#zeppo put them there.

[sisterpaxton]

harpo marx would survive a saw trap. any trap. i dont even think hed realize he was in it he would just have fun. itd be enrichment to him

[mrreed]

hello!! you and captainspaulding's marx bro posting has caught my attention!! where should i start if i want to watch their stuff? thanks in advance ^_^

honestly they have a lotta movies, and it doesn't really matter where you start!

but I'll list the films in order and give free to watch links for them. put together with the help of @captainspaulding

Not including any solo or cameo endeavors - just the core Marx brothers films The Cocoanuts (1929) - internet archive, no subs Animal Crackers (1930) - youtube, auto gen subs Monkey Business (1931) - internet archive, no subs Horse Feathers (1932) - internet archive, no subs Duck Soup (1933) - internet archive, no subs A Night at the Opera (1935) - tubi, with subs A Day at the Races (1937) - tubi, with subs Room Service (1938) - youtube, auto gen subs At the Circus (1939) - youtube, auto gen subs Go West (1940) - link* The Big Store (1941) - link* A Night in Casablanca (1946) - on tubi with no subs or on youtube with subs Love Happy (1949) - youtube, with auto gen subs *Go West (1940) and *The Big Store (1941) we haven't been able to find anywhere free online yet, but they are available on amazon prime or apple tv for only a few bucks, that's how we watch them. If we do find a link we'll update this list.

My personal favorites are A Night in Casablanca, Love Happy, Duck Soup, A Night at the Opera and Horse Feathers! I’m gonna cut my faves list short here before going on to list At the Circus, and Go West, and Monkey Business

[coraniaid]

I do often find Xander incredibly frustrating – especially in the high school seasons which I’m rewatching now – but I don’t particularly think the issue is that Xander is a “Whedon self insert” (whatever that means).  In fact, Xander is often at his worst in episodes written by people other than Joss Whedon, whether that’s Teacher’s Pet or The Pack or Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered or Dead Man’s Party.  If the self-insert theory were true, wouldn’t that be the exact opposite? Or is the problem that Xander is a Marti Noxon self-insert too?

No, I think the problem is a lot simpler than that: I just don’t think the writers are very good at writing sympathetic teenage boys (which is why Oz is painfully underwritten and why Xander is … well).  And in particular I think that the writers really struggle to work out who Xander is (beyond being the token boy with no magical powers or super-strength) after Season 1.  Other than his unrequited attraction to Buffy, what does he want?  What motivates him?  I genuinely don’t think the writers have a consistent answer to this question yet, and although The Zeppo (which I’ve not quite gotten to on my current rewatch) will start to address this, I think they won’t really have one until Season 4 at the earliest.  Yes, there are fragments here and there that you can build on if you want – the hints that imply his parents are abusive, a suggestion that he looks up to Giles almost as much as Giles look down on him, the occasional moment you can claim as evidence that Xander might be attracted to men –  but if you do start building on those fragments you’re ultimately engaged in fanfiction as much as you are analysis of the actually-existing material.  The writers themselves hadn’t put in the work to make those pieces coalesce into something cohesive at this point in the show’s history (and some of those hints will never be developed further).

And the other problem, which isn't quite unique to Xander but probably affects him more than anybody else, is that the show is still mostly very episodic in these three seasons.   So – even when we’re clearly not supposed to approve of Xander’s actions – the show never really allows them to have any long-term negative consequences for him. (Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered might have Giles rage at Xander for trying to cast a love spell on Cordelia for a few minutes, but it still ends with Buffy cheerfully thanking him for not sexually assaulting her – despite his admission that “for a minute it was touch and go” –  and with the popular girl he was actively trying to take “revenge” on at the start of the episode deciding she’s so touched by the romanticism of this act that she’d rather be with him than worry about the good opinion of any of her friends.  And the events of the episode are never mentioned again.) So it’s very easy to get the impression that the writers don’t particularly think Xander’s doing anything wrong after all, even when I don’t think that’s the case.

Ultimately, I think you just have to accept that Buffy and Xander are close friends and that this friendship means a lot to both of them for the show to work, in much the same way you have to accept a lot of the show’s rather silly worldbuilding.  Which … is fine, really.  If I can accept a magical human-detecting chip in somebody’s head or Sunnydale’s ever-changing geography or the nonchalant way everyone in school reacts to their fellow students being violently killed on a weekly basis or any of the nonsense the show says about the Watcher’s Council I can, I suppose, accept a teenage girl with poor social skills and a reputation that makes her something of a social pariah becoming friends with a teenage boy who is mostly well-meaning but often kind of sucks.  This aspect of the high school seasons is perhaps a bit like the Season 6 issue of Willow and Tara living rent free at Buffy’s house while telling her she has money problems and has to get a job: in order to appreciate the show the way you’re meant to, you just have to handwave away a lot of what the writers actually show happening. 

[clockwards]

wanna talk about all the things i love and wish were developed more in the btvs boys

- xander is never a coward even though he repeatedly says he is/looks down on himself and his abilities. he is sometimes even more willing than buffy to go into to danger to protect his friends in the first few seasons, and although it's written as an excuse to 'get the girl' it never ends up that way. i wish instead of them having him remain a "weaker" comedy character and pressing on his insecurities they let him begin to trust himself and have the others trust his abilities in turn. s3e13 'The Zeppo' is such a COOL fucking episode for him but no one else knows what happened and he goes back to being "the same old xander" afterwards. I wish he was written to be allowed to grow into his confidence without directly growing his insecurities towards the girls and their levels of power. in later seasons he does but then his old insecurities pop up just for the writers to cause group friction. anyway i wish we got to see more of just xander, I think that would've been so fun and cool

- i love early s4 Average Joe riley. he's just a dorky guy who loves psychology and doesn't even realise when he has a crush. I love that he's awkward and the potential he and willow had for friendship that kind of petered off. sometimes I really wish that they'd let him actually be an Average Joe and see what that changed for the season. and we never really see that awkward side of him again! he had all the traits to be a malewife and they took that from us because they wanted a strongman instead :[

- giles' morals degrading over the series!!!! him being so proper at the beginning and each apocalypse/major event undoing that just a bit more. realising that if he is Buffy's Certified Adult then she deserves his full and absolute protection wherever he can provide it. and he does fall into the dad role quite well but he is first and foremost a Protector (which he isn't meant to be because he's a Watcher!!!). also I don't think I've seen anyone talk about him putting on the record he and joyce were playing during band candy shenanigans after her death. and him full out killing ben end of s5 :D

- angel!!! angel being a dumbass!! you don't get to see it much in btvs so I guess this is more ats content but listen! he's new at having a soul and sure there's the guilt and the brooding and the torment but there's also joy and humour and comfort and silliness. angelus is a very focused character who does feel things, but only very intensely and basically one at a time. angel feels it all at once! and he gets to have fun, or he should. ats shenanigans are good for the heart, he deserves cordy and wes being annoying and lorne dragging him to parties and playing video games with gus and fred.

- oz has that autistic rizz (I know this because I'm autistic and had a dream we kissed)

- spike [LOUD YELLING, SCREAMING, CRIES OF THE DAMNED AND DOOMED TO HELL FOR ALL ETERNITY] haha yeah nothing much to say here. just a totally normal guy.

[chrispypapas]

Chris, I need to know what you think would happen in a Xander spin-off. Because, unless I am remembering wrong, Xander was one hell of a tool.

im kissing you on the lips for asking me about btvs

season 3 ep 13 'the zeppo' is a Xander POV episode of btvs and tbh that's one of my favorite episodes of btvs. its the gang leaving Xander out of the apocalypse of the week due to him being "too weak", just for Xander to get involved in his own dangerous adventure where a group of zombies try to get him to join their gang. i think a Xander series would have been better than the angel series bc the Angel series did not know what its purpose was. its such a bad show. the only saving grace of that show is Cordelia is there, and when she leaves the show it becomes complete trash. Cordelia needed to be there to balance out the stupid shit Angel is doing. If you like the Angel series I'm so incredibly happy for you and my opinion on it should not diminish how you feel about it. I'm just some guy lol i think a POV from the 'normie' of the group would have been more interesting in terms of story telling. You would be able to put yourself in Xander's shoes and it could have been following the aftermath of season 7 of btvs; where everyone who could ever be the slayer was awakened thanks to willow unlocking everyone's potential. btvs continued its story through the comics after the show ended and the plot of the comics was Buffy running a slayer organization where ander worked as support for slayers out on missions (ala Kazuhira Miller in MGS peacewalker and MGSV). now i enter my unhinged rambling of Xander's character

Alexander LaVelle "Xander" Harris has many, as you put it, "one hell of a tool" moments in the show that I'm going to get into. A lot of them I can see as "this is a teenage boy saying stupid teenage boy shit" but a lot of it is also unwarranted and inherently selfish. Early series "tool" moments are

Xander's attitude towards Buffy for not returning his feelings and his haterid of Buffy having feelings for Angel (Season 1)

Xander blaming Buffy for Ms Calendar being killed by Angel (Season 2)

Xander exploding at Buffy for leaving Sunnydale after Joyce (Buffys mom) told her she better never return to their house after Buffy told her mom that shes the slayer (Season 3)

Xander being upset with Willow and Buffy for going to college (Season 4)

Xander yelling at Buffy for letting Riley (a good guy in his own words) "get away" when Riley gives Buffy an ultimatum (Season 5)

when Xander says hes disgusted by Buffy and can't even look at her after finding out she's been sleeping with Spike (Season 6)

and finally when Xander thought Buffy was being a terrible leader in season 7 bc she had to be a commander of an army of potential slayers (Season 7)

However on the flip side, Xander has multiple moments of being incredibly loyal and willing to do anything in his power for his friends, and that he really is the heart of the group reminding everyone of their humanity. Xander, much like the rest of the Buffy cast, is a complex character who has good and bad qualities and I think it's important to take the good with the bad. I don't agree with most things he says/does, but I also recognize that inherently he is a good person. Wanting the best for those around him even if his perception of what "the best" for his friends isn't necessarily what they "need".

BTVS is a hard series to defend. A lot of the actions of the characters are uncomfortable due to the creator of the IP, but when you create a piece of media those characters start to also belong to the fans. A lot of what Joss Whedon wrote for the characters at times felt incredibly OOC and just "we're going to torture the afab characters bc I hate women" kind of writing, but it's important to remember that there were other writers on the show and how actors wanted to portray their characters too.

That being said, I like Xander, and I like a lot of what others have done to explore his character bc im gay and like to analyze media. I think a spin off buddy cop Xander and Spike show would have been leagues better than Angel. One of the spin off Buffy comics I really like have Xander and Spike being friends from the beginning and exploring more of what their dynamic could be. I think it's an interesting alternative universe from Buffy canon and its work checking out <3

anyway ty for reading i hope ur having a good day xoxo

[purpleplaid17]

Jess Watches // Mon 11 Mar // Day 168 & Tues 12 Mar // Day 169 Synopses & Favourite Scenes & Poll

Severance (rw with mum) 1x09 The We We Are (s1 Finale)

The team discovers troubling revelations.

Dylan - How did he not cramp up holding those switches for so long? All those fingertraps trained him well. He deserves all the kinky waffle parties he desires.

Irving - From a military family and a whistleblower. What made him start investigating Lumon? and how does his Outie know Burt?

Helly - The jawdropping revelation that she'a an Eagan. The happy office photos were of manipulated situations but Helena seemed genuinely excited to put her faith in her family's work. She is a fascinating contradiction.

Mark - She's alive!!! The tension that built around him piecing together his Outie's life while trying to get a moment alone to talk to his sister still had me on the edge of my seat.

The rewatch has got me even more hyped for s2. Anyone have any theories about it? I'd love to hear them.

Loudermilk (with mum) 1x03 You're Only as Sick as Your Secrets

Loudermilk goes to great lengths to get Claire to open up about her deep-seated issues, with mixed results. Mugsy reaches out to his estranged daughter and finds that some relationships are harder to fix than others.

Mugsy being an absolute idiot parent. I'm glad everyone called out his shitty excuses for abandoning his 9 children (counting the twins ofc). Also, I'm free for frisbee if anyone wants a game?

Six Nations: Full Contact Ep 5 La Défense

Following a rocky start, everything depends on the next game for last years champions, France. Will they find their form or is the title gone for good?

I do not remember France beating England so emphatically. I thought I watched it last year but maybe not this one for some reason.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (rw) 3x13 The Zeppo

Xander experiences an adventure of his own when he encounters a group of reanimated corpses. Meanwhile, Buffy and her friends battle the forces of evil when the Hellmouth reopens.

I used to like Xander. He was a lovable goof. But now rewatching, it is very clear he was a JW self-insert. And I think that's the reason why his 'humour' these first 3 seasons just hasn't landed for me like it used to. So I very much enjoyed Cordelia's takedown "There was no part of that that wasn't fun."

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Tuesday, November 14, Part II

[Fandom Discussions]

the angst and yearning in the fuffy rooftop scene in ats sanctuary is UNMATCHED by antlerslayer

I love Willow as a character because of what she represents and teaches about the human condition by

steven s deknight says they got cautioned by the wb censors about this shot of angel pulling a knife by stellernorth

Angel Season 4 by all-seeing-ifer

James absolutely ATE with this proposal. by raisedbythetv89

It’s so important and profound and precious that Spike is present when Buffy tells her mom she’s a vampire slayer. by girl4music., winterlovesong1

but why did they give us spike w the little curl to his hair by alewifed

i feel genuinely surprised about is this idea that ppl have where spike falls into the dark, brooding, bad guy turned good trope. by alewifed

I think what gets me most is the “I am a demon” and “there’s a demon inside me” contradiction. by girl4music

Slayer-induced ADHD is very firmly part of my head canon by hersterical

I actually don’t think the Enjoining Spell is a plot hole. by austinoson

Season 1 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is all about Buffy figuring out how to not be Cordelia by coraniaid

Willow does a lot of terrible things in Season 6 but I will always refuse to accept that bringing Buffy back to life was one of them. by coraniaid

the thing that truly does kill me about angel season 4 is that the opening… five ish episodes do seem to be setting up something that could be honestly great! by all-seeing-ifer

Xander spends the first half of The Zeppo trying – largely at Cordelia’s prompting – to work out how to be cool. by coraniaid

Was "Buffy vs Dracula" a distraction for the Scoobies and Joyce so they can create Dawn? by Joshua

Which group is better at putting aside their personal drama and come together for the greater good? by Joshua

How well do Tara's accusations stand up at the time they're made? by garfan

should i watch angel? by Dogs of Winter

Fred/Gunn vs. Fred/Wesley by Bop

Queer vampires? by bonniedelarge

How would the story have been different if willow and Xander would have been/stayed a couple by

So much invisibility! by DifficultRice7075

Say something nice about season 7. by george123890yang

Who had the best Character development throughout both shows? by Virtual_Row_8445

Do you remember the first time you watched "The Body"? by jdpm1991

Willow could have killed Dawn by DifficultRice7075

First time watching Angel Season 4 by Sourpatchmoms

Am I the only one who likes Buffy season 7 and Angel season 4 by Parking-Ad-1743

SPOILER-FREE discussion on SLAYERS by johnnyorac

What I would change about season 6 by BrianTheReckless

Buffy’s Rocket launcher by DifficultRice7075

What's Your Fave AU ideas? by Girlthatbreathes

The Dawn episodes by CornflakeGrl72

Poetic excerpt from a shooting script by chumloadio

i know most people are tired of this, but seriously does someone prefer the bigfoot over the first one? by WhiteJaski

Are you surprised JM used "glee"? What what's one word you would use to describe Spike? by sushibananawater

Blood Sausage, Bangers and Mash? by Sea-Medicine-411

The Slayer Concept was Flawed From the Beginning. by loki2002

The Chip by Virtual_Row_8445

Opening Credits by johnnyorac

Buffy Tarot Hardcover Edition? by ghavrielle

What’s your opinion about the show Angel? by kindaweird0

Is Fred the most tragic character in Buffyverse? by Stegosaurus100

When SMG made my whole life as a little girl by ladybug5551111

Buffy similarities with TVD by lunarborealis

Mistreating Buffy by Mika95

Was Jasmine really a threat to humanity? by NoPoet406

Subtle thing about the room change by Itssixinthemorning

How mature or immature would you say Spike's view of love is? or was? by Foreverred97

Ugh by Mika95

What episode? by Mika95

what was your least favourite hairstyle of a character in the show by duvet-cover

What are the no-no's of magic in the Buffyverse? by SafiraAshai

Does anyone else think that the slayer council is really bad at their job? by george123890yang

Faith by Virtual_Row_8445

Fanfic request by Extra_Age2505

The Wish: a paradox by Vixen22213

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Join the editor team :)

[wolfstrong]

What's your fav Xander episode so far? Do you think Xander and Cordi could have worked out as a couple? Do you think Xander could have become a watcher if Giles had actually taken him under his wing? What would that have been like? Uuh... Fav Xander haircut?

Also there IS some good Xander content in season 7, even if it is overall a big ol' mess of a season

we need more Xander episodes... but anyway, the Zeppo of course yeah yeah yeah, but I also really liked Hell's Bells honestly.

No I don't think Cordy and Xander could have ever really worked, but that was kinda the beauty of their relationship. It was bad and doomed but I think they both needed it in that moment. I also wich it would have lasted a little longer, and I don't like the way it ended. I kinda wish there would have been a mutual agreement that things weren't working which ended in them being close friends. (and ultimately, I WISH CORDELIA NEVER LEFT THE SHOW.)

yep, I think Xander could have been a great watcher :( I mean, maybe not so much in the be studios and read lots of books department, but he's very loyal and always there to look out for people, which are very important watcher traits. Also, I think if Xander puts his mind to something he can do it, so eventually he would be good at the whole demonology thing. It's pretty sad they didn't take his character in this direction, I think it would have been awesome and it would have given him more purpose.

Actually Xander haircuts are really important to me. SEASON ONE hair is literally peak. I hated when he cut it in season 2 and I don't forgive him for that. when it was a bit longer in the front in season 3 I thought that was alright. Season 4 was very cute, my second favorite hair length. season 5 was actually a bit too shaggy, but I still prefer it over season 2 short hair. season 6 is too short again. its okay he's like my ugly thing

okay thank you for all these wonderful asks I love it I love it I love it

[zalrb]

So sorry if you have already answered this but what are your thoughts on the hogwarts house sorting in harry potter canon?

and how how would you sort the characters in the following tv shows into hogwarts houses?

- teen wolf

- buffy the vampire diaries

- euphoria

lmao sorry but i'm not doing euphoria.

i would say buffy and angel are gryffindor

giles and oz are ravenclaw

willow is a hufflepuff (if we were doing cross houses she'd be a hufflepuff/ravenclaw)

spike and cordelia are slytherin (my house!) even though the fandom would probably put spike in gryffindor

xander is a squib (zeppo!)

for teen wolf, uh ....

scott is a hufflepuff

stiles ... i kind of want to put him in slytherin but i think he could also be a ravenclaw and a case could be made for gryffindor, idk, he could be any of them although i don't think he's a hufflepuff

malia is a slytherin

lydia ... idk she can be ravenclaw i guess

kira is a gryffindor

allison ... all i see is her weeping, i have no idea.

i don't care enough about derek to think about what he'd be.

in terms of what i think about the sorting, i don't think i really have any thoughts about that except that i thought slytherin could be more nuanced than just all the bad ones end up in slytherin and they're just naturally prone to moral corruption/evil? lmao, but i always thought the student life at hogwarts could be more nuanced where instead of it being like all the bigots are in slytherin, there could be a more involved approach to wizarding prejudice found in other houses by other students and how fun it would be to get into the emotional and psychological effects a place like hogwarts would have on muggle-borns etc.

[renlyslittlerose]

As someone who rewatches BtVS every few months or so and was thrilled to discover you enjoy the show too, I would love to know your fave episodes.

Also, super excited for your vampire obikin fic!!

Oh man, the noise I made when I saw this ask. Someone actually asking me to talk about my hyperfixation? Without me having to direct them towards it? My lucky day, indeed! I'm tempted to say every episode is my favourite (except for maybe 'Where the Wild Things Are'), but I will limit myself to five!

Fool for Love - Really enjoy the ride we go through in terms of Spike's character arc throughout the series, and I thought this episode really did him, his relationships, and his background a lot of justice. The scene where he's explaining the 'lesson' to Buffy in the alleyway, spliced with his fight with Nicky in the subway, is absolute perfection. And I really thought they did a great job mixing the flashbacks on Buffy with the sister episode on Angel.

Becoming Part 1/2 - Not the biggest Angel fan when he's on Buffy (it took his own show for me to warm to him), but his flashbacks did a lot to inform us of who he was, whereas before we didn't get a lot of that? Plus, Buffy determined to save the world despite knowing that it'll destroy hers, is both heartbreaking and inspiring. And the part where Angelus has Buffy cornered and is about to take the final blow, when Buffy catches the blade and shows us why she's the slayer??? Gets me every. damn. time.

The Zeppo - I know, I know, Xander is... a piece of work, to put it lightly. But the whimsy, the self-effacing humour, the genuine character growth that Xander goes through (and then seemingly loses come season six but whatever), all makes it really stand out to me.

I Only Have Eyes for You - LISTEN, again, it's not a ground-breaking episode, but I fucking love it. Flashbacks to the 1950s? A ghost story??? Placing the traditionally 'masculine' male character in the role of a vulnerable, scared woman??? THE FLAMINGO'S 'I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU' PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND???? Not to mention the development of Buffy and her grief and guilt is really beautifully done.

The Gift. What more is there to say? And while I enjoyed season 6 and, to a lesser extent season 7, I really do think this would have been the perfect finale for the show. "Be brave. Live." <- this has gotten me through a lot of tough spots, for sure.

But I honestly adore almost every episode. Just as you do, I re-watch Buffy an obsessive amount of times - it's my comfort show! What are your favourites, anon?

And you didn't ask this but here is my quick top five list for Angel: 'Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been' , 'Five by Five', 'Lullaby', 'A Hole in the World', 'Not Fade Away' ✨ (and I'm so glad you're excited for the fic! Almost done the first draft, then it's time to comb through it all and hope it makes sense. And for those who don't watch Buffy, don't worry, the story should still make sense - it's mostly me mashing together Star Wars lore with basic Buffy stuff and hoping it works?)

[girl4music]

That’s it! Excellent deduction.

Gender and growing up are big themes for these two.

People watch Xander and wonder why he is like he is. I mean beyond the whole abusive parental aspect, it really wasn’t common back then for a male to be ‘The Zeppo’ and they’re playing off that anxiety with him.

So people nowadays watch it and ask “why is he complaining for no reason?” or something like that.

Whereas I like the character for that reason. For his anxieties and struggles and complexities beyond being the typical “nice guy”. I think it makes him more interesting as a character and I don’t think it’s what ruins him at all. He is more dynamic because he has faults and flaws and he isn’t the typical nice guy because he actually is able to address them - and for the most part - on his own. People don’t really look at it that way. Those moments where he is being obnoxious and taking up more space than he really should is him trying to fix himself - whatever it is that is going on with him. Trying to be better. Most people do not want to acknowledge that. They just brand him a “Whedon-insert” and then ignore him as if every main character isn’t an insert for Whedon somewhere in this show and the entire thing is not wrapped around his misogyny. No, they seem to single him out just because he is a male main character that’s not already mature and hasn’t already gone through trials and tribulations.

I find it a gross oversight of some really well-written characterization for a male character in a female-led show. Which is something you don’t often see at all.

The fact he is just there doing nothing but struggling with that very thing I think is what makes him a quality character who has something to speak up on if not to act on. That’s what most viewers don’t like about him.

But I personally think it’s what makes him interesting. If they didn’t have him address any of this in his arc - then I’d be the same as everyone else seems to be with him.

To put it bluntly - if it was a choice between Joxer or Xander… I’d choose Xander every single god damn time. I’d choose a male character with a story rather than just one committed to a comic relief gag and no story at all. Yes, granted they don’t do very well with illustrating his story for a main character, but the point is that he has one that you can do a lot with in fanfic if not the show.

Useless characters can be interesting if they take the time to address exactly why it is that they are useless and how that affects and impacts the characterization.

Xander does a lot of growing up and the remarkable thing is that he does it mostly on his own - which is something to commend considering his upbringing and that he didn’t really have a positive male role model but he had plenty of female ones. Enough to understand that him being feminine-coded is absolutely fine and that he does not have to be a man’s man. Just Xander.

And maybe it’s just me but I feel like I’m the only person in the fandom that truly gets that character because I take the time to pay attention to who he is without drawing on preconceived notions and making baseless assumptions because he is a “Whedon-insert”.

He is not the only character in the show the reflects Whedon’s misogyny. He is just one that is male and not soulless or not a bad guy or not a token love interest.

He isn’t supernatural even in the slightest and instead of making excuses, they use that to great advantage to tell a story about a character that is just an average Joe in pretty much all of the female-led media ever created.

I cannot think of a single one in any of the empowered female TV art/entertainment I watch that’s anywhere near as interesting as Xander as a main male character and I think the reason for that is they’re afraid to let or show a man be as vulnerable as Xander is on the screen and still have him be the “nice guy” or the “good guy”.

Like I genuinely think some of the scenes of his that the fandom hate the most in the show are some of the best and it’s because I’m not focussing on the character. I’m focussing on the storytelling that’s going on through him. So I’m looking more so at the themes and how those themes are represented through his character whereas seemingly the rest of the fandom just look at him and immediately dismiss anything that he says because if it’s coming out of him, it must be stupid.

But acknowledging of weaknesses is never stupid! I wish Joxer had even half of those Xander moments. The really obnoxious ones where he takes up the space and tells the female lead that they’re a massive hypocrite.

The ones where a man wouldn’t usually get a say at all.

No. Those are some of the best moments in the show.

i feel like buffy and xander are both struggling with gender but like, from different angles?

buffy wants to be a typical girl, with the hair and the dates and the boys and the dresses. that's the life she wants, but instead she's the strong one, the protector, the fists. she's the one having to make the tough calls, she's the one who can't commit and can't say i love you, two traits that are typically given to male characters.

she struggles against this the whole series, the forced masculinisation of herself that comes with being a slayer.

meanwhile xander is the more feminine-coded one of the group- he's the damsel in distress, the one who needs protecting and saving, he's the heart. he's the one who goes to buffy and talks to her about her relationship with riley, something that could have easily come from willow but xander noticed and had the talk.

xander's the one staying at home and cleaning while buffy is out saving the world. he's struggling with what it means to be a man in the late 90s and early 00s, especially coz he doesn't have the role models he wants or needs- not his father and not even really Giles to an extent, since Giles is the one watching and not acting, but that's not the kind of man xander wants to be.

maybe this is where a lot of the anti-xander-ness comes from in a modern re-watching of buffy. coz it's more acceptable for a woman to struggle with the pros and cons of womanhood than it is for a man to struggle with being perceived as weak or girly. (and i'm saying woman and man here but for most of the series these characters were teenagers).

[restlesshush]

Re: director's cut: ⭐ (or if you could just talk about how you write Buffy and Faith)

Thank you for asking!

I decided talk about my post helpless fic because there was quite a lot going on in the thought process behind it and it actively contributed my understanding of Buffy and Faith in the first half / two thirds season 3 and in particular Faith’s portrayal.

The idea started as “what is an interaction that could have made them closer going into Bad Girls, so that the back third of the season hits as more of a loss for Buffy: ooh, them discussing Helpless!” and then it evolved into “wait, no, something extra definitely happened between Amends and The Zeppo to explain how well they seem to have reconciled from Revelations.”

A big reason why I made this specifically a conversation about Helpless (aside from the fact that it’s kind of wild we never find out Faith’s response to that) is because I think a crucial element for them having an actual productive emotional moment is Buffy being the vulnerable one, not Faith. Which is a reason it felt particularly resonant to have the conversation take place in Faith’s apartment: in contrast to the ends of Revelations and Bad Girls where Buffy wants Faith to open up and this makes Faith just want to get her to leave, here Buffy’s in Faith’s space again except Faith has no need to be on the defensive this time. She doesn't necessarily know what to do with Buffy being like this, but it's not a threat in the same way, and then there's the "Willow said you needed me: I didn't give it a lot of thought" of it all. Also I find how blasé the episode is about a teenager being “on walkabout” ie missing kind of disturbing (like I know it’s just a plot device to explain why Faith can’t take care of everything but the implications are really not great!!), so it makes me feel better if Buffy was at least going by to check on Faith fairly regularly (which would also explain how she knew).

The other aspect of the “this could have happened and I think things actually make more sense if it did” tag is explaining how Faith got from her initial enthusiasm for interacting with Giles and her willingness to be taken under Gwendolyn Post’s (very cold!) wing, to “new watcher? Screw that”. It is partially explained by the betrayal in Revelations, but given that being a slayer is kind of her Main Thing, I think it needs more, and the events of Helpless are very useful to that end. Reading through the script in preparation for writing, there’s a throwaway line from Giles about how Faith is refusing to train anymore which just makes very little sense? It looks like the writers kind of got distracted by her ‘bad girl’ persona and assumed that extended to her automatically being anti-authority re the watchers’ council or something, but that's not actually what's going on, so I’m fixing that for them!

In terms of the actual writing, I was kind of hesitant about writing Faith POV because her bravado is something I really don’t relate to (also why I actually didn’t pay her particularly much mind as a character for a very long time, shout out to @burrito-of-fury for being influential in remedying this!), so I worried I would downplay it more than was actually accurate. Her perspective on this interaction is definitely the more interesting one though, so I had to, and I think it was probably actively useful to write from a perspective I'm less comfortable with. So I show her putting on a front in response to perceived sleights from Buffy, which then falls away when she realises that that’s not what’s going on and Buffy’s upset, which I think rings true. Also given Faith is so casually tactile a lot of the time, I liked the idea of her wanting to but being hesitant to eg touch the scar on Buffy’s forehead: that This Means More somehow. That Faith can do things as long as she persuades herself they’re not actual intimacy but finds it more difficult when she can’t, which we don't properly get to see in the show, but which I think makes sense.

Something I’d forgotten that I’d done but that I think is neat is filtering Buffy’s fairly easy forgiveness of Giles through an outside perspective to kind of throw it into question a little. It’s sort of taken as a given in canon but that’s such a betrayal and it’s never followed up on. I like the idea of Faith struggling to suppress her outrage at this, even though that's not a useful response for Buffy, whose whole world will fall apart if she has to seriously hold something like that against Giles.

In terms of writing Buffy and Faith in general, the main thing is having in my head all the time that post (which I couldn’t find) that’s like “I am never queerbaited I am simply always correct. Whether the show eventually catches up or not is no great concern of mine.” I want it to come off like I know I’m correct, not that I feel like I have to manoeuvre canon or whatever to make them be a thing (eg the first ~half of my Who Are You alternate ending essentially being me justying Buffy's thought process in the back third of season 3 already being how I want it to be). I once started reading a season 4 fuffy fic that opened with Buffy 1) actively aware of having some feelings for Faith and 2) talking to Willow about them, and I just closed out of the fic like “no???”

Also as a last point I like to joke to myself that them going off to kill things at the end of the fic is fuffy hays code.

I enjoyed answering this, thank you!!

[dontwarnthetadpoles]

Unpopular opinion of the day

Reposting (with an update) this long answer i wrote in a discussion about what Xander adds to the show.

Strange view of life to think that people (even fictional characters) must be useful or they have no value and should be then written off. It’s an accusation that has often been thrown to the scoobies, usually by baddies (Spike did it a lot), to discourage them and kill their team spirit (”Buffy doesn’t need you”,”you’re just a burden”) but it has no moral ground and ultimately leads to a dead end. Everyone have been accused of being useless at one point: Buffy was forced in season 3 to defend her mission as a slayer against her own mother because she couldn’t eradicate vampires, only save few lives here and here.

Xander's years on Buffy's side as a member of the gang with Willow and the ones who loved and supported them is a story about friendship, loyalty, courage, family, forgiveness, not a performance or a competition in which he must prove himself or leave.

Just like Cordelia, who strangely isn't attacked with the same level of hate for being a bully and staying a bully, even after she joined the scoobies and started dating Xander (her mean comments that she justifies as form of “honesty”, except she’s only honest about “truths” that hurt, are as violent as Xander's sexism), Xander is just a scared kid, especially during seasons 1 to 3, who tries to do the right thing despite not having any special abilities, putting his life in danger in the process.

I get that not everyone is moved by the acting, but i personally think the actor brought a strong likeability and heart to the character, while the writing wasn’t helping him (just like Cordelia again).

But if people want evidences of his contributions to validate him as 3 dimensional person/fictional human being, here a list of his achievements that nobody can't deny:

In season 1: he followed Buffy in the tunnels to bring back Jesse, he stopped the Harvest with the gang, he was on the rescue team to free Willow from Moloch, he saved Giles life in The Puppet Show when the demon was very close to cut his head and take his brain, in Prophecy Girl: he went to Angel's appartment and forced the vampire to take him to the Master's lair to help Buffy, he performed CPR on her, saved her life. Thanks to him, she stopped The Master, killed him and avoided an apocalypse.

In season 2: he saved Giles, Willow, Cordelia, and Jenny from the Anointed One who was going to use them as a sacrifice in a revivification spell to bring back the Master, he saved Cordelia from a fire in Some Assembly Required, protected Willow from the Mummy, was used as a bait by Angel to try to kill Spike In School Hard, helped Buffy to stop the Bezoar in Bad Eggs while everyone else was mind controlled by the monster, saved Willow from Angelus when he took her hostage and threatened to kill her, rescued the children in Killed by Death, went undercover in Go Fish and saved Buffy’s life when she was trapped with the ancient swimmers of the school team turned monsters by their coach, he rescued Giles in Becoming.

In season 3: he’s less involved in the fights but managed to kill his faire share of vampires when Buffy was in LA, he tried with Oz to save Willow and Buffy from the fairy tale monster, prevented the destruction of the school in a massive explosion planned by zombies in the Zeppo, helped to stop the massacre planned by vamp Willow at the Bronze, tried to reach and help Faith when she went bad and it almost get him killed, bought for Cordelia her dream dress for The Prom , in Graduation he convinced Anya to share what she knew about the Ascension and lead the army of students in the final battle against the mayor.

In season 4: his speech to Buffy where he confessed she was his model, the hero he thinks about during difficult times was an essential part of Buffy’s decision to not give up College. He helped saved Oz when he was captured by The Initiative, and was part of the spell, the “Heart”, in the final battle against Adam.

In season 5-7: he took care a lot of Dawn and helped Buffy raised her in season 7, helped Giles build a training place for Buffy under the magic shop, their house with Anya was often a place to gather and hide for the Scoobies, he stopped Dark Willow when she tried to end the world, he lost an eye while fighting against the First.

He fed the team: brought comfort food during the long nights of the endless research, was tasked many times to get the essential ingredients for the spells at the magic shop, showed support and shared too many hugs to count them, with the girls when they needed a pep talk.

In Buffy’s words, he put his heart, soul and body (while having his own family issues and trauma that were never properly adressed) in his relationship with the gang and lost everything that he possessed when Sunnydale disappeared (Anya, his home), so yeah the sexism and jealousy are bad but even so he’s clearly underrated by the fandom.

[quintennyson]

#literally can remember the first time i watched this ep. walking away and going ?????????#and immediately sitting down and drawing. writing meta and going ?????#ive laid awake at night thinking about this.#the little smile he breaks into in the third gif#....like hes looking inside himselt and going Huh yeah. actually i am okay with that.#THE THOUGHT THAT HIS INSTINCT IS TO SMILE ABOUT THAT FACT.#his fucking answer#how it parallels the excuses he gives cordelia earlier of wanting peace and quiet#this scene is just like xander and noncon situations. where youre like. okay but this only happens once right.#AND THE ANSWER IS NO. THIS IS A THING. THIS IS VERY MUCH A THING. A RECURRING THING.#A RECURRING ENOUGH THAT I HAVE A TAG FOR THIS THING#puts my head in my hands.#anyway sorry celia#still not normal about him. or this.#you know what. tag in question#jump on the sword knight (via snakeliciousbaby)

#anyway yeah im normal about this scene and ep. im normal#JUST KIDDING.#this is a scene which not only reinforces the idea that xander thinks dying for his friends is his best use in life#but that he would ENJOY said death#hes crossing the line here from No will to live and A literal death wish. this is SUPER suicidal#like he spells it out!!! this is ultra permanent death and hes like!!! sweet!!#listen you could interpret this as xander lying but like. he does this sort of thing CONSTANTLY. Prophecy girl.inca mummy. replacement.g#its a horrible horrible habit of his and a bery real trait (via snakeliciousbaby (again))

#sometimes i think of this moment#and every time we see his family#they are yelling#and loud#and he sleeps outside just for a bit of peace#and his biggest fear was ending up like them#and i wonder#if his car hadnt fallen apart#would he have ever come back?#i love xander#hes saved the world#hes saved buffy#he loves and loves#and doesnt think he deserves any in return#and he likes the quiet (via imstronglikeanamazon)

#yeah he does this all the time someone help him anyway#THE ZEPPO OH GOD#JEEZ. JEEEEZZZZ. WHAT AN EP. WHAT. AN. EP.#i'm normal about it :)#i'm especially super normal about how everyone fucking hates my boy :)) not mad at all :))) not about to start angrily yelling in a tumblr#posts' tags about it :))))#at first glance (when you're me age 11) you're like 'this was kind of badass!' and then at second glance (me age 14) you're like Dear God#send him to a psychiatrist IMMEDIATELY.#that little like. smile??#the look in his eyes????????#get him help. get. him. help. now.#like the momentary jsut. straight flatness in that last gif? just the#the /blank/ for like a hot second it's like. Oh. /OH/. oh no. (via cescalr)

I’m not afraid to die. I’m already dead. Yeah, but this is different.

[herinsectreflection]

An Episode Within an Episode: An Analysis of ‘The Zeppo’

The Zeppo is one of those episodes that so consistently shows up on fan lists of “underrated” episodes, that I don’t know if it can really be considered “underrated” anymore, but I think it deserves a little extra appreciation. It’s definitely an episode that takes a second viewing to appreciate, thanks to how oddly it is constructed, in a way that isn’t immediately advertised to the viewer. Other episodes with unusual styles such as Once More With Feeling or Hush very much wear their concepts on their sleeve; you can’t watch them and not immediately realise what they are doing. That’s not a knock against those episodes - part of what makes them so great and iconic is that they get right to the point and so can do interesting things with the concept. The Zeppo is just a quieter kind of unique. It uses the limited perspective of both the characters and the audience themselves to show a cracked-mirror version of the world. It’s an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer told from the perspective of somebody looking in on another episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s fun and weird and I want to dig into it a little bit.

We start off with a very typical Buffy scene. In its third season now, the show is pretty aware of and confident in its own tropes, and trusts the audience to be too. We don’t need any build-up explaining exactly what Giles has found out and what spell Willow is performing and what these monsters are doing and exactly how Buffy and Faith know how to kill them. We’ve all seen an episode of Buffy before, and we can fill in the blanks pretty easily. This confidence in the show’s own tropes and what the audience expects of it is key to what makes this episode work. We know exactly how a typical episode of Buffy goes, so we can receive this barely-cliff-notes version of one and understand it perfectly. It’s an episode that can only be done in a show’s third year, when viewers have become fluent in the show’s language.

After the fight and exposition is over, Xander stands up from the garbage, as out of context as we are as viewers. As this is a Xander-centric episode, he becomes the audience identification figure. As the one character not supernaturally gifted or linked in any way (as the episode points out several times), Xander makes sense as the viewer stand-in. Xander comments on how he wants to be more involved in the fights but is firmly rebuffed - and it’s clear he wouldn’t be able to impact them anyway. All he can do is watch the fights and plots happen from a distance. In this sense, Xander is no different to the viewer, watching an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, unable to affect it in any way.

This is where the structure of the episode comes into play. The A plot is a fairly meaningless runaround with zombies, while the B-plot is a finale-worthy epic apocalyptic showdown. We only catch glimpses of it, but it seems to contain all the standard hallmarks of a Buffy apocalypse - an evil cult, opening the hellmouth, tearful Buffy/Angel melodrama. Specifically, it echoes the previous two season finales, with the final showdown apparently featuring both the literal monster from the S1 finale, and some kind of sacrifice that involved Angel (evoking the S2 finale). The very last bit of dialogue we hear during this plot is “Faith, go for the heart!” from Buffy, encouraging her to kill the demon in the library, which you could argue foreshadows the S3 finale, where Buffy will use the Mayor’s love for Faith to kill him in the library. This plot is a facsimile of a Buffy season finale, giving us everything we expect and have seen before, stripped of all context, the very bare bones of a story. 

What this achieves is that it alienates the viewer from this story-within-a story, forcing us into an intentionally uncomfortable position, where it feels like we’re watching an episode through a keyhole. It intentionally exacerbates the divide between viewer and show, to highlight our inability to fully perceive or at all impact this world we tune into each week.

Xander is very purposefully chosen as the POV character for this experience. He is feeling very insecure and ineffectual - unable to help with either brains or brawn, and not having a whole lot of impact on the story. He feels alienated from his friends, fearful that they will leave him behind. The structure of this episode highlights this feeling of ineffectualness. Xander feels so alienated from the events and people around him that he, like the audience, becomes separated from them. A character from Buffy the Vampire Slayer becomes an outsider to the story, watching an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We are encouraged to empathise with Xander because we are in the same position. We too have been robbed of our usual intimacy with this group of people, forced to perceive the shadows of an episode. This meta-emotion dovetails with the character’s internal mental state nicely.

I think my favourite instance of this meta-perception being played with is in the scene between Buffy and Angel, where we are dropped without context into a tearful, dramatic argument where apparently Angel’s life is in the balance, filled with declarations of love and poetic exaltations, backed by this sweeping orchestral score - and then Xander pops his head in. The music immediately stops, he exchanges a few awkward lines with them before realising they have bigger things to worry about. As he leaves, Buffy turns back to the melodrama and the sweeping music surges back in. It’s brilliantly funny - it feels like Xander put an episode on pause for a quick interjection, then re-started it where we left off. It’s a joke relying entirely on the audience’s expectations of the kind of epic melodrama we might get from Buffy and Angel, and it works really well. In this moment, Xander completely becomes the viewer, peeking in on these two actors, observing through glass.

The Zeppo is very concerned with meta references, TV, and the act of watching. Obviously the title is a reference to Zeppo Marx, and there is also a running gag likening Xander to Jimmy Olsen. We are encouraged to think of Xander in relation to his narrative function as a fictional character, and so to watch this episode through this meta lens. One key shot just after Faith and Xander sleep together shows the two of them literally reflected in a TV screen. We are literally seeing a distorted reflection of reality in a TV screen, which on one level is essentially all we do whenever we watch any television show, but is also what we are seeing within this episode - a fuzzy reflection of a Buffy episode within a Buffy episode.

There’s another shot later that I like, of one of the zombies pausing during the final chase scene to look through the library window at the demon emerging from the hellmouth. We see him looking through the glass at this apocalypse monster for a couple of seconds before continuing on with his chase, like a channel-hopping viewer taking a brief glimpse of Buffy, momentarily enraptured, before switching back to what they were watching before.

One thing that stood out to me on this rewatch was how the villains are described. We purposefully get very little on the group, but what we do get is telling. “’Sisterhood of Jhe. Race of female demons, fierce warriors...' Eww. '...celebrate victory in battle by eating their foes.’”

A race of all-female warriors sounds very much like Slayers. They apparently eat after battles too, which according to Faith is also a feature of Slayers. The villain in this story is kind of a representation of the central concept of the show, which makes sense since it deals with Xander navigating around a typical episode of the show. You could also read it as representative of Xander’s pathologies when it comes to women and specifically women who are stronger than him.

What I like about this episode is that it doesn’t conclude by giving Xander a big important role in stopping the apocalypse, proving his worth to the group. That’s what a lesser show might have done. I like that here, Xander never gets involved with the epic finale-esque plot. He carries on existing in the spaces around it, becoming instead the hero of the monster-of-the-week runaround episode he has found himself in. Xander cannot be the hero of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because he’s not Buffy. But he is still a human being, and all of us as human beings are the protagonists and heroes of our own stories. He can be the hero of his own life. 

S3 is largely about identity and forging one’s own path in life - obviously Buffy starts by having given up her name, then has to deal with facing off against her dark equivalent and making major decisions about her future. This season’s focus-episodes for the other characters reflect that: Giles is stripped of his role in Helpless, Willow rails against hers in Doppelgangland. This episode is all about Xander coming to terms with his narrative role within Buffy - as the non-powered comedic relief and occasional pep-talker. He could become frustrated with that, throw up his hands and let himself be at the mercy of his narrative function. But this episode allows him to find his own space, his own story. He accepts that he can’t colonise Buffy’s story, but he is still in control of his own decisions, and he can still have his own story. He can create a little one-off episode of Xander the Zombie Fighter that can co-exist peacefully with the episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer happening at the same time. It’s a smaller, quieter story without the same world-shaking melodrama - but that’s OK. As Xander says himself, he likes the quiet.

As viewers, we can never shape the course of the media we watch. That’s part of the appeal - we don’t always know what we want or need - a problem Xander faces himself when he clutches at things like “being cool” or “a car” for things that might make him happy - but a good show gives us what we didn’t realise we needed. But it remains an eternal frustration, that we can connect on a deep emotional level with these characters, but can never help them or solve their problems. A good set of characters can feel like family, but a character can never love you back. When Xander faces up against this same uselessness as he observes an episode of Buffy from afar, it is the same uselessness the viewer feels. When he accepts this and inhabits his own story, it reminds us that we can do the same thing. Television can be a great comfort, but it is not our lives. Because we can affect our own lives. We aren’t in control of them, but we can guide and impact them, and we can each be the hero of our own individual existences.

[nancypullen]

TGIF?

The painters arrived this morning and the crew of three is now a crew of two.  They’re down one man, so I’m assuming this “three day job” is likely going to take a week.  Anyone else singing, “a three hour tour, a three hour tour..”?  Since they only managed to paint one bedroom the first day I don’t have high hopes today. I’ll be pleased if they get anything done. If they could knock out one bedroom and a bathroom I’ll feel like we hit lotto.   I think the mister could tell I was frustrated yesterday.  I spent some time pulling weeds and laying down weed cloth, my Snapped podcast playing and letting the neighbors know that I could be hiding bodies over here.  I came inside, dirty and hot, and Mickey said that he thought we needed a date night.  I didn’t feel up to a date night, I just wanted a shower and to be left alone.  But because he was trying to shift the mood, I agreed and made myself presentable.  Guess where he took me first?  The library!  They’re open until 8pm and he knew I’d enjoy browsing the shelves. By the time I’d checked out four books he was ready for dinner so we moseyed over to Denton’s Public House where outside dining is available.  Perfect!  It was a gorgeous day, mid-70′s with a nice breeze. so we lingered.

After dinner we strolled down the street and looked in a couple of shops.  Down this path is Patti’s Petals, the local florist.  Every Tuesday she gives away bouquets of tulips.  You just go to her Facebook page and comment “Tuesday Tulips” and you can swing by and pick up a bouquet.  How nice is that?

You’ll also find Betty’s Boutique with front windows full of bridal gowns and prom dresses.  My favorite is still The Foundry where they offer a variety of art classes.  I think I’ll try to make next week’s class on making fairy houses.  I’ve always wanted to be a landlord to fairies.

We picked up a copy of the Bay Gazette and when I saw this headline I felt the need to shout, “It wasn’t me! I didn’t eat them all!”

Long story short, the mister knew just how to cheer me up.  Books, food, a stroll and a few laughs.  It doesn’t lessen my frustration with the progress around here, but it did get me out of my head for a little while.  Since we’re back to living like this...

I just needed to be away from it for a bit.

It’s June 10th.  We’ve been here 35 days.  That sounds shorter than saying “over a month”.  We’re living like squatters but we’re making progress.  I’ve resigned myself to the fact that the back yard will just have to be ugly and patchy this summer.  That takes time and we arrived too late for aerating and seeding. That’ll happen in the fall, I guess.  We did get not one, but two Jane Magnolias planted!  In the coming years I’ll enjoy seeing those pink blooms.  Phoebe has become an avid bird watcher so I should probably get our feeder up.

That picture reminds me that we also plan to put some nice window sills in (ya’ know, big enough for a small herb pot or a nosy cat to sit on) but that comes after paint.  Adding that to the long list. I swear I’ll find something to write about other than the slow drip of fixing this house.  We’re spending tomorrow with the grandgirl while her parents go run one of those insane courses where you crawl through mud and jump over fire...for fun.  As if a day with my favorite girl isn’t enough, she’s getting TWO KITTENS today!  TWO!  Apparently they’re brothers, one black and one gray.  She’s going to be so surprised! The crazy cat lady DNA is strong and she inherited a dose from both sides.  Her mama and daddy are cat people. We won’t mention that her Grancy has already fed treats to the neighborhood cats that pass through her back yard.  Her parents have discussed with her the possibility of getting a kitten or kittens and she was 100% in favor of the idea.  She’s even made some noise about naming a kitten Buttercup. Not sure which boy will end up with the moniker.  I suggested names of famous brothers like Chico and Zeppo or William and Harry.  I don’t think I’ll win that one. I’ll think I’ll leave you here.  With all of the insanity and unhappiness in the world, exiting now and leaving you with thoughts of a little girl and two fluffy kittens is a kind thing to do.  We need more kittens and giggles.

Yep. Stay safe, stay well, go pet something fuzzy. XOXO, Nancy