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| Monday, July 6th, 2009 | | 11:11 pm |
Torchwood--Children of Earth: Day One by Russell T. Davies
Well. So this is what we get when a Torchwood story gets to expand to more than an hour, yes? If that's the case, John Barrowman's unhappiness with the number of episodes aside, then I hope we get more series like this. Assuming the other four episodes are as good as this one, of course. To put it simply, I really, really liked it. As many of you may remember, I was less than impressed with the first Torchwood series, finding it (charitably) uneven, both in plot and character. I thought the second series was a distinct improvement on the first. But this, this is head and shoulders above the last. ( It occurs to me that anything more I might say could be spoilers for series two as well as this new episode, so hey, here we go. )So yes, I liked it a lot. Let's hope I still feel that way by the time I see the fifth episode! Tomorrow night (assuming I have time to watch it then): Day Two! Anything else would be a spoiler, unfortunately.... (A reminder: Children of Earth will be shown--with commercial interruption, alas--on the cable channel BBCAmerica later this month. Check your listings!) Current Mood:  satisfied | | Saturday, July 4th, 2009 | | 10:48 pm |
John Cleese on English Holidays
I remember seeing this segment from the old David Letterman show back when it aired in 1988, and every July 4th I get the urge to show it to people, if only for the first couple of minutes. But I've not been able to find a copy of it...until now. (And yes, he is on the show promoting A Fish Called Wanda, one of the funniest movies of its time. Dangit, now I want to watch A Fish Called Wanda. Oh well....) Current Mood:  awake | | 9:59 am |
Happy Fourth of July!
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends. We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. Current Mood:  good | | Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 | | 1:26 pm |
(Doctor Who) Torchwood--Radio Plays Reminder
The first of the Torchwood radio plays, "Asylum," was broadcast today on BBC4. Two subsequent plays will be broadcast tomorrow and Friday. They can be (legally!) downloaded here for about the next week. It says "UK only," but I was able to grab the first one without problems. (I assume; I haven't listened to it yet.) Here's hoping they don't close that loophole! And, of course, the first episode of the new series, part one of "Children of Earth," will be on BBC1 on Monday evening, with parts two through four running the rest of the week. Should be fun! Current Mood:  tired | | Sunday, June 28th, 2009 | | 1:34 am |
Unemployment helps one notice strange things.
Since I got laid off, I've watched quite a bit of daytime and late night television, quite often cartoons. Over the past week, I have seen not one, but two references to the Firesign Theatre, one in a cartoon from the '80s ("They're no fun. They fell right over!") and one in a cartoon from the aughts ("Stop crushing that Dwarf! Hand me the pliers!"). True, they're both misquotes, but it was a little surreal moment each time. I mean, neither of them were "all ages" 'toons either. (Though one of them was created by Steve Gerber....which, I guess, is a big hint to its identity for those in the know...) Now that I'm looking for 'em, I wonder how many other Firesign lines I'll notice...... Current Mood: tired | | Friday, June 26th, 2009 | | 2:44 am |
Fun for Friday--"Mars, God of War"
I haven't done one of these posts in ages, have I? Well, I've got a doozy for you all this time, a gorgeous looking story from a 1942 issue of Planet Comics, an offshoot of the pulp mag Planet Stories. I've never heard of the artist, Joe Doolin, but his work is absolutely wonderful. So, here you go: Mars, God of War! Enjoy! [Edit: It occurs to me that I should mention that this work is definitely a product of its time and there's some weirdly implied racism as a minorish plot point--Weird aliens vs. an innocent "white girl." I was able to roll with it, given this was 1942, but I can certainly understand it being a something I should warn the unwary about....] Current Mood:  indescribable | | Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 | | 3:04 am |
TARDIS Project--"The Aztecs" wrapup
Whee, insomnia is fun! Ah well, it gave me the opportunity to write up the wrapup for the latest story the TARDIS Project has completed, "The Aztecs!" This was a really great story and the team had a lot of fun watching it. And, as I've mentioned elsewhere, we only have two more stories before finishing the first season of Doctor Who, which feels like an achievement to me. To finish the plug, blah, blah, follow along weekly at the website or follow along on the LJ feed, blah blah. You know the drill. Current Mood: tired | | Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 | | 8:37 pm |
"Doctor Who and the Childhood Memories"
(by Terrence Dicks. No, only joking.)Mark Gatiss pens a rememberence of the Target Doctor Who book line. I look forward, someday, to having the time to go through the boxes in my parents' basement and find all my old Target books. They may not have been stunning works of literature, but they were certainly a lot of fun. There's a BBC Four radio special that Gatiss put together called "On the Outside, it looked like an old-fashioned Police Box," but I haven't listened to it yet. You should be able to listen to it for the next six days or so here and, after that, I'm sure there will be ways to....find it as I did. Current Mood:  okay | | Monday, June 22nd, 2009 | | 7:11 pm |
"The St. Louis Refugee Ship Blues" by art spiegleman
The Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist art spiegelman had a fantastic editorial comic in yesterday's Washington Post. In all seriousness, check it out folks, whether you're into comics, American/World history, whatever. Really a fantastic piece of work. (And if you haven't read spiegelman's Maus, you really, really should. The first book blew my fifteen year old mind, and it's gotten even better as I've gotten older.) In somewhat related news, I was surprised and happy to catch a story on NPR about Denis Kitchen's new book about the great artist and originator of MAD Magazine (among many other things), Harvey Kurtzman. In addition to making me wish I could buy the book, it let me hear Denis Kitchen's voice for the first time since I left the Pioneer Valley and its comics scene in 1996. (To be fair, I think the last time I was at a party/opening/whatever that Kitchen attended was in '95, but hey...) Current Mood: okay | | Thursday, June 18th, 2009 | | 9:33 pm |
Doctor Who--Holy WOW.
This is some of the best CGI I've yet seen. Ignore the bit where they're obviously experimenting with mouth flaps for Lesterton. If I hadn't been told it was CG, I might have thought that a few more minutes of "Power of the Daleks" had been found! (Admittedly, I think this is based on a tiny film clip and a few telesnaps.) Just....wow. Current Mood:  impressed | | Thursday, June 11th, 2009 | | 8:46 pm |
They're back, baby!
Futurama returns! Not specials, not DVD movies, but a full-fledged new series on Comedy Central! All I can say is cancellation can bite Bender's shiny, metal...well, you know.... Current Mood: indescribable | | Sunday, May 31st, 2009 | | 7:59 pm |
| | Saturday, May 30th, 2009 | | 12:20 pm |
Doctor Who--Eleventh Doctor's Companion Announced!
Well, the actress who'll play her, anyway. And yes, I know I'm a day late and a dollar short posting the news, but I was really busy yesterday. So, for those of you who haven't heard, her name is Karen Gillan, she's 21 (which is a good age for a companion historically, so no worries about "too young" from me). She's been on the show in a small supporting role before (like Freema, although in Karen's case it was under makeup as the Soothsayer wandering around the city in "The Fires of Pompeii"), so we have some idea that she can act. (Can't find a clip on youtube where her work's not kind of buried.) She's Scottish, though there's no word on whether she'll be allowed to use her accent or not. Nor is there confirmation of her character's name or background (though I'd prefer to know less about the latter.) And yes, she is freaking gorgeous. I mean, wow. I trust in the Moff. Steven Moffat is my Master now. Current Mood: good | | Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 | | 7:33 pm |
| | Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 | | 8:59 pm |
John Williams really IS the man.
I've shown this to a couple of you, but it deserves wider viewing. Just a note: That video is actually of a guy lip syncing the work of a comedy accapella group called Moose Butter. And now, I must leave you with the cuteness. Enjoy! Current Mood: tired | | 5:50 pm |
| | Sunday, May 24th, 2009 | | 11:54 pm |
Doctor Who--A new scene!
Well, sort of... It sure as heck made me smile, though. I didn't follow the competition (though, of course, I've been hearing about it), but talk about being able to live a childhood dream...! Current Mood: tired | | Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 | | 8:23 pm |
| | Monday, May 11th, 2009 | | 7:44 pm |
Star Trek: The Quibbling
So, several of you were wondering about my small quibbles regarding the new Trek movie that I mentioned in my non-spoilerific little review. I had pretty much negative time today to respond, so I figured I'd respond here. Obviously, I'm going to do a ( spoiler cut )But yeah, I can honestly say, regardless of quibbles, I loved the film. So, any more reactions from you guys? Current Mood: tired | | 12:03 pm |
I'm considerin' it...
This is the first "Sheldon" comic strip I've ever thought about buying the original for. I'm amazed it's not gone already.... Current Mood:  amused |
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