Here’s my first post of vacation photos from my two week trip to Sheffield, London, and Paris.
( Read more... )Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.
Here’s my first post of vacation photos from my two week trip to Sheffield, London, and Paris.
( Read more... )Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.
* New White Collar promo. It’s mostly old footage but it sure does make the show look sexy. (Where’s Elizabeth, though?)
* I GOT A SECOND ROW TICKET TO SEE JOHN SIMM IN HAMLET! :)
Now I just have to figure out how the hell I’m going to make a detour to Sheffield on my way from NYC to Paris (for the Lymond thing). It’s looking like I can fly from JFK to Manchester and take a train to Sheffield, see the play, take a train to London and spend a day there, then take a train to Paris. Icelandair is currently showing round trips from JFK to Manchester with a return from Paris to JFK for about $700 total–that’s a better price than I expected, although I’m a little iffy about the stopover in Reykjavik.
(Does anyone out there have experience with any of this–is that a sane plan or would you recommend something else?)
* jaydk and I went to see Metropolis at Film Forum. The restored footage was way cool, but the image would’ve been better if we’d waited for the DVD. Movie theaters have pretty much lost their allure now that I have a giant television.
* We also got tickets to see Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, which is um, a political satire in the form of an emo rock musical? I don’t know, but it looks fun.
* Stone Temple Pilots are touring, but they’re not playing NYC proper. I don’t want to go out to Jones Beach, but maybe I’ll go to the Borgata in Atlantic City. Apparently there’s now a train that goes there from NYC, and the Borgata is a good venue–it’s small and GA and half the crowd leaves in the middle to gamble, which means I can usually get right up front (I saw Depeche Mode standing in the third row there). But on the minus side it’s a long trip, it’s expensive, and they have a new album which means I’d have to stand through a bunch of new songs that I don’t care about. Hmmm.
* I did get a ticket to see “BlackDiamondSkye” at Madison Square Garden, which is Alice in Chains and the Deftones apparently? I dunno, I couldn’t resist seeing AIC at MSG, even though this is probably too much dude music for me, and I really don’t like the new AIC songs.
* rm has been posting interesting thoughts on season six of BtVS and, man, thinking about that era brought back all these unhappy emotions from seven years ago that I didn’t even know I still had. I reassert my vow never to become so negatively emotionally involved in a fandom again. (Note my complete lack of posts about Moffat’s Who.)
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* John Simm will be playing Hamlet! Apparently it will open in Sheffield in September. Hmmm… I’m planning to go to the Lymond gathering in Paris in October… September is close to October… and England is close to France…
* Why Strong Female Characters Are Bad for Women - Great article that gets at the heart of why Hollywood continues to fail at creating female characters.
* bodlon on character death: “I object to being told that art is a democracy, or that writers are not allowed to make people sad [with] their stories, or that one reading of a text is the only reading of a text.” Fantastic post.
* This long-haired David Bowie picspam is so very, very pretty.
* A funeral for Internet Explorer 6. Web developers, rejoice!
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* Um. There’s an Edward Cullen bedsheet set. This might be the most disturbing thing I have ever seen.
* I watched the two John Simm Netflix DVDs that have been lying around my house for the past six months. The first was a TV show called Cracker, in which adorable young Simm plays a deeply fucked up young killer who just wants to be loved. Awww. You kind of want to snuggle the poor darling… and then lock him up for life. It was fun to watch, but nothing new; pretty much the same thing he did in Chiller (which was more fun because of the gay subtext with his evil imaginary friend).
Then I watched Wonderland… or, I should say, the first half hour of Wonderland, before I couldn’t take it any more and had to fast forward to only the Simm parts. It’s apparently a movie about a bunch of incredibly boring, miserable people, who go about their boring lives being miserable. I guess it’s supposed to be “realistic,” but it was just pathetic. Admittedly I only got part way through… maybe it got better? Simm didn’t have much to do anyway; he played one of the many boring pathetic losers, basically Danny Kavanagh without the spark. I don’t understand why people make movies like this. Even if some peoples’ lives are this dull, who would want to watch a film about it?
Between Wonderland and The Devil’s Whore, I am beginning to doubt the conventional wisdom that John Simm has great taste in projects. At least we’ll always have Life on Mars and Doctor Who. And I still haven’t seen anything as bad as the crap I endured during my Sean Bean phase.
* I had a peculiar weekend.
( Saturday I got way too drunk at my friend Livi's holiday party )Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment.
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* This just made me choke on my coffee. I think I enjoy The Meathead Perspective far more than I enjoy the actual band Nine Inch Nails.
* I’m not an Avatar fan, but I’m still upset by the blatantly racist movie casting. Just… what the hell? I’m glad to see that the fandom has already launched a letter writing campaign.
* This xkcd comic is awesome and totally nails the “nice guy” phenomenon. The wank it’s generated is severely depressing, though. “Women have nearly exclusive control over the nation’s sex supply, and that will never, ever change“???? *headdesk*
* jaydk and
kalichan came over to my place on Saturday night for a very fun evening of wine and television. We watched the first episode of The Devil’s Whore, after which
jaydk declared that she couldn’t stand to continue watching history be raped in such a blatant manner, so we switched to the first episode of Life on Mars (which
kalichan had never seen!) to get the bad taste out of our mouths.
To be honest, I didn’t mind The Devil’s Whore–probably because I’m woefully ignorant about that period of English history, and because I was only watching for John Simm. He had his shirt off for a whole scene, so I got what I wanted out of the deal. :P
* This panel description has me dreading Gallifrey One. I think it might be best if I spend this convention drinking and chatting and avoiding most of the actual programming. >:( Still looking forward to seeing Phil Collinson, though. And hopefully to hearing interesting insights from the various new series writers who are attending.
* I’ve kind of reluctantly gotten into Spooks–I actually went out of my way to watch the season finale as soon as possible. I don’t love the show by any means. It’s pure genre, which makes it incredibly predictable; it never does anything that a spy drama wouldn’t do. But it’s quite a good example of a spy show, which makes it entertaining for what it is. Well, okay, mainly the entertaining thing is the lovely contrasts between Richard Armitage’s pale skin, black hair, and blue eyes. But occasionally he even gets to do some actual acting! And I kind of love the character of Ros–her competence and snark make her one of the more appealing female characters I’ve seen in quite a while.
* I’m re-reading Pawn in Frankincense despite myself. I forgot how funny this one is as it starts off! In fact, I think I forgot almost everything that happens except for the ending, which kind of blew the rest of it out of the water. It’s a totally different experience to read this series for a second time; everything makes so much more sense when you already know what’s going to happen. Dunnett’s style of keeping the reader completely in the dark for 90% of each book (and the series as a whole) is incredibly frustrating, but definitely rewarding if you’re able to put up with it. It also makes re-reading a whole new experience–you can actually appreciate the subtleties instead of just wondering what the hell is going on. It also helps that I’ve got a book of translations with me this time around, so I can figure out what the hell they’re saying when the characters suddenly switch to French or Latin.
* I’m resisting the urge to write a long song-by-song analysis of “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.” I know that no one cares about my interpretation of a 35-year-old classic album that I’ve only been listening to for two weeks. Still. It’s all I’ve been thinking about. I haven’t even turned it off at night, because it’ll play in my head if I don’t have it actually playing from my speakers.
* 5years.com is an incredibly helpful website if you suddenly decide to get obsessed with “Ziggy Stardust” 35 years too late. Plus I’m learning all this stuff about glam rock–now I totally get that scene in Life on Mars where Sam meets Marc Bolan!
* I bought this Best of Bowie DVD. It’s all so totally totally awesome for about the first 50 minutes, and then… 1974 happens. Good god. I think maybe I’m a fan of Ziggy Stardust, not of David Bowie?
* I wish I’d gone to the Bowie Ball last weekend. I totally want to go see this all-female Ziggy Stardust cover band in January. And I want to go see this thing at MOMA even though I doubt 1) I can get tickets, 2) that it’s anything I haven’t already seen on the Best of Bowie DVD.
* I finally figured out how to connect my computer to my TV wirelessly. It’s a combination of this and this and it totally works! My TV is a second monitor and I can just drag video files over to it and play them. Now I should probably cancel my cable TV, but I’ve gotten addicted to The Rachel Maddow Show and now I kind of don’t want to give it up. I suppose I could just watch that online too. And I might actually continue catching up on more of those old Doctor/Master episodes now that I don’t have to waste CDs on burning them.
Although I might just watch lots of YouTube clips of young David Bowie instead.
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Those of you who read my journal regularly are probably aware that, every night before I go to bed, I get down on my knees and pray that John Simm will return as the Master for one of the 2009 Doctor Who specials.*
Nothing has been announced yet, BUT…
( spoilery speculation )Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment.
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Just got back from the vet. He said Lucifer seems fine based on the exam, but I should watch him closely to see if anything changes. I’m going to work from home the rest of today and probably tomorrow so I can keep an eye on him.
I miss sleeping. Every single noise wakes me up now because I’m afraid it’s Lucifer having a seizure or Lucifer throwing up. :(
Anyway. Distracting myself with Doctor Who stuff before I go do more work:
* Excerpts from Russell T. Davies’ new book about writing Doctor Who. Have I mentioned how much I love this guy? I adore his enthusiasm and positive attitude and, yes, his crazy cracked out ideas. I can’t wait to read the whole book.
( Discussion of rumors that could possibly be spoilers )Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment.
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Why is London After Midnight playing in NYC the same night as the Cure? I would’ve liked to see them. That’s just weird.
I went to Ikea last night. Dude. I felt like I was trapped in the hedge maze from Harry Potter 4. It took me two hours to get out of there, dodging strollers and shopping carts and trying not to get distracted by all the shiny things. And I missed Vegan Drinks. :(
( I chose a different bookshelf )Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment.
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Home from work. I know everyone’s thinking this, but thank god it’s Friday.
It’s dreary and horrible outside, but I braved the weather in order to pick up important Doctor Who watching supplies. Namely beer and coffee. I wanted Abita Strawberry Ale, but didn’t feel like waiting in line for a half-hour at Whole Foods, so I went with Magic Hat #9 from the deli. And the coffee is freshly ground pumpkin spice.
I see that people are angsting about the upcoming Doctor Who episode, but I’m unspoiled and willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. Spoilers always give you a distorted and out of context picture, anyway. I can’t tell you how many things I freaked out about in Buffy fandom that turned out to be minuscule in retrospect. Of course, the episode could totally suck, but I want to see it first before I judge anything. I’ve been happy with this season so far, so I’d be surprised if it wasn’t good.
(It kind of sucks not being able to participate in a lot of the discussion, though. Alas, the curse of the spoiler-free.)
I guess we’ll also watch the last Sarah Jane Adventures two-parter. (Did I mention I loved “Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?” So good. It made me cry.) And maybe “The War Games.” It’s first on this list, and jaydk loves the Second Doctor, so hopefully she’ll want to watch it with me.
Note to self: get web work done this weekend. And go apartment-hunting if the weather clears up. (There. I wrote it down; now I have to do it.)
Did you guys see Stephen Colbert talking to the astronaut last night? I thought he was going to explode from glee. So, so cute.
Since this entry is pretty boring, I’ve added an icon of John Simm looking gorgeous to brighten it up. Isn’t he adorable? :)
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Okay, so more people recommended 24 Hour Party People, but more people said John Simm is hot in The Lakes. So I went with The Lakes. (Don’t worry, I’ll watch them all eventually.)
The Lakes is a soapy drama from 1997 that lasted two seasons. I didn’t like it much, but the first four episodes do open with John Simm naked, so it was certainly worth watching.
Season one actually isn’t terrible. ( The Lakes season one: in which John Simm is brilliant )
So, season one was ultimately worthwhile. Season two, on the other hand, made me want to gouge out my own eyes. What I want to know is WHAT KIND OF BAD CRACK WERE THEY SMOKING WHEN THEY WROTE THIS THING? Apparently they sat around in the writers room thinking “Hmmm, we have a successful show thanks to our charismatic lead actor and his wonderfully complex character. Let’s reduce him to five minutes per episode and focus on the incredibly dull supporting cast instead!”
I’m not kidding, here are things that actually happened in season two of The Lakes. I’m going to exorcise them now and never speak of them again.
( The Lakes season two: the bad kind of crack )
So that was The Lakes. If you like John Simm, watch season one, and whatever you do, if you value your sanity, stay as far away from season two as possible.
***
jaydk came over Friday night for another Doctor Who-and-related marathon. We didn’t manage to squeeze in any Who; instead we watched David Tennant’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are (which is so cute; he gets all angsty when he finds out that his Irish Protestant ancestors weren’t adorkable enlightened modern Liberals like he is) and then the entirety of State of Play.
jaydk got really into it and had to know what happened. >:) And then she called me at 1am on Saturday night asking for Life on Mars fic recs, because she was in a John Simm mood. Hee!
I love State of Play. It’s a six-episode political thriller from 2003 in which John Simm plays a reporter investigating the death of his friend’s mistress. My thoughts:
***
A couple of John Simm pretties: young, goofy hair, supercute, semi-pr0n and singing with New Order in front of a zillion people.
I am completely jealous of people who live in the UK. Why do they get this awesome Doctor Who season three DVD cover? I’d almost buy it anyway (yay region-free DVD player!) but it’s £48.99. That’s almost $100! Maybe I’ll just print out the picture and paste it over the US DVD set that I have….
[Cross-posted to InsaneJournal]
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