Whedon Wednesday :: color theory as it applies to a couple of Buffy season 4 cast promotional photographs

Oz (Seth Green): Dull purple and gray.  Oz has always been a mysterious guy, so it’s no wonder that he’s wearing mystery purple; if light purple is romance and nostalgia and dark purple is gloom and frustration, I assume gray-purple is somewhere between those two things, which is appropriate to Oz’s season 4 arc, yes.
Giles (Anthony Stewart Head): The first time a promo shot hasn’t had him in a snappy suit.  If white is innocence and safety and black is formality and power, gray must be somewhere in between those two things.  Which suits Giles, probably; he’s innocent not in the traditional context but season 4 is also his unofficial “what is my life direction” season, so the blend of things is appropriately ambivalent.
Xander (Nicholas Brendon): Finally, promo!Xander in a color that isn’t blue or orange!  Not that red isn’t right next to orange on the color wheel, but still.  Xander is also having a “what is my life direction” season, where things like willpower, leadership, and courage are things he wants to achieve, so his dark red is more of an aspirational color than anything.
Riley (Marc Blucas): Also gray.  Bluish-gray, but gray.  I suppose the obvious thing here would be to point out that gray often signifies ambivalence, and that is Riley’s moral state to an extent.
Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar): Strength and mystery black all the way.  Very straightforward.
Spike (James Marsters): Also black, though more with the death and evil (attempted) significance.
Willow (Alyson Hannigan): Actually a similar color scheme to Xander’s, but college is more of a flourishy time for Wills.  She’s coming into her own with the magicks a bit, she’s comfy in the academic environment.  And willpower, well, need I remind you of “Something Borrowed”?

Giles: Oh, and the reliable brown suit jacket is back.  Over the same gray sweater, but there’s no particular new message here.
Riley: Look who’s repping the manly blue now!  Riley, for whom masculinity is a key personality component.
Xander: And Xander has returned to the orange as well, cutting a larger amount of dependable tan.
Buffy: Black and dark blue.  Is it just easy to put the heroine in black because it’s straightforward?
Spike: Considering that Spike doesn’t wear really colors but black and red until season seven (unless he’s dressing up, as with the Hawaiian shirt incident) it’s not really a surprise that he’s wearing black and red.  For the usual vampire reasons.
Willow: A brighter red this time, which is still for power, and a brighter, lighter blue, which is always going to be intellect with her.
Oz: Growing, healing green, because that’s what Oz needs to do this season.

–your fangirl heroine.

Whedon Wednesday :: color theory as it applies to a couple of Buffy season 3 cast promotional photographs

Xander (Nicholas Brendon): The trend of keeping Xander in blue continues.  Oh, Xander.
Giles (Anthony Stewart Head): A reliable, official-seeming gray suit.
Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter): That is quite orange!  Here, that possibly means “determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.”  With some dark blue, possibly for integrity.
Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar): Well, that’s a romantic and nostalgic light purple if ever there was.  Interesting.  (This is also the outfit in some of the Buffy/Angel promo photos, and it makes sense given that context.)
Angel (David Boreanaz): For some reason, also reliable gray?  Despite the fact that he’s almost always wearing black in the show.
Willow (Alyson Hannigan): Her color scheme is the reverse of Cordy’s, though her dark blue is on top for emphasis; hers likely represents knowledge. Her pants are more red than orange, for danger, strength, and emotional intensity.
Oz (Seth Green): Healing, safe green, for some reason.

Angel: And now we’re back to the dark, mysterious all black all the time Angel we know so well.  It’s something of a comfort, really.
Giles: And Giles is never going to change.  All of the gray and brown suits all of the time.
Oz: “Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red,” says Color Wheel Pro, and that sounds like a very accurate description of Oz.  Oz is a very stable dude, and though his “energy” is not in the traditional hyperactive sense, it is nonetheless vital.  (It could also be the energy of wolf-time Oz.)Willow: Blue for knowledge again, lightened for understanding, and brown for potential extra stability.
Buffy: Pure romantic pink, soft and feminine.  Using pinks and purples on Buffy is a contrast to what the viewers know about her, of course, since while Buffy is very “girly” in many ways, she also kicks ass in ways that silly people don’t associate with femininity.  In this way, it’s showing the multifacetedness of her.
Xander: Enthusiastic, fascinated orange feels much more like Xander’s true personality, though there is still plenty of blue to contribute to the image he wants to present.
Cordelia: Light blue, in its softness-but-not-weakness, is much more Cordelia, too.

–your fangirl heroine.

Whedon Wednesday :: color theory as it applies to a few Buffy season 2 cast promotional photographs

First, I would like to point out that this photograph is shot so as so seem mostly blue naturally, likely for power and seriousness.

Angel (David Boreanaz): Dude is wearing black.  Spoiler, you probably won’t find a promo picture of him where he isn’t wearing mostly black, which represents “power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery.”  Check, sometimes check, sometimes check, check, check this season, check.
Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar): Blue pants because seriousness again, white to contrast Angel’s black.  White which is “light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity.”  Kind of check, check, check-but-not to the last three.
Willow (Alyson Hannigan): All you see here is green.  Growth and healing are probably the green buzzwords this season, both in relation to her magicks: growth because, oh look I can magick, healing because, hey even though I don’t know it surprise look Angel’s soul!
Xander (Nicholas Brendon): Mostly blue, probably for loyalty and also masculinity.
Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter): More whites and grays, innocence also.

Xander: More blue.  Buddy really likes to remind us he’s a guy, I suppose.
Willow: Dark blue, probably for knowledge and power.  Again because of magicks, probably, since she is knowledge girl but also she is getting knowledge of magicks, and she is a novice but she is more powerful than she knows.  This knowledge/power is contrasted to her almost sheepish facial expression, for example.
Buffy: Appears to be wearing the same outfit as in the above.
Cordelia: Also is wearing the same outfit, though the lighting for this picture reveals its actual color scheme, mostly yellows (dingy ones such as this for “caution, decay, sickness, and jealousy,” which is debatably applicable this season, but there is also an implied normalcy.)

Willow: Green!  Also black, but most noticeably green.  Definitely back to the growth and healing.
Oz (Seth Green): Black and white, and color theory be damned, it’s just for being snappy.
Giles (Anthony Stewart Head): Brown for stability and masculinity like last week, blue for knowledge.  Brown and blue is really the color way of saying “look, I know things that are important!”
Cordelia: Shades of red this time, which on her are visibility, power, desire, strength, determination, and most of the other positive connotations.
Xander: 4/5 of these pictures have had Xander in blue so far.  He wears blue inseries, of course, but not this overwhelmingly often.
Buffy: Her blue, however, is daintier, girlier; it almost looks periwinkle.  With it and white, this is an “underestimate me at your peril” outfit.
Angel: Black, black, a dark red shirt underneath I think (and a giant, humorous belt buckle, but that’s neither here nor there).  Dark red is, in his case, likely malice and wrath.
Spike (James Marsters): Also black.  These guys have the same basic color scheme.
Drusilla (Juliet Landau): Black for evil, red for blood, after all they are vampires.  Dru’s red also has a more romantic feel to it, one of emotional intensity and extreme passion.

–your fangirl heroine.

Whedon Wednesday :: color theory as it applies to a couple of Buffy season 1 cast promotional photographs

Because I am fascinated with the idea of seeing how (if) color presentation changes over the seasons.

Willow (Alyson Hannigan): Willow has a gift for wearing every color at once, she really does.  This is may be because Willow is pretty defined by her cravings for self-definition (I mean, everyone is, and Willow knows a lot of things about herself, but she still wants to be something else/more a lot of the time I think).  From the top down: blue for “consciousness and intellect,” green probably for ambition, brown for stability, and just a bit of blink-and-you-miss-it red for her latent/undiscovered power and temper.
Xander (Nicholas Brendon): Xander is less of a colorsmash (since I figure Willow is kind of the wardrobe equivalent of a keysmash sometimes).  He’s orange for encouragement and stimulation, yellow for energy and loyalty.
Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar): Aside from her brown-for-stability boots, here she is blue all the way.  Light blue is usually health and softness, which is less applicable, but “in heraldry, blue is used to symbolize piety and sincerity,” which is interesting.  She is not a spiritual person per se, but she is very much defined by her powers-given destiny and is devoted to it, though nontraditionally.
Giles (Anthony Stewart Head): This man is the definition of brown for stability, here with some red for leadership and courage.
Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter): An interesting palette of yellows, anywhere from prestige to joy to jealousy.

Xander: Here the blue is for loyalty and also to an extent faith (in Buffy and her cause).  Also perhaps masculinity.
Giles: In addition to being stability, brown is masculinity as well, though of a less in-your-face kind.
Buffy: The same boots, but here she is sporting pure gold.  Illumination, prestige, high quality – all that whatnot.  She is not wealthy and she is not bookish-wise, but she is world-wise and also she is noble as they come.
Cordelia: She’s smarter than she wants you to believe, which is partially reflected here; the light blue is also soft i.e. feminine, and Cordy is fairly girly in ways.
Willow: Yellow for intellect and to an extent happiness, orange for endurance, and again the hints of red.

–your fangirl heroine.

Whedon Wednesday :: life’s a show and we all play a part [a sartorial analysis of Once More, With Feeling]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a show that does not inherently invite sartorial analysis.  It invites sartorial giggles, yes (“oh, look at that wacky 90s outfit!”) and the characters do have fairly distinct styles and memorable outfits, but honestly, some of the outfits are totally out of left field.  (See: mostly everything that Willow wears, bless her heart.)  The interesting thing about “Once More, With Feeling” is that since it’s the ~musical episode~ you have often more deliberate and exaggerated costuming, because, well, they’re all playing parts.  The parts are themselves, of course, but themselves in extremis.  Mostly.

This isn’t really true of Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) in the traditional sense.  Her wardrobe is normal, perhaps hyperconsciously so.  Her source of tension is just wanting to feel alive, wanting to feel normal, and so she is dressed normally.  The blue top and red top have semi-interesting necklines, at least, but the white tops are the plainest that can be.  And pairing a colorful top with a leather jacket (short or long as the case may be) is pretty much standard Buffy.  Her normalcy is almost a parody of itself.

But then you have Anya (Emma Caulfield).  The first outfit I include two pictures of, because it is just that absurd.  And as far as the characters go, Anya is the one who’s probably more likely to wear something weird in that way, but a satin midriff top with a giant sequin butterfly?  That’s extreme.  That is “Anya is about to sing possibly the most ridiculous song in this entire episode, so let’s give her the most ridiculous top we can think of.”  But from her “retro pastiche” “book number” onward, she’s dolled up, well, rather retro.  Despite the fact that you don’t see Anya (or any character) wearing lingerie like hers during the entire rest of the series, it’s very reminiscent of 60s movie musicals, and while her later dress is plainer, her hair stays vintageesque the entire time.

Xander (Nicholas Brendon) gets matching silk jammies, the likes of which he’s never seen in again, and in keeping with the 60s musical theme, they’re even appropriately colored (red for girls with Anya’s, blue for boys with Xander’s).  They don’t really seem very Xander, though.  Anya’s lingerie-jammies at least seem like something she might wear in “real life,” maybe, but Xander’s are definitely costuming.  Later he’s back to something that’s a little more him, though, because he’s one of those Whedonverse men who wears ridiculous button-up shirts.  (There are several of them.)

Basically every positive meaning of the color yellow (joy, happiness, intellect, energy, warming, cheerfulness, freshness, thank you Color Wheel Pro) is applicable to Tara (Amber Benson).  She is often the kind of character who gets dressed in sweaters or tops and long skirts, so structurally her outfits (particularly the second one) are not out of character in the slightest.  The corset, though?  Well, it’s part of that costuming.  “Under Your Spell” is the closest that this episode gets to a love song, and the corseted outfit is fairly ~romantic~.  Tara is also the most olde-timey magicky of the bunch, rather spiritual and feminine, so it makes sense that here, where the dial is turned up on everyone, for her to be wearing the most standardly costumeyRenaissancey (and memorable) costume.  (With extra notes of aqua for “emotional healing and protection.”)

And then you have my dear Willow (Alyson Hannigan).  She’s got a bit of the mystic magic Wiccan thing going in the pinky-purple tree dress, not as traditionally so as Tara, but still definitely not something she’d be wearing in a different episode.  Then by the end, she’s good old “what the heck are you wearing, baby” Willow.  Giant purple duster sweater with… furry?… collar, purple skirt, purple texture-patterned top.  And here, I’ll bring out those analyses of light and dark purple again: “Light purple evokes romantic and nostalgic feelings.  Dark purple evokes gloom and sad feelings. It can cause frustration.”  Romantic and nostalgic, because though she’s going about it in way the wrong way as per addiction, romance and nostalgia is what she’s going for in the beginning.  And, well, Willow doesn’t let go of her worry face for the entire time she’s wearing the second outfit.

Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) is pretty standard, too.  He doesn’t wear suits so much by this point, but there’s nothing unusual about Giles in a suit.  And there’s really nothing unusual about Giles in a sweater.  Giles is an emotional constant, and his wardrobe reflects this.

(Also, the sweater that Dawn [Michelle Trachtenberg] wears in the beginning number is a similar shade of blue.)  Dawn’s outfits are designed for purpose: the sleeveless turtleneck and black capris are functional for dancing, the strange prom dress thing is functional for being… shown off and discussed as a demon child bride?  Good old pale blue with its straightforward innocence.

And then there’s Spike (James Marsters), whose outfit doesn’t change.  And really has not changed up to this point and will not change often at all.

–your fangirl heroine.

be nicer to yourself, you

Television Tuesday :: 6 of the times that family ain’t always blood

As I mentioned last week and as I mention always and forever, I absolutely just love created families.  These can take a whole variety of forms.  They’re based in organizations, in necessity, in friendship, in trust, in, uhm, vampirism, in care for others, in whatever.  And they are beautiful.  I heard in work orientation that the “my friends are my family” thing is sort of unique to the younger generations, and I suppose I understand how that’s true (it’s certainly true in my case, but I think that comes as much from generational differences as from my latching onto a few people with everything I have) but it has fascinated and will always fascinate me.

Honorable mentions to the Angel Investigations crew, who I’ll discuss a teensy bit more in a minute, and the cast of Community, neither of whom I’m discussing in detail because I’m still working through those two particular shows, but augh I love them already.  I’m just waiting till I’m done to discuss.  Another honorable mention, actually, to Dany (Emilia Clarke) and her dragons and her khalasar, which is a kind of family in its way (and, y’know, “blood of my blood” and stuff) but since it’s more conceptual/re: dragons than re: specific characters (I mean Jorah [Iain Glen], yeah, and her maids, though that’s a whole other meta, but) I’m not going into it much.

6. Sofia has four or five mommies and a daddy or two (Deadwood)
This one is complicated because strictly speaking, Alma (Molly Parker) basically adopts Sofia (Bree Seanna Wall), and Alma and Ellsworth (Jim Beaver) do get married.  But it’s my favorite adoptive mommy&daddy situation ever, basically; it’s different than if Alma was actively seeking a child to adopt, which is cool too, but this is more a case of stumbling into it and deciding that yes, she liked the little impromptu family.  And Ellsworth was a great fake dad.  I also bring this up because this is a relatively literal “it takes a village to raise a child” situation – I guess it’s more “Sofia has a mommy and three or four aunt figures” than the above, I just like how the above sounds.  Considering that Sofia is influenced by Trixie (Paula Malcomson) and Jane (Robin Weigert), to a lesser extent Martha (Anna Gunn) and occasionally even Joanie (Kim Dickens), as well as sometimes having Sol (John Hawkes) and Seth (Timothy Olyphant) in her life (and even Bill [Keith Carradine] a teensy bit back in the day), well.  Everyone is contributing to the life of this one adorable little girl, and I think it’s really sweet.

5. The Sons of Anarchy (Sons of Anarchy)
Wow, I don’t have nearly as much meta about these guys as I do about, y’know, everyone else, but they’re worth mentioning.  They’re totally a family, and for a long time Clay (Ron Perlman) and Gemma (Katey Sagal) were the daddy and mommy, easy; they’re married, yes, and Jax (Charlie Hunnam) is their RL kid, and the whole mess with Maureen (Paula Malcomson) and Trinny (Zoe Boyle) and Abel and Tara (Maggie Siff) and my point is there are a lot of blood relations, yes, but the whole extended club is family in their way.  Sometimes a family that doesn’t get on that well, but family nonetheless.

4. I heard it called “the family Godric” somewhere online and I don’t remember where, but I’m going with it (True Blood)
(Well, technically vampire families are by blood, just not in “we share blood because I literally contributed to the creation of your DNA” way.  But they count, because it’s a family that’s chosen and created.)  The family Godric is all of the vampires who are descended from the bloodline created by now-deceased Godric (Allan Hyde), with his children Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) and Nora (Lucy Griffiths), Eric’s child Pam (Kristin Bauer van Straten), and Pam’s child Tara (Rutina Wesley).  And now I’m all curious about whether Nora’s ever been a maker.  But I’m shutting up about it now.  Because even vampire families aren’t always by blood, I also sort of count Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) in the family Godric – well, Bill (Stephen Moyer) was her maker, but Eric and Pam did foster her when she was a newborn, and she totally does act like Pam’s bratty little sister sometimes.  (Bill can maybe be the uncle in the family, the one that nobody really likes that much but they’ve all had to deal with him.)  And now that the family Godric is a proper thing, ridiculous family times with the whole crowd now that they all know each other is one of three things I want from season six.  I basically just want them acting like they’re all in high school: Pam and Tara, the snarky ones who make out with each other and then threaten you with physical violence just ‘cause and insult everyone, Nora the socially maladjusted genius child (since going from the Authority to not just that is probably sort of like going from private school to public school or something) just being dry and British all over, Eric the golden boy, the noble bad boy type, and for good measure Jessica naïve and also not naïve “good girl” who isn’t really that “good,” just chipper.  This is their family dynamic, and yep, it works for me and I like it.

3. The Whirlwind (Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel)
(Also technically a bloodline, but.)  Darla (Julie Benz), who sired Angelus (David Boreanaz), who sired Drusilla (Juliet Landau), who sired Spike (James Marsters).  In the above vampire family,  the lines between parent and child are a little blurry, but in the Whirlwind, even taking the romantic relationships out of the equation, it’s very clear who’s what: Darla and Angel are the parents, period, and Dru and Spike are the kids, period.  Or at least it’s very clearly big sister and brother/little sister and brother.  There is no room for flexibility with these guys, and who’s in charge is clear, period.  Age isn’t relative, it’s very necessary.  But despite the fact that these guys are evil and crazy, their interactions are intriguing.  A lot of bad goes down, yes, but… well, this.

2. The Scoobies (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
(Okay, at this point I’ve seen enough of Angel to have seen a lot of the Whirlwind flashbacks, which I’d read about anyway, but I’m still in season two, so I don’t know enough about the whole Angel Investigations group to really discuss their forever dynamic.  Since people add in on the fairly regular.  I love them as far as I know them, though.  I love them a lot.  I just don’t have intelligent thoughts in excess yet.)  This is a whole lot of characters: Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Willow (Alyson Hannigan), Xander (Nicholas Brendon), Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), Angel (David Boreanaz), Oz (Seth Green), Anya (Emma Caulfield), Riley (Marc Blucas), Tara (Amber Benson), Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg), Spike (James Marsters), even sort of Andrew (Tom Lenk) and Faith (Eliza Dushku), not to mention I guess technically the Potentials sort of count, and eh, I’m probably forgetting to throw others in there because there are so many Scoobies.  What I love about the Scooby Gang is that yes, they’re a family, they’re a family easily, but they’re variable.  The lineup changes all the time.  Several of the Scoobies are reformed baddies to one extent or another.  The group is comprised of Slayers, of witches, of vampires, of ex-demons, of ex-energy blobs, of (ex-)soldiers, of (ex-)Watchers, of werewolves, of just regular people hanging out fighting the good fight.  Provided they want to fight the good fight and aren’t assholes, any variety of person can wind up a Scooby, and everyone gives something unique and necessary to the group.  Giles is the dad, of course; Buffy and Dawn play big/little sister pretty obviously, Xander’s the big brother, Willow’s sort of the middle sister who’s trying to prove herself, Cordy and Anya are the sometimes-abrasive cousins, Tara’s the big sister who ends up playing mom, Oz is the middle brother who’s shrugging and going along with it, Angel’s sort of the older cousin type who never knows what to do with himself at these family things, Andrew’s the twerpy little brother, Spike and Faith are the rebellious middle children who also want to prove themselves, it’s just this big mess of how people work together.

1. The crew of Serenity (Firefly)
The best best ain’t always blood family that ever has been and ever will be.  Literally they are the reason I started saying “family ain’t always blood,” which should be abso-bloody-lutely obvious, really.  Mal (Nathan Fillion), Zoe (Gina Torres), Wash (Alan Tudyk), Kaylee (Jewel Staite), Jayne (Adam Baldwin), Inara (Morena Baccarin), Simon (Sean Maher), River (Summer Glau), Book (Ron Glass), and it doesn’t matter that Zoe and Wash are married or that Simon and River are siblings for true, it is perfect.  Mal’s the protective big brother and occasionally the daddy, Book’s sort of the grandpa or the kindly uncle (sorry, Book, it’s true), Zoe and Inara are big sisters forever, Jayne’s the douche big brother, Wash and Kaylee are the middle siblings (Kaylee tending to be little sister a lot of the time, but not always), Simon’s the mannersly big brother, River’s the littlest sister forever.  But the magical thing about these guys is that even in all of the gēgē/dìdì/jiějie/mèimei stuff, it’s not like the roles are static.  Big sisters/brothers look after little sisters/brothers or after each other, but little sisters, for example, look after big brothers (and everyone else).  Captain Daddy doesn’t treat l’il albatross like a child exactly (sometimes treats her like a liability, but that’s when it’s reasonable, not knowing everything, to feel that way) and when Zoe comic-canonically births her child, that child is going to have a whole passel of aunts and uncles.  L’il Kaylee is clearly everyone’s little sister (the baby before River shows up) but nobody ever underestimates her on account of it.  Everyone looks out for each other.  They made this family that counts for so much, that often counts for more than the families they were born to anymore, that matters so much they’ll all die for it if need be and a couple of them do.  It’s a family made by circumstance, by proximity, by camaraderie, by belief, but by love most of all, absolute and pure and real familial love that is so so good.

–your fangirl heroine.

Sundry Sunday :: 10 of my people-related “things”

I’m not even sure that’s a correct way to phrase this.  I was going to consider calling this list “10 narrative kinks,” but it’s not really that; a lot of my narrative kinks are more character types and less behavior patterns/physical traits, which is what this list is.  Then I though about being sketchy and trying something that phrased around one of my tumblr tags, #why does fetish have to be a creepy word?  But that makes it sketchy.  And I swear it’s not.  A lot of the people who are responsible for these listed items are people that I’m attracted to/fictionally crush on, yes, but it’s not just about that.  It’s just things I… really, really like.  Some for reasons, some not for reasons, some because of fictional reasons, some just because.

10. (generally re: women) a certain particular cute nose.
This is mostly the fault of a bunch of my favorite actresses, and it didn’t even happen consciously; one day, I just realized that a lot of them have similar adorable little bitty snub noses.  I’m pretty sure the nose I’m talking about is the one that Amy of Little Women actually hated about herself, but I think it’s cute.  I mean, any nose can be cute, but… yeah.

Unsurprisingly, Summer Glau demonstrates this, as does the lovely Alison Pill.

9. The blue eyes/brown or red hair combination.
As if my previous endless lists of beautiful blue eyes were not any indication.  Goes for girls and guys both.  A la Deborah Ann Woll, Christina Hendricks, Zooey Deschanel, Sean Maher.  

8. Robot arms.
As previously discussed.  I love robot arms.

7. Vests.
This one can go for both, but usually winds up being men, because men wear more vests.  And it’s completely the fault of two fictional men, predictably my two fictional men, Simon (Sean Maher) and Topher (Fran Kranz).

But because of them, I notice it other places, and go jump-yay-want.

6. Corsetry
Fairly self-explanatory, and not really the fault of any one thing; I think I first started noticing corsets in junior high, thanks to Rocky Horror, but my corset “thing” didn’t really kick off till late high school, maybe even early college.  The first corset I owned was my Repo one, the black one we stitched an ungodly amount of feathers to, and once I actually had one, well.  I understand that corseting back in the day was sometime done unhealthily and represented body-related gǒ se, but if done healthily and properly and for your own enjoyment, I think corseting is kind of fun.  I don’t tightlace.  That’s too intense for me.  But I kind of like the way that corsets feel, and I love how they look, on me and just in general, because that’s really the only person I’m trying to impress.

5. Glasses (particularly when people take them on and off with one hand)
Putting glasses on someone’s face doesn’t make me go OKAY WANT, but if I was going OKAY WANT anyway and then glasses happened because they needed to (IRL or in fiction) I like it.  And the removing thing… well, that’s the fault of two fictional characters, again; this time Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) and Bennett (Summer Glau).

…yeah.

4. Technobabbling of any sort.
Even if I don’t really understand, I enjoy listening to people, real or fictional, go on at great length about technical things that they are passionate about.  Any verbal tl;dr, really.  Kaylee’s engine talk, Giles’ academia talk, Topher’s brain talk.  I just like passionate people being passionate about things.

3. Actually any neuroscience talk.
The minute I see/hear the word “brain” or anything preceded by “neuro-,” my eyes/ears perk up and I’m all at attention.  Knowing a lot about anything is sort of awesome, as above, but considering that I actually recreationally jump all over learning neuroscience stuff myself, I love listening to other people who know about it talk.

2. Cellos.
This has nothing to do with any cellist I have ever listened to or known.  This is just about cellos themselves.  And honestly, I find the sound of cellos to be sexy.  I have no idea why, but I have for quite a long time.

1. Verbal declarations of intent.
This one is largely fictional, yes.  But I really enjoy when fictional characters put on their assertive (not aggressive, there’s a difference) voice and state what they intend to do.

Things like Mal’s (Nathan Fillion) “I aim to misbehave” speech, like every time Dany (Emilia Clarke) gives variations of the “I am Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, and I will take what is mine with fire and blood” speech.  I just get tingles of happiness.

–your fangirl heroine.

Sundry Sunday :: that desired audiobook 5 list

As alluded to last night.  A list that is… unsurprisingly Whedonfolk-dominated.  As are most lists of mine, really, but hey.  This is a list of voices I love, but it’s voices I just want to listen to.  I listen to music when falling asleep; M. Ward, Julia Stone, the Decemberists, Markéta Irglová, etcetera etcetera.  People whose voices are lovely, who I am interested by and yet find somewhat calming.  This list is the actors-and-actresses spoken equivalent of that.

5. Amy Acker
She is just endearing.  She has an endearing voice, and it’s just sweet to listen to.  She has a way of making everything sound sweet: here, it’s an interview, but even when she’s talking about terrible, morbid things in shows and things, she still sounds so calm and lovely.

4. Chris Hemsworth
Just… listen to this.  I’m not spectacularly attracted to Chris Hemsworth in a physical sense.  But his voice is very nice to listen to.  Good Australian accent there.

3. Dichen Lachman
And speaking of Australian accents.  Her voice is calming to me, but it’s also very interesting.  I like listening to how people with accents twist their vowels differently, because I am an accent nerd.  I love those changes, and I think these Australian accents interest me because I don’t know how to do them and that makes it alluring and cool.

2.Anthony Stewart Head
His voice is so lovely to listen to, even his speaking voice, even when he’s talking about murdering people.  I just love listening to him talk: his accent, somewhere between posh and not-posh and he just has the best kind of British accent.  Yes.

1. Christina Hendricks
You should not be surprised in the slightest by this.  She is the reason I began to construct this list in the first place: I think it was during one of my rewatches of Firefly, somewhere during “Trash,” and she was just manipulating the bejeezus out of people and she sounded so lovely even still.  Her voice is cute, and she knows how to work with it, how to use it in characters to her best advantage.

–your fangirl heroine.

Whedon Wednesday :: Top 6 Whedon men I…

…would be, were they women/am pretty attracted to/want to be friends with/relate to/will love forever.  A slightly more long-winded title than the long-ago lady post of the same nature, but it’s basically the same list.  Considering I’m also into… yeah, basically all of the ladies on that list.  (Though this list does encompass my biggest Whedon mencharactercrushes, and my most spectacularly giant Whedon ladycharactercrush is not someone I could ever be because I am not that elegant.  But still.  They’re all legitimate real crushes.)  And this one does have the first added caveat of “would be, were they women,” but that’s mostly because I sort of want to someday cosplay genderswapped some of them (she said obviously, nodding at previous Friday posts).  Yeah.

6. Daniel ‘Oz’ Osbourne (Seth Green, Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Mostly because I am fond of endearing sarcasm.  From the as-a-character standpoint, yes, I love(d) Tara and believe completely that she was Willow’s most someone-iest someone, but damn it, Oz was just awesome, and he was a wonderful guy to have around in everyone’s lives for a while, too.  Also, sarcasm.  Which would be the biggest why-I-relate reason.

5. Anthony Ceccoli/Victor (Enver Gjokaj, Dollhouse)
I find talent attractive, what can I say.  But I honestly didn’t really start thinking about relating to Tony until that Dollhouse main characters MBTI chart on tumblr; considering he is one falling into the I__J categories that I always wind up with, I had a moment of “oh, well, that’s similar, I wonder why” and that was followed by research “oh, I understand.”  Tony, on that chart, typed ISFJ, same as Mellie on my supporting characters chart; actually, for a lot of the same reasons, though it takes different forms.  I am not so much the physical fighting type, but at his core, Tony is a devoted friend/partner/teammate/someone, and I like being that when I can, too.

4. Hoban “Wash” Washburne (Alan Tudyk, Firefly)
Ye-ah.  Similar reasons as the above, as per the snark and the devotion.  I am much more comfortable being the one with an easy, good-natured quip than with violence or fighting, and I will own to getting worked up over people or things that matter to me, sometimes negatively.  This is likely because of a deep-seated tendency to get attached to people, even if somewhat privately.  Which I find attractive in others both romantically and platonically also.  Hence the attraction and also desire for friendship.

3. Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head, Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
As per the embarrassingly large desire to grow up to be lady!Giles, which I have previously mentioned.  I make no claims to extreme intelligence, but I value knowledge and work to accumulate it as best I can.  And… also find that attractive/worthy of any type of interest in a person.  So.  The tendency for understatement is something I can do, usually in a sarcastic way, not always in a good sarcastic way; the “books/knowledge > human experience” thing is something I do sometimes, probably more than I ought.  (And shallowly, I acknowledge: tweed.  Elbow patches.)

2. Simon Tam (Sean Maher)
I’m sorry.  But it is this man’s fault that I have a vest thing, I acknowledge shallowly.  And my blue eyes thing isn’t his fault, but is certainly something he participates in.  Simon is on this list for many reasons: I am attracted to his capability.  I want to be friends with his devotion to human beings he likes.  I relate to his tendency for awkwardness.  I want to be friends with his capability.  I relate to his devotion to human beings he likes.  I am (conditionally) attracted to his tendency for awkwardness.  Etcetera.

1. Topher Brink (Fran Kranz, Dollhouse)
Oh, hello there, she said predictably and shallowly all at once.  It is also his awkwardness that I relate to sometimes; I am part anxious-awkward a la Simon (or Bennett, re: the ladylist) and part twitchygeeky-awkward a la Topher.  Topher is way cocky sometimes, which I am decidedly not, but it can be either funny or endearing (or the thing where even when it’s situationally inappropriate I still very possibly find it funny or endearing as per irrational attraction).  He doesn’t always know how to do social situations properly.  Which is sometimes endearing and sometimes relatable (and that sometimes in the “oh, I’m so glad that someone else, even fictional, does that too” way and sometimes in the “oh, honey, you’re not handling this super-well but I feel for you because I wouldn’t either” way).  And damn, I (pretty obviously) find intelligence attractive/something I want to focus my interests on.

–your fangirl heroine.

Sundry Sunday :: a continued “I went there for you” 10 list

Same rules as last time.  But there’s more of them this time!

10, 9, 8. Michael Cera… and Kat Dennings… and Jonathan B. Wright

I can’t help it.  Michael Cera is awkward and endearing.  I will follow Kat Dennings anywhere.  And Jonathan B. Wright, well, Spring Awakening groupie here.  (And Aaron Yoo and Dev Patel wound up being pretty okay too.)  So Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist was delightful for me and I regret nothing.  And as teenager movies go, it makes me very happy.

7. Anthony Stewart Head

I saw a scene from Repo online (pre-release) right as I was starting Buffy, so when I finally had access to Repo, I couldn’t help myself.  One of these days, I might have to write an essay about how completely terrible I feel for actually enjoying the hell out of this movie.  I’ve seen it at least ten times, which is disgusting; I mean, it’s a ridiculous piece of work.  But I just cannot help myself.  And though this is not solely the fault of Anthony and his singing and glowers and glasses, it is partially the fault of those things, yes.  What of it?

6. Christina Hendricks

Even my goddess hasn’t gotten me to sit down and watch romantic/”female oriented” and painful-looking comedies that she has bit parts in (Life As We Know It, I Don’t Know How She Does It).  Mostly because I find movies like that to be hideously not to my taste and worthy of my ripping apart.  But Christina’s presence was one of the main reasons I saw Drive, other than the buzz; I still don’t know what I think about it, but there’s a picture of her looking pretty in it?

5, 4, 3.  Jason Segal… and Alyson Hannigan… and Neil Patrick Harris

I don’t watch How I Met Your Mother regularly.  I haven’t seen coherent blocks of season such-and-such, and I have no idea what the overlying plot looks like.  But if nothing else is on, or if there’s a half-hour to kill and Netflix instant available to fire up, blowing through a random episode of How I Met Your Mother is something I was persuaded to do.  Because Jason Segal is endearing, and I love Alyson Hannigan’s face, and Neil Patrick Harris is amusing, and I didn’t know anything about Cobie Smulders or Josh Radnor prior to my sporadic HIMYM habit, but they’re cool too.

2, 1. Skylar Astin and Phoebe Strole

So like half of the entries on these lists are Whedonverse or theatre-related.  I own that.  I feel like a lot of this is also guilty pleasure-related, because I absolutely gorram love Hamlet 2.  I saw it just for Skylar and Phoebe here, because I think they’re both talented as hell (and Skylar and I had a moment one time) but I have also seen this movie close to ten times by now.  It’s ridiculous, insane, completely cracked out.  But it takes a certain kind of person to write/be in a movie which utters the words “sexy Jesus,” and I’ll give it that.  And Skylar and Phoebe are adorable even when their characters are sort of terrible people at times.

–your fangirl heroine.