Critic Cal

"Now, we can do this the hard way or ... well actually, there's just the hard way." ( S1E1 )  "Didn't anyone warn you about playing with pointy sticks? It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye." ( S3E2 )  "You know very well, you eat this late ... you're gonna get heartburn. Get it? Heartburn?" ( S4E6 )  "That's all I get? One lame-ass vamp with no appreciation for my painstakingly thought-out puns." ( S4E6 )   "Didn't your mom teach you? Don't play with your food." ( S1E6 )  “If I was at full slayer power, I’d be punning right about now.” ( S3E12 ) Buffy ! I finished watching the 7-season teen-TV spectacular late last autumn, having 'discovered' it at a somewhat advanced age, with the help of my sister, against the anxious life-long advice of our parents (as I've mentioned  elsewhere ). What's not to love? Go Buffy! Go women! Go non-patriarchal models of masculini

When I finished primary school, my all-time favourite teacher gave me Cranford and Jane Eyre  as a leaving gift. It's taken me until now to realise that, as much as seeking to further my literary education, she was almost certainly trying to gently nudge me into feminist awakeness. Well, after a two-decade-long lie-in, I'm finally rubbing my eyes (sorry I'm late, Miss). I've not read either book for ages  – it's impossible enough keeping pace with the 'to-read' list without appending the many worthy 'to-revisit's. But I was recently delightfully surprised by the stage adaptation  of Jane Eyre in its second run at the Bristol Old Vic. I say 'surprised' ... it's a grumpy habit of mine to routinely and volubly disapprove of adaptations of anything , especially fiction to stage or screen. Too often (I maintain) it becomes an exercise in plot narration, neglecting all but the surface layer of the original material as well as the unique op