Intersection Logs

My Voyage Season 4 volume 2 DVDs arrived today! So, only about twenty years after I first fell in love with the show, I finally own the complete series (plus several aired and unaired versions of the pilot and a couple of copies of the precursor movie) in crisp, digitally-remastered, commercial-free form. (Though one of the extras on the final disc is the aired pilot with the original commercials.)

If I'd known the Post Office was going to add an eight-quid handling fee to the VAT, I'd have gone for the more expensive, faster shipping that includes customs. Oh well, I'll know another time -- not that I expect to be importing any more US DVDs any time soon.

For the first time in months, my writer-brain is itching, but I can't decide where to start. So, a poll!




[Poll #1398394]

In "Day of Evil" the failsafe panel is on the wall to the left of the door. I'm reasonably sure it isn't usually apparent there either, except when required for plot purposes.

(And in "Invaders", right after "Doomsday" in airing if not production order, the TV screen is back in place.)

[Yes, I'm home sick today. Antisocial cough and sniffles; not too bad otherwise.]

I'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.)

October 23rd, unofficially. Mummies and mermaids and monsters, oh my.

I now have watched all but one of the first half of the season; saving up the neep for a big post in voyage_forever.

Being the kind of Nelson fan that I am, of course I have a soft spot for this episode.

However:
( Read more... )

I am slow and clumsy and stupid today, tired in a way I can't find words for. I'm also considering running out to the mall bookstore to buy all the Dresden Files books I can find; the first one was what I was reading on the road trip yesterday, and it was ridiculously more-ish, like popcorn -- not particularly nutritious, but compelling.

The box art for the next set of Voyage DVDs is up. Oddly, the illustrations look as though they belong to the second half of S3 -- the Mummy and the metallic alien from Deadly Cloud -- but this is supposed to be the first half of the season. Mind you, one of the S2 boxes shows the Flying Sub with the S1/movie Seaview, so they obviously aren't too fussy.

Does anyone know if the fannish use of 'meep' is derived from the watchbear in Vinge's Witling?

( American Accent Meme )

DSC07942
Originally uploaded by ellarien.

I have very little to say tonight, but here's a photo of some kind of acacia from the campus, absolutely covered in blossom.

There's a lot of pollen in the air at the moment, I can tell.

Also: ( More Voyage neepery )

Comments on Graveyard of Fear, cut for those who don't care.
( Dive, Dive! )

An Amazon package arrived today: the latest of Cherryh's Foreigner series, a new historical novel by Barbara Hambly, an interesting book about Irwin Allen's TV series, and three assorted movies about submarines, one of them with a young David Hedison in it.

On the other hand, I have goofed on my Amazon UK ordering. I was planning to get the hardcover version of the third Temeraire book, but it's already out of stock after barely a month. (I do have the mass-market version: two copies, in fact, but I lent one of them to my boss for his latest trip.) I keep forgetting how small and tenuous the UK hardcover market is these days. (Of course, it might be healthier if they'd print the books on acid-free paper.)

The weather had been gorgeous, with the high temperature on campus squeaking past 80. Sadly, the amount of brown, frost-killed vegetation around makes the campus less pleasant than it usually is at this time of year. It's interesting to see what suffered and what didn't: the hibiscus and bougainvillea were badly hit, and the yellow oleanders and orchid trees, but strangely enough the bottle-brush trees -- an Australian import -- seem completely unphased, and the magnolias also seem fine. (It wasn't the snow that did the damage so much as the hard frosts the week before.)

Ambassador is at 17,759 words, and right now I hate them all. This may have something to do with trying to keep up 500 words a day while the plot is in pieces on the floor waiting to be reassembled; I hope it's temporary. I think I'll save the Cherryh as a treat for when I finish the thing. (My most generous/pessimistic projection of the final length is now 30K, so it should be done by the end of the month at the latest!)

Oh, and one of my boss's cats has revealed a hitherto unsuspected taste for green olives.