The Harlot's Progress

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In short, I thought it was fantastic, and I really, really can't wait for next season. Come on, September! And although her writing annoys the crap out of me, I liked Stephanie Zacharek's review of the finale in Salon, especially the Buffy stuff.

The heartbreak Buffy endured in Angel's bed is neither more nor less realistic than anything we've seen on "Veronica Mars." I think the fairest and most accurate way to compare the two is to accept that "Veronica Mars" is a continuation of a broad theme that "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" set in motion -- the idea that teenagers, as both Shakespeare and the Shangri-Las realized, are near-adults whose seemingly innocent disappointments and fears aren't really innocent at all: They're just nascent versions of our ongoing grown-up ones.

Things that make me happy:

1.'Girl' by Beck. Beg, borrow or steal a copy of this song, because it is wonderful. I found myself actually dancing to it in the park yesterday while going for my afternoon stroll. First of all I was just walking in time to it, and then without noticing I'd started kind of grooving from side to side whilst on the move. Luckily there was no one to witness this freakish display (and if there was absolutely no chance of being seen I would have been in full-on hip-swinging, finger-clicking mode).

2. The package which arrived today containing Season 3 of Gilmore Girls, some more Elizabeth Peters books and Gayla Trail's You Grow Girl gardening book, which will hopefully inspire me to start growing stuff besides my unkillable mint plant (although the parsley I planted last year seems to have survived the winter).

3. BBC Radio 7. Oh, the joy of Paul Temple and Lord Peter one after the other! Of course, one of these fictional detectives is vastly superior to the other. Unlike Paul Temple, Lord Peter is never smug and sure of his own rightness. He is also a shell-shocked WW1 veteran, which is a lot more sympathetic and interesting than being a jetsetting writer. And I bet he could take Paul Temple in a fight. Temple's suaveness is no match for Lord Peter's rapier wit and steely core. Perhaps most importantly of all, Lord Peter has a much more enlightened view of women than the hilariously patronising Temple ("by Timothy, women are extraordinary!"), and ends up married to an independent writer who keeps her maiden name. By the way, if Patsington and I ever have a daughter, I have already told him that I would seriously like to call her Harriet and give her her father's surname (the doen't care whether our hypothetical kids had his name or not). Those who know his surname will realise why.

4. The sheer excellence of Veronica Mars. How did we ever live without it?

5. Patsington.

Following his escape from the evil Princess Arjumand, young Bubbles pondered the ways in which he could defeat her once and for all. But he couldn't relax, because the monstrous creature could appear at any moment.( Collapse )
But after a while, he realised that he couldn't hear the usual roars that indicated the enchantress's presence, and so he dared to peek in the window of her castle. And there he saw an amazing sight - the Princess Arjumand seemed to be impersonating some sort of deranged soft toy. She didn't look threatening at all! In fact, she looked....immobile.( Collapse )
Bubbles was so happy, he writhed about in joy, with no modesty whatsoever.( Collapse )
But little did he know that the Princess had been luring him into a false sense of security. In fact, she was as mobile as ever (ie not all that mobile at all), and quickly retreated to her floral bower where she cackled terrifyingly in her weird, squashy and un-nimble way.( Collapse )
And Bubbles opened his eyes after his frankly disturbing writhing session to find himself staring....at THIS.( Collapse )

TO BE CONTINUED, IF YOU CAN STAND THE SICKENING TWEENESS OF THE ENTIRE EXERCISE, NOT TO MENTION THE HIDEOUS VISAGE OF THE OBNOXIOUS JU JU....