The Fictional and the Fashionable: Anya Jenkins

Because I'm one of those people who watch TV shows/movies and go "Oh my GOD, I love what Person X is wearing!"

Also because it's the holidays, I have time on my hands, and what better way to spend time than by ruthlessly hunting through screencaps to get pictures of adorable outfits worn by fictional people?

First up: Anya Jenkins, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Born about 1000 years ago as Anyanka, Anya was a vengeance demon who brought pain and suffering on wrong-doing men. Long story short, she ended up in Sunnydale, California, being, in her own words "newly human and strangely literal", and providing the show with an outspoken and hilarious voice.

Plus, she had some pretty nice outfits, too.



From "Two To Go", season 6
The Peter Pan collar! It's delightful.

"All The Way", season 6
The Halloween episode that was boring as.
On the bright side, we got Anya's costume.
You can't see them, but she has rollerblades.

And the hair!

 

"Beneath You", season 7
She may have gone back to her vengeance demon ways,
but that is an adorable dress. And hair.

Only screencap I could get of the whole outfit.

The shoes!!!

"Hell's Bells", season 6
Despite it being the saddest ever wedding between an ex-demon and a human,
Anya looked gorgeous.
Screw you, Xander.

"Once More With Feeling", Season 6

Fluffy (heeled) slippers, and a red satin bra-and-shorts combo.

The perfect outfit for when you're under a spell causing you to sing and dance in your living room.  

It sure beats Xander's oversize silk pyjama...thing, which makes him look about 45. 

"Selfless", season 7

During the Russian Revolution, in her vengeance demon days

Looks so elegant, you'd never suspect she and Halfrek had just

been on a vengeance spree. Apart from, you know, the blood.  

"Hush", season 4
However, even Anya had her share of style fails.
That's an alright-looking jumper, though, you say...

 ...And then she turns around.

Not even vengeance demons are immune from the Season 4 Styling Curse.

"Fear, Itself", season 4
To finish, Anya in her first Halloween costume.
She's dressed as her greatest fear.
Because, as we know, "bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes..."



I might do more of these.

Z :)

Screencaps from http://www.buffyworld.com/

Defeatist - Cameras

I have no idea why I love this.
I think it's all the elements thrown together that make it so perfect. The black and white, the unplaceable time period, the lack of special effects, the beautiful lingering cinematography, the desperate love, the crooked fairytale.
Not to mention the song itself, which manages to obliterate your heart. That guitar and those vocals and the wrenching chorus all combine to make 4 minutes of sweet and beautiful agony.
It's the story of a wolf, and a girl. But it's not what you think.
I'm running out of praise. Just watch this. Several times.

"Goodbye, Mr Anderson." "My name...is NEO!"

The Matrix.

I finally saw it after my friend lent all 3 DVDs to me. Well, firstly, I can see why people have compared it to Inception, with the whole dreaming/what is reality? theme. It's also different too, MUCH more dystopian. The plot's not quite as mind-bending as Inception, but there's still a fairly complex storyline.

The action scenes were spectacular, and so were the special effects. It's hard to believe it was made over 11 years ago. The famous bullet-dodging scene was just as cool as I'd expected, if not more, while the opening scene with Trinity (who I adore, by the way, with her being a non-damselly, completely awesome female lead) kicking the crap out everyone in the room left my jaw on the floor.

The whole look of the film was great, leading me to a couple of questions: 1. Just how much leather did they buy to make everyone's costumes?! and 2. Why is every scene inside the matrix so GREEN? I get the whole showing genre through tone thing, but really - do things need to be that green?!

I loved it, though. Can't wait to watch the second and third ones now!

Z

Musings on a lazy Saturday

Long weekend, yay! Plus we have next Friday off school because it's report-writing day.
It's a gorgeous Saturday...well, it was morning, but somehow it's slipped away into afternoon. It's been terribly cold this week since it's June, but outside it looks beautiful right now. The sun's shining and the sky is a wonderful clear blue, peeking through the branches of the gumtrees outside my window. (That all sounds so cliched-ly Australian, but it's true. I live near the coast, in a small town. It's not like this everywhere in Aus.)
Not much else to say. My friend's coming over this afternoon, it'll be awesome. And the Doctor Who final's on tonight, can't wait.
I need to get Jebdediah's new album from the library, and buy the new Arctic Monkeys one. J'adore AM <3
And I saw the clip for Boy & Bear's "Feeding Line" on Rage this morning, it's an amazing video clip. It doesn't make much sense, but God, the whole look of it is beautiful. The song's really good too. I was going to link to it, but it's not up on YouTube yet, grr. Look out for it!

That's all!
Enjoy the weekend, long or not :)
Z

"It should take you about 4 seconds to get from here to the door. I'll give you two."

Today, for what seems like the first time in over a month, I have no homework. This is a small miracle when it comes to a predominently VCE course. So I celebrated by:

- Watching the Doctor Who episode that I recorded, since I was at a friend's 16th last night and couldn't watch it all when it aired. He did put it on TV, but we missed most of the plot. So I got to see it this morning. Gangers! Tubs of acid! Jennifer hitting on Rory! (leave Rory alone you fool, he's married to the fabulous Amy Pond!!) Clone Doctor! Cruel cliff-hanger!
- Watching the end of Amelie, which made me feel quite a bit sunshiney and happy, and which I plan to review soon
- Watching some Season 2 Angel (I finally have time to watch it, not being bogged down by assignments and worksheets)
- Eating Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. The only place I've found them is in the David Jones food court, and that's up in Melbourne. They're delicious, but the packet is rapidly emptying thanks to i) my cravings, and ii) my friend Eclair, who grabs some whenever she's over, and also uses them as a wager in any bet.
-  Re-reading Breakfast at Tiffany's. While I love the movie (mostly because I love any Audrey Hepburn film), I also love the book, and it's impossible for me to compare them because they're so different. The quote in the title of this post actually comes from the book, but it's in the movie too.
- Despairing about the fact that we have school tomorrow.

Very non-productive. But isn't that what Sundays are all about?

Clinging to the edges of the weekend,
Z

Top 5 Best Musical Moments from Non-Musicals

Sounds strange, I know, but these are moments of brilliant song and dance. Yet the films they’re from aren’t musicals, which makes these displays of theatricality even more...well, theatrical. Whether they’re performances or hallucinations, this is my Top 5 (with honourable mentions). These are only from movies, though. Musical moments from TV shows is an entirely different post, which I might will definitely do later.

1.      “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” performed by Heath Ledger, Ten Things I Hate About You

I loved this movie from the moment it started, but the moment that crowned it all was this performance. Having upset Kat (Julia Stiles), Patrick (Heath Ledger) decides he must sacrifice his dignity to win her back. So while she’s on the oval doing soccer practice, he bribes the leader of the marching band, hijacks the PA system, and serenades her with “Can’t Take my Eyes Off You” from the bleachers. The whole marching band joins in, he dances wildly and continues to sing even when security tries to drag him away. A moment of pure awesomeness and one that makes you miss Heath Ledger even more.

2.       “Moon River” performed by Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s

The most iconic image of Audrey from BaT’s is surely the one with the jewellery and the LBD and the cigarette holder. There’s no doubt she’s glamorous as Holly Golightly. Yet this scene shows just how beautiful she is, as she sits on the fire escape in jeans and a towel-turban, plucking a guitar and singing in her thin, whispery voice. I have to admit I like the song Holly sings in the book better, but Moon River is a fantastic song. Holly looks so far away from the high-class prostitute, and you get a sense of just how lonely she really is.

3.      “La Marseillaise”, performed by every non-Nazi at Rick’s, Casablanca

Casablanca is a truly wonderful film, and this has to count as one of the most emotional scenes. In Rick’s (Humphrey Bogart) bar, German soldiers start to sing the German national anthem. The others, mostly runaways from invaded countries, begin to look disheartened. Then Laszlo orders the house band to play the French national anthem. Slowly, everyone else begins to sing. The look on their faces as they sing are breathtaking – such emotion, such patriotism, such determination. They drown out the Germans, and the audience cheers while wiping their eyes.

4.      Random Morning-After Dance, performed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and a large crowd, (500) Days of Summer

This is quite an odd movie, but I like it. Clearly, events are seen from Tom’s (JGL) point of view and this scene is the best example. After finally sleeping with Summer (Zooey Deschanel), Tom is exultantly happy to say the least. He walks down the street imaging everyone congratulating him and when he gets to the park, thing go full-on Glee-like and everyone starts dancing while “You Make My Dreams Come True” plays in the background. Then a little blue cartoon birdie flies down to see Tom. No, I’m not making that up. It’s that kind of movie.

5.      “Jai Ho”, performed by Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, and a bunch of randoms, Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire is played as a straight romance-drama all the way through, but at the end it’s like the writers went ‘Damn, this is meant to be an Indian movie and we don’t have anything remotely Bollywood in it’. So, throwing conventions and possibly reality out the window, the movie ends with Jamal and Latika dancing in a train station, backed by everyone else on the platform. “Jai Ho”, a joyous song about love, fits the movie’s triumphant end well. At the end, the crowd boards the trains and Jamal and Latika walk off hand-in-hand. It’s a beautiful and somewhat unexpected way to end the film.

Honorary mentions:

·         The scene in, of all movies, Scream 2, where Derek upset by Sidney’s ‘we can’t go out because I don’t want you getting hurt’ speech earlier, sits glumly at the cafeteria table with her and two others. Suddenly, he starts singing “I Think I Love You”, quietly at first, then at full volume, jumping onto the table and being clapped by the rest of the students. Sidney, unable to resist such a declaration of love, kisses him. An unexpectedly sweet moment for a slasher flick.

·         The Plastics (and Cady) performing ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ in Mean Girls. Yet another hilarious moment in this sharp, observant, genius film.

·         In Girl, Interrupted where Susannah steals a guitar and she and Lisa sing to a locked-up Polly, trying to keep her spirits up. One of the few heart-warming moments from this wonderfully dark, thought-provoking movie.  

My Top 5 Fictional Heroines

With their courage, intelligence and toughness, these women were/are the ones I idolise/d, from Disney girls to the heroines from literature, film and TV today. ‘Heroine’ doesn’t necessarily mean they have to be indestructible ninjas, although the ones in this list did quite a bit of ass-kicking. And it’s the more realistic, not-always-perfect girls that are the true fighters.

So, without further ado, the list, in no particular order:

Mulan, Mulan (1998) (also Mulan 2, but that’s...not worth mentioning)

Between the ages of 4 and 7, I think I watched this movie at least 10 times. Whenever Dad took me down to the video shop, I’d choose it, ignoring his subtle suggestions that I choose something else for a change (Dad was forced to sit through all viewings of Mulan too. Sorry Dad.). But it’s a great story. Set in China, Mulan’s father is an old, weak man, yet the army still wants him to fight. Mulan doesn’t want him killed, so she does the obvious thing: she disguises herself as a boy and enlists in the Chinese army, knowing it’s the only way she can save him. With impeccable courage and quick wit, she manages to defeat the Huns, save China and keep her secret under wraps...almost to the end. But Shang, the army leader, falls in love with her, so it all works out Disney-ly well. I have to mention Mushu the talking dragon too, simply because he’s hilarious and at one stage I could recite nearly all his lines. Mulan was brave, resourceful and determined, and one of the first Disney girls who didn’t need a man to save her.

Hermione Granger, Harry Potter books/movies

Well, it’s Hermione, constantly referred to as the brightest witch at Hogwarts. She was gifted at magic, always one step ahead and saved Harry and Ron too many times to mention. Yes, Harry was the hero of the series, but arguably if it hadn’t been for Hermione, he would’ve died several books ago. Famous for the quote, ‘It’s leviosa, not leviosaaaaaa’. Everyone in the Potter-verse would be stuffed without her, basically.

Katniss Everdeen, The Hunger Games trilogy

Katniss, to be, frank, is a legend. Like Mulan, she put herself in danger to save her family. In this case, she couldn’t bear the thought of her little sister being in the Hunger Games, the annual national contest where 24 kids enter a giant arena and forced to kill each other until one survivor is left (yes, it is as horrific and brutal as it sounds), so she takes her place instead. Katniss goes through a hell of a lot in the trilogy. She must survive the games, suffering numerous nightmares that the area conjures up, and things don’t get easy even once she makes it out alive. There’s the sinister, murderous Capitol to worry about too. Katniss isn’t neccesarily a nice girl. She isn’t polite or sweet or notably pretty. She can be snarky and mean and violent. It's a refreshing change from the usual nice-as-pie protaganists. She’s a good shot with a bow and arrow, and fights damn hard to get what she wants. She’s epic.

Romana, Doctor Who

Romana was a companion of the fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) in the 1970s. A female Time Lord (same species as the Doctor), her full name was Romanadvoratrelundar and she gained a Triple First at the Academy on Gallifrey, their home planet. She took no nonsense from the Doctor, delivering such speeches as this: ‘Of course, now I realize that your behaviour simply derives from a sub-transitory experiential hypertoid-induced condition aggravated by multi-encephalogical tensions.’ (What?!) She helped the Doctor find the pieces of the Key to Time, and when they finally parted ways she became President of Gallifrey. Much-loved by the fandom and one of the first of the Doctor’s companions who was more than just a shrieking assistant.

Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Well, of course I have to mention Buffy, the Chosen One, the vampire slayer who had supernatural powers and saved the world too many times to mention. Anyone who doubted the tiny, cute-looking blonde could even fight a butterfly shortly found themselves being proved very, very wrong. She destroyed vampires, demons, even Hell-Gods, all while juggling school (later college), friendship and romance. Even in her less-than-well-written hours (late Season 6 and most of S7, I’m looking at you), you couldn’t help but cheer for her, whether she was decapitating an uber-vamp or killing her boyfriend and sending him to hell. Buffy Summers, I salute you.