Almost part of the show

I have no doubt in my mind that Scott Taylor is a generally nice guy. Like all people, I'm sure he has his moments where he's less than pleasant or what have you, but I've seen his friendly nature, patience with children, and willingness to share his time with those interested in doing so. He tries to make people happy. I have no problems with him on those levels. When he climbs into the wrestling ring as Scotty 2 Hottie, he annoys me.

Now, this is not always a problem. When it comes to wrestling, the way a person acts normally and the way the act in the ring can be totally different. Some of the nastiest people in the ring are the nicest outside it. Scotty 2 Hottie has a character that's a good guy. He connects with the crowd are they react positively to what he does. I cannot fault him for doing this because it obviously works for him. Personally I don't care for his shtick but it's my right to dislike it just as much as it's someone else's right to like it. I don't criticize those that enjoy it. Good for them.

Scotty was in the second match of the show we went to see on Friday night. Obviously I wasn't inclined to cheer for him. As it was a 'three way dance' match, a match where three wrestlers face off against each other until one manages to pin another, I considered his opponents. 'Electric' Eric Freedom is a local level wrestler that I'm familiar with to a reasonable degree. He generally works as a bad guy and I don't care much for his style either so I couldn't cheer for him. That left Lenny Lane.

I'm mostly familiar with Lenny's work in WCW during the late 1990s. He was never a guy that gained a lot of attention but he was involved in some storylines at times. I always thought he did good with what he was given but he never clicked in a way that would make him a star. He was at an earlier local show and I was able to see his work and meet him. I couldn't say I was ever a big fan but I am pro-Lenny. As he entered the arena, I applauded and cheered a bit for him.

Somehow, in an unplanned way, all five of us in our group seated in the fifth row were soon standing, pointing to the ring, and chanting 'Lenny'. Now, both Eric and Lenny were scheduled to work heel, play bad guys, so our sudden chanting for Lenny 'made no sense'. The majority of the crowd was confused, looking at us strangely or hollering for us to settle down. Lenny looked confused as well, but grinned. He quickly started working with us. Standing on the turnbuckle, he pointed to us. We cheered. He flexed. We cheered. Scotty came out and, good-naturedly, we booed.

The bell rang to start the match. Scotty and Eric locked up on the far side of the ring. Lenny posed for us further, ignoring the action behind him. We cheered. Thusly distracted by us, he backed into Scotty and was drop toe-holded into trouble, much to our dismay.

I figured out the basic storyline of the match rather quickly. With Eric and Lenny both playing the heel, they would team up to beat down Scotty. This occurred as expected. The goal here is to have the crowd, who by in large is supporting him, cheer for him to survive the assault of the bad guys and find a way to succeed. The formula worked. The crowd booed as poor Scotty was ganged up on. One of the heels would get knocked away, Scotty would have a moment to try to have the upper hand in a one on one situation, but then the heel would recover and it would once again be two on one. When Lenny succeeded, we cheered. When he was knocked down, we shouted encouragement.

While I knew Scotty would win, I wasn't sure what the actual end sequence would be. I did expect a breakdown in the heels and that did happen. Eventually they beat down Scotty enough to get him in a pining predicament. One tried to pin him, only to be pulled off by the other. They argued, they fought, and then frustrated, Lenny walked out. this took long enough for Scotty to recover and he was able to defeat Eric for the win.

Especially since we were so engaged in it, the match was enjoyable to watch. Since Scotty won, we knew there would be an extended dance sequence in celebration. Brian and I got up to visit the nearby concessions stand. As it happens, a door to the backstage area also lead to the area by the concessions stand. Standing there was Lenny, apparently looking for us.

We shook hands and chit-chatted with him for a moment. We hoped we hadn't thrown them off too badly and he assured us all was well. He said he'd joked with the guys 'I bet they're not even from Minnesota' as Lenny is. He was right. We thanked him, he thanked us, and we went for beer.

It was a great moment. We caused some other 'trouble' during the show but that was the best part; connecting up with the guys in the ring and sort of becoming part of the show.

Re-Story : Tales from the City 2 (of 2)

The snow swirls heavily around you. It is thick and heavy and cold. You have been out in the cold and the wind for far too long already. Suddenly you realize where you are and that a moment's comfort can be gained. Quickly you duck into the doorway and close the door behind you. Loudly you try to stamp the majority of the snow from your footwear rather than track it further into the building. From the inside of the building the snow outside falls in a pretty exuberate way. It's easy to appreciate it now that you are slightly detached from it. There is a faint smell of coffee in the hallway. It is a warm happy smell, particularly welcome considering the cold you feel. You move in the direction of the smell, towards the big open room at the end of the hall.



Once you reach the room you are unsurprised to see him there, the Keeper of the Tale. He sits on the couch in the corner of the room, sipping on a coffee. This time he sees you approach, no doubt having heard you stomp the snow from your feet. "Hallo," he says with a smile. "A bit horrid out today, isn't it? Would you care for a coffee? It's a bit strong, but it's fresh." You gratefully accept his offer and remove your jacket, dislodging snow from it as you do so. You make yourself comfortable on the couch. "Do you take anything in your coffee? Milk or sugar or something similar?" You request a splash of milk and some sugar. He brings you a small pot of sugar with the coffee mug. "I splashed the milk as requested. I hope it's to your satisfaction." You take a cautious sip. It is quite hot and strong. At least now you know how much sugar to add. 



As you stir your coffee he looks at you hopefully. "Would you care for a story with your coffee?" You can think of no good reason to resist but caution that you do have an appointment you are struggling to reach. Time is currently not short but you must still brave the weather and are unsure how long it will take you to reach your destination. He waves his hand confidently. "I have the very thing; another tale of our friends Douglas and Carmen. Just relax..." 





Douglas sighed loudly. "I weary of life. Tis nothing but a myriad of sad occurrences and is over far too quickly." 



Carmen gave his sad features a curious look. While she was well familiar with his ability to change moods on a whim this shift seemed unusual to her. It felt forced, unnatural even. A few moments ago, in the convenience store, he had been downright cheery and she could detect no logical reason for his change. "Nonsense," she replied. 



"What say you?" 



"Nonsense," she repeated.



"Really? What argument do you have to refute me?" 



"Rainbows." 



"Rainbows?" 



"Certainly. Rainbows aren't sad things. Therefore life cannot be solely sad things when rainbows exist." 



"Rainbows mean it's been raining. Rain is sad." 



"Ah, but the rainbow comes out when the rain is over. It's a happy thing. Besides, rain is a happy thing. It feeds the vegetation. It washes away the rubbish in the street. It leaves the land fresh and happy smelling." Douglas continued to sulk. Carmen looked at him with genuine concern. "Are you all right? Is your blood sugar low?" 



A low wicked chuckle erupted from a nearby park bench. There was no mirth in the sound. A bald man in a suit sat there looking thoughtful. "The young man finally sees the truth of this world. There is nothing worth doing, nothing worth attempting. Everything is worthless. Everything is failure. For instance, I have failed to affect you. Why should that be?" 



His wondering hit her like a slap to the face. "What have you done to him?" She could feel a pressure in her brain, an external force working to affect her. 



He stood up and focused on her. "I am the Philosopher. I ponder life. I can find nothing encouraging about it and I seek to share that truth with all." 



Carmen reeled under his assault of negativity. She chewed desperately on her lower lip, trying to focus past the emotion surrounding her. All see needed was a moment to catch her breath, a moment to fight back... 



Suddenly there it was like a beam of sunlight through the clouds. A moment without pain and suffering, a moment where her heart rose with joy. She smiled warmly. Her deep brown eyes opened and she directed her joy at the Philosopher. 



He staggered under the force of her counter attack. Somehow, just as he could broadcast his negative emotions, she could broadcast her positive emotions. He felt the need to strike back, to prove what he felt was true. It was difficult to do so. She looked so happy, so warm, with those gentle eyes and dusky skin and pretty hair...



He shook it off. Her level of attractiveness meant nothing. He gestured demonstratively. "Life is pain. Pain is truth!" 



Carmen staggered. He was stronger than she anticipated. Perhaps she couldn't defeat him. Perhaps he was right? No, that couldn't be but what could she do? 



Then she remembered and a plan formed in her mind. She opened her bag while she was still coherent, grabbed the item and flung it at him. Instinctively he caught it. "What?!?" 



"You can have it." Carmen smiled warmly at him, well aware that he was distracted and therefore more vulnerable to her emotion. "We can get another. They're great!" 



Hesitantly he unwrapped it and bit deep into the flaky crust. Immediately the tension dropped from his body. He relaxed. He even smiled. "This... this is wonderful!" 



Carmen grinned triumphantly. "Of course its wonderful; it's a Frosttess Fruit Pie." 



He made a yummy noise after taking a second bite. "Apple pie filling! Life is wonderful."



Douglas shook off the last of the negative influence from which he'd been suffering. "What happened?" 



"Nothing much. I just got to spread some happiness, that's all." 



"Is he eating my fruit pie? Life IS pain." 



"Don't worry, we can get you another."

Douglas cheered. 



The Philosopher smiled at them. "I have a whole new outlook on life thanks to you and thanks to Frosttess Fruit Pies!"


You are very happy about the fact that you've finished your coffee as it is well past time you were going. The Keeper smiles at you. "Of course, there is a moral to this story: Everybody likes pie!" Your head drops and you shake your head in disbelief. That's a moral? 



It's time to go and you get up to put on your jacket. The Keeper looks concerned. "Should there be another moral perhaps, one that I missed?" He starts to ponder this while you make a break for the door. The snow still falls heavily outside but, for some reason, it comes as a relief to be out in the snow as opposed to inside with the Keeper of the Tale.


Re-Story : Tales from the City 1 (of 2)

Your shoes make noise as you walk down the linoleum covered hallway. This rather defeats the concept of wearing sneakers. Sneakers should provide you with the ability to sneak and therefore should remain silent. Since the temperature outside is well below freezing it appears that your shoes have frozen up to noise generating levels. Luckily you are not trying to sneak up on anyone so this is not a significant problem.

The hallway with its many doors opens up into a large open room, the sort of place that could be an activity room in a group room or a cafeteria in a school. There a few scattered tables and chairs, a battered couch facing a full entertainment centre in the corner and a number of bookshelves. Light streams into the area through the windows giving the room a gentle warmth that is particularly welcome after the cold of the outdoors. Your shoes echo louder in the larger room. There is a man on the far side of the room. You head towards him.

As you grow nearer to him, you notice a number of things about this man. One is that he seems very unaware of your presence. Another is the fact that he is dancing with more energy than ability. The third is that he is singing, tunelessly. “Cigareetes and whiskey and wild, wild women! They drive ya crazy, they drive you insane.” He is still unaware of your presence likely due to the earphones in his ears. While unwilling to frighten him, he is the individual you came to see. Politely you tap him on the shoulder.

He jumps visibly and his eyes widen in surprise. Once he sees you, he relaxes and smiles. The earphones are roughly removed from his ears and the small player they are attached to is shut off. “Ah, there you are. I was wondering where you were. Is anyone with you?” You shake your head no. His expression drops slightly. “What a pity. It’s been a bit lonely here of late. Still, you’re here and that’s what’s important. Are you here for a story?” To this you nod. “Excellent! Excellent, excellent, excellent.” He continues to mutter “Excellent” evidently using the moment to think. “Perhaps the story of the Case of the Red Bellied Brainiac? Or better yet the Clones of Napoleon. The Time Emily Kissed a Frog?” Politely you inform him that you don’t have much time at the moment. You mostly stopped by to say hello and only have time for a short story at best. He is obviously disappointed. “Oh well, if that’s the case, then that’s the case. I guess I’ll have to save Hell Comes to Irish Fest for another day then.” He taps his chin for a moment and then brightens. “I have the very thing. Just relax for a moment and listen to this…”


“I’m bored,” Douglas noted aloud. “I was thinking that perhaps you should kill me.”

This statement made Carmen’s eyebrows rise in surprise. It did not affect her pace in any way and they continued to walk. “I beg your pardon?” Douglas repeated his statement. “I must admit that I fail to see how that would eliminate your boredom.”

“Well, I was thinking that I could come back from the dead and then figure out how you killed me.”

“So I should surprise you?”

“Certainly. It wouldn’t be interesting otherwise.”

“I see. How were you planning to come back from the dead?”

“Ah. I hadn’t figured that part out yet.”

“It would see to be an important part of your plan to have worked out in advance.”

“This is true.”

“Primarily because death holds the possibility for greater boredom than what you’re currently experiencing.”

“And it wouldn’t be any fun unless I knew I was coming back. It would definitely defeat the purpose of the plan if I couldn’t come back.”

A mighty rush of wind from just above their heads attracted their attention. The gust settled in front of them and formed the shape of a moderately overweight middle-aged man. He faced them and laughed. “Ah! Douglas, my arch-enemy!”

“I have an arch-enemy?” Douglas questioned. “I’m touched.” He pretended to wipe a tear from his eye.

“Laugh all you want fool for this is the day that I, Captain Trouble, will finally be rid of you!”

Douglas looked at Carmen. Carmen looked at Douglas. Both raised an eyebrow to the other. They returned their attention to Captain Trouble. Douglas coughed gently. “Oh really?”

“Yes! Really!” He smirked confidently and removed a small rock from his pocket. “Look upon my power and weep! For now I am augmented by the energy of the Titan Gem!”

“You have a rock from the moon of Saturn?” Carmen questioned. “That is interesting and neat. Cool even.”

Captain Trouble smiled. “Thank you. It wasn’t easy to get and it’s nice of you to appreciate the effort, especially since I’m planning to dispose of you both!”

“Whenever did you get it?” she asked.

The Captain returned to smirking. “Oh, I’m afraid I couldn’t disclose information like that, even considering you won’t be another much longer to put the information to good use.”

Douglas frowned. “You got it from the Mystic Duke, didn’t you?”

Captain Trouble shook like a bowl of jelly in surprise. “How did you know?” he blurted.

“Just a hunch. Mostly the way the rock is glittering.”

“What do you mean? It’s supposed to glitter.”

“Oh, I see it too,” Carmen noted.

“See? See what?”

“It’s the wrong colour of glisten. It should be a silvery colour and it has a golden tint to it. The Mystic Duke has been selling a bunch of those rocks of late.”

“He what?”

Carmen nodded in agreement. “That’s not a Titan Gem. It doesn’t even have any power. The only way you can use that as a weapon would be to throw it at someone. In fact, I recommend throwing it at the Duke for ripping you off.”

“That fink! I’ll do just that.” He gave them both a stern look. “I’ll be back to deal with you lot later.” Captain Trouble flew away angry.

Douglas and Carmen watched him go. “Somehow I knew he’d never tested it after buying it,” Carmen noted.

Douglas nodded. “I like the idea you gave him to throw it. Those things are highly volatile.” As if to prove his point, there was an explosion in the distance and the faint sound of a mild vulgarity breezed by. “I’m so glad he’s not clever.” His face brightened suddenly. “Oh, I know, let’s get soft pretzels!”

“Sounds good to me.”

And they walked off to find soft pretzels.


You get up from the chair and his face drops. “Must you leave so soon?” Once again you nod. “So be it. But take the lesson from my story with you when you go: Better a rock in the hand than a rock in the head.” You shake your head and groan slightly as you turn to walk away. He tries again as you head for the hallway. “He who hesitates is a putz? If you name yourself Trouble, you’re just asking for it? Honest, most of the other stories are better!” His voice fades, thankfully, into the distance as you exit the building and reenter the cold. Perhaps you’ll come back for another story another day.

Or perhaps not.

Museum Talk

I've been sorting the newspaper clippings part of the Archive and came across some information I'd forgotten. So, today we get another of my infrequent discussions of the Milwaukee Public Museum!

For the record, I didn't uncover most of this information on my own. It's been collected from the 'Streets of Old Milwaukee' audiotour as well as different articles from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Some of this is just memories I'm pulling from my head. I'd probably do even better but I haven't been there in a couple months.

- The material that makes up the street in the exhibit was from an actual Milwaukee street in the late 1800s. It was named Buffalo St and was on the east side.

- The telephone poles in the exhibit are wrapped in wire. This is to prevent horses from chewing on them.

- Granny's house is at the first corner you come to in the exhibit. The card in her window is flipped from 25 to 50. This is to indicate how many pounds of ice she wants for her icebox. She has gone up to 50 because her granddaughter is currently staying with her.

- Above the optometrist's office is an apartment decked out in a lot of red. It belongs to a *cough* lady of the evening. This apartment is a replica of a room from one of Miss Kitty's (not a Gunsmoke reference, that was the madam's name) two establishments. While it's clearly a lady's bedroom from most of the decorations, a man's hat hangs from the hatstand. Saucy!

- While you're on the balcony, peering into the apartment, turn around and check out the photographer's studio behind you. The photographer's camera may flash at you. I say 'may' because it doesn't seem to always be turned on.

- At one point in my youth, there was a 'telephone' attached to the wall just past Granny's house and near the optometrist. Picking up the phone let you listen to a 'conversation' discussing events of the day and how shockingly high prices have become. According to the video I around late 1992/early 1993, it was gone by then.

- Down past the tavern and the restaurant, near the pharmacy, sits a phone booth. I remember this having a policeman in it, making a call. He's been gone for awhile now. I kinda miss him.

Looks like I'm going again next week. You have been warned. :) Now where's that video I took from this summer?

More fascinations from the Archive

Before there were comic books for me, there were comic strips, the newspaper type. Daily delivery of art and humour. Or story. Love them. As per everything else I became interested in, it became a fascination and the history of the medium interested me. Like movies, old radio shows, and television shows, I read about strips I had no expectation of ever seeing. If nothing else, I have this reason to love my life: all those things I thought I would never be able to see, hear, or read, well, a bunch of them are available somehow these days. And that's great. Don't get me wrong, I've got all sorts of reasons to love life but fullfilling the dreams of Young Steve is always a good one.

I got to some of those parts of the Archive this week; the newspaper strip collections, not the dreams of Young Steve part. A lot of those Peanuts books I had to sort through? I've got better printed, more complete reprints now. Makes it a little easier to let go. I've got a lot of Beetle Bailey books as well. I think that's a combination of my Dad's interest in war films and the fact that Goodwill used to have piles of them for a dime apiece when I was a kid. It's always easier to collect what's available to you. I do enjoy them but my familiarity with the strip means that I can often tell when Mort Walker is repeating himself. One volume of a mighty reprint of the strip has begun and I hope it continues.

They've started nice reprints of the original Dick Tracy series which means that I might be able to rid myself of some of the other Tracy reprint books I have. There's some nice Gasoline Alley reprints now, Popeye era Thimble Theatre, Terry and the Pirates... the heart swells.

The rough part about digging in the Archive is that I see the gaps. I'm missing For Better or Worse books, Fox Trot, Dilbert. At least I have all the Bloom County, even if those aren't comprehensive reprints.

I've got some clipped strips. There's also some newspapers I've retained in some state. For those who remember the older Milwaukee Journal, I've got some Green Sheets yet. The Journal used to print the comics section on green paper in order to make it easily identifiable.

It's hard to read the comics these days, in our local paper anyway. The strips are printed so small. At least most are reproduced online as well. Comics used to sell papers. Now papers don't even sell papers. Things change and that's not always a bad thing.

And the comics are still there.

Series 4 Reviews - continued

'Midnight'

I hadn't expected a script from Russell T. Davies this late in the series that's not directly related to the big wrap-up story that has been ending each series of late. I wasn't sure what to expect from the 'next time' trailer so I just sat back and watched.

What I got was an effective look at how people react to one another, especially in times of crisis. I could see the parallels to a number of different situations in recent history and how panic can drive humans. I thought it creepy and 'real' in its own way. The reactions were real. You know what I mean. Disturbing but real.

The trailer had lead me to think of a 'disaster movie' type story which made me realize two things: (1) that's what the Christmas special 'Voyage of the Damned' was and (2) that was a storyline I had in mind at one point and never developed. Weird that 'Voyage' didn't trigger that memory but the trailer for 'Midnight' did. Now Russell's managed to rip off a story from me that I never wrote. Get out of my head!

Kidding. We all know he's not in my head. He's just been visiting my Doctor in a U.N.I.T. hospital and writing his adventures before I can. Which is more annoying than anything else...

The very idea stings

I'm getting into some of the deeper areas of the Archive now, some areas that have barely been touched on in years. I realized something yesterday, something which drove chills down my spine.

I may have to throw out some books.

When I say 'throw out' I do mean 'recycle' but I don't mean 'sell' or 'give away'. The ones I'm seeing are mostly old Peanuts collections that I re-read to a point where they were falling apart years ago when I stored them. It doesn't feel right to throw out a book but if it must be done, it must be done.

Sigh.

This is actually not a 'I have too many books' comment although the statement probably does apply. I love books. I think it's part of the reason I want to be a published author. It would be like giving back in a way.

Money would be nice as well. Wouldn't hurt anyway.

Not quite time travel

The offer of a tour of my old high school + 'being' the Doctor + a late night trip to Taco Bell = dream time.

I'm at school, walking up the split center staircase from the second floor to the third. I wonder if I just came from the auditorium? As I walk, I glance down at myself. I'm dressed as the Season Doctor was in 'Time for a Change'. Weird; he was never at school. I feel like I'm late for class so I pick up the pace.

I get to the next floor but it feels like I'm on the 4th floor instead of the 3rd. It might be the 3rd. I lean in towards the classroom I'm heading for, directly across from the stairway doors (where no classrooms sit in real life). It's busy. I don't go in, choosing to wander north down the hallway, pondering over something I found in my pocket. It should be explaining the situation I'm in but I can't really read it. The halls fill with young people. The bell must have rung.

I return to the classroom. I poke my head inside to confirm I should be there before entering. The teacher looks a bit like my middle school Spanish teacher mixed with ... someone. This is an English class I think. I apologize for not being around, sounding very Doctor-like as I do so and take a seat. I review the pending assignments on the board and try to get comfortable. Some of these should be easier than when I was in class (review a case by Perry Mason? What?).

An unfamiliar looking young man (actually, he looked a little like the one fellow from Peter and Gordon, whichever one had the glasses) sits next to me. He appears to be happy to see me and starts assisting me in reviewing the papers sitting before me on the desk. I recognize them as papers from my Archive and grow concerned.

Then I wake up.

Series 4 Reviews - continued

'Silence in the Library' and 'Forest of the Dead'

Steven Moffat will be taking over Doctor Who soon, so I was extra keen to watch these episodes. I'd really enjoyed last year's 'Blink' written by him so adding that to the equation means I was extra, extra keen to watch these.

Wow.

Last year Moffat played on the fear that normal things you see everyday, statues, are really out to get you. It's the sort of thing I might have imagined when I was a kid and the well written and well acted episode worked while hinging on what could be referred to as a childhood fear. This year Moffat worked with another possible childhood fear: what if the shadows were out to get you?

Guess what? It works.

Hinging on that basic concept, just like last year, everything works. It's creepy, it's filled with mystery, it's sad, it's heart crushing, it's heart warming. It's well made Doctor Who and it makes me that much more excited for when he'll take over.

I found it interesting that I was reacting to scenes with certain facial expressions (cross, grumpy, happy) and they'd cut to the Doctor and he had the same facial expression. I think that means the episode is working. Or it means I relate to the Doctor a lot. Or, as some argue, I am the Doctor. Eitherway.

There was one really 'holy crap' moment for me but it doesn't seem fair to talk about it here. You know just in case someone hasn't seen it yet.

Spoilers. ;)

D'oh

I don't know why I keep calling the DWIN (Doctor Who Information Network)'s fan fiction magazine 'Enlightment' as that's their news and reviews type fan magazine. The fan fiction magazine is (was?) 'Myth Makers'.

I think.

I wish I could just find my issues and prove it to myself. Must be old...

Sometimes I Impress and Confuse Myself

Wow.

Was idly digging through the digital archive, figuring some stuff out, clicking on files and seeing what the titles were for, marking reviews that haven't been used here yet, just puttering. Then I came across another short story that wrote for the 'Enlightment' fan fiction magazine. I can't even recall if I submitted it or not. I totally forgot it existed.

I had to read it again. It's less of a story and more of a coda to the first three stories in Season 31. It's basically a conversation between the Doctor and Julie. The best part was that there's some continuity for Julie in there that I forgot about for 'Time for a Change'. I started retconning the situation in my head immediately. My instincts amuse me. Pity that I didn't remember this as it makes some of Julie's stories in that story make more sense. It would have been a good detail to have.

Interesting.

When Drunks Amuse

A few years ago, I was informed by one of my pals in the tavern business that the day before Thanksgiving is one of the biggest nights they have all year. I'm not sure if that's just for the Milwaukee area or if it's all over, but I've seen it to be true. Whether it's the idea of an 'extra' Friday for the week or the knowledge that the next day will be spent with family or just that people are back in town and looking to visit with friends they haven't seen in awhile, the drinking establishments are hopping that day.

I don't generally make any special effort to be out that night but it happens.

After comics and bowling, I got swept up with a group lead by a couple of my buddies and ended up at a crowded establishment having a karaoke night. As per normal in a situation like this where it's crowded and I'm not totally familiar with everyone in the group I'm with, I find ways to enjoy myself. It's better than being grumpy all night. I know cause I've done both. It worked and I had a fine time.

First major amusement: drunk guy that was fascinated with my sideburns. 'Those 'r awesome!' I agreed with him. I bumped into him a number of times that night and he was always willing to comment on them again. 'Is the sideburns guy again! Awesome!' He was talking to a lot of people so I marked him down as 'friendly drunk' as opposed to 'creepy guy' and was amused by him.

Second major amusement: drunken caterwauling karaoke. There were a couple people trying to keep up and sing but the most were barely able to read the lyrics they thought they knew. Fascinating.

Third major amusement: the singalong. Earlier in the night, at the comic shop, I explained that sports provides an opportunity to yell in a socially acceptable setting and how relaxing that can prove to be. A couple beers, a team to cheer for, a team to boo, and you can work a lot of stress out of your system, even if your team is playing like crap. Wednesday night I found that a close cousin to that is the group singalong. I can't recall the lead-up songs, but the crowd started to get warmed up as a group by the song selections. Then 'Bohemian Rhapsody' started and the place went wild. It felt like the entire place was singing along. I was. It was relaxing. At that point, no one can really tell how off key you are, maybe not even the guy next to you. While I still don't understand the appeal of watching football (the type Americans call soccer), I felt I understood the singalongs in the crowd better.

I should like to point out my lack of being drunk at any point during this process. I joined in for the fun of it. I also got to observe people being people, which is always handy for my writing.

I also got part of a drink spilled on me by my buddy's ex-girlfriend as we were leaving but that was also amusing. Her forcing me to then drink some of that drink bordered on creepy though.

'Hillbillys in a Haunted House' review

'Hillbillys in a Haunted House' - 1967

Story in Brief: Our friends from 'Las Vegas Hillbillys', Woody, Jeepers, and Boots are on their way to Nashville for a Jamboree they've arranged. On their way there, a storm approaches and they take refuge in a battered old mansion...which is haunted...by spies!

Thoughts:

This sequel to 'Las Vegas Hillbillys' is much more a film than the original. The story, again, is simple but this time it has a slight chance to develop and has an ending. Of course, there's another ten minutes or so of Jamboree after that, but that's okay. The moments of song seem briefer this time around, only a song or two at a time instead of three. This makes the moments of song seem less of an interruption. There is also an attempt to have a reason for the moments of song.
Ferlin Husky is still an amiable lead, pleasant, amusing and grinning. Don Bowman is still grandly cynical as Jeepers. Mamie Van Doran is no longer playing Boots, the role now performed by Joi Lansing. While this may be sacrilegious to some, Joi seems much more comfortable in her role than Mamie. Joi seems to be having fun with it and, well, I find Joi to be much more attractive. Nothing against Mamie you understand but Joi....wow.
While that's all well and good, the icing on this cake is the guest stars: Lon Chaney Jr., Basil Rathbone and John Carradine. They get to be politely creepy and have a bit of fun. I'm sure these were roles they could have played in their sleep (and may have done) but it adds a certain authentic quality to their roles. The familiar faces help. And we've got a man in a gorilla suit, so it's grand.
Music-wise there's nothing mad here. Apart from Ferlin, the big name is Merle Haggard (and his two songs are a bonus in themselves).
Basically, this is the sort of thing I felt they were shooting for with the first film but didn't make it. It's simple, basic, maybe a little stupid at time, but it's fun and doesn't purport to be anything else.

The video is essentially in the same condition as the first, probably a little cropped, damaged, but solid. Considering its age and relatively low budget origins, this is about as good as one could expect. The audio is solid, but nothing special.

The only extra is a sequence of 'Coming Soon' footage. They're not trailers, just footage from movies VCI was preparing to release at the time. It's the same sequence that appeared on the 'Las Vegas Hillbillys' disk.

This is another disk that can probably be found at a discount price, about $9.99.

Recommendation to watch. Again, it's not bad, just simple silly fun. It'll be of particular interest to fans of Lon Chaney Jr, Basil Rathbone, John Carradine and Merle Haggard.

(Standard 'Pricing and availability have likely changed' disclaimer. Add 'thought I'd get the sequel out here since I mentioned it yesterday'. Also add 'like yesterday, this is probably the most anyone has ever written about this movie'. Archive reorganization going well but yesterday left me worn out. Trying to get more done but the energy just isn't there.)

'Las Vegas Hillbillies' Review

'Las Vegas Hillbillys' - 1966

Story in Brief: Woody Weatherby's uncle dies and leaves him a casino in Las Vegas. Woody and his buddy/business manager Jeepers drive from Tennessee to Vegas in their barely running truck to discover that the casino is a simple roadside tavern and the fortune they imagined is nothing but debt. All they have is the space, a bartender and singer Boots Malone's contract for the rest of the year. Are Woody's dreams of being a big country singer destined to remain dreams?

Thoughts:

I apologize for making it sound like this movie has much of a story. It doesn't really and I don't think it was intended to be much more than a framework to hang the performances of a number of country stars upon. In that it succeeds. Unfortunately the simple story that we follow for eighty some minutes just stops and this is what frustrates me most. I mean it wasn't much and I had grown to accept that, I was even enjoying it, but then there's nothing at the end to wrap things up. It feels like the producers realized they had enough footage for a feature and just stopped. Plotlines (simple as they were) are left. There's no real buildup to the last minute or so of the movie, no real link between what we've been watching and the ending. That's what bothers me.

That said, the movie's not bad until the frustrating ending. It's amusing in bits, not too badly made most of the time and it's reasonably well acted for the most part. The bits that are bad are really awkward, but they're relatively infrequent. The breaks for the music are a bit too frequent and run too long. The majority of this movie is music. Since that was the intent, I can't fault them there but it does make it a bit tricky to watch now, especially as many of the performers in the film are relatively obscure now.

Ferlin Husky is a likable lead as Woody. He's friendly and well intentioned. When people start to rally around him, it's not hard to understand why. He's good people. Don Bowman is fun as Jeepers. Jeepers is the relatively quiet cynical guy you know who's always willing to let you know where things will go wrong. He makes for a good counter point to Woody. Mamie Van Doren is Boots and she seems to be having a reasonably good time acting with the country folk (and looking cuddly). The big surprise (in more ways than one) in the cast is an appearance from Richard Kiel as a bodyguard. Dressed with a big cowboy hat, he was the reason behind my only vocal laugh while watching the film. While laughing at one of Jeepers' comments, he smacks Jeepers in the back, knocks him down, and quickly apologizes and helps him up. I'm sure it was intentional, but it was so natural it amused me.

The image is full screen. If the opening credit lettering is anything to go by, it's slightly cropped, but not by much. The picture is flecked and damaged, but not horribly so. The picture is crisp except in moments when the photography appears to get too clever and fails. The audio is solid but unremarkable. In short, it's a reasonably good representation of what was no doubt a low budget sixties film. It's not likely to ever look any better.

The only extras VCI has supplied is a loop of films that were 'coming soon' when this DVD was released. Still, considering it's going for $9.99 now, that's not bad.

Not recommended. The non-ending has left me too bitter towards this film. I just can't recommend it. If you have a sizable interest in sixties country music, then look for it. Otherwise there's not enough here for most people.

(Standard 'pricing may have changed' disclaimer. Add 'I'd be more creative but work in Archive has me tuckered out'. Also add 'This is probably the most anyone has ever written about this film'. And I reviewed the sequel as well so add 'Coming soon...')

Busy at mo

Had a great 'rearrange the Archive' thought this morning. It's working out good so far. Pieces falling into place and everything.

Will talk more later.

Series 4 Reviews - continued

'The Doctor's Daughter'

I'd braced myself going into this story for a couple of reasons: the title, and my friends had reacted rather positively to it. Hype makes me nervous.

I've explained that before, haven't I? How I tend to lower my expectations for things I'm looking forward to in an effort to better enjoy the thing when it arrives? I'll go to the point of bad talking things in public in an effort to keep that expectation low.

It's hard to go into an adaptation of something you enjoy, or an experimental episode of a TV show you like, or an issue of a comic that doesn't seem to do much but is setting something else up. Sometimes you can expect too much or not be in a receptive mood for the variation or whatever. What people often tend to forget is that a review of something, even if it's as part of a casual conversation over lunch, is just an opinion. There are ways to discuss the construction of a work, to determine mathematically that its made well or made poorly, but, really, who reviews things like that? Of what value is it? A poorly constructed film can still be more entertaining than one that is technically well assembled. A review is how one person reacted to a work, generally in that one moment. Music reviews can be done from multiple plays of the songs involved, but often a movie or TV review is done from one viewing of the work in question. What kind of mood did the reviewer have going in? Do they generally like the type of work in question? What distracted him/her while watching the work? In the average review, none of that is discussed, just a 'it was awesome!' or 'it was awful'.

The Internet often does not help as it is considered 'criticism' to hate what is liked and like what is hated. It's 'cool' to be contrary for the sake of it. To be fair, I've lived that life too, but it soon gets very boring.

Now, in all fairness, everyone has their own limits as to what they'll accept. It annoyed a lot of people that Spider-Man had organic web-shooters in the movies instead of the mechanical ones. It's really not much of a plot point but, from a purist point of view, it was wrong and tainted the film for them. Fair enough to them but in the overall scheme of things, I didn't think it was a big deal. I had some issues with the ending to Series 3 of Doctor Who, with the world thinking about the Doctor enough to 'fix' him, but it was a moment and I moved on.

Where was I going with all this? Oh, right, 'The Doctor's Daughter'. Returning to the task at hand.

I enjoyed it. Some of the new 45 minute episodes feel truncated in their stories and this was one of them. While watching it, I enjoyed it, but I could also feel the 'missing' parts if this had been a old-style 4 part story. There were characters and set-up that was bypassed that felt like it was there. It was weird in that regard.

The title had concerned me as I was afraid of some weird set of circumstances that would generate the title character. It actually is dealt with straight away in the story so that we can focus on the consequences.

This is where the episode shined for me. There was a lot of other things to enjoy: the mystery, the fish-like aliens, the gritty look of everything but the Doctor's reactions and reasons for such made this all click. For viewers of the new series, some of what he explains might be news, but for me, this was just going back to the old days. It was almost like a sequel of Troughton's conversation with Victoria in 'Tomb of the Cybermen'.

The fact that the Doctor's Daughter, Jenny (Genny?), was played by the Doctor's Daughter (Peter Davison's daughter) amused me. I will also admit the fact that she's very pretty indeed helped my attention as well. Wow. Such a smile!

'The Unicorn and the Wasp'

Murder mystery with Agatha Christie writted by Gareth Roberts. You had me at hello.

The only rough spot in this story, indeed in the season in general so far, has been some of the CGI effects. Some of them are getting more noticable. I'm not sure if I'm getting more picky about it or if CGI is being used more or what exactly it is. It's not been a big problem so far but it's just something that I've noticed more.

Oh, and yesterday I also watched:

'An Unearthly Child'

Still one of the most exciting half-hours of television, 45 years later, and nothing really happens. When Ian sums up the series to come as 'A Police Box, standing in a junkyard, it can go anywhere in Time and Space', I have to wipe a tear from my eye.

It's just so... right. You can go anywhere from there.

And they did.

76 Totter's Lane

Ian's brain ached with confusion. Things had been so simple a few short minutes ago and now... now it was if he understood nothing. He picked up a word of the old man's reply and echoed it automatically. "Ship?"

This seemed to further irritate the old man. "Yes, yes Ship!" Continuing his condescending tone, he noted "This doesn't roll along on wheels, you know."

Next to Ian, Barbara also struggled to understand. "You mean, it moves?"

Susan shrugged off the question. It made sense to her. Why did it make sense to her and not him? "The TARDIS can go anywhere," she stated matter-of-factly.

"TARDIS?" The unfamiliar word further threw Barbara. "I don't understand you Susan."

She tried to explain. "Well I made up the name TARDIS from the initials: Time And Relative Dimension In Space." The lack of comprehension from us seemed to fluster her. "I thought you'd both understand when you saw the different dimensions inside from those outside."

He struggled to understand. "Now let me get this straight," Ian began. "A thing that looks like a police box, standing in a junkyard, it can move anywhere in Time and Space?"

"Yes," Susan replied.

"Quite so," her Grandfather confirmed.

Ian's brain continued to ache.

(45 Years of Doctor Who today. November 23rd, 1963. Loving it!)

Wrapping up

The reason I hesitated to tell this as a long, detailed story has arrived. At this point, my adventure is over; it's all chit-chatting, being surprised that the prices in the Pro Shop were reasonable, being warm, being tired, and eating from here. Nothing complicated and nothing really exciting.

All the adventure was now Moppy's job.

It seems awkward to tell Moppy's story at this point. I was only there for it and he had to live it. I don't think he'll mind but it's not the same as telling my story. So we'll just briefly cover it. Going into this, please note that we were all very sober, tired maybe, but very sober. All the 'Lucy Ricardo' that Moppy inherited from his late mother kicked in at this point.

The Pro Shop was warm. Moppy had spent the last three hours or so somewhat chilled. He quickly overheated and lost his balance once or twice.

While we jockeyed for position on the still-crowded highways, Moppy managed to lose his phone under the car seat before him. He couldn't find it, even with me calling it.

When we got out of the car to eat, he was able to retrieve his phone, but painfully caught the middle finger of his right hand in the door while closing it.

After eating, we all dozed off in the car to some degree, apart from the driver of course. Moppy woke up to the buffalo chicken wings he'd eaten disagreeing with him. We quickly pulled over so that he could have a 'food escape'.

Poor fella.

After that the drama was over. We all went to our seperate homes expecting to fall asleep immediately but were too wired to do so. Watched Jeff Dunham on Comedy Central instead, much like a good chunk of the populace. Quick review: Thumbs up!

On a totally unrelated note: I think I have part of a movie scene in my head. Must dash.

Game time!

The game started at noon. We arrived around 9. We were early.

The point of this was to get good parking and beat the rush. I'm used to tailgating before Brewer games at Miller Park. There's loads of parking at the stadium, it's not that expensive, and it's relaxing. At Lambeau, there isn't loads of parking at the stadium, you can't park at the stadium without a special pass, and parking near the stadium isn't cheap. We did it anyway. It was worth it to be close and grill in the shadow of the stadium.

It was cold getting out of the car. The wind was whistling through the area that we parked in. We started the grill and huddled around it to warm up. Eventually we did cook something. When Moppy went to toss out the hot coals, some knucklehead had used it as a rubbish bin, tossing a box in it. It burned nice. We used that for warmth as well.

Oddly enough, beer doesn't warm you up much when the chill is that strong. It's the only time I've tailgated when my beer got colder as I drank it.

We wandered off, heading for the stadium, pausing to run for batteries and the bathrooms on the way. Pictures were taken. Statues were gawked at. Finally we entered the stadium itself. The atrium was warm, so very warm.

Once we went into the stadium itself, I was no longer cold, despite the lack of heating. That helped. We wandered around a little, returned to the bathroom again (I wasn't THAT warm), and then it was time to enter the stands.

It's weird. I've seen it on tv so many times, heard about people entering the place and trying to explain the vibe, so I thought I was prepared for it. I don't know how to explain it. It was exciting and fascinating and ... something. There was a hint of the feeling of history that I've had at certain places, the feeling of a very old place that just exudes its age, but this was still so alive. It was unique.

The game itself seemed to race past. I wasn't cold. The people around us were nice. Everyone was behaved. There were kids in front of us, grandparents behind us, and Bears fans next to us. When the Packers scored, which happened a lot, we slapped five with everyone apart from the Bears fans. We were nice enough to not laugh at them. However, when Rex Grossman came in to quarterback for the Bears, we did laugh. I paused, heard that it wasn't just us laughing but the crowd as a whole, and laughed even harder.

The outcome of the game was never in doubt. For whatever reason, the Bears did not show up to play that day. The Packers never lost the lead. They won the game. We celebrated, took more pictures, and headed back into the atrium for warmth and the Pro Shop.

Ugh, it's been awhile

I arrive at the apartment complex at which we were to meet a few minutes early. I'd talked about stopping to get coffee at McD's or something along the way, and had the time to do so, but just wanted to meet up and get going. We could stop as a group. I texted Moppy to let him know I'd arrived before closing my eyes for a cat-nap.

When he called me a few minutes later, I snorted like I was dragged from a deep sleep. Probably needed that. I get up, help him collect stuff, the Harms' arrive so we pack stuff into the car, and off we go. Everything is cheery. We are excited. We chit-chat.

In anticipation of the 30 some degree weather, I have layers of clothing on. I've a t-shirt, thin flannel, thick flannel with a hood, another thick flannel without a hood, and my blue 'Doc' jacket on. I'm wearing two pairs of socks. I'm wearing my flannel pajama pants on underneath my jeans. I'm ready to be in the cold. The car is not cold and I quickly start to overheat and not feel... right.

As a child I was prone to getting motion sickness on long trips. I'd sometimes get bus-sick on the school bus. The fumes can still turn my stomach. It's not something I've experienced in decades.

But lack of sleep + lack of food + beer foam still in stomach + overheated = car sick.

I was miserable but not horrible. I watched my lips grow pale in the rear view mirror. I removed most of my layers. I cracked the window for some fresh air. These helped but not that much. Once we hit Sheboygan (about an hour or so into the drive), I started burping. That helped. I've had occasional issues with gas that doesn't want to go anywhere but just inflates where it is, so I considered this could be part of that, especially when the burps helped a bit. One got a little acidy. Felt weird.

Then, it happened. It would have been a food escape but I had no food in me, so it was more of a foam and acid escape. I'm sure my expression was comical as it felt like my face expanded to its full capacity while containing the overflow. I soon controlled it and swallowed it back down.

Yuk.

A number of very reasonable questions followed. Yes I would be okay, no I haven't been like this in a while, stopping for a minute would probably be a good choice.

At the next exit, we pulled off and into a nearby Hardees. I miss Hardees. There aren't really any nearby me so I get to go to them rarely. This pleased me to begin with. I didn't readd the layers I'd removed and hurried into the restaurant, shivering a bit from the cold. After breathing deeply, warming up, and reassuring everyone I would be okay, I needed something to eat.

Now, it's obvious at this point that my brain and my stomach were not really communicating. My stomach said 'we are shaky and would feel better if we had some food in us' and evidently my brain only heard 'we need food'. It saw biscuits and gravy, which I enjoy, and figured this would make me happy. It's a nice, sturdy meal and would fill me up. As the coffee I sipped in the car had not made me feel better, the brain was smart enough to get orange juice, hoping it wouldn't be too acidic, and more like orange drink. Got a combo with hashbrowns (yay, hashbrowns!) and sat down to the excitement of eating. It smelled so good!

And then I opened the container of biscuits and gravy. I considered it for a moment and then closed it, to the amusement of those with me. When your stomach is jumpy, ordering something that looks like it may already have escaped you is not a good idea. Juice, no problem. Hashbrowns, no problem. Managed to nibble at the biscuits and that was all of that. Felt guilty throwing it out but it was the best choice.

Got back in the car feeling better, but not all better. Was much more relaxed and cat-napped the rest of the way to Green Bay, about another hour, hour and a half. That helped too.

I became alert when we spotted the stadium in the distance. We were here!

Lets start this trip

I had a really good, fun weekend which was capped by going to Lambeau Field for the first time for football. Reflecting on the build-up to the trip does explain a few things.

Friday night I went out with a group of Edge geeks for dinner and to see the new Bond film. (Really short review: more of the same if you enjoyed 'Casino Royale'. If you haven't seen 'Casino Royale' yet, this movie may not make much sense to you.) 'Star Trek' trailer left happy chills. Drank no alcohol but 'misbehaved' in other ways (such as drank soda, which I don't really do anymore). Good time.

Saturday afternoon I went to the Admirals hockey game. Made up for not drinking the night before by drinking now. Had Buffalo Chicken tenders (spicy!) for lunch.

Saturday evening the original plan was to go to the Compound, but Primary Compound Personage Amy sadly twisted her ankle so that didn't happen (they thought it might have been broken at first so it could have been much worse). Went with out with Chad for beers instead. Now, I hadn't had dinner Saturday in expectation of wings at the Compound. The switch to go out for a few drinks was late so I didn't eat at home. I could eat at the Club but, once I got some beer in me, I wasn't hungry any more. Stayed too late considering how early I had to get up the next day, drank more than I should have but was still all sorts of sober (honest!), got home, ate some chips and tried to go to sleep because I had to get up at 5am to start the process of going to Lambeau.

But I'm wired, hungry, and excited. Sleep does not come easy.

I wake up a few minutes in advance of my alarm and just get going. I take a quick shower, eat a couple pieces of bread (no time to toast them!), drink more water than I think is really safe for my overactive filration system, and get going.

I maybe got four hours of sleep. I'm tired. In the past 24 hours I've had more beer than food. I'm nervously excited.

To quote a local radio team: 'Sounds like a recipe for disaster Fireman Jim.'

And they would be right.

Now what?

The problem with having a specific topic like that for a week is that now I'm at a bit of a loose end mentally.

It's not like I talked about everything from those periods of time. Digging through my head like that made me bounce into other stuff I'd not thought of right away, or had simply forgotten about, like the story I wrote for 'Enlightment'. I wrote another story for 'Enlightment', one I like much better, but it was rejected for not having a strong enough role for the Doctor to play. Fair enough and probably quite true. It featured the main character from that still unfinished first novel meeting up with the Troughton Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria, probably near 'The Two Doctors'. The story's got more of my kind of weird in it.

I also didn't talk about my time on the radio, a creative endeavour but not a written one. That's discussed on my website when I was blogging before I was blogging.

There's also the short film we did *snaps fingers* just like that the first time I went to visit the Point crew. The 'Season' Doctor! On video! That should be very important but it has to be 'good for being developed in a half-hour' as opposed to 'good'. Planning can be very helpful.

We haven't had any fiction here in awhile. Maybe I should clean up an old short story. And there's an old review or two left. I think.

I know I'm going to talk about the professional football endeavour I attended this past Sunday, the first such endeavour I've attended. I'm just not sure if I want to mention it or tell it as an adventure.

I'll figure that out for tomorrow.

My Writing 'Career' - Recent fun - 2007 until nowish

Despite the fact that I believe a figurative no one read the wrap-up to the 'Notes' series, it helped move me forward. It was fun to do, it showed me where I'd been and what I'd been up to, and, most importantly, some places where I could go. I'd learned things during the Wilderness period and was showing that I could use it. I also felt that, if I was trying something new, it wasn't a bad thing to 'go back' a bit. For instance, I'd used 'Dr. What', the 'Teen' Doctor, and the 'Season' Doctor in the 'Notes' wrap-up story but, due to the way I handled the characters, it didn't feel like I'd fallen into the trap of 'just' writing fan fiction again.

It did make me want to write more 'Doctor Who', if only because I'd left the 'Season' Doctor in such a weird place emotionally. Again, in order to try something new, I crossed him over with the current tv Doctor, as played by David Tennant. I'd never done that before, not for a full story anyway. 'Time for a Change' was previewed here, in this very blog, as 'Fresh Fiction for Friday' over a year ago and was finally finished and released about a month ago. Once again I had some new people in the audience and early response to it has been positive. I've got some plans for uploading it to a Who fan fiction site but want to polish up the earlier 'Season' stories for that site first.

'Time for a Change' was also heavily edited by me as I wrote, the most I've ever edited anything I've done. If nothing else, it was worth it for helping me upgrade that skill.

There's another story sitting, half done, while I work on other stuff and ponder the level of detail needed for the ending. It's a tale of El Hombre de Silla and a looooonnnnngggg description of a wrestling match could get tedious so I'm not sure how that's going to end up yet.

There's another novel being worked on, a few pages here and a few pages there. It's based on a 'What If?' to a never written story from decades ago and could well be structured right to be publishable. We shall see. I'm feeling good about it at the moment.

Just finished a draft to a movie script, when was that, last week? Week before? It's a comedy meant to star myself and my buddy George. Early days on that project, definitely one of those 'hope we get to do this but wouldn't be surprised if we don't' sort of things. That helped me learn the basic script structures and how quick I might be able to do one of those again. 'Time for a Change' took over a year, with editing. This script has yet to be edited but only took about four months to write. Not bad for a story that took me five minutes to generate. I had another script idea about a year or two ago. I've been pondering that idea again to see if I can crank it out as well.

After the lull of the Wilderness years, I feel that I'm getting to a place where I can generate fiction that I enjoy and might be enjoyable to others. I feel that I might be getting to a place where I don't feel the need to write 'career' with the quotes around it. I still feel the need to generate words on a more consistant basis but a lot of the writing process involves working things out. It can be difficult to see that it's happening when it's happening. Writing here, on this blog, even if it's to a virtual 'no one', does help.

I'm just keen to see what's next.

My Writing 'Career' - Notes - 2003 to 2006

Even during these lean times in my writing 'career', I was known as the writer to my friends. Since high school, I've been that guy. It's not the first thing I mention to people when I met them and sometimes it's something I don't like bringing up because so much of what I've written is fan fiction but it's something that does get mentioned eventually.

As a result, when Katy and Eric were heading to Japan for a year, Eric set up a website with a forum for family and friends to communicate together on. We could pretend we were together having conversations as a group. One of the default sections was 'Steve's Literary Corner'. Given a place to play, I felt I should. Some older stuff was uploaded to it and I started to play in the short story venue for the first time in years, just playing a little, doing some fun stuff.

Before they left, they also said 'You should come visit us while we're there.' I politely hemmed and hawed a little to which they noted 'How often are you going to know people in Japan?' It was a good point. I spent about a week there with them in late April/early May 2004. It was a brilliant time. I'm glad I went and look to return someday.

I wrote a diary of those days as 'Notes from Japan'. While walking around chatting with Eric, I noted that I had a line in head that had been stuck there since I got off the plane, something about checking the Godzilla detection system and seeing it at a low setting for my trip. I felt there was a story brewing. Eric agreed as he's generally filled with the enthusiasm for accomplishing things.

Not unlike high school, I was writing to a specific audience, writing a fictional tale based on the adventures of me and my friends. It was fun. Fun means more writing. I got fired up again.

It didn't take long for the Doctor to poke his head into this series of adventures. Rather than retread old territory, I pushed myself to do something a little different. To make up for the bad Tom Baker fan fiction that had been the 'Dr. What' series, I didn't bring my Doctors into the story, but rather the 4th Doctor, Romana, and K-9. I had to write to those characters, locking myself into a more specific style for them. It was more fun than I expected. I also wrote one part of the story in script form, something I hadn't done much of in the past. That was also fun. I was stretching my skills out and doing different things while doing the same thing. It helped me learn.

Upon their return from Japan, I continued the story in America, introducing a thread that would end up becoming a grand anniversary story, tying together threads from all the things I'd ever written, well, mostly everything. Unfortunately, by then the forum had gotten attacked by spammers and lies rotting in the Internet sun. The last few stories are the best things I've wrote that hardly anyone has read.

The forum and the trip had accomplished their goal. My creative brain was firing on all cylinders again. New story ideas that weren't directly based on something were populating in my head. There were places to go and people to meet.

The novel, the start of the Steveverse, had a draft completed and, as noted previously, needs 'something' in order to work properly. It sits waiting while other parts of the Steveverse get explored. It's primary goal, to start things off, was accomplished. Other things need their own attention now.

My Writing 'Career' - The Wilderness Years - 1997 to 2003

When a cycle ends, such as my 'Teen Doctor' series, it's generally easy to mark that date. The last story is written, you think 'this is the end of this series', and you move on. There wasn't an official end to the 'Season' series so, in theory, I was still working on it while I picked up other projects. I say 'in theory' because I'd look at the notebooks and go 'I need to get back to those stories soon', put them down and not think about them for months. It never occurred to me that I wasn't getting anywhere and the project was done for some years. I had Jack update the website and it became official and a little sad.

As hinted at, I never stopped writing or being creative. The problem was that the writing wasn't getting to completion fast enough and the other creative things didn't take off like I hoped. When you're doing things for fun, the doing needs to be fun, boost you up by doing it. I had some of that, but not enough. At the time there wasn't a lot of payoff, little completion, so it didn't feel like I was getting anywhere. At times I wondered if this hobby of mine that I thought would turn into something was coming to an end.

The novel I'd started with the intent of writing a page a day would sit fallow for weeks at a crack. I was trying to write it linearly and without my hand written first drafts, something new. This hampered my progress and the book took years to write. Eventually I discarded the limitations I'd set on myself and got a draft done, but it needs work and sits waiting for that work to happen on it. It needs ... something and I'm yet to determine what that is.

I became involved with the 'Trenchcoat' series of Doctor Who fan fiction, a group that had influenced my 'Season' series to some degree. I ended up writing two stories for that series and sparked a last burst of energy for the project in general, a fact in which I do take some pride. Some good things came of this. I learned how to not write linearly (starting at the beginning of the story and writing it to the end), but write the scenes I had already in my head and work out the rest later, rather than getting stuck because I didn't know what should be next. I had gotten used to writing complete stories out of order during the 'Teen Doctor' series so this was just a new application of that concept. I also got to be edited for the first time in years and the give and take of the process was more enjoyable than I expected. The downside to this was that the stories weren't released until 2004 so there wasn't that immediate feeling of completion. On the plus side, when they were released it was in a large hardcover book and that felt really nice.

My involvement with that group also led to me writing a 'Season Doctor' story for the 'Enlightment' fan fiction magazine (something I'd forgotten about yesterday). This was the first time I was published in any way (outside of the high school newspaper which didn't really feel like being published) outside my own doing. I think I tend to forget about the story because I pushed an idea through my head and I don't think it turned out very well.

This is also the period where I got to be a wrestling 'booker'. In some ways, this was the height of the time period because I got to develop plans, tell people what to do, and they'd do it. That was different. On the other hand, we didn't perform as often as I'd like and our grand dreams of actually running a real show never materialized. Still, I have video of myself acting like a fool while wearing a wrestling mask and that is always fun.

Lots of stopping and starting. Projects that didn't see the light of day right away. Messing around in George's garage. It was a step back from releasing an episode of 'Doctor Who' fan fiction to the Internet every week and having the chance that a 'bunch' of people would see it.

I needed a spark to get things moving again. The spark turned out to be a big one, an overseas sort of thing.

My Writing 'Career' - Restart - 1994 to 1997

This is when picking dates for these things gets extra tricky. I'm trying to remember stuff and not go back and check dates. There's a really good chance I'm going to mess this up bad. Oh well, that should keep things interesting at least!

Moving on, apologies aside: The Internet.

The World Wide Web and all its visual glory was yet ahead of most of us. There was just the Internet, text on a screen. I had gotten used to text on a screen from people I saw in class all the time. We had email in school. I still had access to an alumni account and we'd used it for a round robin story that my enthusiasm messed up. I'd been working for a major manufacturing concern for a couple years by this point and I barely had email at work. My desk had a terminal on it to connect up to a mainframe. I think our work room had just gotten a PC in it, just one, around this time.

I had saved up my money and bought a computer of my own, a Macintosh like I'd gotten used to using at school. With it, and the pre-installed AOL software on it, I was on the Internet at home. At the time, I was really the only Doctor Who fan I knew. Sure I knew people that were familiar with the show, most of whom would rather read my stories than actually watch the programme, but there was no one else around that knew the show, read about the show, thought about the show, to the degree that I did. I knew there were other people in the area that did, I knew fan clubs existed in the area, but they had membership fees and such and I couldn't justify it to myself. (I was soon to find some non-fan club fans in Milwaukee but that's another story entirely.) With the Internet, there were newsgroups where people would go to discuss Doctor Who or post their Doctor Who fiction. For that matter, there was a group on AOL itself that did the same thing. If I really wanted to rewrite 'Alien Invasion: 1991' to show myself how my skills had advanced since then, I could post it here. I wouldn't need to print it out, make photocopies at Kinkos, and find people to want to read it; they could just download it and read it if they wanted. It would be fun.

It was fun. I know, you were probably expecting a twist at this point, the collapse of the project, the crushing of my ego, but that's not what happened. I set some standards for myself, kept the basic concepts of the original (set in Milwaukee, the alien name and design), wrote it and posted it up. Most people that bothered to react to it liked it. I remember getting some criticism on it from one individual, nothing too bad, and was delighted when other people, people I didn't know, largely agreed with me when I politely rebutted. There was even some constructive criticism. I enjoyed it, perhaps too much. Before I'd even finished the story, I'd mapped out a season. I was back in.

Now, to a degree, this was a problem. My original plan was to move on, do some stuff that I'd made up completely so that I could benefit financially from my work. On the other hand, I hadn't thought up anything of my own yet and writing more fan fiction was better than writing nothing, so I continued.

I decided that this new series would be different but similiar to the one I'd already written (some slightly edited versions of my original series would also be posted for download on AOL with pages of explanation for characters I didn't need to discribe in the story because, well, originally they were people everyone reading the stories already knew). Taking some cues from the structure of other available fan fiction, this new series was meant to be novelizations of the show, stories that didn't appear on television in our universe, but did elsewhere. The stories I were telling were from Season 31 of Doctor Who (the last aired series of the real run was 27). The production of the show had moved to America (as rumours were saying was going to happen in real life) and was being made by me and my friends (essentially) as Python Lord Productions.

Of course, I was the Doctor. The important difference being that this time I was an actor playing the Doctor, not some strange set of circumstances that meant I was actually the Doctor.

The goal was to tell stories that could be part of the actual series, as if I was charting the future of the programme. I still wanted to have fun and that's how I ended up blowing it. Here's the twist where it goes bad.

The fifth story in the series was a crossover with a popular (at the time at least) manga/anime series called 'Ranma 1/2'. This would never have happened in real life. The story was a good one but it didn't fit in Season 31. It should have been separate. While I was able to post it to a anime fan fiction newsgroup and get more readers, it just wasn't right in that context. Worse yet I'd once again had too much fun and envisioned a 13 part side story continuing the crossover of which I completed 5 parts and partly wrote another 5 parts. Again, these were not bad stories, they do a lot of good for the characters actually, but Doctor Who fan fiction had distracted me from my goal of original fiction and now Doctor Who/Ranma 1/2 fan fiction was distracting me from writing Doctor Who fan fiction.

At one point, I envisioned the 'Season' series to run for five or six years. I wrote all of 'Season 31', finished one story from 'Season 32' and half finished another. That's it. The 'Teen Doctor' series I wrote in high school has 20+ completed stories in its canon; the 'Season' Doctor has 9.

I had messed up my own project. There were other things yet ahead.

My Writing 'Career' - An Audience Arrives - 1990 to 1994

Right away in my British Authors class, we discussed what makes a hero. Mrs. Branson wrote the characteristics on the chalkboard as we high school Juniors could think of them and call them out. This led to an assignment to write a short story, 1 or 2 pages, about a hero using the characteristics we'd decided on. Instinctively I knew the majority of the class, if not all of them, would hear 'hero' and put 'super' in front of it. I felt the need to be different. I went to study hall and eagerly started writing my first draft, telling the story of a young man and his girlfriend who try to do the right thing and end up in trouble.

It was also eleven pages long.

When you go to review something like that, it can get a little attention. We broke up into little groups to read each others works and mine obviously took a little longer. Mrs. Branson stated that she'd only asked for a page or two and therefore that's all of it that she'd read, which was fair enough. Hearing about what I'd done, other students asked to read it after it was complete. I saw no harm in that. The second draft was a little longer storywise but was shorter in page length, I think nine pages, due to better penmenship. I got an A as well as a note saying that she'd read the whole thing, despite her good-natured statement that she wouldn't in class. I typed the story up on the school's mainframe, printed a few out, and passed them out to whoever was curious.

People liked it. Could I do any more? As it turned out, yes I could.

I wrote a number of short stories. I returned to a Bill Gaines influence but, instead of MAD magazine, was referencing his EC (Entertaining Comics) led stuff, as I had just started getting reprints of that. As a result, there were a number of twist endings, people dying, or turning out to have never existed, things like that. They were all generally short and had no titles. Other assignments for British Authors would get released to the group as well. Things were going well, and I was learning to use the Macintosh computers in the lab for a better looking output.

It erked me a bit that everything was so short. Ten typed pages was a lengthy tale at that point. Something longer, more grand in its storytelling would feel more... skillful I guess, show that I had something to tell. A longer story had started at one point, but it wasn't working out and I'd stopped work on it. I rewrote what I had and started over. This time it seemed to work. It just needed a clever title...

'Alien Invasion: 1991'

Set about three months into the future when it was released, the story was set at our school, in our classes, with myself and my friends in it. When the aliens attack, the gray blobby Klack'tu, I come across as heroic, helping lead the charge against them, although everyone in the team gets to do something.

Near the end of what would probably have been the third act, I am seperated from my friends. The auditorium I love so much as part of Stage Crew has been used as a feeding and breeding ground for the aliens (they eat humans in order to asexually reproduce and have started feasting on the staff and students). At the moment, it is empty. The battle is far off, near the lunch room, but I am drawn here, to one of the pillars that holds up the balcony in the auditorium. Now that I'm looking for it, the keyhole set into it is obvious and I know the key that I've had all my life fits into it. I am right. A door opens and I walk inside, into an area that is bigger on the inside than the outside.

I am the Doctor.

It's all very complicated and somewhat stupid but I am the Eighth Doctor, taking over from McCoy. While I don't believe I knew it at the time, the original run of the show was already over and here I was seeking to continue it. The Doctor had been exiled to Earth again, caught in a Time Storm on the way, and regenerated as an infant which would grow up to be me. After learning all this, the Doctor saves the day. As if there was any doubt.

In part because my friends were in it, part because it was a long story, and part because I'd hand out stories before a history class that most students slept through, this was well received. I continued. (I also found that I could write during that history class while still paying enough attention to the teacher to interact with him, multitasking!) Slowly but surely the random short stories faded away and there was only Doctor Who for me to write.

My audience grew even further with the first story released in my senior year of high school: 'Psychotic Reaction'. A night setting up for a stage production goes horribly wrong as my buddy gets bonked on the head, goes crazy and starts killing the rest of us off. In the end, the Doctor shows up in this alternate universe to save the day. This got handed out to everyone in it, including the teacher that gets messily dismissed within the first few pages (Kids: Don't do this now. I was blowing off steam towards a teacher I didn't often get along with. If you do this today, you will go to counciling, maybe worse). The audience grew ever larger. It got reprinted a couple times and I was introduced to people, at least a couple times, as 'the guy who wrote THAT story'.

I considered ending the series with my graduation from high school but didn't as I had enough friends still there, my brother was attending the same school so he could pass stuff out, and I would stop in on my way home from work to use the computer lab because (1) they'd let me and (2) I didn't have a computer at home yet. I'm glad I didn't as the best stories in the run (my opinion) came after I'd graduated.

But in 1994, realizing this audience was going away, I regenerated the Doctor and returned his companion back to school in a rather abrupt fashion so that everything was 'back to normal'. Another reason to quit the series was that by this point I hated the first season of Doctor Who I'd written as a junior. The stories were clumsy and poorly told. I also didn't like the idea of me actually being the Doctor anymore as the mix between me and Doctor didn't always seem very ... Doctory.

I still wanted to write but wasn't quite sure what I would do next or for whom. I was really trying to find something fun to write that wouldn't be fan fiction that I could try to market, you know, for money. What and how and everything else eluded me.

Maybe to get the ball rolling I could rewrite 'Alien Invasion: 1991', you know, just for fun. And there's this whole Internet thing, there seem to be people on it that like Doctor Who.

Hmmm.....

My Writing 'Career' - The First Big wave - 1986 to 1989 (or so)

Midway through sixth grade, my class was assigned to write some 'themes'. These turned out to be short stories so I'm not sure why we weren't just assigned to write some short stories. It may be that we had to write to different themes in each one or it could just have been the style at the time.

I still have all four of these works so the genesis of this period can be reviewed and investigated. A major influence, yet not at the same time, is clearly Mad Magazine, as from the titles these are all meant to be parodies of existing works. Since only one of them tries to be funny, it was as if I was also introducing myself to the concept of fan fiction, writing ones own version of an existing work for your own amusement.

'Sherluck Phones' was a two parter, an attempt at a Sherlock Holmes type story. It's even written by his 'Watson' character. The first part is mostly dialogue. I believe my teacher either directed me to get to the point or one of our 'themes' was dialogue as none of the other stories feature much, if any, dialogue, especially the second part of the story. It is not good but I was twelve.

The moderately amusing story is 'Superflab', the tale of a grossly overweight super-hero in the 'Superman' style. I was working from the 50's 'Adventures of Superman' tv show model as I was just starting to read comic books about this time and I bought mostly Marvel Comics, not DC. Superflab repels an alien invasion with his stomach. I think it shows the Mad Magazine vibe I was reaching for with these stories.

And then there was 'Dr. What'.

Immediately explained as one of five Time Lord brothers (Drs Who, What, Where, Why, and How), Dr. What and his Time Lady companion Romana face the Dalkens on a spacecraft disguised as a field and create green slime as a toy for earth children to scare off the Daleks, er, Dalkens as that is what they look like inside their casings. It's pretty dumb. And shows I'd seen 'Destiny of the Daleks' recently or I just remembered it very clearly.

Dumb maybe, inspiring, yes. The interest in doing my own comics and prose magazines for my 'audience' (aka my brothers) came from this assignment. More 'Dr. What' stories followed and in the very next story we met adult versions of my friends from middle school, including myself. By the end of the story, Romana stays behind to be with my friend Richard and I sneak onto the ship to be the new companion. Both of these concepts would return in later works.

I wrote other things as well: the Pac-Man/Lego related comics I mentioned recently, an adaptation of the original Godzilla movie written before I'd seen the movie, and some other stuff I apparently no longer have access to and don't really remember. There was a 'newspaper' with a buddy of mine that had access to a computer but that ran to one whole issue. That we actually tried to distribute to our friends (I think it was a brief fad during 7th grade, still the early days of home computing, desktop publishing, and printers) but beyond that, I don't think I pushed my work on anyone apart from my family and the teachers that had to read my assignments.

The momentum faded out during my freshman year of high school. My brothers and I weren't really playing 'store' any more, which is where I'd 'sell' my comics to them. I also had an epiphany while writing 'Dr. What'. Apparently I managed to delude myself into thinking I was writing parodies this whole time. Once I realized I was just trying to write 'Dr. Who' and doing a very poor job of it at that, I stopped, right in the middle of a Dalkens sequel which also saw the return of old companion Jamie.

The first wave was over because, let's face it, I was no good. Suddenly that was as important as the fun I had doing it.

Apart from being as creative as possible in my school assignments, that was about it for a couple years. Then school kicked up the ashes of the fire again.

My Writing 'Career' - The Early Years

When you are a child, no creative outlet is foreign to you. Art, music, performance, writing, whatever; you can do it all because you're just having fun. At this point, there's no pressure to be 'good'. Adults will look at, perhaps even praise, an odd scribble of yours.

I was really no different.

I drew acceptably but not well. Replicating cartoon art was within my skillset, but nothing very realistic. I never really played a musical instrument but I can whistle after a fashion and sorta of keep a beat so I'd tap out rhythms. I and my friends would lip sync to my Muppet records, each of us having assigned characters to 'perform' for the entertainment of the adults in the room. For that matter, I even did some acting in public, for a grade school talent show. I don't remember if I was good or not. Probably not.

It only made sense that I'd try to write as well. I did on occasion. In fact our little group of friends tried writing a collective story, each chapter written by another person, featuring us friends as the 'stars' of the story. I seem to remember finding my page and a half of uncompleted chapter at one point. Not sure if I still have it. What's important now is that I remember that it didn't seem weird that we would TRY to write something. It was natural. I didn't do that much with the feeling at the time but it was normal for me to want to write.

Then I went to middle school. Then it didn't just seem normal. It would actually happen.

Cleaning up some earlier posts

The Paul Newman movie in my collection is 'Slap Shot', the hockey movie from the 70's with comedic elements. I even have the novelization!

The 'handfull of pills' line was not meant to refer to anyone in particular. Or was it? :) I just saw what seemed to be a ... trend and felt the need to comment on it.

As much as I liked the Sontaran story from this year's Doctor Who, Martha has a really stupid sounding line to say at the beginning of the story regarding her bringing the Doctor back to Earth. There was probably no good way to deliver the line and Freema doesn't deliver it in a way that makes it sound less silly. Unfortunately, they play the line in the preview for the first Sontaran episode, during the Sontaran episode, and during the reprise of the episode. Seeing it three times makes it that much more awkward sounding.

Before I Forget

My super power is hindsight. It's also my super weakness.

Tell no one.

Distracted

I had something else I meant to say yesterday and I've forgotten what it was now. Yesterday I got distracted by working on my script and watching hockey so it's not like I got completely lazy or anything.

I have been feeling lazy of late, even eliminating my time of being sick from the process. The piles aren't moving, up until this past week or so my writing was in a 'recharge' state, and there's part of me that feels I should be employed in some way.

I think that's it more than anything else; I'm not doing anything at the moment that directly will earn me money. The writing might earn me money but it might not. It's a gamble and that's not reassuring as the economy burns around us.

Should win some money on a game show. These are the plans I get when I turn on the Game Show Network. It's easy to win from the couch, isn't it?

Anyway.

For those now interested

Yes I am feeling better. Thank you for asking.

Exit interview

Was interrupted while writing that last post in order to give an exit interview regarding the job I no longer have. That felt weird. I've thought about the situation with a logical detachment as much as I could. Some of the emotion came back while talking about it. I miss it and don't at the same time.

There was one question I knew would be in the interview and it was right near the end as I expected it would. 'Would you work for them again?' Short answer - right now, with the economy as it is, no. I wouldn't feel stable or safe. Economy straightens out, sure why not.

Phew. Felt as weird typing it as it was saying it.

More Series 4 Reviews

'The Sontaran Stratagem' and 'The Poison Sky'

Robert Holmes loved the double-act so I can't speak of these episodes separately.

Grand sci/fi action-adventure! HAVOC would have been proud of the action.

Scope showing the danger at small and grand levels! Wooo!

And U.N.I.T.s name is different! 'Greyhound Leader to Trap One'! Did she just call Yates? And the Brigader is in Peru! And Knighted!

*does little happy dance*

Everything here fits together. It takes small little continuity points from the Sontaran stories of the past and builds them into a new story. It worked so well. It was what it was supposed to be.

-Compare/Contrast-

I couldn't have the Rutans show up without mentioning the Sontarans. They couldn't have the Sontarans show up without mentioning the Rutans. Still a Holmesian double-act! Wonderful!

Talking about that which I don't talk about

It feels weird that I discuss my health here as I have been. I don't generally discuss it with those around me unless I have to do so. I mean, I've honestly answered 'You've been quiet today' with 'Got a headache' or whatever aliment is affecting me, but it's not like me to walk into a room and go 'Be warned; I had a bad lunch.' Or whatever.

Every situation is different and I have volunteered information as necessary but I tend to keep it to myself.

One main reason for this is that when I'm sick, I generally just curl up and try to be left alone. I'm not like some sitcom male that locates a female in his life and seeks to be babied while ill. Blankets, medicine, juice, tv, soup; I'll sweat through the rest. I rarely called into work sick (for many years I was in a room mostly by myself so I had no fear of infecting others) and would try to work through illnesses. In 17 years I think I called in sick 9 times. Something like that anyway. Stupidly low levels of calling in sick in retrospect. The only major benefit to being sick at the moment is that I don't feel as compelled to push myself as hard when I don't feel well. Once I feel a little better, I return to my less intensive projects and try to get something done. Like scanning CD covers in order to make my iTunes collection look brighter. What kind of dumb project is this? Anyway.

The other main reason is that I know other people, younger and older than myself, that have worse things they deal with on a daily basis than I do. A tummyache pales in comparison to lingering illnesses or aches and pains from injuries that never really heal. Serious stuff. Most of them don't complain about their issues. They might explain them but they don't really complain and they have things to complain about. It doesn't seem right for me to kvetch.

It's said that Midwesterners are a tough breed. Maybe that's part of it as well.

Anyway, I'm feeling a bit better today. We'll see how this goes.

Just a note about my Dad

Was talking to my dad the other day about the election. He noted that the last time he voted for President was in 1968 during the Nixon/Humphrey battle. He stated it didn't even feel like he had a choice between the lesser of two evils. It did feel like he'd wasted his time so he never went back.

Now, my dad has never been a radical as far as I can tell. He had no hippie period or anything like that. He was in high school in the late 50s/early 60s, spent some time in the military, and has been a blue collar worker for the bulk of his life. He apparently took some computer programming classes at some point (I remember getting to play with his flowchart template as a kid) but didn't care for it. A very normal, salt of the earth type guy from that description I think. Of course, I've known him for a long time so my normal is largely based on his normal and if I'm not normal I'd have to think that he can't be completely normal either. 1968 would have been about the time he started hanging out with my Mom and, while they don't exactly agree on everything, she's not politically minded so it would have been easier for him to not be at that point either.

Still, I think it's funnier to believe that Nixon destroyed by Dad's desire to vote.

Progress I think

Had a big lunch, took a handful of pills, had a nice nap and feel a bit better.

Okay, that was a joke. I didn't take a handful of pills. That would be reckless. I took something to settle my stomach and it helped.

Take a handful of pills... Silly. That would be like mixing pain medication and alcohol. No one I know would do that...

The fun of my last couple days

1) Stomach knots up.

2) Body tenses up in response to 1). Muscles in back that like to tighten up anyway take this opportunity to do so. Discomfort is high.

3) Everything relaxes. Am at peace.

4) Repeat step one.

Occasionally I've been skipping step 3.

Unpleasant, distracting, pretty sure I'll live through it though.

Brief Reviews of Series Four as I Finally Catch Up

'Voyage of the Damned' special

I don't expect too much from the Christmas specials as it's been noted by the staff that they try not to demand too much from the audience during them, expecting them to be distracted by the eating and merrymaking and what have you. I found it an interesting adaptation of the disaster movie style to Doctor Who, with all sorts of science-fiction added to it so that we wouldn't get too distracted by real life. I found it enjoyable as it went through the paces. Enjoyed the cameos of old men. Was amused by the fact that London was deserted because of the events of the past two Christmas specials. It also made for a weird moment about a week later as I walked through the Titanic exhibit at the museum. Staring at the deck layout of the actual ship, I realized it was familiar because I'd been staring at it in the computer screens in the special. A little creeped out I muttered "Yes, that looks about right" and moved on.

-Compare/Contrast to 'Time for a Change'-

The Doctor uses 'Take me to your Leader', noting he's always wanted to say that. I have him using that line in 'TfaC'. Since he doesn't get to use it 'successfully', I suppose it counts that he didn't use it. Both lines are meant as jokes anyway. Forgive me if I find my own joke funnier (for a change).

'Partners in Crime'

A hint of an idea wrapped in character development to launch the season. More lightweight than the Christmas special (pun intended). Not unenjoyable but felt too mired in Russell's need to be sentimental on a regular basis.

-Compare/Contrast-

The Doctor notes that Martha 'fancied him', which is how I wrote her character in the story. Julie tries to explain how the Doctor is different, but it's early in their time together and she just doesn't get it. Julie would understand as it was her reaction to the Doctor and primary reason to travel with him as well.

'Fires of Pompeii'

Wow! Now we're in the good stuff. Mystery, historical event, a dash of sci-fi weirdness, all wrapped in an explanation of how the series views time and how the Doctor is different from you and I. And it was entertaining throughout. Quite, quite excellent. A nice throwaway line that's a continuity reference back to Hartnell early on when they still think they're in Rome. Excellent!

-Compare/Contrast-

The Doctor explaining how he views events and sees the options available is somewhat similar to the Doctors attempts to explain Nexus Points, only here done much more seriously, and rightfully so too!

'Planet of the Ood'

A bit simpler compared to the episode that preceeds it (which I just really enjoyed) but very nice as well. Has a cliffhanger moment halfway in, as if it were two episodes from the original run cut together! More old sitcom fellas show up here. As if going 'oh yeah?' to the Hartnell reference in the previous story, this story manages to reference a story from the first ever season, tying the Ood and the Sensorites a bit closer together! Nice!

By this point, all of three episodes in, I love Donna's character. As much as I liked Martha, she often felt like Rose 2, the 'rebound girl' if you like. Donna feels like a different character, a companion from the original series 'done right' by today's story telling styles. Her moment of emotional crisis in this episode is key to that. She already realized it would be all fun and games traveling with the Doctor but her moment of being overwhelmed felt very 'right', very normal. She's adjusting, finding out if her 'skin' is tough enough to do these sorts of things with the Doctor. I liked that.

-Compare/Contrast-

Didn't see anything specific in this episode. After three in a row, I found that odd almost, but is neither good nor bad.

More to watch.

Zombies, man...

Just finished reading 'The Zombie Survival Guide'. No clue why it's listed as a 'humor' book according to the back cover. It treats zombie outbreaks as matter of fact, truth. It's very creepy and tries to prepare you for what will likely happen. Soon. It's not funny at all.

Unless...

They want us to believe it's 'funny' so we won't put any faith in it. It's part of the cover up man! Believe nothing! Think for yourself! Pay atten


*communication ends*