"If we looked in your refrigerator, what would we see?

(Laughs) Orange juice, milk, Eggo Waffles, tortellini and old chicken (inedible) Um, um, um... and fruits which are looking questionable."

Oh, man, I sure hope he sniffs that milk or checks the date on the container!

bloodflowers | June 15, 18:00 CET

He's too cute.. Interesting questions all around.

spikeylover | June 15, 19:19 CET

Love his take on Nevermind the Bollocks!

Tycho | June 15, 20:03 CET

I liked his comment about the contradictions in "Spike"...sometimes seeming dim....sometimes bordering on wise. James said he can see that in himself and it is one of the many reasons that "Spike" seems so much more real to me than many other characters.

Berry | June 15, 23:36 CET

I liked that contrdictions comment too. It is evident in most of Joss's characters and one of the things I love about his writing. In Spike's case, it always seemed to me that pre-soul he was very smart in observing things in a preditory way. When he was looking at people as prey he noticed every detail, got things totally right and was amazingly insightful. When he let his own emotions into the mix or his object was not death and distruction, things got muddled. ...Then there were those occasions when he just flaked out.

Willow had those moments too.
"Why would anyone kiss ro...?"
"Do you want help with your homework? No, you're old and already know stuff."

I always loved the recognition that very smart or insightful people can sometimes zone out, and end up saying something especially stupid. You know, like everybody else...

newcj | June 16, 00:04 CET

Yeah, I have a similar soft spot for apparently dysfunctional characters who are uniquely suited to solving a particular type of problem because of their dysfunction (e.g. Monk, House etc.). It's like saying 'The way you're screwed up exactly matches one of the ways the world is screwed up. Mess that you are, you have a purpose. You fit.' (yeah, yeah, Herr Freud, have at it ;).

I think with Spike it was partly that he had a poet's honesty or clarity of vision which allowed him to be insightful. In some ways he's a very simple man, not simple as in stupid but simple as in uncomplicated. And in others he's pretty un-simple. All in all just a really interesting character. I tell ya, that Whedon, he knows his stuff.

The emotion/intellect schism in protest music/literature is a fascinating one. They're really symbiotic in that emotion obviously stirs people to act but without intellect there's no real direction to act in. And where passions burn out ideas can't ever really die (i.e. the anger that starts a revolution is transient but the ideals of freedom and equality are eternal). But which is more important and how do we strike a balance ?

And I agree that part of the genius of 'Macbeth' is that Macbeth himself isn't really that bad a guy. In some ways he's a victim of circumstance who just follows a particular path to its logical conclusion as any of us might. Not only that but where it would've been pretty easy to paint Lady Mac as the complete villain of the piece, she also ends up being sympathetic to some degree (or at least suffers the consequences of her choices). I tell ya, that Shakespeare, he knew his stuff ;).

Saje | June 16, 01:57 CET