Another Year In America October 15, 2009

Let's take a look over at Britain, for a second. Says our pal Wikipedia, "Chipmunk also makes a reference to The Saturdays in ['Oopsy Daisy'] with the line 'And now I feel like The Saturdays are all week, cos me and my heart got crazy issues'. The song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart on 11 October 2009, coincidentally beating The Saturdays who charted at #2 with 'Forever Is Over'." Yeah, and it's a strange day when Chipmunk sounds like yesterday's mush in comparison to The Saturdays, but that's how it is overseas. Here, we've got a new number one ourselves, "Down" going down a spot, the second time in two weeks that a new artist takes over, after half a year of otherwise. And it's a long-time charmer/recent delinquent who does it for us. But does she do it for us? Check under the cut to see.

( Britney Spears )

( Justin Bieber )

( Glee Cast )

( Glee Cast )

( Lower reaches watch )

Buffy Season Two Episode Six

"Do the demons just hate how commercial it's become?" (On why demons take Halloween off.)

Episode takes half a show's worth of clumsy exposition to get going, and even then falls into cliché, but nonetheless interesting threads are spun. On Halloween the kids turn for real into whatever they're dressed as. Earlier clumsy exposition is about how for one night you get to be who you aren't (but might want to be?). So this confirms that Buffy really, actually wants to be Buffy, not some simpering girly-girl 18th-century noble woman. Ah, but Willow is unformed, so she gets to find new aspects of herself; also shows that she's got the character to take command when Buffy flakes out - which we already knew, but Willow might not have.

So:

Willow takes over.
Giles has secrets.*
Buffy gets laid? (After almost getting slayed.)

OK, I've got a definite complaint. Show is cheating in that, if Buffy feels frazzled and harried and maybe unattractive, you've got to make her look askew, and frazzled, not just give her a tasteful bit of dishevelment.

( Spike watch )

( Cordelia watch )

*Similarities between Giles and Magnum, P.I.'s Higgins. Both are in a nanny/caretaker role, slightly demasculinized, but Higgins had a past as a sergeant major in the British army and iirc did some work with the British equivalent of the Special Forces, and Giles, as we know, can be a fighter.