I rant, therefore I am

[angelchicken]

According to my dermatologist, the meds I am on for my acne do not cause weight gain. Which sucks. SUCKS! Because I was sure that was at least part of it (the freaking timing coincides).

Grr, Agrh.

I think I am going to keep a food/exercise journal.

ETA: I have realized why TWoP recaps and the stuff about Spike is bugging me ever so much (nothing new. This has been around for a long, long time). So here it is:

Like the cool kids who publicly praise a new, relatively unknown band then completely turn on them when everyone else starts buying there albums, so does TWoP treat Spike. Go back to the recaps of season four and five of "Buffy" and season one and two of "Angel". Sep, Ace and Strega all loved Spike and JM. Every one. Strega talks about restraining orders against JM and Sep asks if James could sleep with her to get him in front of EC and MT in the opening credits. They loved him. And as soon as he started becoming popular, they turned their opinions around.

And that annoys me. I liked the recaps a lot. I read them every week without fail and one of my best friends printed out every one and gave them to me as a birthday present a few years ago.

I am not saying that they should love & adore the character and that they should cater their recaps to match my thoughts and feelings about Buffy, Angel, Spike et al. That's ridiculous. And they have every right to hate the character (Lord knows there is reason to hate Spike). But it feels so false to me. Like as soon as Riley left they needed a new scapegoat and Spike/JM filled the space.

This isn't all that coherent. And I have nothing against the TWoP recappers. I just can't agree with anything that is written about the ME shows at the site (in the forums as well. They got rid of the bitterness thread because the whole freaken' Buffy and Angel Forums are just bitter, bitter, bitter. For some reason the first three seasons are idealized and people seem to refuse to see anything good in the fourth through seventh season.

And, with all due respect, there were some crappy episodes in the first three seasons. And there were some excellent episodes in last four. And the whole TWoP mindframe of "terrible until proven otherwise" pisses me off. Yes, it was (and is) a website that focused on snark (it's their motto, for frank's sake), but there is a difference between fun snark and flat out bitter diatribes. It just isn't worth it anymore.

And that rant ended up in a whole different place that it started.

My main point was: The ME mods all used to love and adore Spike. Now they all despise them. And I'm not quite sure why. I thought they were recapping for the fans. Now I don't know who they're recapping for.

Comments

[scaryveinybb.livejournal.com]

Well to be fair, a lot of people used to love Spike and then had it turn to hate. I used to love Spike in seasons 2, 3, and 4 but after various character developments and events and whatnot, which I won't go into, the love went into cardiac arrest. It had absolutely nothing to do with Spike being popular or TWoP (I hadn't even found TWoP before I'd starting hating him) and I know a lot of people who have a very similar story. So it could easily be the same case for the mods. I do agree that by the end (basically late s6 and all of s7), their recaps were, well, not good. But yeah, I just don't think you can blame their Spike hate on the fact that he's popular; it seemed to me like they had a very similar reaction as a lot of us did to what was happening on the show.

I also think the idealising of the first three seasons isn't as chronic as people make out. I mean, yeah, some people are like that, but I've met far more who also loved the S4 and enjoyed a lot of S5 and even 6; their favourite seasons just happen to be the first three. Personally, I love the first four and enjoy a great deal of five but find re-watching s6 just absolute torture, so I solved that by only buying the first 5 on DVD. Anyway, my point is that just because some people prefer the early seasons doesn't mean... well, anything, IMO. It's just a personal taste thing. I absolutely loved S2 and every episode in it, even the ones other people think are bad, and that's just the way it is. Other people absolutely love s7 and every episode in THAT, even the ones people think are bad, and all the more power to them. Just divergences in taste.

[angelchicken.livejournal.com]

I absolutely know that a lot of people had Spike love early on and it turned to hate. And I know that there are truly valid reasons. Hee, thats the problem with getting my rant on on lj. I just can't say things right.

And, as I said, I totally respect the mods (and everyone else's) opinions re: Spike and the Wheadon shows, I just feel that the fandom is so misrepresented by TWoP. It just sort of kills me that it feels like the mods go into new eps (at least during the recaps) assuming it is going to be terrible and unless the ep is CwDP or OM,WF like then there are no redeeming qualities. I, of course, solved that problem by no longer reading the recaps. :)

As for the other, I was mostly talking TWoP (I expanded the rant at that point. Not my intention, but I went with it). I feel like every thread I visit is talking about how much better it used to be. That makes me Grr because if it is such a terrible show then why are they still watching (well, the mods I understand because it's there job. Besides, they usually don't dis the show in the threads. They had the recaps for that). And I am not a fan of the Gang-warfare mentality that is seen in all the Wheadon threads, it seems (Spike included). The "This is the general consensus of these boards and so think this or you will be *slammed*" vibes.

I am so, so tired, and I absolutely understand what you are saying (and if I come off snarky, I really, really didn'y mean too). I was just thinking about how most of the people on my friends list I met through TWoP (including ye) and now I am almost never there because it has become such a bitter place. I have no room for bitterness.

Huhzzah! (and I hope that made even a modicum of sense)

[angelchicken.livejournal.com]

Anyway, my point is that just because some people prefer the early seasons doesn't mean... well, anything, IMO. It's just a personal taste thing. I absolutely loved S2 and every episode in it, even the ones other people think are bad, and that's just the way it is. Other people absolutely love s7 and every episode in THAT, even the ones people think are bad, and all the more power to them. Just divergences in taste.

I totally agree and understand, and I really have no problem with the people who love the first few seasons more than the last few (my fav. season is actually Season 2). I don't think I made it clear (ranting, the bane of writers everywhere) was not that I hate people who prefer the first few seasons, but I dislike when people go out of their way to criticize the later seasons because they don't hold up to their personal standard, which is something you find in almost every post in the ep threads. It is criticism after criticism and compare, compare, compare. If you are a fan of the show, visiting TWoP is a seriously depressing experience. That make sense? My criticism isn't with people who prefer earlier Buffy and Angel to later seasons, it is with the people who, every week, went out of their way to post about how awful the show was. Like I said, I solved that prob by staying away.

I am also obsessively protective of Buffy.

And I am also a pretty green hue because I want a golden goose set of the S5 DVD's! I want it right. now. /Verruca Salt voice.

[scaryveinybb.livejournal.com]

Oh I completely agree on the bitterness. It became utterly ridiculous. I just stopped going. When I first started going to TWoP, the musical had just aired here and I was so, so in love with the show that I found all of the negative commentary really hurtful ('cause I think you guys had just seen the finale). I still am so, so in love with the show, but I can take criticism for s6 and s7 'cause I don't like those myself and I understand why people have become this way. I do think people have held the show up to unreasonably high standards but I kind of understand it, you know? The show was/is so fucking good that it's inevitable that people are going to go in there with extraordinarily high expectations. Doesn't mean I agree with it, but I do understand where they're coming from. The bitterness that really gets me, especially at TWoP, is all the hatred towards Buffy the character. That's always driven me absolutely crazy. I used to spend HOURS defending her on the boards until eventually, I just said fuck it, I love her and y'all are the ones missing out. ;) All that crap about her being a self-absorbed bitch and blah blah, just made me so angry and protective of her, because I think those sort of comments levelled at her are baseless. Especially when EVERY. SINGLE. TIME she talked about her own life or made a comment about herself, people would jump on her case. Um, okay, so Buffy is just supposed to never discuss her own life, even with her best friend? The mods did that heaps, too and it always bugged the crap out of me, so I completely understand why the Spike or seasonal stuff gets you as well. Hey, I'm also the same way with B/A and Angel. :)

But yeah, I haven't gone to TWoP for ages because the insightful criticisms have long been lost to petty barbs and that ilk. I liked constructive criticism, like the stuff in Quality Control but I've always found the ep threads annoying. I also agree that the mods, by the end, were going into eps with preformed negativity. Again, I kind of understand that on the one hand, but if it's not constructive, then I really don't have much time for it. What they tend to do is harp on one trait or joke and use it to death - for example, Buffy's "self-absorption" - instead of looking at the show holistically and in context. Waste of my time.

RE: early season love. Yeah, there is that tendency to compare and I agree that a lot of people do it to ridiculous, pointless extents. Some of the complaints are just insane. And I think considering everything, Buffy has always had great attention to detail and continuity. There are a few gaffes here and there but hey, nobody is perfect. There were mistakes here and there in the first three seasons as well; it's to be expected in a long running TV series. I wasn't defending the ep thread, because as I said, I've always found it fairly irritating and stupid (always preferred character threads, quality control, and favourite things), but just, I do think a lot of bitterness has come from love. People could stop watching (which is what I did in S7) but I think there's always that hope that maybe it'll be better this week. Of course, it'll never be "better" unless it's an exact replica of the much cherished seasons, whichever they may be. Kind of an endless, vicious cycle. I went into S7 really believing it was going to be damn good, but... I just didn't like it. I didn't recognise the characters, I didn't like the storylines. It felt like I was watching a completely different show. I tried, but it was much better for me to just keep my love intact by shutting off the TV and enjoying my DVDs. I have 100 hours of damn fucking brilliance and 44 odd hours of Angel goodness and that's all I need.

Anyway, wow, sorry to ramble on so much, but I do understand where you're coming from and agree that TWoP sucks now. My thing now is just personal enjoyment. I forget about the boards, the recaps and everyone else's opinions and just love and enjoy the show on my own terms. I watched Amends the other day and still think it's one of the best episodes of Buffy ever made. Tonight I'll probably watch Bad Eggs and laugh my ass off. :) TWoP is free to rant and rave and do whatever else, it's irrelevant as far as I'm concerned.

[jrs1980.livejournal.com]

For some reason the first three seasons are idealized and people seem to refuse to see anything good in the fourth through seventh season.

No, no, haven't you heard? The fourth season was recently sanctified by the glorious Popes at TWoP. From Buffy's PH blurb:

the show's precipitous drop in quality in the last three seasons

[mishamcm.livejournal.com]

According to my dermatologist, the meds I am on for my acne do not cause weight gain. Which sucks. SUCKS! Because I was sure that was at least part of it (the freaking timing coincides).
As someone who's been screwed over by uncommon med side-effects, I wouldn't necessarily rule out a connection if the timing is suspicious.