Note that Shrift is away this weekend, so she may be slow about answering her mail with passwords, et cetera.

First, on the Willow front. Lots of good posts here. Without going into too much detail, I've always felt that Willow knew she tended to use her magic for the wrong (selfish) reasons. The first time it becomes glaringly obvious was in "Lover's Walk" where she wanted to do the delusting spell and lied to Xander that it was a chemistry experiment. The next big bouncer was "Something Blue." Then "Forever" (even though it wasn't her magic, she instigated it.) It's a recurring theme that while she is extremely intelligent, she's also very emotionally immature. She very rarely thinks through the consequences of her actions (spell-wise). Plus, she's always looking for the easy way out. In many ways, I think that's part of why she resurrected Buffy. Willow very much did enjoy being the side-kick, responsibilty scared the bejesus out of her. By resurrecting Buffy she could resume the role she felt safest in. It's not until she gets super-juiced with dark magic that she starts spouting how much she didn't like being Tonto. I've always got the feeling that was the magic talking, not Willow.

Okay, I lied, there was a lot of detail there.

On to package stores. The only place I ever came across that term was when I was in the Navy. That's what we called the liquor stores on base. Out in town, a liquor store was still a liquor store. I always thought it was just a Navy term. So, now I know it's not.

Also, one of the most Gott Verdammt things that Wisconsin (actually, I think it's only Dane county) has done is made it illegal to sell packaged liquor (any kind, beer, wine, etc.) after 9pm. If you want to booze it up after your private reserve has run out, you have to go to a bar or resteraunt and drink it there. I found that out when I moved into my apartment when I first moved back to Madison in '96. Finished arranging everything around 9:30, ran down to the 7-11, threw a 6 pack up on the counter and they said, "Nope." Said I was 40 (expletive deleted) years old, what was their problem. And that's when I found out, if you forget to pick up the necessaries before 9, you're screwed.

(I know you mention this in your post, later, it's just that people keep saying it was the gateway to a demon dimension and so I keep saying it wasn't.)

Giles stresses that it connects to Glory's hell dimension, among others, and what we see of it is mostly a portal to Hellish stuff. We needed a mini crossover with Pylea, to stress that it was every dimension. I bet Joss would have worked that in if he hadn't been so stressed over the move to UPN.

GILES: The energy ... would flow into that spot, the walls between the dimensions break down. It stops, the energy's used up, the walls come back up. Glory uses that time to get back into her own dimension, not caring that all manner of hell will be unleashed on earth in the meantime.

It's nice to think that Buffy's feeling that her loved ones were safe may be true from an eternal perspective.

Also, one of the most Gott Verdammt things that Wisconsin (actually, I think it's only Dane county) has done is made it illegal to sell packaged liquor (any kind, beer, wine, etc.) after 9pm.

Milwaukee County, too, so maybe the whole state. It used to drive me nuts.

Giles stresses that it connects to Glory's hell dimension, among others, and what we see of it is mostly a portal to Hellish stuff. We needed a mini crossover with Pylea, to stress that it was every dimension. I bet Joss would have worked that in if he hadn't been so stressed over the move to UPN.

See, I hear just the opposite from the Giles quote you cite. It opens up the walls between dimensions, and Glory will use that opportunity to get into her own (which, since she's a hellgod, is probably a hell dimension, but not all dimensions are - and this was well laid out in season 5).

GILES: The energy ... would flow into that spot, the walls between the dimensions break down. It stops, the energy's used up, the walls come back up. Glory uses that time to get back into her own dimension, not caring that all manner of hell will be unleashed on earth in the meantime.

eta...

agreed that what we saw when the portal opened in The Gift made it pretty clear there are a lot of hell dimensions. But I figure people aren't trying to escape the nicer other dimensions.

I grew up in Maine, where we had State Liquor stores, although if there is no "official" state liquor store in your town, some other (convenience or grocery) store will act as a state liquor store, with all the same rules. In Maine, you can buy hard liquor 9-5, Mon-Sat (although the ancillary "license stores" - the ones that aren't official state stores - may have different rules), but Beer and Wine you can buy every day until 1 in the morning, except on Sundays where you can't start buying beer and wine until noon.

The first time I heard the term "Package Store" was when I went to college in Boston, although, I've never seen the words "package" on a liquor store. These stores also sell beer and wine, and are open Mon-Sat until 11 pm. Also there are occasional convenience stores that have "beer and wine" licenses, and so can sell beer and wine mon-sat from 9am-11pm. However, if your store is within a certain number of miles of the New Hampshire border, you can buy anything on a Sunday (for hours I'm not sure of except that it has to be after noon), because New Hampshire is an asshole state who undercuts their neighboring states fiscally every chance they get. Also, from the Sunday after Thanksgiving until New Years, ALL MA liquor stores can open on Sunday after noon.

Ahhh - Blue Laws. For those who defend the Puritans - FUCK YOU!!!!!

Upstate NY has liquor stores, which sell everything except beer and are open Monday - Saturday 9 -9. Grocery stores sell beer only, from 8 am - 2 am, and from noon - 2 am on Sunday. For some reason, Liqour stores don't sell anything excet liquor, wine and the occasional corkscrew, so you have to go to the grocery store for mixers.

I hadn't realized how different things were at other places.

In Georgia you can't buy at all on Sunday, and even in a restaurant you can't get liquor until noon (after church time, I guess). A line used to form at the twenty-four hour convenience store on my way home at about a quarter to twelve on Sunday nights, waiting for them to unlock the beer coolers.

even in a restaurant you can't get liquor until noon

Same in MA.

No liquor sales at all on Sunday in Utah County, though that rule primarily means no beer sales in the grocery stores and convenience stores. That rule has been challenged in a few outlying towns in the county, much to the store owners' profit and to the outrage of the "good, upright" citizens, most of whom are Mormon and don't drink anyway, so why the hell should they care? Something about profaning Sunday.

For those who don't know, Utah County believes Salt Lake City is sliding rapidly down the slippery slope to Sodom and Gomorra land, what with its beer available on Sunday and all the rest, like fairly thriving Goth, pagan, and gay communities. Being a persecuted minority does a lot for the vitality of a community.