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13 December 2018 at 03:08 #66577
Tim Shaw found a new level of ineffectiveness, protected by feeble “sniper” bots and personally able to be bested by one untrained old guy with a gun. His only significant power was by proxy, through his influence on the Ux.
Absolutely! He was “pretty crap” as a villain. Graham and “the gang” had been to a variety of places nipping home constantly so Graham, an experienced ‘traveller,’ probably had the wits to ensnare the ailing, tied-to-the-tubes monster. 😉 -with Ryan’s buff build, it would’ve been relatively easy. Like a lot of Moffat’s episodes in Sherlock you saw A and C but didn’t need to see ‘B’ (how they got the monster in the tank) to effectively ‘tell’ the story -or ‘show’ it. There has been an unusual amount of complaints about “show not tell” which puzzles.
I counted a dozen references in the first 9 episodes to the fanbase -not including the: “I have lost more, loved more than you have” and the return of the Fez 🙂 which has earned a capital “F.” 😀
I actually thought new monsters was the best way to go, psychologically. The focus wasn’t “OMG, we’re all gonna DIE!” but on the monsters in us -whatever relentless form they take: prejudice the most notable; the acceptance of loss, the recognition that killing changes a person (it certainly changed the Doctor during the years of, “the angry doctor, the one who forgets, the one who loses his right to the name”).
I thought the “crap” villain that @bluesqueakpip and others identified was an interesting one. Most of the villains are ‘arch’ and tremendously successful: the daleks, cyberman, weeping angels etc. I liked that it wasn’t, “tune into next week’s two parter starring…….the daleks (again).” I enjoyed the Doctor’s end speech: short, without a rambling coda, basically saying, “the universe is huge, there’s so much out there” so it makes sense, given the universe’s size that there are always new monsters to challenge.
In this series’ first episode, one of the Doctor’s first questions was, “who ARE you?” in reference to the huge quantity of swelling, moving snake-like figures which, with Whittaker’s final speech, bracketed the series completely: new monsters noticed in episode 1 eg: “who are you?” and the coda, “there’s a lot out there.”
Love your take on it:
the Doctor doesn’t feel out of reach, or out of touch. It feels relatable and immanent…
@nerys. Ah, I didn’t notice that. So, the ‘removed’ planets were restored but life-forms died? I also felt Graham’s path was fleshed out. His mannerisms, the certainty of his decision, was subtle the moment he recognised it was Tim Shaw. Ultimately, I imagine it was Ryan’s faith in him (the same faith Graham exhibited teaching Ryan to ride) which saved Graham. The series focussed on us, humans of sterling spirit, but easily led into choices somewhat less “magnificent” where the bitter, the resentful and the prejudiced walk among us full of righteous certainty. We all need occasional lessons but I never felt deceived.
On second viewing, I felt that Graham’s path toward not killing Tim Shaw was very well established. We weren’t beaten over the head with it, but I found it convincing. After all, Graham was a good man to start with. He was temporarily jolted toward revenge because of his unexpected encounter with Tim Shaw. Revenge jumped to the forefront of his mind, and not just because of Grace. That was a nod to all the death and destruction Tim Shaw had wrought, including the planetary genocide.
@bluffme. See this:
for a simply poor and disappointing season of Doctor Who
I have difficulty with. How was it disappointing? I respect your take on it. I guess I’d like reasons why, specifically, you feel this. Is it a general nihilistic sense that you have?
Puro
12 December 2018 at 08:49 #66551Oh, that’s a lovely dream. And then …to wake. It can be a bleak time, Christmas: despite the white picture-post-cards of trees warmly lit and candles in café windows, there are many who experience misery. Remembering the lost, the fallen and the misgivings of the season…But there’s joy too. In hidden moments.
I remember that two weeks after mum died in October of ’74 I had a dream. I was taken by an officious but gentle group of people into a large overgrown building with many stairs and elaborate doors. The floor was quiet and the building old but not ostentatious. I was left in a room, beautifully decorated, with over-stuffed furniture and after a few moments, my mother walked in, healthy, over-joyed and smiling. We talked (but I don’t recall the subject matter) and after five minutes she explained she had to go through another door and that I couldn’t follow for many years. She disappeared quickly and I woke up.
That morning, my auntie, who had been staying with us, was sitting at the kitchen table alternately crying and laughing and she told me this happened: “since your mum died, I’ve been cooking for you and your dad in the way your mum would. I would iron the way she did too. All the time I felt her presence. But this morning, I felt it even more. It wasn’t scary but I received the distinct impression that she was now saying goodbye and encouraging me to continue as I have. Soon after (about two hours ago), for the first time in two weeks, her presence is gone. She left.”
When I told her about my dream, she cried and laughed some more. A year later she married dad. She was with him when he died in 2015.
Happy memories.
Puro
12 December 2018 at 08:34 #66550As always, a beautifully expressed post. And coincidentally, I was thinking last night of Buffy’s The Body and what an impeccable piece of writing it is. Possibly one of the finest 40 minutes of television I’ve seen.
I love this:
even if they were to say there wasn’t, I’d just quote D H Lawrence: Trust the tale and not the teller!
@idiotsavon yes, I wholly agree::
Chibnall will honour the simple, inevitable and painfully real truth of death: It Takes You Away.
He has an ability to write about death differently -within a series: the tragic, the expected, the shocking ‘suddenness’ of it as well as the grace at the end of acceptance; at the end of truth.
In this way, he makes his stories very believable and thus his Doctor more human, willing to explore the way we cope with death and how we choose to accept its lessons- if indeed there are still more to learn.
@winston you are in need of a hug too? 🙁 Then you shall have it -also a malted milk or barley water which eases many pains: in The Pub.
@kevinwho “And the love between the Doctor and those she’s close to makes up for the loss, just like in real life. I will always love this show.” Absolutely so. I’ve noticed MORE attention to the Adventurers in this season. More joy was added to all the characters so the Tardis was bursting with energy, compassion, confidence and real life. It was a heart-warming series but in the background, Missing Grace. To me, the series spells that out as an arc -others have mentioned this plenty more times than I but I really see it now, more than before. Like Capaldi’s Doctor before: “but you don’t see me.” I think Grace or grace filled this series. It was warm and energetic and perfect for our confused and angry times.
@craig I am SO sorry my friend. I know you have put her gorgeous photo up before and please keep doing so. The memories become ours too. All good memories and more difficult ones are the luggage we can carry for you when the going gets too tough. Sweet dreams, always.
Puro and Thane
12 December 2018 at 00:53 #66528Well, ARE we? Playing the Finger the Cumquat?
*This is not a rude, sexist, harassing comment on ANY level – -before the guns come out!
Is it someone who enjoys the …..ding-ding thread?
Puro
12 December 2018 at 00:23 #66527Thank you for all this and the diagram -I shall respond! Also, “sand is acidic.”
That’s interesting. I’ve always assumed sand is, well, sand! With a normal pH and not at all acidic. I suspect my brother the geologist would know all this. But, sadly, he’s too grumpy for questions of that nature. It’s the rocks that done it.
This is magnificent. You must know we’re ALL trying to figure out who you really are, right? Craig won’t ever tell (obviously). This is the part we’re I’d say “we will come, like a thief in the night…” except it’s the internet. And there’s no comings and goings 🙂
Puro
12 December 2018 at 00:14 #66525It’s called clever. And I’ve been here- regularly for about 5 yrs now, so…you know….read the posts. But you won’t.
Also you’re my age (when my son isn’t me) which makes some of what you write a little ‘weird’ for one so ‘mature.’
@pedant agreed. The show was terrific to me too @bluffme any dismay was totally understandable but it wasn’t a majority view here -or in the ‘world in general.’
@kevinwho thank you for that. 🙂 @seeoswald has form.
Puro
11 December 2018 at 10:16 #66487@seeowald
See how nobody cares?
Binge watch clever DVDs would be my advice. Start with Rectify and you’ll understand, magically, the point of the penultimate episode (that means second-to-last)
11 December 2018 at 01:16 #66473Whats a ‘quark’?
Isn’t it a small sub-atomic particle? I wasn’t aware it was a monster!
The only quark I’m familiar with (and I’m not tagging mudlark because its the spoilers & I do not know if she is on those spoiler or Approved Spoilers pages – and I am also betting Miss Mudlark would know of it) is quark cheese.
Every time around now Mum buys it and makes fruit dumplings. She’s been making them for years and they are a Czech or Slovak speciality I might mention that in/on The Sofa or The Kebab.
Also @nerys I was reading your last few comments in relation to the last couple of episodes and they are really spot on. They’ve helped me understand how the characters have grown. @bluesqueakpip I was really interested in your opinions about how the theme or arc wasn’t a “proper” villain but it was the companions, and us, along for the ride, understanding the various definitions of “grace” which, at this embattled (?) time was a good thing of Chibnal’s to do?
I expect the comments on various youtube fascist channels it’s all hate, all the time. First @nerys mentioned they hated Capaldi, they despised Clara after the first season -maybe because they dislike good looking girls? I don’t think many people hated the actor who played Amy or even Rory? Those who hated Moffat are actually (according to a mate who scours youtube when he’s feeling twitchy) wanting him “back.”
In the end, no-one’s happy ALL of the time. I think it was probably like this in 2005 -Mum and I didn’t even know there was a show! In 2004 ( iwas waay too young to remember) Mum was touring Cardiff and stumbled onto a set -sort of. There were lots of people watching and you could see actors and cameras and those Director Chairs everywhere.
The following year she didn’t even see the first two episodes, basically because she was tired but also because she said it looked “all too new and expensive and where are the corridors and creepy things?” She later binged watched the entire series on DVD and loved it -there was some rackety episodes but the one with “Are you my Mummy?” was the one which got her hooked.
Back then, if she’d wanted to vent her spleen after one or 2 eps she would have. On the net, doing the exact thing she now knows is “dribbly whinging.” Particularly when you’ve seen 1 or three eps and people on social media are quick to say, “we need people to make the decision to fire the writers, remove the showrunner, get rid of the brown people, stop the social messaging and remove the Doctor as a woman because women can’t be doctors.”
As if the WHOLE world stops because the Doctor’s a woman (finally) and the Master is also! I don’t understand those people. Also why are they called conservatives? If they’re trying to radicalise television by stopping people like Tosin Cole, or saying “women shouldn’t be in the role as the Doctor” -I don’t see that as conservative. It seems the opposite to me? Is that true at all?
I should probably put that question in the Pub for others who know way more than me in this area 🙂
Thank you. Thane.
10 December 2018 at 05:29 #66422@kevinwho
Bonkers theory: Great!
Sadly I think Chris has gone for a new set of characters including Missy. Who, at the moment, looks like she’s dead: but looks are deceptive. And like you, I think she’ll be baaaack 🙂
taking the Doc where and when needed.
Absolutely! The Tardis does go wherever she needs to. In this case the Doctor saw just how many distress calls there were. They weren’t from Tim Shaw (which is an excellent idea @notime). I think in Episode 1 we noticed he was a really “crap” villain (I think @bluesqueakpip said that) so when we looked thru the mist we saw at least a dozen different ships who had sent the calls (soon after or during crashing) and we already saw the potential problem and why those calls went out: the planet does terrible things to your brain.
The Doctor knew this (she is, after all, a few thousand years old and understands neural blockers and other things of a similar nature: see Peter’s with the Clara character so that one person would forget. I expect the Doctor has a variety and all she does is swap the polarity -again!).
So, did anyone else notice that once more, the Long Arm of Coincidence played a major role in the plot? Sure is handy ol’ Tim’s DNA-detonated bod got teleported to the only race powerful enough and gullible enough to turn him into tonight’s villain!
For me it’s a really good plot device. I think many people said that they’d be surprised if Tim Shaw didn’t return in this season -it acts as a perfect bracket for the whole series. Also, the villain was significant: not just because of what he did on this planet but his delight when confronted by Graham:
“you killed my wife.” And Shaw says, “GOOD!”
Maybe Chibnall, and he’s really good at people -loss and power, relationships and their motivations -wanted this to be an exploration of Graham’s character and of how the Doctor might’ve banished him to Earth because it wouldn’t be right for Graham to kill Shaw. Also it showed the cementing of the relationship between Ryan and “grandad.”
There’s more reasons for people not to kill someone than because of what the bad guy did. Killing someone, no matter how urgent or horrible, changes that person. I don’t think Graham would know this -but the Doctor would. And I think Grace wouldn’t have wanted Graham to change that much in order to kill this creature. In Buffy, Giles killed the baddie in Season 5 so Buffy wouldn’t have to. Not that she’s not killed people before -but they’ve been monsters in a different way to this particular monster.
I liked the episode as much as last week for this same reason: it fleshed out Graham as a character and as soon as he heard it was the Stenza you could see subtle changes in his manner. Caution started its progress towards the wind and if it had met it? Then Ryan could have been hurt and Graham would’ve been altered forever. The Doctor has that knowledge but she’s felt it in her core -when she thought she would kill all the daleks and the children of Gallifrey. To her, all humans are probably children: young and inexperienced but innocent, sometimes too.
@notime I think Robo-bots aren’t supposed to be part of anything except -the future? It’s a brilliant way of hurting the opposition without using a “live” military -human or not. Of course it adds ONE serious thing to the story: if you have a robotic military think how easy it is to kill others? Much, much easier and convenient and any excuse will do -on that idea I think the killing bots have a place in the story. Mum just added this:Like ‘red- shirts’ but different and worth a closer inspection” Anyway, Mum should’ve written this! I’m rambling and not making a lot of sense but I really like the bonkers ideas @kevinwho keep ’em coming!
Thank you, Thane.
10 December 2018 at 03:14 #66419@pedant @bluesqueakpip @arch this is a really interesting discussion. At home, we’ve been discussing this all morning and fortunately no heads became heated 🙂 (however the Brisbane heat is probably cooking us all so like the ‘feathery,’ confused brains of Paltraki and crew, we keep massaging our heads!)
All that being said I don’t hate the episode but tacking on morals without properly dealing with the concepts raised is negligent and has no place in light entertainment
I’m not sure “it’s tacking on morals” @arch ? I understand weighty concepts must never be handled frivolously and require explanation, in show, and out. I think that’s why episodes in this particular series have delved into ‘social messages’ (not my term but used by others, negatively, on the internet). The “no guns” and “you’re better than that” has been a cornerstone of the show from the ’60s.
But later episodes also focused on what happened when the Doctor intervened in some way: In The Long Game with Eccleston, Rose and Adam visit Satellite 5 in the year 200 000. Adam installs a port in his brain enabling him to transmit all the knowledge of the satellite back home to earth. The Doctor banishes him AND, whenever someone clicks their fingers, Adam’s ‘head’ opens and out pops the port. 🙂
Later, the Doctor returns to Satellite 5, a hundred years later and we have “real live” Big Brother, The Weakest Link and Trinny and Susanna. The Doctor recognises he’s tampered with the future of the humans and culture on Satellite 5 -or so he believes….. 😉
Throughout Tennant’s iteration he was always opposed to ‘civilians’ killing the bad-guys, recognising a truism that many of his friends and companions may’ve killed for him and also lost their lives -sometimes because of him and sometimes because they’d run out of time: a choice had to be made (I’m thinking of Kylie Minogue playing Astrid Peth) pretty damn quick. Tennant pointed a gun at The Master when Wil, Donna’s grandad, as the temporary companion. Eventually, the Doctor thought better of it and put the weapon down.
Mat Smith’s era was peppered with “you are better than this. BE better.” The 2-parter, The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood was a perfect example of this: when good people, in order to save others, effectively lose their core principles by sacrificing an enemy (something ‘other’ than ‘them’) hoping to discover the whereabouts of a missing child and husband. In that episode, Ambrose doesn’t listen to the Doctor and in so doing causes a potentially lethal rift between humans and Silurians.
In The Rebel Flesh and The Almost People, the Doctor respected the Flesh though they weren’t (technically) human – -they still needed protection and a ‘voice’. He was against killing them –despite the fact that one of the Flesh was a rapacious person demanding all humans be subject to the same conditions of the melted flesh: dipped and slipped.
One of my memories of the Family of Blood with the 10th Doctor was that, “the Doctor captures them and issues each member an eternal punishment. He pushes the mother out of the TARDIS into the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy, wraps the father in unbreakable chains forged in the heart of a dwarf star, traps their daughter in every mirror everywhere in existence, and suspends their son in time before putting him to work as a scarecrow (Lester Haines. 2009 -09- 17 in Wikipedia, The Family of Blood. Retrieved December 10, 2018).”
Whoa, that’s punishment! One could argue the Doctor should’ve killed them but this was a more appropriate punishment. Even though Tim Shaw was old and damaged, surviving much like Davros attached to tubes and drips, he was still lethal and would always want more: more lives, more planets.. So I think sealing him in a stasis chamber or cavity was apt: exactly what the Doctor’s done before and equal to the torture Shaw’d inflicted for three thousand years.
I think the Arachnid example is a wholly different one. They were experimented upon and attempting to eat whatever they could to simply keep up with their expanding size. They wouldn’t be reasoned with; neither could they sustain that size indefinitely. The spider was about to die -and yes, I can understand why the American character wanted to kill it -but I’m not sure he was trying to alleviate its misery? I think he wanted revenge and killing the spider would’ve fulfilled that ‘tension’ so it could’ve been the right thing to do but for the wrong reason -and that could be why the Doctor chose to let the spider die as gracefully as possible. It wasn’t going to live in unbearable agony for many hours. The Doctor would’ve intervened in that situation. That’s my take on the Arachnids on earth, but I might be way off base!
Also -I don’t think Who is ‘light entertainment?’ You might disagree and that’s good – it’s why we’re here – but the episode Turn Left, The Family of Blood and the last episode, Number 9 in this series, was quite dense in its array of thought-processes . So maybe it IS light – on some level- but on other’s (considering this very site) I’m not sure ‘light on a Sunday night’ is an apt description for a lot of viewers- including me.
Thank you for reading.
Thane16
10 December 2018 at 01:13 #66418Dr Mysterio wasn’t well liked? I actually didn’t know that! All three of us thought it was a hoot. A real Christmas treat. Naturally I preferred The Husbands of River Song and Twice Upon a Time but Thane definitely loved Dr Mysterio because he would’ve been 12 or 13 at that time and related to the kid-star.
Do you think Chibnall isn’t that bothered? Could it be, that in closed door meetings, they’re dolling out cash, drip by tiny drip, whilst he begs for a tad more? Also, I wonder whether Chibnall, unlike Moffat, who seemed to be involved in lots of interviews etc, is more inclined to keep things very close to his chest ?
Pondering Puro.
9 December 2018 at 09:13 #663719 December 2018 at 09:09 #66370Thank you for the lime information. See, I thought sand was ‘good’ for lavender. I would’ve stolen some from local primary school (they’re renovating and removing sand pits. God knows why: I used to love ’em) but thank you, you’ve saved me from a hopeless life of crime. I thought all clay was a bad thing. In any place (other than 1980s movies with Demi Moore & rather sad advanced education classes). Horticultural grit -I have plenty of that: metaphorical and literal.
😀
9 December 2018 at 08:54 #66368@miapatrick Agreed! It’s a terrific episode which benefits from repeat viewings and shows the Doctor in a variety of acting poses: she’s quite “terrified” and yet manages to laugh while saying so without doing a Tennant:
“this is the worst and most terrifying monster in the history of the universe (delivered with immense doctory-ness) and so run. Just run (delivered with no smile).
@winston It sounds like a delightful area! I think bity insects are everywhere except NZ. In QLD, we don’t have many venomous spiders which is lucky. Monstrous hairy spiders, though. Oh. And flying cockroaches in bathrooms. That’s really fun! One was stuck in Thane’s hair when he was three: we’d been away for 4 months and should’ve done a walk-around. Several had found their way up the plug hole which someone was supposed to ‘block’ for that very reason. That, and tiny snakes. Yick and shiver.
I knew you had ‘the knowledge.’ People wander past and say “gee, you must have time on your hands” and “your garden is SO gorgeous (it’s not)” and, pointing to lavender, “what’s this? Rosemary?”
🙁 Thank you. I have to say “the grey leaves as a hint” wasn’t a hint for me -I really am clueless. Also, “double digging?”
How does one achieve double digging? Is it like double jeopardy? 🙂 I use ‘sea-sol’ which is a fishy/carp ‘gunk’ I also use mushroom compost but truly, horse manure is easy to obtain and smells less than other manure. Perhaps I should give cow manure a try? One of my neighbours doesn’t speak to us and occasionally drops poo in our garden. I shall flush the b**** out with my Christmas present – colour CCTV cameras. Manure on her ‘side’ of the garden may well….OK. keep that to myself. **whistles** I can spend all my time looking at the weirdos who walk the streets at night and leave poo in the lavender 🙁
Ha! Snap.
Puro
9 December 2018 at 08:54 #66369@miapatrick Agreed! It’s a terrific episode which benefits from repeat viewings and shows the Doctor in a variety of acting poses: she’s quite “terrified” and yet manages to laugh while saying so without doing a Tennant:
“this is the worst and most terrifying monster in the history of the universe (delivered with immense doctory-ness) and so run. Just run (delivered with no smile).
@winston It sounds like a delightful area! I think bity insects are everywhere except NZ. In QLD, we don’t have many venomous spiders which is lucky. Monstrous hairy spiders, though. Oh. And flying cockroaches in bathrooms. That’s really fun! One was stuck in Thane’s hair when he was three: we’d been away for 4 months and should’ve done a walk-around. Several had found their way up the plug hole which someone was supposed to ‘block’ for that very reason. That, and tiny snakes. Yick and shiver.
I knew you had ‘the knowledge.’ People wander past and say “gee, you must have time on your hands” and “your garden is SO gorgeous (it’s not)” and, pointing to lavender, “what’s this? Rosemary?”
🙁 Thank you. I have to say “the grey leaves as a hint” wasn’t a hint for me -I really am clueless. Also, “double digging?”
How does one achieve double digging? Is it like double jeopardy? 🙂 I use ‘sea-sol’ which is a fishy/carp ‘gunk’ I also use mushroom compost but truly, horse manure is easy to obtain and smells less than other manure. Perhaps I should give cow manure a try? One of my neighbours doesn’t speak to us and occasionally drops poo in our garden. I shall flush the b**** out with my Christmas present – colour CCTV cameras. Manure on her ‘side’ of the garden may well….OK. keep that to myself. **whistles** I can spend all my time looking at the weirdos who walk the streets at night and leave poo in the lavender 🙁
Ha! Snap.
Puro
9 December 2018 at 06:26 #66366Well, obviously “cutting off” people might be something Puro might like -but hardly necessary when, like the one she referred to above, do not make ad hominin attacks -and they/she has not. As for the other toxic one which led to removing that conversation -that was a really good decision Craig. It’s sad to do but at the same time I think (hopefully) they might change their mind, feel embarrassed, and later, still see it’s there! This way, they get another chance to improve the way they engage with social media. I think we are all a bit different in front of a computer?
Thane (sometimes I disagree with Mum!) 🙂
9 December 2018 at 06:08 #66365All good! Maybe you could cut off the seeoswald? The poster has no critical value beyond “this is rubbish!” and “rescue the show” and “they’ve gotten worse” which is kinda odd as the last episode was quite the attraction at the local philosophy club, apparently (I don’t darken their doors, not after I mis-translated Latin). Other than that, we ignore it, I think? But she’s got form, as they say, in your neck of the woods. In ours, regardless of gender it’s: “what a WANKER!” 🙂
@pedant The Vashta Nerada are chomping on our ghostly monument?
Puro
8 December 2018 at 03:21 #66342Yes, the entire good history of very good telly had many companions/friends/adventurers/fighters.
@pedant . Clearly not at my best: these words together: “good history” say it all.
The second time Musk announced her death.
Uhn huh. Wh? Why? What a twerp. Yes, he does cool things. Some seriously weird stories climb the hill of turds that is the internet (on occasion: clearly, sites like this are made of manna from heaven and thank god for that).
Frogs? Oh, lovely! And your toads are OK? They don’t spit poison at all? I forget they eat all the mozzies and sand flies which, after a stupendous day of planting, teaching Thane to prune the mock orange, and mulching, meant I was attacked by the buggers. Must stop scratching!
We have the occasional bright green tree-frog but more and more often, the horrendous spitting North QLD toad. Over the past 20 years, our temperate semi-tropical climate has become more humid, the winters hardly noticeable.
A gardening dude from our premier gardening show on the ABC lives in Brisbane and deduced that in 15 – 20 years we’ll be in a full tropical climate. Thus he’s re-sorted his garden to include more ferns, less colourful annuals (which don’t last long anymore) and avoids planting more lavender which presents me with a small problem…
A year ago, a friend made some ceramic bunting, hung onto hard wood with strong ribbon and then nailed onto the front of the house: it spells out the rather sugary “Lavender Blue” which, considering our copious lavender and that a portion of the house is blue, works well…..until the lavender dies from stifling humidity which it barely tolerates.
I’m glad you have those lovely green frogs though. They are a special shade of green. Some of ours are dappled in yellow and brown. I don’t think ANY photos of frogs are stupid! Frogs are cool, remember. This shall now replace “fez’ are cool.” 🙂
Just on that note @winston and @mudlark. I had a so-called landscaper, Simon Q, who said “let me trim your lavender.”
Trim it, my ass. He bloomin’ hedged it -who hedges lavender?? Now, bits of it are all sticks growing at wild angles and this is outside the fence near the public footway. I feel like putting a sign up: “this was NOT my idea.”
What would you both recommend? @pedant you’re a keen gardener/photographer. Anyway to deal with it? It looks ridiculous, frankly and I’m thinking, considering it needs litres of water to tick over, that I should take off all the lavender blossoms and then pull all the ‘hedged’ plants out (there’s about 4 in total) and replace them: some are barely $3 each. Cheaper to do that than continually watering and fertilising them. As there’s a lot of clay soil, I constantly use nitrogen fertiliser and lime so the soil drains properly.
People constantly walk past saying, “I love your garden” but that’s because a) no-one gardens around this area; b) they’re trying to make me feel better and c) the garden inside the fence (fence is just over 4.5 feet tall) is quite nice.
Puro
8 December 2018 at 02:34 #66340Hey, we’re in the Solitract!
Erm, HOW do we get back?
Hang on, tell me exactly how many eyes, teeth and arms you have, because you could be a PRETENDER! A sentient universe eating our actual universe and the two can’t co-exist. We’ll go all “kaleidoscope” with our hands.
Test question: who SAID that? (I liked that description). Great episode. Spawn watched it twice. He also thought: Rectify.
Puro
8 December 2018 at 02:28 #66338Right on. Letting go aint easy and with Thane ‘n’ all: letting him solve his problems is the hardest thing I’ve ever done (including Crohns surgery and that’s sayin’ something!). Your particular political climate IS very difficult. We’re all here in Aus watching with horror as the next statement by The Orange Creature is blasted thru time and chaos.
Puro
8 December 2018 at 02:17 #66334Not sure where the comment went about “deleting” a conversation? When we clicked on it, we ended up with the top of ‘The Ghost Monument’ page – – -but with no pages -like a whole different universe! A solitract, maybe.
I just scooted thru ALL the comments on this page and was happy to say that I didn’t “lose it” (as I was prone to do: hence Thane has the account) and discovered we all did pretty well. Unless there was something ‘overnight’ that occurred which we missed? Some huge ‘hack’ of the site or a particularly nasty new/part-time poster?
Puro/Thane
8 December 2018 at 01:48 #66333Frogs are cool 🙂
8 December 2018 at 01:46 #66332@kevinwho Who’s saying sorry? Who’s saying so?? Who? Who?
LOL. No need! The above is Mss Evangelista who was ghost looping (not those words, though).
Ah, @pedant Hannah Arendt. Now we’re talking.
Yes, the entire good history of very good telly had many companions/friends/adventurers/fighters.
Billy Shipton was central to the plot of Blink – without him, specifically, it would have fallen apart.
That. Was. My. Point. You. Nicked. It.
I was ALL over the Evangelista plot/person. 🙂
Puro.
7 December 2018 at 10:02 #66250@miapatrick @bluesqueakpip Agreed.
“You could argue cracks were showing, and that he was becoming dangerous…”
I found 12 in his night-shirt quite distressing. Walking around London searching for the lost dinosaur? Bleating on the top of buildings? It was almost undignified! People complaining (and I get it, I really do) that the current Doctor lacks sufficient gravitas forget key scenes: the Doctor stumbling about (bad knees); talking to himself and others: “who frowns this face?” or “why is your face so big?” Talking for hours to the zygons and humans, pleading for their understanding, begging them to listen to his experiences -his retelling (a necessary thing and utterly convincing) of what it was like to consider killing all of Gallifrey.
Yes there was gravitas, but lots of other stuff too: some confidence problems mixed with occasional arrogance but underneath (with Bill), he’d made almost-peace with specific memories. I saw him as ‘teacher’ and with Bill it was fitting that he would do this -and that his classes would burst at the seams.
But in his very first episode, I remember his plaintive “you don’t see me” and then I wept. Isn’t that our own terrible nightmare? That the people to whom we’re attached will invalidate our experiences, fail to pass on our knowledge? To live without being aware of another’s existence was a powerful fear of the Greeks -one of their gravest fears, in fact, leading to over-confidence and a few burnt…..wings.
And I think a few people thought “the Doc, on a TANK wearing sunglasses and playing an electric guitar?” That’s not gravitas! That’s baloney!” Except we describe him like this: proud and noble, dignified, dutiful, lofty enough to shit marble when I don’t think 12 was like that much of the time. @ichabod -would you agree?
I thought of him as a trickster, more melancholy and internal than our current Doctor. And as @miapatrick said there’s “a good reason why the number of regenerations was capped at 12…. that huge and powerful as Time Lord brains are, the memory of so many personalities..” could turn you into …..12: jabbering at the sky; finding it had to lock onto other people; meditating on the Tardis in deep space (an image I loved) because his brain billowed with chance encounters, or tragedy and bright but confused memories. The new Doctor has to wall-off a space for them so she doesn’t come unglued. For Capaldi, not finding Gallifrey and his frenzied reaction was enough to scare any sane person. Thank God he found it, admonishing the High Council with silent derision and I don’t know if Whittaker’s Doctor would do that -necessarily. As Pip said, “They’re still monsters – but really, that’s their problem.”
On accessing emotions, I remember Kill The Moon where the Doctor, answering questions about the moon and space-science, physically attempted a ‘trance,’ of some sort. As if he had to deliberately unlock memories (of the future) because he, personally, didn’t need them or couldn’t survive without junking ‘irrelevant’ stuff. As he reiterated future events, he lacked full consciousness for several seconds.
Interesting.
Puro.
7 December 2018 at 03:13 #66247@kevinwho
Or Heaven Sent, where there’s nobody for the Doctor to engage in dialog with. Or Flatline, with the Mysteriously Shrinking TARDIS, and the resulting outrageous scenes of Clara pulling a sledgehammer out of her purse and the Doctor letting his fingers do the walking on the subway tracks.
I think Heaven Sent demonstrated how well the Doctor can chat to himself! It’s not the first time. In previous iterations, and in Listen, for example, the Doctor ‘talks.’ To some, the Capaldi Doctor’s strength lay in the certainty of his peculiar interior and philosophical/academic Doctor-personality. I believe most of Who is based on the ‘audacious:’ as well as the outrageous, the silly, the serious, the commanding, the gregarious – and in many other iterations, an off-putting, often socially awkward Doctor.
The fingers walking across the track was a hint by Clara to do ‘The Munsters.’ And as for shrinking, if the Tardis travels through time and into ‘other’ universes it can certainly shrink. 🙂 It’s its own portal. We know that, at one point, a Doctor says “it’s so heavy it would crush the planet” [or something to that effect]. Listen showed how the companion was effectively deploying Doctor-tactics. It opened up the possibility of Clara over-stepping the mark (and she had a ‘real’ mark to prove it in Face The Raven) leading to her death (though there were hints it wasn’t final).
... consider Blink. Look at the basic plot: it makes no sense. It’s a Moffat Loop…..a ….paradox. Can’t work. Consider further what we learn in the course of the episode: that the Weeping Angels feed by grabbing a hold of you and sending you back into the past……in the opening scene, one tries to whang Sally Sparrow with a thrown rock or something.
Ah, OK, I thought it wasn’t an Angel throwing the rock. Sparrow writes, “duck” to herself, under the wall -paper or is it her friend, from the past, spirited away by the Angels who writes on the wall and delivers a letter to Sally? It think it does make internal sense and thus it most certainly works.
The detective in Blink is an extremely important character. I’d argue that the detective in Angels in Manhattan isn’t as significant. Unless you’re thinking of Det. Song? 🙂 This is the episode where the love Rory and Amy have for each other is shown as eternal; the implicit trust shared, is a major focus. This is the episode, I believe, where the Doctor loses them to time; and where River comforts him knowing he cannot re-visit New York.
For once, time can’t be re-written. I think Angels in Manhattan is a character focussed story. Whilst Blink is also a love story, and a ‘thriller’, it’s not focussing on the companions, and their last moments as companions, with the Doctor. But then again Blink spends a short amount of time on Billy Shipton: and what we see is genuinely moving. But I felt that too when first Rory, and then Amy, stood in the cemetery and vanished. It was a tremendous shock: the suddenness of death.
Blink is a different proposition: the Angels appear for the first time so the narrative’s solid but like all good stories it ensures the 40 minutes outlines characters we never see again, which being central to the unfolding story -that’s why Sparrow and Shipton are so “three dimensional”- and yet wholly memorable.
Comparing the two Angels stories is a difficult analysis if you’re attempting to explain character motivation, character development (central to the plot in Billy Shipton’s case) and plot, imho. When you look at other episodes, such as the base-under-siege story, Under The Lake, with its wonderful whimey-timey approach as well as the Zygon two-parter with not-Clara Zygon, you have massive ladles of audacity topped with loads of custard. And jammy dodgers 🙂
Puro.
6 December 2018 at 01:03 #66221I must refer you to @bluesqueakpip who has excellent blogs on the timey whimey nature of the 11th Doctor.
Puro.
6 December 2018 at 00:58 #66220@swankycriminal Good stuff. And welcome to the site….
Yep. I think you answered your own questions. The Doctor -particularly number 12 is very old, he doesn’t remember everything. He simply can’t. Even 11 has issues there. But in Day of The Dr it’s his present. And from then on, I assume he remembers. Missy is the same. But worse. She’s done so many awful things she barely remembers all of them by the time she’s locked up ‘under the university’ – the Doctor tries to re-teach her ‘good behaviours’ 😉 Some things -particularly where it involves saving herself- she remembers.
I like the sonic as a paradox -or a time womble because of the hint back in the RTD era where the two sonics met and ended up ‘fizzing.’
Puro
5 December 2018 at 13:14 #66210@miapatrick @swankycriminal
Absolutely! Miapatrick: Your version is much better than mine. Of course the 11th Doctor remembers only from that point on because he’s the latest iteration and thus going back to meet 10 is the very thing he’s doing now… As you say, because that’s in his past -and his linear, chronological present too.
Puro
5 December 2018 at 13:07 #66206@swankycriminal @pedant
Partly, they were “all” there to save Gallifrey at that moment in time. They do not, and cannot, remember ‘out of the cup of soup’ which is how they knew to keep Gallifrey frozen IN that moment (though the Gallifreyans were said to be living normal lives -but in a hidden part of the universe).
It was almost like a ‘pocket universe’ where the Doctor’s -because they were all doctors in that moment – could do the impossible ‘thing’ but in the not remembering is where the tragedy lies. And no it doesn’t ret-con previous episodes – as it, the 50th anniversary special, occurred in that moment in time where ‘space time’ was opened by The Moment. Later, (or earlier) because he’s still The War Doctor, he won’t recall it, specifically. As for The Day of the Doctor, the Smith Doc points out the conundrum by saying, ***”oh, here’s where I come in.”
He doesn’t know what he is remembering ***-just that the swirly time portal in Queen Elizabeth’s under-gallery is a faint memory. He doesn’t remember meeting the Tennant Doctor also because history is being re-written in The Day of the Doctor.
I thought it was stunning television and helped our strap line: theories more bonkers than what is actually happening 🙂
Puro
There are other ideas, though 🙂
5 December 2018 at 05:10 #66194I am a man of constant sorrows, I’ve seen trouble all my days” (folk song; do you know it?), but more like — those blow up figures that bob around if you hit them, but have some weighty stuff (sand?) at the bottom that makes them swing back upright again after you’ve smacked them down. No sand, no effective *sense* that there’s that weighty grit in there someplace, and the thing is just an unanchored balloon — a cartoon figure.
I am afraid I don’t know that folk song? Maybe songone else will post it? 🙂
I do think the Doc has those memories and isn’t an unanchored balloon -or, balloon light, for example.
Years ago we had the episode with the red and blue balloons in the flesh episode (a double) with Smith, Rory and Amy. I think this was a callback to that. In that in this episode there was a red- lit balloon light. Other flashes of memory have dotted all the episodes, from the organic tardis, to the comment about “have I told you about Agatha Christie and the wasp?” to the fez by Kerblam! I think every episode has had a comment or reference. Thing is, these companions don’t know any of that. Oh and “pockets” which goes back to Tennant and Donna companion.
These companions don’t have that memory access. Also the Doctor did A LOT of timey whimey, loss and memory from the Time War, millions of years in the locked away gallifrey game where he had to punch thru glass. He did A LOT of “my Clara my Clara” and I think A LOT was enough. It was time to rectify the balance and have a Doctor who’s thousands of years old, and to function, has to leave it behind. That’s grown-up. But it’s different for her. She’s alien. Very alien. So, our way of holding onto things because we want to isn’t going to help her or new companions or the people in whatever episode she’s going to be in to save. Still, though she does refer to her grannies or her bed-time story “only when she couldn’t sleep.” We saw a hint of the barn in this episode so I think Chibnall has those references for all of us who need them. If not, we have the DVDs and we can watch and tape these ones too
We had SO much in Listen, in ALL the Capaldi episodes where serious, was really serious and rarely light and airy and this is supposed to be for new viewers and new children-viewers too. I think it’s a very smart move.
Unfortunately youtube thinks otherwise but the majority of clever viewers don’t go there and don’t have time for Forums because their lives are busy and so they come in -or out -for an episode and move on. Sherlock’s still there for a re-watch as is all of Doctor Who now when once it never was all available.
T16
5 December 2018 at 01:29 #66189I did! Thank you for your wishes. It was so great! It was an hour and not like the $300 for 8 to 11 minutes which is pretty expensive for the time. This was $67 (I found the receipt because Mum has to get better at hiding things) and the hour also involved walking around the copter and learning what all the different pieces of instrumentation did -so, what the inside did and how it was connected to the outside? If that makes sense.
He didn’t let me take off because there was some turbulence and the whole thing was glass. I started to feel sick straightaway and he said “look at the horizon and match up the gimble with it so the machine always flies straight unless you’re turning” so I did that and any sickness disappeared.
We flew to a small island and landed there which was fantastic. We flew over the city as well and there I was actually flying within the first 15 minutes. Turning and flying over the skyscrapers.
Naturally at one point he turned off ‘my side’ and said that my parents would kill me if I didn’t at least “feel like you are going to poo your pants” and suddenly he was zooming up and I was flung tight back to my seat. He then did a few 360s and then flew STRAIGHT DOWN and hitched up and suddenly said “you have control” at which point a pilot would say “I have control” or “I don’t have control” to answer. I answered the first way and got the craft stabilised on the gimble. It was a terrific thing to do. And, sad, to say, I don’t actually even have my driver’s license yet.
Priorities. @miapatrick That is SO cool! I am pretty scared of some birds. Birds of prey though are amazing to look at. Mum is on the site that is the Wales one -birds. Yeah, that’s embarrassing as I forgot the name of the place/location and the bird’s names 🙂 Wearing a glove protects your arms? A falcon is a beautiful creature.
We have magpies which are very clever. People scream when they wooz by your head & naturally they do it again. We have two in our tree because they know us they never attack. If they attack someone & we’re outside (mum’s always in garden: she wants a rock-garden built up & last month she wanted a stream. She’s worse than me!) we tell them to glare them down & act firm (@mudlark would have an awesome garden)
Then they walk beside you & don’t attack. They’ll protect you. Eagles are cool too. I’ve never seen one up close.
But I did see a long harmless brown snake under the house when I was made to clean it. It scared the hell out of me. I’ve realised that I don’t like snakes. In North QLD, they can hide in and around the top of the toilet bowel. 😉
T16
5 December 2018 at 00:38 #66188Bet I’d feel differently if I had some kids here to watch it with me!
But you do. I’m here. Also, @pedants niece and other assorted kids. They may not be in front of the telly but they’re coming to the site…..
T16
5 December 2018 at 00:20 #66186I’m not sure.
But I actually think three “f” over 19 words isn’t sufficient for alliteration?
Paragraphing is your friend, Paul, especially during persuasive writing: which it was.
Nice to read your opinion.
T16
5 December 2018 at 00:10 #66185was it said by people that the Doctor “ate shit”
She’s a shit eating grinner even?
I love that. Almost as if in the chaos of time the writer knew people would be complaining. On one of our other threads a person is saying the last doctor and companion were the best ever. Or was it….Can’t remember. LOL. That might learn them. As mum would say.
I don’t understand the triangles everywhere. A maths thing? Or a pyramidy thing? Like meditation. Or some weird triangle universe. Who built the mirror. Was the house always part of the solitract or did it feed off Erik’s depression?
5 December 2018 at 00:04 #66184Thank you v3ry much! I liked the 2nd one the best. You can see them all having fun. I have no clue to understanding this music as I mainly like punk, rock 80s rock and then the people from the 50s but this is very interesting music. My head is nodding 🙂 Yeah, it’s nodding! And my foot too!
Happy dreams dude.
Thane
4 December 2018 at 23:52 #66183@amdamiri I am with @nerys. Also, kinda looks like you’re complaining. Have you seen Rectify? I mean, you can complain ! 🙂 That’s alright! Maybe there was something you liked in the episode too?
As a 17 year old 🙂 I think “gravitas” doesn’t have to be all “old” and “parchment” and “maaaa story iz soooo long, maaaa memories are soooo saddd” (I’m trying to do Smith and Capaldi) because it could seem as if gravitas comes only from the old, only from the men in bow ties and suits and never from a white woman wearing long pants??
She’s a new regen now. She’s completely a new person but she still has, deep inside, those memories, that sadness and that loss. It isn’t front and centre. This world is not just about the Doctor anymore. It’s like she steps back to serve. Or, almost, like she’s an idiot in a box, stepping in and out to help when she can 🙂
Thane.
4 December 2018 at 10:20 #66155True. That’s a good point. But I liked the frog -I think it’s very ‘Daniel’ from Rectify. It wouldn’t be that would it @cathannabel? Except there was no actual frog – just mentioned by Daniel and Tawnee. I’ll ‘ogle it 🙂
I was concerned it would be a real ominous talking person, all ‘received pronunication’ and filled with mysterious phrases. This seemed more fairytale and just more Dr Who to me anyway.
T16
4 December 2018 at 10:15 #66154@craig! Man that IS AWESOME! I know this story. I thought I did, I mean. I heard of this
I’m telling Dad.
T16
4 December 2018 at 07:58 #661484 December 2018 at 07:07 #66147@pedant You tend to keep an eye out for the thundering bellends or the shouty-boyz. I wonder if anyone moaned at Yaz’ “that’s shocking parenting” comment?
The “PC” Brigade will no doubt pick up on how “we parents should be allowed to parent our off-spring however we damn well please, whether a blind kid’s abandoned in a house all day and night or not: so we adults can have as much sex, drugs and booze as possible!”
Puro
4 December 2018 at 00:37 #66142@bluesqueakpip @rob great analysis.
brilliant: The Monsters Four.
somebody needs to write a choon to that.
3 December 2018 at 14:15 #66133the run of not-really-all-that-scary monsters continued, with the creature of the week being moths. They’d need to be a whole lot bigger to present much of a realistic-appearing threat, at least to me.
True: they seemed ‘OK’ if you stayed still but the Scary Hungry Baddie was eaten almost as fast as if he’d been attacked by a swarm of vashta Nerada! But to me, the baddie was the solitract: luring people with promises of “forever.” Allowing themselves to be gradually ensnared and enticed forgetting their responsibilities and possibly their memories until all would be lost. The solitract, after a decade, might want more, to be more, so it could have attempted to (eventually) enter the portal into our universe but with disastrous results.
For me, it was also a tale of love and remembrance -of loyalty and also charm. The charm of those who are real flesh and blood thus genuine and the surface charm for those who aren’t exactly what they seem.
Lots to ponder. Love the triangle imagery and the mathematics.
Puro
3 December 2018 at 14:01 #66131Within minutes of Frog Appearance, I slapped my head and said the same: “oh Yes!”
In between a few bouts of dusty eye *\*
It doesn’t matter (to me) whether it was a frog, talking flowers or a lizard. Even madness itself. 🙂 The Greeks had a great many stories to tell of frogs -lyrically and musically. It felt both fairy-tale and “inner madness” mixed with hope and longing. @ichabod I think you might like this one?
Puro
3 December 2018 at 13:47 #66129That episode made me weep.
It also reminds me, in a few ways of this,
And to those who thought it lacked “depth” I would tend to disagree a little. To me, depth isn’t measured in minutes but in clarity and quality.
Puro
3 December 2018 at 01:56 #66115In rifling through my files I came across a song which reminded me of another. In 1684 (and we’re not even in the same decade as the Witchfinder’s James), Lully in France composed Amadis. During this period, French opera and French music had greater influence on the evolution of music, generally, and opera specifically, than English music. Most English composers during the reign of James 1 looked to France or stood squarely in their ‘own way.’ 🙂 I like this verse for The Witchfinder’s, though, which roughly translates as: “Thick forest redouble your shadows; you cannot be dark enough, you cannot sufficiently conceal my unhappy love.”
Puro
3 December 2018 at 01:23 #66114On Heaven 17 Lookee! It’s Justin Beiber time travelling with eyeliner.
Well, no, not really, as that’s offensive to musicians.
Great doco! @cathannabel I think I posted a comment on the Sofa or Pub about Human League/Wikipedia/Bowie etc. But I could have imagined posting it (that happens a bit).
The thing with this Forum, is, even if some of the episodes don’t thrill some of us, some of the time, there are blogs, a Pub, a Sofa and a Music Hub.
I haven’t caught up with latest ep. Now that it airs Sunday night in the UK (and possibly in the states. @lisa would know), it airs at 6 pm (I think) on Monday night but Thane’s been watching it on Monday morning (*cough cough never, ever, at school when there are SO many better things to watch).
Now you know, Thane aint a dumb kid, he writes fairly well but is firmly in the Humanities area for next year (final year). Later I might head over to Pub to discuss our weird marking system -it might be the same in South Aus for @janetteb and fam. Or not.
Must dash and check emails.
Puro
1 December 2018 at 03:11 #66077I’ll be sure to let him know of this: have to say I hadn’t heard of Heaven 17 (red with embarrassment) but Human League -that makes perfect tonal sense. Something was nagging at me: kept grabbing my head, asking “what is THIS?” I remember fondly, “Don’t you want me?” More than fondly. Early ’80s spawning SO many groups and songs in the next 3 years. The musical plan, alone, is insanely simple, but it’s still a superb example of pure pop: mixolydian mode moments, imperfect scansion at times which works nicely, clarity, Q&A style verses in line with what Cat Stevens had done/was doing. Oakey was pretty pissed with Virgin about it -Wikipedia doesn’t quite paint the correct picture. Bowie was very interested in League’s image/style. They favoured Truffaut’s filmic preferences & there’s a couple of those in the vid track as well as a cryptic point to The Hundred Club (‘100’) in: Sheffield 🙂 Timey whimey, Doctor Who-ey.
I love their riff; whenever people cry “oh no, the best riff, ever is: ‘Smoke on the Water,’ ” I have to shake my head. Sure, it’s popsicle, but you’ve got good ingredients with pedal points and, deliciously (you know it’s coming), dominant, subdominant transpositions & key changes which just make you feel damn good! It fixed in the musical minds of Bonnie Tyler & that comprehensive group of singer song-writers thereafter.
Thane is, at the mo, on youtube, madly trying to figure out helicopters! He’s having an instructional lesson as a birthday present. Since the age of 1 Thane has received two sets of things. Generally one or the other (can’t spoil the spawn!): an album of one of the top 50: My Generation, Pet Sounds, Mike Oldfield, the 2 best Beatles albums. It was always a ‘thing’ whether Revolver or Sgt Pepper’s made the ‘top.’
The other thing =experiences, rather than things. This is why he buys clothes from Vinnies for $4 so last year, in Adelaide, Thane and dad hopped on lovely catamaran and swam with the dolphins for 4 hours. Terrifying but one of his best memories. Rock climbing once & Snuba (TM) diving, feeding coral fish. These days they supply people with a USB of their ‘experience’. Thane’s worried about the veritable nervous pee ‘experience.’
Puro
30 November 2018 at 06:45 #66059AH, @pedant in my ‘recommended for you’ I saw “bowel streak” and left a post. I believe I used Pustulant sore on the arsehole… I couldn’t come up with a better insult. I’m pretty certain he and his ilk have already visited the site.
They seem to favour only one Doctor Woman: Doctor Donna and 868 people agree -there.
Sad, aint it?
Puro 🙁
30 November 2018 at 06:28 #66058@rob me too! Last week and lost the whole hog. Luckily, a mate had brought me a new (very small, mind) coffee plunger with a sweet bean. I had just come home and fancied a good brew. So, rob it calmed me down. We have merlo coffee here? And if you purchase a large tin of it (as I did about 3 months ago) they give you a free coffee AND a $5 voucher which my mate used to buy the plunger. And was it<i> delicious. </i> I could imagine the actual coffee bean and where it had grown….
<i></i>But a pint at the pub would work just as well.
Puro.
@rob @craig @jimthefish @blenkinsopthebrave (they were amazing! Dadn & I had seen some before of ’17’ but not for ages) @pedant (that was a interesting song. I have not known of that group before) @bluesqueakpip @mudlark @nerys @kevinwho @arbutus @janetteb @lionheart564 (amazing characters! That’s what we call them here? For either Japanese or Chinese and it’s so hard! YOu must be a very clever person and your English is very very good) @whisht @miapatrick @winston (I wish we could exchange heat for snow!)
Thank you for your birthday songs and wishes and vids and also a blog about important issues @pedant.
Who has moved into new times. Many of my mates feel there isn’t much to watch for. I’m trying to change their minds. It’s hard. People are hard to change 🙂 And dad says we cannot be the same. If we were what would we discuss. Maybe Hair -Styles? Toenail polish? 😉
On that topic mum has decided she is now too old to wear bright red toenails. I prefer no polish but I am a guy but I have never understood the allure of makeup (thankyou for spell-check on allure). The gals at school pile it on every day. I once said to a chick at a party (my 1st ever party at 16) ‘you look better without it’ and she nearly thru my drink back at me. It was only lemonade. I won’t make that mistake again I always comment on how awesome their shoes are even if they can’t walk properly. 🙂
Loved the last Who. Took me awhile to understand the satire and the ‘camp’ dude. I didn’t know what ‘camp’ meant. At school people say “gay” except it’s not the same , is it?
Sorry, I do not want to offend. Also at school we say LGBT not LGBQT and I know what ‘Q’ stands for but I don’t get an answer at to why we can’t use that term (‘Queer’) – I am not even sure if putting it in ‘ ‘ is correct either!
Thank you to all.
Thane16. (Timey whimey)
29 November 2018 at 04:29 #66025“It’s the only way to be sure.”
Thank you! 🙂
As SOON as I heard that voice: “it can’t be happenin’ man, it can’t be” I knew it was the same actor in True Lies, which, for all its dreadful racism, is one of Thane’s favourite films. I think he plays a waiter, lives in a trailer and pretends to be working for the CIA, NSA or another 3 letter organisation? @bluesqueakpip @kevinwho @cathannabel @craig and gracious others: on the topic above, I think there are trolls and trolls. Dozens are SO stupid that they spell easy words wrong, don’t tag and watch Tennant-era eps on repeat (as their favourite iteration): Smith would be too “gay;” Capaldi, “too old & not a heart throb” whilst banging on about “Moffat’s inability to handle Sherlock and Who at once: with too clever arcs and lazy writing.”
Some stay for a while. They often tag people and aren’t the “spit out a post and vanish” type. Example: ‘bahar’ (cant recall his tag) spoke of the terrible music; that the composer and orchestrator lacked talent and had been chosen for his “black skin.”
He spoke about that several times and so it wasn’t a drive-by troll. He loved the 50’s -70s music scores and that as a middle aged white guy whose partner had died, it implied he had the necessary criteria to despise people who were accepted in positions when merit wasn’t the criteria. I argued against that. He loosened his grip a tad, others attempted to argue with him, and he kept on going. There’s always the idea “one can never change their minds” and yet we have 3 current new members who admitted to having their minds changed and that’s good -but it’s rare.
I think this isn’t a complicated situation. They’re bullies; we all know what bullies do, how they act, and so reasoning with bullies is difficult, often impossible. Two years ago I left Seeoswald with a little lesson: use a topic sentence, explain why you dislike something, give examples, etc etc and she vanished and then….returned…not changed one iota.
She said she was born in ’66 and that makes her a year older than me (if that’s to be believed on her part) and THAT’s worrying. It’s not always the shouty lads on half term. Frequently it’s shouty women in their 20s -50s who don’t support the ERA, firmly insist husband as head-of-house etc. They believe African Americans are naturally inferior because of their colour, that the previous president was Muslim and born in Qatar. Sometimes they come here to make an account like “turntheclock” deliberately finding a place to spread venom. I don’t like killing cockroaches and I collect spiders and put them outside. Anything truly venomous like green ants, with their nasty bite, I kill stone dead and forget about them.
I guess I feel that way about the bile and venom of certain posters on youtube. I don’t even visit The Guardian pages where I imagine I’d be horrendously rude to anyone who claims “the Doctor can’t be a woman and Ryan’s an idiot and Yas is Indian: why isn’t there a female, white companion?” which is why I stay put here. But I know good people do visit those sites in order to create a balance (of a sort) and I worry that the BBC, despite the excellent ratings could end the Chibnall era early.
Where do our ‘jobs’ as forum members begin and end? What is the job of moderators? Should mods say “I’m done now. I’m packing it in” or should they moderate and encourage people to look for what’s exceptional about a set of episodes? And how do we stop the rot? I don’t have the answers myself. But somebody must.
I haven’t checked lately but the ad hominin attack rule on our front page might need an English trans? Apologies if that happened two years ago!
I wonder about actually saying, “if you’re here to hate the female doctor, hate the writer, complain about lax writing then ship off.” That’s harsh but what tends to happen is that posters do exactly that and then people start to ‘reason’ with them which takes valuable time from enjoying theories and bonkerising leading to weariness.
Is it possible that when showing a scene from the new Who episode that week that a short 3 mins youtube clip from AG Who which dealt with exactly the same issues (or similar) could be inserted as a method of showing viewers that actually Who has been spreading “social messages” since ’63? Not sure about copyright but I reckon poor Chibbers would be dead thrilled. I can’t imagine what he’s feeling right now. Personally I fell in love with “gabby Doc” like Thano from ep 1 – a very different ‘gabby’ quality from Tennant although the baleful whining has often included: “Jodi is trying to be Tennant. She’s basically the same. Find a different personality” 🙁
Puro Pondering.
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