(no subject)
Sep. 30th, 2010 11:14 pmHas CSI now officially jumped the shark?
Actually, I quite enjoyed that episode.
Actually, I quite enjoyed that episode.
The videotape of Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan that I bought in England sometime in the 1990s is rated 15. The DVD I bought here last year is rated PG, "some scenes may be unsuitable for children." I wonder if it's been bowdlerized, or if standards have just shifted that much.
It's ... slower than I remembered, so far. (I dread to think what I'd make of the original Motion Picture these days; I thought that one was glacial for the first hour or so when I first saw it in the 80s.
It's ... slower than I remembered, so far. (I dread to think what I'd make of the original Motion Picture these days; I thought that one was glacial for the first hour or so when I first saw it in the 80s.
Doctor Who question
Feb. 15th, 2010 10:47 pmDidn't there used to be a canonical limit on the number of regenerations per customer? Did that get retconned away, or just quietly forgotten? I thought it was twelve, so if they're up to eleven now, it could start to matter.
( Spoilers for The End of Time )
(Yes, I'm a bit behind the times. I think I must have been otherwise engaged when this first aired over here.)
( Spoilers for The End of Time )
(Yes, I'm a bit behind the times. I think I must have been otherwise engaged when this first aired over here.)
How come ...
Feb. 7th, 2010 07:59 pmNo-one mentioned that Doctor Who is on BBC America tonight? (And if these are reruns, how come I missed them first time around?)
Yes, I know there is/was/will be/wollen haven been some kind of football match some time this afternoon/evening. So?
Yes, I know there is/was/will be/wollen haven been some kind of football match some time this afternoon/evening. So?
It's disorienting seeing Col. Telford from SGU on NUMB3RS.
( Minor Spoilers for WOT:The Gathering Storm )
No, that wasn't the daily bookpost; that will be along shortly.
( Minor Spoilers for WOT:The Gathering Storm )
No, that wasn't the daily bookpost; that will be along shortly.
Five random things on a Sunday evening
May. 3rd, 2009 09:26 pmWell, that was an amazingly quick march through "The Old Curiosity Shop."
The DVD version of "Little Dorrit" has 14 episodes! The PBS airing must have been showing them two or three at once.
Just when I think I'm getting quite handy with the pliers, I set myself a task that turns out to be quite beyond my skills. Nothing ruined but a few head pins, fortunately, but populating that pendant will have to wait a while longer.
Culinary note: I seasoned tonight's catfish fillet with black pepper, ginger, and a squirt of lemon juice. This worked surprisingly well.
Other culinary note: I think I've perfected the avocado-dilla. Smushed avocado, a squirt of lemon, black pepper, grilled in a couple of medium flower tortillas.
The DVD version of "Little Dorrit" has 14 episodes! The PBS airing must have been showing them two or three at once.
Just when I think I'm getting quite handy with the pliers, I set myself a task that turns out to be quite beyond my skills. Nothing ruined but a few head pins, fortunately, but populating that pendant will have to wait a while longer.
Culinary note: I seasoned tonight's catfish fillet with black pepper, ginger, and a squirt of lemon juice. This worked surprisingly well.
Other culinary note: I think I've perfected the avocado-dilla. Smushed avocado, a squirt of lemon, black pepper, grilled in a couple of medium flower tortillas.
That was ... odd
Apr. 5th, 2009 09:51 pmWaiting for dinner to cook, Shadow Unit's new episode to go live, and Little Dorrit to start, I found myself watching an episode of "Kings" on NBC.
Very, very strange show. Supposedly based on the Biblical story of Saul and David (though I don't recall Saul doing land-for-peace deals with the Philistines or keeping a mistress in the country, or David's father dying in battle) it has the sort of measured, poetic language and stagey delivery I haven't seen since the glory days of B5, and costuming and sets vaguely reminiscent of the sort of thing you get when someone decides to do Shakespeare in Fascist dress, crossed with an eighties soap. Also Ian McShane, who has also been known to show up in eighties soaps.
Very, very strange show. Supposedly based on the Biblical story of Saul and David (though I don't recall Saul doing land-for-peace deals with the Philistines or keeping a mistress in the country, or David's father dying in battle) it has the sort of measured, poetic language and stagey delivery I haven't seen since the glory days of B5, and costuming and sets vaguely reminiscent of the sort of thing you get when someone decides to do Shakespeare in Fascist dress, crossed with an eighties soap. Also Ian McShane, who has also been known to show up in eighties soaps.
Okay, so the next WOT installment will be along in November. Followed at yearly intervals by parts two and three.
It's all for very good reasons, of course. It makes sense to me, but it boggles the mind how much time has gone by since I started reading that series.
That was back in the days of the 80486 processor, before Windows 3.1 or the JPEG standard, when cell phones were just beginning to shrink, when big PC hard drives were measured in the hundreds of megabytes. The Iron Curtain was just starting to shred; George H. W. Bush was in the White House; Solar Cycle 22 was close to maximum. (We're now waiting, and waiting, for Cycle 24 to get going.) Dallas was still on the air; Dynasty and Miami Vice were only just off it. Star Trek: The Next Generation was in full swing. The Dow rose through 2900. American cars, apparently, looked much like they do today.
(This post brought to you by Google, Wikipedia, and generic Benedryl.)
It's all for very good reasons, of course. It makes sense to me, but it boggles the mind how much time has gone by since I started reading that series.
That was back in the days of the 80486 processor, before Windows 3.1 or the JPEG standard, when cell phones were just beginning to shrink, when big PC hard drives were measured in the hundreds of megabytes. The Iron Curtain was just starting to shred; George H. W. Bush was in the White House; Solar Cycle 22 was close to maximum. (We're now waiting, and waiting, for Cycle 24 to get going.) Dallas was still on the air; Dynasty and Miami Vice were only just off it. Star Trek: The Next Generation was in full swing. The Dow rose through 2900. American cars, apparently, looked much like they do today.
(This post brought to you by Google, Wikipedia, and generic Benedryl.)
C. J. Cherryh is planning to modernize her web site and install a proper blog with RSS and maybe even comments. If no-one else syndicates that on LJ first, I might do it myself.
My copy of Season 4, vol 1 of Voyage has shipped -- from Phoenix, so I may even get it tomorrow.
Not internet-based, but also making me happy in anticipation; the PBS Little Dorrit starts tonight, something I've been looking forward to for about a year. I hope it's better than the recent Oliver Twist, though.
My copy of Season 4, vol 1 of Voyage has shipped -- from Phoenix, so I may even get it tomorrow.
Not internet-based, but also making me happy in anticipation; the PBS Little Dorrit starts tonight, something I've been looking forward to for about a year. I hope it's better than the recent Oliver Twist, though.
(no subject)
Mar. 25th, 2009 10:01 pmYes, that really was Sledge Hammer (David Rasche) playing a newsreader on L&O. Older, of course, but the tics and mannerisms haven't changed much. Does anyone else remember that show? I was delighted a few years ago when I was able to get the whole thing on DVD. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing." (Crash!)
Also, last night I caught "Star Trek: Nemesis" on cable -- an experience I'd somehow managed to miss heretofore. It wasn't terrible, as odd-numbered (?) Star Trek movies go, though it did seem a pity that of all the cast it was Brent Spiner who'd aged most obviously since the show ended.
Also, last night I caught "Star Trek: Nemesis" on cable -- an experience I'd somehow managed to miss heretofore. It wasn't terrible, as odd-numbered (?) Star Trek movies go, though it did seem a pity that of all the cast it was Brent Spiner who'd aged most obviously since the show ended.
(no subject)
Jan. 21st, 2009 09:20 pmOne day last July, my mother and I hiked through the little hamlet of Ringinglow on the southern edge of Sheffield, where the Round Walk meets the old turnpike road over the moors. The field by the pub was full of media-looking trucks and trailers, some of them with little paper labels on the doors: "Young Heathcliff, "Young Nell," "Kathy." I deduced that a production of Wuthering Heights was in progress.
I think, after watching the online making-of video, it was this one, which opened on Masterpiece Classic on Sunday night; what we saw would have been connected with the "riding up to the gates" scenes, where the houses were photoshopped in to a background of moors from "south of Sheffield."
I also think -- though the making-of is silent on the subject -- that the ancient stone track and dramatic crags featured in some of the scenes were Stanage Edge, a mile or two from the landscape in my icon. Either that, or there's somewhere on the actual Yorkshire moors that looks exactly like it. (The same edge featured in the Pride and Prejudice movie a few years back.)
I think, after watching the online making-of video, it was this one, which opened on Masterpiece Classic on Sunday night; what we saw would have been connected with the "riding up to the gates" scenes, where the houses were photoshopped in to a background of moors from "south of Sheffield."
I also think -- though the making-of is silent on the subject -- that the ancient stone track and dramatic crags featured in some of the scenes were Stanage Edge, a mile or two from the landscape in my icon. Either that, or there's somewhere on the actual Yorkshire moors that looks exactly like it. (The same edge featured in the Pride and Prejudice movie a few years back.)
(no subject)
Oct. 12th, 2008 10:08 pmPatrick Stewart's version of Jacob Hood is much more ... reassuring ... than Rufus Sewell's. Then again, maybe I've just been preconditioned to find Patrick Stewart reassuring, particularly when he's wearing a particular shade of dark red.
(I saw the CBS premier of Eleventh Hour on Thursday, and the marathon of the ITV version on BBCAmerica today. The plots of the first episodes are identical, basically, with a few interesting differences, but it looks as though it diverges after that.)
I was amused to note that the mad scientist's computer in the final ITV episode was running Hollywood Operating System, but Hood's seemed to be running Windows. Win98, I think.
(I saw the CBS premier of Eleventh Hour on Thursday, and the marathon of the ITV version on BBCAmerica today. The plots of the first episodes are identical, basically, with a few interesting differences, but it looks as though it diverges after that.)
I was amused to note that the mad scientist's computer in the final ITV episode was running Hollywood Operating System, but Hood's seemed to be running Windows. Win98, I think.
(no subject)
May. 22nd, 2008 09:14 pmWell, no more network TV shows until September. I think I'll cope; I have plenty of DVDs.
( Criminal Minds Spoilers (S3 finale) )
( Criminal Minds Spoilers (S3 finale) )
Mansfield Park
Jan. 27th, 2008 09:25 pmSorry, but Billie Piper was impossibly miscast as Fanny -- who admittedly can't be an easy character to make sympathetic to a modern audience, but to turn her into a buxom galumphing wench isn't the way to go. Apart from "not too bright," I can't imagine what made them think she was right for the part. I don't think I'm tempted to order this one on DVD.
I finished off the last three episodes of Stargate:SG-1 yesterday. I am not as sad about this as I thought I might be, though I will be waiting eagerly for the Ark of Truth movie. The show I loved went out with a bang at the end of S8, and the last two seasons were a different thing that hadn't entirely won my heart yet.
Now I can go back to the beginning and marvel at how young and skinny everyone looks! (I first encountered Star Trek via the first few movies, and when I finally got to see the original show I was amazed at the youth and slimness of the characters but not very impressed with the uniforms.)
Now I can go back to the beginning and marvel at how young and skinny everyone looks! (I first encountered Star Trek via the first few movies, and when I finally got to see the original show I was amazed at the youth and slimness of the characters but not very impressed with the uniforms.)
(no subject)
Nov. 8th, 2007 09:11 pmIt's amazing how much even a very minor illness can sap my strength. I have no physical energy left by the end of the day at the moment, which is annoying; it's just as well my job isn't exactly physically demanding. I can't really complain, though -- I think the last time I had to take more than a day off work for illness was early 2005.
[I'm just watching _Without a Trace_ (the CSI crossover -- it must be sweeps time again), and that is not Tucson, and one of the wrong kind of cactus growing among the weeds by the side of the road doesn't make it so.]
[I'm just watching _Without a Trace_ (the CSI crossover -- it must be sweeps time again), and that is not Tucson, and one of the wrong kind of cactus growing among the weeds by the side of the road doesn't make it so.]
Random chunterings
Nov. 7th, 2007 09:33 pmI'm officially not-sick today, but still rather tired, so I'm not going to attempt a book roundup post.
The latest lj release actually has some nice things. LJ Mobile is nifty, and works on my Palm -- it doesn't actually require a phone. And comment editing! ( gratuitous snark )
I watched a lot of DVDs yesterday -- well, three episodes of SG-1 and one of Voyage, anyway. I think I still have whiplash from going from the goofy self-referential fun of "200" to the high drama of "Counterstrike." I do have to wonder, though, how all those planets with populations measured in the thousands -- all living in one village within walking distance of the Gate -- managed to stay that way for centuries. (No, this is not the first time I have wondered this.)
It also occurs to me that with two -- well, three, but one of them is not in the room with the TV -- DVD-capable computers and a DVD player, I could do 3-way frame-by-frame comparisons to try to unravel the layers of recycled footage in Voyage episodes like "No Escape from Death." (If they proclaimed that one as "All New" when it was first aired, they were skirting pretty close to false advertising.)
The latest lj release actually has some nice things. LJ Mobile is nifty, and works on my Palm -- it doesn't actually require a phone. And comment editing! ( gratuitous snark )
I watched a lot of DVDs yesterday -- well, three episodes of SG-1 and one of Voyage, anyway. I think I still have whiplash from going from the goofy self-referential fun of "200" to the high drama of "Counterstrike." I do have to wonder, though, how all those planets with populations measured in the thousands -- all living in one village within walking distance of the Gate -- managed to stay that way for centuries. (No, this is not the first time I have wondered this.)
It also occurs to me that with two -- well, three, but one of them is not in the room with the TV -- DVD-capable computers and a DVD player, I could do 3-way frame-by-frame comparisons to try to unravel the layers of recycled footage in Voyage episodes like "No Escape from Death." (If they proclaimed that one as "All New" when it was first aired, they were skirting pretty close to false advertising.)
Oh come on ...
Oct. 29th, 2007 09:03 pmOpening scene of tonight's CSI:Miami; beautiful young people lounging around a pool, taken totally by surprise by a total solar eclipse, which they then proceed to watch without so much as a piece of smoked glass in sight.
No, no, no!
No, no, no!
Friday evening ideas
Jul. 6th, 2007 09:39 pmIt's Friday night, and I'm giddy with the relief of the rain and the almost-coolness, and watching Doctor Who.
And I have a sudden hankering to write crossover Voyage/Stargate fic. Or possibly Voyage/SGA, which would slightly easier logistically, Atlantis being in the ocean and all (even if the ocean is in another galaxy), but I'm not so familiar with that show. I can just see Samantha Carter and Admiral Nelson settling down to wire up some unlikely gizmo, and Lee Crane swapping yarns or showing off the Flying Sub to Jack, or Teal'c reducing Sharkey to incoherence with a well placed 'Indeed.' Getting the Seaview anywhere near SG-1 would be tricky, though; they're obviously a lot of timelines over, not to mention twenty or thirty years in the past.
And I have a sudden hankering to write crossover Voyage/Stargate fic. Or possibly Voyage/SGA, which would slightly easier logistically, Atlantis being in the ocean and all (even if the ocean is in another galaxy), but I'm not so familiar with that show. I can just see Samantha Carter and Admiral Nelson settling down to wire up some unlikely gizmo, and Lee Crane swapping yarns or showing off the Flying Sub to Jack, or Teal'c reducing Sharkey to incoherence with a well placed 'Indeed.' Getting the Seaview anywhere near SG-1 would be tricky, though; they're obviously a lot of timelines over, not to mention twenty or thirty years in the past.
I'm just past 15,000 words on Undone, and Harry is being reasonable. Louise is still a little wobbly, mostly because she's exhausted, but I think they'll work it out. This story may need a sequel, though.
Also, was I misinterpreting it, or was tonight's CSI implying ( Spoilers )
Also, was I misinterpreting it, or was tonight's CSI implying ( Spoilers )
