Ah-ha! Ye thought ye got me, eh? Well, no sir, all eleven, just as ordered.
And no, I didn’t just throw together three separate posts just now, I’d actually written them up Monday and Tuesday- but Monday’s wouldn’t post (lousy weird button not doing anything…) and Tuesday’s, well, I didn’t make the trip to another computer to post the two up. So, before work today I’ll be stopping off somewhere, USB firmly in hand, to post all these up.
In that case, I guess I’m telling you to scan back a few entries if you wanted to catch anything you missed.
I didn’t end up going to any theatre Tuesday night, couldn’t get anyone to go. True, I only tried three people… wait, I tried three people! That’s a fair number of people!
Instead I spent time on the Doctor Who TV tropes page and spent some hours at the gym. I paid particular notice to the music being piped in, listening for hints on song structure because, as I wrote Monday (but only posted today) I’m wanting to write a song.
I think I may have hit on an appropriate topic for the song. Or at least a fun topic. At this moment, I’m thinking it’ll be about Pluto. We’ll see how it goes.
Needed to pick up some cereal, so 3am trip to the expensive Metro. Got Vector, a chicken salad thing, and- TWIZZLERS!
Aw yeah, Twizzlers! I saw ‘em, and I wanted ‘em.
Note to self about the salad: the red onions are no good for you. It feels like I’m on the verge of suffering from heartburn. Pretty sure the culprit here is the onions, they’re my prime suspect. But don’t leave town yellow peppers.
It’s 6:18am now, spent the rest of my night watching Muppet Treasure Island. Should probably read the book. Wonder if the Captain really did have a lover that took with Captain Flint and ended up marooned on the eponymous island, or if that was added so Ms. Piggy could be in the picture.
Man, I want to see that new Muppet movie. I probably shouldn’t have said I’d watch it with this one person that I can hardly ever get in touch with or see. Feels like that one Simpsons episode where, once Bart has finally become chief justice of the Supreme Court, Homer finally takes Bart to see the Itchy and Scratchy movie.
That reminds me of the time I explained… something in my modernisms class (forget what) then immediately said “like in that one Simpsons episode”. The professor stated that I had said something really well, but then ruined it with the reference. That stuck with me, obviously. As far as academics go, I’m sure I learned the most from that professor, that guy’s the best.
Of course university teaches much more than academics and most of those lessons aren’t to be found on any lesson plan.
Ah well. I should be off to bed then. If you’re curious it’s now 6:28am. Time flies.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Nov 29th
Nine in the morning, and I’d really like to get back to sleep. Debating whether or not to invite a cute girl to a movie this evening-seems like a no brainer, right?
This morning I watched Jodie Foster’s “The Beaver”, and the other day I finished “Terminator: Salvation” (or whatever it’s called) and I realized they both had Anton Yelchin in them. That’s pretty surprising. The only thing I knew the kid was in was the awesome Star Trek pic, I go out and get two random films from the library, and he’s in both.
Guess I should actually talk about Terminator first, I saw that one first. It kinda sucked. Playing it on my playstation 2 it skipped like crazy, but I didn’t care much at all. There just wasn’t anything to it; the movie feels like it was a twenty two minute show, as opposed to a feature length film.
And I thought John Connor was supposed to die in it? Did I hear wrong? I kept expecting him to die, and that the human-terminator hybrid would assume his identity to lead the resistance. Could I have made that up? No, probably I just misheard someone.
Instead! The terminator guy gives up his heart so John Connor can live, and not ONE person was like “hold up buddy, you don’t have to kill yourself!”
Well, the girl that loved the terminator was sort of against it, but she didn’t exactly put up much of a fight.
The CGI Arnold was actually really good; I was impressed on that front. Not that the skill of one computer generated image has any bearing on the story.
And that creepy little girl that hung out with Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) - nothing happened with her! Zip! I expected her to turn out to be another infiltration terminator unit, maybe with a broken voice modulator or something, and that’s why she never spoke. Nope, just a scared girl that gets to hand John Connor the big detonator at the finale. She couldn’t even press the button herself? At last that’d have been cool.
I wonder if part of the problem is that the original Terminator movie (the only one I’ve uh… mostly seen all of) is tense because you don’t think anything is going to stop that villain, the action building and building until finally it’s stopped, the end. It’s tense, frightening. In this film, you start off with giant flying ships and motorcycle robots, all of which get taken out by the humans, so right away the film has shifted from that tenseness to an action/war emphasis. Only at the end do we get that near unstoppable Terminator, but ten minutes of getting chased by the thing isn’t enough to build the kind of necessary dread. It’s like the film remembered what franchise they were shooting half way through, but it was too late to switch gears.
Yeah, that’s enough of that one.
The Beaver… it’s good, sure it’s good. I guess I have to applaud it for its true to life nature (beaver puppet notwithstanding). I imagine for me to sit back and think a movie is “great” I have to be tricked, manipulated into thinking “THERE! That’s the answer!” and I walk out of the theatre thinking I’ve got life all figured out.
(Alternatively, a particularly instructive movie, like, ACTUALLY instructive, would also be great, but for now I’ll assume that I’m fool enough to not be able to tell the difference between actual answers and getting my proper emotional strings plucked to think I’ve got the answers, because… how should I know the difference right away, if ever?)
But The Beaver’s principle statement is that life is messy. The father isn’t magically cured of his mental illness; the son still faces a daunting future. They all get a little closer together by the end, and I liked the concern on the son’s face as he accompanies his father to the hospital after the garage accident- this kid has spent the whole movie trying to get away from his father, but at that moment he’s scared for the guy. It’s a moment that strikes me as being off message in a more traditional film, but in a movie about life you can just capture that honest little moment without structuring the whole piece around that sole revelation.
I liked all the performances, I liked the story- Jodie Foster (the director) could probably have stood to cut more of Jodie Foster (the actor, but yes, the same person), leaving more focus on the father and son dynamic, but eh, whatever.
Man, I really want to go see the Muppet movie, but I’m supposed to see it with a friend of mine who really has a hard time making plans to do stuff. What else is playing? Hugo looks pretty cool, but I’m not sure I’m in the mood for that one. Arthur Christmas has been getting surprisingly good reviews even though, to me, it looks terrible. No, I’m not going to see that one.
I’ll figure it out.
This morning I watched Jodie Foster’s “The Beaver”, and the other day I finished “Terminator: Salvation” (or whatever it’s called) and I realized they both had Anton Yelchin in them. That’s pretty surprising. The only thing I knew the kid was in was the awesome Star Trek pic, I go out and get two random films from the library, and he’s in both.
Guess I should actually talk about Terminator first, I saw that one first. It kinda sucked. Playing it on my playstation 2 it skipped like crazy, but I didn’t care much at all. There just wasn’t anything to it; the movie feels like it was a twenty two minute show, as opposed to a feature length film.
And I thought John Connor was supposed to die in it? Did I hear wrong? I kept expecting him to die, and that the human-terminator hybrid would assume his identity to lead the resistance. Could I have made that up? No, probably I just misheard someone.
Instead! The terminator guy gives up his heart so John Connor can live, and not ONE person was like “hold up buddy, you don’t have to kill yourself!”
Well, the girl that loved the terminator was sort of against it, but she didn’t exactly put up much of a fight.
The CGI Arnold was actually really good; I was impressed on that front. Not that the skill of one computer generated image has any bearing on the story.
And that creepy little girl that hung out with Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) - nothing happened with her! Zip! I expected her to turn out to be another infiltration terminator unit, maybe with a broken voice modulator or something, and that’s why she never spoke. Nope, just a scared girl that gets to hand John Connor the big detonator at the finale. She couldn’t even press the button herself? At last that’d have been cool.
I wonder if part of the problem is that the original Terminator movie (the only one I’ve uh… mostly seen all of) is tense because you don’t think anything is going to stop that villain, the action building and building until finally it’s stopped, the end. It’s tense, frightening. In this film, you start off with giant flying ships and motorcycle robots, all of which get taken out by the humans, so right away the film has shifted from that tenseness to an action/war emphasis. Only at the end do we get that near unstoppable Terminator, but ten minutes of getting chased by the thing isn’t enough to build the kind of necessary dread. It’s like the film remembered what franchise they were shooting half way through, but it was too late to switch gears.
Yeah, that’s enough of that one.
The Beaver… it’s good, sure it’s good. I guess I have to applaud it for its true to life nature (beaver puppet notwithstanding). I imagine for me to sit back and think a movie is “great” I have to be tricked, manipulated into thinking “THERE! That’s the answer!” and I walk out of the theatre thinking I’ve got life all figured out.
(Alternatively, a particularly instructive movie, like, ACTUALLY instructive, would also be great, but for now I’ll assume that I’m fool enough to not be able to tell the difference between actual answers and getting my proper emotional strings plucked to think I’ve got the answers, because… how should I know the difference right away, if ever?)
But The Beaver’s principle statement is that life is messy. The father isn’t magically cured of his mental illness; the son still faces a daunting future. They all get a little closer together by the end, and I liked the concern on the son’s face as he accompanies his father to the hospital after the garage accident- this kid has spent the whole movie trying to get away from his father, but at that moment he’s scared for the guy. It’s a moment that strikes me as being off message in a more traditional film, but in a movie about life you can just capture that honest little moment without structuring the whole piece around that sole revelation.
I liked all the performances, I liked the story- Jodie Foster (the director) could probably have stood to cut more of Jodie Foster (the actor, but yes, the same person), leaving more focus on the father and son dynamic, but eh, whatever.
Man, I really want to go see the Muppet movie, but I’m supposed to see it with a friend of mine who really has a hard time making plans to do stuff. What else is playing? Hugo looks pretty cool, but I’m not sure I’m in the mood for that one. Arthur Christmas has been getting surprisingly good reviews even though, to me, it looks terrible. No, I’m not going to see that one.
I’ll figure it out.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Stuff to do in the coming year
Even though I'm tired after a full weekend of work, the night before last I got pretty inspired and energized. Here's what I'm going to do.
Write a song- a friend of mine has encouraged me to write some music, something I really haven't done much before. In response, I've decided to write a song for her as a Christmas present. It's gonna be rough, but I bet she'd like it.
Write a novel- I've already discussed the novel I'm working on. I haven't done much more since then, but the story has been percolating in my head, and I'd really like to get it on a page/screen. I just need to suck it up and pick up a little laptop to write on.
Write a short story- I got an e-mail as a "friend of Merril" or whatever about a speculative/science fiction contest happening in February. Seems pretty cool, I'd like to contribute to it, so I will.
Make more money- I don't have a choice about this one, I plain need to be making more. To that end I have to, again, suck it up, get my smart serve certification, and pick up some extra security work for my days off. Hurgh I'm tired just thinking about it.
The more exciting stuff:
I'm going to apply to be a tree planter for this upcoming season. When is that season? No idea, I presume the summer. Where do I apply? No idea. The deadline? How should I know! But I'm pretty sure I've got a friend who did this that can give me this info, also, when I discussed this the other day the people I was talking with suggested this could be work in B.C. which is way more awesome than my thinking of doing it in Ontario.
Assuming that takes the summer months, what next? What else!- apply to teach english over seas! I'm thinking if I apply nowish I can make a September session. I've been told to check out "footprints" as far as an organization to do this with. It's a lead, I'm a detective, just go with me on this, don't bring me down.
But Isaac, what will you do before that stuff? Hey, I don't know, what about finally pursue my bike courier ambition?!?! Wouldn't that be insane? If I managed to do all this stuff this coming year? What's great is, if I totally hate the courier thing, then who cares, I'm off to plant trees! If I love it? I can always go back to it!
I'm excited, do I look excited? Trick question, this is a blog, you can't see me right now.
I have some obstacles to over come, but I think all of these things are achievable. If I didn't, I probably wouldn't be so pumped.
Write a song- a friend of mine has encouraged me to write some music, something I really haven't done much before. In response, I've decided to write a song for her as a Christmas present. It's gonna be rough, but I bet she'd like it.
Write a novel- I've already discussed the novel I'm working on. I haven't done much more since then, but the story has been percolating in my head, and I'd really like to get it on a page/screen. I just need to suck it up and pick up a little laptop to write on.
Write a short story- I got an e-mail as a "friend of Merril" or whatever about a speculative/science fiction contest happening in February. Seems pretty cool, I'd like to contribute to it, so I will.
Make more money- I don't have a choice about this one, I plain need to be making more. To that end I have to, again, suck it up, get my smart serve certification, and pick up some extra security work for my days off. Hurgh I'm tired just thinking about it.
The more exciting stuff:
I'm going to apply to be a tree planter for this upcoming season. When is that season? No idea, I presume the summer. Where do I apply? No idea. The deadline? How should I know! But I'm pretty sure I've got a friend who did this that can give me this info, also, when I discussed this the other day the people I was talking with suggested this could be work in B.C. which is way more awesome than my thinking of doing it in Ontario.
Assuming that takes the summer months, what next? What else!- apply to teach english over seas! I'm thinking if I apply nowish I can make a September session. I've been told to check out "footprints" as far as an organization to do this with. It's a lead, I'm a detective, just go with me on this, don't bring me down.
But Isaac, what will you do before that stuff? Hey, I don't know, what about finally pursue my bike courier ambition?!?! Wouldn't that be insane? If I managed to do all this stuff this coming year? What's great is, if I totally hate the courier thing, then who cares, I'm off to plant trees! If I love it? I can always go back to it!
I'm excited, do I look excited? Trick question, this is a blog, you can't see me right now.
I have some obstacles to over come, but I think all of these things are achievable. If I didn't, I probably wouldn't be so pumped.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Hitting targets and getting credit
It LOOKS like I'm posting two in the one day, and I am. But it's not my fault! I wrote the previous entry yesterday and the button wouldn't work for the posting! Not sure what the deal was, but it's thoroughly unfair.
I spent the night napping on the couch, fully clothed and then some, with three sweaters on to fight back the cold, and my OTHER sweater and jacket combo protecting my poor chilly feet. I'll probably have to return for ANOTHER nap, today being the start of one of those three day weekends (like all my work weekends).
I dreamt a friend of mine gave birth to a polar bear, also that Tom Welling punched out a wave in the ocean. The Tom Welling bit isn't such a mystery, his face is plastered along the back of most of my comics this week advertising that final Smallville season on sale. I don't know WHERE the polar bear came from. That may just be me being weird.
I stayed up late, reclining and warm, watching my brother play Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. To hear everyone talk about it, it's a pretty big deal. Okay. All I know is that he repeatedly failed to hit these ten targets on his bird in the alloted 120 seconds, and I thought it was hilarious. I challenged him to let me have a shot, and no, I didn't succeed, but I did easily beat his tries while refusing to take a moment outside of the trial to figure out the controls- they are pretty intuitive, and I had been watching him beforehand, so I had the gist.
Boy I gave him a hard time about that. Very funny.
I just received and activated a new credit card, a good thing for several reasons. One is that I now have credit powers again (online purchasing, the all important parking lot convenience), the other is that it gives me a little hope that maybe my credit ain't as bad as I thought- I have almost payed off my other card ($300 to go, down from $1,800+!!!)
Or else these credit guys think I'm sucker. Well, past evidence would support that, but I'll show them.
Oh, it's also good in that I gave all my money towards the family finances, and maybe I'd like to eat sometime in the next week before I get paid again. That's a definite plus.
But yes, it's burning a whole in my pocket/consciousness, not in the classic sense of "ooh, money to spend!", but in the sense of "you have an explosive in your pocket, that can be used for good or ill, so use your head!"
And as long as I'm thinking like that, I should be okay. Unless I have a nervous breakdown or something.
Or to put it another way, great power great something something. You know the line.
I spent the night napping on the couch, fully clothed and then some, with three sweaters on to fight back the cold, and my OTHER sweater and jacket combo protecting my poor chilly feet. I'll probably have to return for ANOTHER nap, today being the start of one of those three day weekends (like all my work weekends).
I dreamt a friend of mine gave birth to a polar bear, also that Tom Welling punched out a wave in the ocean. The Tom Welling bit isn't such a mystery, his face is plastered along the back of most of my comics this week advertising that final Smallville season on sale. I don't know WHERE the polar bear came from. That may just be me being weird.
I stayed up late, reclining and warm, watching my brother play Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. To hear everyone talk about it, it's a pretty big deal. Okay. All I know is that he repeatedly failed to hit these ten targets on his bird in the alloted 120 seconds, and I thought it was hilarious. I challenged him to let me have a shot, and no, I didn't succeed, but I did easily beat his tries while refusing to take a moment outside of the trial to figure out the controls- they are pretty intuitive, and I had been watching him beforehand, so I had the gist.
Boy I gave him a hard time about that. Very funny.
I just received and activated a new credit card, a good thing for several reasons. One is that I now have credit powers again (online purchasing, the all important parking lot convenience), the other is that it gives me a little hope that maybe my credit ain't as bad as I thought- I have almost payed off my other card ($300 to go, down from $1,800+!!!)
Or else these credit guys think I'm sucker. Well, past evidence would support that, but I'll show them.
Oh, it's also good in that I gave all my money towards the family finances, and maybe I'd like to eat sometime in the next week before I get paid again. That's a definite plus.
But yes, it's burning a whole in my pocket/consciousness, not in the classic sense of "ooh, money to spend!", but in the sense of "you have an explosive in your pocket, that can be used for good or ill, so use your head!"
And as long as I'm thinking like that, I should be okay. Unless I have a nervous breakdown or something.
Or to put it another way, great power great something something. You know the line.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Last saturday in certainly more detail than none at all. You have to give me that!
So my couple of days off have consisted of bed. Very disheartening. I'd like to be not tired please. Also, I'd like to be not cold, my feet were ice cubes last night.
A friend of mine has been encouraging me to write some music, I think because she kind of wishes I was someone that went around writing music all the time. To that end, today a couple of lines with potential have come to me, I hurried down to pen and paper to record them, and I'm thinking this will make a lovely Christmas present for her.
Ugh, but music notation... well, whatever.
Yes, last weekend I was supposed to have a late lunch and a movie with someone, but it didn't happen! She said she was going to be late, so I told her to call while I napped- but no call, C'apn!
It's relatively cool, she got me apology chocolates, so there you go.
That evening (and why I couldn't switch things up to a late supper... boy was I hungry that afternoon) I had a bud's house warming to go to. I recorded the address in my cell phone as a draft text, but when I got to the area the draft was all messed up and the info gone! I called up a guy that I knew would be there to ask for the address only to find the party cancelled! The host had gotten sick and cancelled the event whilst I napped that afternoon (or maybe earlier, I forget when I last checked the event page)!
So instead I ventured down to the Lakeview restaurant at ossington and dundas to hang out with that excellent gentleman who told me of my sudden change in evening plans. A good time was had by all, we discussed Marmaduke crossing the terribleness threshold into brilliance (my words) and the strip Scary Gary- which I'd planned to do that night anyway, I cut out examples from the paper for this purpose.
(What other purpose could they be cut out for?)
The minute our party left the restaurant, two other friends of mine were randomly going in! So I went back in the restaurant with that group! And soon after, the friend of mine that leaves nearby and with whom I was going to spend the night showed up!... okay, that last bit wasn't a surprise, that part was actually planned.
We had apple/pear pie- quite a combination! I spent way more money that night than I'd planned, and that was just for the all day breakfast and then the pie. I seriously don't know how people spend so much on alcohol. I mean, how is it possible to have that much disposable income? Crazy. One of these days I'll try having money, that seems a popular lark.
Leaving the restaurant (again) I almost immediately went horizontal on the couch, it was really comfy. The place was crazy warm, I'm definitely not used to that (he says, currently wearing four sweaters and a jacket, because he just doesn't want to deal with cold right now). We talked for a good long while, it was nice.
I couldn't really sleep much. 5am-6am happened, then I was awake and headachey. I got to watch Thundercats, though it took too long to load. When that was over I returned to that couch, read a bit of that Put Out More Flags book, fell back to sleep from something like 11am- 1pm, but with lots of little phone time checking in between.
Man, I'm leaving a lot of specifics out, mostly conversation details, but I could certainly paint a more interesting picture of these set pieces. But, eh, a lot of that isn't my laundry to air, so to speak.
That's good for now, I'm going to lean back on this (relatively) big, comfy couch right here, continue to keep all these clothes on, and stew a bit. Or sleep. Mostly sleep. We just got back from Tucker's Marketplace. And I wanted to sleep BEFORE we went there!
A friend of mine has been encouraging me to write some music, I think because she kind of wishes I was someone that went around writing music all the time. To that end, today a couple of lines with potential have come to me, I hurried down to pen and paper to record them, and I'm thinking this will make a lovely Christmas present for her.
Ugh, but music notation... well, whatever.
Yes, last weekend I was supposed to have a late lunch and a movie with someone, but it didn't happen! She said she was going to be late, so I told her to call while I napped- but no call, C'apn!
It's relatively cool, she got me apology chocolates, so there you go.
That evening (and why I couldn't switch things up to a late supper... boy was I hungry that afternoon) I had a bud's house warming to go to. I recorded the address in my cell phone as a draft text, but when I got to the area the draft was all messed up and the info gone! I called up a guy that I knew would be there to ask for the address only to find the party cancelled! The host had gotten sick and cancelled the event whilst I napped that afternoon (or maybe earlier, I forget when I last checked the event page)!
So instead I ventured down to the Lakeview restaurant at ossington and dundas to hang out with that excellent gentleman who told me of my sudden change in evening plans. A good time was had by all, we discussed Marmaduke crossing the terribleness threshold into brilliance (my words) and the strip Scary Gary- which I'd planned to do that night anyway, I cut out examples from the paper for this purpose.
(What other purpose could they be cut out for?)
The minute our party left the restaurant, two other friends of mine were randomly going in! So I went back in the restaurant with that group! And soon after, the friend of mine that leaves nearby and with whom I was going to spend the night showed up!... okay, that last bit wasn't a surprise, that part was actually planned.
We had apple/pear pie- quite a combination! I spent way more money that night than I'd planned, and that was just for the all day breakfast and then the pie. I seriously don't know how people spend so much on alcohol. I mean, how is it possible to have that much disposable income? Crazy. One of these days I'll try having money, that seems a popular lark.
Leaving the restaurant (again) I almost immediately went horizontal on the couch, it was really comfy. The place was crazy warm, I'm definitely not used to that (he says, currently wearing four sweaters and a jacket, because he just doesn't want to deal with cold right now). We talked for a good long while, it was nice.
I couldn't really sleep much. 5am-6am happened, then I was awake and headachey. I got to watch Thundercats, though it took too long to load. When that was over I returned to that couch, read a bit of that Put Out More Flags book, fell back to sleep from something like 11am- 1pm, but with lots of little phone time checking in between.
Man, I'm leaving a lot of specifics out, mostly conversation details, but I could certainly paint a more interesting picture of these set pieces. But, eh, a lot of that isn't my laundry to air, so to speak.
That's good for now, I'm going to lean back on this (relatively) big, comfy couch right here, continue to keep all these clothes on, and stew a bit. Or sleep. Mostly sleep. We just got back from Tucker's Marketplace. And I wanted to sleep BEFORE we went there!
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Put out MORE Flags!
Wanted to hop on here yesterday, gave myself some time before work to do so, but someone else was on the thing, and even though I felt vastly entitled, I kept my mouth shut, waited a few minutes (i.e. wasted a few minutes) then left for work.
Finished reading that "Put Out More Flags" book. The parts with Basil Seal were fun, which makes sense with him being the main character, but the book was too fractured for my tastes, with a lot of characters getting screen time that ended up requiring too much effort than I wanted to put in to keep straight. That may actually not be the books fault, since all these characters were apparently in previous Basil Seal stories, it could be that I was supposed to get to know all of them from a previous adventure, and just jumped in at the worst possible moment.
80 pages into Gulliver's Travels and having a great time, though the very begining, the first five pages I'd guess, was slow going, just setting up Gulliver's history and whatnot. So much of the book is detailed measurements of things and how they compare to the distorted landscape of the lilliputians and brobdignagians (I only just started that latter section).
Spent the weekend off being hugely tired, at one point suffering from a great headache (likely from tiredness), but also hanging out with three and a half separate groups of friends (the half is indicative of the time I spent crashed on the couch belonging to one person, as opposed to a group of people).
I'll talk more about the weekend later, I suppose tomorrow (tomorrow being in five hours, and I only just got up and ate a bowl of cereal, a pasta supper almost completed in the meanwhile).
Right now I have to get cleaned up a bit and buy comics before the store closes!
Finished reading that "Put Out More Flags" book. The parts with Basil Seal were fun, which makes sense with him being the main character, but the book was too fractured for my tastes, with a lot of characters getting screen time that ended up requiring too much effort than I wanted to put in to keep straight. That may actually not be the books fault, since all these characters were apparently in previous Basil Seal stories, it could be that I was supposed to get to know all of them from a previous adventure, and just jumped in at the worst possible moment.
80 pages into Gulliver's Travels and having a great time, though the very begining, the first five pages I'd guess, was slow going, just setting up Gulliver's history and whatnot. So much of the book is detailed measurements of things and how they compare to the distorted landscape of the lilliputians and brobdignagians (I only just started that latter section).
Spent the weekend off being hugely tired, at one point suffering from a great headache (likely from tiredness), but also hanging out with three and a half separate groups of friends (the half is indicative of the time I spent crashed on the couch belonging to one person, as opposed to a group of people).
I'll talk more about the weekend later, I suppose tomorrow (tomorrow being in five hours, and I only just got up and ate a bowl of cereal, a pasta supper almost completed in the meanwhile).
Right now I have to get cleaned up a bit and buy comics before the store closes!
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Doctor Who two
Ah my head. I really didn't get enough sleep.
So, first thing then- snogging. Naturally I'd heard the word before, but it's been brought back to attention thanks to Doctor Who and the word is fantastically amazing. When I tried to quantify what exactly had struck me about it, it's the fact that it's somehow simultaneously high AND low brow. Isn't that just quintessentially British? I think that's amazing.
Obviously there's some culture shock involved, but I wonder if the constant hand holding between the Doctor and his companion is a sort of normal thing over there, or if this is particular to Doctor Who. Well, how can I really know? Sure, I could ask someone. Maybe later.
Either way, it shows a closeness, an easy familiarity and tenderness that really draws the viewer in. Well, it draws me in anyways.
I really like Rose Tyler. "Rose X The Doctor forever!" I should say in my best shipping voice. Particularly near the end of her run (the writers knew where the character had to go... well who else would know?) you could see her coming into her own, having learned the Doctors methods, she could save a day or two on her own at this point.
She was an excellent cryer. I can see people that'd think she went too far, almost more like stage acting versus the small screen, but it was a good counterpoint to the Doctors reservation, and even then, it's not like she was gushing tears when a flower got stomped on- it was always in response to a very personal hurt and fear, when she thinks she's lost those close to her is when she cries... and that's a pretty good reason! And her last episode in series 2 is genuinely heart breaking.
Same with the Paul Cornell scripted "Father's Day" from series 1.
Actually, did I say this was a crazy sad show yet? Wel it is! Tragedy upon tragedy.
There's the one episode where the Doctor gets to manipulate these nano machines that were the cause of all the trouble, and they brought back everyone they'd messed up, and the Doctor is stoked "EVERYONE LIVES! JUST THIS ONCE, EVERYONE LIVES!" I think I quoted that right, the everyone lives bit is correct, that's for sure. A happy episode, just flat out happy. I'm spoiled, most of MY heroes save everyone all the time. Except Uncle Ben. That guys got it rough.
Martha Jones, the companion after Rose in series 3, didn't emote as much as I thought she should have, but then again she had it tough. Rose was the every-woman who got elevated to the Doctors level (or thereabouts) by the end, Martha starts off as a sensible med student, a VERY different character. Even in the fact that she decides to leave the Doctor of her own accord, that she can resist that thrill addiction of travelling all over time and space- by definition she's a low key character.
And that's not a bad thing- I understand the fourth series has Donna as the companion, she was featured for one episode "The Runaway Bride" or something, the episode before Martha Jones arrived, and she was always yelling and being high strung and whatnot. Pretty annoying. Hopefully it'll be toned down some when I do check out that fourth series.
All right, that's post, I'm bouncing.
So, first thing then- snogging. Naturally I'd heard the word before, but it's been brought back to attention thanks to Doctor Who and the word is fantastically amazing. When I tried to quantify what exactly had struck me about it, it's the fact that it's somehow simultaneously high AND low brow. Isn't that just quintessentially British? I think that's amazing.
Obviously there's some culture shock involved, but I wonder if the constant hand holding between the Doctor and his companion is a sort of normal thing over there, or if this is particular to Doctor Who. Well, how can I really know? Sure, I could ask someone. Maybe later.
Either way, it shows a closeness, an easy familiarity and tenderness that really draws the viewer in. Well, it draws me in anyways.
I really like Rose Tyler. "Rose X The Doctor forever!" I should say in my best shipping voice. Particularly near the end of her run (the writers knew where the character had to go... well who else would know?) you could see her coming into her own, having learned the Doctors methods, she could save a day or two on her own at this point.
She was an excellent cryer. I can see people that'd think she went too far, almost more like stage acting versus the small screen, but it was a good counterpoint to the Doctors reservation, and even then, it's not like she was gushing tears when a flower got stomped on- it was always in response to a very personal hurt and fear, when she thinks she's lost those close to her is when she cries... and that's a pretty good reason! And her last episode in series 2 is genuinely heart breaking.
Same with the Paul Cornell scripted "Father's Day" from series 1.
Actually, did I say this was a crazy sad show yet? Wel it is! Tragedy upon tragedy.
There's the one episode where the Doctor gets to manipulate these nano machines that were the cause of all the trouble, and they brought back everyone they'd messed up, and the Doctor is stoked "EVERYONE LIVES! JUST THIS ONCE, EVERYONE LIVES!" I think I quoted that right, the everyone lives bit is correct, that's for sure. A happy episode, just flat out happy. I'm spoiled, most of MY heroes save everyone all the time. Except Uncle Ben. That guys got it rough.
Martha Jones, the companion after Rose in series 3, didn't emote as much as I thought she should have, but then again she had it tough. Rose was the every-woman who got elevated to the Doctors level (or thereabouts) by the end, Martha starts off as a sensible med student, a VERY different character. Even in the fact that she decides to leave the Doctor of her own accord, that she can resist that thrill addiction of travelling all over time and space- by definition she's a low key character.
And that's not a bad thing- I understand the fourth series has Donna as the companion, she was featured for one episode "The Runaway Bride" or something, the episode before Martha Jones arrived, and she was always yelling and being high strung and whatnot. Pretty annoying. Hopefully it'll be toned down some when I do check out that fourth series.
All right, that's post, I'm bouncing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
