@puroandson      Okay, that’s 30 minutes Mr. Arbutus and I won’t get back. And I foresee more minutes going the same way in the future. I especially liked the guy getting pizza delivered while on a five-hour train trip.  🙂

@pedant     No, they would not have liked that. We don’t like to think that this kind of behaviour can happen here, but of course it can, and does. We have exactly the same percentage of goons and buffoons as anyplace else. And in Vancouver, we do like to think that we are all chill all the time, but it ain’t so. I get proof of this every time I d…[Read more]

@pedant    Thanks for linking. You make so many good points, not all of them limited to sport. I should probably stop being surprised at how ready people are to believe whatever line is being fed, the spin and the stereotyping, and how little interest there often is in knowing the facts of a matter.

Robert Kelsey’s words that you quote, and your…[Read more]

@craig          Personally, they don’t bother me especially. I just delete them and carry on. That being said, I’m in favour of whatever makes things easier for you and the other mods. No one wants this site to be a lot of work for you!

@puroandson     But are you against caged people? Could we cage Donald Trump, for instance? Some people in Canada have been asking if they could build a wall along our border as well, to keep Trump out.

As to Son’s persuasive essay, well, it depends upon whom he has to persuade. I’d say he gets the concept of pathos as a rhetorical tool very wel…[Read more]

And here’s what I actually came here to post! For anyone interested in the earliest of early music: Extreme Retro.  A reconstructed, millenium-old tune.

@Whisht    I followed your link to Pearl’s site. Apparently she can sing. Will we be looking forward to “Musical Evenings with Bill and the Doctor”?  🙂

@pedant    Thanks for the Prince and Springsteen links. The Purple Rain performance is both fabulous and fascinating, and The Boss is, well, The Boss!

@pedant       Wow. I haven’t listened to Damn the Torpedoes in years. I have it on vinyl, which I can’t currently play, so I went onto YouTube and listened to the whole thing. I couldn’t believe how well I still knew every track. Here it is, everyone who has never heard it go listen at once.…[Read more]

@Morpho    Which is why I’m a little disappointed that, yet again, the feisty companion is cocky under fire from what are supposed to be terrifying killer aliens.    To be fair, it wouldn’t make much of a show if the companion were seen to respond to the Dalek threat the way I likely would, i.e. by throwing up or passing out!  🙂

It’s…[Read more]

@Miapatrick    with quite an old doctor, a young companion really makes sense, just as pairing Eleven with River so often made sense    You have given me something to think about here. I now wonder whether the reason that some companion pairings worked especially well for me was related to contrast with the Doctor. Offhand, I would say that Nine…[Read more]

Cool! While it’s pretty hard to garner a whole character and relationship from a 2-minute clip, I see potential. I love that her name is “Bill”, and wonder what clues this contains as to her character/backstory. I thought Bill’s questions and remarks were more likely her way of dealing with her fear. And based on her look of glee when the Docto…[Read more]

And this. I think my heart has exploded.

Oh crap.

On another topic, I was so, so fortunate this past weekend to hear Collegium Vocale Gent performing the Lagrime di San Pietro of Orlando de Lassus. It was breathtaking, I can’t remember when I last heard such gorgeous singing. Some kind soul has posted the entire thing on YouTube, so here is a…[Read more]

Nice list @pedant     To your suggestions of compilations that count, I would add Bob Marley’s Legend, and to your Springsteen suggestion, Born to Run (I confess I haven’t kept up with his recent output, but I have all the earlier stuff and they are essential).

(I would have agreed with Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah as “definitive” until I heard…[Read more]

@ichabod      I think it would be possible to do both. The darkness, the gravitas, that we find so moving can be provided in many ways, and it doesn’t have to be in such a way that it holds the Doctor back over multiple episodes. Moffat has set the tone already, in his handling of Clara’s departure and the immediate follow up. I did so enjoy seei…[Read more]

@Missy      I loved that line. I always felt it was a nice little thumb of the nose to the fans who, between the 50th anniversary and the Matt Smith swansong, spent cartloads of energy trying to figure out how Moffat would be able to convincingly give the Doctor extra regenerations; in the end, “a thing happened”.  🙂

@pedant     Your photos are lovely. The Borth sunsets remind me of ones that I saw over the Saint Lawrence in south eastern Quebec. We were almost to the Gaspé Peninsula, and the river is tidal at that point and as far as the eye is concerned, simply looks like the ocean. The sunsets were some of the most amazing I have ever seen. Some of the Creg…[Read more]

@Whisht       This is far less sophisticated, but having recently returned from a surfing vacation (I should stress that I wasn’t the one doing the surfing, that was Young Dude Arbutus), I can’t resist posting this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZThquH5t0ow

p.s. @pedant      Thanks, I had “Mr. Sandman” front and centre in my brain for a soli…[Read more]

@Missy      I thought the Heaven Sent soundtrack was probably the best Doctor Who music ever. And as you say, the bar was already set pretty high!