Edwin MacPhisto

I actually think it had more to do with GrapplerStar's weird-ass new character promo. Hilarious violence gets 'em every time. The real storyline here, against whoever Kibs feuds with, will be whether or not he can come up with his own reasons for fighting, if there's anyone out there that can draw that much passion out of him and finally reconcile it to himself. INTRIGUEz0r

I'm with Loss. Claims of indirect bias are old hat and they're definitely there, but only in rare instances that I've seen have researches found actual evidence that this affiliation translates into partisan bias in coverage. If there's anything we should be concerned about it's ownership bias and how that steadily turns the nightly news into a weird filter that protects Disney's, Viacom's, or GE's overall interests.

You're a nutbag. Get out of my state.

Vyce IS John McCain. I figured this out 8 months ago. Y'all are behind the times.

Any reason you bought Margin Walker instead of just getting 13 Songs? I guess it'd be a cool thing to have if you could find it on vinyl.

Like who? Meh. Not that I'm much of a huge metal fan, but say, Pantera, Blind Guardian and Slayer, to name a few. I don't listen to a ton of metal either, but I think it's a little silly to lump Slayer and Pantera in with "newer metal," if that's what you're doing. I think Reign in Blood was out in 1985 or 1986, and the big Pantera albums were around 1990. Both groups have still recorded to the present, but they made their big marks well over a decade ago. Blind Guardian is more recent, but my limited experience with them leads me to consider them as moreso wanky than metal.

I keep buying stuff. Though it should be noted that the last 4 albums I've picked up have been for 8 dollars or less. I'm not an addict. Swear. Dizzee Rascal - Boy in da Corner Depeche Mode - Black Celebration

Wonderful quote from the WB's little feedback thing for the final ep: If you want to see a bunch of awful, hilarious feedback from people who pretty much entirely missed the point of the finale, go here and click on the "See more Feedback" link.

Bea Arthur. She's harder than DMX these days. Everyone ought to actually see Purple Rain the movie at some point. It's goofy and retarded enough to get anyone into Prince, and it features stage humping, lots of comical domestic abuse, and boobies. And it's got Morris Day and the motherfucking Time.

How's this? I can't really get into the single much, and I don't have the highest of expectations.

Well, I liked it. A bit biased.

I hope Monday Night Football doesn't eat too much into its share. I think it'll do just fine, and though it's going to be a monstrous pain to wait till January, having an episode every week nonstop is going to be incredible.

And I think there's a big difference between a suicide mission and what the gang did in "Not Fade Away." At a point throughout the season - many points, the beginnings of most episodes, actually - Angel realized that they couldn't keep doing what they were doing at Wolfram & Hart. It was always about doing the slightly bad thing to get closer to the "ultimate goal" of taking down all evil. But like Angel explained at the end of "Power Play," that wasn't a real goal. Whatever they did, they were still doing it at the whim of the Senior Partners. At some point it had to stop - Team Angel had to break out of that structure and get back to fighting the legitimately good fight that they had been working at for the four years previous. So, what do they do? Find the group that has the most direct connection to their greatest adversary, and make a full-bore run to destroy them. And judging by what we did see in last night's episode, they were pretty damn successful. It was the best they could do. Winning the little fights was starting not to matter, because ultimately even the little fights could be spun into what the Partners wanted. This was one little fight that was different. They called it a suicide mission, but in the history of the Whedonverse a *lot* of different engagements have been called suicide missions. They never really are. Wesley didn't expect to die, and he said as much; I don't think Angel or Spike did as well, as Angel's offhand comment to get away from Shanshu talk was obviously just distraction. Lorne expected to go away and he did, Lindsey expected fair play and didn't get it. No concern on Illyria's part, and I think Gunn's scene at the shelter really wrapped up why he went out and fought too. All in all, I really can't think of a more fitting ending for a show had to end this season.

I still want to know what Anglesault does for a job. I'm thinking welding.

So I just hopped back to the spoilers RRR posted and some of you guys chattered about, back on page 84 of this monstrous thread. Here's my question: were you all expecting Gunn to die, as those early spoilers indicated, or did something come up beforehand that tipped you off to his actual survival?

Another wonderful note: tuning into "Bad Girls" over 5 years ago to see the first appearance of Wesley Wyndham-Price, who would have ever guessed that this stuck-up caricature would go out in a blaze of blissed-out, angsty glory in the closest thing he could find to his one true love? Enchanting.

Oh god. Jesus christ, guys. That was incredible. You all said it, but I'll say it again. IN-FUCKING-CREDIBLE. I would have loved the series to continue. But I could not be happier with that ending. I called Lorne leaving, but not in the fashion he did. When he shot Lindsey, it all came together. My god. I didn't even guess that was what would happen, it was laid out so perfectly. That was the mark-out moment. Lorne's character, despite little screen time, has quietly matured all season long, especially in the last run of episodes. Or maybe Angel vamping was the mark-out moment. This episode went to the roots of EVERYTHING that Angel and the Buffyverse has been about. Wes' death? Tears. But perfect. One of the best death scenes in the Buffyverse, a fantastic, true end to his story. The woman he loves his dead - he goes out fighting, and even in his gloom he's changed Illyria into something greater for the world. Illyria's tears - you've already all said it, but wow. My favorite part of this season gets the perfect conclusion. Connor showing up and being the son Angel always wanted him to be, the Godfather-style takedown of every member of the Black Thorns...and the Hamilton fight, which was GREAT. Suddenly the whole thing had so much more impact when he said he had the power of the Wolf, Ram, and Hart flowing through his blood. Angel actually did achieve victory over them - he did what he does best, took their power away from them physically, and then beat down their #1 boy. Gunn fighting the vampires? Going back to street Gunn? Keeping going despite the adversity? It's so great. To top it all off: the Butch and Sundance ending. This series ends, plunging through darkness with a spirit of unbelievable triumph and heroism. It's about doing the hard thing and doing it to the last. Last year, I thought "Chosen" was a pretty good series finale. "Not Fade Away" was an incredible series finale.

Fun note about Dark Shadows: the WB didn't actually extend the option on it. As of a couple days ago, it wasn't getting picked up for the fall after all. Might have changed, but I don't think so. Way to go, assjacks.

I don't even care if it's a Buffy/Angelverse show. At some point I'd like to see this group of writers get back together and work on something, because damn, can they go. Pretty cool that all of the people going to shows are going to pretty big ones.

I'm most going to miss seeing Amy Acker on my TV. Until the end of last season I didn't care for her much, but she lit up the show in the last few episodes then and every moment she's been around this season. Definitely the heart of the show as far as I'm concerned. Mostly I'm going to miss seeing these guys get to work their magic. They're all very talented, but I doubt many of them are going to get too many big acting opportunities after this. And I'm going to miss the opening credits theme, which is one of the most appropriate intros any show has ever had.

No, it was fucking retarded. You're dead-on. I liked the smaller aspects of it in Season 5, i.e. how it led to big-time danger and nasty burnout following "Tough Love," when she went into full-on attack mode against Glory. But S6's take was stupid, stupid, stupid. I like "Smashed" a good bit for everything that isn't the Willow story, but "Wrecked" is one of the show's worst episodes ever. Magic = drugs = bad = retarded, especially seeing how the allegory barely holds up once you get to the end of the season. If you want to really go magic = drugs for the season, then Giles basically shows up on PCP and feeds Willow a bunch of ecstasy. It was inconsistent, silly, and a rare example of Buffyverse metaphors being so transparent and preachy.

Some stuff I've picked up over the last week or two: -Mos Def and Talib Kweli present Black Star. Already had Mos' Black on Both Sides, and I think I like this one better. Reflection Eternal is next on my shortlist. -A copy of TV on the Radio's Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, which I pimped heavily a few weeks ago. Further listening point out that "Dreams" may be the best song released this year. -Franz Ferdinand. This one was worth checking out. Beyond the singles there's a lot of crisp glam, and I expect it to dominate the CD player over the summer. Good stuff.

Well, it's the WB marketing it, not Joss & M.E. Exactly. I'm sure Joss would have wanted it to be a suprise, but WB always pimps these sort of things out anyways. I still think it's a fairly idea, just as I thought it was a silly/poorly executed idea to axe Anya so randomly last year. Nothing wrong with killing a character, but at least do it for something more than "someone got served, dayamn!" Reserving judgment till I see tonight's episode, of course, and hopeful all the way that Joss has improved his manner of knocking off major players since then. Oh, also, for everything going back and forth a few pages about Grateful Dead "Not Fade Away" vs. the Rolling Stones "Not Fade Away," don't forget that neither of them actually wrote the song. That was Buddy Holly all the way. If they play it - which I don't think they should - the Stones version is probably the most suited to the show.

I imagine the whole Illyria storyline would have played in much more depth and quality if not for the "hey guys, you've got 8 episodes to finish your show forever!" revelation mid-season. That being said, I still think everything about Illyria (except perhaps her tedious monologues) makes for the best parts of the show since she's arrived. It's too bad. This year, the Mutant Enemy team actually seemed to cut back on the glut of storylines and villains that harmed Season 4, and in the end they had to overstuff it anyway because of the cancellation. As for the death pool: everyone seems to be picking Lorne, and in a very Anya-sort-of-way he's definitely the easy choice. The least "essential" of the core cast, and the one with the fewest devastating personal connections. I don't include Harmony in there because, though she's been in the credits for the last few episodes, she's barely been a part of the show. But I don't think it's going to be Lorne. The worst fate for him would be to get through the fight, see a friend of his die, and then give up on Team Angel and wander back into the bar-drudging obscurity he dabbled in after Fred's death. Watch him get run through with a lightning bolt now that I've said that. I've got a bad feeling about Wesley, but it really seems out of place for any of the core gang to go after Fred's already bitten it mid-season. It feels like really silly end-of-series drama designed to pique one last final writing. I really hate the way this has been marketed and the decision to hype it as "ooo shit someone be dyin'." It's a lame ploy for attention, cheap writing, and I think the show is better than it, but eh, last episode, so I'll let it go. "Someone's going to die" is Dawson's Creek nonsense, not what I expect of Joss and company.

Huh? Who's Kibagami? Fuckin' sweet, man. Now just hold onto that thing for a few defenses and you'll be ultimokingpimpswift9000.