Happy Birthday, @ichabod! A mug of tea is now being drunk in your honour, with best wishes for another year of commentary both insightful and bonkers.

@spacedmunkee     Good points all. Of course, the First Doctor was not portrayed as someone “relatable”, but someone scarier and more mysterious, with companions who were often front and centre…[Read more]

@pedant     That article was very interesting and extremely moving. Thanks for posting.

@lisa   Beautifully put!

@Brewski    @ichabod     Agreed, Capaldi made those lines into something pretty special.

It occurs to me to wonder how people can dismiss Doctor Who as “just a kid’s show” when it can inspire a conversation like this one! From plot points to “what is art” in a few posts. Nice.

@Brewski @pedant @ichabod

Fascinating ideas. I was going to post full agreement with Brewski’s original comment, and certainly from my own point of view it’s absolutely right. But @pedant is equally right on the “there is only so much that one can accept” side of things. But where that line is drawn is obviously different for all of us, which is…[Read more]

@purofilion    Personally, I don’t think that Clara is a Time Lady. But someone mentioned at some point the idea that she might eventually become one, or at least end up on Gallifrey. That thought occurred to me today as I watched, that we are possibly being set up, not for Clara to die, but for Clara not to die.

@Delta    I like your avatar!

@winston    Well, I did no happy dance, but my sister did cackle with glee into my phone for at least 30 seconds. It was impressive.  🙂  And the Jays won, too! Do you think they can get two more? Heady days, heady days.  🙂

@blenkinsopthebrave     Was that not the most bizarre and frightening display of desperation you have ever seen? I truly couldn’t believe it, I had actually credited Harper with a bit of dignity. And it accomplished nothing, since the Liberals took suburban Toronto in the end anyway. Apparently Ford Nation is not the mighty force that we were…[Read more]

@DenValdron, my sympathies. It is part of life but a very hard part. It sounds as though there is comfort to be had, but even leaving aside all the many difficult things that must be dealt with in the aftermath, we miss our loved ones after they are gone. I’m sorry for your loss.

Finally had a chance to watch this again, and I still really liked it. I found it held my attention start to finish, delightfully. I loved the snappy dialogue, the way everyone delivered their lines with the funny bits beautifully understated. Clara’s little snort: “I’ve got a hobby… it’s you, by the way.” “I’m not actually the police, that’s…[Read more]

@Bluesqueakpip     I like the Fox Inn in principle. The surroundings are lovely and I’m sure the Scottish contingent would appreciate a shorter commute at the end of the evening.  🙂

@purofilion     Why, thank you!  🙂 🙂 🙂

In our house, for no particular reason, we raised a glass of bourbon to celebrate the banishment of the Tory blue guy from our lives. Ten long years, dear Lord. Maybe now I will get my country back.

Seriously, as always, now we will see if Mr. Trudeau can walk the walk. He certainly said a lot of nice…[Read more]

Loved all the great retro stuff that has been put up here lately, ghosts, witches, and villains. @purofilion, I loved your story about sneaking in a bit of Bowie (or trying to) and your dad lying in wait for you behind the door!

@Whisht    I am compelled to point out that Feist is not the name of a band, but a person, a Canadian si…[Read more]

@Winston    Cheers!  🙂

@PlainOldDave      Too true about the influence of advertising. And while it hasn’t prevented American TV from producing some great stuff, I think that in the more fragmented viewing world of today, it makes it difficult at times for quality TV to survive. The need for high viewing figures right off the bat, as dictated by ad revenues, can be chal…[Read more]

Goodness, there’s a lot for me to get caught up with here! I think a long listening session for me tomorrow, going back several weeks from the look of it.  🙂

But right now, @purofilion, here’s a track for Boy Ilion. My son was inspired by it after his first round of volleyball tryouts went very poorly, and he told me that he was considering…[Read more]

@purofilion       Arbutus Junior’s experience is more that the athletes heap poo (love that) on the musical ones. Except, interestingly, on the volleyball team, where several of the senior players sing in vocal jazz so AJ doesn’t feel so embarrassed about it there. Basketball has been a continuing problem, and this year was the first time he e…[Read more]

@PhaseShift   (or any available mod)    I wonder if this monster/villain conversation is deserving of a place on its own blog? I’m having a hard time keeping track of it and it is a fascinating discussion!

@ichabod    I had a boyfriend for a bit in high school who was the only other person I knew into Sci Fi (this was in the late seventies), and he was definitely into the militaristic sort of thing that I personally found pretty dreary. I did read a lot of Asimov and Heinlein and enjoyed it, but tried a bit of Moorcock and Niven and didn’t find myse…[Read more]

@PlainOldDave    I have always assumed that the use of “series” in the UK comes about because so many of the programs have had very long gaps between runs, unlike in the US, where the “seasons” are more, um, seasonal, as it were. There’s more of a sense here of the new “fall season” and so on, whereas it seems to me that in the UK, a series run…[Read more]

@PlainOldDave  @purofilion  @DenValdron

In Vancouver, I starting watching DW in the mid-eighties, except that it wasn’t on PBS, but on a local indy station out of Bellingham, Washington, that used to show a lot of things in syndication. They were showing late era Tom Baker at the time I discovered the show, but they ran up as far as they had (wh…[Read more]