@missy    A friend of mine with two sons told us about an incident in a mall parking lot, during which her younger son (then about six, and a real piece of work) was kicking up about something. When she picked him up to inject him bodily into the car, he starting bellowing, “Please, mommy, don’t hurt me again!” at the top of his voice. She laug…[Read more]

Interesting discussion you’ve been having… I’ve been checking in to keep up but haven’t had time to jump in. So here is my 50 cents for what it’s worth!

Back in the seventies when I was in school, there was still the threat of being sent to the Principal’s Office, where Mr. O.B. (“Oddball”) Elliott would whack you with a yardstick. Inte…[Read more]

@puroandson    Having just posted the above, it seems that the video is suddenly “not available”. Not sure why as it has apparently been up for a year, is an official release, and has garnered many views, not least mine earlier today! Possibly a temporary glitch which will go away. I hope so as i would love you to hear the track!

@puroandson     Yes, I was looking at Music for Two yesterday. It has gone onto my wish list! I have Bela on a recording called Perpetual Motion, which is a sort of grab bag of classical stuff from Bach to Debussy and many things in between. It’s gorgeous. I saw him here at the Folk Festival a number of years ago, with Abigail Washburn, which was…[Read more]

@puroandson    Thanks for that! I don’t have enough Bela Fleck; I might have to do something about that. I love the pairing with Meyer, and Professor Google tells me that they have done a few things together.  🙂

@DoctorDani     I agree. It would also be impossible to experience what the Doctor went through in Heaven Sent without lasting impact! I like the idea that the Christmas episode is like a punctuation mark to the finale of S9. A purification (in Heaven Sent) followed by catharsis (the battles fought with others and self in Hell Bent), and then a h…[Read more]

@TheConsultingDoctor   @Missy      Isn’t it sad that this has to be qualified? That we’ve come to a place where love isn’t considered a naturally manly emotion unless it is either sexual or familial? The deep sense of caring and protectiveness that Sherlock and John come to feel for one another over the course of the show felt very satisfying t…[Read more]

Hi, all! It’s my birthday today and the sun is shining. In the spirit of kids’ birthday parties where you both receive (gifts) and give (loot bags), I am requesting some music. What tracks fill you with joy? You can’t have too much joy. My loot bag for you all contains these two:…[Read more]

@Mersey   @puroandson      Interesting discussion!

I think that if you view the Doctor through the lens of his past, you find a person who has more often than not tended to a positive, enthusiastic, somewhat wide-eyed view of the cosmos. But like all of us, there are times and situations in life during which one is sometimes sidetracked. The Do…[Read more]

@TheConsultingDoctor    @ichabod

I’ve been reading this discussion with interest, and your last post has reminded me of something. There have always been the “buddy movies”, in which (usually) two males of disparate personality are forced together by circumstances and form a bond. Usually, these movies have been action-oriented, with varying de…[Read more]

@puroandson      What is it about creating large flames that is so satisfying? Now that we are into bbq season here, I love marinating things in olive oil and then dumping them in the grill basket. Every time I give them a stir, the resulting flame up just warms my heart (not to mention giving everything a pleasantly charred flavour). A fiv…[Read more]

@ichabod    I was thinking more of the one off “companions” like Journey Blue, or even recurring characters such as Kate Stewart. But even companions, really, in the BG days, were often snarked at or given an earful by the Doctor on occasion. Almost every BG Doc did it at some point, particularly with certain companions. Even Nine let Rose have it…[Read more]

I wouldn’t say I love housework as such, but I mostly don’t mind it. I am free to let my imagination go off where it likes and I can still claim to have been productive during my day! And like Puro, I don’t love the “sweating and weeding”, but I do love watching things grow (when they do). Every year certain things are lovely and others are duds.…[Read more]

@puroandson       I think Donald Trump is his own focus group.  🙂

@ichabod    That’s a lovely anecdote and very illustrative. I think that the Doctor has moved back and forth between authority and anti hero. Capaldi’s Doctor, it seems to me, can be both. We have access to his inner workings in a way that BG audiences didn’t, and Clara of course has seen his vulnerable side, but I would think that the other pe…[Read more]

@Whisht    Don’t you disrespect focus groups… without focus groups, there would be no new flavours for ice cream or vodka coolers.    🙂

@puroandson   Yes! The last few episodes of that season were killer. It was actually one of the high points of the whole series for me. That finale was incredible, a sucker punch to the gut and such a great payoff for the previous five seasons of assholery that we went through. One of the many great things about that show was how the writers (…[Read more]

@Bluesqueakpip      I agree that the line when originally written did not yet have an explanation. I love yours! The Wedding of River Song seems to have derailed the assumption that I think most viewers made, that he would have told her his name as part of a marriage ceremony, and if you think about it, “There’s only one time that I could” seem…[Read more]

@puroandson      Responding to this bit over here so as not to get modded.

I do find that getting one’s hands dirty, in the soil and planting something is the best relief of all (something primal and ancient perhaps?).

You remind me of my son when he was three, starting preschool for the first time. He instinctively dealt with his stress at the…[Read more]

@puroandson     I agree totally about Paul McGann! Although, to be a bit fair here, part of my feelings about his Doctor (based on the film and even more on Big Finish) were strongly influenced by the long years of Tennant/Smith, both of whom are considerably younger than I am. I enjoyed many things about Ten and Eleven, but I sometimes found mys…[Read more]