Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
3 September 2015 at 15:51 #42323
@ania- oh I know, I get a tingle whenever I log on here and see the countdown! Nice to see another Dickens sceptic. I suppose the rambling does come down to taste- Anthony Trollop, who didn’t bother at all with the forth wall is a very chatty narrative-voice-as-character and I find him pretty perfect. What Dickens has to say just doesn’t interest me very much. I don’t really feel any writer should be sacred.
@arbutus- yes, the film leaves me cold. Very clever, ground-breaking, sure, but I’m not a fan of the sentimental as a genre- hence, I suppose, not much liking Dickens- and the whole rosebud thing is a little sickly to me. Moffart, as @ania points out, has that darkness. This is also, incidentally, why I like TP- there always is a bit of darkness, of human (and Dwarf, and Troll, and Goblin etc) nature. The Third Man, on the other hand- love that film.
2 September 2015 at 11:45 #42266@Mudlark- quite.
I had gathered from the comments underneath that not all his tastes were as acceptably highbrow as the ones he mentioned in the article. It would be interesting to see him explain the difference between Who fans and Pratchett fans re: genre trash, but the man obviously has a lot of reading to catch up on even in the lit section…
as for the taste thing- I cannot get on with Dickens. I really don’t enjoy reading him. I’ve tried, and I don’t like him as a writer. It would be ridiculous to turn around and say that he’s a bad writer (though he does seem to be the only writers whose popularity exempts him from criticism rather than condemning him to it). And because of this- abnormality of mine (given that otherwise I like a great deal of 19th and 18th century novels) I wouldn’t condemn him for not liking Pratchett.
I can also understand why people don’t like Moffart. He has a very personal, idiosyncratic style which happens to appeal to me- lucky me 🙂
2 September 2015 at 09:48 #42261@ichabod @arbutus re Jones- I actually saw a petition to demand an apology from him for that article which is a really disturbing idea and probably the highest accolade a troll can achieve. I also hated the way so many responses to his ridiculous article referred to Mansfield Park as shit/chicklit of its time.
It also made me think a little. Of course we judge books without reading them, we judge them to be something we don’t want to read. Buying a book is also casting a vote for it in a way, so if we all bought books we didn’t like the sound of just to be qualified to say we don’t think it’s good, bad authors would be the best selling authors. (Ummm….) But of course you read a book before you judge it in print. I think 50 shades sounds an absolutely terrible book, and I base that opinion of the work of three brave souls who waded through it and thoroughly critiqued and quoted it.
The thing that really bothers me about the Jones article is that he waded in with it at what is, really, quite an emotional time for Pratchett fans, many of whom do have some real life, if brief, experience of the man and it was just pointlessly cruel. Yes, he’s wrong about Pratchett, but the worst thing is the timing and the intent. So I can understand the idea of demanding an apology, but its completely pointless. Much better to point out that his opinion- which he is entitled to state- is ill founded, inconsistent with other opinions he’s stated, and in terms of timing, very poor form.
14 July 2015 at 11:05 #41187@purofilion- yes that was me, managed to scrape a distinction despite moving house (in a very basic, no budget fashion) during the course. Thank you!
10 July 2015 at 10:26 #41101@Whisht- fantastic. And of course, I don’t mind the weirdness at all.
speaking of weirdness- and drinking songs. When I eventually heard the ‘proper’ version of this song I had to say, not a patch on this version.
10 July 2015 at 10:09 #41099@Bluesqueakpip- thank you for clarifying that. I feel a little reassured. I actually turned down extra time on the exam because I felt being allowed to use my laptop was enough adjustment- it’s nice to feel it’s earned. It’s great knowing someone who’s done all this as well. (On which subject, I have the level three creative writing starting in October. And if there is one thing I know about you, it’s that you know drama…)
9 July 2015 at 20:17 #41083@whisht: you make some good points.
usually, I drink larger in summer to cool me down. I drink red wine in summer to warm me up. Spring and atumn I put on a jumper and do both.
and the only tea I drink is Long Island.
thats not actually true but now I’ve said it, I really want a Long Island ice tea…
9 July 2015 at 19:36 #41081@blenkinsopthebrave- hic! 🙂
9 July 2015 at 18:18 #41077Everybody, I come to you with a dilemma.
Just discovered I got a distinction on an OU module, albeit because they substituted and rounded up my continuous assignment, and despite only scoring 84% on the exam (not the first time they’ve done something like that, I assume its because I have a learning disability and I’m not sure how I feel about it).
HOWEVER, this does mean I can stop being quietly seethingly angry with the love of my life for deciding that we just HAD to get gas engineer, electrician and his mother’s husband (which also meant his mother) during the week before the exam.
So, my question is, should I celebrate with lovely cold cans of larger that have, after all, been in the fridge for over a week, or a nice cup of tea? 😉
12 June 2015 at 17:13 #40603@purofilion- thank you! yes, moving, plus OU module, plus living ten minutes from a beach plus ‘I know, lets get people in to sort the kitchen in the last few weeks before your exam’ (! thanks, dear) hasn’t left much time. Got four months till next module, don’t know what I’m going to do with it…
@bluesqueakpip: I think it made a nice bold statement, making him so very old, it helped create a very different dynamic with Clara. Of course, Hurt’s old Doctor and Capaldi’s old doctor are as different in their old-young dynamics as Tennant and Smith. (If not more so, but then, I’m not a huge Tennant fan, in comparison to the others.)
11 June 2015 at 16:19 #40594@thesilencehasfallen, @purofilion I do think the age of the doctor works nicely with the new cycle of regenerations, and also fits something he said once about when he was young he appeared as grumpy older men, like you do when you’re young… though that was mostly comic and flippant I think, and also not entirely true unless Susan was a lot older than him.
I think also they, or at least Moffart, had just wanted Capalidi for a long time. And they really couldn’t go young again, though he would probably have cast Capalidi from his twenties upwards. I doubt they will try and mirror the whole series of regenerations. But I think the age works nicely.
11 June 2015 at 16:13 #40593@PhaseShift- yes, I saw that a while ago on lovefilm, we put it on mostly on account of Nick Frost.
There was a disturbing/interesting moment involving Moses, I think, and his bedroom that was actually quite understated. We watched it in a scraping the bottom of the barrel of the available film collection kind of mood, but it was actually quite good.
8 May 2015 at 14:19 #39980Hi everyone, not been on for a while because of juggling assignments with moving with trying to get new house in shape with not much money, and should be revising now but can’t concentrate. Combination of hangover and disappointment, I suppose.
On a happier subject, after realising how long it is since I last visited, I’ve enjoyed reading through this thread. I start level three creative writing this autumn, so I’m particularly glad this site exists 🙂
29 December 2014 at 19:43 #36622@janetteb, @bluesqueakpip, @pedant: the house I’m buying has an open fire. (Just as well, the central heating dates from the eighties). Only a little one, mind. My boyfriends uncle has a house parts of which date back centuries- livestock used to sleep.in their living room. And their open fire is massive. You could fit a good sized cauldron in easily. They also have an old style arga, none of that duel fuel nonsense….
27 December 2014 at 16:28 #36491@janetteB- twelve days of Christmas, remember. Enjoy.
26 December 2014 at 10:42 #36416@Twholt- that is interesting, since he first saw Santa just after discovering the the coordinates missy gave him lead to nothing. I agree with @janetteb that dark water and death in heaven are unlikely to have been dreams. But could he have found Gallifray and then been attacked by the dream crab?
@FatManInABox- I thought the big, Powell like estate was where her dad lives? She could just have a small flat in the lovely, large Georgian house, and only had the whole place in her dream, but even so, did seem suspiciously luxurious and expensive…
25 December 2014 at 22:56 #36385@bluesqueakpip, I’m thinking about his frustration in his first episode: ‘you can’t see me’
Timelords do also somewhat change personality, but the core, I think, is consistent. (Like the Dalai llama concept) people change personality over their lives, their bodies change, the concept of the soul, I’ve always felt, is related to an internal consistency.
25 December 2014 at 22:21 #36382@pedant- so many people reacting negatively to the doctors comments on her age, make up etc, it’s nice to have it made clear what I always thought, the doctor can’t really see her, because he always sees ‘her’, his Clara.
25 December 2014 at 21:53 #36378Yay! At last. Started streaming it like, half and hour and ten minutes in to it, my boyfriend carefully gauged the level on the litre bottle of Smirnoff we were given for Christmas and suggested I wait till it’s over and download it. So we streamed a little more Mila live, then I finally got to watch it.
Slinkies! And I seriously think Nick frost, like cordon, is an underrated actor.
Bit scary for a Christmas special for a moment. I know it’s supposed to be scary, but Ring? We’re also scared to go into the bathroom. I know they’re dream crabs not dream spiders, but the spiders we have here are approximately the size of crabs.
When the doctor got to her bedroom the first time, I was expecting pregnant Clara. When he got there the second time, her body seemed blocked most of the time and he made the point he wouldn’t see if she was 60+ or not…
Just, very nice. Inconsistencies, of course, because dreams. This was a really good device for Moffat to play to his strength, in my opinion, emotional, character logic.
25 December 2014 at 12:06 #36361Happy Christmas everyone! I don’t know if this pub serves hot drinks, but Masala tea with chilli honey and brandy is a great way to start Christmas day.
Especial Christmas greetings to @purofilion, who seems to have managed some terrible and stressful events with fantastic spirit and good humour!
23 December 2014 at 15:43 #36332@Arbutus- I saw a faintly mocking reference to such butter dishes in the guardian once, and as soon as I ascertained what it was, became quite obsessed. It has the same temperature inside whatever the temperature outside, and keeps the butter in a perfect state of spreadability. Which if, like me to subscribe to the ‘put a jumper on instead’ school of central heating, and insist on butter over solidified industrial lubricant, you do indeed need. I probably should never get one, though, possibly doesn’t work so well in reality, but it’s nice to dream….
Thank you. We’ve literally just now exchanged contracts on the new house, set to complete on the 9th (Damn Christmas!) So much of the stress is over. And fortunatly, thanks to above stated philosophy, I don’t really miss central heating. I could do without the massive spiders, though….
23 December 2014 at 09:41 #36329I got 4, which I’m quite pleased with. @blenkinsopthebrave- I hate to think what you’d have to answer to get Colin Baker. That made me laugh though :).
And, hi everyone. I have been lurking, but also moving, and am temporarily Of No Fixed Abode. Somehow Christmas has crept up on me, had to make a shockingly last minute booze run and- two days to who! Problem is we’re living two doors down from the nearest modem, and no television…
All I want for Christmas is my stuff out of storage, and a battery controlled butter dish.
9 November 2014 at 22:13 #35195@Arbutus- I’ve been thinking about the Orsan- Danny thing in the light of this, and I think the two options are: she’s pregnant, and the doctor somehow missed the resemblance between the two men. Or She adopts this boy, giving him Danny’s name because he bought him back to life, and for some timey whimey reason, she thought Orson looked like his ‘grandfather’, and the doctor was confused because he really didn’t.
9 November 2014 at 14:16 #35143@The9thDoctor- Susan’s grandmother, I dearly hope!
but yes, there was a lot of stuff straightened out. And Susan is now, officially stated to be his granddaughter.
I like your point three as well. I’ve loved the last few seasons, but it would be nice to have a little less earth. Hopefully, if he finds Gallifrey, we’ll see a little more than just the timelords. I think a doctor in the Captain America film commented how the first country the Nazi’s invaded was their own- was Germany. The first people to be hurt by the arrogance of the TImeLords?
@beancounter- no, it is possible to act out of duty without emotion. This wasn’t ‘love saves the day’ this was that, despite what the doctor said to Clara in the last episode, love is more than a mess of chemicals. It’s a promise. in contrast, Craig’s surge of chemical emotions burnt out the attempted Cyber conversion (I can’t remember the name of the episode). A parents love for a baby is very chemical, I think. Danny’s love for Clara had progressed past the stage of chemical reaction.
8 November 2014 at 22:15 #35058@ABXY- well that scene near the end of Robot of Sherwood works better as an analogy…
8 November 2014 at 22:03 #35056@abxy, @Margaret-Blaine- that’s what I call teamwork. Would have bothered me fir ages without this site.
8 November 2014 at 21:57 #35053@Margaret-Blaine- yes! Thank you!
8 November 2014 at 21:56 #35052@abxy, I know, I said the mother of the children mentioned in the Jenny episode. He tells Donna he’d been a father before 😉
8 November 2014 at 21:48 #35048@ABXY- queen Elizabeth? Still one more than I would have thought. Assuming ‘wife’ to mean significant relationship, one on gallifray, Susan’s grandmother and the mother if the children mentioned in the Jenny episode.
Now we know four wives, probably safe to assume at least one, maybe two from Gallifray. But how old was he when he ran away? He’s said he looked like an old man, like you do when you’re young in one episode. (His new generations have clearly rejuvenated him…)
8 November 2014 at 21:42 #35044@Apopheniac- well by fair I meant out and out lies, withholding vital information, or re-writing ‘bad wolf’… I see what you mean about spoilers, but they often do it for the Christmas episode, it’s sort of seen as s different thing- last year I don’t think they did, but that one was inside the arch…
Yes, I wondered when the music kicked in at that point if they would. Another peice of good humoured fan-teasing.
A reason for the hostility over on the guardian?
8 November 2014 at 21:32 #35037@ABXY- yes I loved that.
There was a lot of fan teasing- in a nice way. Four wives, all dead, children and grandchildren lost PRESUMED dead, clone daughter. A lot of clarification and bad news for the Asexual Doctor Presivation Socity or whatever it was- on a blog on here I think?
8 November 2014 at 21:16 #35030Oh OneNote- Clara eyes in the opening credits, wasn’t it?
8 November 2014 at 21:16 #35029No timely whimey I was trying to write.
Given what the doctor said about concepts of the afterlife, however, it’s still possible that she was the papal mainframe. Remember the line ‘the relivent afterlife have been informed’?
8 November 2014 at 21:13 #35028I’ve always liked S.M.’s finale, but in the beginning mostly for the style, the emotional logic and River Song. This is the second time in a row where- it really, really makes sense.
Missy was genuinely creepy at points. And I loved the moment when she thought back through that she ‘chose Clara because she could make the doctor do anything.’ Danny was amazing, not always nice, constantly great. And unfortunately his comment about the doctor, officers and cannon fodder…
UNIT was a genuine surprise though the return of the brigades was rather signposted. Actually though, what I really like about this episode is that dispute a couple of tricks in the run up- Moffet played it really fair. And I was wrong, no timely who my this time- I think i like it better for it.
2 November 2014 at 20:30 #34560@Apopheniac- yes, ‘twas me and thank you- after being so very wrong about Missy (although she could still, in theory, be the papal mainframe, I’m stepping back from that theory) I’d love it if this hunch was true. The post it notes, her attitude seemed so important, I just think it has to mean something more than ‘what she was doing when he died.’ Anyway, I agree, something timey-wimey with ‘I love you’. @janetteB- I thought the grief was handled amazingly well. The sullen, selfish resentment. My words at the time (I was pretty drunk at the time though) were ‘she’s being the doctor’ when she said it was boring. Even Eleven telling River she embarrassed him because she upset him. There was something wrong here
Back to @Apopheniac- yes, full agreement. I think, personally, she is ringing him thinking he’s going to die whatever she does. Or that there is only a small chance he could be saved. @Mudlark- yup. I just feel the conversation is a bit of a bluff or misdirection. It feels very Moffat.
@PhileasF- are you also a coupling fan? Do you remember The One with the French accent and the Australian bar, and the Spiderman episode?
<p style=”margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;”></p>1 November 2014 at 23:06 #34468Yes- and (from the slevenotes again) there is an attraction between him and death. and death’s assistant and his wife… could be very interesting. going to watch it this week, I was going to wait till I got a decent DVD player, but I’ve got a laptop…
1 November 2014 at 22:49 #34464@Mudlark- I was literally just thinking that today- my mother gave me a copy of ‘Orphee’ by Cocteau, and it reminded me (only read the sleeve notes of the DVD though) about the whole journey to the world of the dead for the one you love trope…
1 November 2014 at 22:24 #34456I just want to virtually shake the hand of every missy-master theorist. Bloody Moffatt double bluff really, it’ what he loves to do.
My boyfriend said halfway through, there a=was a Sebastian or Seb was someone who knew and hated the eighth doctor, so I spent some time tonight thinking that Missy was a bluff, and it was Seb all along. Until the two hearts. (To paraphrase Ten: ‘A thousand Doctor Who Slash writers just punched the air’.)
All I’m saying is, the Clara who made the phone call at the beginning is a future Clara, not the Clara we see dealing with her grief. A Clara who has post it notes, referring to previous episodes and themes- that intro, I think, vindicates this entire site.
Not that we need it.
We’re amazing.
31 October 2014 at 23:17 #34394@lisa- re medication, I think you have a point. Though if anything what bugged me with this episode was the idea of a child that age, whose sister had disappeared would be given those kinds of meds. No clear evidence of a chemical problem.
one thing- from my experience as a caregiver- is that sometimes people take medication for reasons that include the benifit of the caregiver, particularly when they don’t much care for themselves.
The case in this episode, though, I think the doctor is right in his reaction. A pubescent child has just suffered a personal trauma. Listen, surely, first.
Oh! Listen!
31 October 2014 at 22:59 #34393@Spider- I have very similar dreams. A while ago I was on a hilltop surveying the spread of the apocalypse (it had begun as a game of monopoly when I was at school) thinking ‘we’ll it does rather take the pressure off, but I’ll never discover what was the deal with Clara.
30 October 2014 at 16:55 #34331@beancounter, in fact, it seems you don’t. The line is: people are apes. Men are monkeys, spoken by a woman who’s own wife refers to as a lizard. People being apes, as @badwulf points out, is accurate. Men being monkeys is affectionate.
28 October 2014 at 18:21 #34241@janetteB- that’s fantastic as well.
I am wondering though, if the reason why the Doctor didn’t recognise Danny after seeing Orson (assuming he really didn’t) isn’t because he looks different when the Doctor sees him and when Clara sees him?
27 October 2014 at 19:19 #34217@DrBen- nice! Maybe she got the number from the woman who ran the bank in time hiest?
27 October 2014 at 15:33 #34206@janetteB- agree to disagree, I think you put your thoughts down very well.
What surprises me is that I like this episode less than I’ve liked any episode this series, and yet it raises for me more topics for discussion than most of the rest. I’ve said that I think the focus on Danny and Clara might have detracted from it, but it does interest me.
@zeitgeis: to be fair to Danny. she went to him after Mummy on the orient express and told him she was done with the doctor. If he’s put any pressure on her to leave, it’s been off camera. That isn’t to say that she hasn’t been made to feel like she needs to keep it from him, but it leaves it open as to whether this is something coming from her head or from him.
@purofilion- it wasn’t dumb, really, that’s what’s so odd about the situation so far. They seem to be doing pretty well, clicking well, but she’s pretty much creating situations where she’s lying to him. Why would she rather tell him she’d stopped traveling with the doctor and do it anyway rather than say she’d changed her mind?
27 October 2014 at 15:12 #34205@blenkinsopthebrave- great idea, perfect time to do this.
I’m going with: Missy is CAL is the Papal Mainframe.
Missy also has some kind of control over Clara, some way of meddling with her. The doctor has noticed this in much the way eleven noticed that Amy was a ganger.
Although part of me is hovering over the idea that missy is Clara in one version of the future, and at some point in the next episode comes a point when Clara might or might not turn out like that. And, of course, she doesn’t, she stays on earth and marries Danny instead. Only I really don’t want that, I actually want a somewhat hostile Danny travelling on the Tardis, I still think there is a chance the Doctor Danny dynamic could turn out to be great.
27 October 2014 at 08:05 #34193@blenkinsopthebrave and @Bluesqueakpip- it does feel as though we are supposed to be focusing on Danny and Clara with this episode, I’m tempted to think much of the weaknesses of it are caused by this focus.
The set up for his episode is amazing, it must have looked fantastic on the page. And, quite a few times, on the screen it did. But surely it was supposed to be night time? It felt a little as though they came up with this amazing setting, then mostly used it as a backdrop to conversations between Clara and the Doctor, and Clara and Danny. And I would have liked a little more between The Doctor and Danny. They’re both soldiers who decided to walk away from warfare, Danny more successfully. This could have been really interesting and made more use of the situation than simply as a reason to examine the issues between Clara and her two men.
The problem I found with Clara and Danny was that they seemed to be going round in circles. He’s bothered when she calls the Doctor rather than the children’s parents. He’s bothered when they get to the Tardis and she says ‘he’s going to sort it.’ (I actually don’t like it when the scripts have the companion saying things like this, like Amy with her ‘he’s never let me down’ when actually he rather had. A lot of the tension in Doctor Who comes from the fact he’s capable of making mistakes, and may not be able to save anyone.) He’s bothered when Clara snaps straight into companion mode and clearly hasn’t been away from the Doctor for any period of time. He’s bothered when he see’s evidence of Clara’s presence o the Tardis. I got to the point where I would have liked more of a conversation between them about it. But that never really takes off. I suppose the way it makes sense is that this is so much further into the relationship than the time when he gave her an ultimatum (be honest, and tell me when he pushes you too far) that they’ve gone past the point of negotiation and into the stage of ‘for better or worse’.
I personally don’t see Danny as controlling. A friend of mine, who’s only seen up to ‘the Caretaker’ does. Someone on the Guardian site suggested the ‘Skyler effect’ in Breaking Bad. Basically, the protagonist is a meth dealer. That is the plot and the excitement of the show, so anyone who tries to put the breaks on this is a bad person from the point of the view of the audience. Here, we’re watching Doctor Who, it’ about people traveling in space and time, its exciting because there is danger. But he’s a maths teacher with a girlfriend, very different priorities. But a lot of people see him as creepy, while I keep thinking there is something seriously off about Clara (from a teacher point of view). With Moffet there is always the question: a misstep in the script, red herring or important plot point?
19 October 2014 at 08:11 #33808@Bluesqueakpip- it is rather odd with Clara and Danny. Danny himself in this episode was rather sweet, I thought. Disappointed at missing a people watching session with Clara, and, I think, not being a complete idiot, he worked out where she was (in a manner of speaking.) His ‘where are you, and are you in trouble’ was completely calm, with just a hint of ‘will you please stop lying to me at some point in the relationship’.
The reason he thinks she’s quite traveling with the doctor, after all, is because she told him she had had enough and was going to quit. All he’s actually asked her to do is be honest with him. I’m still finding her switch at the end of last weeks episode a little disturbing. Is Missy, in fact, messing with her in some way? Clara has in the past been uploaded, is there still some link?
11 October 2014 at 23:11 #33391@BadWulf- re Clara staying because Danny said he was fine with it. I thought that was odd, because she wasn’t leaving because Danny didn’t like it. She was leaving because she was pissed off with him, that was her ‘wobble’. That whole scene seemed wrong to me. hopefully, almost certainly, deliberate?
5 October 2014 at 00:18 #32984@Apopheniac- both do work, don’t they…
@PhaseShift- I don’t know if you’ve read ‘The Neverending Story’, especially the second half, the seeming miracle o the resurrection of a world and the price that is always paid for it…
the more I think about it, the fact that Missy is at least calling her wherever the afterlife etc, and the doctor has technically cheated death must surely come together.
4 October 2014 at 23:42 #32980@PhaseShift- I do agree about the lifespan. I think I’ve said before that possibly the regeneration limit was to do with the number of personalities a Time Lord mind is capable of dealing with- and yes, the kind of lifespan. 11 lived a very long time too.
@Bluesqueakpip- I wasn’t thinking of the day of the doctor, good point. I’m also remembering that Tourchwood episode- was it children of earth? where Jack, I think, earned permanent expulsion from the Tardis by-
Spoilers?
sacrificing his grandchild over the screams of his daughter. And once character made comment about how maybe sometimes the Doctor doesn’t answer the Earths call because of the things they do. I’m not really comfortable with that existing in the same universe as Who. That’s partl why I like that Moffat re-booted the reboot.
-
AuthorPosts
