The Cloven Hoof
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29 January 2015 at 23:59 #37681
Anonymous @
What a day! I’ve just woken up after grabbing a crafty kip for a few hours.
Today our college group, along with volunteers from Deutsche Bank and a few local schools, were at the Lickey Hills planting a new Hazel Grove.
Things were going great until the snow started, then the children were herded back to their mini-buses by their teachers in case the poor dears got cold (the kids weren’t happy about that, they wanted to stay and play in the snow, bless).
The bankers, likewise, disappeared but we carried on like the troopers we are until the job was done. After the planting was finished, we helped with gritting the road from the main road to the Visitors Centre. And our reward? A quick hike through a blizzard engulfed forest to the Warden’s cabin where a roaring log fire and much needed tea/coffee were waiting to warm us up.
When I told one of my mates about the days activities, he replied “I bet you wish you were still working in a nice, warm office now don’t you?”. My reply “Not a chance, wouldn’t have swapped this for anything”.
Of course, I’m paying the price now. Muscles that I didn’t know existed are aching!
30 January 2015 at 01:34 #37683Ocht! You’re a hero.
Sleep tight 🙂
But watch out for weeping snow angels! Don’t blink!! 😉
30 January 2015 at 11:13 #37685@scaryb Brother Juniper – “Renowned jester of the Lord”? I love it!
Thanks for the spit roasting (oh no wait – that came out wrong) and the flagons of divine nectar!
Brother Juniper looks rather like Friar Tuck in the cartoon. I’ve always had a soft spot for Friar Tuck. And he would have approved heartily of roast pig and grog.
Our good health, one and all! xx
30 January 2015 at 22:02 #37693It’s been awhile since the last time I post something in this forum. First of all greetings to everyone here. I’ve been inactive from the Forum post-season ending. And I hope I can be more active in the future. Whether there’s another Dr. Who or not. And I might be sounding a lil bit weird in this pub.
But yeah, my family is currently going through a hard time, my father isn’t working neither is my mom, my brother has been a lil bit way off the limit regarding of how he wants the family to change, I do want to, but he doesn’t have the concept of something isn’t actually that simple. Please do excuse me for some mis-language or bad placement such as this. We resolved the problem the other night and we’re eager to have some change in our life. We do know it isn’t easy, and I’ve been depressed because of it lately. I’ll survive like any other time. I’m sure I will. That’s what has been happening in my life. To all dweller in this forum, I wish you the best and the best only. You might not know me and I am certain that I do not know you. But a wish for the best is never a bad wish. And I wish it to you all.
And oh yeah, I do look forward to the Chelsea – Manchester City showdown this weekend. Come on Chelsea! 😉
Cheers and goodnight.
31 January 2015 at 11:57 #37702Den of Geek (which I’m a fan of) has posted a great interview with Mark Kermode. I feel the universe is maybe becoming entangled in ways I cannot imagine. It’s a long read but it’s very thoughtful and traverses the “it’s good” or “it’s shit” school of criticism. Well worth a read.
31 January 2015 at 22:37 #37711any poll-heads out there??
@pedant @jimthefish @whisht @janetteb @lisa ??
I must state my outstanding surprise at the Australian Labour Party’s massive result in Queensland last night.
From a measly nine seats, the ALP has almost regained government winning a possible 46 seats over night. A direct response to the LNP’s (liberal/national party) proposition to sell off 37 billion dollars of the state’s assets.
In QLD, we don’t have an Upper House. We also have optional preferential voting which causes ballot papers to lose or exhaust their preferences resulting in voters not realising their ballots lack determination.
Just when someone thinks there is no hope for success, we realise that the capacity for endurance is limitless.
Kindest,
Puro on Fire.
31 January 2015 at 22:45 #37712@purofilion Ozzies GO! See news story today about strong anti-austerity rally in Madrid, on behalf of a party bent on lifting austerity and taxing the rich, following on from the Greek win just now by the Left. Everybody but the US . . . alas. Not that you can tell much about the actual political leanings of this nation any more from our elections, which appear to have been almost totally corrupted by big money with worse to promised for 2016. Our major problem is that, after Occupy, nobody seems interested in serious disruption here any more, maybe because we’re starting to show some economic growth almost a decade after the collapse — growth which will, as usual here, mainly benefit the rich, with a few table crumbs for everybody else.
At least, that’s how it looks from here right now. But luckily, the US is not the world! So all the best, rebellious not-Time-Lords-just-decent-people of OZ!
31 January 2015 at 23:47 #37715@ichabod I’m a bit of a
potpoll head: I do follow the US elections -mid terms etc and various newspapers, even in Oz, The Financial Review and periodicals give those who are interested some excellent insights.Indeed: the world is in turmoil (at the mo -having the after-effects of a migraine, I’m not totally coherent) but right now I’m pretty excited -Oz won the Asian Cup (soccer). But then we should have. No huge surprise but it was a great game -I didn’t see it, just highlights in over-time this morning.
The Liberal government is also in trouble nationally after giving the Queen’s consort a knighthood -typical utter goofiness; a Capn’s Pick -of which the front bench were ignorant. Abbott, our PM, is a bamboozled big-eared fool in speedos. He uses his ears to stay afloat but never to listen.
Never has federalism looked so bereft in Australia.
1 February 2015 at 00:00 #37717@nick1235 I’m truly sorry for all the problems you’re all going thru and I hope your wishes for the best come true. Continue to post your thoughts on this Forum -our pub is a great place and I’ll shout you a drink – perhaps a strong coffee or a relaxing de-caf beverage, like chamomile, to calm the nerves? 🙂
Best wishes
@craig thanks for that great read. I love Mark Kermode. I was only aware of this guy last year. Since then, I try to read/hear whatever he says. The issue of criticism is a pertinent one -for forums, writers, bloggers and…readers.
1 February 2015 at 00:05 #37719@craig Love Mark Kermode, thanks for posting. Love Den of Geek too, mostly they’re really enthusiastic. Have to wonder who edited that article tho, it’s a disaster of inconsistency, LOL. It’s really hard to work out who’s “speaking” – the bold and the line spacing is seemingly completely random! Not to mention what appears to be cut n paste side effects! But as ever he’s got lots of good things to say. I completely agree about star ratings – it’s such a blunt tool.
@Purofilion @ichabod That’s really interesting about the Australian polls. Especially following on from the Greek result and the Madrid demo. More often in austerity times people close ranks, resent perceived outsiders and move to the right. I was discussing this with a friend earlier and we were wondering if the internet has something to do with it. Not the shit-stirring simplistic 140 character tweet-culture, but having access to a much wider range of information from a variety of sources. Blatant government lies about “we’re all in this together” are much easier to see through, and it’s easier for people to connect with other like-minded groups (tho not for much longer if our UK government has its way). I’d love to think so anyway.
1 February 2015 at 00:45 #37723Oh @nick1235, Nick Nick Nick.
There I was all overflowing with sympathy for your difficult circumstances and then you go and mention the “C” word.
As we say at my end of London:
Up yer arse, right up yer arse
Stick yer blue flag up yer arse,
From Stamford Bridge to Upton Park
Stick yer blue flag up yer arse. 😉
Depression is an absolute bastard fucker of an illness and all too much the treatment for it consists of the equivalent of yanking the crutches away from someone with a broken leg and saying: “Go on the, walk. We’ve told you how”.
Been there, done that. And, as ever, written about it.
Take care of yourself.
1 February 2015 at 00:50 #37724@Purofilion
People who analyse non-linear systems talk about being “over-confident in the current forecast”, leading change to be ignored and unaddressed until it is overwhelmingly upon us (chaotic, in the sense of chaos theory). Confirmation bias as part of the system. With monopolistic media it is easy to embed.
Then Greece comes out of the dark.
I think conservative (small “c”) analysts have been a little too over-confident in their current forecasts of late, giving the impression that Conservatives (big “c”) are impregnable.
1 February 2015 at 01:09 #37726@pedant Oh boyyyy! “C” word. You object to ‘cheers’?
Apparently the Socceroos coach was utterly pis*sed all night and completely incoherent this morning during an interview about how he got them to victory.
What I liked was seeing Iranians coming to their match wearing a combo T-shirt -half Iranian/half Australian flag. A wonderful concept: where people come together to celebrate sport. Cheesy, I know: but I like cheese (I’m with Buffy and Riley on this).
it’s interesting just how ‘far to the right’ Australia has drifted: like a swimmer in the water who is certain the current isn’t taking them away from Mum and Dad, but looks up and sees them further to their right than before. In QLD’s case, we had a premier who was totally stoopid. He wouldn’t answer a single question from respected media and said the word ‘strong’ 46 times in a speech probably written by a hopeless fifth grader. His idea to sell off virtually all our assets isn’t new – Paul Keating started to do the same -by no means is it a conservative virus, but it’s becoming apparent that even our schools are up for corporate grabs. Hospitals remain under-funded, whole state orchestras have disappeared, funding for depression and mental illness has dried up due to the attitude, “if you have it, you fix it.” It’s a Republican mantra fast gaining public appreciation down under.
Time for a chamomile tea!
Puro.
1 February 2015 at 01:12 #37727@WScaryB @ichabod @all … I’m quite concerned about the next big election in the states
Although Sen Paul is the most dovish I don’t agree with his social politics and we will
not in any case get someone like Obama again for a while. I know he has his faults but
I like his progressive tendancies. Even if I were going with Clinton [and at this point I
think she’s it] she is also a bit of a hawk. The cork has popped on Planet Earth.
I have no desire to see the U S sticking our nose inappropriately in more political affairs.
I noticed how Obama has taken a extremely different foreign affairs strategy then what
has been typical in years past and its really messing with the republicans head trips
but I respect him for attempting to be something new!1 February 2015 at 01:18 #37728Paul Kelly -back in the days when he was a better writer – speaks about confirmation bias. I haven’t seen anything worth reading by him in awhile but he forecasted the complexities and consequences of ‘one world one media’ (although he would have said ‘medium’) in a great book analysing the 1975 dismissal.
Robert Manne spans an era of discussion about this in Australia now – an interesting phenomenon as he once favoured the Liberal Party and philosophized his decision to move ‘left’: it’s an honest, non-sophist explanation rather than a polemic.
1 February 2015 at 01:26 #37729@lisa Senator Rand Paul? What do you think of his ‘FAIR’ act?
1 February 2015 at 01:40 #37730@Purofilion Here in the states we are facing exacting the same as what you just described however
it has improved marginally with the economic growth. I would be willing to bet that the government
will pass an infrastructure bill and that will give us an additional boost. In Australia you
were very connected to the China boom and since they are shrinking its going to probably have
some effects on you. There are issues in education in almost every country I read about. I used
to be a special education teacher with teens from 13 tbru 18. To be honest programs have gotten
better for them broadly but that is in part because special ed took some chunks of money from regular
ed budgets. There some amazing school districts and some real dogs. Its often about paying
to live in good school districts in most places here – not everywhere but mostly. I’d be willing
to bet in OZ its much the same1 February 2015 at 01:54 #37731@Purofilion I’m ok about it but how about taking on the issue of money in politics buying politicians?
It is all about government over reach when you are a libertarian like Paul. Although I do agree that
the criminal justice system needs some changes. I would absolutely like to see some debate begin.1 February 2015 at 02:09 #37732@lisa we don’t have a school district catchment rule -it’s there- but mostly loopholed out.
The issue in the States and in Oz, to a lesser extent, is the ‘bucket of revenue’ into which funds from stolen property are dumped. I guess the argument over interpretation of the Constitution is to the fore.
“on the issue of money in politics buying politicians?”
always there, always will be. But then I’m a pessimist and lobby groups are expertly funded.
1 February 2015 at 02:36 #37733@Purofilion – I agree about there being little chance any time soon on seeing the
amendment on campaign finance change being brought forward again. Big bummer that!!
Regarding the lobbies look at all the billions that the Koch Brothers are throwing
at their wholly owned lobby groups plus at elections too! In spite of all the
buying of politicians Obama is vetoing the pipeline they want so badly.
This money situation is getting worse and we need to put some back stops in place
I do think that there has been a lot stories on slow boil here about fairness – I think
continued growing awareness brings about social changes. Even the Pope has done a little.
I will try to remain ever optimistic,1 February 2015 at 10:03 #37735@nick1235 — sad to hear things have been rocky. Take care of yourself (and your family).
@purofilion — rather out of touch with Oz politics these days but that’s a heartening result. With regards to the wider global context, I think the cracks are beginning to show in what was briefly a depressing consensus among the Left and Right towards a neocon world view. I’m glad it didn’t last and we’re starting to see things like the events in Greece and the surge in parties like the Greens in this country. But the fact that its happening against a backdrop of a general drift rightwards is a cause for concern though.
@craig — that’s a good piece on Kermode. He was especially good on the changing nature of the business of film journalism and the increasing freelance-isation of the job. And also on the effect of the internet in general. I remember his little spat with Will Self and I have to say I was kind of sympathetic to Self’s point of view as well. I think it was one of those cases when both sides were not entirely wrong, or entirely right.
1 February 2015 at 14:49 #37738I’ve enjoyed reading the contributions on writing as well, but time didn’t permit me to respond fully, so I’ve left it late (I’ll submit my note later). Like @juniperfish I’ll defend fanfic as a concept to the hilt. Especially as Doctor Who (and perhaps fellow sixties Sci-fi franchise Star Trek) owes the concept an awful lot.
Here are my thoughts (with apologies for the length).
To go back to your original point:
up pops the newbie saying, I want to write stuff for Doctor Who and then they disappear quickly as the challenges associated with not being an established writer with a body of work, or indeed being any kind of writer with an understanding of editing, or rewrites, or rejection, or committing to something you might fail at, or y’know, work, emerge.
Personally I’d say to those people that, in this day and age, the chances of successfully pitching an episode of Doctor Who (the TV show and “mothership”) are substantially less than winning the lottery. If only because those wise heads in legal advice will prohibit staff from reading fan submissions full stop. A sad state of affairs, but understandable in the age of creative industry litigation.
It wasn’t always this way and, believe it or not, a fan writer did get to see his name in the writing credits for Doctor Who with no history of ever having something published or performed before. His name was Andrew Smith. He was a late teenager (yes-read that and weep) when, after having constructive criticism on earlier submissions by luminaries like Robert Holmes (possibly concerned the writers mentoring system at the BBC was being deconstructed) and Douglas Adams (possibly trying to avoid a multitude of other things he was actually supposed to be doing), had a story proposal accepted that led to the episode Full Circle for Tom Baker.
I don’t know if you remember it, but apart from the massive drag factor of introducing Adric to a disbelieving Whoniverse (not Smith’s decision) I think he produced something rather good. It’s a nice conflict of philosophies episode with a lovely bit of “upsetting the natural balance”, and with Tom getting a chance to lay into some meaty moralising (he was always good at that). Interestingly, the need to eat suppressed Smith’s career and he became a Policeman. In the last decade, Big Finish approached him and he’s written more stories. In fact, he never gave up because it’s something he loved.
Ah, Big Finish – a product of fans of the show who got big, producing written audio adventures for the Doctor. Some of the short trips series of audiobooks are still based on fan submissions. There is more than the Mothership producing Doctor Who, and I’d suggest people look at Doctor Who Monthly and the fanzine community also for avenues. The internet has made it easier for those who write (and those who want to read) to find each other. Ultimately, a writer wants to write, but it seems that if they want to improve their writing they need feedback, and this is an easy route to pursue.
Before BF, during the off screen years you had Vigin and BBC Books actively seeking out writers for the original novels they produced. A lot of applications came from the fan-fiction community to become published. In fact, here is the official guidance page from the BBC way back when BBC books were in this mode. I think it contains some good advice.
Even under that, I’d say the book ranges could be hugely variable with even some of the established writers falling into some fan fiction traps. I did mean to write a follow up blog to the thing I did on Target last year, and may revisit the idea now as treating the published works as fan-fic (which they undoubtedly are) may give me an avenue to summarising what is an astonishing amount of work.
Overall though I think to casually dismiss fan fiction for Doctor Who when the lines have become very blurred over the years is a mistake.
1 February 2015 at 15:48 #37740I forgot to say, I’d also appreciate it if our writers would ignore the “wrong headed” dismissive attitude of one person and remember that we are open to fan stories and creative input. If you ever feel the urge to produce something, let us know and I’m sure you’ll find an appreciative audience.
1 February 2015 at 16:02 #37741I’d also like to add that the whole fan-fiction debate is fascinating and is surely ripe material for a blog at some point. Not me though. My times is being firmly spent commuting between Sunnydale and LA at the moment.
Volunteers form an orderly line….
1 February 2015 at 19:22 #37745Can I put in a request for @jimthefish to continue his early DW series reboots please 🙂 I like punky Susan especially. (Once he’s done with Buffy and Angel of course!)
1 February 2015 at 20:17 #37748@scaryb — I have one in the, er, pipeline. I’ll try and get to it once all the vampage is done and dusted (arf)….
1 February 2015 at 21:30 #37752@purofilion I talked this through with my friend instead of letting it be my own problem, apparently it helps a lot, but hey, drinks are on you, and I’ll just raise the glass, and at this point I don’t really care what drink you give, I kinda just need some. Cheers!
@pedant Cheers to that. But we’re going to Wembley! And I’ll stick the blue flag up my arse, with proud and a title. What I learn from the recent event is I’ll always have someone to talk, cheers to the internet for that. Talking my problems to someone might not solve it but it does give a load of space of relieve on my mind and I am thankful for it. Anyway, raise your glass, drinks are on puro! 😀
@jimthefish for every sunset a sunrise, for every storm a calm night. Everything is beautiful, it’s only a matter of how you want to see it. Cheers! By the way, how do you know that my father and I was just discussing about Rocky. 😛
As I stay for a little longer in the pub it confuses me of what you guys are talking about, but hey, don’t mind it, I’ll look up in the previous post and try to catch up.
To all forum dweller, good night and have a good day.
Cheers.
2 February 2015 at 11:44 #37758Dear @phaseshift, that was one of the kindest, most thoughtfully mentorish things I have seen on this site and that’s saying something. Thank you for that demonstration of writing to inform, not offend. I shall certainly try to take a leaf out of your book in future.
I have been through a bit of a process regarding fanfic since my original post, probably something to do with feeling like I had to be “serious” about writing, particularly to get through the “hard parts” like criticism, but heaven save us from taking ourselves too seriously. A tonic, much needed.
Ahem, anyway, getting away from the awkward self-discovery, it did strike me (the utterly uninitiated) that Big Finish and the books are truly democratic, almost an expression of love for an idea which was too good to die. What would the Whoniverse look like, or indeed would there be a series now, without them? As usual, without more background info I tend to see things in rather black and white terms, but I will be attempting to remedy this with the only answer to any shortcoming – more information!
2 February 2015 at 18:34 #37760So much to catch up with! Thanks to everyone who generously shared their outside world writing. There are some immensely talented people on this forum! (I especially enjoyed @pedant’s Snow Goose piece. Excellent prose is hard to find these days.) I am realizing that I need to make time to check out the fan creativity page, which I have neglected. (Also need to get caught up with the Enemy of the World rewatch. ).
@barbaralefty without more background info I tend to see things in rather black and white terms, but I will be attempting to remedy this with the only answer to any shortcoming – more information! There is simply not enough of this attitude in the world. Kudos.
@jimthefish That periodic table is brilliant.
@nick1235 Kind thoughts to you in your difficult time. Hang in there!
Amused by the soccer talk this weekend. I must admit that in our house, we were preoccupied yesterday with “the other football”. Living close to Seattle and with my husband having grown up in the Boston area, Superbowl was a lot of fun this year (at least, fun for a game that can take half an hour to move a ball a yard down the field!). But there was actual suspense this time, and a last minute pull-out for New England, and it was worth the first-half tedium to see Tom Brady at the end, literally jumping up and down with joy (the man never cracks a smile normally). And some happy Patriots fans in the house this morning. 🙂
2 February 2015 at 18:39 #37761@purofilion Congrats on Queensland’s great election result. @ichabod You Are Not Alone. Canada is of course still sitting in the anti-progressive waste bin, here’s hoping we can finally do something about it later in the year.
@scaryb I wish I could believe that the internet actually gets more people properly informed, but I suspect that too many are still only reading what they want to read, and dismissing that which does not suit their world view.
The Greek result was indeed heartening. This is what can happen when voters see that the accepted wisdom did absolutely nothing but make their lives worse, and the issue isn’t clouded by social politics the way it often is in North America. I absolutely loathe the way people here will vote time and again against their own interests because they have been fooled into believing that there is some threat against their “way of life” that must be fought. When the actual threat comes from policies that will impoverish them and their families.
2 February 2015 at 18:49 #37762Re the Guardian. That TV premieres guide was appalling. I don’t think that trying to compete with Buzzfeed is really the way forward, myself. But what really floored me was the arrogance of the nitwit in the comments who was unwilling to accept that criticism might be valid. Nice way to engage with your readers!
@scaryb They’ve been using that format in the US version of the site for some time. My browser kept wanting to default to the US site, due to geography, and I had to retrain it by retyping “.co.uk” until it stopped showing up on my screen. All for nothing now, apparently.
Okay: Writing, check. Football, check. Politics, check. Journalism, check. That’s me done. Time to go and make up some lesson plans for a pre-school music class. A little sol-mi, choose an animal song, have to go and buy a squishy rubber ball. It’s not conducting orchestral scores, but it’ll do me. 🙂
2 February 2015 at 19:47 #37764I came this close >< to turning the Superbowl off after that extraordinary fluke catch (knowing that, being the Superbowl, the remaining minute or so could easily last 20 mins and it was already 3am). So glad I didn’t.
Now we just need the Red Sox to remember to turn up next season…
2 February 2015 at 20:00 #37765Oh no! What ever holds the image of an angel becomes an angel!
A little late to comment on this but I had to.3 February 2015 at 01:14 #377663 February 2015 at 01:19 #37767Okay: Writing, check. Football, check. Politics, check. Journalism, check. That’s me done
🙂
And for you and anyone else looking for a bit of armchair excitement, this needs a stiff drink just to watch (well I did anyway). Very cool tho. I wouldn’t even walk some of these bits! The music’s from Martyn Bennet’s Grit album (MB did the musical equivalent of this bike ride!)
Possibly beats even @craig‘s recent posting of the Snowdon climb, and that gave me the willies as well 😉
3 February 2015 at 04:27 #37769“A little sol-mi, choose an animal song, have to go and buy a squishy rubber ball. It’s not conducting orchestral scores, but it’ll do me. ”
A bit of Peter and the Wolf?
Many orchestras respond very well to squishy balls 🙂
3 February 2015 at 11:40 #37771@phaseshift Gods love you – what a lovely exposition of fan relationships to Doctor Who.
And @barbaralefty Gods love you too – I suspect you’ll be posting fan fic on A Teaspoon and an Open Mind http://www.whofic.com/ before you know it 🙂
Indeed, in terms of the transfer from fan fiction to text, Xena had two episodes written by a fan, Melissa Good, who was picked up by the producers because of the popularity and quality of her fan fiction. Robert Tappert (producer and also lucky husband of Lucy Lawless) said that what he particularly valued about Melissa was her knowledge of the characters, and in that, the ability to connect with the audience.
I still adore the internet meme of the iceberg for the relationship between text and fan creativity – the text is the most visible, but only the tip, of the iceberg, and then under the water is a vast further cavern of frozen ice – the fan extended world. And the two are intimately connected.
Especially in today’s online-connected world, text and fan world inform one another – it’s a two-way, not a one-way flow. Savvy writers check out Tumblr and Twitter to find out what their fans love (or hate) about the show and often share in-jokes with the dedicated fan-base via their writing in-text. BBC Sherlock S3 explicitly does this by referencing all the fan theories about how Sherlock survived the fall off the roof of St. Barts (Reichenbach) through the character of Anderson and his “The Empty Hearse” theories fan club.
@scaryb – Wow the Isle of Skye looks beautiful – not quite as peaceful once you realise there was a helicopter following to get all those sweeping shots 🙂 I’d love to make it up there. I haven’t got further north than Loch Tay.
3 February 2015 at 17:06 #37773@scaryb Yes, Danny Macaskill is, in my opinion, an amazingly talented mental case. Have seen that before and it just gives me the willies! Love it though, what skill (or MacaSkill).
And @juniperfish, the aerial shots were done with a drone, as far as I know, no helicopters involved. So reasonable peace was respected. As they get cheaper I’m sure we’ll see many more cinematic YouTube videos made for peanuts.
3 February 2015 at 20:07 #37778@juniperfish, maybe, maybe. Could do with a few extra teaspoons.. Loch Tay lovely, is that the one with the Crannog centre?
Drone filming, can’t paste the link cos upstairs on tablet, not downstairs on MrLefty’s laptop (never found an emulator which worked) and also not in the music thread, but the OK Go video I won’t let you down with the 2000 brollies. Quite something! That Danny Macaskill video is something else! He is clearly a bit crazy.
@jimthefish periodic table, seconded, thirded or wherever we are! Have wasted many an idle hour on TV tropes, spotted another fave fandom of mine in the table!
Politics, holding breath for next 3 months.
3 February 2015 at 20:14 #37779@barbaralefty You mean this work of genius?
3 February 2015 at 20:22 #37780The very same, and very obliging of you @craig! One wonders how they’ll top it, but they always do 😀
3 February 2015 at 22:51 #37781@craig @barbaralefty I want me one of those hoover cycles!
OK. Forgive, my dumbness, but was that real?? Was some of it ‘added’ later? Or was it ‘all real’? It seemed too bloomin’ perfect!
3 February 2015 at 23:01 #37782@purofilion I want one too!
As far as I know it was all real*. A little secret though – it was filmed at half speed, which helps people who are a few milliseconds out with their umbrella choreography. But it also explains how some of the gymnastics and the singing seems a bit jerky.
*The ending – once we’re way up high – I think is completely fake, but I don’t have any proof. But even so, the rest of it is amazing.
3 February 2015 at 23:05 #37784@craig thank you for that. Yes, I wondered about speeds and things -which, ultimately I have people on this site to thank -for explanations- as well as commentaries re camera work from Dr Who (S8) and earlier Buffy seasons.
It is amazing -& if some is fake, it’s great anyway 🙂
3 February 2015 at 23:08 #37785I’m with @craig on the end, although they say it’s a single continuous take. I don’t care tho! It’s awesome!
3 February 2015 at 23:14 #37786@purofilion @barbaralefty I am sure it is a whole continuous take (with just a bit of a cheat at the end – and of course a little cheat with the speed).
They are know for adventurous videos and multiple attempts to get it right. This one is also one take, but took over 50 attempts to get it perfect. I do have to admire that.
4 February 2015 at 01:22 #37790Oh boy am I furious. @bluesqueakpip you’re a smart person. Have you listened to the commentaries for Doctor Who S8 The Caretaker?
There’s not one but three absolutely thoroughly boring people -including the Director, some totally useless person/commentator-maybe a props dresser (?) and the fella involved in creation of the skovox blitzer. Though he barely says a word.
Are they paid to present these commentaries? Yesterday I listened to two on the first disc. They were pretty good.
In The Caretaker, their big mistake is telling the actual story of the episode -not discussing directional shots but saying “ooh, I love the adventure. The romp here. Don’t you? It’s a great rom-com. I think.” Nervous laughter. “Just there you saw the original head of the blitzer. Oh and there…yeah, there’s a …” indecipherable muttering.
The director is rambling on about “this great actor and that great actor”. And again “exploding chair, there, and such a comedy. So good.”
I’d figured it was good. I watched it originally. In the end, they just stop talking and giggle and we hear all the lines. Seriously I want to complain to an authority figure.
I’ll never listen to another commentary from this season. 🙁
Pissed off Puro.
4 February 2015 at 01:50 #37792@purofilion — Wow, that sounds pretty awful! I got the episode-only boxed set of DVD’s, looking in now and then (between tax work) in order. I’d pass this set on to a worthy recipient and shell out for the same DVD’s in HD (which these are not), if I could find them. So far, all I can see is that there’s an HD set of Series 8 but it’s Blu Ray, which is not a technology that I have.
Them blowing off the fans with thoughtless junk commentaries is *not* a good sign for the future. Sheesh, it’s not as if there’s a dearth of highly informed fan-folks they could have discussed the flesh and bones of the episode with on camera — people who’d do it for free, out of love of the show. DW has not built its huge viewership with egregious sloppiness and disdain from the commercial side of the DW phenomenon, so far as I know. But great success does tend to carry the seeds of later, and often greater, failure — please not, in this case!!
4 February 2015 at 03:09 #377954 February 2015 at 04:53 #37797@ichabod ah yes, I’ve got the Standard Def DVD Series 8 as I don’t have blu-ray. Bit confused though as when I record these episodes (always with the intention of purchasing them anyway) they look terrific -HD, I suppose. Yet one can buy DVDs in SD only? At least it seemed that way me -I wasn’t really thinking that it would be in SD in 2015!
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