btvsats20in20 ROUND 9: BtVS Season 5

[red_satin_doll]

Finally it's here (after two extensions graciously granted by starry_night)!  My Season 5 (BtVS) set for btvsats20in20 Round 9.

TEASERS:

   

10 Themes
Half and Half	Rotate 90	Frame	Lemon & Lime	Shocking
Blood	Close Crop + Two	Love	Lips	Group
5 Category |HUSH
Cat 1	Cat 2	Cat 3	Cat 4	Cat 5
5 Artist's Choice
AC 1	AC 2	AC 3	AC 4	AC 5

Screencap Sources: Bloodqueen, Pretty as a Picture , Leave Me the White, SMG France. Wooden frame in Frame icon from Your Picture Frames. Texture in Cat 2 snagged from teragramm.



MANY thanks to the wonderful starry_night for extending the deadline (twice); and I cannot heap enough praise on my beta-Muse velvetwhip for once again whipping me and this set into shape - her screenname is very apt because the "whipping" was a most gentle one but she provides what I need time and again. I nearly gave up on this round and three or four days ago I was ready to. That I didn't is due largely to her generous assistance, guidance, ideas, meta analysis, and encouragement to motivate me.



Alts & Extras:

1 - 7

8 -14

   

15 - 21

15 -21) Image from Buffy vs Dracula, this set is, appropriately, very German Expressionist cinema (Nosferatu, Pola Negri, etc.) Also, kikimay asked me to post more close crops of Sarah's face so here you go.



The only guideline or focus I had going in to this was my usual: "Women of the Buffyverse".  I consciously focused on the ladies and very much wanted to make some decent icons of Joyce and Dawn, who have been difficult for me to icon for some reason. I also tried to use images from the show I haven't seen capped often or at all.  So for example, "Group" is the Maclays because I've seen a lot of icons of the opposite image, the Scoobies protecting Tara, from that episode. I've seen tons of Spike in FFL icons but precious few if any focused on Drusilla herself. And et cetera.

The relative absence of Willow here (in relation to her importance that season) isn't planned or meant as a snub of the character; I think because I've done a lot of Willow icons I ended up "giving her a break". I meant to make an icon of Glory, and also of Joyce and Dawn together but didn't get to those. I have meta thoughts about quite a few of these - the Drusilla one deserves it's own post  - but for now I'll let you folks and the images do the talking.

I am "borrowing" starry_night's rules for my own artwork

~ DO NOT RE-POST TO OTHER SITES (INCL. FANPOP) OR LJ COMMUNITIES WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!

~ Take what you like for personal use but please credit if used :)

~ No hotlinking!

~ Comments are appreciated :)

Comments

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! And hello, how are you doing?

(BTW, the last picture is a kitten with photobucket saying no pic is available....)

That's odd because I can see the photo just fine on mine - maybe refresh your browser?

[endeni]

/And hello, how are you doing?/ - Hello there! *g* Actually, I just woke up half an hour ago and I'm in the middle of getting ready for my English lesson after lunch. - I'm studying to obtain a Certificate in Advanced English and I'm scrambling to complete the couple of assignments the teacher gave us last time (because I'm a procrastinator like that LOL), one of which was finding a good novel (that then became a good movie adaptation) to review. Ridiculously, my problem was that I couldn't come up with anything that fit the criteria (like, it didn't have to be too convoluted like The Lord of the Rings, which as a Tolkien fangirl was my first thought). Last night I was about to ask for help to my Anglophone friendlist when I settled on Interview with the Vampire - what can I say, I love me some vampires... :D Ah, decisions, decisions... :D

/That's odd because I can see the photo just fine on mine - maybe refresh your browser?/ - I've tried, still no luck... Mah...

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I saw the kitten this morning (weird, huh, I didn't move the icon.) But it's all fixed now.

Good luck with your exam! Is it for spoken English, written or both? Because your written English is excellent as far as I can see.

Interesting choice of film/book - I don't know that I'd call either one "good" (the movie is unintentionally hilarious and OTT). But, each is engaging in their own way. (The Vampire Lestat is the better book and elements of it were borrowed for the movie interview with a vampire, such as the girl's hair growing back immediately after it was cut.)

But I'd be hard pressed to think of a movie/book pairing in which they are both good, or at least similar quality *ponders* the Godfather, the English Patient, and To Kill a Mockingbird spring to my mind.

[endeni]

Yep, the kitten is gone! *g*

And thank you, my dear! ♥
It's for both, actually. There are four parts: Reading and Use of English, Writing, Listening and Speaking.
And, well, of course my writing is correct when I'm on the Internet and I can use mozilla's spell-check add-on... :D Getting it right on the exam is going to be a bit more tricky, though I'm mostly worried about my awful pronunciation if anything.

Mostly, the teacher wanted us to chose a book/movie pair because the Writing part requires us to choose between writing a proposal, a report, a letter and a review. The last option is supposedly easier and by choosing something that is both a movie and a book we're covered on both front. :D

Agreed that Interview with the Vampire is a bit weird (it's certainly not The Great Gatsby or Pride and Prejudice, which were some of the approved examples) but I have at least both watched the movie and read the book. While I can't stand The Great Gatsby's purple prose (though I loved the last two movie adaptations) and Austen bores me a bit (I always go: but wasn't that the period of the Napoleonic Wars, why wouldn't you give me some juicy naval battles too?). As for the Godfather I only watched the movie version and besides, isn't that plot a bit difficult to summarize too? Mmm, I don't know, I think I'd better rule out thrillers and the kind...

Back to Interview with the Vampire, I noticed that it generally had good reviews on the Net so I thought it was a suitable enough choice. Plus, I was fresh out of ideas and I remembered it well enough, that was mostly it... :D
And, well, of course movie is OTT: much like with True Blood, if it weren't for the campiness of it I'd be way more freaked out by all the murdering and blood-sucking going on. I'm a pretty sensible soul after all... :D
To me, what I found most interesting about Interview with the Vampire is that, as most gothic fantasies, it lends itself to metaphorical interpretation, how the vampirism itself is in a sense a plot device, a way of presenting characters who cannot die or age or be harmed, so that the philosophical questions of life itself can be explored.
Or, like Anne Rice said in an interview, the whole theme of Interview with the Vampire is Louis's quest for meaning in a godless world. (And I can totally relate to that.)

But yes, generally I prefer The Vampire Lestat too - and The Queen of the Damned which introduces all those new fascinating characters and all their complicated relationships! Actually, I think that one of the most fascinating thing of the Vampire Chronicles is that, as this interesting ao9 article says, "taken as a series, the books have a lot to say about vampirism as an inherently feudal, imperialist state. [...] It sets up a system of recognized bloodlines and reciprocal obligations straight from the Middle Ages, and vampires survive on the literal blood of the lower classes. (Let's never forget the time Marius made human Bianca into a vampire so she could do his grocery shopping for him.)
Rice's vampires all undergo moral qualms at regular intervals—even Lestat isn't immune to the occasional bout of devastating guilt. But they're often more interesting in their obliviousness, as adventuring, murderous royalty whose lives are endless and whose purpose almost luxuriously useless."

But, yes, maybe a bit too dark for an English exam... :D Pplus let's not forget pansexual vampires and all the overwhelming subtext.
Actually, the exam being in mid-June, I still have plenty of time to practice writing reviews, I think I might do that help-me-choose post after all. *nods*

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

I'm getting the kitten as well.


Gabrielle

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Oops, all fixed now thanks for the heads up!

As Sam Stone said, "That oughta do it".