Doctor Who 10 | ***Dave Does the Blog

Poptpourri before shutting down …

The Good Trailer for “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”… – Woot! Very much not for kidlings any more, but very appropriately spooky. Save lots with truly generic pills – Not sure…

The Good

Trailer for “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”… – Woot! Very much not for kidlings any more, but very appropriately spooky.
Save lots with truly generic pills – Not sure about ordering pills via Amazon, but it’s an interesting idea.
The wife – Yeah, this sounds kind of familiar. 🙂
Iomega StorCenter 1TB Wireless NAS Hard Drive for… – Wow. Just … wow. Might need to look into this …
Doctor Who: David Tennant’s 10th Doctor Returns to… – Doctor Who DVDs for the current series! Woot! (May contain spoilers for folks who are, ahem, behind in watching their Who stuff).

The Bad

To destroy Al Qaeda, we must end the war on terror:… – Statistical studies like this can never take into account the nuances of a given situation, and police and political engagement work best where there’s a good framework already in place for them. But this RAND study is worth pondering.
Auto Insurance – To be fair, the insurance person on the phone was probably in India.

The Ugly

The troops on the ground – Next time some pundit jumps all over some politician saying the most slightly critical thing about our armed forces — remember how those same armed forces sometimes bring a whole hell of a lot more dishonor (as people, and as an institution) upon themselves. And that, in turn, is a much bigger slap in the face to the individual grunts who are risking their lives out there.

Potpourri on a warm Monday night

The Good Font conference – This is just kinda good geeky font-loving fun. Popular boat names – Many boat names are imaginative. These are not. Art to last 10,000 years…

The Good

Font conference – This is just kinda good geeky font-loving fun.
Popular boat names – Many boat names are imaginative. These are not.
Art to last 10,000 years – How do you make art that will last for a hundred centuries? it’s not easy.
1960s ad for rice – Mmmmm … rice.
Seven Facts About Our Internal Body Clock | Newsweek… – Good to know.
Free Realms: Free Realms – The Best MMO At E3? – Keeping my eyes on this one for Kitten.
Radley Balko: A Few Questions for Barack Obama – As much as I am an Obama supporter, I think these questions are perfectly legit.
Obama on Firewalling Time to Think – On the other hand … fatigue means mistakes, great and small. We can’t afford that with a president.
Freakazoid on DVD — yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes! – Yes!
A Safer Gmail With Https – Seriously considering this.
…because the apocalypse doesn’t have to be lonely. – Hearts! Brains!
PRELUDIUM: All I want for Christmas is two tablets… – I would so accept these as a gift.
The Sarah Jane Adventures DVD news: Announcement for… – I enjoyed the ones of these I watched, and I think Katherine would enjoy them, too. DVD set sounds like a fine idea.

The Bad

Respectful Insolence: Oh no! My cell phone’s going… … to kill you? No, really … it’s not.
The Hoax Photo Database – Always useful to know.
A Tale of Two Press Biases – This actually makes sense. Yes, the McCain camp is correct that Obama gets a lot more press coverage. Yes, the Obama camp is correct that McCain gets pass after pass on his gaffes and inconsistencies.
Fox TV news anchors enjoy plastic coffee – To go with their content-free news.

The Ugly

Elderly woman prohibited from photographing empty… – I feel safer knowing that elderly women photographing empty playgrounds are being forbidden from doing so because they may actually be pedophiles. Yup!
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell – Of all the stupid policies whose time has come and gone …
Brides demand breast-surgery for their bridesmaids – Mercifully, most bridesmaids are rejecting this particular insanity.
MPAA wants to randomly break your home theater depending… – Because I want Paramount and Sony deciding which pieces of my home theater should be able to interact with their content. Right.
Why is the TSA taking out nipple rings and pantsing… – Why? Because they can.
Report: Former Justice Department officials broke… and Report confirms politicization of the Justice Department. – It’s not so much that there was at least some political bias in the selection of federal prosecutors and immigration judges. I mean, that sort of thing just tends to happen. My objection is that it was so shameless and blatant and stupid, with no pretense as to trying to do the right thing.
John McCain tries very hard not to answer question… and McCain Caves To Right Wing On Gay Adoption, Says Orphans… – It’s unclear in this coverage whether McCain is trying to maneuver away from an impolitic answer, is trying to pander to too many constituencies, or is just too confused about his own stand on the subject to be coherent. None of these is a good thing.

Potpourri from Faerie

Catching up from a bit … The Good Scientific daydream – DOF waxes at length on what scientific education should be, and how to bring it about. Notes from the…

Catching up from a bit …

The Good

Scientific daydream – DOF waxes at length on what scientific education should be, and how to bring it about.
Notes from the Field | Robert X. Cringely® | InfoWorld… – Even the RIAA can’t stand before a few good mothers banding together.
What’s For Lunch? – I knew there was a reason I had my Mom make me PB&Js every day for lunch when was in school.
Star Wars photoshopping contest – Classic (and some not-so-classic) art given a Star Wars theme. Some delightful bits here.
Wherein your host removes all dobut of his royal geekiness… – What other former Companions could the Doctor turn to in times of need?

The Bad

Washington Wire – WSJ.com : Nevada GOP Cancels Convention,… – It’s a bad sign when the delegates just, um, phone it in.
Study finds AMBER Alerts are great drama, but have… – Have lives been saved? Very few. Has the general level of fear in the general populace been ratcheted up a notch? Yup. What’s the trade-off?
DRM Deja Vu: Yahoo! Music shutting down. Any music… – Once again, unless you actually own it, it can be taken away.
Michigan women must pay out of pocket for birth control… – … while Michigan men can get insurance coverage for Viagra. Bzzzzzt!

The Ugly

Ben Stein goes off the deep end. Suggests Obama is… – Ben Stein was fun on Win Ben Stein’s Money. Ben Stein as political commentator the last few years has been a rhetorical train wreck.
Tom Delay says: God made America to spread the Gospel! – It says so right in the Constitution, right?
WSJ op-ed claims “The Dark Night” is actually a homage… – … to George W. Bush? As is, evidently, Lord of the Rings. Riiiiiiight.
CIA memos say ’specific intent’ of ‘pain and suffering’… – Remember, if you weep as you torture them, not only is it not torture, but you get a full remission of your sins.
CNN reporter says bad things about the TSA, gets hassled… – I feel much safer!
Police Infiltrating, Spying on Leftist Groups – Didn’t they learn back in the, oh, 60s? It’s not about the actual useful intel or danger, it’s about justifying a big budget and feeling like J. Edgar Hoover (with or without dress).
An Interactive Guide to Bush Administration Lawbreaking – Can’t tell your players without a program.

Potpourri for about two weeks

I’m not nearly caught up with my blog reading from vacation and so forth, but this is about as good a pass as I can make with stuff snagged…

I’m not nearly caught up with my blog reading from vacation and so forth, but this is about as good a pass as I can make with stuff snagged for the Google sidebar.

Fiscal responsibility – A nice little graph addressing the GOP’s reputation for fiscal responsibility. Remember that this year.
Repeal the Second Amendment? – I don’t know that I agree with everything that DOF writes here about gun control and the Second Amendment, but there’s a hell of a lot here that I do agree with, and pretty much all of it deserves some attention.
After Impeaching Clinton, McCain Now Dismisses Idea… – Because, of course, impeachment is only a silly, distracting, in appropriate idea when it’s not about a Democratic president who lied about boffing an intern.
Rove Rips NYT For Outing CIA Agent’s Identity And… – Pot. Kettle. Black. Chutzpah.
GI Bill Opponent President Bush Lauds GI Bill Opponent… – Bush and McCain both opposed — in hyperbolic rhetoric — the new GI Bill benefits in the defense spending bill. But once it was passed, Bush was pleased to share credit for it with his appointed successor.
More Stupid Voters – We must get Barrack Obama elected, if only to demonstrated that this yahoo is not, in fact, the face and voice of the American electorate.
FOX News Gets Ugly – I don’t expect actually expect unbiased or non-ideological news and commentary from Fox News. But actual, verifiable, blatant altering of photographs as part of character assassination pieces? Wow, that’s taking sleaze to a whole new level.
London Mayoral vote can’t be verified due to e-voting… – Paper ballots have problems. E-ballots have problems. The problems with e-ballots could likely be largely solved … except that it would cost the e-voting industry money, and cost their supporters in government credibility. So, instead, we get debacles like this. Expect more grand stuff like this as we head into the 2008 elections.
Court order on YouTube user data fans privacy fears… – I don’t actually want Viacom — or anyone else — knowing what YouTube videos I’ve watched. Nor do I trust that they will only use the information for limited purposes. Yeesh.
Less Hyphen, More Burst for Walmart – Wal-Mart … er, Walmart is changing it’s logo (and its hyphenation). Now, are they offering immunization coverage for the children of their employees yet?
Wall-E is a copyright criminal – An analysis of how WALL-E breaks Canada’s proposed DMCA-like copyright law left right and center … doing things that nobody at the movie probably recognized as Evil Piracy of Precioussssss Intellectual Property Rights.
History Locked Up… Thanks To Copyright – This is what’s called a “Chilling Effect.” Not sure who holds the copyright on 100-plus-year-old photos? Well, you don’t dare use them in any sort of history exhibit or book, for fear of getting your ass sued off. Yeah, that’s really serving the public interest.
David Tennant is made of awesome – Yes. Yes he is. There’s a lengthy scene in an episode of Doctor Who last season where her records a long message for Martha. During the episode, the volume is turned down, and we don’t get to hear what he’s saying. Now we know …
Meet the Bread Man from Down Under – Another unfortunate logo change, but these things always have interesting stories. I’m a Panera man, myself.
Frontier going under the knife – The Denver Post – I was really hoping that Frontier would be who we could turn to as United continued its steady slide into Delta, American, Continental, and Aeroflot … but a combo of skyrocketing jet fuel prices and competitive pressure from Southwest may spell an end to all that. And that’s a damned shame.
I must be getting old. I still don’t understand what… – I’ll confess that the whole big distinction in purpose and motivation between Facebook and MySpace and Twitter and … just plain o’ blogging … too often escapes me. I’m sure some of it is my just being an ol’ fogey — and part of it is Big Promotion.
If you live in Texas and ask me to fix your computer,… – Hey, could I convince my family to move to Texas so that it would be illegal for me to help them with their computer problems? Nah, even that wouldn’t justify such a fate for them.
Because some folks were at KOA… – Heh. Yeah, we got at least one of these “kitties” visiting us while we were away. To judge from the report of chewed-up crayons, and the upended cat food tub in the kitchen when I walked in …
Tofu ‘may raise risk of dementia’ – See! Tomatoes and tofu are both evil! Evil!
Scientists: Watermelon yields Viagra-like effects – The bad news is, I really don’t like watermelon. The good news is, I really don’t need to rely upon it for, um, it’s side effects.
Elite transportation – DOF writes at length on what to look for if you’re buying a bicycle for actual bicycling use.
Hellboy on “Inside the Actor’s Studio.” – ‘Nuff said.
Dave Hill, inventor of the world’s greatest two-man… – Um … not this Dave Hill, I’m afraid.
Itchy grossness – Yes, yes it is.
Spirit World: Father Damien cleared for sainthood… – I don’t usually report on canonization efforts in the Catholic Church, except to note the unseemly hastiness of the canonization efforts for Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa. However, Father Damien has been dead for quite some time, he was a true martyr to his efforts to bring comfort to the lepers of Molokai, he’s consider the “patron” of AIDS patients … and I attended Damien High School for a year and a half, so he’s of particular interest to me.
Religion and Its Role Are in Dispute at the Service… – The military academies of the United States are meant to train the best and brightest to lead the defense of this nation, and all of its people. That really has nothing to do with proselytizing conservative Christianity, and to do so is not only an insult to the citizenry who aren’t of that particular persuasion, but a distraction from the mission, which, from a military aspect, is a bad thing.
one for the “now I feel safer” drawer – Thank goodness folks won’t be allowed onto airplanes with guns. Or, gun-shaped jewelry.
Nelson Mandela finally taken off US terror list – Well, I, for one, will sleep much safer tonight knowing that Nelson Mandela is no longer a terrorist threat to myself or my family.

Because nothing says Independence Day …

… like sitting around with friends, drinking beer, eating tortilla chips and salsa and BBQ chicken, playing RPGs and dominoes, and watching Doctor Who. Happy Fourth of July, folks….

… like sitting around with friends, drinking beer, eating tortilla chips and salsa and BBQ chicken, playing RPGs and dominoes, and watching Doctor Who.

Happy Fourth of July, folks.

Doctor Who Series 3 DVD Commentary Track Update

Wow, that’s a clumsy (but descriptive) title. Back in November, I reported that the commentary track for the season finale of Series 3 had been changed from what was…

Wow, that’s a clumsy (but descriptive) title.

Back in November, I reported that the commentary track for the season finale of Series 3 had been changed from what was announced (and what had been included on the UK releases of the DVDs) with different track. Instead of Tennant, Agyeman and Barrowman, the DVDs were released with a previously recorded podcast of the show’s producers (including Russell T Davies). Nothing to sneeze at, certainly, but a disappointment. The BBC said that rights “could not be cleared for the North American DVD,” which was widely believed to mean that reported multiple commissions of singing by John Barrowman had made the lawyers nervous.

Well, the lawyers have apparently been appeased, and the BBC is offering a download of the original commentary track for folks who want to hear it.. Coolness.

A consideration on Doctor Who after watching the 2007 Christmas Special

Which is a more dangerous proposition? Beaming down on a landing party as a red shirt on Star Trek? Or being promised that you’ll be safe/okay/gotten out of danger…

Which is a more dangerous proposition?

Beaming down on a landing party as a red shirt on Star Trek?
Or being promised that you’ll be safe/okay/gotten out of danger by the Doctor?

Because, damn, the Doctor sure says “I’m sorry” a lot …

Doctor Who s.4 trailer

Via Les (while it lasts, until the Beeb gets it pulled down). Some spoilerish bits, but nothing too spoilerish, IMO. Well, maybe, if you haven’t heard anything about next seasons Companion…

Via Les (while it lasts, until the Beeb gets it pulled down). Some spoilerish bits, but nothing too spoilerish, IMO. Well, maybe, if you haven’t heard anything about next seasons Companion (and don’t want to — but, let me say, bravo).

Set those DVRs for 11 April (here in the US), a week behind the Brits get their dose.

UPDATE: Solonor (who had linked to a now-yanked trailer) points (annoyed) to the official BBC site with same, in case the above vanishes.

The Mind of Tommy Westphall

According to this site, an amazing amount of the TV universe — including everything from Firefly to the Dick Van Dyke Show to Lost to I Love Lucy to…

According to this site, an amazing amount of the TV universe — including everything from Firefly to the Dick Van Dyke Show to Lost to I Love Lucy to Buffy to The Office to Law and Order to Doctor Who — all exist in the mind of autistic child Tommy Westphall, who (in the show’s final episode) was revealed to have imagined the entire (excellent) series St Elsewhere.

Based on documented character (and other element) cross-overs, any fictional show that touched St Elsewhere is considered also part of Tommy’s amazingly complex dreams. The count of shows comes to 280 — which is a remarkable tribute to how TV writers / producers like to do cross-overs or sly cross-references to other works they admire or have worked on.

Fun stuff.

(via kottke)

The Doctor and the Weakest Link

BD posted this little bit of a special Weakest Link episode featuring various Doctor Who (current) actors, including David Tennant and John Barrowman. Turns out the whole show is…

BD posted this little bit of a special Weakest Link episode featuring various Doctor Who (current) actors, including David Tennant and John Barrowman. Turns out the whole show is actually online here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

It’s not quite as exciting as the Satellite Five version of the show, and the actual question bits are pretty … lame, to begin with, though they get a lot better as time (and space) goes on. But there’s some amusement now and again, including John Barrowman’s rendition of the Doctor Who theme … plus some outtakes.

Who & Co.

Series 4 of Doctor Who starts up on SciFi in April. Woot!Not quite as thrilled by the younger-audience Sarah Jane Adventures, but it’s definitely worth a DVRing to see….

Series 4 of Doctor Who starts up on SciFi in April. Woot!

Not quite as thrilled by the younger-audience Sarah Jane Adventures, but it’s definitely worth a DVRing to see.

(via Les)

Potpourri for a Monday

Too many tabs, too many things to do: This year’s Beloit Mindset list of what the Class of 2011 considers a normal part of their world. Let soldiers blog! Folks…

Too many tabs, too many things to do:

This year’s Beloit Mindset list of what the Class of 2011 considers a normal part of their world.
Let soldiers blog! Folks don’t realize that it’s our ability to express ourselves, even critically, that makes this country great (esp. in the eyes of the rest of the world).
Another case of DRM screwing consumers. Sony’s closing down their “Connect” DRM site, which means that folks who licensed music from them can only listen to it until they upgrade their PCs.
Yeah, I’m just waiting for a TSA agent to tell me to dump all the cables out of my brief case. Yeesh.
Cool interview with Russel T. Davies (of Doctor Who / Torchwood / etc fame). (via Les)
I am not a sporting fan, as anyone will tell you. That said, watching the last quarter or so of the Super Bowl yesterday was a real kick, with a record-breaking number of score lead changes and a couple of last-minute game-winning (or near-game-winning) plays. If they were all like that, I might be tempted to watch more football.

Music, hark!

I’ve not started diving into my Doctor Who – Series 3 DVDs yet (waiting to finish up the House – Season 1 set we’ve been plowing through), but I’m disappointed…

I’ve not started diving into my Doctor Who – Series 3 DVDs yet (waiting to finish up the House – Season 1 set we’ve been plowing through), but I’m disappointed that the final ep’s commentary track has been changed.

Doctor Who – The Complete 3rd Series, released on DVD earlier this month in North America, was quickly noticed to have an issue with the final episode on the set, “Last of the Time Lords” (the last part of a 3-part story) having a “wrong commentary track”. The booklet and the pre-release materials indicated that David Tennant (“The Doctor”), Freema Agyeman (“Martha Jones”) and John Barrowman (“Capt. Jack Harkness”) recorded a commentary track for the DVD release of this episode. However, fans only found a re-run of the internet podcast by the show’s Producers.

Well, these things happen. Bu evidently the commentary track is on the UK DVD release, and the (speculated) reason for why it was changed seems particularly irksome.

From BBC Worldwide
“Unfortunately, though we make every effort to offer identical content in our Doctor Who releases to every territory, the original commentary track for Series 3, Episode 13 featuring David Tennant, Freema Agyeman and John Barrowman could not be cleared for the North American DVD. We acknowledge that the booklet accompanying it has the incorrect credits and they should read Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Phil Collinson. The booklet will be corrected as soon as possible.”
“Could not be cleared”…the message boards all over the ‘net are speculating on what this means. The consensus is…singing. Folks who have access to the U.K. release know that there is singing on the commentary track, led by Barrowman, and everyone figures that the rights to the different songs (there are more than one) were unable to be cleared for use outside of the United Kingdom. Is that accurate? The BBC won’t say for sure on the record, so we’ll just have to leave you hanging right there…sorry. If true, though, I think we can expect a “no singing” policy to be instituted pronto for future commentary track recordings!

Give me a break.

If the DVD had instead been issued (and promoted) as “John Barrowman’s Greatest Sing-along Hits,” that would be one thing. Copyright exists to protect against people exploiting the works of others and depriving them of compensation to which they would otherwise receive. I have no problem with that.

But if a single commentary track of a DVD includes some folks impromptu singing some songs — does that really require obtaining rights to the tunes? Or, rather, since we know it does, should it? Am I less likely to go out and buy a copy of (whatever it was) because, hey, I can just listen to the cast of Doctor Who on this DVD I have?

Silly and stupid.

Not that there’s anything wrong with a track by the folks described. But I count it as yet another example of the silly extremes of current media companies regarding intellectual property “rights” they “own” and how they end up neither profiting themselves, only inconveniencing the public.

TV I’m Watching

We watch about 90-95% of our TV off of our DVR, which seems fairly remarkable. So what is it I’m watching these days? Torchwood: This Doctor Who spin-off has…

We watch about 90-95% of our TV off of our DVR, which seems fairly remarkable. So what is it I’m watching these days?

Torchwood: This Doctor Who spin-off has developed a sort of dark charm of its own. It’s as much Horror as SF, and is usually focused as much on the characters (or the folks they encounter) as on the Monster/Widget of Week. It’s complex enough to be still finding its feet, and I’m okay with that. I look forward to this one every week.

House, MD: I watched a bit of this at the tail of last season, and fell in love with it. I’m not sure why a medical mystery show starring as thoroughly unpleasant a doctor as you can imagine appeals so much. Maybe it’s because of the reactions of the people around him. Maybe it’s because Hugh Laurie is a delight to watch. Maybe it’s because his passion to defeat disease, not help people, makes for a nicely un-Marcus-Welby sort of tale. Whatever, it’s great fun. I’ve even picked up the Season 1 DVD set …

Chuck: It’s geeky. It’s action-ish. It’s alternately poignant and funny and thrilling. It’s half Bond, half Dilbert. Chuck is not without flaws, but I enjoy watching this computer-nerd-turned-spy series a lot.

Bionic Woman: This show wants to be Alias so hard it hurts. But the characters aren’t nearly as good, the writing isn’t nearly as taut, and the overall story isn’t nearly as good. The acting is pretty good, bound as it is by a thousand stereotypes in writing and not terribly impressive direction. This is most likely to go on the personal chopping block first, but I keep hoping.

Dinner: Impossible: Watching the chef thrown into one improbable and difficult situation after another — make [meal] for [lots] with [limited ingredients, dubious staff, sketchy facilities, etc.] in [the next few-to-several] hours — remains a lot of fun.

The Daily Show: Jon Stewart is a national treasure, as are the writers and fellow cast of the show, as they lampoon the day’s news and try to see how seriously they can treat serious subjects while still causing tons of laughter — or how humorously they can treat serious subjects while still causing folks to think. Triffic stuff.

The Colbert Report: Following on TDS, Colbert is amusing, but much more one-note (faux conservative) in its town than its parent show. Still lots of fun to watch.

Alas, a number of the above have been — The Daily Show and The Colbert Report — or will be — House, Chuck, Bionic Woman — impacted by the ongoing Writers Strike. Aside from L&O and Star Trek reruns, I may have to dig into the TV schedules again to see what else I should be watching.

Potpourri for the Feast of St. Gerard Majella

Tabs are getting full again … Who was St Gerard Majella? Though this article focuses on Mormons vs non-Mormons, I think it has a lot to say about discussion of…

Tabs are getting full again …

Who was St Gerard Majella?
Though this article focuses on Mormons vs non-Mormons, I think it has a lot to say about discussion of “moral” issues across the board between a variety of groups.
Dentists are making lots of money and working fewer hours. But it’s all due to growth of cosmetic dentistry — and affordable dental care for the poor is actually getting more difficult to find. Rates of untreated cavities in the US are actually going up, Disgusting. (via kottke)
Set course for that asteroid, Mr Sulu!
Is your site blocked in China? I’m somehow disappointed that mine isn’t.
Wish I had $8K for this new collection of Vatican documents about the Knights Templar.
The Religious Right is disappointed they’re no longer the top dogs on the political agenda. Huzzah. They’re worried (finally) that they’re just seen as an assumed/presumed voting bloc on the GOP side, regardless of how they’re treated. Almost certainly true. Welcome to the consequences of mixing worldly and spiritual interests. (I refuse to use the term “values voters” because, dammit, every thoughtful voter is voting on their values, right, left, and center.) Beyond that — their days may be limited as well, as their population is aging, and younger generations are more critical of religion in general and Christianity in particular, almost directly because of all the right’s political shenanigans and generally “un-Christian” attitudes,
Baby Zebra!
How does it feel to die? Not surprisingly, it depends on the cause.
The NSA has a big advantage — for the moment — in doing wiretaps, given the huge volume of international phone and network traffic that routes through US-based equipment and hubs. That’s beginning to change, both as other location begin to compete and as other countries and companies begin to mistrust such US-based hubs.
Doctor Who movie? Fantastic!

EX-DE-CO-RATE!

Someone new has invaded my office toy collection. It talks, too….

Someone new has invaded my office toy collection. It talks, too.

The Top Twenty Starship Captains

Or, maybe, “Twenty Starship Captains the Writer Finds Interesting,” since he actually ends up dissing the first half-dozen or so. Good reading, though. (via BD)…

Or, maybe, “Twenty Starship Captains the Writer Finds Interesting,” since he actually ends up dissing the first half-dozen or so.

Good reading, though.

(via BD)

Doctor Who: “The Last Time Lord”

Series 3 Finale! Final Wrap of the Big Story Line and Resolution of Lots of Dangling Arcs (Martha, Jack) and Stuff Like That! And … … and … …….

Series 3 Finale! Final Wrap of the Big Story Line and Resolution of Lots of Dangling Arcs (Martha, Jack) and Stuff Like That! And …

… and …

…. kinda disappointing, actually.

More (with spoilers) below the cut …

Continue reading “Doctor Who: “The Last Time Lord””

AC-CES-SO-RATE!

Okay, I don’t wear cuff links. I rarely wear dress shirts, for that matter, and when I do the sleeves rarely stay rolled down. Nevertheless, I so want these….

Okay, I don’t wear cuff links. I rarely wear dress shirts, for that matter, and when I do the sleeves rarely stay rolled down.

Nevertheless, I so want these.

(via BoingBoing)

TV Topics

Bionic Woman: Gritty as expected. Nice fx. Decent acting. While the Evil (or Morally Questionable) Government Black Ops Thang is hardly new, nor is the Rogue Experiment That Had To…

Bionic Woman: Gritty as expected. Nice fx. Decent acting. While the Evil (or Morally Questionable) Government Black Ops Thang is hardly new, nor is the Rogue Experiment That Had To be Covered Up Thang, not to mention the whole Young Doctor Uses Unauthorized Techniques On His Dying Girlfriend Thang, it works well enough (so far) that I’m willing to come back for more. Though, annoyingly, NBC (or whoever it is) seems to be about 1-2 minutes earlier than the rest of the world. DVR adjusted.

Doctor Who: “The Sound of the Drums” Part 1 of 2 — the Series 3 finale. Grand stuff. The Master (yeah, I’ll go ahead and say it) in rare form. World-wide conspiracy and danger. The unspoken implication that Earth is in danger precisely because it is valued by the Doctor. I am dying to watch next episode — and I don’t want to, as it’s the series finale. *sigh*

Painkiller Jane: Wrapping up Season 1 with the sort of interesting-but-not-very-clever sort of way the series as a whole has been handled. I’ve wanted to like this a lot more than I have, but aside from some interesting premises and villains-of-the-week, it’s been hampered by cliches and conventional writing — and the last episodes at NICO have been even more lame than the rest. I’ll watch next season — if there is one — but I’d rather watch Dresden Files any day.

Torchwood: Ianto’s turn in the emotional wringer, with plenty of backstory tossing about and Captain Jack doing a Jane Vasco better than Jane ever has. Witty, dramatic, and steadily improving, even if both Torchwood and Painkiller Jane seem full of people who really ought to know to shoot first and clean up the messes later.