The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Monday, January 19

Jan. 20th, 2026 10:10 am
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Posted by sd_herald

https://su-herald.livejournal.com/1668608.html

Buffy and Angel begin kissing passionately again. After a while they stop and look at each other.
ANGEL: You still haven't told me what you wanted for your birthday.
BUFFY: (smiles) Surprise me.
ANGEL: (smiles) Okay. I will.
They kiss.

~~Surprise ~~


Happy Birthday to Buffy Summers!

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The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Monday, January 19

Jan. 20th, 2026 03:47 am
burnhername: Faith pic with the word editor (SH editor Faith)
[personal profile] burnhername posting in [community profile] su_herald
Buffy and Angel begin kissing passionately again. After a while they stop and look at each other.
ANGEL: You still haven't told me what you wanted for your birthday.
BUFFY: (smiles) Surprise me.
ANGEL: (smiles) Okay. I will.
They kiss.

~~Surprise ~~


Happy Birthday to Buffy Summers!

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(no subject)

Jan. 19th, 2026 06:52 pm
lycomingst: (Default)
[personal profile] lycomingst
Snowflake Challenge: A warmly light quaint street of shops at night with heavy snow falling.



Challenge #8

Talk about your creative process.



I probably haven't written enough to have a process. The one thing that usually happens is that I have the first line and then the last line will come to me. So I only have to fill in the gap, don't I? Lol. The same thing would sometimes happen in a drabble.

If I'm writing I can only listen to classical music, nothing with words. I usually start at the beginning and add one thing after another. Though I will get inspired for paragraphs that I can fit in later. I have a working on version and a final one, the latter so I can keep track of how far I've gone.
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More Buffy/Angel rewatch, among other things...

Jan. 19th, 2026 03:40 pm
shadowkat: (Default)
[personal profile] shadowkat
Had today off - since it's MLK's Birthday. (It's also a day of service, but alas, I'm being insanely lazy and resting my knees.)

Found out last night that my niece passed her EMT training and is a now a certified EMT. Also she may end up in Georgia at some point in May, with a course on how to prevent fires by setting them (burning off brush). My lovely niece is well on the way towards her goal of becoming a forest ranger. It's actually easier to protect trees than people. People are difficult. So, I'm glad she shifted from human rights to environmental protection and forestry.

I'm really enjoying my re-watch of Buffy and Angel. The later seasons hold up better than the earlier ones do - partly because the later seasons were done in the early 00s and not the late 1990s. So while there's still the errant - "I ran like a girl" - the other characters snort at it.

Season 7 and Season 4 Angel actually have some well-written episodes in there. Deep Down - S4 Angel, where Wes searches the ocean for Angel and rescues him, and Angel, Gunn and Fred confront Connor is a good episode. And Wes has become very interesting.

Also, the first episodes of S7 are really good. I find the series more entertaining now than I did when I initially watched it. Maybe because while I don't remember most of the details, I remember the final result, so don't have quite the same anticipation or worry that I had when I first watched it - when it aired for the first time in 1997-2003. Also, I'm not as invested in the romantic "ships"? I know they are all doomed. So, it's comforting in a way it wasn't back then. And, I'm not trying to figure out where it is going, or pulling it apart like a puzzle to figure out what will happen next. There's something to be said for not over-analyzing the plots of television shows?

Buffy S7 Takeaways?
( Lessons through Beneath ME )

And Angel S4 is more enjoyable than I remembered. It's kind of obvious though that the writers are writing out Cordelia.( Read more... )

Wes's arc is more enjoyable than Cordelia's. ( Read more... )

They brought in Gwen to chemistry test her against Angel and Gunn, as a potential replacement for Cordelia - I can tell. She got a back story and everything.

I don't remember most of this - or enjoying it nearly this much.

**

Outside of television watching - I did another watercolor. Not perfect. This is of a confrontation between a little old woman with a walker and big truck that I saw ages ago in Jamaica, but can still visualize.
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The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Sunday, January 18

Jan. 19th, 2026 07:04 am
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Posted by madeingold

https://su-herald.livejournal.com/1668382.html

Xander: Yeah. You know, I kinda had a problem with the math.
Willow: Uh, which part?
Xander: The math.

~~S1E1: Welcome to the Hellmouth~~



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The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Sunday, January 18

Jan. 18th, 2026 09:46 pm
harlow_turner_chaotic_ace: (Herald Editor)
[personal profile] harlow_turner_chaotic_ace posting in [community profile] su_herald
Xander: Yeah. You know, I kinda had a problem with the math.
Willow: Uh, which part?
Xander: The math.

~~S1E1: Welcome to the Hellmouth~~



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Question a Day Meme and other things..

Jan. 18th, 2026 06:26 pm
shadowkat: (Default)
[personal profile] shadowkat
January Question a Day Meme

15. If you could, would you like to be a little bit taller or a little bit shorter?

I'm okay with my height. But if I could get rid of the slight curvature of the spine, and the rounded shoulders - I'd be happy. Genetic curse.

I'm 5'11 and 44 inches or 6 foot, when I can stand up fully straight. Most of it is in my legs, I'm all limbs.

16. Do you have a favourite genre of music?

Not really? My taste in music as in all things is wildly eclectic and moody? And changes at will. It's easier to list the genres I'm less fond of? Anything high pitched, with a lot of amp feedback - doesn't work for me. Also, I need to understand the lyrics? So most opera doesn't tend to work for me either - I don't like high soprano. Nor do I like to be punched in the face with music? So a lot of rap and heavy metal tends to give me a headache, I do like some of it though. (I like Nine Inch Nails for example).

17. The US celebrates Hot Buttered Rum Day today! Have you ever tried it?

Yes, not a fan. Too sweet.

18. It’s Sunday – what was the best part of last week?

Saturday. I'm a fan of Saturdays. Today, I felt guilty for not doing anything. Saturday? I never feel guilty for not doing anything. I think it's the pseudo-religious upbringing? Or that usually I go back to work on Monday and get the Sunday scaries.

***

As mentioned in the last post, I finished the much-maligned Buffy S6, which is still among my favorite of the seasons. ( Read more... )

Almost done with Angel S3 rewatch - and this season is actually much tighter plot wise than Buffy S6. Like Buffy S6, it does have a handful of weak episodes (mainly featuring the Grooslaug). But overall - it's better than I remembered it. It does help that I don't remember most of it at all.
I really have forgotten most of both series.

What's interesting in Angel - is how everyone enables Angel. ( Read more... )
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Buffy S6 and Angel S3 Rewatch

Jan. 18th, 2026 11:44 am
shadowkat: (Default)
[personal profile] shadowkat
Time got away from me last night - as it often does whenever I ramble on - and I wasn't able to finish writing down my thoughts on my rewatch of Buffy S6 (up to Villians) and Angel S2 (up to Forgiving).

It's snowing again, but not as heavy, and the floakes are much smaller. They almost look like sleep or rain, but they are definitely snow. I love it when it snows in New York City - it quiets the world just a nudge, blankets it in white, and it's pretty. All I hear on this quiet Sunday morning is the hissing and creaking of radiators. And since I woke up to a cool bedroom (64 degrees - I'd put on my window fan last night since it was too warm in the bedroom to start), I'm grateful for the heat now. It's 76 degrees F in the living room. Much colder outside of course - in the low thirties. But alas, it stopped, leaving but a trace.

Rewatching Angel and Buffy, I've picked up on various things that seem rather obvious now, but for some reason or other I didn't pick up on the first go around? I think it was because I was watching it embroiled in the fandom, and other fans can influence what I see on screen.

( Spike getting a soul instead of removing his chip )

There's a lot of foreshadowing in Angel S3 about Cordelia, Gunn and Fred's arcs. Also, it's made clear in S3 that Angel cares about his son, and possibly the people who help him. He literally would throw everyone under the bus to save Connor and himself. This is sharply contrasted with Buffy who only sacrifices herself for Dawn, and doesn't put Dawn above all else.
She cares about Dawn and protects Dawn, but she is also invested in saving Willow - who has gone dark, and even fought her, and betrayed her.

There's two episodes in S3 that foreshadow Fred's death in S5. ( Read more... )
Cordy's demise is also foreshadowed - she's made part demon, and rarely gets visions now - and no one questions it. Including Cordelia. ( Read more... )

Angel who refuses to forgive Wesley for taking his son (in an ill-advised attempt to save him), is now faced with a son who can't forgive him for all his misdeeds, and refuses to hear his side of the story. ( Read more... )

The best part of this arc is Dark Wesley. The episodes Loyalty through Forgiving are better than the ones that come after, and the difference is the first three focus more on Wesley and the later focus on Cordelia and Connor - who are weak links. ( Read more... )

I finished all of S6 Buffy today - and I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the last three episodes. ( Read more... )

What surprised me about the end of S6 - is the writers felt the need to show us Spike hunting his soul and undergoing the trials to get it. ( Read more... ) Equally interesting - is Willow is saved by the love of her best friend who has known her entire life, wants nothing from her, and just loves her because of who she is. Platonic love. Same with Buffy - Buffy falls in love with her sister, and wants to show her sister the world - they bond and climb out of the ground together. Willow sends them into it, and together they climb out. Anya stays with Giles, she doesn't go after Xander, instead she stays by Giles side, and shows her platonic love for her mentor and co-owner.

Giles saves Willow - by dosing her with good magic or the magic that connects her to humanity, to those around her - her soul.

Both shows poke at the addictive nature of sex, romantic love, and power. Often using the metaphors of blood and vampirism. ( Read more... )

I'm enjoying my re-watch far more than expected. I find both shows oddly comforting in a way, and it's fun to watch them without the greek chorus of a fan board in the background, with it's own demands and views on what is happening on screen - often clouding what I see myself. Truth of the matter is - people see different things, and relate to different things? Some people related most to Connor, some Cordelia, some Wes...or on Buffy? Some Buffy, some Spike, etc. No one sees the same show or performance, no one perceives it the same way, or thinks about it the same way. And that's the way it should be, I think?

At any rate, my takeaway from Buffy S6 - is while it is an uneven season, overall an enjoyable one. I like it a lot better than S1, 3, and 4. I tend to prefer the later seasons - I find them more relatable than the early ones?
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(no subject)

Jan. 18th, 2026 01:47 pm
lycomingst: (Default)
[personal profile] lycomingst
Snowflake Challenge: A warmly light quaint street of shops at night with heavy snow falling.



Challenge #7

LIST THREE (or more) THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF. They don’t have to be your favorite things, just things that you think are good. Feel free to expand as much or as little as you want.


Nice hair, and still a lot of it. It used to be redder but still glows in the sun.
An everpresent sense of humor. I think most things are funny, even if they are annoying.
I'm not an envious person.
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It's Literally ICE vs. Good

Jan. 18th, 2026 06:55 pm
elisi: Aziraphale determined (Determined Angel)
[personal profile] elisi
Josh Johnson's latest set. These are difficult times, but we are blessed with some incredible people who are able to meet the moment. Josh is one of those.

  • Current Mood: thoughtful
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(no subject)

Jan. 17th, 2026 09:16 pm
shadowkat: (Default)
[personal profile] shadowkat
Haven't done a lot today, outside of watching it snow - big heavy snowflakes falling lightly to the ground. Heavy wet snow. Not a lot of sticking. Well, that and knee exercises - lots of knee exercises, and watching of television, and scrolling through dream-width correspondence list.

Apparently sci-fi writer John Scalzi got an asteroid named after him (or a minor planet)? And the ultra conservative comic strip writer behind Dilbert died of cancer. (I can't say I ever liked the comic strip Dilbert all that much? It was okay in 1990s, but it slowly derailed into misogynistic and racist jokes by the early 00s.) Oh, and Cincinnati Chili may well be an acquired taste? (I've never had it - nor want it. I don't like Texas Chili. I only eat vegetarian chili? I don't tend to like meat in it - and grew up with beans.)

Binged Buffy and Angel episodes today. Of the two, I have to say Angel S3 Episodes 15-18 work better from a plot and character stand point than Buffy S6 episodes 15-18. I think David Greenwalt/Jeffrey Bell and Tim Minear were slightly better show-runners than Marti Noxon/David Fury and Joss Whedon.

Normal Again and Entropy are actually good episodes. They work on multiple levels. But, the problem with Normal Again and Entropy - is I'm relating more to Spike and Anya, than Buffy and her friends? It's an interesting flaw and a risky one.

Both episodes get across the changes in Spike. And how confused he is. It's also clear from both - that the writers need Spike to leave - or the rest of the season won't work.
( Normal Again and Entropy )

I decided to watch Seeing Red after Entropy. The two episodes go together. Or build up to each other. When they originally aired in 2002, folks who were downloading or watching the episodes via satellite television in colleges around the country - ended up watching "Seeing Red" before Entropy. People watching Broadcast Television or Cable saw Entropy, people watching via satellite feed saw Seeing Red. Can you imagine what happened online? Yup, the fandom exploded. I was watching on Broadcast Television or Cable - so saw the episodes in order. The people who didn't, kind of reacted badly and spoiled everyone else.

Seeing Red is an uneven episode. The writer has to do several difficult things in this episode:
( Read more... )
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The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Saturday, January 17

Jan. 17th, 2026 09:48 pm
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Posted by sd_herald

https://su-herald.livejournal.com/1668107.html

VAMPIRE: This weekend, the night of St. Vigeous, our power shall be at its peak. When I kill her, it'll be the greatest event since the crucifixion. And I should know. I was there.
SPIKE: You were there? (chuckles) Oh, please! If every vampire who said he was at the crucifixion was actually there, it would have been like Woodstock.
VAMPIRE: I oughta rip your throat out.
Spike: I was actually at Woodstock. That was a weird gig. I fed off a flowerperson, and I spent the next six hours watchin' my hand move.

~~BtVS 2x03 “School Hard”~~



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The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Saturday, January 17

Jan. 17th, 2026 10:44 pm
veronyxk84: Editor icon for su_herald (_Herald Editor#1)
[personal profile] veronyxk84 posting in [community profile] su_herald
VAMPIRE: This weekend, the night of St. Vigeous, our power shall be at its peak. When I kill her, it'll be the greatest event since the crucifixion. And I should know. I was there.
SPIKE: You were there? (chuckles) Oh, please! If every vampire who said he was at the crucifixion was actually there, it would have been like Woodstock.
VAMPIRE: I oughta rip your throat out.
Spike: I was actually at Woodstock. That was a weird gig. I fed off a flowerperson, and I spent the next six hours watchin' my hand move.

~~BtVS 2x03 “School Hard”~~



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My first phishing spam on AO3!

Jan. 17th, 2026 08:25 pm
ruuger: HAL from 2001 with the text "Computer says no" (Computer says "No")
[personal profile] ruuger
I have been feeling a bit left out because I have been posting fic again recently, but haven't got a single spam bot commenting on my fic, wanting to make art for me :(

But it finally happened!

I posted a Mandalorian h/c fic (quelle surprise) this afternoon, and I just got a comment telling me how much they like the fic and wanting to turn it into a comic "so more manga readers could enjoy it).

I'm finally one of the cool kids!

For some reason I'm always ignored by the spammers and scammers. All my friends on Instagram are getting fake celebrities messaging thems, but I've never got a single fake Pedro Pascal slipping into my DMs.

Seriously, though, this is a PSA to those few people who might not yet have heard of the scammers that are currently targeting AO3 users. What makes them more insidious is that they are not anon and leave comments that seem fairly legit, making it easy to think that they're a real user who has enjoyed your fic. But the tell is that they want you to contact them outside AO3, either via email or Discord, often under the pretense of wanting to make fanart or you fic (or to just give you more feedback). If you get comments like this, do not respond to them, just delete the comment, block and report the user.

Snowflake challenge #9

Jan. 17th, 2026 07:51 pm
ruuger: (Mentalist: Jane/Cho)
[personal profile] ruuger
I haven't been doing the Snowflake Challenge this year, but the latest challenge popped up on my f-list, and I had to do it.

Challenge #9
Talk about your favorite tropes in media or transformative works. (Feel free to substitute in theme/motif/cliche if "trope" doesn't resonate with you.)

( If you've been following me for any length of time, you know where this is going )


Snowflake Challenge promotional banner featuring an image of a wrapped giftbox with a snowflake on the gift tag. Text: Snowflake Challenge January 1-31.
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Friday...finally...now to sleep and dream of other days

Jan. 16th, 2026 06:35 pm
shadowkat: (Default)
[personal profile] shadowkat
Difficult, long, and tedious work week requiring a touch more patience than I wished to give it - not helped by the cold snap. Although my knees did appreciate it, since I need to ice them anyhow. Nor helped by issues with subways earlier in the week, resulting in more walking and more steps.

But it's Friday, finally! Thank god. And I've got a three day weekend - since we get Martin Luther King Day off - most people do in NYC.

I can sleep in. Rest my knee. And get some chores done. Also maybe a few watercolors.

Been entertaining myself with Buffy podcasts - which require little to no attention, and I find entertaining. Did learn a few things? ( Read more... )

It's really hard to know what is true and what isn't in this day and age. Information Age, my foot - more like Mis-Information Age.

***

Finally finished re-watching Hells Bells - I've mixed feelings about this episode. It's alas a Xander episode - which well pretty much tells you everything right there. That said - it's a mixed bag? When the story is focusing on the Scooby Gange or main leads, it's actually pretty good? But when it shifts to the twenty or so never-seen, rarely seen, and never to be seen again - ancillary characters - it loses focus. ( Read more... )

I realized today why I find this show so comforting and feel the need to write about it. It's central theme is "don't give up, life is painful and hard, but don't give up, the people you meet throughout it - make it worth it". I think that's why I love the later seasons - I find them oddly to be the most relatable.

**

PT went okay. He said that it's the muscles around the knee that are sore and hurting, because they are weak or strained, so to ice them and do the exercises.

**

I'm not enjoying the Angelica Huston Memoir as much as the others, partly because...I don't much like Angelica Huston? ( Read more... )
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The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Friday, January 16th

Jan. 16th, 2026 11:55 pm
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Posted by double_dutchess

https://su-herald.livejournal.com/1667954.html

Principal Snyder: You. All of you. Why couldn't you be dealing drugs like normal people?

~~Choices~~


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The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Friday, January 16th

Jan. 17th, 2026 12:53 am
double_dutchess: (Sunnydale Herald)
[personal profile] double_dutchess posting in [community profile] su_herald
Principal Snyder: You. All of you. Why couldn't you be dealing drugs like normal people?

~~Choices~~


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(no subject)

Jan. 15th, 2026 08:56 pm
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[personal profile] lycomingst
Another adventure in home ownership. It's the coldest week so far this winter so naturally my electricity failed. Only in about half of the house. I still had hot water, kitchen stove and internet. The bedroom was dark and I had to move the frig to the other side of the room. It happened after I plugged a space heater in a socket, which was asking too much of it.

So I had to call somebody, a stranger had to come to my home and I had to talk about it on the telephone. I worked myself up to it after feeding the birds, retrieving the trash bin from the sidewalk, taking a shower. Usual delaying tactics. I was told somebody would be here Friday afternoon. Ok. I took off my 'meeting people clothes' and got into my robe, which is warmer. Five minutes later I see the company's car in my driveway. It turns out the owner just stopped by to check out the problem.

He was here about 4 minutes. Just did something at the electric panel and everything was on the way it should be. Now I had turned the main off and on, as I believe he did. But nothing changed. So now I look like an idiot or maybe just a confused old person.

But I'm back in the bedroom watching tv, so all's well. Electricity hates me.
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The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, January 15th

Jan. 15th, 2026 09:05 pm
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Posted by fatal_fae

https://su-herald.livejournal.com/1667827.html

BUFFY: No, you have to stay.
SPIKE: You've got another demon fighter now.
BUFFY: That's not why I need you here.
SPIKE: Is that right? Why's that then?
BUFFY: 'Cause I'm not ready for you to not be here.

~~First Date~~


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