the Gift. Spike is in love with Buffy and pleading for her attention. While there's definitely an obsessive / eerie element to the lyrics and the sound, respectively, he's still trying to do whatever he can to genuinely win her over with good deeds (protect Dawn and Joyce, get tortured by Glory, etc.), without getting into the really fucked-up bits yet. (I know the robot thing is by definition creepy, but private sex toys really don't bother me that much, so it doesn't even make my top 10 list for Creepy Spike Shit. Compare it to, say, sitting outside of her house and watching her, or stealing her sweaters, etc., i.e., things that actually affect real!Buffy.)

This song comes off TV on the Radio's 5th album Nine Types of Light (2011), which should you definitely check out. It's a surprisingly listenable album considering that there are a couple songs that I don't like at all. It's just that the other are so fucking good it doesn't matter. The lead-off song, (ironically?) called Second Song, is my favorite overall, and has some of the best trumpets I've ever heard in a pop song towards the end. Their sound is a little strange, but once you get used to the lead singer's falsetto, it really starts to grow on you. (I actually had to listen to a lot of the songs several times before I became a fan.) Other good tracks include You, and Killer Crane.

Other interesting facts: The band is mostly black, which is pretty unusual for American Indie Rock. I suppose it fits since, again, their sound is also pretty unusual for American Indie Rock. They've collaborated with some really famous people, including David Bowie and Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails). Sadly, the bassist died of cancer a couple months after the album was released in 2011. I don't think they found out about the diagnosis until after everything was recorded, but it definitely has a melancholy tone running throughout, and it makes a fitting eulogy for a really talented musician. They've been on a break for a while, but apparently are coming back sometime in 2013.



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Icon changed and edited slightly on 3/28/13.

(FYI, for my two non-Buffy friends here, that's a Spuffy shorts community, not a movement against gay people.)

It made me realize that I actually have something to post for once:

I've basically been collecting songs for this fanmix in my head since I first became obsessed with Spuffy four or so years ago. And it only got worse after I bought my first set of fancy headphones three years ago and figured out what it's like to actually listen to good music on good speakers (The answer: AMAZING!!!), and became a music nerd / amateur audiofile. (I only have $60 headphones and $150 speakers and I can't tell you the bit rate or whatever just by listening, but I refuse to listen to music on laptop speakers anymore. It just hurts my ears and my brain, because the music doesn't sound the way it's supposed to.)

To draw this shit out (and because this brings together two of my life's greatest loves), I'm going to post one song every day or so (with lyrics, and a youtube link if possible) and wax poetic about why the music is awesome.

So prepare to either ignore a lot of fanmix spam on your flist (I have about 15 tracks total), or hear some (in my opinion) good music.

Taken from most of my flist:

-How did you come to start your LJ?
I knew about fanfic starting in high school from a couple of real life friends, and occasionally read some Alias and Veronia Mars fic without getting involved in fandom as a community. THen, after watching all of Buffy & Angel my senior year of undergrad (with my male, epic-poetry major roommate - he discovered it the previous summer at Ancient Greek boot camp at Berkeley), I became obsessed with Spuffy, started reading fic on a regular basis. I remember, there was one story by Holly that I found on ff.net that made me realize how legitimately _good_ fic could be. I found the link to Holly's LJ from her ff.net profile, and just started finding other people through her reccs and comments. I started a journal so that I could keep track of people and comment on their fics. It seemed like the nice and appreciative thing to do.

-How did you find your first friends?
Like I said above, I started with Holly who I found on ff.net and then just started randomly reading her friends/commenters/reccs, then those peoples friends/commenters/reccs

-Are those first friends still on your FL?
As far as I can remember

-How long have you been on LJ?
Since 2009.

-Do you have more friends or communities on your FL?
Friends.

-Do you do a lot of friends cuts?
Never. Well maybe once.

-What do you like in an LJ friend?
I pretty much only friend people who write fic that I enjoy. But once we get to know each other from my comments, I stay friends with them even if they quit writing stuff I like necause I'm interested in their life/thoughts/etc. I like people who are funny I guess (don't we all?). And I really like gender/race-swap casts.

-What do you dislike in an LJ friend?
I don't know if I dislike anybody I've met here. Even when people bore me 80% of the time because we have different interests, I still really enjoy the other 20% and just skim the parts that don't interest me. I don't blame people or dislike them for having different tastes.

-What would make you un-friend someone immediately?
Stealing from Goldenusagi: I've never had to unfriend someone immediately, but I'd have to unfriend someone who posted racist/homophobic/misogynistic things.

-Have you been caught up in a lot of LJ drama?
Back in the day on ONTD_Feminism, when it was full of hot-tempers and calling people out and screaming.

-Do real-life friends and family members know you have a journal on LJ?
Only the two lovely ladies who got me into fic in the first place. I think I'm probably the only person from their "regular"/ex-high-school life who knows about their journals too, though I know they hang out with a bunch of fandom people irl these days.

-Do you also have Facebook and if so, what do you prefer – LJ or FB?
Yep. I'm on facebook all the time, much more than LJ. It serves a very different purpose for me: politics, keeping in touch with real friends from all different time periods of my life, and networking with people in my field.

-What about Twitter?
I have a twitter account that I never use.

-Do you blog on any other sites?
No, but I really want to start a real life blog about science/politics/art.

-How often do you check in on LJ?
A couple times a week when I'm less busy. A couple times a month when I'm more busy. For a while it was every day, but my life doesn't allow that anymore, now that I'm actually working on my dissertation.

-What do you rarely or never post about?
Identifying details.

-Why don't you post about that?
Like Brutti, I have a unique name (only one in the whole world!) and my field is very, very small. Politics with colleagues is complicated enough as it is, I don't want this to factor into my job prospects or whatever. Plus, you know, college students can be dicks as it is, I don't need to give my students any more ammo.

-Have you ever thought about deleting your journal?
No. But I should probably go back and redact some vaguely identifying details.

-Have you ever changed your username?
No.

-Why did you choose your current username?
I dye my hair red, and when I was playing rec sports awhile back with another red-headed friend of mine, we used to joke that we were an "impenetrable wall of ginger." It seemed as good a pseudonyn as any.


-If you're looking for new friends, how do you find them?
Hahahahahahaha. No, I never look for new friends. I can barely keep up with the ones I have. Sometimes I look for new fic, but most I just go back and re-read old favorites if there's nothing new of interest.

-Are you taking new people on to your Friends List just now?
Sure. Whenever someone new shows up in Petzi's list who's fic I enjoy, I add them. Just because I'm not "looking" doesn't mean I don't accidentally find.

-Finally, tell us the reasons why you keep an online journal.
Fanfiction. Buffy. Spuffy.