Dolly the Vampire Slayer

Or this could be called “Slay Belle.” So this is the convergence between Dolly Parton, country music star, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Dolly Parton rocketed to fame with her hit song “9 to 5,” which was the centerpiece of the 1980 movie of the same name. She became famous not only as a country singer, but as a symbol of what nowadays is called female empowerment.

Then there is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This is the TV series that jumpstarted the subgenre knows as urban fantasy. Were there some urban fantasy novels before Buffy? Sure. But it was the Buffy series that made urban fantasy an overwhelming subgenre in novels, movies, and TV shows.

So how did that happen? It turns out Dolly Parton was an uncredited producer of the original movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That’s right. And Dolly’s company financed the TV series. It was Dolly Parton behind it all the time!

photo by Eva Rinaldi

But what if Dolly hadn’t done that? See my post What if Buffy had Never Been? to see how life as we know it would be different. Meanwhile, you can see every season opening for Buffy below, including the musical episode.

Then you’ll definitely want to see my post Buffy the Vinyl Slayer.

Parkplace Destroyed

No, not the second most expensive property on the Monopoly boards that a lot of you are undoubtedly using. Parkplace was the first high rise in Kirkland, a suburb of Seattle. I remember eating at a Japanese restaurant there a few times. The new name for the area is Kirkland Urban, with a couple buildings of equal size built next door to Parkplace. Now that construction work has been allowed to resume, Parkplace has been torn down. 

All that was left of it this past Wednesday was a pile of rubble. I took a picture, but it was too blurry to use. It reminds me of how the old Totem Lake shopping mall was torn down. 

All is not lost. See what one of the new features of Kirkland Urban is:

Buddhist Science Fiction—Movie Review

A few hundred years ago, Siyama is a small village in feudal Siam. They are about to be attacked by thousands of warriors who kill everyone in their way.

After the local Buddhist monk performs a prayer ceremony, three young people show up, dressed strangely and traveling in a metal vehicle. They say they are from the future and do not know how they got there. The Buddhist monk assures them to not be concerned about the future. He forecasts they will return to the future during an upcoming moonless night.

The three young people have unusual skills and tools, and they decide to help the village in the days they have left. Can they possibly make a difference?

Siyama: Village of Warriors is a movie that keeps one’s attention, partly because of the historical panorama, partly from the compelling story of three young people trying to help in what seems to be a hopeless struggle. Ana is a female doctor and an Olympic-level archer. Gift is a female history major who knows martial arts. Boat is a male student who is . . . got no idea.

These three students do things that seem puzzling to the villagers but make sense to us, the viewers: Ana wants hard liquor to disinfect wounds and needs needle and thread to sew them up. Gift looks at the cliffs towering over a narrow path to the village and wants lots of gunpowder. Boat tries to solder together parts from the car to make amazing weapons. We end up really rooting for them.

The movie has some disadvantages. Neither the students nor the villagers are that surprised at their arrival. Most of the battles take place at night, so it is often hard to tell who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. And the special effects for the final climax are kind of embarrassing.

Still, if you want to see some Buddhist science fiction, Siyama: Village of Warriors is a nice change of pace.