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Post by Anne, Old S'cubie Cat on Oct 23, 2010 21:02:33 GMT -5
And now for something completely different: On Thursday, on my walk to the market, I spotted a dead dragonfly on the sidewalk. Being a complete weirdo, I turned around, walked home and returned with Emily and her camera. I thought the raindrops on its wings were particularly lovely.
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Post by Matthew on Oct 23, 2010 21:04:14 GMT -5
I did reading the news about all that spending cuts as got announced today. I rather wish I hadn't. I will now go eat chocolate and live on the starship Enterprise. It's horrible, isn't it? For those of you who might not know, Lord Browne (former head of BP) put together a report on the state of education in the UK. He has recommended that ALL funding be cut from arts and humanities programs. Everything. ....that seems as if it will turn out rather.. Airstrip One-ish, doesn't it?
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Post by Matthew on Oct 23, 2010 21:39:42 GMT -5
www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/sherlock/index.htmlDid you all know that a new version of Sherlock homes is coming to PBS on Masterpiece on Sunday night? Set in current time, run by Steven Moffat? Two men who couldn't be more different — united by ADVENTURE! Blowing away the fog of the Victorian era, the world's most famous detective enters the 21st century. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch (Atonement, The Last Enemy) in the title role, Martin Freeman (The Office, UK) as Dr. John Watson and Rupert Graves (God on Trial, The Forsyte Saga) as Inspector Lestrade, Sherlock premieres on Masterpiece mystery! on Sundays, October 24, 31, and November 7, 2010 at 9pm ET on PBS (check local listings).
In with three criminally clever whodunits, A Study in Pink (October 24), The Blind Banker (October 31) and The Great Game (November 7), consulting detective Sherlock Holmes teams up with former army doctor John Watson to solve a dizzying array of crimes with his signature deductive reasoning. From the writers of Doctor Who, Sherlock is co-created and written by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat.
We already had House MD, didn't we? Huh. Big circles coming around again. Dr Watson can again be a retired-with-injury Afghanistan campaign veteran. *said with ironical raised eyebrow*
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Post by Matthew on Oct 23, 2010 21:42:00 GMT -5
Frankly, this creeps me out. Holmes belongs with Hansom cabs, dark brick, cobblestones and lots of fog. There must be deerstalkers, magnifying glasses and Meerschaum; ladies in silks, gentlemen with sword-canes and Rule Brittania--or the game simply cannot be afoot! Dr Who can jump from centurly to century with impunity. He can visit Holmes and Watson if he likes or drop in on one of their descendants. Brenda Lee Johnson might enjoy his company. But the World's First Consulting Detective belongs solidly in the later times of Victoria's reign. Thus spake Me. Moffat's starting point was realising that Watson in the books met Holmes after he was invalided out of the army in Afghanistan. I think teasing out the connections had its good and bad points. Updating Holmes so he texts instead of telegrams is fine, but importing old school racism and sexism is rather a problem. I reckoned the first episode was the best. A lot of fandom had a 'shiny new toys, yaays' reaction tho. The thing with updating Holmes is it gets more difficult to keep him unique. Modern forensics, especially television style, covers a lot of what he pioneered. So what's left to mark him out? Moffat's answer was a bit interesting. *tapdances along in be's footsteps* *is interested to see how Moffat distinguished the new show with this nicely vague hint*
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Post by Matthew on Oct 23, 2010 21:54:05 GMT -5
So I'm Farscape (in order this time) in an ongoing quest to keep my sanity. And I find myself wondering what the general consensus is on whether to watch them in airing order or production order. Production order, I think, and nobody's going to tell if you end up skipping Jeremiah Crichton. Julia, clean closet, random kids books gone, oh yeah, oh yeah. I'd vote for "production order" too, with the one caveat that the season 2 episode "Look at the Princess Part II: I Do, I Think" should be viewed between parts I and III, rather than in production order: and the framing story for "Dream A Little Dream" is gonna be slightly jarring if you don't remember that they added it in later to introduce the story, which was to be the first of the second season, a plan that got shelved when they got told to put the Human(and Sebacean) stars in the season 2 premiere, resolve the cliffhanger, dammit, or else! and the episode wound up aired something like eighth in the season, iirc.
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Post by Matthew on Oct 23, 2010 22:12:39 GMT -5
And now to share something awesome with you all: my friends John and April are two of the most wonderful sweet people you could hope to meet. I've known John since around 1985, when he was an airman fresh-stationed to Eglin and joined our local Star Trek club, and known April since she grumpily changed a class for me at the local college in 1993: they fit together like a hand and glove, and are amazing. Well, John and I share a love for all things Bloom County (and most things Heinlein: he and April gave me volume one of the new biography for my birthday, but that's a tangent) and he told me about this project and has shown me the pieces as he's worked on them for the last five or six years: The Banana Jr 9000That's him in the last picture. I've almost got him convinced to dye his hair red and shave his beard to go to the convention next year as Carrot Ironfounderson, and I've nearly got April convinced to go as Angua. This is so I'll have company when I'm dressed as the Dean with "Born to Rune" bedazzled onto my back. -Matthew, mad Discworld convert who still needs to get ahold of a copy of "I shall wear midnight"
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Post by Julia, wrought iron-y on Oct 23, 2010 22:23:38 GMT -5
And now to share something awesome with you all: my friends John and April are two of the most wonderful sweet people you could hope to meet. I've known John since around 1985, when he was an airman fresh-stationed to Eglin and joined our local Star Trek club, and known April since she grumpily changed a class for me at the local college in 1993: they fit together like a hand and glove, and are amazing. Well, John and I share a love for all things Bloom County (and most things Heinlein: he and April gave me volume one of the new biography for my birthday, but that's a tangent) and he told me about this project and has shown me the pieces as he's worked on them for the last five or six years: The Banana Jr 9000That's him in the last picture. I've almost got him convinced to dye his hair red and shave his beard to go to the convention next year as Carrot Ironfounderson, and I've nearly got April convinced to go as Angua. This is so I'll have company when I'm dressed as the Dean with "Born to Rune" bedazzled onto my back. -Matthew, mad Discworld convert who still needs to get ahold of a copy of "I shall wear midnight" I have an extra; it's yours. Will mail it Monday. Julia, screwed up my Amazon preorder and ended up with two, and haven't had any clue what to do with it.
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Post by Matthew on Oct 23, 2010 22:25:56 GMT -5
and for something amazing, here's a film taken down Market Street in San Francisco, 4 days prior to the 1906 earthquake and fire. This is a color-corrected and computer-stabilized and speed-normalized version, and everything is as clear as a bell. It's so vital and amazing and full of life and motion and freakin' idiots behind the wheels of everything from cable cars to electric trolleys to horse-drawn omnibuses to wagons, jitneys, automobiles and safety bicycles, and one guy who's on a horse. And all the way through I only saw two people run out of the way of anything: two women who had to avoid a suddenly-appearing car being push-started by a gang of street kids that appear to have been recruited on the spot. For a heartbreaking contrast, there's a link to the right about second down (on the youtube page this links to, that is. Direct link) that has a film crew that traveled down Market Street along approximately the same route no more than a week later, just after the fire and quake: the film is more or less synced to this one, as best as is possible, and you can see how devastated the place is between the still-standing buildings.
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Post by Sara on Oct 23, 2010 22:31:21 GMT -5
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Post by Matthew on Oct 24, 2010 4:13:03 GMT -5
And now to share something awesome with you all: my friends John and April are two of the most wonderful sweet people you could hope to meet. I've known John since around 1985, when he was an airman fresh-stationed to Eglin and joined our local Star Trek club, and known April since she grumpily changed a class for me at the local college in 1993: they fit together like a hand and glove, and are amazing. Well, John and I share a love for all things Bloom County (and most things Heinlein: he and April gave me volume one of the new biography for my birthday, but that's a tangent) and he told me about this project and has shown me the pieces as he's worked on them for the last five or six years: The Banana Jr 9000That's him in the last picture. I've almost got him convinced to dye his hair red and shave his beard to go to the convention next year as Carrot Ironfounderson, and I've nearly got April convinced to go as Angua. This is so I'll have company when I'm dressed as the Dean with "Born to Rune" bedazzled onto my back. -Matthew, mad Discworld convert who still needs to get ahold of a copy of "I shall wear midnight" I have an extra; it's yours. Will mail it Monday. Julia, screwed up my Amazon preorder and ended up with two, and haven't had any clue what to do with it. Crivens! And thanks more than I can express verbally, Julia! Must get sleep now. helping a friend of my mom move stuff tomorrow morning-ish. Driving a truck thirty miles, offloading it, driving it back.
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Post by SpringSummers on Oct 24, 2010 9:25:34 GMT -5
Well, you all sound busy and industrious! Go, you! I am heading out of town today to a funeral in a town about 100 miles west of here . . . partway to Cincy. My BFF's mom passed away earlier this week. She had been very ill and nearly comatose for many months, so it is sad, but also expected and better than the "zero quality of life" she had been experiencing. I have really nice black jeans on, with a nice blouse and jacket. . . it's quite a drive through some unpopulated, lucky if you have a cell phone signal parts of southern Ohio, so I am trying to be pragmatic. Oh, I guess I should change. I would never want her to think I didn't have proper respect for this occasion. Will be back in early evening.
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Post by Julia, wrought iron-y on Oct 24, 2010 13:28:10 GMT -5
*pant pant pant pant*
Whew, made it! Woke up to a perpetually fried Ground Fault Interrupter circuit and thence no internet nor TV (we have a 200ft service line; Comcast signal attenuates after 75). Had to detect the problem and fix it and make sure it wouldn't happen again before I'd had my coffee[/b].
Julia, I am da man.
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Post by beccaelizabeth on Oct 24, 2010 14:22:28 GMT -5
*pant pant pant pant* Whew, made it! Woke up to a perpetually fried Ground Fault Interrupter circuit and thence no internet not TV (we have a 200ft service line; Comcast signal attenuates after 75). Had to detect the problem and fix it and make sure it wouldn't happen again before I'd had my coffee[/b]. Julia, I am da man.[/quote]
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Post by Julia, wrought iron-y on Oct 24, 2010 16:41:39 GMT -5
*pant pant pant pant* Whew, made it! Woke up to a perpetually fried Ground Fault Interrupter circuit and thence no internet not TV (we have a 200ft service line; Comcast signal attenuates after 75). Had to detect the problem and fix it and make sure it wouldn't happen again before I'd had my coffee[/b]. Julia, I am da man.[/quote] [/quote] Julia, on the other hand, it totally blew my plan to do nothing at all today.
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Post by Julia, wrought iron-y on Oct 24, 2010 16:42:30 GMT -5
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