Down the rabbit hole of online message boards, few topics are ranked and debated with the same intensity as the Greatest Onscreen Deaths (e.g., "Best Film Deaths," "Best Movie Deaths," "50 Best Movie Deaths,” "Greatest Movie Deaths of All Time," and that’s before we even start talking about the “Best Deaths By ___” categories). The criteria for ranking these scenes vary; some are judged by degree of violence, others by such particulars as the songs accompanying the scenes. But there's one aspect of onscreen death these lists leave out: What's it like on the other side of the camera? READ MORE

It was the spring of 2001. I lived in Honolulu, in a house high in the mountains. From our front yard you could see all the way from (gesture) Diamond Head to (gesture) Pearl Harbor. I telecommuted to the DC literary agency that had employed me through grad school, starting work at seven in the morning and kicking off most afternoons around two, when everyone on the East Coast had gone home. We had gotten a puppy at the Honolulu Humane Society, a test case for children one day: If we could keep her alive, perhaps we would do the same with kids. So far she had chewed through her rope and escaped a dozen times; smashed geckos flat with her paws; torn the upholstery off our couch in great strips; consumed a pair of eyeglasses and a roach motel. She was still alive. That was the year that I watched so much Buffy, and the season-five finale, "The Gift," was the ecstatic peak of my fandom. READ MORE

Question: If a new Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie features none of the characters fans associate with the title and doesn't even involve movie/series/comic creator Joss Whedon, can it be considered a real Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie? I don't know! Because I HAVE A LIFE.