samfeasor

Daily Roundup

2008-05-12T03:11:00Z

15:28 Iron man take 2 #
21:16 Teo closed lanes on 95n. Who thinks to check traffic sunday at 9? Should've take rte 1. Grrrr #
21:55 And more traffic by dedham. rock on. #

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Doctor Who 4x06 - "The Doctor's Daughter'

2008-05-11T05:54:31Z

I remarked to Vi right at the very beginning that though I dislike a lot about the tenth Doctor, I really really love his red socks. I don't know why. People wearing non-white socks makes me happy, because white socks are for the gym and that's it.

This episode was great when it was "Genesis of the Daleks". Thematically, anyway.

I went into it very cynical and came out of it very happy. First off, Jenny's lack of another parent made me happy, 'cause there was no way to do it right. None. The Rosefen would've exploded, the old!Schoolers would've exploded, there would've been massive, messy explosions. I don't know, maybe there still are? I stay on the outskirts of fandom.

Anyway.

How come Jenny's the only one that the machine gives tight clothes to? And leather pants? Everyone else comes out wearing baggy fatigues, and she looks like Lara Croft. Not that I'm complaining, mind, since Georgia Moffett is hot.

Speaking of casting squee, Cobb was Arthur in Excalibur, and that made me extremely happy.

And then the Hath (?) dude sunk and all I could think was AAAAAARTAX! Come on. You thought it too. Or you should have.

I enjoy that they keep showing us how brilliant Donna is. She was introduced as sort of a dunce, who was completely oblivious to anything around her, but she keeps figuring out stuff that the Doctor doesn't even get.

I like Jenny. She's fun, and curious, and brave. She's the Doctor's daughter, and I'm happy she's out there wandering the universe. At first I legitimately thought they'd killed her, but then she came back LIKE SPOCK DID. No, really, remember? After he died and got shot to the Genesis (Daleks) planet, and then he was reborn after it was terraformed? And then he was weird in Trek IV?

(People keep calling her a Mary Sue. Why? She's canon. The Doctor's a Gary Stu, but he's canon so he's exempt. Them's the breaks, kids. Canon can't be Sue.)

BUT. I still maintain that there's a difference between a Gallifreyan and a Time Lord. You're not just born a Time Lord (which would be why she didn't regenerate, in my mind). And, no, she didn't regenerate. You don't look the same after you regenerate. Duh.

I don't buy Martha's departure. I'm glad she leaves on her own terms, but she's tired of it already? I guess that extra year sort of wore her down, and then seeing Artax drown in quarry gunk probably reminded her. So I take it back. I'll buy it a little. But only with a good return policy.

Donna saying she'll travel with the Doctor forever, besides annoying me with it's stupid foreshadowing (I keep repeating to myself that this is a show written for children), is much less skeevy than when Rose was saying it over and over again in S2. And though they keep doing the constant "you're not a couple?" jokes (made for children, made for children), when she was explaining to Jenny that they're just friends, it was real and true and good. Very very good.

If Donna dies in the finale, I'm flying to Wales and slapping RTD.

So this episode's plot was stupid, but the point of it wasn't really the plot so much as the Jenny and the Time Lord wangst. And the Jenny was good, and the Donna was good, and the Doctor and his wangst were fine (ok, so I cried a bit when Jenny died, but I'm in an emotional place right now). And the Martha was there, which makes everything better.

Daily Roundup

2008-05-11T03:06:48Z

19:20 Totally forgot how uch fun mowing a lawn can be #

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Birthday plans. Halp?

2008-05-09T17:47:57Z

I've decided that I want to do something really really awesome for my birthday this year. No, it's not some sort of milestone year (28), but last year's birthday sucked so much, that I need to erase it

(No offense to James and Ali, who were the ones that actually got married on my birthday. It's just that three weddings in one week would suck anyway, and three during my birthday week, including the ex's, sucked a billion times more.)

My sister was talking about going to Oktoberfest in Germany. If I can make enough money this summer, maybe I can head out there for the month of October. Too bad the dollar is worth about as much as my toe nail. Slightly more than my toe nail. Hey, it's a good toe nail.

But I don't know if I'm actually invited to that.

I was also thinking, hey, maybe I'll go to Vegas for the weekend (the actual day is a Monday this year). I've never been, and plans to go last year fell through. Except I'm not sure who would go with me, and going to Vegas alone sounds about as depressing as going to three weddings.

Maybe I could go out to LA and visit my uncle and have him spoil me, and make him take me to the House set and get my picture taken with Olivia Wilde on my biiiiiiiiiiirthday. Eeheehehehe. Okay, sorry.

The problem with all of this is, of course, that I can't even afford my health insurance currently. Let alone a trip to Europe or Vegas or anywhere else. But whatever. This is the planning phase, when dreams can be big and out of reach, and it's up to me to find a way to reach them.

So I'm taking suggestions.

Even crazy ones. How do you erase a three-wedding birthday with a birthday of total awesomness?

Daily Roundup

2008-05-08T03:09:17Z

12:24 Just saw my first bumblebee of the season, right as 'the black parade' came on my mp3 player. Hm. #
14:28 Walking from West End to back bay through Commons. i love boston in the spring #
14:29 And paradise city just came on. Freaky music day #

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Daily Roundup

2008-05-05T03:07:48Z

11:30 Plans to go to ICA got changed to plans to go see Iron Man. Feeling low brow but happy. #
14:17 Off to see iron man, and the T car i'm on smells like urine. Awesome. Normally that's a blue line thing. #

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Shuttup shuttup shuttup.

2008-05-04T16:50:16Z

GRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Because there haven't been any blonde Doctors (like, say, the fifth Doctor who is actually Georgia Moffet's dad). Or any other blonde companions. And because there's no way to get blonde hair unless your mom is Rose Tyler. And because Time Lord genetics work exactly like human genetics. And because Rose was a bronze (hey guys, that's third) Jenny's a gymnastic superstar. Also because you inherit things like "fiesty and strong" (neither of which describe S2 Rose, thankyouverymuch) and "likes pretty boys" from your parents.

If Jenny has anything to do with Rose I'll throw up.

The end.

Doctor Who 4x05 - "The Poison Sky"

2008-05-04T16:08:43Z

Couldn't give it an A, because the first half just wasn't that great. But the second half was much much better. And it started with Donna's mom having an axe. Rock on, Donna's mom, rock on.

Clone!Martha wasn't so much evil as she was troublesome. That's a shame, I'd have liked a really evil Martha for a little while. Clone!Ace could still kick Clone!Martha's ass. Also Clone!Ace talked like a Dalek with Sophie Aldred's voice, so she's got that going for her.

I digress.

Martha's compassion with her clone was really touching and oh-so-Martha, underscored by the use of her theme. It was also brilliant. That's Martha: compassionate but still efficient. She got the info she needed to save the world.

I imagine that the Doctor staring up at the burning sky of Earth probably had to deal with a bit of Time War PTSD stuff. Of course, this is all in my imagination because all we saw was him being totally fine and willing to sacrifice himself immediately afterwards. Okay. I sort of wonder if that's because of the Gallifrey stuff. The sacrifice for Gallifrey didn't work, and everyone died. So he tried for Earth. I'm glad Rattigan's dead, because he was damned annoying and I didn't want him to have any potential to reappear. Plus after Ross died I figured he was going to go anyway, 'cause they were set up as foils for each other. One needless death because UNIT was stupid, one meaningful death because the bad version of Ross learned his lesson.

Rose's face in the TARDIS monitor. Yeah. Not as good as first unexpected!Rose. Also, some obnoxious fan on the Billie Piper community posted with this: OMG CAN'T BREATHE. ("Spoilers for tonight's episode under the cut!") Gee, is that about Rose in Doctor Who? THANKS. Jerkface.

Donna's key scene was perfect. Donna is perfect for the Doctor, she really is. She does what Martha should have, except Martha "fell in love" with him. Donna is just perfect in general. Also she slapped the Doctor for trying to sacrifice himself, and then she held his arm. Perfect perfect perfect. This worries me, because with perfect people so much can go wrong. Also RTD hates me. Yes, me. personally.

But Martha's still on the TARDIS! Yay! Old team back together. Well, new team. ;)

I will admit I'm actually sort of excited for "The Doctor's Daughter". Georgia Moffet looks sort of awesome in the role. I also am looking forward to Donna and Martha's reactions.

Daily Roundup

2008-05-04T03:09:12Z

12:27 No such thing as a QUICK errand to brookline on a saturday. Stupid yuppies. Stupid me for being a pseudo-yuppie. #
12:57 Kinkos is expensive. Wtf. #

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Daily Roundup

2008-05-03T03:07:46Z

14:52 Half way through checking out at grocery store... realize left wallet at home. Awesome. #

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Daily Roundup

2008-05-02T03:06:06Z

13:25 May buy a blackbury. Freaking out. Oh, starting a law firm. May have failed to mention... #
13:50 Thank jebus pearl is on sale. Though the monthly payment is going to give me a heart attack. #

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Fashion [non]sense.

2008-05-01T14:28:35Z

Brown shoes with dark grey pants. Y/N? I see a lot of people doing it.

I'm about to do it because I don't feel like cutting my heel up with my dress shoes until later, when I go to the ballet. (I am just waiting to write about that so I can use some A Chorus Line lyrics. You've been warned.)

Impressions from Fenway

2008-05-01T03:34:59Z

1) Time for a new park.

And I was not the only one with an obstructed view. In a stadium that sells out around 35k, having 100 people with an obstructed view is a lot. Plus I couldn't feel the lower half of my body most of the game. Yeah, I'm fat, but my seat was also built in 1912. There's no reason they couldn't preserve the spirit of Fenway in a new park that would allow for more seats and therefore cheaper ticket prices and concessions. Keep the Green Monster, lose the poles. Win win.

2) Okajima's entrance song. Best ever. Y/Y? (Warning: link leads to crazy Japanese techno MP3). Japanese pop culture fascinates me. I seriously can't get enough of the wacky (to me) hijinks.

3) Great endings make for great games. It was a pitcher's duel until the 7th really. The Sox were up one, then the Jays came back. They bring Papelbon in for the ninth and the first batter gets a hit. I lean over to Jack and say: "They made Paps mad. Paps shouldn't get mad. Paps smash." And then he picks off the guy brought in to pinch run at first. AHAHAHAH. Then the bottom of the ninth, guys on first and second, Moss gets a hit and the pinch runner, Lowrie, goes for home from second and gets thrown out. By this time, my bladder was nearly exploding and I needed some resolution one way or another, or I'd face certain doom. As would all the people around me. Then Tek's up, and he hits it to the same spot, and Manny tries for the same things and he makes it. OMIGAWD. So good.

(I was going to provide video links but they don't appear to be working. Check this link later, maybe it'll be up.)

4) I love baseball.

Daily Roundup

2008-05-01T03:09:01Z

18:24 Forgot my camera. Damn! Sitting in family section. Damn damn! #
21:11 Close game. Sooo cold. Okajima oki oki! #

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Wednesday Miscellany

2008-04-30T14:08:57Z

I feel like taking a poetry class or something. I know, I know, poetry. I have vague memories of enjoying thsoe units in high school, though. I liked experimenting with different forms. Also, most poetry appeals to my lack-of-attention-span creativity. I don't have very much creativity anymore, so I may as well feed that sort.

I'm going to the Sox game tonight with Jack, and I will try to tweet as much as possible from there. I don't drink as much when with Jack, because he doesn't drink, so my hands should be fairly free. Plus the beers are way too expensive. I'll probably have one with dinner (Brown Sugar again, yay!) and one at the park and that's it. Also Dice-K is pitching, and we're going to be in good seats. So I am excited. As excited as I get about anything these days.

The only problem I have with Josh being home for vacation - and I really shouldn't complain since I'm here all the time - is that the TV is no longer free during the day. I can't just randomly watch my shows, because he's playing video games. And he gets new ones and plays so much that it's not really fun for me to play with him, because he kicks my ass. I need some catch up time, but I prefer to be on my computer in the evening (or out), so I'm not sure when that would be.

Speaking of which, I'm going to the ballet tomorrow. Swan Lake, with Nneoma for her birthday. There's a week's worth of grocery money down the drain. I really hate thinking this way, but I find I'm backed into this corner. No money. I'm due for about $600 in checks. Hopefully I'll get that tomorrow, because I've got two months worth of health insurance premiums to pay. Sigh.

But I'll end on a good note, because I refuse to be a pessimist about this stuff. It'll get better. I'm better off than lots of people. Etc. etc. etc.

Anyway, House last night was very very good and I'm very very glad it's back. The end.

Daily Roundup

2008-04-28T03:07:48Z

13:29 Oh Logan airport. Why? #
15:38 Wow. Now i know what people feel like around law students and lawyers at parties. #

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Doctor Who 4x04 - "The Sontaran Strategem"

2008-04-27T15:49:44Z

I didn't remember that this was a two parter until there were two minutes left and everyone seemed to be getting into trouble instead of out of it.

Martha!Clone is a rip off of Ace!Clone from "The Genocide Machine". Just sayin'. I find Martha and Ace very similar as it is, so that's just another little thing Worth it to see Freema Agyeman kinda naked though. Rrrowr.

You know why Donna and Martha didn't snipe like Rose and Sarah did? Because 1) Martha left the Doctor, not vice versa, 2) Donna's not in love with him, and 3) Donna and Martha are way more mature than Rose and Sarah. There, I said it.

SUPERTEMP.

Considering the fact that the title of this episode actually has the word Sontaran in it, and that press releases from months ago actually showed the new Sontaran, I don't get why they were being all dodgy about the reveal. OMG, is it a Sontaran? No way!

Have I missed something along the way or is the Doctor actually leading the last battle of the Time War new info? I always knew he did something Very Big at the end, but leading a battle doesn't... strike me as very him.

Ten hates guns. But not water guns. Even though water = bullets to fire creatures. Ooookay. I'm actually fine with the Doctor being okay with guns (not liking them, but being okay with them) because every Doctor is different. But at least have some continuity with the same Doctor.

Then again, this is a UNIT episode (kudos for it being a UNIT episode with heavy environmentalist undertones).

Speaking of! When Martha first said "Colonel Mace", I had to skip backwards to hear it again. I thought she said Colonel Yates, which would have been awesome, 'cause I like to think Yates redeemed himself and made it back to UNIT and is helping people.

But she said Mace. Ah well!

I find Rattigan annoying (I'm suppose to, right?) and Ross fun (I'm supposed to, right?) and they're a good contrast to one another (which is intentional, right?).

What else, what else. Donna's family. Shrug. They're fine. I like her grandfather, though he still reminds me of the little elf dude from The Neverending Story. And her mom is essentially middle class Jackie in fifteen years time. Then again, maybe Donna is what Rose would have become if she never met the Doctor.

Hm. Interesting.

Daily Roundup

2008-04-27T03:09:30Z

17:54 Baby mama: cute but not as hilarious as i was expecting. #
18:12 Brown Sugar. Best thai in boston: y/y? #

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Why I Should Go to Bed Before 1 am

2008-04-25T05:25:24Z

Sam
megs is making me close sws and go to bed
sam angry. sam smash.
*turns green*

Vi Too
Good for Megs
Eeeeee *runs away*

Sam
If only I had purple pants!

Vi Too
If you were Godzilla instead you wouldn't need pants

Sam
omg so true
and if i were mothra i wouldn't need legs
then again, i'd be a moth

Vi Too
And you could light people on fire with your breath

Daily Roundup

2008-04-25T03:08:45Z

09:53 Coffee! #
11:19 Caffeine and me. BFF. #
11:36 Gmail is done, and I'm adrift in a sea of disconnectedness, cut off from the world. Woe is me. #
13:02 Office so hot. Melting. Meeeeellllllting. Whatta world whatta woooorld eeeeeeeee. #
13:21 Chinese food : sam :: cookies : cookie monster #
17:21 Being a grown up scares the crap out of me. Liability insurance, corporate filing fees, CPAs. Eep #
18:18 Trying to stay awake. Meeting in half an hour. No beer. Beer makes Sam sleepy. #

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Daily Roundup

2008-04-24T03:13:24Z

17:12 Signal delays on T. Awesome. #
17:20 No no, don't move in to let everyone on the train. Wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable just so some people can get home. Jerks. #

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Uh, okay.

2008-04-23T19:10:17Z

I just looked at weather.com. 87? Really? When the hell did summer happen?

I guess it's time to take the flannel sheets off my bed.

Daily Roundup

2008-04-23T03:11:39Z

08:13 Fighting with pollen. Losing. #
08:14 Achoo. #
09:27 Gas prices scare me. #
10:09 Coffee! #
13:09 Lunch time with my old friend Lean Cuisine. #
13:36 Putting money in meter, attacked by pollen. Stupid spring. #
16:44 Commuting by car makes me angry #
17:59 At nusl law library. Nostalgia. I remember why this place sucked. 65 degrees out and the heat's on full blast. #
18:04 Library guy remembered me. Hilarious. #
20:46 Sitting at my computer updating via text. Issues, let me show you mine. #

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Doctor Who - 4x3 - "Planet of the Ood"

2008-04-20T16:08:54Z

Best episode of the season. Best episode since "Blink", hands down. (Sorry, Masterfen.)

They're doing a fantastic job of establishing Donna's compassion and turning her into a much deeper character than she was in "Runaway". We got hints of it, of course, but now there it is. Her concern for the dead Ood in the beginning was poignant, especially with how far removed the Doctor is from things like that (particularly jarring just after his speech about "still getting it").

I'm not saying that Rose and Martha weren't compassionate. They were, sure. But Rose was, at first, meant to be a star struck girl that may have broken some rules and argued with the Doctor, but whose first thought was about herself and her experiences (and then she degenerated into a simpering fangirl). And Martha was always defined by her crush on the Doctor, and her willingness to do whatever as long as it was with him or for him. Yeah, she called him on some of his stuff, but she still went along. Donna, though, is free to be defined by 1) her absence of relationship with the Doctor (which they keep bashing over our heads) and 2) her own individual humanity. Not too shabby.

The scene in the cell with the natural born Ood was sad and beautiful. I hope Donna's reaction makes the Doctor really think about this sort of thing.

Edit: Ohohoh, he went into her mind and shared telepathy with her. The scene was reminiscent of the one he shared with Reinette. Suck that, Rosefen! (Not that I don't love Rose. I just hate her squealing fangirls.)

Small quibble. And a disclaimer before the quibble. All of my friends from the area of the world including India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, etc. refer to themselves as "brown". I use that term now because I don't know the exact country of origins of the actors in my statement, but I think they're nonetheless defined by their ethnic heritage. Which is to say that Danny was a brown guy, mishandling the Ood, and now there's a brown lady doing the same thing (this one with a pronounced accent). I wonder if it's intentional, or if we're just supposed to shrug it off (hi there, crazy black man) and go: "well, it's a kid's show."

I really love how the Ood reproduce. I called it, but I still love it. I definitely didn't call the fore/hind/hive brain thing, and I sort of like that, too. All in all, I enjoy the Ood and even though they're creepy (not only for their looks, but in the way that all insect-like hive minded species are creepy to us individualistic humans) I hope they'll be back one day. But not too soon.

So all in all I loved this episode for its character and universe development. I choose not to speculate on that whole "your song is ending soon" thing, other than to say that the Ood had lots of different songs, and to start a new one (with no death involved), you have to end another one. So I'm not losing any sleep over it.

Next week: yay, Martha! And, yes. He turns them into soldiers. Mmmmmmmm, Ace.

Technology!

2008-04-18T21:40:04Z

My sister and I just video chatted via Skype for the last hour or so. So cool. This is the sort of technology I've always known exists, but have never needed to use. There were a few glitches (there was lagging and dropping when she tried to upload pictures) but overall it was really awesome and I'm irratioanlly excited.