The Wheel and Axle

Despite all the criticism that she was the Spice Girl who sang the least, among other things, Victoria Beckham has always been and will always be my favorite Spice Girl. Even when she was still Victoria Adams, prior to her marriage to that gorgeous soccer player, she fascinated me: the classy style, the smouldering looks, the occasional smile, the cheeky deadpan humor. Victoria has a sophistication that I adore, one which I believe hid an ultimately down-to-earth lady (no matter what others thought).

And her singing voice? It may not be as powerful or polished as Emma’s or the Melanies’, but I always liked the quality of her voice in the same way that I love the bedroom-y, husky voice of Westlife’s Nicky Byrne (another “underdog” in his own group, love ya, babe!).

(continue reading…)

Seriously, I’d be running towards him as opposed to fleeing. What manner of mentally-imbalanced person runs away from Pietro Boselli? Sick! Sicksicksick.

(continue reading…)

We all have our guilty pleasures. One of these, for me, is the campy yet surprisingly earworm-inducing late 90s pop group Steps, who many considered as a bit of a spiritual successor of the glorious and amazing ABBA.

Well, since 90s pop group reunions seem to be all the rage these days, of course Steps cannot be left behind, can they? So here they are, back for their 20th anniversary with a new song.

And as always, it just stays in your head.

(continue reading…)

I can’t believe I never saw these before. I knew Amber Benson and Anthony Stewart Head were the best singers on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast (hence they got a lot of singing parts in Once More With Feeling), but I didn’t know they did this for the Rocky Horror tribute.

(continue reading…)

Season 7 Credits

Continued From:

Buffy Week, Day 6: Man, Just Ascend Already.

Back in March 1997, Joss Whedon started a pop-cultural phenomenon when he brought his quirky creation Buffy the Vampire Slayer from its failed 1992 movie roots into television. Since then, the Buffyverse has proven to be one of the truly long-lasting and timeless geekeries ever.

To this day, 14 years after the show ended on TV, it still remains in the consciousness of the many viewers it touched back then and still gains new member to its cult following. Spin-offs, comic books, action figures… heck, Buffyspeak still makes it to the lips of the new generation. It has also spawned numerous academic studies and has been well-regarded by various groups, including the LGBT community.

Buffy, like her immortal nemeses, may be dead but she will never truly die despite being gone. (continue reading…)

Season 6 Credits

Continued From:

Buffy Week, Day 5: So Evil And Skanky And Kinda Gay

05. Passion. Season 2, Episode 17.

Giles: Yes, Xander, once more you’ve managed to boil a complex thought down to its simplest possible form.

Passion did not have the epic scale of several Buffy episodes on my list. It did not have any particularly creative gimmick that would make it groundbreaking, nor was it a unique or unusual episode. It didn’t necessarily have that “larger than life” feel to it, nor did it overtly represent any social issue that some other episodes took care of addressing.

What Passion had was, well, passion.

(continue reading…)

Season 5 Credits

Continued From:

Buffy Week, Day 4: This Isn’t Just Some Fanboy Thing.

As we now go into my Top 10 favorite Buffy episodes, we’ll switch gears. Whereas previously I listed the Top 11-30 by airdate (though, yeah, I did make it look like countdown mode) and not by preference, the Top 10 will be in order of personal preference.

10. What’s My Line? Parts 1 and 2. Season 2, Episodes 9 and 10.

Kendra: They call me Kendra. I have no last name, sir.

Buffy: Can you say, “Stuck in the eighties?”

Here is another (wait, it’s that word again!) game-changing arc on Buffy. And while there have been a few other game-changing episodes that came afterwards (as I previously noted them in my Top 11-30), I think this may have been the first one of the series.

Two words: another slayer.

(continue reading…)

Season 4 Credits

Continued From:

Buffy Week, Day 3: Five By Five

And now, the last leg of my Top 11-30 Buffy episodes. Again, these like the rest are not in order of preference of quality but chronological in terms of air date.

17. This Year’s Girl / Who Are You? Season 4, Episodes 14 and 15.

Buffy (in Faith’s body): When I had psychic power, I heard my mom think that you were like a stevedore during sex. Do you want me to continue? 

Giles: Actually, I beg you to stop. 

Buffy (in Faith’s body): What’s a stevedore?

(continue reading…)

Season 3 Credits

Continued From:

Buffy Week, Day 2: Also, There’s A Really Big Snake.

And here’s the continuation of my Top 30 Buffy episodes, with the Top 11-30 in chronological order and not in order of quality or preference.

23. Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered. Season 2, Episode 16.

Giles: I cannot believe that you are a fool enough to do something like this.

Xander: Oh, no. I’m twice the fool it takes to do something like this.

(continue reading…)

Season 2 Credits

Continued From:

Buffy Week, Day 1: Monsters Had Nightmares About Her

I’ve long avoided creating my “favorite Buffy episodes” list. Through the years, fellow Buffy enthusiasts have always asked me what my Top 5 or 10 eps are, and while I had an inkling of which ones definitely make the cut, it was difficult really setting these in stone because there are just so many that I love – whether due to personal tastes (i.e. guilty pleasures) or simply because the episode was a masterpiece, or both.

(continue reading…)