text:
Who are you?
Yes, a different kind of post today.
You know why?
I am curious.
I want to know who you are.
I want to know the names of the people who I am so grateful to.
I want to know where you live.
I want to daydream of the places you live in.
I want to play a little game.
Tell me your name, your age and your hometown.
Then, tell me 5 things about you and start every sentence with I.
Thanks, LOVErs.
93 comments:
I'll go first!
My name is Hannelore.
I am 20 years old.
I live in Belgium, part time in Leuven, een echte 'studentenstad', and Herk-de-Stad, a very small town where nothing ever happens.
I am studying to become an architect/civil engineer.
I love photography more than anything.
I want to travel the world and live in foreign cities.
I love losing myself in the music and the atmosphere, and dancing the night away at a great party.
I hate wearing pants, I think they are uncomfortable and I find it hard to come up with an outfit that feels like 'me'.
- December 18, 2009 at 9:35 PM
- Jen said...
my name is jennifer. 34. on the top (3rd floor) of a row house in a tiny apartment in philadelphia with a boy and a cat.
i am currently unemployed. (looking for work, bleh)
i published a book of my breakfast photos through blurb.com, which made me very happy.
i crochet a lot.
i have a freckle in the palm of each of my hands.
i accidentally gave myself a tiny dot of a tattoo when fiddling with my india ink and a dip pen.
- December 18, 2009 at 9:48 PM
- Amy said...
My name is Amy and I'm 25 years old. I hail from the sunny city of Los Angeles.
I spent a few years working in corporate communications before doing public relations for a non-profit. I work with families devastated by Hurricane Ike. I spend a lot of time in cities we only drive past. I love it.
I live in a wonderful townhouse with my closest girlfriends. At any given time in the evening, you can hear one of us laughing.
I can beat anyone in a round of Taboo.
I spend my time after work sitting at this little coffee shop in an arty neighborhood of Houston. It's attached to a yoga studio, a bookstore and the best little boutique in town. They made it just for me.
I lived on a plane and out of my suitcase for three years. I found my home here in Texas when I found a closet to put everything in.
- December 18, 2009 at 10:06 PM
- Eyeliah said...
Ok; Hailey, 27, Calgary
I am 7 1/2 years married
I play guitar
I am left handed
I am a yogi
I am also an accountant
- December 18, 2009 at 10:23 PM
- Micaela said...
I'm called Micaela but family and friends call me Mickey. I'm 25 and live in a small Texas town i LOVE, but I'm about to move to Virginia to "see about a boy."
I am a vegetarian.
I am a twin who's heart is half hers.
I believe going to the cinema is life's greatest escape.
I have believe i was going to marry Robbie Williams since I was 10.
I had the summer of my life when i was 19 in italy. I fell in love with a boy called Francesco.
i think about him still, years later.
and i loved your idea for this post.
- December 18, 2009 at 10:30 PM
- Allie said...
I'm Allie, and I'm 23... I live in Seattle, Washington... Where Nirvana is from, and where Jimi Hendrix is buried.
I left my heart in Paris, two years ago.
I have naturally red hair, something I'm very proud of.
I am a wino.
I am obsessed with my kitty, Dotty.
I love anything sparkly: diamonds, sequins, glitter...
- December 18, 2009 at 10:40 PM
- Liz said...
I'm Elizabeth, I'm 21 years old and I'm from Scotch Plains, New Jersey, but currently am going to school in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
I'm curently an undergrad at Rutgers University, studying history and philosophy, applying to law school.
I've been having a rough year and amazed by how much strength I'm able to draw from music when things are feeling shitty.
I really like penguins and my boyfriend and I have a mini-tradition of surprising each other with cute penguin plushies every now and then.
My first crush was on Paul McCartney of the Beatles.
I have two little brothers and two dogs (a pug and a doberman) back at home that I really miss and wish I could spend more time with.
Nice to meet you.
- December 18, 2009 at 10:43 PM
- Gabriela said...
Gabriela, 23, Brussels
I am not actually from Belgium, but from down south in Venezuela
I got my very first job at a bookstore recently and it's something only a 17 year-old me could've dreamed of (except most customers are over 60)
I used to hate beans and fish, now i'd kill for them
I dream of flying to Finland and raising puppies in the snow with my furry little boyfriend
I'm getting really sick of school.
- December 18, 2009 at 10:45 PM
- Kris and Corissa said...
My name is Corissa
I am 24 years old.
I live in Utah.
i love cupcakes
i love snuggling with my man
i love boots
i love red mango frozen yogurt
i love my family
thanks for your blog. i love that also. ;)
- December 18, 2009 at 10:46 PM
- Unknown said...
I'm Faye...26 years old (oops, nearly typed 25 there, still in denial!..I live in London in a little apartment with my husband and daughter.
I am trying very hard to be more present in life and enjoy and savour every moment...rather than wishing my time away and waiting for things to happen in the future.
I hope my little family and I will be living in Australia in the not too distant future. Trying hard to make this a reality! (my sister lives there and I miss here lots). We also have big plans to start something together...
I love the countryside, green fields, beaches, the ocean. Just being near nature really. Lying in a meadow of long grass by myself in summer is one of my fabourite things to do ever.
I never thought I would have a daughter at the age of 24 but she is one of the very best things that's ever happened to me.
I love to eat cheese- all kinds of it, whenever possible :)
x faye x
- December 18, 2009 at 10:52 PM
- Caroline Cakewise said...
My name is Caroline, I am 19, and my hometown is just outside of London.
I am so glad, first off, that you commented on my blog so I found yours!! It is the perfect mix of quotes, thoughts and pretty things. Sheer loveliness!!
I go to university at Cambridge.
I love Christmas but hate the winter - unless it is snowing and there's a fire in the grate.
I love Gene Kelly movies, Marilyn Monroe movies, Audrey Hepburn movies... basically, any happy old movie!
I love rock and roll dancing.
I am trying to learn Italian at the moment, so that one day I can live in Rome and cycle around the pasticerias all day with a pug in the basket.
How about you?? xx
- December 18, 2009 at 11:10 PM
- Raver Ria said...
I am Raverria
I adore this blog :)
I left Sydney 11 months ago to live, work and travel.
I currently reside in London.
I am living my teenage goal and I don't want this dream to end.
- December 18, 2009 at 11:28 PM
NAME: 我 moi
AGE: 22 Years old
HOMETOWN: London
一 I was a rather pragmatic child
二 I do not like abbreviated text messages
三 I like nearly all vegetables and no fruit whatsoever
四I have no motor co ordination skills
五I will not be fooled by a handsome Irish man (again)
六 I am 90% Chinese 10% English
- December 18, 2009 at 11:46 PM
- AK said...
My name is Amy Elizabeth. I've lived my entire 19 year old life in the same cramped house in Oregon, USA.
I wish I had danced ballet all my life, that I could be a professional.
I strongly dislike college and really would prefer to travel the world and be an artist/crafter.
I have never been in Love, to find my true love is my greatest desire.
I have six cats.
I love elderly people, there stories always touch me and I wish that we took more time to listen to their beautiful wisdom.
- December 18, 2009 at 11:58 PM
I'm Michelle, I'm 23 and I live in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
I have a boyfriend called Tom, he makes me smile everyday and I knew I loved him after our first date.
I love going on adventures and bringing my camera along, I love to collect memories so I can look back on them and smile. Memories an be anything: photos, ticket stubs, dinner receipts.
I like to bake, it's my favourite Sunday thing to do.
I like to hang out in museums cause I like the quality of the silence.
I have a sister called Hollie and I miss her all the time cause she's living in England right now
- December 19, 2009 at 12:03 AM
- lux said...
i'm alexandra ^_^
i'm 19
& i live in south australia
i'll just say the first things i think of, i suppose?
i study photography, glass and textiles
i have spent every saturday since i can remember going to lunch, cinema, shopping and dinner with my mum. i plan to for the rest of my life
i dont much like travel, i'm terribly claustrophobic and planes are not good for that. id love to cruise around the world though.
i read an awful lot. this past week i finished age of reason, things fall apart and pale fire. it always makes me so sad to come to the end, but i cant slow down.
i am excited and surprised by every good thing that comes my way, and appreciate my life so much it makes me cry
- December 19, 2009 at 12:03 AM
- Molly Belle said...
I am Molly, I am 21 years old, and I live in a town of 1900 people, in southern Utah.
I am LDS. It defines me. I hate that it defines me. I was raised to be LDS. I don't know how to be anything else. I don't know how to not believe it. I only know I want to not believe it. It weighs me down.
I have a best friend who I love so much. I hate that she met someone and was married in 5 months time. I think she will regret it. She's my best friend. I don't want her to regret it.
I love to bake.
My heart has been broken. I hope it wasn't love. If that was love, it wasn't worth the heartbreak.
I have a beautiful creative mind, but no motivation to create.
- December 19, 2009 at 12:20 AM
- Meggy said...
Los Gatos, California, USA
I think that writing a novel takes a very, very long time.
I have been married now for a little over five months.
I drink a lot of coffee.
I love, love, love.
I consider New Orleans, Northern California, Michigan, and Taiwan home.
Love your blog.
- December 19, 2009 at 12:23 AM
My name is Josefin, I'm 17 years and I live in Finland.
I love music, art and fashion.
I'm going to move to London after I have finished my school (I study right now to become a youthleader, I really have no ideas why).
I'm a Christian.
I'm going to make macarons tomorrow.
I should actually sleep now.
- December 19, 2009 at 12:25 AM
- Kmox said...
Hi, I'm Camila. I'm 16 and I live in a small town called Lobos, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I live with my parents, and two younger sisters. Lobos is really cute; I actually live in the countryside and I love it. It's full of big green fields, and flowers, and beautiful houses all around.
What can I say?
I love English (I'm sorry if you find a mistake in my writing)
I'd love to work as a Music Supervisor in the future.
I'd love to live my life travelling all around the world.
I hate mexican food.
I love the idea of chocolate and winter together♥
Love your blog(:
- December 19, 2009 at 12:28 AM
- cerebral e said...
I am Elissa.
I am in my late 20s.
I live in Perth, Australia, where I was born and bred.
I am a stickler for spelling and grammar.
I subscribe to more than 600 blogs on my Google Reader but yours is in my "Ace" category to be read first.
I made a pavlova this week.
I love to wrap presents.
I am helping my big sister organise her wedding.
- December 19, 2009 at 1:40 AM
Howdy, I'm Sam
I live in Bonita Springs, Florida
1.)I am left-handed, ambiguous, and often deragatory.
2.)I am in love with the complete opposite of me, one of those southern all-star athlete types, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
3.)I am going to Ringling College of Art and Design next year for Graphic and Interactive Commnunications.
4.)I have a fear of having no purpose in life.
5.)I beleive that Ralph Waldo Emerson is the next best thing to my southern all-star athlete.
- December 19, 2009 at 1:57 AM
- china lily said...
I'm Mona and older than everyone else that's posted. I live in Vancouver, Canada.
I wonder if the death of my father when I was 15 has made me afraid of friendships.
I have an itch to knit.
I've made 2 films that I hope some people will see some day.
I feel lucky to have finally met the love of my life which only just happened last year.
I'm a chocolate snob.
- December 19, 2009 at 2:01 AM
My name is Jennifer, I am 20 (I turn 21 in 10 days!). I live inbetween Cardiff and Norwich.
I like jelly & creme caramel (things that wobble make me giggle).
I'm thinking about making a papermache lobster costume.
I want to dye my hair pink, soon.
I'm afraid of high ceilings, I haven't the faintest idea why.
I don't know what I want to do when I'm older, but I hope I live next to a forest, a big one.
- December 19, 2009 at 2:32 AM
- Barry said...
My name is Barry. I'm 44 and I live in a town called Ajax, just outside of Toronto, Ontario in Canada.
I'm very creative and I like to write (poetry, blog posts, lyrics, short stories); studied French and Spanish, studied piano for a while, build models as a hobby and have created a couple digital songs on my computer.
I've known my wife for seventeen years.
I'm a hopeless romantic and I melt over anything that's well-written (especially poetry).
I think women are the most amazing creations on this earth and are the inspiration for most of my writing.
I relate better to people in their twenties than those in my age group; they hold so much more hope and generally are more energetic and positive.
And as a bonus "I" statement...
I love this idea for a post and I want to use it on mine. If you don't mind, please leave me a quick comment on my blog to let me know. Thanks. :)
- December 19, 2009 at 4:29 AM
I'm Adriana Penna, 38, from Rio de Janeiro , Brazil.
I'm single and no children
I work with internet and music
I like bossa nova and electronic music
I'm going to Bahia next week
I'm grateful for my life and friends
All the best for you in 2010
- December 19, 2009 at 4:43 AM
i am katrina
i think your idea for this post is brilliant.
i am from san francisco.
i wish to visit paris and tokyo one day.
i am grateful for my loving husband's presence in my life.
- December 19, 2009 at 5:03 AM
- muchlove said...
I'm Anna, 25, and living in Melbourne Australia.
I am originally from Indonesia.
I have been watching Greta Garbo silent movies lately.
I think I'm going through a quarter life crisis.
I dreamt of designing my own line of stationary.
I crack my knuckles.
- December 19, 2009 at 5:22 AM
- Sara said...
Sara, 22, Cairo (lovely, lovely Cairo)
I am a dreamer.
I am an older sister.
I am one who inspires and is inspired.
I believe.
I want to be remembered.
- December 19, 2009 at 5:35 AM
I'm Wella, 18, Baton Rouge Louisiana.
I've lived on all sides of the US.
I'm moving to Pennsylvania this summer.
I love fall more than any other season, but this time of winter (Christmas and New Years on the way) makes me the happiest of all!
I think Harry Potter, Sailor Moon and Miyazaki Films shaped my young personality.
I love beautiful blogs (like yours) they give me so much inspiration.
- December 19, 2009 at 5:41 AM
- Keeley Whitehead said...
My name is Keeley, I'm 16 years old and my hometown is Brisbane Australia but I live in Toronto, Canada right now.
I love nostalgia.
I am definitely a girl.
I am going to live in France for 3 months starting February.
I am inspired by the most unlikely things.
I love being around little kids, because I am very very young at heart.
- December 19, 2009 at 6:22 AM
I love that photography taught me to see in frames.
I wish I had pretty things from my childhood.
I do believe I should live in California.
I don't like judgments so gossip bores me.
I called my daughter Mila for two weeks when she was born four years ago but no one could say it the right way so it's now her middle name.
- December 19, 2009 at 6:37 AM
- bibi said...
My name is Bibi, 25 years old, currently living in Kyoto, Japan.
I'm a Malaysian (chinese)
I love photography and arts.
I like movies.
I absolutely love the blue sky because it makes me happy.
I enjoy music.
I want to be a professional photographer.
I love to collect stuff, like all sorts of stuff!
I love reading.
I love rabbits too!
Would love to know more about you too ^_~
- December 19, 2009 at 6:40 AM
Cute post! xo.
My name is Brandi. I'm 30 and I live in southern California but grew up in the midwest.
1. I'm heartbroken.
2. I adore dogs, especially my own.
3. I love to decorate and make my home cozy and welcoming and interesting.
4. I'm a dreamer.
5. I love Jesus more than anything.
- December 19, 2009 at 7:01 AM
- ABCDErica said...
This is a great idea!
Erica. 17. I live in a small suburban city in Central California.
1. I find sentiments to be worth more than the grandeur of gold, though I am fond of glitter.
2. I love DIYs.
3. I am a person of detail; intricate designs and the thoughtfulness of remembering my favorite color makes me smil.e
4. I will be moving home in less than a year and I am terrified.
5. I should find pleasure in growing up, but I am unwilling to venture too closely to the rabit hole for fear I won't wake up!
- December 19, 2009 at 7:24 AM
- Wild Keiki said...
I am Jess. I am twenty-one. I am from New York. I love living in ny even though I'm afraid of small, crowded spaces. I am an avid book collector, and kind of dork out when I find a first edition of anything. I have a black cat named Dakota (yes, his birthday is on Halloween). I write to-do lists almost every day of my life. I am an only child which I think lends to the fact that I have a very meticulous personality.
make sure you answer your own questions, dear! I am curious as well.
- December 19, 2009 at 7:38 AM
- Robin said...
Robin, 23, from Washington DC USA, currently working/living in Sydney Australia.
I love having my nails painted.
I can't have anything with dairy in it.
I am very in love with my significant other.
I find Facebook really creepy, but I use it to keep in touch with people because I live so far away right now.
I skipped winter this year by moving to the Southern hemisphere.
- December 19, 2009 at 8:16 AM
- Mandy said...
My name is Mandy, I'm 24, and I live in Los Angeles, though I grew up in a much, much smaller
semi-rural California town.
I share two pet rats with my roommate.
I have lived for a total of a year and a half in England, a year in college, and 6 months after I graduated. I miss it every day.
I have a fear of mountain lions, but no fear of any type of bug, rodent, reptile, or any of the other typical girly things. A mountain lion could rip you apart, a daddy long legs can't.
I want to learn how to actually really use my DSLR in the new year.
My favorite word is wanderlust.
- December 19, 2009 at 8:20 AM
- iva yaneva said...
How fabulous!
Okay, so my name is Iva, I am 22years old and I was born in Pazardzhik, Bulgaria.
I love rain!
I love vintage items that tell a story.
I've been and architecture student for 4 years.
I find inspiration absolutely everywhere and I love taking pictures of small, regular things that other people just don't notice but are so beautiful.
I just had a baby nephew! :)
there you go:) have a lovely weekend! xo
- December 19, 2009 at 9:12 AM
- Belowen said...
My name is Belowen, I am 25 and I live in Perth - Western Australia.
I can't wait for Christmas.
I am a mother, daughter, sister, aunt, friend, partner.
I am a singer, songwriter and pianist.
I have 2 dogs, a beagle and a boxer.
I love roses.
- December 19, 2009 at 10:20 AM
My name is Rengin. I am 25. I live in Kumamoto Japan. I am Turkish.
I am a Biologist.
I love birds and insects.
I am wearing all purple now.
I always cut my hair on my own.
I have collected postcards for 6 years.
- December 19, 2009 at 12:06 PM
- Malina Sternberg said...
My name is Malina,
I'm 16 years old
and I live in a small village in Germany.
I have two cats named Alice & Google.
I love taking photos.
I have already got my christmas present.
I have a blog, too.
I am half American.
- December 19, 2009 at 1:16 PM
Bonjour :)
My name is Pauline, I'm 23. I live in Thann, a little town in eastern France (near Germany and Switzerland).
I love watching people, I could spend my whole life sitting outside on a bench and looking at them passing by me.
I miss my cat a lot (she died a week ago), and I still think she's just outside in the garden and that she'll be asking to come inside any time now.
I'll be in Romania next week for the New Year's eve.... cannot wait for it! (I love travelling!)
I love listening to world music, especially traditional spanish african and turkish music. (I've just watched one of my favourite film from the German/Turkish director Fatih Akin, and the original soundtrack is so great)
I'd like to be in New York and see the snow falling and having a walk with Woody Allen.
Lots of Love
Merry Xmas from France
- December 19, 2009 at 2:00 PM
- POPPY FRENCH said...
I'm Poppy
I'm 21
I'm in Birmingham UK but at 4 I'm making the christmas journey back home to my family.
I am here with my boyfriend is here he just told me he doesn't like my housemates.
I made christmas dinner for everyone last night.
I made red velvet cake they were gross!
Merry Christmas :)
- December 19, 2009 at 2:11 PM
- Nicole said...
I am Nicole but most people call me Cole or Nikki
I am 22 years ancient
I live in Ewing, NJ just outside the capitol or Trenton
I graduated in May and I am still looking for a "real job"
I currently work as a pet sitter while trying to find my "real job"
I want my "real job" to be either a stage manager or event planner
I am not at all ready for the holidays
I have 3 cats. 1 hates everyone except my mom, 1 is afraid of everything and 1 doesn't have a tail.
- December 19, 2009 at 4:11 PM
- Killian Fallon said...
My name is Killian.
I am 17 years old.
I live in Dubai, U.A.E.
I am Irish.
I think I am the perfect height.
I am anorexic.
My favourite book is 'The Life of Pi' by Yann Martel.
I want to be a product designer.
I collect interesting jars and bottles.
And now you know :)
- December 19, 2009 at 4:17 PM
- Unknown said...
Ooh such a good idea Mila
I enjoyed Reading the comments and finding out about people here, found some new blogs to visit.
I'm kathryn I'm 33 and live in Northumberland
which is N.E. England
I live with my folks as I'm healing from long term illness
I believe in angels
I love nature especially the sandy beaches of our coastline and the green hilly country side with birds and squirrels, rabbits and foxes....
I love finding handmade treasures on Etsy
I made a blurb book called Wishes of peace which I put my heart into and my photos too ;)
love n wishes kx
- December 19, 2009 at 4:34 PM
- Laura said...
I am Laura, I am 17 years old and I live in Lisbon, Portugal :)
I like pretty things like the one that appear on Loveology.
I like crazy outifts but I don't wear them because I don't have the confidance.
I love photography.
I love music and I can spend hours just listening to my favourite tunes.
I fear the dark but with a nice company I love to watch at the stars :)
- December 19, 2009 at 5:08 PM
- Unknown said...
how can ur blog be so nice?
take care!
- December 19, 2009 at 5:54 PM
- Agnes said...
My name is Agnes. I'm fourteen years old and I'm from Sweden.
I love books. And to read.
I'd like to be an actor or a director when I grow up.
I've got the best friends in the whole wide world. They're awesome, and i really, really trust them.
I've been playing violin since i was five and piano for about a year.
I belive in magic.
- December 19, 2009 at 5:59 PM
- Barry said...
Love this post, thanks so much for giving me permission to steal your idea! Your blog makes me smile.
- December 19, 2009 at 6:52 PM
- Diane said...
My name is Diane and I'm 24. I live in Northern California.
I like David Bowie.
I am studying Library Science (to become a librarian).
I want a dog more than anything right now.
I have a music show at a local college radio station.
I like your blog.
- December 19, 2009 at 7:03 PM
- tita y lili said...
I am Elena,25 years old from Sofia,Bulgaria.
I love this blog.
I am happy somethimes.
I want to travel round the world.
I need love and beauty to be alive
I have a small fairy shop where i sell my own creations.
Thank you!
- December 19, 2009 at 7:20 PM
- kate said...
My name is Kate, I'm 28 from connecticut, USA
I am a painter but i wanted to be a sculptor
I teach art at a creative arts school to little children
I am always cold, my superhero power is sucking heat off of other people.
I usually only drink water but I love champagne and hot chocolate.
I love animals. all of them. my favorite job i ever had was walking dogs.
- December 19, 2009 at 9:23 PM
- Jenna Brittany said...
I am Jenna.
I am 22 years old.
I am from Cincinnati, OH.
I am a fashion design student.
I am terrified to leave college.
I find beautiful and pretty things the most inspiring.
I find joy in the details and little moments.
I have a blog that I hope you will enjoy: http://www.jennabrittany.blogspot.com/
- December 20, 2009 at 12:36 AM
- Jenna said...
Hello, love =]
I'm Jenna.
I'm 16.
I live in the outskirts of a suburb of a suburb of a suburb of Sacramento. So Northern California. =]
I love photography.
I spend too much time alone.
I eat too much chocolate, bread and tea.
I am afraid of growing up.
I am listening to the Killers. =]
- December 20, 2009 at 1:51 AM
- emma said...
I am Emma-Jean, 28, my home town is called Horse Shoe Creek.
I make stuff like jewellery
I drink more tea than anyone I know
I love sam
I like red hats, gloves and scarfs
I dream of creating a secret garden full of bright red poppies and pretty blue bells
- December 20, 2009 at 10:05 AM
My name is Nixa, I am 28. I was born in Peru but raised in a small beach town about 1 1/2 hours south of San Francisco (California). I grew up on Morrissey Blvd, I like that. I love my dog, dantes and my boyfriend. I also like taking pictures of flowers.
- December 20, 2009 at 11:06 AM
- Susa said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- December 20, 2009 at 2:40 PM
- Susa said...
My name is Susanna. I'm 16. I live in Kajaani, a small town in the middle of Finland.
I eat too much raw sugar.
I should be knitting right now. And I had a great idea when I read your blog just a while ago.
- December 20, 2009 at 2:41 PM
- Mela said...
Hello, what a nice blog you have :)
My name is Mela, im a 15 year old girl from a little town in Sweden.
I love to take photos and make websites.
I play tabletennis and that's so fun!
I have an awesome family and some great friends.
- December 20, 2009 at 3:18 PM
- indigotangerine said...
I can't say my name or age, but I am from Seattle
I am infatuated with the stars
I can't imagine myself being anything but an artist but am too scared to say that out loud.
I am an only chilid
I often eat eggo waffles with peanut butter on top for breakfast.
I want to marry Lee Pace
- December 20, 2009 at 6:52 PM
Well hello! My name's Kenzie.. I'm from a little town in Minnesota, USA
- i'm having a visitor from germany in 6 little days!
- i love raspberry vanilla tea
- i will live in germany one day.. no matter what happens!!
- my favorite book is jane eyre
- i love meeting people that are just as weird as me! :)
- December 21, 2009 at 12:40 AM
- tori said...
I'm Tori, i'm 17, from the Kansas City, MO area.
I love reading people's blogs.
I am watching Survivor right now.
I love etsy (and in your case, Dawanda) shops.
I have no idea what i want to do with my life.
I am so glad that i'm on winter break! no school!
- December 21, 2009 at 2:33 AM
- . said...
Hello. I'm Kemi. My hometown is Peterborough, England but I have lived in Springfield, Illinois most of my life. I am 18.
I am fascinated by outer space.
I think I might want to be a scientist, or a writer, or an editor, or documentary film maker.
I am studying Arabic and Russian.
I want to travel across the world, soon.
I think I might be in love and it hurts.
- December 21, 2009 at 5:31 AM
Hi there!
My name is Laura. I'm 24 and I'm a puertorican living in Seattle, WA.
I'm going back to the island on vacation tomorrow.
I'm flying first class tomorrow for the first time.
I bought my first class tickets by mistake; they were the cheapest ones.
I'm in love with a boy and I never expected to be this happy.
I have the same birthday as my boyfriend and think I thinks that's amazing.
- December 21, 2009 at 5:54 AM
Thank you for taking the time to post on my random post... :) God bless you! I pray you have a wonderful new year! Many blessings to you! xo.
- December 21, 2009 at 8:20 AM
- career opportunities in new Zealand said...
I'm in a hurry
I have got to go
I like your idea of getting to know your readers.
I'm Radz
I came from Australia
I have no more to say.
- December 21, 2009 at 9:39 AM
- apartments in manila said...
I'm KC
I'm 24 years old
I was just dropping by and
I found this very exciting.
- December 21, 2009 at 9:41 AM
- Trisha said...
I'm Trisha.
I'm 16 years old.
I live in a very small town near Utrecht (The Netherlands).
I love photography, it's my biggest hobby.
I'm addicted to fashion.
I want to travel a lot when I'm older.
I love love.
I don't have a blog, I've a Flickr.
- December 21, 2009 at 12:23 PM
Hello, we´ve met before (Flickr)
My name is Daria, im 22, from Moscow, Russia but...
...I moved recently to another continent (to Brazil to be exact) to do something i believe which is helping people in need in a Cancer Hospital in a tiny city people never heard of(by teaching art to terminal kids).
I am deeply in love with my significant other and we are crazy to have kids on our own.
I cannot live without art (photography, painting and sowing).
I wish i knew my biological family.
I live for my personal motto which is UNIVERSAL love and spread it as much as i can. Every single day.
Love this blog. As i told you before, art is love, you are art, you are love, keep it up!
- December 21, 2009 at 12:45 PM
- melissamilis said...
I'm Melissa, 22years old and i live in Belgium Herentals.
I'm in love with photography and graphic design
I just moved to an apartment with my boyfriend
I'll be opening a webshop with vintage clothing soon
I like your blog
I want to wish you a great day :)
Lots of love.
- December 21, 2009 at 1:27 PM
- Unknown said...
What a great way to get to know your readers. There are a lot of young ones, but I guess you are young too. I love your blog, it's sentimental and beautiful. I guess that makes me young at heart.
Do you care if I borrown your idea for my blog?
My name is Melissa,
I am 44 years old
I live in Washington State, USA.
I love interior and event design.
I celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas, but I don't put up a Christmas tree.
I want to sell my house and travel the world.
I love drinking Chai Tea Lattes from Starbucks.
I love connecting with new friends through blogging.
- December 21, 2009 at 4:27 PM
- hierophanta said...
I'm Shakir, I'm 28 and have lived most of my life in Chicago (although I've lived in London, Manchester, and Brunei)
I am working on a photography collection.
I will look in your eyes as we pass and feel a great deal of empathy.
I love to travel and have had the fortune to see much of the world.
I plan to become stinking rich someday and open a school.
I will change the world, one starfish at a time.
- December 21, 2009 at 5:42 PM
- A Beautiful Party said...
My name is Ann. I recently turned 27. I'm originally from Kentucky but currently live in Illinois while I go to grad school.
I am terrified of graduating because I have no idea who or what I want to be yet.
I recently took up hula hooping as a form of excercise.
I wish I could move to Portland, Ashville, SC, LA, and Nashville all at once.
I love making things but hate making things for my thesis show because it's so nerve-wracking and not fun anymore.
I wish I could glue googly eyes to everything.
Your turn. ( :
- December 21, 2009 at 6:29 PM
My name is Chelsea. I am 24. I was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and ended up (for now) in a university town in the Pacific Northwest.
I am a PhD. student who prefers writing about _Gossip Girl_ and Lady Gaga over "English literature." So I do.
I think that it's likely that cookie dough and pizza are the world's finest foods.
I have a desperate desire for a Goldendoodle puppy.
I love the intimacy and good-naturedness of the blogging community.
I love love.
- December 22, 2009 at 1:49 AM
Amabell. 19 years old. Melbourne, Australia.
I am currently in love with Olivier Zahm.
I want to be an artist more than anything but am shy about showing my work to anyone.
I think Paris is a 'Never-Never Land', perfectly suited for ppl like myself who seem to be suffering from a Peter Pan Syndrome.
I can day dream all day and never get bored.
I wish I was friends with Daphne Guinness.
- December 22, 2009 at 2:15 AM
- Carmen said...
19 tomorrow.
A populous suburban city in California is where my hometown is. When I'm away at college, I'm alone in a tourist beach town with too many strangers.
I love to dream.
I want to move to somewhere far, like the moon, where I can look upon the earth and things will look so much clearer to me.
I enjoy reading about dystopias.
I wear knee highs often.
I am lost.
- December 23, 2009 at 9:56 PM
My name is Jelena (pronounced Yell-en-uh)
I'm 16 and I live in a small town where I feel my soul is confined
I went on a walk in the snow today and felt better about life
I dream too much for my own good
I love anything glamorous and Factory Girl is my favorite movie, and yes i know i just combined 2 facts but i couldn't decide on one.
I think quite differently from others my age
I will move to New York upon graduating high school and finally live life on my own terms :)
- December 23, 2009 at 10:16 PM
- Healthy Beginnings Montessori said...
My name is... Amanda
Recently turned 25 which I'm feeling rather comfortable with... I have high hopes for this year of birth.
I reside in Dallas, TX (but itching to move abroad); however was born in Des Moines, IA... farm girl.
I rarely miss a day without consuming a Diet Dr. Pepper.
I cannot wait to marry my best friend and companion for the past 10 years this coming July.
I hope to find myself submerged in a foreign land sooner than later.
I find that nature as a whole eases my soul.
I adore my family with every ounce of my being.
- December 24, 2009 at 3:09 AM
My name is Roxanne. I'm 21 from Taiwan,a small island which is next to China.
I feel angry of the education system but still had nothing to do with it.
I hope I could keep all the important things in mind.
I love my family.
I want to live a beautiful life.
I really enjoy your blog.
- December 24, 2009 at 3:32 AM
- ; said...
I'm Maria from Vasa, located at the westcoast of Finland. Right now it's a winter wonderland.
I love cats + could'nt live without my family and friends
I worry a lot about the climate change, makes me very upset
I love to dance to good music
I have a wide imagination
I'm working on my graduation project in fine art, direction painting & installation
- December 24, 2009 at 12:43 PM
- esmee said...
I'm Esmee, 16 years old from Amsterdam.
I am a student.
I love many things.
I love, for example, philosophy, fashion, art, books and cooking sweet stuff.
I am happy, almost every day.
I am in love, but I don't know if he's in love with me too...
A very nice assignment, thankyou.
- December 24, 2009 at 4:04 PM
- deryik said...
my name is derya (pronounced like daria), im 25 and i live in istanbul.
i love dudok café's apple pies.
i want to learn sewing before it's too late.
i believe in the power of coincidences, they basically shaped my life.
i have friends all around the world and i want to visit each one of them.
i love it when grandma calls me to ask "what's the color of the sea today?" and makes me notice the difference.
- December 24, 2009 at 8:09 PM
- embodying paradise said...
my name is Eglė. it means a fir-tree in my language.
i live in Vilnius city, in Lithuania - little country by the Baltic sea.
i am an architect, photographing from time to time .
i love today - it's white and snowy outside. this morning was slippery and long, feeling hot wine somewhere in my hair still since last night.
i love your blog.
- December 29, 2009 at 11:59 AM
- Sian said...
My name is Sian and I'm from Liverpool, UK (I live 2 minutes away from the real Penny Lane).
I'm two years hard work away from being a veterinary surgeon.
I kind of wish I were doing something more creative.
I love cooking, especially middle eastern food. I just love using rose water, cardamon, ginger and pomegranates.
I like cycling through the park and noticing the seasons change.
I love to travel and would like to live in other countries, but I'm not sure I could live in a city that didn't have a river or was by the sea.
- December 31, 2009 at 10:41 AM
I am Mada.
I am 16 years old.
I am from Bucharest, Romania.
I love hats, clothes and shoes.
I like making handmade jewellery.
I love making photos.
I like interior design.
I want to be a journalist.
- January 2, 2010 at 1:54 AM
- Unknown said...
My name is Claudia, i'm 34, from São Paulo, Brasil
• i'm generally happy
• i like beautyfull things (and sometimes it makes me feel a little guilty, cause i should worry about some more important stuff)
• i can't write too many words in english
• i still like my last boyfriend
• i'm recovering my dreams (now that i know how to make plans)
- January 5, 2010 at 10:22 PM
The name is Dana, I'm 20 and I'm from Galati, Romania but I currently live in Bucharest.
I've been following and admiring your blog for a long time, but I have never said anything.
I sew.
I dream about studying in the UK in the fall. I'm not sure what's going to happen if that doesn't work out.
I have a small swallow tattoo on my back.
I'm hopelessly in love with a boy who moved away and I can hardly see him.
- January 11, 2010 at 7:46 PM
- Katie said...
My name is Katie, i'm from Wisconsin, USA and am 20 years old...
I have a "battle scar" of sorts, a scar that runs down the middle of my chest from heart surgery. I don't hide it and think it makes me unique.
I am leaving in 6 days for a 6 month stay in Spain!
I am so excited to have new adventures, but also sad to leave everyone I love.
I love going to concerts, especially where I can wiggle my way to the front row!
I just started my first blog to document beautiful and funny things and my new travels! http://aslightfigureofspeech.blogspot.com/
- January 11, 2010 at 10:51 PM
My name is Ljuda, i'm 29 years old, live in Moscow, Russia, i love my husband and baby, misfits, read a blogs, play guitar and street-art
- January 12, 2010 at 2:49 PM
- iliketweet said...
Jumping on the lovely bandwagon here but I'm still going to play :)
My name is Clare, I'm 21, I live in Nantwich which is a little town in Cheshire that is famous for salt and having a lot of pubs.
If I could live anywhere in the World without having to work it would be Thailand, if I had to work it would be London even though I've done that and it's mental, but I love it.
I love my family, especially the new addition of my little sister's daughter Ruby who is perfect.
I love Sauvignon Blanc or Southern Comfort, lime and lemonade if I'm going out.
I'm currently watching 'Bunny and the Bull', I think you'd like it actually.
I'm constantly amazed that anyone is willing to read my blog, it's very strange to me.
There you go, 5 things about me. I also say 'Loverrrrrrr' a lot :)
tweet tweet tweet
- April 17, 2010 at 11:58 PM
You are not right. I can defend the position. Write to me in PM, we will talk.
- August 13, 2010 at 10:34 AM


text:
Camden Haven residents have their say on Prime Minister Scott Morrison
Lake Cathie resident Kerry Newman believes Scott Morrison will carry out his new job as Prime Minister of Australia well.
"He's proven to have a positive track record in all the portfolios he's had up to now," he said.
Scott Morrison has been chosen by the Liberal Party room as Australia's 30th Prime Minister.
Mr Morrison defeated Peter Dutton 45 votes to 40 in the secret ballot, when a spill motion was carried out.
Julie Bishop was eliminated in the ballot's first round.
Mr Newman said he preferred to have Morrison as leader, rather than Peter Dutton.
Matthew Hughes from Lake Cathie comments on the Prime Minister. #ScottMorrisonpic.twitter.com/haZj4o1Jmb— CH Courier (@CHCourier) August 24, 2018
"He (Scott Morrison) played it by the book and wasn't part of the coup," he said.
Mr Newman's preference for leadership would have been Julie Bishop.
"She's got really good experience and would appeal to all sectors of the community," he said.
Given the 'travesty' of leadership change over the past 10 years, Mr Newman hopes Mr Morrison will last.
Matthew Hughes from Lake Cathie didn't know who Scott Morrison is but he said change would be a good thing.
He said Malcolm Turnbull could have done a better job as leader of the country.
"It's unfortunate given the position of power he was in," he said.
Matthew hopes Scott Morrison can do a 'tip top job'.
Jodie Kiermaier speaks from Bonny Hills on #Libspills#ScottMorrisonpic.twitter.com/tf90nUIYnO— CH Courier (@CHCourier) August 24, 2018
Jodie Kiermaier was in Bonny Hills, visiting from Canberra.
While she doesn't know Scott Morrison personally she said if the Liberal Party had to make a change he was the best choice.
"I just wish they would get themselves sorted so this doesn't happen again," she said.
What else is making news?
Discuss "Residents have their say on new Prime Minister"
Please note: All comments made or shown here are bound by the Online Discussion Terms & Conditions.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
"While Muslims agree that riba is prohibited, there is disagreement over what it is. It is often used as an Islamic term for interest charged on loans, and this belief – that there is a consensus among Muslims that interest is riba – is the basis of a $2 trillion Islamic banking industry. However not all scholars equated riba with all forms of interest, and among those who do there is also disagreement over whether it is a major sin and against sharia (Islamic law), or simply discouraged (makruh)"
- Wikipedia definition of Riba
Today I woke up and planned to spend the day riding bikes at Glenmore Reservoir with my daughter after she competed her mandatory Chinese schooling in Chinatown. However, those plans went quickly out the window when 1) I woke up and discovered that she was too sick to attend Chinese school and 2) I went on to Facebook and just happened to see a posting by a fellow realtor about a talk happening later in the afternoon titled, "Free Seminar: Buying your home the Halal way". As a realtor who also wears the hat of a Cross Cultural consultant (www.xculturalconsulting.com), I was incredibly curious to find out more, and so I set about organizing the rest of my morning and afternoon to attend.
As per the online poster that I downloaded, "Muslims are not allowed to participate in riba/interest; but to buy a house with cash is usually very difficult for the average person…Learn how you can become a homeowner, while still being true to the Islamic faith". After reading this brief intro, of course, I had a million questions. I will try to explain what all of this is about in this week's blog post. I will first qualify this blog post by saying that I am not Muslim, nor do I have much of a grasp of the Quran teachings and readings. I decided to attend this seminar to learn more professionally and personally, as I will most definitely meet this community at some point, either as a real estate agent or a cross cultural consultant.
Riba, or referred to as interest, is to be avoided at any cost. Muslims should be adhering to Sharia Law and avoid getting themselves into a financial (or business or trade or consumer or purchase) situation that has he or she paying interest as calculated by a percentage. The Quran contains several passages that state that to be involved in riba is equal to declaring war on Peace Be Upon Him (PBUH) Allah. This is serious. But what is this riba exactly? It is basically the 'rent' that is paid on the borrowing of money, and is forbidden in the Islamic faith. Whereas paying rent on a tangible item, such as a house, is acceptable. Profit exists but must be made in an acceptable way, as laid out in the holy Quran. Let's take the analogy of eating Halal, which is a term that refers to how food is slaughtered and prepared that adheres to Islamic Halal laws. The Jews have a similar concept, that food must be slaughtered and prepared to Kosher laws. In terms of riba, then, we can say that business or trade is conducted, and profit is made, but it is HOW the profit is made that is the issue here with riba and Islamic beliefs. Muslims and Jews might process their food differently, but at the end of the day, they all eat; Similarly, we can say that financial transactions are incited and profits are made, just in a different way than what we are used to in a Judaeo-Christian culture.
The best and easiest way to avoid riba, or avoid paying interest, is to pay cash for consumer goods. For example, one would pay hard cash for a new car or new shoes or a new bike. This makes sense, but how about a house? Houses haven't been anywhere close to the cost of a car for over 30 years...not easy for someone to pay half a million dollars for a home. So, what does one do in Canada to avoid riba but become a home owner?
I learned today that Muslims in Calgary (and the rest of Canada and the US) can have an option to only being able to pay cash for a house, thanks to a company that has been in existence since about 2008 in North America. Mr. Shoeb M. Sharieff, President of the non-profit organization Ijara Community Development Corp, explained in detail for two hours how this works. Very interesting, to be sure, but if not a bit complicated to the uninitiated ear. For starters, the home purchasing process is almost the same as if dealing with a home buyer working with a standard bank in Canada or an independent mortgage broker. The big difference is that the Muslim buyer who wants to avoid riba and uphold Sharia law in his or her personal life, will either pay cash or obtain pre-approval from a company such as ijarausa.com. This kind of financial institute sets up a trust account that acts as a middle entity to deal with the interest, so relieving the Muslim buyer from entering a financial transaction that involves paying riba. Furthermore, a Muslim family wanting to buy a home and only has $250 000 saved, which won't buy you much in Calgary, can work with a company like this to leverage borrowing to purchase a home double or triple what they have as cash savings. This is very interesting and worth while news, as many Muslims who want to avoid riba would be limited by what their cash savings amounted to.
Today I gained valuable cultural awareness of a community that exists in Calgary and as a real estate professional obtained the basic understanding of a useful service that I can suggest to a future client, should I come across a Muslim home buyer who is limited by his cash holdings. I am very glad I attended this event today.
Thank you for your time reading this post and if you have further questions or need more information about this blog content, please contact Mr. Sharieff, email@example.com or visit their website www.ijaracdc.com.
Of course, if you require a free home evaluation, please contact Karen Patterson Real Estate, firstname.lastname@example.com. Thank you!


text:
Institution name
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN
Institutional Profile
Large (over 15,000) Asian-serving Institution
Why did your institution join the Diversity Abroad Network?
Before Diversity Abroad existed, there was not a space to have discussions solely focused on diverse student identities. It was something that wasn't really discussed in the field. We found that Diversity Abroad aided us in enhancing what we were doing in regards to inclusiveness and engaging under representation which has been a part of our Curriculum and Career Integration work. Lastly, we at the Learning Abroad Center believe in this work and want to be at the forefront of these discussions.
How long has your organization/institution been a member?
Since Diversity Abroad's inception
What Diversity Network resource has been most useful for you and your colleagues in advancing diversity & inclusive excellence in global education?
The resource that we have most taken advantage of would be the webinars presented by the Diversity Network. After watching/listening to the webinars, we have had many discussions post webinars that have helped drive future diversity initiatives at the University of Minnesota.
How has membership with the Diversity Network helped your institution make global education more accessible to students from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds?
Membership to the Diversity Network has given us better insight and understanding of the various identities of the students we are trying to support.
Please describe any innovative initiatives related to diversity and inclusion in global education that your institution is currently undertaking.
education abroad
Diversity Abroad
1731 Delaware Street, Suite 100
Berkeley, CA 94703
P: +1 510-982-0635 ext. 704


text:
8:59: Getting ready now. Watching some pre-conference commentary. Watch the Gamespot press conference with me!
9:07: They seem to be taking their sweet time.
9:11: Well, I'm just going to play State of Decay until Sony decides to show up. On my XBOX! #GetTheMessageSony.
9:15: Well if being punctual means nothing to Sony
9:18: Holy hell they are starting with a RAVE!
9:23: Sony has a bad habit of talking them selves up to much. Just get to the action man!
9:26: They are squeezing out the Vita as fast as possible to get to the good stuff. Walking Dead is cool, though, no matter where it is.
9:28: I would cut off a pinky toe to play The Last of Us right now.
9:30: The graphics on Beyond Two Souls are very pleasing. Also, Ellen Page is great so yeah.
9:32: Oh look it's another racing game, Grand Turismo 6. It's like a new console launch or something.
9:35: Arkham Origins footage. Regular readers know how I feel about this game.
9:36: It looks good, but I refuse to get my hopes up.
9:40: Well, the PS4 looks exactly like the Xbox One. Except, like, a rhombus.
9:43: If Sony learned anything from Xbox, it's to not focus too much on other media.
9:46: Careful, Sony, you are going down a road you don't want to cross. Talk about games!
9:51: "12 new IP's." Thank. God.
9:53: I have no idea what this steampunk British game is but I like it!
9:54: The Order; You had my curiosity, now you have my attention.
9:56: Killzone is a thing. #spoileralert
9:58: I'm assuming this is the new Infamous. Looks really good, actually. New take on the franchise.
9:59:Knack looks alright, but I will probably never play it though.
10:01: Even if this game is good, I will not play it because of the most cliche title ever: Dark Sorcerer? C'mon
10:06: If these are the guys who made Bastion, I trust this Transistor will be great. These guys are visionaries.
10:10: They are hammering these indie games home. Octodad, Don't Stave, Switchblade Monkeys? I'm impressed.
10:14: Square Enix. Here comes some Final Fantasy stuff.
10:15: No Kingdom Hearts 3. I didn't expect it, but I'm still sad.
10:19: Kingdom Hearts III! I might cry!
10:20: I'm going to try and pay attention to everything else. Kingdom Hearts geekfest will happen later.
10:21: Assassin's Creed gameplay. Looks like Ubisoft was saving it for Sony's conference.
10:22: I expected stuff like this. I am more interested in seeing more naval stuff, but at least the core assassin stealth looks the same.
10:24: This is really impressive so far. It's cool how quickly Kenway jumped into captaining the ship.
10:26: More Watchdogs stuff. I am super excited for this game.
10:29: The fact that it is unapologetically open world, with this internet connectivity thing, is mind boggling.
10:32: I think this is where multiplayer might come in. You guide a friend along as an eye in the sky. Very interesting.
10:33: More interdevice gameplay. Someone took out a chopper with a tablet. Wow, that was cool.
10:35: And they're talking about sports. Time for a bathroom break.
10:37: Elder Scrolls online is starting. I'm still a bit tepid about this one.
10:39: Well that looked quite sexy. I could eat my words with that last one. Do work, Bethesda.
10:41: Mad Max the game? I'm quite confused.
10:44 Supports used games 100% and does not require an online check. A line has been drawn in the sand.
10:48: Destiny, Bungee's new game, is being shown. Don't know much about it.
10:50: Destiny looks visually stunning. The scope of this game is huge.
10:54: These guys clearly don't play a lot of FPS's. Stop firing from the hip you noob!
10:59: I was board until they reached the MMO section. Fighting this walker thing is very cool.
11:01: They are talking Geikei cloud gaming. It should be available in 2014, and it will be a giant gaming library.
11:04: 399$ A whole 100 less than Xbox. That's Impressive.


text:
As a result of being behind the lens, photographers seldom get any shots of their own! And still rarer that they ever get good shots.
In this series, I am sharing a few shots of me by fellow photographers while I have been busy shooting others!
Click first photo below to view entire series in slide show.
gr8 pics veerji…looking handsome as ever…you inspire and motivate….regards
very nice shots…. keep it up….//
Very very good photography.Enjoyed watching them.Looking forward to your new frames.Hope to learn something from your excellent photographs.


text:
Vol.5 No.3 2012
−219−Synthesiology Vol.5 No.3(2012)Synthesiology Instructions for AuthorsInstructions for Authors"Synthesiology" Editorial BoardEstablished December 26, 2007Revised June 18, 2008Revised October 24, 2008Revised March 23, 2009Revised August 5, 2010Revised February 16, 20121 Types of contributionsResearch papers or editorials and manuscripts to the "Readers' Forum" should be submitted to the Editorial Board. After receiving the manuscript, if the editorial board judges it necessary, the reviewers may give an interview to the author(s) in person or by phone to clarify points in addition to the exchange of the reviewers'reports.2 Qualification of contributorsThere are no limitations regarding author affiliation or discipline as long as the content of the submitted article meets the editorial policy of Synthesiology, except authorship should be clearly stated. (It should be clearly stated that all authors have made essential contributions to the paper.)3 Manuscripts3.1 General3.1.1 Articles may be submitted in Japanese or English.Accepted articles will be published in Synthesiology (ISSN 1882-6229) in the language they were submitted. All articles will also be published in Synthesiology - English edition (ISSN 1883-0978). The English edition will be distributed throughout the world approximately four months after the original Synthesiology issue is published. Articles written in English will be published in English in both the original Synthesiology as well as the English edition. Authors who write articles for Synthesiology in Japanese will be asked to provide English translations for the English edition of the journal within 2 months after the original edition is published.3.1.2 Research papers should comply with the structure and format stated below, and editorials should also comply with the same structure and format except subtitles and abstracts are unnecessary. Manuscripts for "Readers' Forum" shall be comments on or impressions of articles in Synthesiology, or beneficial information for the readers, and should be written in a free style of no more than 1,200 words. Editorials and manuscripts for "Readers' Forum" will be reviewed by the Editorial Board prior to being approved for publication.3.1.3 Research papers should only be original papers (new literary work).3.1.4 Research papers should comply with various guidelines of research ethics.3.2 Structure3.2.1 The manuscript should include a title (including subtitle), abstract, the name(s) of author(s), institution/contact, main text, and keywords (about 5 words).3.2.2 Title, abstract, name of author(s), keywords, and institution/contact shall be provided in Japanese and English.3.2.3 The manuscript shall be prepared using word processors or similar devices, and printed on A4-size portrait (vertical) sheets of paper. The length of the manuscript shall be, about 6 printed pages including figures, tables, and photographs.3.2.4 Research papers and editorials shall have front covers and the category of the articles (research paper or editorial) shall be stated clearly on the cover sheets.3.2.5 The title should be about 10-20 Japanese characters (5-10 English words), and readily understandable for a diverse readership background. Research papers shall have subtitles of about 15-25 Japanese characters (7-15 English words) to help recognition by specialists.3.2.6 The abstract should include the thoughts behind the integration of technological elements and the reason for their selection as well as the scenario for utilizing the research results in society.3.2.7 The abstract should be 300 Japanese characters or less (125 English words). The Japanese abstract may be omitted in the English edition.3.2.8 The main text should be about 9,000 Japanese characters (3,400 English words).3.2.9 The article submitted should be accompanied by profiles of all authors, of about 200 Japanese characters (75 English words) for each author. The essential contribution of each author to the paper should also be included. Confirm that all persons who have made essential contributions to the paper are included.3.2.10 Discussion with reviewers regarding the


text:
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text:
So, Kate and I were both annoyed by a recent BuzzFeed article ranking all 144 episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," a series which I love quite a bit and to which she is irrationally attached. We didn't agree with the rankings at all, basically, and I didn't like that there was no real sense of a rubric, no one standard or set of standards by which the episodes were being judged.
We were originally going to do one post about our top ten, but that wasn't working out, so she's going to do her top ten at her site, I'm going to do my top ten over here, and then we're going to have a joint post discussion of all things Buffy, and perhaps my brother (who is not her brother – I know, our family is weird!) will join us.
I have to confess, from the outset, that my memory is pretty blurry on seasons 5-7. Okay, 4-7. I actually have zero memory of anything that happened in Season 7. The Big Bad was the First, right? Like, the First evil, source of all other evil? Which mainly looked like your dead loved ones and got all up in your head about shit? And Buffy found all the Slayers-in-waiting? And Faith was good again? I mean, good for Faith? And some creepy church dude who was maybe played by Nathan Fillon? Okay, so that's not zero memory. That's, like, .75 memory. (Sorry, Zoe is making me number everything. "Do you like this game/outfit/picture? How much?" And the scale is 0 – infinity, and she is always disappointed if the number is < 100. Also she doesn't believe infinity > any single number.)
So my episodes are mostly going to come from seasons 1-3, and also, the rubric I will be using will mainly be, "Do I enjoy the experience of watching this episode?" There will also be consideration given for "a really good and useful way of exploring the themes of the season/series" and/or "a really well-done story in and of itself." But mostly it's going to be, "If I flip on the TV and the episode is on, do I want to watch it?"
Also, I think the issue with "Buffy" is, for me, it's not as much about episodes as it is about arcs, threads, lines, and characters. So there are some perfectly terrible episodes with great moments. "The Zeppo" (3.13) is the one featuring Xander trying to prove (to himself, mostly) that he's useful and capable and it's just a dreadful episode. Totally out-of-character moments for all the other Scoobies just to set up a contrivance-filled, stupid-ass plot. But! It's the one where, upon discovering that Willow and Buffy have eaten all the jelly-filled donuts during a research session, Giles says, "But I'm the one who always says, 'Let's have some jellies in the mix,'" and it is awesome. But we'll get into threads, arcs, lines and characters in the group discussion.
Now, this list is going to leave out some great episodes. Episodes like "Surprise" (2.13) and "Innocence" (2.14) which really cemented the show's theme of monsters=real life with its "Lose your virginity to a guy, watch him become a monster" thing. And the way Giles reaffirms Buffy's worth as a person despite her dirty, dirty sex-having cements this show in the feminist firmament. The end of season two, "Becoming (Part I)" (2.21) and "Becoming (Part II)" (2.22) was brilliantly executed and heart-breaking. Angel, having lost his soul to Buffy's happiness-inducing hoo-ha in "Surprise", has started a spell that can bring about the end of the world. Buffy must kill him to end the spell. At one point, it looks like he's defeated her. She's on the ground, weaponless, and he asks, "What happens when you take away your friends, your family, your weapons?" (I'm paraphrasing) and she grabs his sword by the blade and says "Me." Bad-ass. But then during their final fight Willow, from the hospital, completes the spell that restores his soul. He becomes Angel again, unaware of what he's been up to, still in love with Buffy. And she has to shove a sword into his belly anyway. This episode was my first exposure to the show, not through watching it, but through having it described to me by my bff right before first period the morning after it aired. I cried intermittently all day, despite never having watched the show.
The finale of Season 3, "Graduation (Part I)" (3.21) and "Graduation (Part II)" (3.22) is also kick-ass, with Buffy leading the school in bringing down their mayor-turned-enormous-snake-demon (Joss does love his phallic imagery), which is both just cool as hell and also all thematic and shit with Buffy graduating from childhood and shucking off all her patriarchal oppressors. I'm also a fan of all things involving Faith, the other Slayer, Buffy's dark side.
And I'll mention some moments and some powerful forces in "Buffy" that I don't have room for here. But I already cheated on my Top
Ten Seventeen (How very dare I! Kate's going to hate this!) list so here we go!
10. "Hush" 4.10/"The Body" 5.16
I did, actually, pair these for a reason. I promised that my rubric was "Episodes I love to watch."
I cannot watch either of these.
And yet they are two of the best episodes of the series.
"Hush" (4.10) is the only episode to be nominated for an Emmy. I read over at Snark Squad that it was written in response to the criticism that, sure, Joss can write witty dialogue, but that's really the only trick up his sleeve. So he wrote an episode in which the Monsters of the Week – The Gentlemen – steal everybody's voices in Sunnydale. So no dialogue. But Emmy nominations. Take that, mofos.
It's a really brilliant episode. The lack of dialogue – or any sound at all, really – is compelling, and it allows the characters to express themselves in other ways, when language was really a barrier between them. Buffy and her Season 4 love interest Riley, after stumbling in and out of conversations about cheese and classwork (He's her TA and we'll just pretend that's okay. So much was wrong with their relationship that I'm not going to quibble about inappropriate teacher-student relations.), finally can express their attraction and kiss in silence. Even small moments, like Willow being visibly freaked out by all the silence and Giles hugging her, even though neither of them is usually that physical, are lovely. And it uses humor really brilliantly, too. Giles gives a projector-enhanced "talk" on his research, which is already hilarious, and then Buffy, in order to indicate that she wants to know if she can stake them, makes a motion that . . .
well . . .
Looks like that. And everyone gives her hilarious side-eye. Even just the guy selling whiteboards for $10 was great. American entrepreneurship, people.
So with all this awesomeness, why can't I watch it?
Because it creeps me way the fuck out. I can't watch this and then hope to sleep for, like, a week.
The Gentlemen, oh, my God, the Gentlemen. They have these gracious, polite mannerisms and these creepy as fuck smiles and they glide everywhere in a group of seven and SCARE ME TO DEATH, OKAY?
And! The whole episode is capped by a disembodied, high-pitched child's sing-song voice reciting a creepy nursery rhyme about the gentlemen.
Plus not being able to speak is one of my top five biggest nightmares.
So. Great episode. Deserves a spot on the list. Can't watch it.
"The Body" (5.16) is similarly quiet; the decision was made not to have any of the soundtracking customary to TV shows. Whedon & co. didn't want to guide your emotional reactions. And they didn't have to. Joyce Summers, Buffy's mother, is found dead by her titular daughter. She's died of complications related to a brain tumor; there's no demon or vampire for Buffy to fight. Just real life.
Look, I can't even write about this episode. The last half-decade or so of my life renders me completely incapable. Go look at my sister's blog for the Anya quote that goes with that picture; it's heart-breaking. The whole episode is heart-breaking. And my heart can't withstand it.
9. "Helpless" 3.12/"Checkpoint" 5.12
Another pairing! Ha! And these, while separated, deal with the same theme – Buffy's relationship with The Watcher's Council, the sort of bosses of the Slayerverse. They only really play a part in these two episodes, and both times, they illustrate how much Joss Whedon hates authority.
I mean, how useless they are to Buffy.
The first, "Helpless," is really a heartbreaking episode. It's Buffy's eighteenth birthday, and, because Slayers don't usually make it to eighteen, they get tested at that age. Their watchers are instructed to inject them with something that takes away their superpowers, and the Council then sets up a test, to see if they can survive without them. What's that, you ask? Why would the council deliberately endanger the few Slayers strong and smart enough to get to their eighteenth birthdays? I dunno, dude. Because the patriarchal authority structure sucks. Don't you pay attention?
It's no accident that this episode takes place during the season in which the Big Bad is The Mayor, another very literal representation of oppressive (demonic) patriarchy. And it involves another patriarch and his relationship with the Slayer – Giles, her pseudo-father. In the beginning of the episode, Buffy makes that connection for us, in case we hadn't already picked up on it. Her real father is unable to make their annual date to the Ice Capades, and Buffy brings this up with Giles, saying the Ice Capades is something you take your daughter to. Or your student. Or your Slayer.
But Giles is at first complicit in the Council's plans, even though it's plaguing his conscience. Then the extra-vicious vampire that the Council's brought in – he was a homicidal sociopath before he was turned – gets loose because in addition to being evil, the Council is dangerously incompetent. (They actually remind me a little of the villain of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. They are not evil because they are on the side of bad, the way demons and vampires are. They are evil because they are on the side of good but think that their ends – that the world is saved – justify their atrocious, abusive, officious means.) So Giles tells Buffy what's up. Buffy is furious with Giles and leaves him. Giles decides to arm himself and go help her.
Buffy, in the end, needs very little help to rescue her mother from the vampire's clutches. She fights though she is weakened and defeats the vampire with a glass of holy water placed near his medication (I guess even if you get turned into a vampire you still need your psychiatric meds?). She feels betrayed by her not-dad, but that feeling of betrayal is softened when the head of the Council announces that while Buffy passed her test, Giles failed. He has a father's feelings toward the Slayer. The Council fires him, but Buffy says "Fuck that" and fires the council. It's like she's growing up and emancipating herself from all this patriarchal authority right around her eighteenth birthday/high school graduation? You know?
The Council shows up two years later in Season 5. At this point Giles and Buffy have been operating Council-free for a while. And the Big Bad that season is the better-in-smaller-doses Glory, whose main superpowers are, as far as I can tell, to annoy me and to maintain perfect ringlets at all times.
Anyway, what The Council knows but Buffy doesn't at this stage is that Glory is not your run-0f-the-mill demon; she's a god. And they won't tell Buffy unless Buffy passes various tests. Buffy tries at first to jump through their hoops, and we have a good time watching her friends answer interview questions (Willow and Tara get adorably defensive about their lesbian love, only to learn that the Council cares about their relationship with Buffy, not with each other; Anya tries to cover up the fact that she's an ex-demon; Spike gets flirtatious with a Councilette who gigglingly confesses that she wrote her thesis on him). But in the end she's like, "You know what? I'm the motherfuckin' Slayer. You need me more than I need you. So how about you give me my information and I agree to let you keep living?" And, on Giles's prompting, "And you give Giles his job back. With backpay."
Anyway, I like the episodes that speak to the feminist-oriented themes and the anti-authoritarian themes underlying the series, and these Council-centered episodes give a pretty good lens on that.
8. "This Year's Girl" 4.15 & "Who Are You" 4.16
Oh, Katie Boe, I don't think I have many single-episode items on this list. This pairing, at least, makes sense, because this is a two-part episode, and I know you have a problem even with that, but it's one story split into two 43-minute segments; I'm not going to feel bad here.
This two-episode story is about Faith, the other Slayer, who shows up in Season Three and is sort of Buffy's "bad girl" alter ego. At first they play for the same team, slaying together, working through their different work styles and towards common goals. Buffy is confounded by Faith's ease and happiness with the Slayer life, and Faith is confused by Buffy's I'm-still-a-nice-regular-girl-schtick. (Best moment from Faith's first episode, "Faith, Hope & Trick" (3.03) is when Faith, trying to connect with Buffy, says, "Isn't it funny how slaying always makes you hungry and horny?" While her friends all look to Buffy, full of curiosity, Buffy shrinks in her chair and says, "I sometimes crave a non-fat frozen yogurt?" That, right there, is the difference between Faith and Buffy.)
But in the middle of Season 3, Faith accidentally kills a human. (I mean, he worked for the demonic mayor, but he wasn't a demon, and it's not clear if he knew the mayor was.) The way she handles it, and the way Buffy and the Scoobies handle it, pushes Faith to the dark side. She spends the rest of Season 3 working for the Mayor, until Buffy nearly kills her in a fight over Buffy's vampire-with-a-soul boyfriend Angel. Then Faith is in a coma and we don't hear about her again until this pair of episodes.
Faith wakes up and realizes that a lot has happened since she's been out. She is left a gift by the dead Mayor that allows her to switch bodies with Buffy. Buffy, in Faith's body, ends up in the clutches of The Council, while Faith, in Buffy's body, messes with Buffy's friends, sleeps with Buffy's boyfriend, and torments Spike a little in one of those scenes where you go, "Yeah, Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Marsters have too much chemistry for them not to hook up eventually."
Faith plans on escaping Sunnydale in Buffy's body, but when some demons attack a church, she realizes that the "Because it's wrong" Buffy she's been mocking is in her, too. She can't take her chance at escape and let all those people die . . . because it's wrong.
The episode pair is great in part because Sarah Michelle Gellar f-ing NAILS IT. I don't feel strongly about her acting one way or another most of the time. I think she has brilliant, beautiful moments and meh moments and gets-the-job-done-competently moments. This episode pair is one of her absolute best.
And of course it's always delightful to see Eliza Dushku. She's nowhere near as good as Sarah Michelle Gellar here but she's not bad and she's pretty and Faith is a great character.
But I also like the way it explores the theme that Faith has always been instrumental in exploring – what does it mean to have Slayer powers? What are your ethical obligations? How do you handle the power? How do Buffy and Faith deal with these questions differently? Especially in a Season that really has Buffy dealing with what it means to be a Slayer now that she's not in college, and now that there's such a thing as the Initiative, and now that her world has been morally compromised by a vampire-with-a-chip-and-killer-cheekbones, it's a really good episode pair.
7. "Witch" 1.03/"Puppet Show" 1.09/"Earshot" 3.18
This is really going to drive Kate nuts. Sorry, Kate!
I included these three because I said in the beginning that my rubric was "Episodes I Want to Watch." I love these four. There's nothing particularly awesome about any of them from a season/series arc perspective or from a storytelling perspective. In fact, some of them, like "Witch" aren't even objectively all that good.
But "Witch" has Drunk Buffy (She's not really drunk; she's under a witch's curse) which is delightful and also Joyce's declaration that under no circumstances would she ever in a million years want to be a teenager again, which, I feel ya, Joyce!
"Earshot" is the one where Buffy can hear people's thoughts. Again, nothing awesome or thematically relevant about it, but it's funny. It's funny the way Cordelia is always saying exactly what she's thinking. It's funny when Buffy, having been cured of this problem, is back at school with Giles and Giles invites her to a training session that afternoon and she goes, "Sure. If you're not too busy having sex with my mother!" and he walks into a tree. It's funny how Willow and Xander are thinking regular teen things and Oz is getting all philosophical, like, "If we are because we think, and she can hear our thoughts, do we exist at all? Are we all Buffy? Is she us?"
(This episode actually couldn't air with its season originally because in it, tertiary nerd Jonathan has got a gun in a clock tower and it's implied he's going to shoot his fellow students, although it turns out he intended to shoot himself. And right before it was supposed to air, Columbine happened.)
And "Puppet Show," a first-season one-off in which a demon is harvesting body parts from students involved in the school's talent show and also there's a ventriloquist's dummy who's also a cursed demon hunter and really, there's nothing special about this episode at all. It's just fun. And if it's on, I watch.
6. "Anne" 3.01
The end of Season Two really just sucked for our girl. The second slayer (who was called when Buffy died briefly at the end of Season One) is killed by one of the Big Bad trio of the season and Buffy is accused of the murder by the principal who has it out for her anyway. Said principal also expels her. Her mother finds out about her Slayer-ness (For which I was grateful – two seasons of her not realizing what her daughter was up to just speaks to extreme parental negligence.) and kicks her out of the house. (So I guess the parental negligence is not over.) And then, she has to kill her suddenly re-be-souled love Angel. Sure, when she's fighting him (while he still doesn't have a soul yet) she declares that, even without her friends, family, and life, she's still got "Me" and "me" is a total badass, but that's a lot for a high school junior to take. So she gets on a bus and starts a new life in L.A. as a waitress at a diner named Anne. A waitress who doesn't say a word when a patron pinches her ass. It's like she's not "me" anymore!
Until a damsel in distress leads her to a demon who's making the most of kids like her who don't think they're "me" anymore! Then she leads those poor lost kids in a revolt against the demon!
It's a beautiful and brilliant episode. It shows you exactly what Buffy still has inside her. My favorite moment is when she's investigating the demon at a blood drive center and the nurse walks in on her and threatens to call the police. Buffy very calmly rips the phone off the wall and proceeds to question the nurse like it ain't no thing. Kick-ass. It's a great, feminist-y but also just human message about what happens when you don't know who you are and when you find out. And it foreshadows the end of the season, where Buffy will lead her classmates in revolt against their Mayor/giant snake demon.
I was going to mention the other season opener, "When She Was Bad" (2.01), when Buffy comes back from L.A. after having died and then killed the Master who murdered her, brats around for a while, then sobs as she pummels the Master's bones with a mallet. And the next day, even though she'd been awful to her friends for days, they greet her like nothing's wrong and ask what they're all doing tonight. And Xander, with a big smile, says, "Well, we could grind our enemy's bones to powder, but heck, we did that last night!" I love the depiction of friendship on this show. But I didn't want to drive Kate even crazier.
5. "Nightmares" 1.10/"Killed By Death" 2.18
These two are my favorite scary episodes. "Nightmares" (1.10) has a boy in a coma who has brought everyone in Sunnydale into a nightmare universe, in which all their nightmares become true. This is one of those early episodes that doesn't try to answer "Why?" with more than "Uh, Hellmouth?" which is fine. I am attracted to dream-episodes and this was a good one. We get your standard naked-in-class/doesn't-know-anything-for-a-test/singing-on-stage stuff, but then things get scarier. Buffy is informed by her father that her parents' divorce was really all her fault for being such a difficult child. Then we see her grave (which is Giles's nightmare. Because he's her real father.) and then she climbs out of it a vampire, declaring that they better solve this problem quick, because she's getting hungry.
And then it turns out that the kid is in a coma because his coach beat him up. Awesome. Do you think Joss struggles with authority? Especially when it's male?
"Killed By Death" 2.18 puts Buffy in the hospital with the flu, where she discovers a demon that sucks the life out of little kids and can only be seen by feverish kids. So even when Buffy gets better, she has to give herself some flu virus so she can see the monster she's fighting, which is kinda cool. And it's the demon that killed Buffy's cousin when she and Buffy were kids, so . . . something meaningful? I don't know. And then one of the kids she saved makes the above picture for her. I don't know, really, why I like this episode so much. I just do.
4. "Halloween" 2.06
So I love that in the Buffyverse, Halloween is pretty much a day off for the demons, because, you know, so commercial. I love it because it's funny on its own but also because it echoes what we deal with in the real world. Do you know that only one person has ever poisoned kids' candy on Halloween? And that person was the kids' father? He poisoned his kids' pixie stix, figuring that he wouldn't be caught, because they'd just be part of the annual rash of kids being poisoned by Halloween candy. Only since that NEVER HAPPENS EVER, he was totally caught, and because he lived in Texas, he was executed. I'm not really in favor of the death penalty, like, in principle, but I can't say that makes me real sad.
Anyway, in this episode, the demons are relaxing, but Ethan Rayne, a human and an old friend of Giles's from Giles's bad boy teen years, is in town to make trouble. Any costume bought at his shop turns you into that character! Xander becomes an actual military person, Willow becomes a sort of hooker/ghost (don't worry about it), and Buffy becomes a dainty 18th century damsel. It's not really that great an episode – there's some uncomfortable Xander-needs-to-prove-his-masculinity schtick and it's not clear to me what, if anything, Ethan was after, although if all he was after was mayhem that's fine by me. But it's a really fun concept, and Sarah Michelle Gellar is laughably bad as a damsel. She gets better at that kind of character – I love her as the Buffybot in Season 5, even if the plot line is disturbing and gross – but here, with the accent and the ridiculousness, it's terrible. But enjoyably terrible. I love this episode.
3. "The Wish" 3.09/"Doppelgangland" 3.16
I'm going to go ahead and feel okay lumping these two together because they are both good for basically the same reason – they have Vamp Willow! Allyson Hannigan is a complete delight all the time, and her evil counterpart is so perfectly Willow, but evil.
In "The Wish" (3.09), a new girl has come to Sunnydale in the wake of Cordelia and Xander's break-up (which happens as a result of events in "Lover's Walk" (3.08), another great episode I don't have room for here, even with my generous interpretation of "ten"). But she's not just a girl, she's a vengeance demon! And she grants the wishes of wronged women!
Cordelia (not realizing she's talking to a demon) reasons that if Buffy had never come to Sunnydale High, teen queen Cordelia would never have looked twice at nerdy, awkward Xander, and it was only his coolness-by-association-with-Buffy that led to their going out at all. (It's actually a kind of weird speech, because Cordelia doesn't think Buffy is cool. It was more that Xander kept being involved in activities that saved Cordelia's life/the world that pushed her toward Xander. Still, that was Buffy's fault, so, you know, same result.) So Cordelia wishes that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale.
And then our favorite vengeance demon Anyanka goes all veiny in the face and says, "Done," transporting Cordelia to the Sunnydale that would exist if Buffy hadn't been there. A Sunnydale in which you're not to wear bright colors and you're to get home before dark. A Sunnydale in which there are monthly memorial services for all the Sunnydale High kids who die each month. A Sunnydale in which the Master arose (an event which Buffy had prevented back in "Welcome to the Hellmouth" (1.01) and "The Harvest" (1.02)) and turned the teen nightclub The Bronze into his personal headquarters. A Sunnydale in which Xander and Willow have been turned and Angel is kept in a cage and tortured for their amusement.
Like I said, Willow takes the cake here, because she's still Willow, just with also being a vampire. She asks the Master if she can "play with the puppy" in that same adorable Allyson Hannigan voice – and "play with the puppy" turns out to mean "flick lit matches at a chained up Angel." And also she tortures and kills Cordelia. And I even like the idea that alterna-Willow is the Master's favorite, and regularly-scheduled-Willow is the mini-Giles. But even besides that, I am a big fan of alternate histories and "What if this one thing were different?" kind of stories, and this delivers. Buffy eventually arrives from, like, Ohio? Detroit? Somewhere like that. And it's a different Buffy. A kickass Buffy, sure, but a Buffy who is more like what we've been shown Slayers are like without family and friends and other things to tether them to the real world – a little heedless of her own life. She'll fight, she'll kill, but she won't protect herself. She won't even necessarily protect others. And, in fact, in this alterna-reality, The Master snaps her neck, killing her. In our reality, the Master also killed Buffy that one time – but she was connected to people who loved her and rescued her.
Eventually, Giles realizes that the necklace the now-dead Cordy was wearing was a power center for the demon who created this reality and smashes it, sending us back to the reality we know, and only Anya knows what happens. Only now Anya is stuck in human form and we get a brand-new, (mostly) delightful Scooby!
A few episodes later, in "Doppelgangland" (3.16), Anya gets Willow to help her with a spell that's an attempt to recover Anya's lost necklace. But something goes awry and instead of bringing the necklace over from the other dimension, they bring Vamp Willow! Really it's mostly an opportunity for Allyson Hannigan to show of her mad skillz again, but it's a good opportunity and full of many cute moments, not the least of which is the hug that first Buffy, then Xander, and then Giles, pile onto when they realize that their Willow has not been vamped. And it also helps Willow own a little of her own badassery.
2. "Band Candy" 3.06
Like I said on Facebook, I realized I was a grown-up when I stopped crushing on Oz and started crushing on Giles. And this episode right here really helped.
Now, this episode of "Buffy" is not one of its strongest, plot-wise. Ethan Rayne, Giles's ex-friend, is back in town for a little chaos-causing. This time, he's poisoned the candy that every Sunnydale High student has to sell for the benefit of the marching band, such that when the adults (who buy it from their children because honestly, who wants to go door to door selling candy?) eat it, they all revert to their teenage selves. Unfortunately for the gang but SO VERY FORTUNATELY FOR ME, Giles had a particularly rebellious teenagehood and his re-enactment of his teenage self is just so fantastic I can't even.
Anthony Stewart Head is a national treasure. I guess not of our nation, but still.
But the chaos is all to collect, like, five babies from the hospital's nursery. Which the demons can do because the nurse on guard is resentfully watching TV and munching chocolate and not paying attention but . . . the whole town of adults needed be turned into teenagers to achieve this end? Most of them don't go anywhere near the hospital on a given day.
Ah, who cares. Giles! And actually all the adults do a fantastic job of being teenagers for this episode. Delightful.
1. "Once More with Feeling" 6.07
The musical episode. Best thing ever.
Look, even if they did an only mediocre job with the episode, it was going to be my favorite anyway. I love musicals and I love the musical-ization of things that should not be musical-ized. But they actually did a really good job with it. The songs were not bad at all. All the singing was not great – Anthony Stewart Head and Amber Benson (Willow's girlfriend Tara) can sing but none of the rest of the cast really can – but there were solid acting and storytelling reasons to keep all their voices as is, rather than "Singin' in the Rain" the whole thing.
And Season 6 is a tough one to deal with. It's mostly about Buffy suffering from severe depression after she died and was brought back to life – and out of heaven – by her friends. But the musical episode manages to skillfully sort through her emotional issues as well as all of the issues everyone else is having, all the secrets they're keeping from each other, all the things they're not saying. That's actually the Monster of the Week's job – he comes to town and everyone sings their feelings until they spontaneously combust.
And the lyrics are really talented at getting at double and even triple meanings in terms of what's happening for people. In the second song of the episode, "I've Got a Theory," in which the Scoobies gather at Giles's magic shop to research what could be causing the singing and dancing, everyone proposes various possibilities, and then Buffy sings:
I've got a theory
It doesn't matter.
What can't we face if we're together?
What's in the world that we can't weather?
Apocalypse, we've all been there.
The same old tricks.
Why should we care?
What can't we do if we get in it?
We'll work it through within a minute.
We have to try.
We'll pay the price.
It's do or die.
Hey, I've died twice.
On the surface, and as perceived by her friends, it's a bad-ass, bring-it-on type statement, and that last line is met with smiles. But the audience, who knows what she's going through, also sees that deep, troubling ennui that's seized her and that she sang about in her first song, "Going Through the Motions." What difference does it make what this demon does or doesn't do? Nothing will change.
Xander and Anya also have a pretty good song about their relationship that I think encapsulates all the relationship problems that aren't "S/he cheated on me/hit me/stole my money." They sing about their uncertainty about getting married, including the little things – "She eats these skeazy cheeses that I can't abide" – with the big things – "Will our lives become too stressful if I'm never that successful?" and "I've read this tale; there's wedding, then betrayal." And they also reaffirm the title of the song, "I'll Never Tell," which is of course at the root of every relationship problem ever.
And Willow and Tara's song – well, Tara's song that she sings to Tara – is this lovely, beautiful little ballad full of sweetness and magic, and also some dirtiness when Willow totally goes down on Tara on network TV . . . except that we know, and Tara does not, that Willow's been using magic to mess with Tara's mind so that Tara will forget the things she's mad at Willow for. NOT COOL, WILLOW. NOT COOL. Also they are both wearing beautiful, but totally bizarre outfits in that scene.
The plot, I'll admit, is a little weak. The musical demon was summoned, and the episode tries to indicate that it was Dawn, that ball-of-energy/Buffy's sister, and that would have made some degree of sense. Dawn is a lot younger than the Scooby gang and has been shown time and time again, before and after this episode, to do batshit stupid things regarding the demon world she knows is out there. But then, to wrap up the episode, they reveal that it was Xander who summoned the demon. Because, you know, whoever summoned the demon has to go be his hell bride, but the demon doesn't really want Xander. Haha. Male homosexuality is hilarious.
The problem is, Xander has been a Scooby since he was fifteen. He has already had one bad run-in with magic, when he tried to do a spell on Cordelia in "Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered" (2.16) and it went very awry. And he's spent the past two seasons growing into a mature, responsible, supportive man. It's too much of a stretch to believe he'd have done this. Dawn doing it would have given me one more reason to hate Dawn, but it would have been in character. I would have also accepted that sterling explanation that was so popular in Season One, "Umm . . . Hellmouth?" But since it's such a minor part of the episode it doesn't really mar your enjoyment. This episode does that thing Whedon does best – funny and deeply emotional all at the same time.
Also, Spike and Buffy finally kiss. Which you knew had to happen because Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Marsters set off fire alarms when they're within five feet of each other. But ugh. We'll talk more about my ugh feelings in the discussion with Kate and Evan.


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E3 2015: Hands-On with Skullgirls 2nd Encore
When it comes to fighting games I would place myself in the casual category. I dabbled in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 when that came out and I competed in a tournament or two before realizing I had no business being in one. And the most serious I have ever taken a fighting game was Divekick because it did not require me to learn crazy combos. So while I may not be the best one to report on Skullgirls 2nd Encore I will say my lack of skills did not stop me from enjoying my time with the 2D fighter from Lab Zero Games.
The first thing that will make you take notice of this game is the amazing art and animation featured in the game. What Skullgirls is able to do with their animation is impressive with each character having detailed and unique animations that give each character distinct personality. It is a beautiful game to look at in motion.
Now while I am incapable of going into detail on the mechanics of the game due to my lack of fighting game knowledge I can go into what I learned during my brief 30 minute demo. To start things off I went into a match where Earl from Lab Zero Games graciously went easy on me and even let me win a match. During my first match I was shown a neat feature called "sparring mode" and this mode paused the match mid battle and we were able to fight with no health bars and he showed me combos with hit stats. Now while that sounds like no big deal what was a big deal was when he switched out of this mode we were able to resume our match from where we left it. This little feature is huge for someone like me because it allows players to switch from a match to training on the fly. Allowing players the chance to experiment with moves without having to interrupt a match or wasting time quitting a match and loading into the main menu. For example if a friend does a crazy combination and you want to know how, your friend could switch to sparring and do the move again without you having to quit the match or lose further damage trying to recreate the move. It's a time saver and is done with ease making for a better overall experience.
The small stuff counts too in Skullgirls 2nd Encore because other features that caught my attention were the measures taken to prevent accidental pausing during games. We have all been there in the heat of a fight where someone slips and accidentally pauses the game. And in this game that will not be a problem because in order to pause the game you have to hold the button down for a couple of seconds. It's a small tweak, but something I hope more fighters borrow. Another cool thing is when you pick a random stage the game will continue to randomly pick a stage every time you choose rematch after a fight. So you will not be stuck in the same stage rematch after rematch or have to bounce out of a match to pick a different stage. Again the small stuff can make for a better overall experience. What I saw from my quick 30 minute appointment interested me enough to consider giving another fighting game a chance despite my casual nature with the genre.
Other modes that are included in 2nd Encore include Survival Mode and Challenges. In Survival players will face an endless wave of fighters and will see how long they can last. As for Challenges this mode will have players fight under special circumstances. I had limited time with the game so I did not see these other modes in motion sadly.
Skullgirls 2nd Encore is set to release this Summer for the PlayStation 4 and will be Cross-Buy with a PlayStation Vita version which launches later than the PS4 version.