Okay, so. I guess sleep deprivation was just making me anxious and unstable. Because while I'm still going through the new-hire dance of "how quickly should I be picking this stuff up? how often should I be checking in with the guy training me? am I coming off as high-maintenance or as overly prone to slinking off into the corner and doing my own thing when I should be seeking guidance?" it is not actually that bad, and I am doing real work on a real project (data-processing wizardry for the DHS Côte d'Ivoire survey) and thus not feeling like a useless tool. Also, have totally seen the occasional person come in to work in a flowery shirt and blue jeans--nice jeans, but still jeans--so I figure that even if Crayola hair and tattered black lace are out of the question I can CorpGoth it up a little bit. Waistcoats and jewel-toned blouses and pocketwatches, here I come.
Still prone to random short-lived outbursts of meta or general enthusiasm, but it might just be all of my geekish energy getting bunched up in the evenings instead of spread throughout the day. I apparently do not have the dedication to do a full review of The God Complex, but I will say that my bitter disappointment about ( spoilers ahoy--if you've seen it you can probably guess ) was not enough to keep me from loving this episode. It did so many things right, tugged so many dark undercurrents out into the light and called them on what they were, played along with tropes just long enough to turn them on their heads, and refused to victim-blame. ( Mmmmrfrnrghl more spoilers, hands clapped over mouth, etc. )
...also I just love this episode because it makes the rest of the season so much richer and makes me want to go hunting for meta material in previous episodes, and also calms some of my lingering doubts. Mostly about whether Moffat & Co were aware of what they were writing--I am fully A-OK and on board with disturbing implications and tragic flaws as long as they're being written as such, and come on, those of us who take sadistic glee in schadenfreude and days of reckoning haven't had this much satisfaction since Waters of Mars. And since I trust Moffat not to drop narrative threads much more than I'd ever trust RTD, there is a good chance we will finally get closure on things that have been left hanging since WoM. Maybe not in the exact same way any of us thought (I have been 100% convinced that Moffat was setting Eleven up for a fall since, uh, the season opener? but God Complex did not call him out on exactly the things I expected even if the themes were similar), but closure all the same.
What I don't have, at this point, are any expectations that the plot will make a lick of goddamn sense. Moffat will probably lead us to a rousing finale, and will mash all his foreshadowing together in a way that does more-or-less lead us there, but examine the intricate latticework of showy plot twists too closely and you will discover that it's mostly held together with handwaving, duct tape, and the goodwill of the audience. I figure that as long as you assume from the get-go that you're not getting a perfectly-fitted puzzle-box plot like Blink, you're getting something that was fueled by equal parts amphetamines and acid and should probably be enjoyed in similar fashion, there won't be too much disappointment.
Still prone to random short-lived outbursts of meta or general enthusiasm, but it might just be all of my geekish energy getting bunched up in the evenings instead of spread throughout the day. I apparently do not have the dedication to do a full review of The God Complex, but I will say that my bitter disappointment about ( spoilers ahoy--if you've seen it you can probably guess ) was not enough to keep me from loving this episode. It did so many things right, tugged so many dark undercurrents out into the light and called them on what they were, played along with tropes just long enough to turn them on their heads, and refused to victim-blame. ( Mmmmrfrnrghl more spoilers, hands clapped over mouth, etc. )
...also I just love this episode because it makes the rest of the season so much richer and makes me want to go hunting for meta material in previous episodes, and also calms some of my lingering doubts. Mostly about whether Moffat & Co were aware of what they were writing--I am fully A-OK and on board with disturbing implications and tragic flaws as long as they're being written as such, and come on, those of us who take sadistic glee in schadenfreude and days of reckoning haven't had this much satisfaction since Waters of Mars. And since I trust Moffat not to drop narrative threads much more than I'd ever trust RTD, there is a good chance we will finally get closure on things that have been left hanging since WoM. Maybe not in the exact same way any of us thought (I have been 100% convinced that Moffat was setting Eleven up for a fall since, uh, the season opener? but God Complex did not call him out on exactly the things I expected even if the themes were similar), but closure all the same.
What I don't have, at this point, are any expectations that the plot will make a lick of goddamn sense. Moffat will probably lead us to a rousing finale, and will mash all his foreshadowing together in a way that does more-or-less lead us there, but examine the intricate latticework of showy plot twists too closely and you will discover that it's mostly held together with handwaving, duct tape, and the goodwill of the audience. I figure that as long as you assume from the get-go that you're not getting a perfectly-fitted puzzle-box plot like Blink, you're getting something that was fueled by equal parts amphetamines and acid and should probably be enjoyed in similar fashion, there won't be too much disappointment.
Okay, so. I guess sleep deprivation was just making me anxious and unstable. Because while I'm still going through the new-hire dance of "how quickly should I be picking this stuff up? how often should I be checking in with the guy training me? am I coming off as high-maintenance or as overly prone to slinking off into the corner and doing my own thing when I should be seeking guidance?" it is not actually that bad, and I am doing real work on a real project (data-processing wizardry for the DHS Côte d'Ivoire survey) and thus not feeling like a useless tool. Also, have totally seen the occasional person come in to work in a flowery shirt and blue jeans--nice jeans, but still jeans--so I figure that even if Crayola hair and tattered black lace are out of the question I can CorpGoth it up a little bit. Waistcoats and jewel-toned blouses and pocketwatches, here I come.
Still prone to random short-lived outbursts of meta or general enthusiasm, but it might just be all of my geekish energy getting bunched up in the evenings instead of spread throughout the day. I apparently do not have the dedication to do a full review of The God Complex, but I will say that my bitter disappointment about ( spoilers ahoy--if you've seen it you can probably guess ) was not enough to keep me from loving this episode. It did so many things right, tugged so many dark undercurrents out into the light and called them on what they were, played along with tropes just long enough to turn them on their heads, and refused to victim-blame. ( Mmmmrfrnrghl more spoilers, hands clapped over mouth, etc. )
...also I just love this episode because it makes the rest of the season so much richer and makes me want to go hunting for meta material in previous episodes, and also calms some of my lingering doubts. Mostly about whether Moffat & Co were aware of what they were writing--I am fully A-OK and on board with disturbing implications and tragic flaws as long as they're being written as such, and come on, those of us who take sadistic glee in schadenfreude and days of reckoning haven't had this much satisfaction since Waters of Mars. And since I trust Moffat not to drop narrative threads much more than I'd ever trust RTD, there is a good chance we will finally get closure on things that have been left hanging since WoM. Maybe not in the exact same way any of us thought (I have been 100% convinced that Moffat was setting Eleven up for a fall since, uh, the season opener? but God Complex did not call him out on exactly the things I expected even if the themes were similar), but closure all the same.
What I don't have, at this point, are any expectations that the plot will make a lick of goddamn sense. Moffat will probably lead us to a rousing finale, and will mash all his foreshadowing together in a way that does more-or-less lead us there, but examine the intricate latticework of showy plot twists too closely and you will discover that it's mostly held together with handwaving, duct tape, and the goodwill of the audience. I figure that as long as you assume from the get-go that you're not getting a perfectly-fitted puzzle-box plot like Blink, you're getting something that was fueled by equal parts amphetamines and acid and should probably be enjoyed in similar fashion, there won't be too much disappointment.
Still prone to random short-lived outbursts of meta or general enthusiasm, but it might just be all of my geekish energy getting bunched up in the evenings instead of spread throughout the day. I apparently do not have the dedication to do a full review of The God Complex, but I will say that my bitter disappointment about ( spoilers ahoy--if you've seen it you can probably guess ) was not enough to keep me from loving this episode. It did so many things right, tugged so many dark undercurrents out into the light and called them on what they were, played along with tropes just long enough to turn them on their heads, and refused to victim-blame. ( Mmmmrfrnrghl more spoilers, hands clapped over mouth, etc. )
...also I just love this episode because it makes the rest of the season so much richer and makes me want to go hunting for meta material in previous episodes, and also calms some of my lingering doubts. Mostly about whether Moffat & Co were aware of what they were writing--I am fully A-OK and on board with disturbing implications and tragic flaws as long as they're being written as such, and come on, those of us who take sadistic glee in schadenfreude and days of reckoning haven't had this much satisfaction since Waters of Mars. And since I trust Moffat not to drop narrative threads much more than I'd ever trust RTD, there is a good chance we will finally get closure on things that have been left hanging since WoM. Maybe not in the exact same way any of us thought (I have been 100% convinced that Moffat was setting Eleven up for a fall since, uh, the season opener? but God Complex did not call him out on exactly the things I expected even if the themes were similar), but closure all the same.
What I don't have, at this point, are any expectations that the plot will make a lick of goddamn sense. Moffat will probably lead us to a rousing finale, and will mash all his foreshadowing together in a way that does more-or-less lead us there, but examine the intricate latticework of showy plot twists too closely and you will discover that it's mostly held together with handwaving, duct tape, and the goodwill of the audience. I figure that as long as you assume from the get-go that you're not getting a perfectly-fitted puzzle-box plot like Blink, you're getting something that was fueled by equal parts amphetamines and acid and should probably be enjoyed in similar fashion, there won't be too much disappointment.
Back from New York! And doing some more scattered out-of-order Who rewatches. Up recently: Aliens of London/World War Three (which I had not seen before, somehow, and eeeee Harriet Jones be my BFF and also character development for Mickey and Jackie and I wish RTD had built off of Nine and Mickey's awkward-dudebro-bonding moment at the end instead of falling back on "Mickey the idiot" and all the quasi-facetious trashtalking and--yeah). And then Impossible Planet/Satan Pit.
I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT THOSE EPISODES. SO MANY FEELINGS. I DID NOT KNOW I HAD ALL THESE FEELINGS. They were, IIRC, the first ones I watched on my own after the weekly group Who-watching nights disintegrated, and at the time I was too caught up in frantic new-fandom fangirling to pick these out specifically, but in retrospect I am pretty sure they precipitated my headlong slide into watching three and a half seasons in two weeks. It is weird that a two-parter where half the cast dies gruesomely at the hands of a dodgy Satan monster should make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but it sums up so much of what I love about this show. Exploration, and belief, and there being more things in heaven and earth, and people--plain old human beings at their worst, at their best, people fucking up, people trying to put things right, people clinging to whatever gives the universe meaning for them. In this case, people at their best. Fallible, terrified humans pulling themselves together in the face of the unknown to become heroes, taking that leap just because it was there, using the last of their oxygen to say oh, I'm going to die down here, but if you could only see what I've found and how beautiful it is. And Ten and Rose, who all too often turn into adolescent brats as a team--here we see them making each other better people. And the sudden reappearance of the TARDIS has shades of Tolkien's eucatastrophe, the eleventh-hour act of grace that turns the tables just when it looks like everyone's about to die, without ever turning into a cheap deus-ex-machina trick because the characters are the ones who did all the legwork.
And mushy capital-R-Romantic stuff aside, they are just such great episodes. Okay, I still think the Satan monster is a bit dodgy, mostly because it's far too closely modeled on a very specific European concept of the devil, but this time around I'm willing to accept the "whatever it is, it's probably the origin of devil myths across the cosmos" handwaving. But I love the whole idea of the planet in impossible orbit around the black hole, I love the balance struck between explanation and leaving some things a mystery, I love how many plot and thematic and character-development threads are woven together at the same time and how none of them get dropped or mangled. I love the design, I love the gritty-future aspect, I love the soundtrack, I love the tone struck throughout, and on top of all that I am just a sucker for base-under-siege episodes. Can we please get Matt Jones to write more Who? Pleeeease? Impossible Planet/Satan Pit might now be among my favorite DW eps ever--they're certainly among the few saving graces of season 2. And IMO both Rusty and Moffat could take lessons from them in starting with an incredibly ambitious concept and then doing it full justice.
(Re: subject line: I love Rose and I love Ten's stupid face and I am not a huge fan of character- or ship-bashing and I do ship it, in a way, but that way is very very different from RTD's, and I have so many problems with how Ten/Rose played out in canon.)
I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT THOSE EPISODES. SO MANY FEELINGS. I DID NOT KNOW I HAD ALL THESE FEELINGS. They were, IIRC, the first ones I watched on my own after the weekly group Who-watching nights disintegrated, and at the time I was too caught up in frantic new-fandom fangirling to pick these out specifically, but in retrospect I am pretty sure they precipitated my headlong slide into watching three and a half seasons in two weeks. It is weird that a two-parter where half the cast dies gruesomely at the hands of a dodgy Satan monster should make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but it sums up so much of what I love about this show. Exploration, and belief, and there being more things in heaven and earth, and people--plain old human beings at their worst, at their best, people fucking up, people trying to put things right, people clinging to whatever gives the universe meaning for them. In this case, people at their best. Fallible, terrified humans pulling themselves together in the face of the unknown to become heroes, taking that leap just because it was there, using the last of their oxygen to say oh, I'm going to die down here, but if you could only see what I've found and how beautiful it is. And Ten and Rose, who all too often turn into adolescent brats as a team--here we see them making each other better people. And the sudden reappearance of the TARDIS has shades of Tolkien's eucatastrophe, the eleventh-hour act of grace that turns the tables just when it looks like everyone's about to die, without ever turning into a cheap deus-ex-machina trick because the characters are the ones who did all the legwork.
And mushy capital-R-Romantic stuff aside, they are just such great episodes. Okay, I still think the Satan monster is a bit dodgy, mostly because it's far too closely modeled on a very specific European concept of the devil, but this time around I'm willing to accept the "whatever it is, it's probably the origin of devil myths across the cosmos" handwaving. But I love the whole idea of the planet in impossible orbit around the black hole, I love the balance struck between explanation and leaving some things a mystery, I love how many plot and thematic and character-development threads are woven together at the same time and how none of them get dropped or mangled. I love the design, I love the gritty-future aspect, I love the soundtrack, I love the tone struck throughout, and on top of all that I am just a sucker for base-under-siege episodes. Can we please get Matt Jones to write more Who? Pleeeease? Impossible Planet/Satan Pit might now be among my favorite DW eps ever--they're certainly among the few saving graces of season 2. And IMO both Rusty and Moffat could take lessons from them in starting with an incredibly ambitious concept and then doing it full justice.
(Re: subject line: I love Rose and I love Ten's stupid face and I am not a huge fan of character- or ship-bashing and I do ship it, in a way, but that way is very very different from RTD's, and I have so many problems with how Ten/Rose played out in canon.)
Back from New York! And doing some more scattered out-of-order Who rewatches. Up recently: Aliens of London/World War Three (which I had not seen before, somehow, and eeeee Harriet Jones be my BFF and also character development for Mickey and Jackie and I wish RTD had built off of Nine and Mickey's awkward-dudebro-bonding moment at the end instead of falling back on "Mickey the idiot" and all the quasi-facetious trashtalking and--yeah). And then Impossible Planet/Satan Pit.
I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT THOSE EPISODES. SO MANY FEELINGS. I DID NOT KNOW I HAD ALL THESE FEELINGS. They were, IIRC, the first ones I watched on my own after the weekly group Who-watching nights disintegrated, and at the time I was too caught up in frantic new-fandom fangirling to pick these out specifically, but in retrospect I am pretty sure they precipitated my headlong slide into watching three and a half seasons in two weeks. It is weird that a two-parter where half the cast dies gruesomely at the hands of a dodgy Satan monster should make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but it sums up so much of what I love about this show. Exploration, and belief, and there being more things in heaven and earth, and people--plain old human beings at their worst, at their best, people fucking up, people trying to put things right, people clinging to whatever gives the universe meaning for them. In this case, people at their best. Fallible, terrified humans pulling themselves together in the face of the unknown to become heroes, taking that leap just because it was there, using the last of their oxygen to say oh, I'm going to die down here, but if you could only see what I've found and how beautiful it is. And Ten and Rose, who all too often turn into adolescent brats as a team--here we see them making each other better people. And the sudden reappearance of the TARDIS has shades of Tolkien's eucatastrophe, the eleventh-hour act of grace that turns the tables just when it looks like everyone's about to die, without ever turning into a cheap deus-ex-machina trick because the characters are the ones who did all the legwork.
And mushy capital-R-Romantic stuff aside, they are just such great episodes. Okay, I still think the Satan monster is a bit dodgy, mostly because it's far too closely modeled on a very specific European concept of the devil, but this time around I'm willing to accept the "whatever it is, it's probably the origin of devil myths across the cosmos" handwaving. But I love the whole idea of the planet in impossible orbit around the black hole, I love the balance struck between explanation and leaving some things a mystery, I love how many plot and thematic and character-development threads are woven together at the same time and how none of them get dropped or mangled. I love the design, I love the gritty-future aspect, I love the soundtrack, I love the tone struck throughout, and on top of all that I am just a sucker for base-under-siege episodes. Can we please get Matt Jones to write more Who? Pleeeease? Impossible Planet/Satan Pit might now be among my favorite DW eps ever--they're certainly among the few saving graces of season 2. And IMO both Rusty and Moffat could take lessons from them in starting with an incredibly ambitious concept and then doing it full justice.
(Re: subject line: I love Rose and I love Ten's stupid face and I am not a huge fan of character- or ship-bashing and I do ship it, in a way, but that way is very very different from RTD's, and I have so many problems with how Ten/Rose played out in canon.)
I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT THOSE EPISODES. SO MANY FEELINGS. I DID NOT KNOW I HAD ALL THESE FEELINGS. They were, IIRC, the first ones I watched on my own after the weekly group Who-watching nights disintegrated, and at the time I was too caught up in frantic new-fandom fangirling to pick these out specifically, but in retrospect I am pretty sure they precipitated my headlong slide into watching three and a half seasons in two weeks. It is weird that a two-parter where half the cast dies gruesomely at the hands of a dodgy Satan monster should make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but it sums up so much of what I love about this show. Exploration, and belief, and there being more things in heaven and earth, and people--plain old human beings at their worst, at their best, people fucking up, people trying to put things right, people clinging to whatever gives the universe meaning for them. In this case, people at their best. Fallible, terrified humans pulling themselves together in the face of the unknown to become heroes, taking that leap just because it was there, using the last of their oxygen to say oh, I'm going to die down here, but if you could only see what I've found and how beautiful it is. And Ten and Rose, who all too often turn into adolescent brats as a team--here we see them making each other better people. And the sudden reappearance of the TARDIS has shades of Tolkien's eucatastrophe, the eleventh-hour act of grace that turns the tables just when it looks like everyone's about to die, without ever turning into a cheap deus-ex-machina trick because the characters are the ones who did all the legwork.
And mushy capital-R-Romantic stuff aside, they are just such great episodes. Okay, I still think the Satan monster is a bit dodgy, mostly because it's far too closely modeled on a very specific European concept of the devil, but this time around I'm willing to accept the "whatever it is, it's probably the origin of devil myths across the cosmos" handwaving. But I love the whole idea of the planet in impossible orbit around the black hole, I love the balance struck between explanation and leaving some things a mystery, I love how many plot and thematic and character-development threads are woven together at the same time and how none of them get dropped or mangled. I love the design, I love the gritty-future aspect, I love the soundtrack, I love the tone struck throughout, and on top of all that I am just a sucker for base-under-siege episodes. Can we please get Matt Jones to write more Who? Pleeeease? Impossible Planet/Satan Pit might now be among my favorite DW eps ever--they're certainly among the few saving graces of season 2. And IMO both Rusty and Moffat could take lessons from them in starting with an incredibly ambitious concept and then doing it full justice.
(Re: subject line: I love Rose and I love Ten's stupid face and I am not a huge fan of character- or ship-bashing and I do ship it, in a way, but that way is very very different from RTD's, and I have so many problems with how Ten/Rose played out in canon.)
Theatrical mixed bag.
Aug. 14th, 2011 01:37Quick NYC update:
Did not intend for this to be a Weekend O' Theater, and yet somehow I saw three shows in two days. Avenue Q yesterday, which was tons of fun; today, completely on a whim, I joined my cousin and his friend in the rush line for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Because... Dan Radcliffe, and why the hell not? So we ended up with standing room for the matinee and it is a really, seriously fabulous production and Dan Radcliffe kind of comes off as the adorable fan-favorite understudy. Because he is good but he's not quite there yet in terms of vocals and stage presence--he can totally carry the show, but you can tell he's not a seasoned stage actor even by comparing him to the ensemble. Adorable though, and I had no idea he was so short, and also no idea that he could dance that well.
And then we all went and entered the lottery for Book of Mormon, figuring our chances were obviously nil we wouldn't be able to live with ourselves if we didn't at least try. And my cousin fucking won. Two tickets, front row center, and he and his friend have both been dying to see it for ages, and I already had a rush ticket for Addams Family, so it was pretty much decided. In retrospect I kind of wish I had at least wheedled a bit, though, because Addams Family was terrible. I mean--I love campy goth shit and I love musical theater and I have a high tolerance for things that are so bad they're good, and I had a hard time getting through this steaming pile of horseshit. After the initial novelty of "lol, Gomez and Morticia in a generic cheesy Broadway number complete with kick line" wore off, I started wondering where the fuck they were going to take this, and the answer was nowhere. It started nowhere, it went nowhere, I couldn't remember a single tune after it was over, and I'm not sure who it's meant to appeal to except the kind of people who enjoy laughing at musical theater and campy goth shit rather than with it. My ratio of "money spent on ticket" to "money spent on alcohol just to get through the show" was pretty damn embarrassing, and I realized at the top of the second act that drinking didn't actually make it funnier, it just loosened the (strictly metaphorical) tongue of my inner bitchy theater critic enough that I could cope. For it to be funny I'd've needed copious quantities of weed, and there may be a time and a place for stoner humor, but that is not something you want with Addams Family.
tl;dr: I thought it'd at least be entertaining, and that the dreadful reviews were just critics jumping on the chance to snark on something stupid and fun. Turns out it was stupid, not fun at all, and that the critics were 100% right. Snark away.
Did not intend for this to be a Weekend O' Theater, and yet somehow I saw three shows in two days. Avenue Q yesterday, which was tons of fun; today, completely on a whim, I joined my cousin and his friend in the rush line for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Because... Dan Radcliffe, and why the hell not? So we ended up with standing room for the matinee and it is a really, seriously fabulous production and Dan Radcliffe kind of comes off as the adorable fan-favorite understudy. Because he is good but he's not quite there yet in terms of vocals and stage presence--he can totally carry the show, but you can tell he's not a seasoned stage actor even by comparing him to the ensemble. Adorable though, and I had no idea he was so short, and also no idea that he could dance that well.
And then we all went and entered the lottery for Book of Mormon, figuring our chances were obviously nil we wouldn't be able to live with ourselves if we didn't at least try. And my cousin fucking won. Two tickets, front row center, and he and his friend have both been dying to see it for ages, and I already had a rush ticket for Addams Family, so it was pretty much decided. In retrospect I kind of wish I had at least wheedled a bit, though, because Addams Family was terrible. I mean--I love campy goth shit and I love musical theater and I have a high tolerance for things that are so bad they're good, and I had a hard time getting through this steaming pile of horseshit. After the initial novelty of "lol, Gomez and Morticia in a generic cheesy Broadway number complete with kick line" wore off, I started wondering where the fuck they were going to take this, and the answer was nowhere. It started nowhere, it went nowhere, I couldn't remember a single tune after it was over, and I'm not sure who it's meant to appeal to except the kind of people who enjoy laughing at musical theater and campy goth shit rather than with it. My ratio of "money spent on ticket" to "money spent on alcohol just to get through the show" was pretty damn embarrassing, and I realized at the top of the second act that drinking didn't actually make it funnier, it just loosened the (strictly metaphorical) tongue of my inner bitchy theater critic enough that I could cope. For it to be funny I'd've needed copious quantities of weed, and there may be a time and a place for stoner humor, but that is not something you want with Addams Family.
tl;dr: I thought it'd at least be entertaining, and that the dreadful reviews were just critics jumping on the chance to snark on something stupid and fun. Turns out it was stupid, not fun at all, and that the critics were 100% right. Snark away.
Theatrical mixed bag.
Aug. 14th, 2011 01:37Quick NYC update:
Did not intend for this to be a Weekend O' Theater, and yet somehow I saw three shows in two days. Avenue Q yesterday, which was tons of fun; today, completely on a whim, I joined my cousin and his friend in the rush line for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Because... Dan Radcliffe, and why the hell not? So we ended up with standing room for the matinee and it is a really, seriously fabulous production and Dan Radcliffe kind of comes off as the adorable fan-favorite understudy. Because he is good but he's not quite there yet in terms of vocals and stage presence--he can totally carry the show, but you can tell he's not a seasoned stage actor even by comparing him to the ensemble. Adorable though, and I had no idea he was so short, and also no idea that he could dance that well.
And then we all went and entered the lottery for Book of Mormon, figuring our chances were obviously nil we wouldn't be able to live with ourselves if we didn't at least try. And my cousin fucking won. Two tickets, front row center, and he and his friend have both been dying to see it for ages, and I already had a rush ticket for Addams Family, so it was pretty much decided. In retrospect I kind of wish I had at least wheedled a bit, though, because Addams Family was terrible. I mean--I love campy goth shit and I love musical theater and I have a high tolerance for things that are so bad they're good, and I had a hard time getting through this steaming pile of horseshit. After the initial novelty of "lol, Gomez and Morticia in a generic cheesy Broadway number complete with kick line" wore off, I started wondering where the fuck they were going to take this, and the answer was nowhere. It started nowhere, it went nowhere, I couldn't remember a single tune after it was over, and I'm not sure who it's meant to appeal to except the kind of people who enjoy laughing at musical theater and campy goth shit rather than with it. My ratio of "money spent on ticket" to "money spent on alcohol just to get through the show" was pretty damn embarrassing, and I realized at the top of the second act that drinking didn't actually make it funnier, it just loosened the (strictly metaphorical) tongue of my inner bitchy theater critic enough that I could cope. For it to be funny I'd've needed copious quantities of weed, and there may be a time and a place for stoner humor, but that is not something you want with Addams Family.
tl;dr: I thought it'd at least be entertaining, and that the dreadful reviews were just critics jumping on the chance to snark on something stupid and fun. Turns out it was stupid, not fun at all, and that the critics were 100% right. Snark away.
Did not intend for this to be a Weekend O' Theater, and yet somehow I saw three shows in two days. Avenue Q yesterday, which was tons of fun; today, completely on a whim, I joined my cousin and his friend in the rush line for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Because... Dan Radcliffe, and why the hell not? So we ended up with standing room for the matinee and it is a really, seriously fabulous production and Dan Radcliffe kind of comes off as the adorable fan-favorite understudy. Because he is good but he's not quite there yet in terms of vocals and stage presence--he can totally carry the show, but you can tell he's not a seasoned stage actor even by comparing him to the ensemble. Adorable though, and I had no idea he was so short, and also no idea that he could dance that well.
And then we all went and entered the lottery for Book of Mormon, figuring our chances were obviously nil we wouldn't be able to live with ourselves if we didn't at least try. And my cousin fucking won. Two tickets, front row center, and he and his friend have both been dying to see it for ages, and I already had a rush ticket for Addams Family, so it was pretty much decided. In retrospect I kind of wish I had at least wheedled a bit, though, because Addams Family was terrible. I mean--I love campy goth shit and I love musical theater and I have a high tolerance for things that are so bad they're good, and I had a hard time getting through this steaming pile of horseshit. After the initial novelty of "lol, Gomez and Morticia in a generic cheesy Broadway number complete with kick line" wore off, I started wondering where the fuck they were going to take this, and the answer was nowhere. It started nowhere, it went nowhere, I couldn't remember a single tune after it was over, and I'm not sure who it's meant to appeal to except the kind of people who enjoy laughing at musical theater and campy goth shit rather than with it. My ratio of "money spent on ticket" to "money spent on alcohol just to get through the show" was pretty damn embarrassing, and I realized at the top of the second act that drinking didn't actually make it funnier, it just loosened the (strictly metaphorical) tongue of my inner bitchy theater critic enough that I could cope. For it to be funny I'd've needed copious quantities of weed, and there may be a time and a place for stoner humor, but that is not something you want with Addams Family.
tl;dr: I thought it'd at least be entertaining, and that the dreadful reviews were just critics jumping on the chance to snark on something stupid and fun. Turns out it was stupid, not fun at all, and that the critics were 100% right. Snark away.
BFA owns my soul right now
Jul. 22nd, 2011 00:46Still listening to ALL THE PAUL MCGANN AUDIO DRAMAS. I'm up through Neverland now and, okay, the first mini-season is uneven and full of elements that just fall flat, although even in the most cringe-inducing parts there's still Eight being awesome. (I have come to the conclusion that Eight is a heartbreakingly good man, thinly disguised as a snarky manipulative bastard, who in turn is thinly disguised as a batty Victorian eccentric. In other words, love.) But the second season is incredible. It is full of the best crack ever: aliens invading Manhattan during the War of the Worlds broadcast! Daleks quoting Shakespeare left right and center! It is also full of paradoxes and impossibly tangled time loops that would do Steven Moffat's head in, as well as a good amount of high-octane nightmare fuel. And not just the "oh god they broke time" heebie-jeebies; it figures that my first proper episode with the Time Lords had to be the one where they're not just insufferable but also a bit horrifying. Viz: if the Celestial Intervention Agency gets sick of you meddling in their affairs and decides to make you an unperson, they can erase your existence so thoroughly that even your executioners won't remember you and will have no idea that sort of thing even happens anymore.
Speaking of, these audios are fascinating from a continuity standpoint. I know they were released before the new series was anywhere near happening, but Time of the Daleks and Neverland give me chills when I think of them as leadup to the Time War--the Daleks almost managing to rewrite all of history to get the upper hand, the Doctor leaving them in a time loop with full knowledge that the Time Lords will eventually let them out to preserve continuity, a possible future where they don't get let out, Time Lords mucking about with increasingly arcane and dangerous temporal forces at the risk of unleashing unholy horrors upon the universe. And the whole "Eight almost broke all of time by rescuing one person from one historical catastrophe" season arc--the numerous and creative side effects of which give a rough idea of what eldritch travesties might've crawled out of the Time War, and fuck, it puts a whole new perspective on Ten's saving-people-from-fixed-points angst in season 4 and the specials. I know that Who has no real continuity, just a big ball of wibbly-wobbly canony-fanony stuff, but in this case I think looking at the new series in the light of the audio dramas (and vice versa) would be rewarding enough to make up for all the fanwank required to get them in the same timeline.
...also, unrelatedly, I have this burning urge to write a Doctor Who celebrity historical starring Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace. There could be an anachronistic, fully-constructed analytical engine, an alien threat menacing the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, and a zeppelin chase where hydrogen airships get blown up by a giant Tesla coil. And the best part is that everything except the Tesla coil would be reasonably historically accurate: Lovelace didn't die until 1852, the analytical engine was never built but detailed plans existed from the 1830s and 40s, a partial prototype was displayed at the Great Exhibition, and the first feasible plans for a dirigible airship were also part of the Great Exhibition. Assuming aliens funded the construction of the engine, the government secretly constructed a zeppelin based on those plans before they were displayed, and both were destroyed in the course of the episode and lost to history, it could totally happen. And, you know, the Doctor could whip up the Tesla coil out of spare parts or something, IDGAF, rule of cool.
Speaking of, these audios are fascinating from a continuity standpoint. I know they were released before the new series was anywhere near happening, but Time of the Daleks and Neverland give me chills when I think of them as leadup to the Time War--the Daleks almost managing to rewrite all of history to get the upper hand, the Doctor leaving them in a time loop with full knowledge that the Time Lords will eventually let them out to preserve continuity, a possible future where they don't get let out, Time Lords mucking about with increasingly arcane and dangerous temporal forces at the risk of unleashing unholy horrors upon the universe. And the whole "Eight almost broke all of time by rescuing one person from one historical catastrophe" season arc--the numerous and creative side effects of which give a rough idea of what eldritch travesties might've crawled out of the Time War, and fuck, it puts a whole new perspective on Ten's saving-people-from-fixed-points angst in season 4 and the specials. I know that Who has no real continuity, just a big ball of wibbly-wobbly canony-fanony stuff, but in this case I think looking at the new series in the light of the audio dramas (and vice versa) would be rewarding enough to make up for all the fanwank required to get them in the same timeline.
...also, unrelatedly, I have this burning urge to write a Doctor Who celebrity historical starring Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace. There could be an anachronistic, fully-constructed analytical engine, an alien threat menacing the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, and a zeppelin chase where hydrogen airships get blown up by a giant Tesla coil. And the best part is that everything except the Tesla coil would be reasonably historically accurate: Lovelace didn't die until 1852, the analytical engine was never built but detailed plans existed from the 1830s and 40s, a partial prototype was displayed at the Great Exhibition, and the first feasible plans for a dirigible airship were also part of the Great Exhibition. Assuming aliens funded the construction of the engine, the government secretly constructed a zeppelin based on those plans before they were displayed, and both were destroyed in the course of the episode and lost to history, it could totally happen. And, you know, the Doctor could whip up the Tesla coil out of spare parts or something, IDGAF, rule of cool.
BFA owns my soul right now
Jul. 22nd, 2011 00:46Still listening to ALL THE PAUL MCGANN AUDIO DRAMAS. I'm up through Neverland now and, okay, the first mini-season is uneven and full of elements that just fall flat, although even in the most cringe-inducing parts there's still Eight being awesome. (I have come to the conclusion that Eight is a heartbreakingly good man, thinly disguised as a snarky manipulative bastard, who in turn is thinly disguised as a batty Victorian eccentric. In other words, love.) But the second season is incredible. It is full of the best crack ever: aliens invading Manhattan during the War of the Worlds broadcast! Daleks quoting Shakespeare left right and center! It is also full of paradoxes and impossibly tangled time loops that would do Steven Moffat's head in, as well as a good amount of high-octane nightmare fuel. And not just the "oh god they broke time" heebie-jeebies; it figures that my first proper episode with the Time Lords had to be the one where they're not just insufferable but also a bit horrifying. Viz: if the Celestial Intervention Agency gets sick of you meddling in their affairs and decides to make you an unperson, they can erase your existence so thoroughly that even your executioners won't remember you and will have no idea that sort of thing even happens anymore.
Speaking of, these audios are fascinating from a continuity standpoint. I know they were released before the new series was anywhere near happening, but Time of the Daleks and Neverland give me chills when I think of them as leadup to the Time War--the Daleks almost managing to rewrite all of history to get the upper hand, the Doctor leaving them in a time loop with full knowledge that the Time Lords will eventually let them out to preserve continuity, a possible future where they don't get let out, Time Lords mucking about with increasingly arcane and dangerous temporal forces at the risk of unleashing unholy horrors upon the universe. And the whole "Eight almost broke all of time by rescuing one person from one historical catastrophe" season arc--the numerous and creative side effects of which give a rough idea of what eldritch travesties might've crawled out of the Time War, and fuck, it puts a whole new perspective on Ten's saving-people-from-fixed-points angst in season 4 and the specials. I know that Who has no real continuity, just a big ball of wibbly-wobbly canony-fanony stuff, but in this case I think looking at the new series in the light of the audio dramas (and vice versa) would be rewarding enough to make up for all the fanwank required to get them in the same timeline.
...also, unrelatedly, I have this burning urge to write a Doctor Who celebrity historical starring Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace. There could be an anachronistic, fully-constructed analytical engine, an alien threat menacing the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, and a zeppelin chase where hydrogen airships get blown up by a giant Tesla coil. And the best part is that everything except the Tesla coil would be reasonably historically accurate: Lovelace didn't die until 1852, the analytical engine was never built but detailed plans existed from the 1830s and 40s, a partial prototype was displayed at the Great Exhibition, and the first feasible plans for a dirigible airship were also part of the Great Exhibition. Assuming aliens funded the construction of the engine, the government secretly constructed a zeppelin based on those plans before they were displayed, and both were destroyed in the course of the episode and lost to history, it could totally happen. And, you know, the Doctor could whip up the Tesla coil out of spare parts or something, IDGAF, rule of cool.
Speaking of, these audios are fascinating from a continuity standpoint. I know they were released before the new series was anywhere near happening, but Time of the Daleks and Neverland give me chills when I think of them as leadup to the Time War--the Daleks almost managing to rewrite all of history to get the upper hand, the Doctor leaving them in a time loop with full knowledge that the Time Lords will eventually let them out to preserve continuity, a possible future where they don't get let out, Time Lords mucking about with increasingly arcane and dangerous temporal forces at the risk of unleashing unholy horrors upon the universe. And the whole "Eight almost broke all of time by rescuing one person from one historical catastrophe" season arc--the numerous and creative side effects of which give a rough idea of what eldritch travesties might've crawled out of the Time War, and fuck, it puts a whole new perspective on Ten's saving-people-from-fixed-points angst in season 4 and the specials. I know that Who has no real continuity, just a big ball of wibbly-wobbly canony-fanony stuff, but in this case I think looking at the new series in the light of the audio dramas (and vice versa) would be rewarding enough to make up for all the fanwank required to get them in the same timeline.
...also, unrelatedly, I have this burning urge to write a Doctor Who celebrity historical starring Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace. There could be an anachronistic, fully-constructed analytical engine, an alien threat menacing the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, and a zeppelin chase where hydrogen airships get blown up by a giant Tesla coil. And the best part is that everything except the Tesla coil would be reasonably historically accurate: Lovelace didn't die until 1852, the analytical engine was never built but detailed plans existed from the 1830s and 40s, a partial prototype was displayed at the Great Exhibition, and the first feasible plans for a dirigible airship were also part of the Great Exhibition. Assuming aliens funded the construction of the engine, the government secretly constructed a zeppelin based on those plans before they were displayed, and both were destroyed in the course of the episode and lost to history, it could totally happen. And, you know, the Doctor could whip up the Tesla coil out of spare parts or something, IDGAF, rule of cool.
Getting my fix.
Jul. 15th, 2011 04:02So. No new Doctor Who until the fall. I finished all of new!Who months ago. And while rewatching old series 3 episodes I got that Pavlovian "YAY IT IS WHO TIME what happens neeeext" response to the theme tune and was sad because I knew what happened next. I need some way to feed the beast. Clearly the logical place to go from here is to descend upon Classic Who and watch a bunch of old Three/Delgado serials, and so, being a sensible and logical person, I... pirated some BFA audios with Eight? IDEK.
No regrets, though. None. Because as far as I can tell, the BFA audios consist of the whole crew of new!Who fanboy writers banding together to make it up to Paul McGann for the ridiculousness of the TV movie. I mean, I am still completely up for Classic Who and would love some recommendations, but right now the two warring factions in my head are "WANT TO LISTEN TO THE NEXT ONE" and "you really should not start another two-hour audio at three in the morning." I was iffy about the whole audio idea--I am not a books-on-tape person, and I'd downloaded Dead Air but never got more than twenty minutes in because the premise was cool but the narration just felt awkward. These are different. They're all dialogue and sound effects--it feels like watching an episode with the video switched off, only written in a way that you can follow the action.
And so I leave you a recommendation and a download link: The Chimes of Midnight. It's Christmas 1906 (or is it?) and the TARDIS lands smack in the middle of a very strange murder mystery where nothing adds up, time moves oddly, and the victims don't stay dead.
Reasons you need this in your life:
- You don't actually need to know anything about Eight and Charley, except that she's an Edwardian adventuress who met Eight aboard a doomed airship.
- Eight. I love Eight. I've been exposed to all of, what, a few audios and a crappy movie with him? And I might just love him more than any of the new!Who Doctors, even Ten. Yeah, I said it.
- It's written by Rob Shearman, who wrote the season 1 'Dalek' episode. I can't say too much without spoiling everything, but near the end of this one he takes up similar knotty themes of humanity, life, sentience, and compassion, and the result is just as powerful.
- Remember everything that was wonderful about Moffat's writing during RTD's run, before half of fandom started hating him? This has it in spades. It's creepy as hell (don't listen to it in the dark, just don't), full of black humor, and leans to the wibbly-wobbly side of timey-wimey. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Moffat learned some of his tricks from Shearman--he certainly reuses at least one of them in one of his comedy sketches.
- I... I just... think of it as the glorious bastard offspring of Father's Day, Blink, Dalek, and The Doctor's Wife. Now go listen to it.
No regrets, though. None. Because as far as I can tell, the BFA audios consist of the whole crew of new!Who fanboy writers banding together to make it up to Paul McGann for the ridiculousness of the TV movie. I mean, I am still completely up for Classic Who and would love some recommendations, but right now the two warring factions in my head are "WANT TO LISTEN TO THE NEXT ONE" and "you really should not start another two-hour audio at three in the morning." I was iffy about the whole audio idea--I am not a books-on-tape person, and I'd downloaded Dead Air but never got more than twenty minutes in because the premise was cool but the narration just felt awkward. These are different. They're all dialogue and sound effects--it feels like watching an episode with the video switched off, only written in a way that you can follow the action.
And so I leave you a recommendation and a download link: The Chimes of Midnight. It's Christmas 1906 (or is it?) and the TARDIS lands smack in the middle of a very strange murder mystery where nothing adds up, time moves oddly, and the victims don't stay dead.
Reasons you need this in your life:
- You don't actually need to know anything about Eight and Charley, except that she's an Edwardian adventuress who met Eight aboard a doomed airship.
- Eight. I love Eight. I've been exposed to all of, what, a few audios and a crappy movie with him? And I might just love him more than any of the new!Who Doctors, even Ten. Yeah, I said it.
- It's written by Rob Shearman, who wrote the season 1 'Dalek' episode. I can't say too much without spoiling everything, but near the end of this one he takes up similar knotty themes of humanity, life, sentience, and compassion, and the result is just as powerful.
- Remember everything that was wonderful about Moffat's writing during RTD's run, before half of fandom started hating him? This has it in spades. It's creepy as hell (don't listen to it in the dark, just don't), full of black humor, and leans to the wibbly-wobbly side of timey-wimey. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Moffat learned some of his tricks from Shearman--he certainly reuses at least one of them in one of his comedy sketches.
- I... I just... think of it as the glorious bastard offspring of Father's Day, Blink, Dalek, and The Doctor's Wife. Now go listen to it.
Getting my fix.
Jul. 15th, 2011 04:02So. No new Doctor Who until the fall. I finished all of new!Who months ago. And while rewatching old series 3 episodes I got that Pavlovian "YAY IT IS WHO TIME what happens neeeext" response to the theme tune and was sad because I knew what happened next. I need some way to feed the beast. Clearly the logical place to go from here is to descend upon Classic Who and watch a bunch of old Three/Delgado serials, and so, being a sensible and logical person, I... pirated some BFA audios with Eight? IDEK.
No regrets, though. None. Because as far as I can tell, the BFA audios consist of the whole crew of new!Who fanboy writers banding together to make it up to Paul McGann for the ridiculousness of the TV movie. I mean, I am still completely up for Classic Who and would love some recommendations, but right now the two warring factions in my head are "WANT TO LISTEN TO THE NEXT ONE" and "you really should not start another two-hour audio at three in the morning." I was iffy about the whole audio idea--I am not a books-on-tape person, and I'd downloaded Dead Air but never got more than twenty minutes in because the premise was cool but the narration just felt awkward. These are different. They're all dialogue and sound effects--it feels like watching an episode with the video switched off, only written in a way that you can follow the action.
And so I leave you a recommendation and a download link: The Chimes of Midnight. It's Christmas 1906 (or is it?) and the TARDIS lands smack in the middle of a very strange murder mystery where nothing adds up, time moves oddly, and the victims don't stay dead.
Reasons you need this in your life:
- You don't actually need to know anything about Eight and Charley, except that she's an Edwardian adventuress who met Eight aboard a doomed airship.
- Eight. I love Eight. I've been exposed to all of, what, a few audios and a crappy movie with him? And I might just love him more than any of the new!Who Doctors, even Ten. Yeah, I said it.
- It's written by Rob Shearman, who wrote the season 1 'Dalek' episode. I can't say too much without spoiling everything, but near the end of this one he takes up similar knotty themes of humanity, life, sentience, and compassion, and the result is just as powerful.
- Remember everything that was wonderful about Moffat's writing during RTD's run, before half of fandom started hating him? This has it in spades. It's creepy as hell (don't listen to it in the dark, just don't), full of black humor, and leans to the wibbly-wobbly side of timey-wimey. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Moffat learned some of his tricks from Shearman--he certainly reuses at least one of them in one of his comedy sketches.
- I... I just... think of it as the glorious bastard offspring of Father's Day, Blink, Dalek, and The Doctor's Wife. Now go listen to it.
No regrets, though. None. Because as far as I can tell, the BFA audios consist of the whole crew of new!Who fanboy writers banding together to make it up to Paul McGann for the ridiculousness of the TV movie. I mean, I am still completely up for Classic Who and would love some recommendations, but right now the two warring factions in my head are "WANT TO LISTEN TO THE NEXT ONE" and "you really should not start another two-hour audio at three in the morning." I was iffy about the whole audio idea--I am not a books-on-tape person, and I'd downloaded Dead Air but never got more than twenty minutes in because the premise was cool but the narration just felt awkward. These are different. They're all dialogue and sound effects--it feels like watching an episode with the video switched off, only written in a way that you can follow the action.
And so I leave you a recommendation and a download link: The Chimes of Midnight. It's Christmas 1906 (or is it?) and the TARDIS lands smack in the middle of a very strange murder mystery where nothing adds up, time moves oddly, and the victims don't stay dead.
Reasons you need this in your life:
- You don't actually need to know anything about Eight and Charley, except that she's an Edwardian adventuress who met Eight aboard a doomed airship.
- Eight. I love Eight. I've been exposed to all of, what, a few audios and a crappy movie with him? And I might just love him more than any of the new!Who Doctors, even Ten. Yeah, I said it.
- It's written by Rob Shearman, who wrote the season 1 'Dalek' episode. I can't say too much without spoiling everything, but near the end of this one he takes up similar knotty themes of humanity, life, sentience, and compassion, and the result is just as powerful.
- Remember everything that was wonderful about Moffat's writing during RTD's run, before half of fandom started hating him? This has it in spades. It's creepy as hell (don't listen to it in the dark, just don't), full of black humor, and leans to the wibbly-wobbly side of timey-wimey. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Moffat learned some of his tricks from Shearman--he certainly reuses at least one of them in one of his comedy sketches.
- I... I just... think of it as the glorious bastard offspring of Father's Day, Blink, Dalek, and The Doctor's Wife. Now go listen to it.
- Chameleon Circuit's new album is out! And it is fabulous, much more musically interesting than their first album, which is fun but often sounds like a garage band propped up by a geeky premise. There are a few tracks I'm not really sold on, but there's also a lot of excellent stuff, especially "Teenage Rebel" (best track on the album IMO), "Travelling Man" (so warm and fluffy it should come with suffocation warnings, but awwwwww), "The Sound of Drums" (hell yes six-minute power ballad about the Master), and "Still Not Ginger." Actually, I keep listening to everything from "Teenage Rebel" to the end on repeat, it's all awesome. "Nightmares" I'm on the fence about, I love the use of the s4 theme but did they have to write a song about how the Doctor's life near the end of the RTD run became a Linkin Park song?
- Did a mostly-sober rewatch of the TV movie the other night. What can I say, I wanted something stupid and pretty and it delivers both in spades. Also, the only other time I watched it was at a gathering of friends where the most frequent comment was "Dear God, pass me more wine or I can't deal with this," so my memory of everything after the motorcycle chase was a meaningless, contextless jumble of images. I chalked this up to misunderestimating my alcohol tolerance, but on rewatch, no, it's just that everything after the motorcycle chase makes no fucking sense. Before that point it's camp as hell but you can see a plot taking shape; afterwards it could give Russell T Davies lessons in nonsensical asspulling, and it doesn't actually require that much impairment for the brain to just give up on forcing it into a coherent narrative. Eye of Harmony? Beryllium clock? Temporal orbit? No, fuck it all, Eight is in bondage and Roberts!Master always dresses for the occasion and the TARDIS interior is gorgeous and this is all you need to know.
- Speaking of rewatching terrible Who, last night I watched the Daleks in Manhattan two-parter. And you know what? Once your expectations are lowered, it's not that bad. Actually, it's kind of like a Dalek/human hybrid: in theory it is really cool and has a lot of fascinating themes and issues, in execution it's a guy in a suit wearing a stupid alien mask covered in dongs. So yes, Dalek Sec's head is covered in dongs and the American accents are cringeworthy and the actors have to spit out some terrible lines, but I actually love everything that involves the Doctor investigating or interacting with the hybrid-Dalek plotline. Mostly for Tennant's acting and body language: the familiarity, the flat-out burning hatred, the dawning realization, and for once, an offer to help his enemies that is both 100% sincere and obviously costs him a lot to make. It's an interesting concept and great acting working against a bad script, and when Ten does get talky during the confrontation in the theatre it devolves into preachy crap, but for a while there he gets some Time War-related angst that isn't mopey or self-indulgent. Not that that stops these episodes from being chock full of "really, Ten? really?!" moments--actually, my biggest problem with this two-parter isn't phallic tentacles or bad accents, it's that... well, everyone is a bit rubbish. Everyone. The Daleks are skulking in sewers, the Doctor has an inexplicable death wish and seems to be trying to get rid of Martha most of the time, and Martha does an awful lot of screaming and trying not to cry and generally getting slotted into the Hapless Companion role no matter how OOC it is for her. I do wonder if this is where the perception of her as mopey and pining and not living up to her Smith & Jones potential comes from, and if so... between that and Ten's gun thing in Sontaran Stratagem, Helen Raynor has a lot of bad fanon to answer for.
- Did a mostly-sober rewatch of the TV movie the other night. What can I say, I wanted something stupid and pretty and it delivers both in spades. Also, the only other time I watched it was at a gathering of friends where the most frequent comment was "Dear God, pass me more wine or I can't deal with this," so my memory of everything after the motorcycle chase was a meaningless, contextless jumble of images. I chalked this up to misunderestimating my alcohol tolerance, but on rewatch, no, it's just that everything after the motorcycle chase makes no fucking sense. Before that point it's camp as hell but you can see a plot taking shape; afterwards it could give Russell T Davies lessons in nonsensical asspulling, and it doesn't actually require that much impairment for the brain to just give up on forcing it into a coherent narrative. Eye of Harmony? Beryllium clock? Temporal orbit? No, fuck it all, Eight is in bondage and Roberts!Master always dresses for the occasion and the TARDIS interior is gorgeous and this is all you need to know.
- Speaking of rewatching terrible Who, last night I watched the Daleks in Manhattan two-parter. And you know what? Once your expectations are lowered, it's not that bad. Actually, it's kind of like a Dalek/human hybrid: in theory it is really cool and has a lot of fascinating themes and issues, in execution it's a guy in a suit wearing a stupid alien mask covered in dongs. So yes, Dalek Sec's head is covered in dongs and the American accents are cringeworthy and the actors have to spit out some terrible lines, but I actually love everything that involves the Doctor investigating or interacting with the hybrid-Dalek plotline. Mostly for Tennant's acting and body language: the familiarity, the flat-out burning hatred, the dawning realization, and for once, an offer to help his enemies that is both 100% sincere and obviously costs him a lot to make. It's an interesting concept and great acting working against a bad script, and when Ten does get talky during the confrontation in the theatre it devolves into preachy crap, but for a while there he gets some Time War-related angst that isn't mopey or self-indulgent. Not that that stops these episodes from being chock full of "really, Ten? really?!" moments--actually, my biggest problem with this two-parter isn't phallic tentacles or bad accents, it's that... well, everyone is a bit rubbish. Everyone. The Daleks are skulking in sewers, the Doctor has an inexplicable death wish and seems to be trying to get rid of Martha most of the time, and Martha does an awful lot of screaming and trying not to cry and generally getting slotted into the Hapless Companion role no matter how OOC it is for her. I do wonder if this is where the perception of her as mopey and pining and not living up to her Smith & Jones potential comes from, and if so... between that and Ten's gun thing in Sontaran Stratagem, Helen Raynor has a lot of bad fanon to answer for.
- Chameleon Circuit's new album is out! And it is fabulous, much more musically interesting than their first album, which is fun but often sounds like a garage band propped up by a geeky premise. There are a few tracks I'm not really sold on, but there's also a lot of excellent stuff, especially "Teenage Rebel" (best track on the album IMO), "Travelling Man" (so warm and fluffy it should come with suffocation warnings, but awwwwww), "The Sound of Drums" (hell yes six-minute power ballad about the Master), and "Still Not Ginger." Actually, I keep listening to everything from "Teenage Rebel" to the end on repeat, it's all awesome. "Nightmares" I'm on the fence about, I love the use of the s4 theme but did they have to write a song about how the Doctor's life near the end of the RTD run became a Linkin Park song?
- Did a mostly-sober rewatch of the TV movie the other night. What can I say, I wanted something stupid and pretty and it delivers both in spades. Also, the only other time I watched it was at a gathering of friends where the most frequent comment was "Dear God, pass me more wine or I can't deal with this," so my memory of everything after the motorcycle chase was a meaningless, contextless jumble of images. I chalked this up to misunderestimating my alcohol tolerance, but on rewatch, no, it's just that everything after the motorcycle chase makes no fucking sense. Before that point it's camp as hell but you can see a plot taking shape; afterwards it could give Russell T Davies lessons in nonsensical asspulling, and it doesn't actually require that much impairment for the brain to just give up on forcing it into a coherent narrative. Eye of Harmony? Beryllium clock? Temporal orbit? No, fuck it all, Eight is in bondage and Roberts!Master always dresses for the occasion and the TARDIS interior is gorgeous and this is all you need to know.
- Speaking of rewatching terrible Who, last night I watched the Daleks in Manhattan two-parter. And you know what? Once your expectations are lowered, it's not that bad. Actually, it's kind of like a Dalek/human hybrid: in theory it is really cool and has a lot of fascinating themes and issues, in execution it's a guy in a suit wearing a stupid alien mask covered in dongs. So yes, Dalek Sec's head is covered in dongs and the American accents are cringeworthy and the actors have to spit out some terrible lines, but I actually love everything that involves the Doctor investigating or interacting with the hybrid-Dalek plotline. Mostly for Tennant's acting and body language: the familiarity, the flat-out burning hatred, the dawning realization, and for once, an offer to help his enemies that is both 100% sincere and obviously costs him a lot to make. It's an interesting concept and great acting working against a bad script, and when Ten does get talky during the confrontation in the theatre it devolves into preachy crap, but for a while there he gets some Time War-related angst that isn't mopey or self-indulgent. Not that that stops these episodes from being chock full of "really, Ten? really?!" moments--actually, my biggest problem with this two-parter isn't phallic tentacles or bad accents, it's that... well, everyone is a bit rubbish. Everyone. The Daleks are skulking in sewers, the Doctor has an inexplicable death wish and seems to be trying to get rid of Martha most of the time, and Martha does an awful lot of screaming and trying not to cry and generally getting slotted into the Hapless Companion role no matter how OOC it is for her. I do wonder if this is where the perception of her as mopey and pining and not living up to her Smith & Jones potential comes from, and if so... between that and Ten's gun thing in Sontaran Stratagem, Helen Raynor has a lot of bad fanon to answer for.
- Did a mostly-sober rewatch of the TV movie the other night. What can I say, I wanted something stupid and pretty and it delivers both in spades. Also, the only other time I watched it was at a gathering of friends where the most frequent comment was "Dear God, pass me more wine or I can't deal with this," so my memory of everything after the motorcycle chase was a meaningless, contextless jumble of images. I chalked this up to misunderestimating my alcohol tolerance, but on rewatch, no, it's just that everything after the motorcycle chase makes no fucking sense. Before that point it's camp as hell but you can see a plot taking shape; afterwards it could give Russell T Davies lessons in nonsensical asspulling, and it doesn't actually require that much impairment for the brain to just give up on forcing it into a coherent narrative. Eye of Harmony? Beryllium clock? Temporal orbit? No, fuck it all, Eight is in bondage and Roberts!Master always dresses for the occasion and the TARDIS interior is gorgeous and this is all you need to know.
- Speaking of rewatching terrible Who, last night I watched the Daleks in Manhattan two-parter. And you know what? Once your expectations are lowered, it's not that bad. Actually, it's kind of like a Dalek/human hybrid: in theory it is really cool and has a lot of fascinating themes and issues, in execution it's a guy in a suit wearing a stupid alien mask covered in dongs. So yes, Dalek Sec's head is covered in dongs and the American accents are cringeworthy and the actors have to spit out some terrible lines, but I actually love everything that involves the Doctor investigating or interacting with the hybrid-Dalek plotline. Mostly for Tennant's acting and body language: the familiarity, the flat-out burning hatred, the dawning realization, and for once, an offer to help his enemies that is both 100% sincere and obviously costs him a lot to make. It's an interesting concept and great acting working against a bad script, and when Ten does get talky during the confrontation in the theatre it devolves into preachy crap, but for a while there he gets some Time War-related angst that isn't mopey or self-indulgent. Not that that stops these episodes from being chock full of "really, Ten? really?!" moments--actually, my biggest problem with this two-parter isn't phallic tentacles or bad accents, it's that... well, everyone is a bit rubbish. Everyone. The Daleks are skulking in sewers, the Doctor has an inexplicable death wish and seems to be trying to get rid of Martha most of the time, and Martha does an awful lot of screaming and trying not to cry and generally getting slotted into the Hapless Companion role no matter how OOC it is for her. I do wonder if this is where the perception of her as mopey and pining and not living up to her Smith & Jones potential comes from, and if so... between that and Ten's gun thing in Sontaran Stratagem, Helen Raynor has a lot of bad fanon to answer for.
OMG London Les Mis was understudy MADNESS. Jonathan Williams as Valjean, Sophie Josslyn as Fantine, Helen Owen as Eponine, AJ Callaghan as Cosette... and then in the ensemble, Jeff Nicholson was on as Grantaire because Neeley is on vacation, Simon Shorten, Joe Evans, and Natalie Day were out, and Antony Hansen lost his voice and left halfway through Act I. Sum total: three male swings covering five parts, and two female swings covering four parts. CRAZY.
Everyone was completely on their toes. So much energy. Even the principals who are normally on the lackluster side were really really into it, and the result was an amazing show.
( Details! )
Everyone was completely on their toes. So much energy. Even the principals who are normally on the lackluster side were really really into it, and the result was an amazing show.
( Details! )
OMG London Les Mis was understudy MADNESS. Jonathan Williams as Valjean, Sophie Josslyn as Fantine, Helen Owen as Eponine, AJ Callaghan as Cosette... and then in the ensemble, Jeff Nicholson was on as Grantaire because Neeley is on vacation, Simon Shorten, Joe Evans, and Natalie Day were out, and Antony Hansen lost his voice and left halfway through Act I. Sum total: three male swings covering five parts, and two female swings covering four parts. CRAZY.
Everyone was completely on their toes. So much energy. Even the principals who are normally on the lackluster side were really really into it, and the result was an amazing show.
( Details! )
Everyone was completely on their toes. So much energy. Even the principals who are normally on the lackluster side were really really into it, and the result was an amazing show.
( Details! )
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