Moment of the Week: The Buffy Musical Gets Remixed (well, kinda)

Remember a few months ago when Amber Benson tweet-chatted me about Cat’s Claw? Well, she continues to be awesome, and she shared on her blog that if 200 people read and reviewed her book on Amazon, she’d offer up a spoof of her famous solo from the Buffy musical, “Under Your Spell.”

Well, guess what? 200 of you were asked and answered, and now, Amber has to pay up.

And so she did. This week’s moment is devoted to Amber’s remix (and slightly terrifying but also catchy) new version of “Under Your Spell.” Check out her post with her new version on her blog or just click her lovely picture below.

Don’t know the song. Well, first, check out the Buffy musical. Don’t have a full hour? Well, here’s the song (with much lower quality) on YouTube.

*image from Yahoo! TV

Tweet-sclusive! Five Questions with Amber Benson

Twitter is a wonderful, wonderful thing. It puts us up close and personal with our favorite stars without making them uncomfortable by literally being up close and personal. I follow a good handful of my favorite TV people, one of which being the delightful Amber Benson.

Amber, most known for her role as Tara in Buffy, has since had a very active life — on and off the screen. I was lucky enough to meet her a couple years ago when her first book in the Calliope Reaper-Jones series came out. Well, she’s on to her third book in the series, Serpent’s Storm, which was just published last month. I thought I’d reach out and ask her a few things about her new role as an author — including whether we’d see Calliope herself on screen some day — in Raked’s first Tweet-sclusive.

So check it out below. Five questions tweeted her way with her five answers. I was nice and didn’t demand her answers be under 140 characters, but she did a pretty darn good job of keeping them short and sweet nonetheless.

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Congrats on Serpent’s Storm! As the third book in the series, what about Calliope’s world makes you keep writing about it?

I just love writing a series where anything is possible — and where all religions and philosophies coexist together.  That’s what fun about writing in Callie’s world, everyone — kind of — gets along.

Out of the 3 in the series which was the hardest (or easiest) to write? Was there added pressure, seeing it as a series?

The third book, Serpent’s Storm, was probably the hardest book to write — there was a lot of tying up of plot ends in this story.  The second book, Cat’s Claw, was easiest.  It just wrote itself — I think it was all the time jumping — I credit that with making the book so fun to write.  Of course there was added pressure doing this story as a series — it still frightens me, especially because I’m doing book 4 now!

Your work crosses all media — movies, TV, bks. Think we’ll see Calliope on screen some day? Who could you see playing her?

I would love to see Death’s Daughter as a TV show — I always think of Zooey Deschanel when I think of Callie.

What else do you have going on? What other projects or appearances should fans keep an eye out for on the horizon?

Well, DRONES, the film I did with Adam Busch, is come out on DVD in the next few months – it’s On DEMAND now — and the paperback edition of AMONG THE GHOSTS, my middle grade book, comes out in September.

Finally, (since this is a Twitter-sclusive, after all), how’s it feel to be so close to your fans on Twitter?

I love being able to find out peeps thoughts in real time — I wish all these social media outlets had been around when we were doing BUFFY!

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Don’t forget to check out Amber’s book Serpent’s Storm, out now. And, if you haven’t already, don’t forget to check her out on Twitter: @amber_benson. And many thanks to Amber for being our first Tweet-sclusive!

*images from Yahoo! TV and, well, Amber’s Twitter feed

Amber Benson book signing

Well, if you were in the Boston area on Friday night, you might’ve heard that the Amber Benson, Chris Golden, and Thomas E. Sniegoski were at Pandemonium Books, signing their recent books. It was actually a neat event, and I was especially excited to hear about it, as I recently finished Amber Benson’s Death’s Daughter, the first in her Calliope Reaper-Jones trilogy. And hey, being a Buffy veteran didn’t hurt.

I was ultimately disadvantaged since I was unfamiliar with Thomas E. Sniegoski’s works (beyond comics, he wrote the novel that the miniseries Fallen was based on), but I am familiar with Chris Golden. He co-wrote the Ghosts of Albion series with Amber, and he’s also had a hand in the Buffy comics (refer to the Buffy Omnibus comics). But really, it looks like all three of them had a hand in the Buffy and Angel projects–which made the event a hub for Whedon excitement.

The event started with a Q&A from the crowd. The panel discussed everything from the Buffy reboot to Amber’s indie film Chance. And a lot about writing. Some of the most interesting parts were their discussion on how someone can move forward in writing (try, try, try; blog your writing; get it out there) and who their worst critic was (sure, the press is rough, but the worst critic seemed to be themselves–“well, there was this one guy…”). But really, the best part was seeing the writers all interact with each other, laughing and joking and enjoying the crowd.

After the Q&A, there was a signing. Of course, there was a plethora of Buffy paraphernalia. I was lucky enough to get both Death’s Daughter and Ghosts of Albion: Accursed signed. Overall, a good time.

But enough about that. How about some pictures of the event? (Sorry they’re not greater quality!)

Benson takes a Twitpic of the crowd

Benson answers a question in the Q&A

Golden and Sniegoski during the event

Sniegoski and Benson during the signing

Had to get this pic of Benson signing her own Buffy action figure

Golden, Sniegoski, and Benson at the signing

Benson and Death's Daughter

Anyway, it was nice to see someone famous for TV go outside of their comfort zone and enter into a new arena. Plus, books are always good. So this summer, support Tom, Chris, and Amber, and head over to the bookstore to pick up some new reads. It’ll be fun. I promise.

Remembering Andy Hallett

If you haven’t heard the sad news, Angel‘s Andy Hallett passed away last night. Only 33, he died of heart failure. You can read E!’s report here.

Image from http://toastie.st/

For those of you who didn’t know Andy Hallett as a non-green demon, he also appeared as Jack in Amber Benson’s Chance, a movie I’m still hoping to catch sometime. Apparently, he even found himself in a guest appearance in Buffy, so says IMDB. If you can identify which student he was in “Hush,” you certainly get some credit.

Image from eonline.com

But for most, we remember him as the demon with the golden pipes and golden heart. One of those characters that was always there, but seemed to be in the background, rarely in the forefront. But then he was in the spotlight, he certainly shined.

I’m thinking some Recap Reviews are in order to remember Hallett. Say, maybe, “Spin the Bottle” (very funny with Lorne) and the series finale of Angel (a momentous time for Lorne). Perhaps maybe one when Cordelia is in his home dimension. Any other suggestions?

Thirty-three is definitely a young age–too young. Sadly, we didn’t get to see too much of him before he was gone. It’s a good thing that he was part of such a dynamic group of people in Angel, so that actors and fans alike can remember him.

Needless today, it’s a sad day in the ‘verse.

Nov. 4, 2008: We vote!

I try to stay out of a lot of the political discussions and remain unbiased, keeping my own thoughts to myself. I’ll mention them here and there in sparkling debate, but as for my blog, it generally stays pretty unbiased, only about the shows I’m reviewing.

But as this is a rather monumental election for America, there is one thing I’d like to get across. Like the many many actors who have been publicizing your right to vote (say, Amber Benson, Neil Patrick Harris, and Blake Lively), I’m telling you one thing:

VOTE.

If you can, that is. And then, after you do, take a look at this video about voting in America. It features our very own Ed Helms, Andy from The Office. Enjoy.

Boy, do I love humor.