If You're Good, I'll Bring Back Maple Syrup

So, erm. Off to Canada. Hilariously, this means I’ll be missing the Who finale. If I catch people posting spoilers, I’m fully prepared to use my sonic screwdriver on them (they haven’t released the laser screwdriver yet. GIVE IT TIME).

See you back here, say on Tuesday? Have a good weekend!

currently playing: Round The Twist

I Can Prove It With Graphs

The first of an occasional series (i.e. it helps me play around with both Ruby and SVG!):

mia.jpg

currently playing: M.I.A. – Boyz

A Slow Week, Sadly

Not much happening at the moment, but after I return with maple syrup and a mountie, I do have a weekend feature coming up. A subtle clue:

Ohhhhhh yeeeeaaaaah!

currently playing: Feist – Intuition

From The Shadows

The first half of an in-depth investigation into what exactly Dick Cheney has been doing for the past seven years…

currently playing: Electrelane – Cut And Run

Take Your Pick

Daleks? Cybermen? The Time Lords themselves?

And in other, more Earth-shattering news, how the hell did I manage to not notice that Lauren was pregnant until last night?

currently playing: Glen Campbell – Witchita Lineman

Fopp is dead?

Well, it was nice to have one in Oxford at least for a little while, I guess…

currently playing: Scritti Politti – Absolute

It Has Come To This

Is it the official position of the Office of the Vice President that your office exists in neither the executive nor legislative branch of govemment?

a. If so, when and why did you adopt this view?

b. Has your office asserted in any other contexts that its nonexistence in the executive branch justifies avoiding oversight or accountability?

A letter from Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight Committee to Dick Cheney. Quick! Quick! Let's see how much constitutional damage they can do before 2009!

currently playing: PJ Harvey – Send His Love To Me

Bizarreness Number #9

Demetri Martin. In a Travis video. Actually, he is the video.

(and what does he know about Jaffa Cakes? Is he part of the Secret Jaffa Underground Line from London Euston to Grand Central Station? The public demands answers!)

currently playing: M.I.A. – Boyz

Days Like Television

The rain is coming down, dripping off what’s left of my hair and into my eyes. Tears that aren’t my own.

The shuffle clicks.

If I lose you / If I lose you / If I lose you

Contact.

Live From The Annandale Hotel is on its way. It can't get here soon enough.

Noplace

Perhaps I’ve mentioned this before, but the thing about RTD’s writing on Who is that it’s often so slipshod. Though he’s a dab had with the little moments between characters, for him, plot only exists to get him to the final ten minutes of the episode, where he explodes with enthusiasm and hopes that it’ll leave on such a high that you’ll forget that the previous 35 minutes were a bit poor.

Switch the ending on Utopia to a standard episode (e.g., Yana is an alien in disguise who is sending the humans to their doom, the Futurekind are the real humans, etc.) and it would have been the worst episode of Series 3 (29! 29! Too nerdy?). But oh, those last ten minutes…

I'm still not sure about the Yana = You Are Not Alone link. It feels like another one of Russell Davies's too cute gags - why would The Master call himself that? Unless the Doctor's 'sorry' meant a little more than we expect. Captain Jack is so, so much better away from Torchwood. We like this one! The happy-go-lucky, kissing-the-assistants-and-chatting-up-blue-aliens Jack rather than Angel-Jack! Take note, Torchwood!

So, Who nerds: What happened to The Master after the end of the Movie?

Excited about the next two episodes (although amusingly, I’m not going to be here for the final one, dammit!); it’s the first time that the Who team has actually made a story arc work, as opposed to just repeating a word or two over and over for eleven episodes…

But please…next series, can we get through an episode without mentioning her name? Please?

currently playing: Bob Dylan – It's all over now, Baby Blue