Another Blogger Union: Steve wrote a touching essay on the occasion of his first wedding anniversary. He and his wife Lyn met online a few years ago. Here’s the part I really related to:

We disagree often, but as she observes, we agree on the large outlines of so many things that when we do find an edge case that we disagree on, it can seem more important and become more contentious than it really ought to be. Each of us can’t believe the other doesn’t see the obvious illogic of his/her position since s/he’s usually so sensible… The trick is to remember that it’s usually such a minor thing we’re sparring over. And I’m grateful that’s all it is.

I’m going to try to remember that the next time we get in an argument about the ethics of direct linking on the Internet.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Theologian of the Year. I really enjoyed that article. See, that’s what makes the show so great. You can read it in so many different ways. There’s just a depth there that you don’t get in shows like Friends or Everybody Loves Raymond. And even though I didn’t like the 4th season so much (we just finished watching the DVD), I can still see what the producers were trying to achieve. Adam was boring, but that doesn’t negate their attempt to contrast Buffy’s “supernatural” style of fighting evil with the government’s “technological” approach. It was a worthy experiment. Now we’ve started on Angel Series 1, which is a much different show than I had imagined. It feels darker and more realistic. (But thank God for Cordelia, who I missed terribly from Buffy.) I’m getting off track a bit. Basically, I just like that the show can be read in so many ways by different groups. The religious types can see Buffy as a Christ-figure and discuss whether Joss is a fundamentalist. The feminists can focus on Buffy’s shattering of gender stereotypes. And the fashionistas can gripe about the horrible puke-worthy outfits Willow wore in Season 4. Actually, that last one isn’t such a good thing. 🙂