On the sofa

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  • #1887
    Craig @craig
    Emperor

    @pedant (IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan)

    I was actually just reading XKCD tonight, catching up on What If?, going backwards, as you do. I got as far as “What would the world be like if the land masses were spread out the same way as now – only rotated by an angle of 90 degrees?”. Answer: In London the food is still bland, the Thames is full of piranha, and it’s the only place on Earth where tigers apologise as they attack you.

    So here’s my Doctor Who in the 1000 most used words. It’s just the basics. May try another one tomorrow. Was an interesting challenge. Part of my job is writing so is a challenge to try and convey meaning as simply as possible. I think I may send that link to my workmates tomorrow.

    The Doctor is from another world and he lives in a blue police box. It is bigger on the inside and it can go to any place in space and time. He has lots of exciting stories to tell. And many yet to tell. He often meets bad things from other worlds but almost always saves the day.

    He often takes a friend or two with him as he goes from place to place and from time to time. In the past the friends were there so that he could explain to them what was going on, so that we would also understand. Sometimes they were also there for the Dads watching. But these days they are there as people in their own right and the stories are deeper and more interesting for that.

    The Doctor has been on TV for 50 years this year. Big things are planned…

    #1917
    SallySparrow @dimchall

    Wow! I haven’t logged in for a couple weeks and all the new stuff is AMAZING.  Thanks to Craig for starting it all and to everyone else for being so unabashedly Whovian and making it awesome.

    #1937
    Juniperfish @juniperfish

    Well who can resist the post notification ” @SallySparrow on the sofa ” ! 🙂

    Hello @SallySparrow ! Yes @craig our Overlord is definitely awesome.

     We need a Fish Tank and an Aviary next as spaces I think – still makes me smile how many fish and bird themed noms de plume our corner of the Whoniverse has spawned…

     

     

    #1959
    janetteB @janetteb

    It has been quite overnight. (Your day) Where is everyone? Out building snowmen? Do be careful. Sounds like a G.I plot to me.

    Cheers

    Janette

    #1981
    ScaryB @scaryb

    Well who can resist the post notification “ @SallySparrow on the sofa ” !

    Too right.

    @craig – very impressive summing up above! OK, Web wizard, script editor, antipodean explorer – you get about a bit for a young un! (That task should be given to ALL politicians when devising policies, and to everyone with any pretensions to public communications)

    And apologies for my sporadic apprearances – problems with the time callibrations on my dematerialisation circuits – ie work deadlines kicking in – having to limit my hanging out on the virtual sofa times.  OTOH if someone (not looking @juniperfish in particular!) was to supply the promised jammy dodgers, that might just be a tipping point!! :p

    #1985
    Juniperfish @juniperfish

    @scaryb – I am also up to my eyeballs in work 🙁

    But, as the Doctor says in Let’s Kill Hitler “You should always waste time when you don’t have any…”

    Just had to pop back onto the sofa to profer requested jammy dodgers, as per Emergency Protocol 11 – perhaps with hot toddy?

    <mmmn that’s better – oops, hope I didn’t eat them all myself – shakes packet 🙂 >

    #1989
    ScaryB @scaryb

    @juniperfish – yummm, thank you. I’ll bring some hot toddy later on 🙂

    mmm… sugar rush

    #2071
    Rob @rob

    Hi All

    1/. I am still alive, been mad busy on site trying to get “boring blah blah technical blah” stuff and thingys done.

    2/. It has been bloomin cold and now it’s bloomin muddy

    3/. Now stuff is done. Doing impersonation of hamster in wheel trying to find more work so thought….. Hmmmm sofa time 😉

    @scaryb (from ages ago) suffice to say my wife gave it to me so I wear it often ;o)

     

    #2171
    PhaseShift @phaseshift
    Time Lord

    Apologies for my absence people. I have had a week ‘n’ a bit of horror, including PUBLIC TRANSPORT. Due to this affliction, I may have more time to post over the next few days. I need to catch up on a week of posts. I’ll just dive in.

    #2173
    Juniperfish @juniperfish

    Welcome back @phaseshift to the Who sofa! We’ve sworn a lot whilst you’ve been away…

    Of course, I mean sworn undying fealty to the Whoniverse a lot, not actually “spent time seeding the blog with on-purpose-obscenities” 

    🙂

    #2181
    Anonymous @

    @phaseshift, don’t believe a word of it. That @juniperfish, you wouldn’t believe the trench language…

    welcome back… your absence has been felt…

    #2183
    PhaseShift @phaseshift
    Time Lord

    @juniperfish

    Of course, I mean sworn undying fealty to the Whoniverse a lot, not actually “spent time seeding the blog with on-purpose-obscenities”

    Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo – I like obscenities. I shouted a lot at my lovely TARDIS blue car (OK – Midnight Blue, near enough) when it decided to disintegrate last week!

    I have had a WEIRD week.

    #2189
    Juniperfish @juniperfish

    @phaseshift sorry about the weird (bad weird, not good weird – good weird always being a GOOD THING)

    @jimthefish LOL 🙂

    Look at the link @craig has just posted – it will make you smile…

    #2195
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    @phaseshift. I have a vision of you as Basil Fawlty giving his car “a damn good thrashing”. Was any thrashing involved?

    #2201
    PhaseShift @phaseshift
    Time Lord

    @blenkinsopthebrave

    Substitute Basil for me, the branch for a large icicle, and you have reached enlightenment/ 🙂

    #2213
    janetteB @janetteb

    Just as long as the car in question was not a mini. One could never never be cruel to minis. (also they are definitely bigger on the inside.)

    Cheers

    Janette

    #2359
    Juniperfish @juniperfish

    @scaryb I am a bit evil 🙂 (good evil, naturally)

    [follows on from another thread rather than apropos of nothing!]

    Why is it Monday tomorrow? I desperately need a time machine so I can fit everything I need to do into an impossibly small space that happily turns out to be bigger in the inside <sulks>

    #2379
    ScaryB @scaryb

    @juniperfish If you find one let me know! And vice versa 🙂  It’s a sneaky thing that the older you get the faster your personal ball of timey wimey stuff  unravels. Not fair!

    <stamps foot>

    #2435
    Juniperfish @juniperfish

    Swiftly passing by the sofa to remark that the blog is looking fine!

    Seems to be buzzing with all sorts of good-stuff crazy theories and cameraderie…

    All hail the Blogmeister @craig and what a fun 50th year it’s going to be!

    xx to all,

    TheJFish

    #2473
    Craig @craig
    Emperor

    Not that I condone this sort of thing, of course 🙂 but…

    A couple of people have posted a lot of old Doctor Who on the internet. Probably not within the letter of the law to upload, but I doubt it’s an issue if you view it. But I’m not a lawyer.

    http://www.dailymotion.com/playlists/user/matrixarchive/1

    http://www.dailymotion.com/playlists/user/tardismedia/1

    There really is a lot of good stuff here. If you haven’t already got it, view it while you can.

    #2475
    Craig @craig
    Emperor

    @juniperfish Thanks, but I really didn’t do very much. It’s you lot that make it what it is, so I should really thank you!

    #2735
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    I just went and had a look at the Guardian blog for the first time. Interested to see how few regular faces there were. Also interested that it took me so long to check it out. I suspect I am experiencing loyalty to the @craig blog!

    If I contribute to it, will I hate myself in the morning…?

    #2737
    janetteB @janetteb

    I don’t think any disloyalty is involved. I haven’t had time to check out the Guardian blog yet though it is open on my browser.  I do prefer this forum though.  I think we have a nice little community here.

    Cheers

    Janette

    #2739
    Juniperfish @juniperfish

    Hi @blenkinsopthebrave and @janetteb – I’ve posted over there and flown the flag for our little haven too.

    I don’t see the two spaces as competing but as complementary. It’s rather like discussing Dr. Who in a noisy bar over there and more like discussing Dr. Who on the sofa with a bunch of friends over here 🙂  Both can be fun.

    I must check out the BFI website – there are talks and screenings – exciting!

    #2783
    ScaryB @scaryb

    <runs in for quick coffee and contemplation the sofa>

    @juniperfish – love the comparison – noisy bar v comfy sofa 🙂

    Still on mad work schedule at the moment (playing havoc with Who viewing!) but did stumble across this. Apologies if it’s been posted before,  but’s a lot of fun,  and you have to be awestruck about the scale of the task they’ve undertaken –  Fanboy undertakes to watch ALL the existing Who footage with his “not-we” wife

    (Covers EVERYthing, inc ALL the reconned Hartnell and Troughton; they’ve just started on McCoy… this is not a short term project; definitely a labour of love; with some very pithy comments)

    Btw if our mighty mods @craig, and @phaseshift want to move this to fan creativity thread, that’s fine by me

    <finishes coffee, waves, runs out again!>

    #2785
    Craig @craig
    Emperor

    Another alternative history of the Doctor, this time as an all-American show. Some interesting choices.

    http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2013/02/american_doctor_who.php

    #2787
    Anonymous @

    @craig

    Interesting, but not as convincing as the SciFind piece, I thought. Some of the choices I thought were a bit too unlikely for my taste. But I did like some of the flourishes — The Commander is a great idea and I’d kill to see Rocksteady do a Dalek Asylum game…

    #2791
    Miapatrick @miapatrick

    Hi everyone… sorry for the smugness but have to put it somewhere- the OU assignment I mentioned elsewhere- I got 95%! And given that it involved creative writing, which I intend to pursue with the OU, I am so very happy!

    #2797
    janetteB @janetteb

    Congrats @miapatrick. Excellent result. You have earned the right to be smug.

    @craig. That alternative history of Who is truely frightening. It makes one fear the inevitable U.S. remake.

    Cheers

    Janette

    #2801
    Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip

    Congratulations @miapatrick! My best ever Creative Writing mark is 94%, so I will now go off and sulk with jealousy 🙂

    No, but seriously, very well done. It’s flipping hard to get the Grade 1 on creative writing – it basically means ‘this piece could be accepted for professional publication’.

    #2811
    Anonymous @

    Yes, indeed. Congratulations, @miapatrick….

    #2853
    ScaryB @scaryb

    Go @miapatrick! (and equally impressive @bluesqueakpip )

    Much smugness is allowed! <WooHoo>

    #2855
    Whisht @whisht

    blimey &miapatrick and @bluesqueakpip – I don’t think I’ve ever done anything that well!

    well done – whatever you (don’t normally) do when excelling, reward yourself now!

    ;¬)

    #2863
    Anonymous @

    @whisht

    well done – whatever you (don’t normally) do when excelling, reward yourself now!

    Jammie Wagon Wheels usually fits the bill, I find….

    #2865
    Whisht @whisht

    @jimthefish – Wagon Wheels have jam in them now??

    hmmm…. perhaps you can have too much of a good thing….

    #2869
    PhaseShift @phaseshift
    Time Lord

    Well done @miapatrick!

    In a party spirit, I’ll post this video the cast and crew of Doctor Who did for the wrap party at the end of DT’s run. Always puts me in a party mood.

    #2873
    ScaryB @scaryb

    @phaseshift Thanks for the link – glad to see it back again. BBC (presumably) keeps pulling it. Had close on 1m views before they pulled the last one. I love this too, from the same time Ballad of Russell and Julie

    How do you get the video to display in the box btw? Ain’t happenin for me!

    #2875
    Juniperfish @juniperfish

    Hi everyone 🙂

    That made me smile @phaseshift – I miss Dr. Who Confidential and the behind-the-scenes glimpses.

    Adding my congrats @miapatrick – you deserve it.

    I went into a shop on my way home on Friday evening and it was all decked out in fluffy chickens and Easter chocolate eggs (already) and all I could think was – Dr. Who is coming back!

     

    #2877
    PhaseShift @phaseshift
    Time Lord

    @scaryb

    That’s a good link, cheers! If you just cut and paste a youtube address into the text box, and don’t use the link function, the site will automatically display the video in box. The wonders of the modern internet!

    @juniperfish

    Yes, I’d noticed all the easter stuff as well. I think we’ve managed to make the time pass a little swifter with some eggs-cellent links and discussion.

    OK- I’ll get my coat.

    #2881
    PhaseShift @phaseshift
    Time Lord

    Oh – forgot to mention. Apparently there are some changes in our Guardian profile pages about to be implemented. Article about it here.

    I only noticed bacause I was thinking of adding a link to here within the profile page (which I hadn’t set up for Phaseshift).

    Hard to tell how the change will impact how you use them, but I’m taking the precaution of backing up some of my who related comments, just in case it all ends up as a horrible catastrope.

    #2883
    Anonymous @

    @phaseshift

    Cheers for the link. I’ll look on with interest to see if it all works properly. There was a proper bunfight on the Guardian last week about nesting. It got very heated at certain points.

    I’m actually finding that the Guardian is becoming a lot more of a hostile and heated place these days. I don’t know if it’s me rising to trollbait more often, or if I’m just being more grumpy or if there’s been a general change in the culture over there, but I am finding that there seems to be a lot more combatitive to-and-froing going on…

    I’m much preferring the peace and civility of here these days….

    #2885
    Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip

    No, someone on one of my politics lists said the same thing; that there seems to have been a culture change in the last month or two.

    @jimthefish

    I think it’s the nesting; it’s really not working. It means you can make a snippy reply to someone directly underneath their post, they can make one directly underneath that – and this is increasing the ambient temperature quite noticeably. Before, any heated replies were frequently on another page, and people might not even see them.

    And one thing this means is that the place has become considerably more attractive to trolls, because they can troll their little hearts out on the front pages of the comments, instead of being stuck in page 7 of 15.

    Whether the Guardian is going to admit that the nesting isn’t working, I don’t know. From their point of view, if their readership/ad take-up is going up, it’s working. If the atmosphere starts driving established readers away (and doesn’t replace them with new readers), it’s not.

    #2887
    chickenelly @chickenelly

    I don’t like the nesting thing on Guardian comments either.  There was an article last weekend sometime saying that the new format must be better as they had more comments.  After having a think about it (especially in view of how we all used to read the Dr Who blogs) more comments doesn’t necessarily mean more popular.  Revisiting a page to read new comments (as we all used to do on the Who blog) is nigh impossible nowadays, especially for the Dr Who lurkers (which included me until the 5th series).

    I was going to post something along these lines on said article but I couldn’t find the bloody thing.  However at the time I did chuckle that virtually all the comments below were slagging off the new ‘better’ format.  There might have been others that liked it but the new nesting format meant they would be stuck on page 3.

    #2889
    ScaryB @scaryb

    On the subject of Guardian nesting, agree with all that’s been posted above. Nesting only works when there’s a max of 2 pages of comments, after that it’s impossible to follow new comments on a thread.  And as @bluesqueakpip pointed out, it encourages trolls by making them feel less lonely and more important. But presumably advertising dept is happy because they are looking for numbers, not quality of posts.

    I’m intrigued to see how Dan M manages to keep his blog open all year – will it not have to get reattached to each new article? Or did I misread? Thank you again @craig and everyone here for our lovely new home and sofa. Is WhoHar registered on here btw? And has Chris Kilby disappeared off the face of the planet?! Maybe he’s sneaked aboard the TARDIS!

    #2891
    janetteB @janetteb

    Thanks for the links @scaryb and @phaseshift Just what was needed in this household last night after returning from a heavy going meeting discussing Life the Universe and Everything.

    I too have noticed a shift in the nature of Guardian comments in recent months. I had not attributed it to nesting but now you mention that I see the connection. More comments does not equate to a better discussion.

    Thanks @craig from me also for our lovely new home. I have been lurking more than posting lately due to real life events but it has been a nice place to escape too.

    Cheers

    Janette

     

    #2893
    Miapatrick @miapatrick

    Hya, thank you to everyone for your congratulations- would have replied earlier but last weekend was my friends birthday eve, birthday. and birthboxing day (/ happy 95% to me) celebrations, and on Monday I got an unexpected (and surprisingly crippling) thumb piercing from my Portuguese pedenco dog. This turns out to be a really nice place to go and brag about things like OU results and have people understand what you’re talking about, which is great. (my boyfriend was very happy for me, but would be more impressed if i could understand the internal combustion engine in more detail than: ‘Things go bang, make car move.’ (Which, I still maintain, is right, as far as it goes.))

    Re: nesting system on the Guardian site. I also hate them. Mostly for the reason mentioned above that it makes it impractical to go back to the blog and read through the new posts. (The OU has a system which compresses older posts and expands new ones, which, if not ideal, is better). I keep saying that at least the Guardian has kept their content available for free online, but it’s starting to feel less free. Firstly all the moving advertisements, which constantly crash my laptop if I stay on there for more than 10 minutes. (That’s partly my fault as well, though.) And secondly the nesting system.

    I always loved (poor thing that i am) when DW started again, looking forward to watching the episode, going on the blog, reading and refreshing the comments all evening, and going back to it every day for that week, seeing the newer comments. By the last couple of days, of course, I think most of the comments came from members of this community. But other than that this is now a little spoilt for me, as others have said here, it’s too good for trolling, trolls don’t need encouragement. In fact, maybe it’s too easy for trolls. Maybe it will spoil their fun… and plus I don’t take kindly to change. I throw a strop every time yahoo changes the look of their homepage and mail.

    I have the impression that the Guardian is broke, and basically independent for the same reason- not owned by a millionaire/evil conglomerate, is that right?

    (ow, my thumb!)

    #2899
    Whisht @whisht

    hi all – just trying out a new avatar.

    Thought my previous one was just a tad…. sinister.
    But not necessarily in a good way!

    Happy to change back, or try new ones once in a while (though I don’t have many scans of old pictures so… well, they’ll get very random after this…. red bra avatar anyone??!??)

    [ahem]

    #2903
    Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip

    @whisht – I like that one. Personally, I tend to alternate between the one I’ve got and the ‘Earthrise’ photo. If it’s random you want, I can offer anything from small piglets to waterfalls to cartoons. 🙂

     

    #2909
    Whisht @whisht

    Hey – thanks @bluesqueakpip!

    Unfortunately the full image can’t be put into the avatar (ie its not square), but hopefully its enough for people to at least say “huh, is that…? wha?”

    Which is generally the feeling I like leaving!

    ;¬)

    #2911
    Anonymous @

    @miapatrick — the Guardian is owned by the Scott Trust and as such has a guaranteed income over and above advertising and sales (although some of the Trust’s investments have come under fire for being a bit on the dodgy side). But it is losing money hand over fist on its online operations so guess you can’t blame them for trying some new stuff, but I’m definitely less than happy with the way its been changing over the past few months. Even the new profile page doesn’t seem to be as good as what they had before.

    @whisht — love the new avatar. Can feel a regeneration coming on myself…

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