| Flibber |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|05:02 pm] |
Ideally, I would post about a thing - oh, for instance, "The End of Time, Part Two" - relatively fresh from seeing it; not immediately, but after just a bit to consider all the ideas. If I wait too long, the impulse wanes, and I'll need to watch it again.
Well, I think that is what has happened, because, as previously mentioned, I was away from the internet all day Sunday. And I know I had better thoughts on the subject than those I can currently muster (i.e. why was there an Adipose BABY in the New Mos Eisley Cantina? After all the trouble it apparently takes the Adipose to conceive, did someone really take their BABY to the bar?), and I'd like to share those better, more intelligent thoughts with you.
In the meanwhile, have a S5 trailer that you have probably seen already.
I'm guessing "Geronimo" is the new "Fantastic" or "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
(Also, how much do you want to cuddle Amy Pond? she is like a doll, srsly.) |
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| Reappearance |
[Jan. 4th, 2010|01:58 pm] |
I've mentioned this, I think, but now that I'm not "living" at home, the one day of the week I can't even drop by the house to use the internet is Sunday. On Sunday my mother has to work all day and my step-dad does not, so it is His Day to have to house to himself.
So instead I basically spent all of yesterday watching Shaun of the Dead over and over (well, twice, once with the Pegg/Wright commentary, plus ALL of the extras, with and without commentary), and then (when I finally convinced myself to branch out) watching the second series of Supersizers, all while knitting. Earlier in the year I bought this (I was actually more interesting in felting, but most felting works best on something you've knit, so I prioritized) and told myself that I was going to learn to knit this winter. I've known how to crochet since I was quite little, except not really; anything interesting or unusual I tried to do was all trial-and-error and I couldn't have read a pattern to save my life (so if I ever crocheted you something and it was kind of shit, now you know why), but I hadn't a clue how to knit.
And I'll be honest, I was kind of charmed when watching the deleted scenes from Zack and Miri to discover that the reason they had so many scarves in their apartment was because Miri is a knitter. Cloying as it may seem to some, I love that the 21st C has seen the return of crafting to the masses. I love the idea of making things, even if I end up with a lot of things as a result (I do not know enough people, and the last time I tried to make stuff for y'all, I got zero response, so I chucked those plans). Other things I have to get back to doing by spring include embroidery and baking (my needlework suffered from sleep deprivation and people asked me to stop making cupcakes, please).
It took me until 2010 to really crack open the book because I did not have needles. My mother said she had some, but she wasn't sure where, she'd look later. And later. And later. She finally bought me some when they went shopping over the weekend, along with a couple bit skeins of acrylic yarn. There is a small problem in that they are very long needles, which is great, you can make big, long stuff with 'em, but they're a little awkward for someone who doesn't know what they're doing. Often I have to hold the needle with the stitches between my knees or under my arm, while I work with the other one. Also, the cat tries to chase the moving needle, as well as the yarn, and we get into fights about who my lap actually belongs to.
Anyway, if you want anything knit, DON'T ASK ME. At least not until 2011.
I thought the 2nd half of "The End of Time" was immensely improved from the 1st half, although that's not saying a whole lot, but I'm excited for S5 and Smithy, which is something. More on that later. |
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| Radio silence |
[Jan. 2nd, 2010|12:23 am] |
Just a reminder.
I'll be AFK from this coming morning until the 9th. Thus ends my streak of posting every day since the end of October. You all have a good time in my absence! |
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| Last night |
[Dec. 31st, 2009|06:45 pm] |
My brother and I are ringing in the new year with pizza and brownies and ice cream. We should be watching the Twilight Zone marathon on Syfy, but I noticed a bunch of movies on my Netflix instant queue were about to become unavailable after today, so I'm trying to watch some. So far I've watched The Good Night with Martin Freeman, which is odd and sad, and the original House on Haunted Hill (with Vincent Price) which is in keeping with the Twilight Zone intent of the day. I hope everyone is partying already, wooooo! and doesn't even notice this post, maybe at all, but at least not until tomorrow.
Carry on. Happy End of 2009! |
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| End of year fandom meme |
[Dec. 31st, 2009|01:41 pm] |
Ganked from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) etrangere
1. Your main fandom of the year?
Girl Genius.
2. Your favorite film watched this year?
Julie and Julia.
3. Your favorite book read this year?
Watchmen.
4. Your favorite album or song to listen to this year?
"The Mating Game" by Bitter:Sweet.
5. Your favorite TV show of the year?
In SF/F fandom, The Guild. Otherwise, it's Countdown or the Rachel Maddow Show. I consider politics to be one of my fandoms and I've been a fan of Keith Olbermann for more than 20 years.
6. Your favorite LJ community of the year?
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) the_recession. SRSLY (and SRS BZNS, too).
7. Your best new fandom discovery of the year?
The Guild. Honorary mentions to Order of the Stick, DM of the Rings, and Darths and Droids. Yes, I'm a gamer. Why do you ask?
8. Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year?
I was unable to join my wife on Final Fantasy XI. We were so looking forward to gaming together.
9. Your TV boyfriend of the year?
I don't swing that way, but if I did, Bladezz from The Guild. I also have a perverse (not perverted) appreciation for Gil of Girl Genius.
10. Your TV girlfriend of the year?
Codex (Felicia Day) of The Guild.
11. Your biggest squee moment of the year?
Fifty-year old men don't squee, but if I did, it would have been while watching "Do you want to date my Avatar?" by The Guild.
12. The most missed of your old fandoms?
Drum corps. Didn't attend a show this year for the first time since 1975. In terms of SF/F, I'd say Star Trek. I haven't seen the new movie yet.
13. The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to?
Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV. I'm really looking forward to gaming with my wife.
14. Your biggest fan anticipations for the New Year?
A tie between Final Fantasy XIV and Season 4 of The Guild.
That would have been ridiculously quick except that the LJ cut in the original made half of it vanish and I had to delete the original and start over. This is why I'm not LJ-cutting this version. |
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| The end, almost |
[Dec. 30th, 2009|01:39 pm] |
Poll #1505188 Mystery poll!
This poll is closed.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 13Pick a number.
( Year-in-review meme )ganked from buffyaddict13
eta: I just realized that I don't have a plan B if the poll ends up tied. (HA HA YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE VOTING FOR, BUT IT IS A THING. Although it in no way affects anyone but me.) Maybe I'll go with my own original vote. If that happens.
btw, so far, anyway, this "assign the options random numbers and take a poll" thing strikes me as a brilliant way to make inconsequential decisions. I am going to explore the possibilities of this method further.
eta@1pm 31st Dec: It is done! Thank you for your assistance! I'll tell you how it turned out. Eventually. |
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| New Examiner.com article is up 12/29/09 |
[Dec. 29th, 2009|12:58 am] |
Detroit Science News Examiner: A readers guide to the year in science from around the web
The year 2009 ends this week--and none too soon! While it was an abominable year in many ways, it was a banner year in science and technology.
Following is a list of links describing the best and most notable in science and technology for the year about to end along with brief notes about each link.
Many of this year's top science stories were space and astronomy stories covered in this Year @ NASA video.
This was a fun one to write, especially since it was half-done already. I already had most of the links as part of my most recent Overnight News Digest on Daily Kos. I just had to round out the links to include the British year-end reviews (Nature, BBC, and New Scientist) and add the commentary. Beats having to tabulate all the stories mentioned in all of them and make a Science Stories of the Decade article. One of those was enough!
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| A few quick bits and bobs |
[Dec. 28th, 2009|12:19 pm] |
Doctor Who "The End of Time" (part 1, anyway) -
For once, I think it really genuinely benefits a viewer to have seen some classic Who, particularly episodes involving The Master - and even the "sort of canon, sort of not" Eighth Doctor movie - because it helps to remember that The Master has always been an insane, rule-breaking character who seems to exist in order to destroy any and all expectations of the diegesis so far. He has, I think, only regenerated properly on-screen once - at the end of "Utopia," so that isn't even established in classic canon. He has been a weird rock-faced thing. He stole Nyssa's father's body that one time. Sometimes his plans are huge and world-destroying, sometimes they are ridiculously piddly.
And as much as I am so ready for RTD to buck off so we can see what Moffat has planned, and as completely bat-shit insane as much of TEOT truly is, I kind of think I know what's going on. Maybe. (This is partly predicated on a clip from the beginning of next week's ep that I caught, so extra warning.) ( This is where is gets spoilery, pardon. )
Grumbling on a completely unrelated topic: How you pronounce Cthulhu. You know what, HP? Everything we know about the Great Old Ones is supposed to be oral history and writings in ancient and lost languages. The stuff we hear people chanting is thus presumably a phonetic transcription. Therefore, your made-up language CAN NOT CONTAIN SILENT LETTERS. If you say it's written "Cthulhu" then I can accept "K-thul-hu" or "K-thu-luu" or even that the H's represent aspirated consonants "K-t-hu-l-hu" but if we're transcribing from strange foreign tongues, you can't make up stupid transcription rules that only apply to one word. Sorry. I'm sorry you're dead, and no one can explain it to you. That's just the way it is. |
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| New Examiner.com article is up 12/27/09 |
[Dec. 27th, 2009|05:56 am] |
Examiner.com: Top fifteen science stories of the decade from around the web
Vince Lamb - Detroit Science News Examiner
While many publications have picked their science stories of the year, including Examiner.com's own national Science News Examiner Meg Marquart, relatively few have been audacious enough to come out with their science stories of the decade. Even so, the handful of publications (MSNBC with three lists of their own, the science fiction site Io9, and Discovery News) that have done so have provided enough choices that a consensus list of fifteen exists based on the top stories that have appeared on multiple lists. Based on a tabulation of these lists, here are the fifteen top science stories of the decade about to end. Yeah, I got a bug up my butt to write this.
Night! |
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| Lady Gaga is an artist; Britney Spears never was and never will be |
[Dec. 26th, 2009|08:21 pm] |
Originally posted as a pair of comments on nebris's LJ. I'm actually supporting Nebs, as he shares this opinion of Lady Gaga, against critics of his view.
Britney Spears may have been a great entertainer in her day, which I think is pretty much over, but she wasn't much of an artist. On the other hand, Lady Gaga is an artist who also happens to be an entertainer. Imagine Britney Spears doing anything like the following.
( L.A. Times: Francesco Vezzoli escorts Lady Gaga to MOCA's gala )
( Wall Street Journal: Lady Gaga at the MOCA 30th Anniversary Gala: “Art is a lie.” )
( In addition to her presence, artwork of Lady Gaga was part of the exhibit. )
I'll grant you that Andy Warhol could have done something similar with Britney Spears, but Aspergers Andy wouldn't have needed Britney's presence. He would have been happy dealing only with the concept of her and her fame just fine without having to deal with the reality of her. Lady Gaga, as callow as she seems, at least feels as if she belongs in the art world.
Shout-out: Thanks to darcy_chan for introducing me to Lady Gaga. You have great taste! |
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| It's you! |
[Dec. 25th, 2009|04:02 pm] |
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A quick more time-specific Merry Christmas/Friday the 25th to everyone, during this brief moment of internet access. Have fun! |
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| Gifts and food and family and the Force |
[Dec. 24th, 2009|07:41 pm] |
Merry Christmas current or pending, or insert winter celebration of your choice! We opened our presents early, since we're going to relatives tomorrow night... or something, but anyway, yeah. Presents opened. My brother got me a Thomas Kinkade mug which I shall use with gleeful irony (that's that last minute guy-shopping for you). My mom and Ed had my diploma framed. I got some knives and jerky (it is Northern Michigan). Everyone seems to like what I got them, although I have to remember that my mom really wants a cookie jar; each thing she opened, she said, "This isn't a cookie jar," as she pulled away the packing (her birthday is in July, so I have time to shop). I wish I'd got everyone more stuff, it was all over so quickly.
I'd planned to have a much more Star Wars Christmas Eve, which was on all day on Spike, but my brother was late getting ready when I picked him up, so I missed the beginning of the first movie, and I had to go let the dogs I'm looking after out at 3, so I couldn't stay for Jedi. But I got to watch Empire. Incidentally, either Spike was using the theatrical version for Empire but not the other two, or Empire has the least digital tweaking, because it took me through the dance number in Jedi to get my coat and hat and gloves on, and they were obviously using the remaster there (oh, George)*. I was excited for the marathon today because Spaced has got it in my brain, as well as the weird but hilarious and spot-on review of Phantom Menace on YouTube that's been circulating the last few days. FYI, if you start watching you very likely will keep going for the whole 70 minutes.
I regift you via linkage the adorable holiday card from tw_babiez.
Now I have to decide whether to buy myself that sweatshirt first, or some movies.
*I found DVDs on Netflix that claim to be the theatrical cuts. I shall have my own marathon and find out if this is true. |
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