If you've been following Doctor Who season three and you saw "Human Nature/Family of Blood" (Hugo nominees, I'm telling you), then ( you'll look under the cut so nothing is spoiled for those who haven't seen the episodes yet... )

This is what I get for being a new-school Doctor Who fan. Why didn't anyone ever tell me that the Beatles made an appearance on Doctor Who?

Missed the showing of Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion on SciFi last night, so when I got home from the office (9:45 PM), I popped in my DVD of the Children In Need special (care of drewshi, bless him), and then my DVD of Christmas Invasion (care of twilight2000, bless her) and indulged. So much fun. We were all correct to be excited about Tennant as the Doctor. It's got me excited about the second season of Doctor Who all over again, even though I know things about second season. I need to get me a VCR that works, though, for that and for my other shows for this season. I want less of my evening time scheduled around TV shows and more scheduled around creative endeavors. And because I'm a geek, I had to use this icon one more time before retiring it. I rarely succumb to super-cute, but I couldn't resist this one.

Is it really September 30? Is tomorrow really October 1? Wow.

Here I was thinking of going to Portland the second weekend of October for a big coin show sponsored by my coin club (not the pennysmashers; the PNNA), but then I realized that's the same weekend I volunteered for a 4-hour shift on the telephones for KUOW (our local NPR affiliate). No coin show for me. Just as well, I suppose. There's more virtue in helping to raise money than in spending it. (Sorry, davidlevine and kateyule! No visit after all.) On the other hand, there's another coin show the following weekend in Lynnwood. There's also one in Kirkland the first weekend of November. Hey, the_monkey_king, wanna hit a coin show?

That's it for me this morning.

Had a story bounced yesterday. It went out to the next market this morning. Go me!

Saw Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest tonight with CM and had an absolute blast. Yes, the movie is too long, and no, I don't think they could have convoluted the plot anymore than they did, but I had a helluva good time anyway. As dianora2 observed, suddenly Norrington's hot (it's the scruffy and the tortured, in my opinion), Jack and Elizabeth have a kind of chemistry to die for, and I want to be a pirate! (Okay, that last has little to do with the movie and perhaps tells you too much about my private life....) Anyway, I admit I turned off my critic when I went into the theater and I think the experience was better for it.

Still pining over the end of Doctor Who Season Two and I'm feeling closer to being able to write about it. In the meanwhile, if you don't mind mild spoilers, I direct you to this music vid celebrating the Doctor and Rose. Once again, it's dianora2's fault if you find yourself weeping over your keyboard. How am I going to last until the series starts up again on CBC, I ask you?

Saw exiledfromtribe last night for the first time in about 6 months and had a most excellent visit. He made Italian chicken for dinner and I felt positively spoiled.

Still having trouble concentrating on my flist; my apologies. I did notice pix of littleelfhat and her milk beard (what an attractive look; it will be all the rage next season!). I also noticed that varina8 is finally on her way home—yay! And was that cheesepuppet all trussed up in a stretcher? Girlfriend, you get into the weirdest stuff when my head is turned!

I got my first paycheck yesterday. How nice to feel like I have a little bit of a financial cushion again (that is, until I pay my bills tomorrow morning).

Since matociquala has formally forbidden us all to say that we suck, I can't say that or anything like it this evening. The temptation to say such (and therefore the necessity to resist it) is a result of the accumulation of the following evidence:

I had the idiot idea to go out this afternoon in search of a neat desk lamp for my new cubicle. I also wanted to see "Wordplay," the documentary about puzzlemaster Will Shortz (sp?) and the annual crossword puzzle tournament he holds.

I hit the Broadway Market QFC and Urban Outfitters for the lamp: no joy.

I hit the Harvard Exit theater for the movie: much joy. I highly recommend it.

And then, I had to come home. I was in severe pain and had to rest. I have the stamina, these days, of a 90 year old woman. I'm on the couch. My foot is up. It will be on ice shortly.

Can I just say that I hate my foot right now?

Then . . . then I call Pagliacci to order a pizza, and the girl who answers the phone is the same one who sent me a pizza gratis when I first broke my foot and she remembered me. She asked about the foot.She sympathized. We took a moment, both of us being NY expatriates, to bemoan the lack of decent Chinese food delivery in Seattle (what's that about, I ask you?), and then we took my order. I'm getting sympathy from the pizza order girl!

::sigh:: Life is weird and wonderful and, right now, just a little frustrating.

On the other hand, I did a revision of the story I wrote Thursday night (though it needs a different title) and will be delivering it to the workshop shortly. So I'm getting something done anyway. And as for tonight, I'll be on the couch, watching something on Pay-Per-View (haven't decided what quite yet). It'll be a quiet evening.

Oh, and the rumor at doctorwho is that the first half of the season two finale two-parter is spectacular. We shall see.

Interviews went well, I think, though I'm on the fence about whether or not I'm going to get this job. I bring some of the required skills in abundance. Some of the required skills I have little or no experience in. I know for a fact that they're preparing to interview four other candidates for the position, and so we move on. Big eastside job has been silent, but the agency says the hiring manager there is out of town today. I shall relinquish all thought of it until next week.

Doctor Who fans, especially those who have mourned Eccelston's departure (like myself) will laugh a blue streak at this YouTube video from DeadRingers. Oh. My. God.

And in the most uncomfortable e-mail I've received in a while, I got some pictures from the last concert that included me. I look chubby, rumpled, unkempt, and pretty unpresentable. I'm embarrassed to have actually been seen looking like that. There's no help for tomorrow night but now I'm freaked out about what I'm wearing, how I'll look, all of it. Maybe I should find a different top to wear? Different pants? Maybe I should shave my head. ::sigh:: On to tech rehearsal.

Final count on the donated clothing: three bags full.

Spent yesterday at a writing marathon on the Eastside from 9 AM to 5 PM with one lunch break. Finally pushed through the wall that I've been hammering at on this short story. I may actually finish it today (thank God!). I so badly want to move on to something else.

Spent last night at markbourne's with his E, ironymaiden and her C watching eps 5 and 6 of Doctor Who Season Two, "Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel" about which I hope to post within the next couple of days (but not now; too much to do this AM). Short version: great stuff. There may also be thoughts on the madness of Doctor Who fandom (please give a rest to the whole "Russell T. Davies has a homoerotic agenda" banner, okay? And also the "I hate Rose; she's a chav" stuff) and why, but for the occasional nifty link, I would unsubscribe from doctorwho.

I followed up this AM on call I got from a Microsoft recruiter last week. Turns out that as a result of a reorganization, hiring in this group has been put on hold for a bit. (But she liked me! She really, really liked me!) I shall make other follow-up calls today. My new policy on looking at job listings is not to look until Tuesday, though. Why? 1) Looking for a job on a Monday always depresses me. 2) By Tuesday, people have posted a number of fresh listings on places like Craigslist and Monster, so there are actually jobs to apply for. So from now on, Monday is for follow-up; Tuesday is for new beginnings.

It's raining in Seattle. I hear it's going to rain all week. No sun-guilt for me!

The BBC's official Doctor Who Web site has posted their design for this week's episode, "School Reunion," and there's Anthony Stewart Head, who's the guest star, perched on the rooftop of a school . . ..

markbourne has been "acquiring" the season two episodes, and showed a small group of us the first two last Sunday evening. (He has my undying gratitude for this endeavor.) I'm enjoying David Tennant as the new Doctor. He's full of manic energy in the role, but I still see those moments of darkness that were so much more prevalent with the Eccleston Doctor. I like his chemistry with Billie Piper. I'm not sure I like him better than Eccleston—he's different, different enough for a comparison to feel, at least to me, unjust. But I do like him and expect to enjoy his Doctor very much. And now, the resumption of TV Blogging:

New Earth
The opening of the episode felt good to me: After trauma, death and regeneration, storms of tears, and alien invasion, Rose and the Doctor are off on an adventure—a lark—just enjoying eachother's company. It is the stuff of giddy, smutty fanfic in all its glory. One gets the sense that this Doctor has sloughed off some of the pain and darkness of the Time Wars that Nine hadn't worked off yet. He's finally enjoying himself, relatively grief-free.

And we're finally off to an alien planet: New Earth, all squeaky clean and shiny with that skiffy, Golden Age sheen that I sometimes miss in contemporary science fiction. And there are cat people! Cat nuns, to be precise! What's not to like?

Of course, something's going on, and the Doctor and Rose find themselves very quickly separated from eachother, the Doctor to learn about the Sisters of Plenitude and Rose to discover Lady Cassandra in fine form, a bitchier-than-ever trampoline, but not for long. Cassandra's body swapping trick is at least one of the main engines for the story. While I like the idea, Russell T Davies' script isn't consistent with regard to how body swapping takes place (first a mechanism is required, then merely a will to move?). The inconsistency didn't bother me at first, but upon reflection I find myself a little irritated about it. Why create a required mechanism if you're going to discard it when it becomes inconvenient? I do think, however, that Piper did a splendid job assuming the character of Lady Cassandra when Cassandra does her body-swap. I was entertained by Tennant's body-swap moment, too.

I also found myself unwilling to examine too closely the scientific premise of creating a class of clones each infected with every possible human illness to help develop cures for the rest of humanity. It doesn't hold up . . . but it's a great excuse for creating a cast of cankered, lumbering zombies.

Lastly, Cassandra's turn-around at the end of the episode happened too quickly and wasn't firmly founded in the story as it developed. We're suddenly to feel sympathetic toward her; I didn't buy it.

A subplot in all of this was the appearance of the Face of Boe and the prophecy that it would share a secret with the Doctor before it died. It's a compelling mystery and the Face of Boe is an interesting and mysterious character. I have to be honest, though: I didn't like its psychic voice. It was too much The Voice Of God somehow, and it felt a little like a letdown because it was exactly what I expected. I did like the sense one got that, as the Doctor knelt by Boe's tank, he felt a sympathy and a kinship that was rare for him, old and solitary in the universe. It's one thing, at least, that he'll never be able to share with Rose. I'm curious to see what happens as a result of all this.

And then there's the kiss: a cheat! It wasn't a Doctor/Rose kiss! It was a Doctor/Cassandra kiss. Waaaah! Cheat! Cheat! I want proper Doctor/Rose snoggery! (The Doctor: "Still got it." ::chuckle::)

In the end, I think this episode was a compilation of great ideas that were sewn together too quickly. With a little more thought, it might have been a great episode; as it is, it's merely good enough.

Tooth and Claw
I'll always enjoy anything that's set in Victorian England. It was such a time of change, exploration, and great clothes (!), so this story feels like it was a perfect fit for the era. I had more than a vague idea that this episode would be a launch point for Torchwood history because of the Torchwood House Web site that one of the good folks on the doctorwho community linked to. (Click "Observatory," then click "Scan for Heavenly Bodies." Then input the password, which is the name of the queen.) Anyway . . .

Generally speaking, I liked the story here. I liked Queen Victoria's part in it all. I enjoyed the weaving of the werewolf mythology. (I found myself wondering about the mistletoe element, though; is that actually a part of werewolf lore I was never aware of, or is it a concoction for this episode? If it's the latter, it's a good one.) Fun to hear David Tennant speak in his own accent. Good continuity moments included the Doctor's dark expression over dinner when there was discussion of being the last surviving member of a family (though I'm not sure I buy Tennant's darkness here; he just looks so freakin' young). I also liked the MacLeishes. Sir Robert and Lady Catherine both showed gumption. I liked the spookiness of it all.

I will admit that, after a while, Rose's harping on "we are not amused" became irritating. It felt like no matter how much exposure she had to the queen, the queen was a fictional character to her. It felt . . . immature, which we haven't seen much of in Rose, though she is only 19. Hm. 20 now? Anyway, it bugged me. Glad she got her comeuppance when the queen finally did utter the phrase; she clearly didn't enjoy hearing it.

Though I liked the Doctor proclaiming books their best weapon, I had a substantial Buffy moment there, and found myself thinking that Davies was treading an awfully thin line. We all know he's a fan, and the new incarnation of Doctor Who owes a great deal to his appreciation of Buffy but I really do think he needs to be careful. While I could certainly see the Doctor grabbing a book off a shelf to do a little research—I can see it being in character—it worried me a little. I'll be interested to see how this trend plays out. (After all, next week's episode takes place in a school with Tony Head as guest star. Hm.) Anyway, this was a good moment.

My thought with regard to Torchwood is: does it appear as though the Queen is establishing the Torchwood Foundation (or whatever she called it) to protect England from the Doctor specifically? If so, that would belie the sense one gets from Season One that The Powers That Be in contemporary England see the Doctor as a force for good (even though he's often a harbinger of bad things). I'm not sure how to parse the relationship between TPTB and the Doctor.

My one big "Huh?" moment came with the martial-arts-fighting monks clad in orange. Talk about anachronism. I think it was markbourne who pointed out the Brotherhood of the Wolf parallel there. Interesting note, that. But in the end, it stil left me scratching my head a little.

Still, I liked this episode, and I think I liked it better than "New Earth." Fun stuff and, I'm told, with a clear pedigree back to Classic Doctor Who. Am curious about this week's new adventure.

For local friends who get CBC via cable and who (like me) don't do the BT thang, Outpost Gallifrey reports that CBC will air Series Two starting in the fall.

Also, I now have big love for Russell T Davies for a whole different reason: the man recognizes what Hollywood does to women, which explains Billie Piper's healthier, more natual look. Picked this up on OG also:

The Sunday Mirror says that "The man who revived Dr Who says the inspiration behind his most ghoulish alien character was..film star Nicole Kidman. Writer Russell T. Davis he says he got the idea for villain Lady Cassandra - who exists only as a layer of skin with a brain tank attached - after watching the stick-thin beauty arrive at the Oscars. He feels it's wrong for Cold Mountain star Nicole, 38, to be so scrawny. 'Cassandra came about after I watched the Oscars,' he told the Sunday Mirror. 'It was horrific seeing those beautiful women reduced to sticks. Nicole Kidman struck me in particular. 'Nicole is one of the most beautiful women in the world. But she looks horrifying because she's so thin. 'It's like we're killing these women in public. We watch while you die.'"

Here's my TV blogging for the weekend. There may be more TV blogging after tomorrow night's premiere of Ghost Hunters.

The West Wing: Welcome to Wherever You Are: Sunday night's was a fast-moving episode but pretty superficial, very much a John Wells creation. Even as I watched it, I found myself thinking, "He's trying to be Robert Altman: all the chaos of a campaign, all the overlapping dialogue. The editing, though, is pure Wells: cut-cut-cut." And though there was lots of that overlapping, chaotic dialogue, none of it was the witty, snappy, Hepburn/Tracy-like stuff that the show built its reputation on. It's lost its sense of humor, which is especially sad now when it's so most needed.

And this episode didn't really have a storyline, any kind of real plot. It was mostly connective tissue: what's happening with the campaign, what's happening with Toby. The biggest attraction to the general public was Jon Bon Jovi's appearance. He's certainly pretty and natural in front of a camera, but he wasn't necessary in any way (unless you count, you know, the babysitting). I loved Annabeth's singing, almost certainly post-first-night with Leo. How I would have loved to have seen the scene right before that first night; I loved the chemistry between the two of them. The Toby storyline was good to see, if for no other reason than I've been wondering what's going on there. He's being his own pigheaded, holier-than-thou self. I do wonder if the Attorney General is going to acquiesce to Toby's demand to wait until after the election to make his move. We're on the verge of Leo's impending departure. I've seen stills from the event (thanks to dianora2 for the pointer) and it looks like it's going to be devastating. So I guess my take-away from all this is: I'll be back next week.

Oh, and, um, yeah: that bedroom preview scene. I'll be back for that, too.

Doctor Who: The Unquiet Dead: When I first saw this episode, I didn't think much of it. It didn't feel, to me, as emotionally rich as "The End of the World" or as relevant to the Doctor/Rose relationship as either of the two previous episodes. On another couple of viewings (ah, the joy of DVDs), I found its appeal. It's Rose's first journey backward in time, and it's another chance for the Doctor to show off for her. The Gelf-as-spirit-gas is kind of a neat idea and zombies are always fun. The Doctor's apology for bringing Rose into such danger is a wonderful moment. It's also (as I understand it) sort of classic Doctor Who in its Victorian-age setting. I like the character of Gwyneth and I dug Charles Dickens as a character in the story. I'm pissed that in broadcast they cut the Doctor's reaction to seeing Rose all dressed up in Victorian clothes. ("Blimey! You look beautiful . . . considering." "Considering what?!" "That you're human.") But we do get our second "bad wolf" mention. That wolf, she sure do get around, don't she though?

I also like that it's a sort of a ghost story and I enjoyed the fact that Dickens expresses a disdain for spiritualism. At first, geek that I am, I wondered about the historicity of the timing of Dickens' attitude. Then I remembered that spiritualism had two waves of real popularity, one after the Civil War that lingered for several decades(Mary Todd Lincoln was a great believer) which would make the timing of this episode work, and one after World War I when so many bereaved sought ways to connect with their lost soldiers (Harry Houdini launched his crusade against spiritualists in 1922). Logically, Dickens having a disdain for spiritualism makes sense then; he was involved in the theater and probably could see through a lot of spiritualism's theatrics. A little research turns up that he did believe in ghosts, but that he was also a member of London's exclusive Ghost Club, which exposed mediums—interesting, since Arthur Conan Doyle, a great proponent of spiritualism, was later a member. Anyway, this whole thread added a dimension to Dickens for me of which I was previously unaware and I enjoyed that hugely. And too, ghosts and Doctor Who: what's not to like? ::grin::

On to Tuesday's chores and stuff . . .