The Cloven Hoof
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27 May 2015 at 14:55 #40388
This is a very sad day for football.
::pause::
Does a happy dance, then runs round the room waving arms and chanting ‘USA! USA!’
😉14 June 2015 at 12:56 #40649Can’t believe a pub where no one talks about football. What are we, a bunch of geeks? 😈
Anyway, the Philae lander has briefly woken from its snooze.
Rumours of some bloke in an orange spacesuit giving it an almighty kick are completely unfounded. 😉
14 June 2015 at 18:54 #40650Wakes up and responds, somewhat belatedly
@bluesqueakpip re FIFA, yes! an excellent, if long overdue development. What next for an Augean cleansing? the IOC?
In this neck of the woods the delight was compounded by football euphoria of a rather more parochial nature. The Canaries are going up, back into the Premier League 🙂
Excellent news about the Philae lander, too. ET is now phoning home, with lots to report, I gather.
And what’s with the bright spots on Ceres? Please don’t tell me it’s another space dragon egg 😮
14 June 2015 at 22:38 #40653FIFA is the gift that just keeps on giving. Probably by means of no-questions-asked donations to projects that don’t really exist. 😕 I do agree that the words ‘gravy’ and ‘train’ come to mind when thinking of the IOC, but one can only hope that some of the FIFA trails lead in their direction.
Of course Ceres isn’t a space dragon egg. Don’t be silly. It’s where the Clangers live. The bright spots are obviously the Soup Dragon gearing up for a spot of lunch. Meanwhile, ET was obviously on PAYG, because they only had about 85 seconds worth of contact before the money ran out. Further news once the ESA has had a whip-round…
Congratulations to The Canaries. 🙂
15 June 2015 at 20:37 #40671Ceres isn’t a space dragon egg. Don’t be silly. It’s where the Clangers live.
Of course (slaps forehead), how could I have missed the obvious! And clearly it is no coincidence that, just as the probe Dawn approaches Ceres, the Clangers are back on our TV screens!
Re the Canaries: all credit due to Alex Neil; the turnaround after the dismal start to the season was spectacular 🙂
18 June 2015 at 17:38 #40704Anonymous @
I can officially confirm that the unofficial announcement that I unofficially announced a few weeks ago regarding my Diploma can now be officially confirmed 🙂
Although the course officially finishes next week, our tutor is trying to arrange some voluntary work for us over the summer holidays so, hopefully, I’ll still be at the Botanical Gardens until the end of August.
18 June 2015 at 19:42 #40705@fatmaninabox Excellent! Official congratulations on the official confirmation of your Diploma and all good wishes for the future 🙂
18 June 2015 at 20:07 #40706@fatmaninabox — congratulations!!
18 June 2015 at 20:57 #40708Congratulations! I hope all goes well in the future.
18 June 2015 at 21:43 #4070919 June 2015 at 04:42 #4071519 June 2015 at 05:47 #40720@mudlark @jimthefish @bluesqueakpip @ichabod @janetteb @Purofilion
Thanks – again 😉
Janette, yep – paid work would be lovely but in order to increase my experience, I’m happy to do as much voluntary work as I can get. The Level 1 course was 3 days a week for 6 weeks and the Level 2 was 1 day a week for 40 weeks so in reality I’ve only had 58 days ‘hands on’ experience. Even with my newly acquired Diploma, I’m unlikely to get a job based on that.
The other advantage in doing voluntary work is that I’ve already got my ‘foot in the door’ should any jobs do become available at either the Botanical Gardens or Winterbourne Gardens (where I also volunteer).
This approach certainly worked for my ‘supervisor’. He was also volunteering at the same places as me and started a full time job at the Botanical Gardens on Monday – congratulations Eddie!
@Purofilion
You can’t have too many tatts or too much muscle if you’re a gardener).
The afore mentioned Eddie is 6’4″, shaved headed and covered from neck to foot in the obligatory tattoos. He looks very fearsome but is genuinely one of the nicest people you could ever meet – very softly spoken and his knowledge of plants, particularly their botanical names, is astounding.
19 June 2015 at 06:21 #40723@fatmaninabox psychic pal tells me that old souls often turn to quiet work with plants, animals, and crafts — raise horses out in the desert, work in wineries, do gardening and other horticultural work, and avoid conflict . . . bored (or sick) to death with people doing the same damn stupid stuff over and over. I find this an appealing idea. Anyway, his progress sounds encouraging for you.
19 June 2015 at 06:48 #40725I’m totally with you -re the tatts, the shaved heads and the quiet voices. Unfortunately, the bloke who I just had an encounter with now (it’s about 3.30) carried on: “there’s too much work here. Gardening’s beneath me, I hate Asians and I used to be pastry cook”.
Apropos of absolutely nothing.
When I explained that I support our local Muzza’s Pies, an award winning establishment, he condemned it. I also said “eerm. the Vietnamese here learned pastry from the French”.
To which he replied: “S’all shit, mate.”
God, the little f**cker. Give me a quiet voiced, knowledgeable bloke any day who can tell basil from tarragon. Apparently, the basil was thyme and the tarragon was basil. And he has a horticulture diploma.
I want to cry so I need a drink. Anything on tap 🙂
19 June 2015 at 07:18 #40726@fatmaninabox Excellent news. Keep on volunteering, it will add to your resume, connect you to the right people/places, and most importantly, keep you sane. I have been volunteering at an inner city music school for the past year and enjoying it hugely, and it may well lead to paying work in the future as they often need to look for new instructors. Fun!
@purofilion Oh dear, some people feel entitled,don’t they? Have a lager. It’s very warm here now (amazingly so for June, not always one of our more reliable months!) I actually have three kinds of basil in my pot this year, a Genovese, a Thai, and a new one called Greek basil which I had never seen before, that is quite dense with very small leaves. It definitely smells like basil though, as opposed to thyme or tarragon! 🙂
19 June 2015 at 14:49 #40734@fatmaninabox I have been volunteering for twenty years now in varying capacities. Just yesterday I was offered paid work but, and there is a very big but, it depends upon me passing a proof reading test. I am certain that you have all noticed that proof reading is not one of my strong points. I did find a lot of errors in the text provided and have fingers crossed because if I pass the test it will be the first paid work I have done in twenty years and might just save me from doing the dreaded “Dip Ed”. (I have resigned myself to the inevitability of teaching.)
@arbutus I hope that your basil flourishes and provides you with plenty of pesto. My basil died of early this winter. My thyme also died. I think the bush was one I brought here with me, twenty years ago so sad to loose it.
Cheers
Janette
19 June 2015 at 21:45 #40735just to add to the bouquet of hurrahs
Well done @fatmaninabox !
Its fantastic to be doing something that you enjoy doing, enjoying learning more about it and even having validation that you’re great at it!
Hope the fine weather adds to it and you don’t have hayfever!
;¬)
19 June 2015 at 22:23 #40737@janetteb Sorry to hear about your thyme. I lost a big, gnarly old rosemary bush a couple of years back, due to some longer-than-usual cold snaps and a heavy snowfall. Now I have my rosemary in a container, so it may never get that big again, but I can move it around as the winter dictates. This year, I pulled it up onto the porch, and then we ended up having basically no winter at all– very little frost and no snow. My Genovese basil doesn’t always do that well, it seems to get munched on by something, but at least I get leaves to put on the pasta. The Thai basil does better, it seems to be a little hardier.
Good luck on the paid employment opportunity. I’m sure the proof reading went fine as you were actually looking for mistakes, as opposed to assuming that there wouldn’t be any!
20 June 2015 at 05:03 #40741@arbutus I know myself well enough not to assume there won’t be any mistakes in my writing however I think it is a case of reading that is dictated by the brain rather than the eye when self correcting. With our own work we see what we expect not what is there.
Rosemary is perfectly at home where I live. In fact it is almost the only plant that grows well here. (Other than bougainvillea and weeds such as Morning Glory.) I have a hedge of Rosemary out the front and down the drive of which the neighbours often avail themselves. (with our blessing of course.)
Cheers
Janette
20 June 2015 at 14:09 #40746Belated congratulations from me as well. With me not being around at home for extensive periods my back garden is descending into woodland territory. I may need to consult with you as I fear I may have a stray Krynoid wandering about.
22 June 2015 at 23:52 #40774Just popped in to raise a tankard to the success of the Canadian and Australian teams at the Women’s World Cup this weekend. Bring on the quarter finals! 🙂
27 June 2015 at 00:48 #40851to continue from The Sofa
Goodness, a sock in the puss? At first I read it wrong but I won’t demean the readers with my lack of internal eloquence.
Sounds very exciting though, and when you first attended, did friends and family come along too -to see you in action and to share in the fun?
We have panels here but they are less frequent. The writers’ annual attraction (since gone like the dodo) was fab and allowed different people with concordant interests to meet in pubs, parks, art galleries and convention centres, where, in the latter case, 6 or 7 panellists would take charge and there’d be a formal breakfast. This would be about $125 for the 2.5 hours -in some cases our respective professional fees would include this.
In others not so & of course there’d be the book signing and buying at the end. Other panels were far less formal and the topics might include: “Robert Manne on the Demidenko issue” which was a hot one back in 1995 and still resonates among the Jewish/Ukranian population of Sydney/Mel/Bris: the latter being ‘Demidenko’s’ first home -before the silly b**ch changed her name (check it out on Google, it’s a nasty story indeed) -I knew her very well as she hawked her goods at QLD univ in the late ’80s preparing her ‘fiction’ & changing her personal history to suit the oncoming storm.
Kindest, puro
27 June 2015 at 01:22 #40853I add congrats to you also -a little belatedly (I think I was in on the unofficial one!) on the diploma. Having just searched for the various gardens you mentioned, I can see how well qualified and experienced a person in your boots has to be. They look incredible.
My own garden was just completed – finally – but I added the finishing touches myself without the snapdragons I love so much as the ‘landscape gardener’ waited too long. Here, they bloom in Autumn.
There’s a green ‘fern like’ plant with long, thin, droopy leaves. It doesn’t blossom and has stripes of pale green and white. I recall seeing some recently in a British documentary.
Years ago, you’d separate out the roots and cultivate it. It was everywhere to the point where it became a weed. Now, my ‘gardener’ paid $25 per plant and popped them in two tall planter boxes on the front porch! Nuts, I say!
He planted a Mediterranean chilli in half shade and basil near the tap where water drips constantly and is shaded by a tuccaroo – a hardy evergreen which manages to stave off mould & bugs and invites magpies to nest -these are the same ones which then terrorise the neighbourhood come Spring. People don’t realise that if they stop screaming the maggies will leave well alone. I’ve had young girls decked out in mini-skirts and 6″ heels, slamming the door whilst maggies circle: I’ve calmed ’em down and walked them to a nearby bus stop with umbrellas.
Others take refuge in the open garage as terrified as if they’re in ‘Nam. In Spring, visiting friends gasp at the shrieks and running feet associated with an imminent terrorist attack. Meanwhile we continue our conversation ignoring the hubbub whilst assuring them it’s the locals fearing our baby ‘terrorists’: it happens every few minutes!
But honestly, if I was a millionaire, I’d ‘send’ for you Mr FatMan, and with an unlimited budget, you might create a dream garden where the herbs are not laid in thick mulch and plotting mix! and the lavender isn’t planted in shade to collect mould. Man! Mind you, working in the heat is rather repellent and a good deterrent: “shall we work in the garden today to prune and weed?”
“Oh nah, it’s a little too hot (41 degrees and 95% humidity) so pop on a DVD instead.”
Hallelujah.
27 June 2015 at 01:39 #40854@arbutus — Definitely, to the teams!
@purofilion — Well, maybe Harlan’s objection to Platt goes back much further than I thought . . . We’re more civilized now (sorta).
Actually, most of my year is pretty quiet — and writing (or not writing, and doing a whole ton of other home-centered stuff connected with living solo now) is lonely sometimes. Most pros go to conventions when they can, to get to talk in person to friends and colleagues they rarely see otherwise, have some lively give and take on ideas with audience participation, get some feedback from fans (and sign books), and hang out at the bar with old friends. My traveling season settled some time ago into dead winter, busy spring, maybe a WorldCon if it’s someplace interesting (the other side of working on your own so mud is not having a high tolerance for vast mobs of people seething around among maybe four or five hotels and a convention center, so there has to be more than that to sweeten the pot — and we don’t get paid to show up, although the GOH’s will be comped pretty much everything, as it should be). Then one or two biggies in the fall — World Fantasy, mainly.
Keeping in mind that prices for everything (including con attending memberships) were much lower in the late seventies, yep, I was sometimes able to get a guest membership or a one-day pass for a friend or relative. My husband attended some cons with me in the early days, but being a lawyer doesn’t bring with it the kind of time-flexibility that being a writer does. I invited my sister-in-law once, but she was horrified by seeing so many obese people (reading, RPG’s, and other sitting-still activities, and often disabilities as well, are part of the problem) in one place; turned out she’d gone through a balloon phase herself, and couldn’t stand being reminded (was skinny when I knew her). IQ’s, expertise, and energy are high at these events; body awareness and comfort with, not so much, but then fandom prides itself on being non-judgmental about such things. Fine by me, til you get into an elevator with some of the guys who never wash . . .
Your panels sound great — I hope you get to attend sometimes? I don’t know the Demidenko issue — Google will help!
27 June 2015 at 02:22 #40855RPG: Rocket Propelled Grenades?? GOH?
The debate focussed on the book, The Hand That Signed The Paper which won a number of prestigious, literary awards (some later withdrawn). A key point in the novel is the Babi Yar massacre and issues surrounding the war, rendered, in my opinion, in an immature style hindered by poor dialogue. A further problem is the lack of a strong authorial voice implying in this case an anti-Semitic feel, reinforced, or perhaps ‘understood,’ by her own Ukrainian identity. Unfortunately this was later revealed as fraudulent. She is in fact, Helen Darville educated at Redeemer, a Lutheran college of indifferent repute in Brisbane. The issue goes well beyond a simpler discussion of pseudonyms.
So, back to your events: obese people? Hmm. Can’t say that was standard fare here. I’ve watched some ComicCon panels for Buffy/Angel/Who in the States and have noticed a peculiar ‘type’ of audience participant which could be generalised as ‘oddly dressed, strangely styled and weirdly put together’ -without saying too much!
27 June 2015 at 03:36 #40856@purofilion — Um. RPG = Role Playing Games. GOH = Guest of Honor. And thanks for filling me in re info on this Darville person. Whew. Lot of this odd appropriation of ethnic identity seems to be going around — have you seen any stories about a young woman here who pretended to be of African descent and got herself into the higher ranks of the current incarnation of the Civil Rights movement here? Her parents turn out to be White fundies, who outed her because a reporter found them and asked them about the lies she had concocted about herself (“I self-identify as Black”, but no Black ancestry as claimed), quickly eclipsed by the Charleston Massacre and now the double victory of the Left of center via the Supreme Court.
We have lots of costuming and cosplay in general at our cons too, but for some years we also had panels running on “Fat is a Feminist Issue” because there were (and are) so many heavy women, in particular, in fandom, and they were fighting back about being “fat-shamed”, and encouraging each other to resist it. Less of that now — some medical input on the health costs of obesity that they’d been denying put a bit of a damper on this, but it’s still a huge issue and not just here — see the efforts in Paris to put the kibosh in using models as thin as paper clips at fashion events, etc.
27 June 2015 at 08:14 #40857Indeed I have heard -all three.
But by the latter, do you mean the Same Sex Marriage legislation?
Outstanding
27 June 2015 at 08:33 #40858@purofilion — Yup, but it’s *better* than legislation, which would never get past Congress as presently constituted (it’s full of moronic Republican hacks and infantile fools). This is a Supreme Court decision, binding on all the states. It was reached via a 5-4 decision, with the swing vote being, as always in these narrow liberal victories, Justice Kennedy — which has Reactionary idiots so gobsmacked that they’re saying that Kennedy was secretly *blackmailed* into it. In fact, Kennedy’s judicial comment, which is the summary of the decision and the order that it be enforced immediately, is so forthright, decent, and even poetic that a number of same-sex couples are incorporating it into their marriage ceremonies.
So there is no more “marriage” vs. “same-sex marriage” or “gay marriage” in the US any more: just “marriage”. Worth a toast or six, I’d say!
27 June 2015 at 09:25 #40859indeed, I should not have said ‘legislation’ understanding the implications of the binding votes of The Supremes.
Kennedy is a bit of a fav amongst the labour/left believers in this country.
As for the Charleston massacres, that is all we hear about on the news: the culture of fear in police pronouncements about “enforced perimeters being the hardest areas evah enforced” and “stay vigilant and in your homes”. Oh F*** off is what I’d say to these people about whom the media are salivating in the States, it seems, and bringing it to the top of our own news outlets -owned by Murdock or Packer in any case. Not that I’m denying the terror of such an awful event. But the gent who sang “Amazing Grace” was applauded and cheered. Is there no time for quiet reflection??
Purogrrilion
27 June 2015 at 09:31 #40860@ichabod I think that thin models will always be about.
Designers seem to repeat the idea that these ‘frocks’ simply look ‘best’ and more stylish on ‘paper clips’ and bicycles (as in ‘more meat on a bicycle’) and many of the well-moneyed ladiez who are paying $4000 -$15 000 for a Krizia dress are the infinitesimal size 0. How is that, anyway: how can you be a ‘zero’? Well, other than in your brain -speaking as I am to these women with fake boobs in Double E sizes, no IQ and covered in bling-bling! But then they would need to be flat as a pancake, actually.
28 June 2015 at 06:02 #40863It’s great that all we have in The States now is marriage instead of marriage and same-sex marriage . It’s about time the Supreme Court made it legal , cause ” the twenty first century is when every thing changes , and you got to be ready ” . Maybe Jack says that line with more than one meaning extended .
29 June 2015 at 01:27 #40864I thought I’d move this conversation over to the Pub instead of the Spoilers.
Indeed: you love Firefly? 🙂
You knew about it well before I ever did for until this year I’d never heard about it! I was introduced to Buffy and Angel first by @pedant & then @JimTheFish who has written numerous blogs on Buffy and Angel -so check out the Blogs section from this Forum’s home page -something I don’t look at often enough and is very helpful.
Later, it was suggested that I watch Firefly -“a Western in Space” & boy, did I adore that. I was pretty crumbled when, after a single season it was cancelled. I thought it had the most charismatic, if not, clever, cast I’d ever witnessed! So, incredibly ‘easy’ with each other, relaxed and professional. Their obvious enjoyment of themselves as a group of actors with similar aims blossomed on screen. Whedon chose well. These were the droids he always wanted. OK, damn silly statement, but anyway…
The TV related thread on this Forum is often connected to Who and as Anthony S. Head played Buffy’s watcher, and was also in Tennant’s Who playing a ‘bat’ there’s a connection. Someone once suggested Tony Head would’ve been an excellent Master in Doctor Who and I can well imagine that.
Wesley, from both Buffy and Angel, was considered a possible James Bond -an American with a stunning English accent who knew how to don a suit. Probably never would have happened but there were apparently ‘talks’. After all, we had an Australian Bond at one stage!
This Forum has been quiet in the last few days. The Australian kiddies are on school holidays and so there’ll be some DVDs of Who pulled out and re-watched. My own Boy decided that Capaldi wasn’t someone he warmed to. I remain horrified and have thought of various punishments for such an egregious opinion. 🙂
Possibly, won over over by the huggy and swirly Smith (his favourite thus far though he cried when Tennant did his “I don’t wanna go” speech so the Boy is a complete flake!), he finds Capaldi a little brusque and ‘alien’ which is rather the point. Brought up on Doctor Pertwee myself, I quite liked a ‘colder’ personality with a brisk manner. Others have found him a ‘turn off’ despite the lovable Betsy and the foppish or decadent sartorial look.
Yes, I see what you mean about the endless horror, torture scenes and cliff hanger suggestions in Hollywood movies and other serialised shows. There are very few I watch. A person I was faintly acquainted with 6 months ago with no critical skills whatsoever, claimed the re-make of the film Exodus was “good”. When I pressed him for details, it was “yeah, great, um, great, yez, truly awesome”.
“In what way, awesome?” I inquired.
“uhn, huh?” was his verbose and thoughtful response.
Still, to each their own. I recall the stunning score of the original film, Exodus; I must have been 8 when I first heard it and thought it was a monumental idea. I don’t think this particular recent film drew upon the modern aspects of the ‘original’ for I recall some giant sized monsters in the ads but I could be completely wrong there, thinking of another film entirely!
So, two months to go before Series 9 and then wait, @kharis, you’ll have 43+ email notifications in your inbox in a single hour. The boards buzz. We get the occasional troll who enjoys the “this is crap science & you’re all idiots” statement or those who simply say “I was disappointed, it was shite” and then disappear into their drinks for the next few days to alleviate their sorrows. There are also those who will claim Moffat (OBE) needs to “die, have a heart attack and leave the real writing to the professionals” which usually means they want a crack at it themselves.
Generally, though, that’s all a minority issue: the level of politesse is more than adequate here -considering I was labelled a ‘bimbo’ on a Youtube page yesterday where I made an innocuous comment about where pizza was first invented.
Right then, onwards!
@gamergirlavatar yes, it’s great and a good spot with Cap’n Jack’s statement. How true. In Oz, we have a Jesuit PM who will always support marriage between only a man and woman whereas even his own party have more open ideas (have a listen on YouTube to one Christopher Pyne of the Liberal party and decide for yourself whether the poor guy’s actually gay but desperately hiding it or not quite aware of where he sits yet: and I’m sympathetic to that. Perhaps it’s an uber effeminate quality only).
Oddly, two missionaries have invited themselves in (they’re both American) and it wouldn’t surprise me if Mr Ilion has teased them with questions about the Supreme Court’s ruling -they probably stick to some arcane rule which assumes reading only scripture and not participating in vociferous political discussions is essential: ah, I hear the patter of exiting feet which is my cue to creep down the stairs (all this sounds like I’m some anti-Christian which I most definitely am not!)
PuroforFillion
29 June 2015 at 02:08 #40865@kharis where I said some Moff- haters might say “die [Moffat], have a heart attack and leave the real writing to the professionals…” it’s probably in that order.
29 June 2015 at 12:31 #40868Sorry not been around much. Mucho busy workwise and major computer upgrade work into the bargain.
Good to see another Browncoat on the site. I know there are not too many gamers one the site, but the trailer for the new Mass Effect game has landed and it looks might fine. It also strikes me as having more than a little of a Firefly influence to it:
29 June 2015 at 18:14 #40869@purofilion @kharis Re the Moffat-haters: I generally get a huge whiff of pure, plain jealousy in those posts. The sub-text seems to be, “Moffat is so talented and I’m not, so he gets to have all the ‘fun’ *I* could have if *I* could be writing DW, only I have no talent and could never do a quarter of the job of Moffat and his team so I HATE HIM.” Yeah, they do. Or, they’re part of the STFU Mean Girls crew, who mostly didn’t watch S8, mis-remember everything they saw and hear (via confirmation bias) if they did, and just want their “boyfriend” back — Tennant or Smith, so they gang up on Moffat to see who can say the most horrible things about him. So far, it’s a rare few of the haters that have attacked Capaldi. But it’s a nasty kind of circus once it gets going, and people who really do love the show and can see the virtues that make it so appealing and entertaining have to decide just how much they want to engage in a High-School level of simplistic thinking and crazy emotionalism.
Particularly when there’s the option of coming over here for some civilized discussion that’s not reeking of pathetic showing off (look how much smarter I am than Moffat!) and mob-mentality.
The Boy who hasn’t yet warmed to Capaldi has plenty of company, and I wouldn’t resort to The Comfy Chair yet — Moffat says S9 is more cheery, confident, and funnier, and I choose to believe that he’s not lying, so things should be more upbeat and adventurous in S9. S8 was, IMO, the Grand Experiment of watching a new Doctor make himself before our eyes from the ground up, but that’s done and dusted, I think, as of DiH, and then Last Xmas.
30 June 2015 at 07:20 #40873@ichabod indeed (strikes me I need another word for ‘indeed’)
Yes, the new series is apparently fuller and cheerier: I really did enjoy series 8, though, and I tend to find something to like in any series: I enjoy it all!
@kharis I must note that it was @scaryb (halloo: where are you these days -pesky RL taking ahold?) who mentioned Firefly to me 6-7 months ago and I was “huh? Fire what?” I actually thought it was some new rendition of the film, The Fly!
@jimthefish mucho work? Goodness not! And it being summer? Or summery? I don’t ‘do’ gaming but the Boy does and so he enjoyed playing back the link, thank you. The Firefly influence I absolutely agree with.
Kindest, puro (back to my book: a rare thing these days. I start and there’s an interruption and then I need to charge the Kindle up. Annoying things but space saving and less costly but then I feel bad about the independent book stores going slowly broke and turning into coffee shops which don’t make that much money either. $5 for a large flat white which tastes of boiled milk. I’ve given up!)
30 June 2015 at 07:57 #40874@purofilion Oh, the idiotic coffee drinks — I keep thinking of the flour-and-water sculpted hair-dos in the court of Louis XIV, galleons and coaches and any mad, extravagant thing, rippling with weevils come for the flour paste of course. These crazy “coffee” drinks are pure decadence, nothing but hot egg-creams as far as I can tell, even if you do sprinkle in some powdered pumpkin. Such B.S.! And people so eager to lap it up at $5 a drink, because there’s *sugar* in it! Maybe sugary drinks will prove to be our equivalent of the lead pipes that fed drinking water to the ancient Romans and garbled their brains . . .
30 June 2015 at 09:34 #40876Gawd, love, weevils? hey, that’s a steep cost even for coffee :-}
Indeed (again with that) sugar is the new ‘fat’ I heard some ‘brain’ say. I thought “um, no, sugar is pretty much sugar and awful for you.”
This from the person just learning to order pizza online for the first time and who was continually asked, “do you want a Belgian pudding with that?
“No thanks.”
“How about a waffle?”
“No thanks (but you’re already waffling you idiots!)
“How about that Belgian pudding?”
“NO thanks” (gritting what’s left of my teeth!)
The pizza will have enough sugar in it I expect. When I explained this to Boy, he looked ‘amazed’. “Not just fat then?”
“No, dear, the fat’s the bit you taste, the sugar is the bit underneath your palette”
“Say again?”
30 June 2015 at 12:18 #40877@purofilion — Afraid work doesn’t really come on clear schedules for me. Some nutters start gunning down people on a beach or Greece goes into meltdown and suddenly there’s stuff for me to do.
Oh, and Boy-llion should definitely check out Borderlands (if he hasn’t done so already) for that full Firefly-esque gaming vibe….
30 June 2015 at 13:28 #40879Apologies in advance if this is the wrong forum, but this is all new to me.
I was wondering if anyone can make any suggestions about missing Doctor Who stories? I’ve been collecting and watching the DVDs in more or less chronological order from the first William Hartnell story and have reached ‘The Time Meddler’ to find that many of the subsequent stories are missing and unavailable on DVD. Can anyone recommend a way of filling in the gaps please? I’m aware of the ‘Lost in Time’ DVD, but get the impression that it only includes odd episodes. Does anyone know if it’s worthwhile getting? Or maybe the missing stories are available as audio only?
Any suggestions would be welcome.
1 July 2015 at 07:32 #40897@hitch
I have the Edge of Destruction, Unearthly Child and Daleks ‘compilation’ & it’s pretty good: re-mastered & well worth the cost -it’s cheap. In Oz I paid $25 for the lot -several hours of viewing pleasure.
Perhaps others can be more informative and provide you with missing titles. I know @denvaldron knows Doctor Who inside out and may give some ideas for 1 or 2 titles (I hope that’s OK to mention, Den)
Anyway, hitch, welcome to the site. There’s a lot to enjoy.
Ah, I see now, there’s much to write about and it aint always fun. I’ve passed your info to the Boy and his friend-in-gaming (that sounds weird) and been rewarded with smiling faces: school holidaaaays. Aaaah.
1 July 2015 at 12:32 #40902@purofilion — it’s all chillin’ now.
Oh, and for gamer Boy-llion, here’s the trailer for the latest episode of the really rather excellent Tales of the Borderlands. Also very Firefly-ey….
I love the design of the Borderlands world. Could watch it all day.
1 July 2015 at 15:19 #40904@hitch You actually have some options.
Back in the old days, when the technology of film and video was less sophisticated, continuity from one day to the next was often a challenge. To deal with this, television series would hire a photographer to be on the set, taking photographs of the actors and action on a steady basis. A half hour might produce anywhere from a dozen to a hundred photographs taken. The photographs could then be developed quickly, in a matter of an hour or two, and provided to the director, producer, actors, grips etc., to ensure that everyone found their place. In the absence of rushes, they were a valuable directors tool.
Back in the day, a photographer called John Cura perfected a method of photographing straight from a television image. This was useful. These photographs were called Telesnaps. Between 1963 and 1968, he was telesnapping Doctor Who, roughly 60 pictures to a half hour. These telesnaps, and other set photography in many cases became the only surviving visual material for the lost episodes.
At the same time, there was another phenomena. Audio recording. It was a thing back then. People would make audio tapes of their favourite radio and TV shows. So, often as a result of fans recording and sometimes copying and trading, there was a substantial audio record of these episodes.
Anyway, fast forward a bit, and fans started putting two and two together, combining the photographs and telesnaps, to create an audio track with a visual component of a succession of illustrated stills. It wasn’t animation. I suppose it was something like a comic book. But with a certain amount of generosity of spirit, it could recreate many of these lost serials for you.
BBCi, which was the online branch of the BBC in the and 90’s and noughties began offering up its own reconstructions – basically showing the lost episodes online. Back in those ancient days, bandwidth meant that while audio and photographs were viable, actual motion pictures were not. So BBCi’s lost series run matched the technology available and people were used to that.
So, I would suggest hunting them down. You can probably find reconstructions and sites devoted to reconstruction on the web.
Apart from that, I’d suggest the novels. Most, if not all of the novels or novelisations for the lost episodes were done concurrently. And most of them were done by the actual writers of those particular serials, or by Doctor Who writers like Malcolm Hulke, who had clear connections with the show. I suppose mileage may vary, but if its the original scriptwriters doing the novels, I imagine there’s some authenticity.
Online, you might look up SFdebris. It’s an interesting pop-culture review web site with a snappy sense of humour, but it also takes time out to delve into subtext, to examine why something works or does not work. SFdebris did a series of ‘reviews’ discussions on the lost serials, using an informative audio track that explained and discussed the story, punctuated by photographs or telesnaps. It’s quite enjoyable.
There have also been some fan film attempts to recreate lost or unmade serials. The best of these would probably be Tony Coburn’s Masters of Luxor. But be warned, quality may plummet.
And there have been stage plays of some of the lost serials starring Nick Scovell, although I suppose they’re inaccessible as well.
Anyway, hope this helps. This is all off the top of my head. So I can’t give you URL’s. But google a bit, and I’m sure you’ll find interesting things.
1 July 2015 at 17:19 #40905@purofilion – Thanks for the information and the welcome. And especially for referring my question to @denvaldron
@denvaldron – Wow, you certainly know your Doctor Who. Thanks for all the information. You’ve given me loads of options. And all that off the top of your head. How do you do it? I can’t remember what I did yesterday.
Anyway, I’ll be looking at all the suggestions you’ve made and can see no reason to not be able to fill in the gaps now, in one form or another.
Thanks again, to both of you.
1 July 2015 at 18:24 #40908@hitch here are a couple of links to start you off…
http://geekbat.blogspot.ca/2012/06/doctor-who-reconstruction-retrospective.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_missing_episodes#Reconstruction
That should give you a good start on understanding and tracking down the reconstructions, and having some sense of what you’re getting for your effort.
Here’s the fan version of Masters of Luxor. I have a review of it up.
A Fan Animated version of Daleks Masterplan
Then there’s SF Debris, here’s the Daleks Masterplan episode
http://sfdebris.com/videos/doctorwho/s03e04.php
Good luck. Have fun. Remember to just feel free to poke around, it’s always fascinating to see where your nose might take you….
1 July 2015 at 18:45 #40909Which SF hero are you? Kinda fun.
1 July 2015 at 21:35 #40911@jimthefish – ha ha!
Actually that was more interesting than most (must have more heroes as answers methinks).
I’m Ellen Ripley.
and so’s my wife.
;¬)
1 July 2015 at 21:39 #40912@whisht — I’m Dana Scully, which I wasn’t expecting at all but which by no means displeases me…. Observe my flowing red locks….
1 July 2015 at 22:14 #40913@jimthefish Apparently I’m supposed to be Spock. I can only conclude that the whole exercise is flawed! (and I assure you that I do not have pointy ears and my eyebrows are perfectly normal).
2 July 2015 at 03:55 #40915Apparently I am Ellen Ripley too! I was soooo hoping for Buffy but I was honest. No standing around the drinks table for me! (eeerm, cough)
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