Sunday roundup

[neadods]

For those who keep track of these things, I bought two pairs of New Balance shoes at the Famous Footwear "Second pair half off" sale yesterday. Road-tested one pair in my peregrinations last night, because I did split my time between party and MSFB (which had been my original plan, although it was nice to have cosmic permission to stay at the birthday party.) The party started several hours before the MSFB, so I put in as much time as my knees would permit at a split-level location. Hugged the birthday boy and his wife several times, met some new people who work at the same company I do, and got to see the reaction to the big present - a customized filk song by Tom Smith.

I'd sent some raffle money to the MSFB with M, and when I arrived I ended up putting a little more in. Doesn't look like I won anything, alas, although my luck was due to change eventually. I've been winning a lot. To tell the truth, I didn't think that much of the swing band that had been specially imported. Too lounge-y sort of music. Still, my attendance record remains unbroken, and it was nice to talk to folks.

Have nothing more coherent to say about last night's Who other than a long, admiring DAAAAAAMN! Beautiful ep, and Cornell did great things with the retooling of the plot. Frankly, I'd found the book a bit vague, over the top, and incoherent. By having to refocus to a visual media (with time off dialog for screaming and running), he stripped the plot down to its heart without wandering off point with "Whee! I can do things like having the little boy abused to death so the watch lets him regenerate!"

Sunday 7:
1 & 2) Emptied container shelf in basement to store stuff to listen to/watch while exercising instead. Donated vases and cups to Prepare for Fair, and will take one tea bowl to work to hold paperclips.

Cleaned out bookcase in hall where I keep the review books:
3) Threw out the ID bracelet from the ER room all those months ago. (This is why I need a Sunday 7; I throw things like that in corners and forget about them.)
4) Donated couple of cuff bracelets to Prepare for Fair
5) Tossed broken knitting needle (see comment on 3)
6) Tossed random papers and bookmarks
7) Tossed random keychain. Put key to radiators back where it belongs.


Something so monumental arrived in the mail yesterday that I'm still sorting out my feelings about it: The contract - and check for the first story I ever sold.

Now must come up with plot for the pitch that's due on July 1, not to mention finish & post the story I started after 42!

And now for something completely random taken from the f-list: a link to Steam Trek: The Moving Picture. Almost ten minutes is long for a YouTube bit, but this is SO worth it!

Comments

[avidbeader.livejournal.com]

*reads spoiler*

Okay, that settles it. I'm definitely not going to dig up the book to read. I was leaning against it and that decided me.

Something so monumental arrived in the mail yesterday that I'm still sorting out my feelings about it: The contract - and check for the first story I ever sold.

Congratulations!!

[bentleywg.livejournal.com]

.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Zen comment?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

You can read the book for free off the BBC website, so you can decide for yourself without actually putting money down for it. Not that I wish that was the route I'd taken or anything...

But yeah, Cornell was pretty psychotic in the treatment of Timmy. A single beating and being called 'filth' was nothing on how he gets treated in the book.

On the other hand, Cornell took out the most chilling scene, where Timmy goes to Professor Smith for help and is basically told that that's the way the world is and suck it up. Talk about underlining the difference between Doctor and Smith!

[ladyfox7oaks.livejournal.com]

Yes- I am SOOO glad they took that particular scene out- I was actually afraid they were going to leave it in!
Though, having John Smith oh so casually grant permission for the sadistic prick to beat Latimer I thought was a pretty good way to underline the differences, because the Doctor would have been aware that it WASN"T just a "Lapse of attention"... but that's my personal feeling about it... :)

[(Anonymous)]

Congratulations on the sale!

Russ (who is watching current Who much more assiduously than I am) says he's pleased that the writers are actually beginning to address what we call "7 Days syndrome" -- the inescapable (for dramatic reasons) fact that chaos and destruction follow the Doctor wherever he goes, and sometimes innocent people pay the price... people who would not have died if he hadn't been there.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Dammit, I absolutely HATE it when LJ logs me out and doesn't tell me!

[fyrdrakken]

He's got Gandalf's problem, where Wormtongue accused him of bringing bad things in his wake when really it was just that he showed up in times of crisis to warn and help. The Doctor is a lightning rod for chaos (and a bit of an avatar of chaos himself) because that's what he does and what the TARDIS keeps dropping him into. He doesn't necessarily cause it (except in the sense that he likes to deliberately destabilize a bad situation further to bring about the crisis so he can try to fix it), but that guy with the website in the first Nine ep was right to tell Rose that his constant companion is death.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

that guy with the website in the first Nine ep was right to tell Rose that his constant companion is death.

Yeah, but it's still like saying a fireman's constant companion is fire.

(Still - it was such a wonderful thing for him to have an adventure where nobody died. Be nice if he could have that again!)

[fyrdrakken]

It doesn't seem particularly unreasonable to me to point out that a fireman is always around fire. Though the analogy falls down a bit since the fireman's nearest and dearest don't tend to be at risk for the same fires he deals with. Whereas the Doctor's companions (and any random strangers he comes into contact with) tend to be in the line of fire.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Whereas the Doctor's companions (and any random strangers he comes into contact with) tend to be in the line of fire.

But it's not uncommon for innocent people to be trapped in a burning building.

Human Nature/Family of Blood was unusual in that the Doctor's presence was what drew the enemies to him. He was not, however, responsible for the Autons, Slitheen, or Krillitanes coming to Earth; he did not injure a living sun or deliberately breech the universes (except for a single phone call after everything else was over), etc. He shows up, fireman-like, after the situation has ignited, and tries to put out the flames.

[fyrdrakken]

I think part of it is simply that everyone knows firemen are there to fight fires and rescue people, whereas the Doctor rarely stays in one place long enough (or returns to the same place often enough) to build up a proper rep as a savior, and is hence frequently misidentified as a cause of the problem. (As with Torchwood, who have been working on rumor and evidently not consulting with UNIT about their experiences with their "civilian scientific advisor.") Also of course there's the thing about the Doctor's firefighting method tending to be less about dumping water on the flames and more about doing that thing where a small fire is created in the path of the oncoming firestorm to consume the fuel before the big one arrives -- which to the uninformed can look an awful lot like arson.

And I seem to remember a number of situations happening specifically because old enemies of the Doctor's (generally the Master, but once or twice the Rani) came for him, or tried to do something nasty to the Earth specifically because they knew the Doctor would be upset. (Come to think of it, the Xmas Invasion was pretty confusing as to why the Earth was being targeted -- it was hard to tell whether it was the Guinevere probe that first caught their attention, or the Doctor lying around coughing up energy that the pilot fish detected.) Which is of course part of why I think he bounces around so much -- it's not just that he bores easily and can't stand sticking around for rebuilding or for thanks (or blame), it's that he wants to remain a moving target.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Does he still feel the need to be a moving target when the people shooting at him are dead with the planet? *ignores rumors*

But I can still dedicatedly work that into the fireman analogy by saying "arsonists." Still not his *fault*!

[fyrdrakken]

Please, the Master and the Rani weren't exactly the only enemies he ever had. Even if the Black Guardian somehow went down with Gallifrey, the Doctor's had at least nine centuries of bopping through all of creation offending many of the people he's come across.

And I know somewhere in my backbrain there's another example that isn't swimming to the surface, of the guy who you're never happy to see (even though he is a good guy) because he only shows up when everything is going down in flames. And the Doctor tends to precede the crisis point, so for those who keep track of his appearances at the very least it's a very bad sign when he turns up (because that may be the first indicator that things are going downhill very quickly) -- and it's certainly easy for someone who doesn't have the viewer/Doctor/Companion POV to blame him (especially if they don't know that the TARDIS decides where to drop him so much of the time).

[neadods.livejournal.com]

it's a very bad sign when he turns up (because that may be the first indicator that things are going downhill very quickly)

Or that some people (I'm looking at you, Yvonne!) are deliberately mucking in things just to draw him out. Or draw the TARDIS out; there is a question as to how proactive she is being in dropping him into this stuff.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

It's such a conundrum. People die because he was there, although he would have done anything to stop it and it is not his fault. On the other hand, sometimes people start dying because he is *not* there and all he can do is mop up and fix it.

[thanatos-kalos.livejournal.com]

Something so monumental arrived in the mail yesterday that I'm still sorting out my feelings about it: The contract - and check for the first story I ever sold.

WOOHOO! ::hugs and congrats::

Now must come up with plot for the pitch that's due on July 1, not to mention finish & post the story I started after 42!

that reminds me-- I've got a list of doifferent types of c0ommunication and issues regarding it; want me to email it?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

YES!!!

[faireraven.livejournal.com]

Good to have seen you on Saturday night! *HUGS* Glad to see you got to spend time at both!

[fyrdrakken]

Congrats on the sale!