March 18 2008
James Marsters March Q&A.
This month's questions include the problem with people, territorialism, oh and some thoughts about those crazy kids Spike and Buffy.
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Individual posts are copyright their respective authors
This is a non-profit, unofficial website, not affiliated with Mutant Enemy, Inc., 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers or UPN.
Reddygirl | March 18, 06:42 CET
Also, I think TV guide got it wrong: I don't think the scene in Smashed was the hottest scene in terms of the Buffy/Spike relationship...I'd call that either the balcony in the Bronze scene, or the one in Gone with invisi-Slayer.
Or even, sans-Spike, S4's Where the Wild Things Are with our own commando guy.
BandofBuggered | March 18, 08:02 CET
helcat | March 18, 08:21 CET
Ghalev | March 18, 08:46 CET
*crickets*
Oh, that probably should go in last month's thread, shouldn't it?
I like his take on how Spike went out... now that he mentions it, it really was a little lacking, although it made for some great dialogue/imagery at the end there. All in all, bringing in/empowering the Potentials was a fantastic idea and the only way to end the show, but it also left a lot of other characters a little lacking... I think they needed another six episodes.
ManEnoughToAdmitIt | March 18, 08:46 CET
UnpluggedCrazy | March 18, 15:11 CET
I do get what he means though - for the biggest brawler of them all, standing around (looking like Elizabeth Taylor ;) did seem a bit passive. His "end" in 'Not Fade Away' always struck me as more Spike-esque - '... facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers, And the temples of his gods' (well, for his mates anyway ;).
Saje | March 18, 16:28 CET
Except of course it wasn't the end for him. We may yet see his fantastic finish.
ManEnoughToAdmitIt | March 18, 17:18 CET
Simon | March 18, 17:20 CET
fangless | March 18, 17:38 CET
The impact of Spike's "ending" was vitiated by the knowledge that he'd be a regular on Angel Season 5. Had I not known about that, the scene would have been incredibly more powerful. And, yeah, I'd have cried.
I do love that Buffy's last word on the show was "Spike," and that he once again, however indirectly, knocked over the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign.
Chris inVirginia | March 18, 17:43 CET
http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=7
helcat | March 18, 17:53 CET
(but yep, reusable bags are best of all and fairtrade fabric reusable bags probably the best of the best - some supermarkets over here offer "lifetime" bags i.e. you buy one reusable bag - usually made of heavy duty plastic - and when it wears out, they replace it FOC)
Saje | March 18, 18:02 CET
Nah. He was a poet writing about unrequited love first. Fitting pseudo-end, to my mind. Sometimes being passive is the bravest thing to do.
Sunfire | March 18, 18:26 CET
The one contributes to deforestation. The other is not as recyclable as you might think, and a petroleum product to boot. Bring canvas.
some supermarkets over here offer "lifetime" bags i.e. you buy one reusable bag
Here in the U.S. you usually have to fight the bagging person to bag your own before they throw everything in 20+ little plastic bags. Even if you're waving your canvas bags all clearly and stuff.
Sunfire | March 18, 18:29 CET
Oh dear Lord...I for one hope Spike is NEVER really finished.
Don't think I could take losing him permanently.
I'd kinda like to think that he'll always be out there fighting the good fight.
kathylovesspike | March 18, 18:56 CET
helcat | March 18, 18:57 CET
Dunno about supermarkets elsewhere. Some places here the checkout assistant will ask if you want "help with your packing" but i've never said yes - think it's mainly for elderly or infirm people because I don't really recall seeing anyone else that could do it themselves say yes either.
Saje | March 18, 19:28 CET
In the U.S. they tend to strongly assume they should bag for you. Since paper is more expensive for the store to buy, the supermarket chains here are adopting policies where instead of asking you which bag you want, employees are trained to start bagging with plastic and then ask "is plastic ok?" They also let the paper bags run out more often.
Since I have professional and personal interest in sustainabilty, it both fascinates and irritates me. At my co-op, it's very different, but at all of the mainstream supermarkets, it's like this.
It's really a wash with paper vs. plastic in terms of sustainability. They both have major hangups. Neither is the solution. Unfortunately in the U.S., we're a bit in love with overpackaging everything.
I'm an outlier, though. I rarely observe anyone else bringing their own bags except at the co-op. It's becoming more mainstream than it was, I do see it more, but most Americans don't even think about it. It's deeply culturally ingrained. Plastic bags mean you bought something.
Sunfire | March 18, 20:02 CET
Ghalev | March 18, 20:03 CET
Not too many (food/grocery) shops here have paper bags but some have the biodegradable plastic ones. I (re)use these for putting household rubbish in. Personally I almost never need one as I can stuff purchases into my rucksack/workbag/whatever.
I am very untidy and when moving house a few years ago convinced myself for a few moments that mice had been running round my room under my piles of stuff chewing on old bags, until I realised that they were just biodegradable bags that had been there on the floor so long that they had started to self-destruct... (:-S <--- face of shame)
I believe that any type of (non-recycled) plastic, biodegradable or otherwise, is ultimately made from petroleum though? I think that the best way to go is the bag tax/charging for bags, which Ireland and parts of Europe have done for a while. This has been proven to lower bag use.
My brother used to get shopping home-delivered from the UK's biggest supermarket chain. The driver brought it to the door in a plastic crate - however it would all still then be encased in unnecessary plastic bag after unnecessary plastic bag. Most times there would be literally 2 items in each bag, for a massive order.
fangless | March 18, 20:31 CET
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Verhi88kR60
jcs | March 18, 20:59 CET
I got fascinated by the subject of whether paper or plastic was best so went Googling
http://www.greenfeet.net/newsletter/debate.shtml
Has a good overview ( Helcat has it spot on)
Also try Googling " Carbon Neutral" and work out how many trees you need to plant a year to balance your life style
debw | March 18, 22:19 CET
helcat | March 18, 22:23 CET
Canvas? Walking? You must be an eco-freak like me. ;) Do you ever feel like you're mildly antagonizing when you insist you can bag your own or that the bagging person should use your bags?
Good link, debw. The only thing I'd challenge in that article is the true recyclability of plastic.
Sunfire | March 18, 23:04 CET
(why not just say "a very, very long time" or make another figure up like "10,000 years" ? Isn't that scary enough ? Do environment websites always have to leave themselves open to "mumbo jumbo woolly-headed scare mongering" charges ? I mean, it's not like the real science isn't on our side)
helcat: I'm sure British stores used to charge for bags back in the 70s.
Yeah they did (not much, 2-3p at most IIRC). I've no idea if it reduced the number of bags used in total all I can say is, waiting in embarrassment while my mother or grandmother pulled bag after bag from their pocket or handbag to re-use was a regular occurrence ;).
(to be honest, I suspect most people will just add it to the cost of their shopping and pay for the convenience - what's 20p if you're spending £40 on groceries ? - but it may encourage more "lifetime" bags and re-use in general)
Here's a carbon footprint calculator for the curious (turns out I need to plant approx. 8 trees a year until I - statistically ;) - die since 1 tree over its lifetime offsets about 730kg of carbon produced. So I hereby pledge to at least not cut any down, as a start ;).
Saje | March 18, 23:38 CET
Mirage | March 18, 23:47 CET
Saje | March 18, 23:48 CET
Lirazel | March 19, 00:28 CET
As I sit here drinking organic almond milk that I bought at the local granola market, on foot, in my canvas bag, I admit that all circumstantial evidence would suggest such a thing :) [kicks a tie-dye shirt under the couch to hide the evidence]
... But really it just kind of worked out that way. We haven't owned a car in nearly 10 years because the one we had got trashed and we lived (and still live) in a city with decent public transport, so we just didn't bother to replace it. No particular eco-agenda; we just realized we didn't need the car and that there were many fiscal advantages to skipping it. That led to the cloth bags because they have strong shoulder straps that make it easier to travel back and forth to the market ... and it just happens (really by coincidence) that the closest market is a Wild Oats, so we end up there a lot ... and I drink the almond milk because I'm diabetic, so I can get the unsweetened kind and it's easy on the blood sugar. So, it really is just circumstantial ... in our case it's all genuinely the most practical approach. And I just like tie-dyes because they're cheery (I'm a very upbeat sort of fellow) :)
Do you ever feel like you're mildly antagonizing when you insist you can bag your own or that the bagging person should use your bags?
No, but I'm naturally assertive (a typical arrogant American, my wife says ... affectionely, though! I'm reasonably sure!)
Ghalev | March 19, 01:22 CET
Canvas bags get yucky eventually even with regular washing so I like to buy the polypropylene fabric ones, since they're colorful. Which I then just use for everyday totes; I like the plastic grocery bags for disposal and tend to use quite a few. I don't use paper because I like handles. Even tho I use over-the-shoulder nylon bags to consolidate my Sunday groceries;I don't use 'em otherwise. Altho the comics shops put my Buffy 8s and Angel 6s in paper bags *g.
And what I'm reallya fraid of is soem microbe ina landfille ventually developing an enzyme that will work on plastic. Rotting things like insulation, PVC pipe, adhesives....
DaddyCatALSO | March 19, 04:18 CET
Shapenew | March 19, 05:03 CET
fangless | March 19, 05:14 CET
dreamlogic | March 19, 06:00 CET
Sunfire | March 19, 07:36 CET
Shapenew | March 19, 10:03 CET
Ghalev | March 19, 10:18 CET
(they have weapons, right ?)
Saje | March 19, 13:53 CET
Leaf | March 19, 15:07 CET
Lirazel | March 18, 21:28 CET
I couldn't have said it better.
Or for something more succinct, what Simon said.
Paper vs. plastic discussion generated by James' Q&A, pretty much defines what I love about whedonesque :-)
I always take my own canvas bags but then I'm one of those tree hugging "environmental extremists" (as we were called back then) who actually believed all that "global warming" alarmist stuff they were talking about at least twenty years ago.
Oh .... wait.
Shey | March 19, 15:51 CET
Like many other large scale businesses, supermarkets hope to save money by getting the customer to do the work, and laying off employees. If there's someone there to bag groceries, I can give them my canvas bags to put them in.
The market where I mostly shop has only a few cashiers left; they have replaced most of them with self-serve check outs. Some of these laid off employees have been there for years, and maybe don't have the skills to land a better job. Others were students, working part time to help support themselves in school.
toast | March 19, 17:23 CET
I am always in the middle of 12 other things when I go shopping so I never remember to bring bags with me. (Not a good excuse, but honest.) I use paper to bag my paper recycling and plastic to bag my garbage. The stores around here also have recycling bins for used plastic bags, so that helps.
Just to add another thing about why an employee bagging groceries is no reason for illness,(unless you are looking to use those extra sick days) it moves the lines along. If I am looking to get into a line to pay for my groceries, I will look for who has a bagger working. That line will move faster because the groceries are being bagged while the customer is paying and when the customer is done, if there are still groceries to be bagged, there can be as many as three people getting it done, the bagger, the cashier and the customer. I don't really see a problem with that.
Now in the mid-west and west they used to carry your groceries to the car for you. That I had a tough time with, though I certianly did not want to put anyone out of a job, and as one store manager reminded me, "You are paying for the service as part of the price of the groceries.
newcj | March 19, 19:51 CET
Argument? The cavemen victory is fact, Shapenew. Unless the astronaut is John Crichton, of course. ;)
Sunfire | March 19, 20:09 CET
I feel the same every time I see someone who's job it is to hold a sign pointing to the nearest fast food restaurant, or working in a shop that sells say decorative mobile phone covers. We don't need these things. I say this as a former long-term employee of the food service industry (now in healthcare). My personal view is that the human species could have made so many leaps forward technologically, medically, culturally... if there was more emphasis on useful work in society.
Britain has the longest working hours and the fewest public holidays in Europe. Things like automation should make us more free, to spend time with our friends and families and enriching our lives, but instead, in the current system, it means lay-offs, and something for working people to fear.
fangless | March 19, 21:34 CET
I think it is shortsighted, however, to judge certain jobs as useless just as it has been short sighted for people to judge certain plants and animals useless. There are reasons for those jobs or they would not exist. The people who do them have reasons for doing them. They may be going to school, they may be artists, they may be unable to do anything at a higher level for whatever reason. They almost certainly would not be out solving the worlds problems. Of course, they might in a few years if they have taken this "useless" job to make some money while they prepared for their future in some way.
I wonder if part of this is class-war related baggage. In the US we seem to have a different attitude toward service jobs. Sure, very rich people don't expect their kids to ever have a job in retail, but the vast majority of Americans fully expect their children to get their employment feet wet working for some kind of local business. Most probably in a job you would consider useless, but one that will give them experience and help make things run smoothly...we hope.
newcj | March 20, 03:13 CET
After all that, I'm supposed to bag my own groceries? (All you have to do is put your canvas bags on the counter in front of your groceries, so that isn't an issue.)
I also live in a place where there are a lot of retirees, it isn't easy for a lot of little old ladies (or men, for that matter)to bag heavy laundry soap containers and canned goods, then put them in their basket to take out to the car.
As others mentioned, baggers are usually high school or college kids trying to make a little money while they get an education. For once, I'm glad I live in the U.S., I think it's a good system.
On a purely personal note .... I may not yet be in the "little old lady" category, but I do have tendonitis in my hands and have spent two years recovering from three surgeries due to a serious accident, so one more reason to appreciate baggers.
Shey | March 20, 06:56 CET
I'm glad they can get a job.
At Trader Joe's, which is more my style, the cashier will also bag if you want them to, but I've never seen anyone who's just there for bagging, and if you start bagging your stuff yourself while they're ringing, they will thank you and let you do it, so we quite happily do. It keeps the line moving along quite nicely, with my partner and myself both bagging like maniacs. (We also crack wise while bagging, so it's very efficient, and hopefully entertaining for the cashier...)
I like both ways, but I'm glad I have both ways - sometimes I get waited on, and sometimes I wait on myself... it's variety, that spice of life thing...
And I've never had any trouble anywhere getting my stuff bagged in the bags I bring, but then I'm not known for being shy... I just hand them to the bagger, and if for any reason they don't use them, I just point them out again, and they use them, on obvious pain of me becoming a pain in the ass.
QuoterGal | March 20, 07:19 CET
Of course I understand that not everyone is going to be a top doctor or agricultural expert or an engineer, but there are plenty of manufacturing or stock handling jobs that could be part of the research and development process. There are endless ways that non-academically minded people can be involved in meaningful progress.
We all could work less hard and the poor of this world suffer from less shortage if the resource of our work/time was first of all invested in what humanity needs.
[ edited by fangless on 2008-03-20 09:27 ]
fangless | March 20, 11:58 CET
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