| The End of Time |
[Dec. 27th, 2009|12:23 am] |
Given that once it was downloaded I wasn't desperate to watch it immediately, you should have some idea of just how low I had set the bar. So I had seriously low expectations...
And I was still disappointed.
It really is a mess. It has moments and elements that I liked, but they are all too brief and mostly come at the end. I really hoped RTD would return to form and give us something approaching the levels of Rose, The End of the World, Parting of the Ways or Doomsday. Either a simple, well realised story, or a proper, amazing finale.
Not even close. If I had seen any of those episodes and then you'd shown me this one, and I didn't know it was written by the same man, I would never have believed it.
He's got a hell of a lot of ground to make up with part 2. I don't think he's going to, but I'd genuinely like to be posting this time next week saying that it was not only a fabulous send off to the Tenth Doctor, but an amazing and brilliant send off to Russell and his team.
2/10
Any comments to this post are likely to contain massive spoilers, so please be warned. |
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| Priorities... |
[Dec. 13th, 2009|12:45 pm] |
One of the things I've become conscious of in recent months is my priorities. They haven't changed, I'm just aware of them now.
While my health and fitness has improved slowly but steadily since the stroke, I still have a fairly limited amount of spoons, and even when I'm doing well, it doesn't take much to steal them all if I'm not careful. I've been tending to beat myself up a bit for not getting things done, but then recently I realised how it is I work my limited resources. ( Read more... ) |
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| The Evil One |
[Sep. 14th, 2009|08:14 am] |
Bloody Lex! He often refuses to go to bed before around 9:30 at night, so most days he sleeps until 9:30-10am, sometimes later. Having struggled for so many weeks, and in my zombie state not having achieved much beyond the very basics of housework at best, my plan for today was to take advantage of his late starts by getting up around 8-ish. That'd give me time to choke down some breakfast, then give me an hour or so to actually catch up on some of the stuff I've been needing to catch up with for ages.
So of course the little bugger has been awake since 5:30! And he's been generally unhappy for most of it. Well, at least I've got a load of nappies washed.
Mind you, much as I'm now back in my usual tired, braindead, zombie-like state, I can still admire his evil timing.
That's my boy! |
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| Bye bye Ice Warriors |
[Sep. 2nd, 2009|02:57 pm] |
My copy of the CD of Ice Warriors episodes 2 and 3 broke with a loud whirring, grinding noise in my computer's disc drive :(
What makes it especially annoying was I had it in there so I rip it and have a back up.
Irony, I am your bitch. |
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| Be Careful What You Wish For... |
[Aug. 31st, 2009|10:53 am] |
You know how I recently posted about how much I hated email, and that because I was feeling sick and depressed I was avoiding it for a while?
So, the last four days our 'net access has been very spotty - right when I was mostly ready to start dealing with things again. Often happens if there's light rain. Heavy rain, no problem. Light rain, you need a Ouija board to get a connection. Still happening now. It meant I couldn't download email properly.
And then I managed to stuff something up!
Probably because I was trying to do stuff on the computer while feeling run down and also dealing with Lex, I managed to delete a directory that I'd marked as having been moved... the one that had all my emails in it.
As you can guess the rest.
I usually triple check these things, but somehow didn't. But that's okay, my computer backs up the important directories to an external drive twice a week. *looks on back up drive* Dum dee dum... hmm... search... hmmm...
Oh, for some reason it was backing up every directory I needed except my email one.
I have older back-ups, but essentially I've lost two years worth of email. Bugger! There goes all my erotic email and pictures from Dame Judi Dench.
So if you've sent me anything vitally important in the last two years, you may wish to resend. To everyone who has sent me stuff in the last few weeks, I have it. Of course it'll be caught up in the other 300+ emails, so it may be a while before I get back to you.
And Judi... RESEND! |
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| So there |
[Aug. 26th, 2009|10:52 am] |
Well, after getting back from our less than relaxing trip to Melbourne, trying to recuperate from the 'flu while getting through the work that needed doing for our rent inspection yesterday, I can now relax and enjoy my brand new cold.
Yes I have a cold, which is not surprising as I was already wiped from 'flu, and then I've further run myself into the ground. Will face the world real soon now, really I will. I had decided to finally catch up on my emails the day after the rent inspection, now I'm going, 'I'm tired, sick, run down and reading is hard,' so they can wait a little longer.
In the meantime, the world can ring if it's urgent. |
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| Email |
[Aug. 19th, 2009|07:26 pm] |
When did email go from being a way to keep in contact and communicate, to being a chore?
While I was away, I didn't have any real opportunity to check email. And I know, I just know, that I've nearly two weeks worth of emails waiting for me to download and read. And every day there will be more of them. Some of them will be nice, most will be forgettable, and there will be one or two that make me want to pierce the nether-regions of the senders with six-inch nails.
Now I'm back, I didn't miss it, and would like to do without it altogether from now on. But that's not really practical, for a variety of reasons, not until I live in a little shack somewhere.
So at some point I will have to download my email for the first time in ages, and start sorting through it all.
But not today. And probably not tomorrow.
So if you want to tell me something, call. |
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| Smaller World |
[Jul. 27th, 2009|05:44 pm] |
Just got back from wandering the Giralang shops with my better camera (but no tripod). Pictures will be up when I find time.
On the way back I walked past the soccer field and there were a bunch of kids playing and being coached. The field was lovely, the kids seemed to be having fun, and in the distance between the trees, the Telstra tower was lit orange by the setting sun. It would have been a gorgeous photo.
Five years ago.
But of course, in this day and age, I couldn't afford to take it. ( Read more... ) |
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| April Dot Points |
[May. 1st, 2009|04:47 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | conventions, dot points, health, interesting or important links, lex, my stuff, sharon, slice of life, swancon, things that delight me, unimportant but annoying, videos/dvds | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  reflective | ] |
* April was a busy and tiring one, hence this being written on the 1st of May.
* This is a very Lex-heavy month. ( Read more... ) |
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| Suspension of disbelief |
[Apr. 30th, 2009|01:14 pm] |
Films and tv shows usually rely on suspension of disbelief.
To me, if one is going to maintain the suspension of disbelief, you have to obey all the ordinary everyday rules that people know and understand. One can believe an massive alien invasion with giant biomechanoid floating death cannons, so long as the world rules beyond that are consistent. But if a human character, in avoiding one of these cannons, jumps off a ten storey building without any sort of aid, or interruptions to their fall, and land unharmed and run off - that's the deal breaker. One knows that's not possible, and suddenly one is left questioning that moment, and by default, the rest of the film.
I mentioned in a post yesterday that I hate it in films and tv when medics use the defibrillator paddles on a woman to try and restart her heart, and they are using them through material - bras, tank tops, etc. - rather than on bare skin. It pulls me right out of the moment, because I know it's not right.
I also mentioned hating when people can just break passwords when they have no information on the person, which has become really common in shows. Any computer whizz can break any password, within a relatively short time.
Another one I hate is when someone who is driving spends time looking at the their passenger rather than paying attention to the road. Quick glances are fine, but when they're maintaining eye contact for whole big chunks of conversation it annoys me. If you regularly did it in real life there's no way you wouldn't crash.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) king_espresso mentioned that he hates when people don't wear ear protection on board military helicopters, which is a great one. Well, except now I'll be looking for it and getting annoyed by it.
kaths brought up the way people type madly on computer keyboards to do things that the rest of us would do with a mouse. We're in the internet age, everyone uses computers, we know they don't work this way.
kaths also mentioned the way they can zoom in on a small section of a photo, blow up that section, sharpen/clean it up, and suddenly have a incredibly clear and detailed picture. It's the equivalent of being able to blow up my icon for this post to read all the book titles.
So what about you? What regularly used, unrealistic film and tv conceits pull you out of the moment? |
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| I'm patient but I have my limits |
[Feb. 24th, 2009|11:12 pm] |
I've been home since this arvo, and this evening I noticed something crawling on me.
I took it outside.
Then I noticed another a short time later.
I took that outside.
The fifth one I got rid of with a puff of air.
That was a while ago. Now I'm swiping and potentially maiming and killing them.
I am sick of having small spiders running all over me.
Again! |
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| Why? |
[Jan. 31st, 2009|09:01 pm] |
Why is it every time I see a copy of The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes I want to buy it? As I recall I thought the film was a bit ordinary when I was a kid! |
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| Elm St. 5 cuts |
[Jan. 15th, 2009|04:11 pm] |
I was right!
Checked my VHS and there is approximately 15 seconds cut from the scene with Greta, and another 10 or so from Dan's scene. My set is the US Box set, so will have to check the Aussie DVD release to see if it has the same edits, which were apparently originally there to achieve a American R rating...
( Cuts details under... er... cut. Contains spoilers. )
I've never actually liked the Greta scene, it always felt a little clumsy and forced. Still for an expensive box set, the edits are annoying. Glad I got it cheap. |
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| Still trying to destroy Western Civilisation |
[Nov. 26th, 2008|09:33 pm] |
I got an infringement notice for downloading Stargate: Atlantis! MGM doesn't want people downloading their stuff, which when Channel 7 doesn't want to show it, is basically the equivalent of MGM not wanting people to watch their stuff.
Here is my reply to them ( Read more... ) |
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| Spidonan |
[Nov. 3rd, 2008|12:39 am] |
Few things are as effective at curtailing one's attempt at pre-bed onanism than having a spider drop down from the ceiling and run across one's arm.
I'm just glad that only my arm was bare at that point.
Anyone else have any stories of interruption they'd like to share? |
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sad
exhausted
annoyed
annoyed but amused
sick
curious
horny
aggravated