French
Au clair de la lune, mon ami Pierrot
Prête-moi ta lume,* pour écrire un mot.
Ma chandelle est morte, je n'ai plus de feu.
Ouvre-moi ta porte, pour l'amour de Dieu.

Au clair de la lune, Pierrot répondit
Je n'ai pas de lume, je suis dans mon lit.
Va chez la voisine, je crois qu'elle y est
Car dans sa cuisine, on bat le briquet.

Au clair de la lune, l'aimable Lubin
Frappe chez la brune, elle répond soudain
"Qui frappe de la sorte ? ", il dit à son tour
"Ouvrez votre porte pour le Dieu d'Amour"

Au clair de la lune, on n'y voit qu'un peu
On chercha la lume, on chercha du feu
En cherchant d'la sorte je n'sais c'qu'on trouva
Mais je sais qu'la porte sur eux se ferma.

English
Under the moonlight, my friend Pierrot,
Lend me your light, so I could write a word.
My candle is out, I've no more light.
Open your door for me, for the love of God.

Under the moonlight, Pierrot replied,
I've no light; I'm in my bed.
Go next door, I believe that she is in,
For in the kitchen, someone lit a match.

Under the moonlight, friendly Lubin
Knocks at the brunette's door, she suddenly replies
"Who's knocking this way", he says in his turn
"Open your door, for the god of love."

Under the moonlight, little can be seen
The light was looked for, fire was looked for
Searching this way, I don't know what was found
But I do know that the door, on them was shut.

*In modern versions, this word is "plume", meaning pen. "Lume" is derived from "lumière", meaning "light".
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Au_clair_de_la_lune

Hamlet closed with its last performance last night. I thought I'd try to see whether I could get a return ticket because...why not? However, I later heard that people had lined up for return tickets beginning the night before, so it's not surprising that I didn't get one when I went to the theatre only 45 minutes before the show was due to start.

When I met Peter De Jersey from Hamlet the other night, I asked whether he'd miss it when it was done. He said that he wouldn't because he was bound to work with everyone from the production again at some point or another and he was excited to be moving on. Not being very gifted at small talk, at the time it didn't occur to me to ask what he would be doing next. Instead, I asked whether that indicated that the community of actors here was small. He responded that he didn't think so, but that there were a lot of projects over the course of time. Now, I'm wondering how true that is...

As I mentioned previously, after meeting Julian Bleach and having him tell me that he was playing Mr. Sowerberry, the undertaker, in Oliver!, I had the tune for "That's Your Funeral" running through my head all day Friday, though I couldn't remember most of the words. So, I figured I'd try to go see it. Why not, eh? I was able to get a ticket to the matinee performance yesterday. It turns out that it was starring Rowan Atkinson, whom some may know as Blackadder or Mr. Bean, as Fagin. It also starred Burn Gorman, whom I know as Owen Harper from Torchwood and jaderabbit knows as Mr. Guppy from Bleak House, as Bill Sikes. (I have yet to see that version of Bleak House, but intend to watch it sometime.) Although neither Blackadder nor Mr. Bean fit my sense of humor exactly, Atkinson was quite funny as Fagin. I really enjoyed his rendition of "Reviewing the Situation" and there was a new twist to Fagin being concerned about Oliver seeing his stash of jewels. He seemed to be enjoying wearing the jewels, including a tiara, quite a lot, so when he discovered Oliver awake, it seemed as if he was as concerned about Oliver having seen him try on the jewels as he was over whether Oliver had seen where he kept them. *lol* Bill Sikes as a character is harder to judge because there's nothing humorous or subtle about him. I will say, though, that I thought Gorman had the presence to pull it off, which surprised me. The woman playing Nancy, Jodie Prenger, had been chosen for the part in a competition similar to "American Idol." She had a good voice and wasn't inappropriately bright or cheerful as Nancy, unlike what cynodd and I noted in our old high school's production of Oliver! this past spring. (To be fair, I'm not certain that any average high school aged girl would really understand Nancy's situation. I certainly didn't when I participated in Oliver! many years ago.) At the production I saw, Oliver was played by Harry Stott and the Artful Dodger was played by Ross McCormack (based on their photos in the program). I thought that the boy playing the Artful Dodger was particularly talented and fun to watch.

But, back to Julian Bleach...it turns out that he played both Mr. Sowerberry, the undertaker, and Dr. Grimwig, the doctor (obviously). I was sitting as far back as row S in the stalls, but I'd never have known him to be the same person I met the other night, if he hadn't told me. Knowing it was him, as I did, I could say that his nose was the same. Otherwise, he looked very cadaveric (which fits an undertaker, I suppose) and moved as a nimble charicature of an illustration in a version of Dickens's book. He was very funny, too, as Mr. Sowerberry. When I got back to the hotel, I decided to look him up on the internet to remind myself what he really looked like. Here is a photo of him from the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of The Tempest a few years ago. As I was looking for a photo, though, I came across his "filmography" and discovered that I'd seen him before on television: he portrayed Davros in the finale of Doctor Who, series 4, and the "ghostmaker" in a series 2 episode of Torchwood, "From Out of the Rain" (the evil circus episode). It's a shame I didn't know that at the time I met him or I'd have told him how creepy I found him in Torchwood. Hopefully, he'd have taken that as a compliment. ;-)

So, given the number of overlapping actors in just these few shows, it's hard for me to believe that the theatre community is really that large...

ETA: I said there was nothing humorous about Bill Sikes, but that's not entirely true. The way he pulled his loot out of various hiding places on his person to give it to Fagin was done in a very amusing way... Also, Gorman received quite a few boos from the audience during the closing bows. However, he smiled at it, so hopefully that was a good thing...traditional or something.

As I was driving home today, I heard a story on NPR about how Coldplay is being sued by guitarist Joe Satriani for copying their Viva La Vida from his If I Could Fly. They said there was a YouTube video demonstrating the similarities between Coldplay's Viva La Vida and Satriani's If I Could Fly, which is purely instrumental. Actually, I found 2 videos, the second of which seems to be Satriani's music with someone singing the Coldplay lyrics along with it?

( Cut for videos )

According to NPR and all the news stories I saw on this, Coldplay is being sued for plagiarism...but, I thought that plagiarism was purely an academic term and one could only be sued for copyright infringement? Is it different with music than it is with the written word?

Also, here is a new trailer for the Doctor Who Christmas special:



It seems not particularly informative or exciting, though the sound quality is better than the previous trailer that I'd seen. (ETA: I still can't quite understand what the older man is saying at the end, though. Monstrous...something? The woman responds, "Merry Christmas to you, too.") I remain most intrigued by the opening 2 minutes of the show (broadcast to raise money for the BBC's Children In Need), which makes it look very interesting, amusing, and fun. :)

( Behind the cut for anyone who missed it before...*cough*cynodd*cough* )

Unfortunately, I've been out of touch with my LJ recently. (I was sick at a time when work was extremely busy, but am better now.) So, I missed last week's excellent news that The Lexicon: An Unauthorized Guide to Harry Potter Fiction will be published next month. It seems that with a lot of hard work and determination, Steve Vander Ark has revised his manuscript to make it compliant with the September 2008 court decision, which confirmed that unofficial guides to literary works should not be prohibited as long as they don't use too much text from the original work.

Congratulations, Steve!

It'll be exciting to see it in bookstores finally! :)

Also, I updated my "home theater" with a new plasma HDTV - it's a thing of beauty, all sleek and black and the perfect size for my room. The picture on the TV is great, too! *lol* I also got the Blu-Ray DVD player to go along with it. I don't have any Blu-Ray DVDs, yet, but it plays regular DVDs, too, which is convenient. I'd previously been under the impression that Blu-Ray players wouldn't play regular DVDs and that everything I own would need to be replaced, if I ever got one.

The Blu-Ray player "up-converts" the old DVDs quite well, so they're very clear - I can now see all the appalling skin flaws of my favorite actors and actresses! :-D (No one should be worried about that, since it just makes them seem more like real people, rather than divine beings to be placed upon pedestals.) Actually, the thing I notice the most, strangely enough, is the fabrics used for costumes. For example, it was only after watching the Doctor Who series 4 DVD set that my parents got me for my birthday on this new set-up that I realized the Doctor's blue suit isn't solid blue - it has reddish-orange pinstripes in it! *geekily excited by being able to see this*

Last night, I was over at my parents' house to watch Doctor Who with my Dad, since they were showing last year's Christmas special, "Voyage of the Damned", on BBC America. He'd missed that episode on the Sci Fi Channel. Unfortunately, BBC America cut it down to 1 hour with commercials, so it wasn't very good. It seemed very disjointed and half the characters didn't have any introduction - they were just suddenly there in the thick of the action. Since BBC America shows the same programming over and over, I don't see why they can't cut out some of the repeats to show the episode properly. :-/

We didn't watch the following episode, "Partners in Crime", which was shown immediately after because my Mom always watches Suze Orman at the time it was on. My Dad, who had the remote control, actually left it on Doctor Who for the first 10-minutes of "Partners in Crime" until, after a couple of comments like, "God, this is so stupid," my Mom reminded him that Suze Orman was on. I liked "Partners in Crime", though. I thought it was cute and funny! :)

After getting home, I was able to track down the video for the first 2-minutes of the 2008 Doctor Who Christmas Special that was recently broadcast to raise money for Children in Need. ( It looks like it will be fun! )

After the book, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, was mentioned here in relation to the Doctor Who episodes, "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead", I knew I had to read it. So, now I have. :)

I was surprised to find this book in the literature section of Borders instead of the sci-fi section, but on reading it, that really makes sense. It's about time travel, but not about the mechanics of time travel. It's about the effect on a man, Henry, who spontaneously time travels, controlling neither when it happens nor when/where he ends up, and on his relationship with his wife, Clare. It's a fantastic love story.

(Not that there isn't any science in it - there's a very small amount. I was skeptical about the idea of time travel being controlled by a person's genes, but this was more than compensated by my amusement at the idea of making transgenic time traveling mice to study the time travel genes. *lol*)

When Clare first meets Henry, she's 6 and he's 36. By that time, Henry has known Clare for 8 years and been married to her for 6 years. When Henry first meets Clare, he's 28 and she's 20. By that time, Clare has known Henry for 14 years, but they won't marry for another 2 years. (Older!Henry has been very careful to tell young!Clare nothing of his everyday life, so it may be complete coincidence when he meets her; though, in general, the story seems strongly to support predestination.) I really liked Henry's response to his first meeting with her at the beginning of the book:

( Read more... )

So, overall, I really loved this book. It often read like a bunch of short stories, but isn't that what our lives are made of? A series of events, like short stories? And, the individual events all fit together perfectly to make the lives of Henry and Clare complete.

Oh, and a bonus for me is that Clare is from Michigan with much of the story taking place there. :)

Has anyone else read it? I would very much like to discuss it.

On a related topic, I saw this news story tonight about David Tennant having announced...( Read more... )

I'm really looking forward to reading Doctor Who - The Writer's Tale by Russell T. Davies and Benjamin Cook. I've been reading various articles and reviews of it that have excerpts and it seems fascinating, not just for what it reveals about Doctor Who, but for what it reveals about Davies and the writing process. Recently, I read a few excerpts that made me think about the series 4 finale, "Journey's End", again.

( Cut for Journey's End and possible Torchwood series 3 spoilers... )

That's the problem with the presidential debates, as well. *lol*  I was really looking forward to seeing the Doctor Who episode, "The Fires of Pompeii", again on CBC tonight, but it looks like I'll be watching the presidential nominees debate after all. 

I understand that negotiations are continuing in Washington over this hugely expensive "bail-out" package, while the candidates are traveling to Mississippi.  If I learn that the Senate is continuing to negotiate and debate the package while they're not at the Senate to do their jobs, I'll be more disappointed in both of them.  I think this legislation is too important not to give it 100%.  Last night crabbydragon  commented that the Bush administration's approach to this economic legislation is very similar to rushing through the Patiot Act or the legislation that allowed the Iraq War - obviously, members of Congress weren't paying enough attention back then and I hate to see them making the same mistake now, with the stakes equally high or higher, just because they're distracted by their election campaigns.  (This applies to all members of Congress, not just McCain and Obama.) 

Slightly related: I saw some of Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric on Anderson Cooper 360 last night.  Her answers in the clips they showed were incoherent and bizarre.  Now I'm really curious about the VP debate!  How do you debate someone who can't express clearly what they mean? 

I was just surfing the web and came across this news story about the head writer/producer of the new Doctor Who, Russell T. Davies, and his idea to write a Doctor Who/Harry Potter-ish crossover story to star none other than JK Rowling. Before anyone gets excited, it never went anywhere and will not be done, but the thought of it amused me:

“I was in the shower on Saturday morning (you may avert your eyes), thinking about how much I'd enjoyed that last Harry Potter book, how I'd love to write something like that, remembering that, back in 2004, I asked J.K.Rowling to write an episode of Doctor Who, though she politely declined, and reflecting that we can't possibly get someone to star in next year's Christmas Special who's as famous as Kylie [Minogue]... when all those things coalesced.

“BAM! I thought, don't ask J.K. to write a Doctor Who, ask her to be in a Doctor Who! Imagine it. A cold Edinburgh Christmas Eve. J.K. Rowling walking through the snow, pursued by a journalist. ‘What are you going to write after Harry Potter?' Later, J.K. sits down to write. At the same time, a Space Bug, probably put there by the Rita Skeeter-type journalist [a character in Harry Potter], leaps on to her back. ZAP! J.K.'s imagination becomes real! A world of Victorian magic replaces the present-day world. The Doctor arrives and has to battle through a world of witches and wizards, with wands and spells and CGI wonders, to reach J.K. Rowling at the heart of it all.”

It was not to be, however. In an e-mail three weeks later, Davies says that [David] Tennant has other ideas. “David doesn't like the J.K. idea,” he writes. “He thinks it sounds like a spoof, so we've paused slightly, wondering whether to win him round or just abandon something that he's not going to be happy with. We've got to keep him happy. He keeps us happy. Plus, he might be right. So that idea has parked.”

Er...just on the off-chance that someone reading this doesn't know who David Tennant is, he's the actor who currently plays the lead role of the Doctor in Doctor Who. :)

This past weekend, I was out of town for a conference and, aside from visiting my brother and his family (my 2-year-old nephew is way cute!), I managed to visit cjmr & d_84, finally returning their Doctor Who series 2 DVD set to them. cjmr made pasta for dinner with home-made pesto that was delicious! :) cjmr and d_84 also gave me advice on which "old Who" episodes available for download on iTunes were worth watching. That discussion inspired d_84 to sort through his Doctor Who videotape collection and he gave me his tape of the first 3 Doctor Who stories ever that he'd recorded from a PBS broadcast. (BTW, d_84, my VCR didn't eat it, but I assume you don't want the tape back, since you said you were cleaning out the videotapes that were duplicates of what you have on DVD?)

I spent Monday evening watching these first 3 Doctor Who stories and they struck me as having a very Lost in Space quality about them (although these episodes precede Lost in Space by a few years and the latter show was based on The Swiss Family Robinson). I don't mean to suggest that reminding me of Lost in Space is a bad thing - I used to love Lost in Space when I was a kid and frequently played it with my friends in the school playground near my house. The jungle gym was the spaceship and I always got to be Penny. :) There was a small building next to the the school building that we called "the powerhouse". I'm not sure that it supplied power to the school, but there were vents on the side of it and no windows. Also, there was the whirring of machinery from inside. So, it's no surprise that's where the monster, from whatever planet upon which we happened to be stranded, lived. As a child, I was so caught up in this fantasy that I'm sure, if I went back there now, I'd still feel as if there was a monster associated with that building...

( Cut for my thoughts on the first Doctor and more... )

BTW, did anyone know that John Williams, giant of film score composition, wrote the theme for Lost in Space? I just found out when I looked up information about the Lost in Space TV show last night:

Yes, I'm dictating again today. This time it's the notes from yesterday's clinic. It's still boring. :-/ When I'm done, though, I get to work on research stuff, which should be much more interesting. And, as I'm writing this, I only have one more dictation to do! :-D

I got in to work a bit late today because I was supposed to go to a doctor's appointment with my grandmother. As it turned out, I left my house about 70 minutes before the appointment, but there was more traffic in her direction than there usually is when I drive to work, so it took me 90 minutes to get to her doctor's office. In the speediest appointment ever, she was already done by the time I'd arrived! So much for that! Fortunately, there was nothing Earth-shattering, according to my parents.

So, we all went out for breakfast at IHOP. My Dad told me that I'd be really proud of my Mom because of something she said while they were putting all the junk from their garage into their new shed. Apparently, when they first started putting things in, it didn't seem like everything would fit. But, everything did fit. So my Mom said, in all seriousness, "Oh, it's bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside, just like the TARDIS." This from the woman who has deploring-ly said to my Dad and me, "Oh, no! You're not going to watch more Doctor Who are you?" *lol*

I made it home from Edinburgh yesterday. After getting up at 3:30 am BST, I finally made it to Detroit at 12:30 pm EDT. Unfortunately, my luggage didn't arrive with me. I got a call at 7:30 this morning that 1 of my 2 bags has made it - the other, who knows: Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Timbuktu? *sigh*

Directly after reporting my luggage missing, I headed off to a cousin's house for a family reunion, which was fun. There were a few relatives from out-of-town who I always enjoy seeing. My grandmother even went, which was an accomplishment - we couldn't get her to leave her apartment for the family Christmas party last year.

After the reunion picnic, I returned to my parents' house to visit awhile and, of course, get caught up on Doctor Who, which my Dad had taped while I was gone. :-D We watched "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End". I already knew that my Dad had really liked these episodes because when I'd called him from the Edinburgh airport to get the details on the family reunion, he had to tease me by saying, "Doctor Who was really good last night!" So, anyway, I liked it, but I think I need to watch it again when I'm less tired to get everything. Also, I might need d_84 or cjmr to explain the history of Davros in relation to Sarah Jane Smith. If I'm remembering correctly (I was awfully tired), "The Stolen Earth" is mainly set-up...moving all the pieces into place. I was pleased that Rose's presence in "Turn Left" was partly explained by these episodes, although I'm still not clear on how she knows what she does. ( Cut for more significant spoilers )

Orkney is a very quiet place, so I thought I'd take this opportunity of having an early night back in the hotel room to post about my trip, so far. After 12 hours of traveling, I arrived in Edinburgh early on Saturday morning, where I was to meet alisel_kat at the hotel. Her flight was coming in several hours later, though, so I took a nap for an undetermined amount of time. I didn't use an alarm and was so disoriented when I woke up, I couldn't figure out how long I'd been asleep. But, it was before alisel_kat arrived and still early enough for us to do some sightseeing around Edinburgh.

( Read more and see pictures... )

It's bad, I know, but I just couldn't wait until I got back in 2 weeks to see the new Doctor Who episode broadcast in the US on Friday, "Turn Left", so I watched it on YouTube last night. I'll pretend I haven't seen it when I get back home and watch it on video with my Dad. *evil* (Sadly, it seems that Doctor Who is not available for purchase on iTunes here...) Anyway, I thought it was a very interesting episode with an even more interesting ending, but I didn't enjoy Rose as much as I was expecting. I think this is because I didn't really understand her presence. She obviously knew a lot about what was going on, but I didn't understand how. Hopefully this will be explained in the next 2 episodes. Also, I didn't feel like Rose was given enough to do in the story.

It did make the following exchange from "The Fires of Pompeii" (episode 2) very interesting, though:

Lucius: And, you, daughter of London, there is something on your back.
Donna: What's that mean?

*squeamish*

"Roast beef...bananas…the Medusa Cascade...BANG! Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, TARDIS! Shamble, bobble, dibble, dooble...Oh, Doctor, you’re so handsome, yes, I am, thank you...abcdefghijklmno..."
--The Doctor, Midnight

I just finished watching the latest Doctor Who episode, Midnight. (Ok, now not so "just" - it took me a long time to write up my thoughts. *lol*) If anyone hasn't seen it and wants to know what the above quote is about, you can see the quote in context here. I'm pretty much in awe of David Tennant at this point, mainly because in the few interviews with him that I've seen, his personality seems nothing like that of the Doctor - in other words, he doesn't seem to be playing a version of himself. And, yet he does his version of the Doctor so well, it's so believable, that I wonder where it comes from...I bring this up because I thought this part of tonight's episode was superbly played by Tennant. It made me hold my breath as I was watching it.

( Cut for spoilers )

ETA: I forgot to put this in last night. Here are the lines from Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti recited in the episode:

We must not look at goblin men,
We must not buy their fruits:
Who knows upon what soil they fed
Their hungry thirsty roots?

Given the mood of the episode, it was extremely creepy and well chosen.

Yesterday, I spent the day doing mindless work on my computer, catching up on signing all the notes I didn't have time to sign while I was rounding on the inpatient service. It literally took me all day and well into the evening. I took a break during BBC America's reruns of Doctor Who (from series 2) from 6-8 pm. And, when that was over, I left the TV on, but didn't pay much attention and continued to sign my notes. I briefly looked up from time to time during the 2 episodes of Robin Hood that were on from 8-10 pm. I haven't really gotten into that show, which is surprising, since it seems like it would be just my thing...cynodd and I were always really fascinated by Robin Hood stories. That was in high school, but it might as well have been only yesterday.

There was no new Doctor Who on this week for us over here in the US, but I think I heard the essential part of the cliffhanger from "The Stolen Earth" that made fullmoon_dreams say, "OMG-OMG-OMG," last week. So, with no spoilers, a question for her: were you happy with the outcome in last night's episode? It's taking all my willpower not to try finding the rest of the series on YouTube to watch it all right now, since I don't want to wait until I get back from the UK in August to find out what happens! I really hope they have Doctor Who available for download on iTunes over there.

Anyway, I finally finished signing everything I could sign sometime after 10 pm last night. And, as I'd left the TV on after Doctor Who, it was The Graham Norton Show that happened to be on at that time. I've seen this show once or twice before, though the only time I made a specific effort to watch it was when David Tennant appeared as a guest. They used to have a little clip at the beginning of the show explaining how to turn on the closed captioning for those of us Americans who couldn't understand the heavy accents. *lol* They don't appear to be doing that anymore - perhaps people were offended? I mean, chances are people who can't understand British accents aren't going to be watching BBC America anyway.

So, one of Graham Norton's guests last night was Nigella Lawson of cookbook and cooking show fame. Apparently, they thought it would be really funny to have a member of the audience make a dish, as if they were on a cooking show, with some truly disgusting food. They chose surströmming, which is some kind of fermented herring in a can that is eaten in Sweden. As demonstrated on the show, the stench of it is overpowering. They also had, in the audience, the guy from this video who demonstrated what it's like to actually eat* surströmming:


I'm very suggestible and have a weak stomach for this sort of thing, so I seriously can't watch this video without gagging along, but it's also kind of funny. At the end of the video, the guy announces that he doesn't even like fish. What would possess a person who doesn't like fish to eat a fermented herring, I have no idea! I hate seafood, too, and would you ever catch me eating something like that? I don't think so!

*That's a deliberate split infinitive. *geek*

"Thing about me, I'm stupid; I talk too much, always babbling on; this gob doesn't stop running. Do you want to know the reason I'm still alive? Always stay near the door."
-The Doctor, Forest of the Dead

Forest of the Dead, the conclusion to Silence in the Library was the episode of Doctor Who broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel Friday night. It managed to resolve nicely almost all the mysteries of library (spoilers) from the first episode. :-D

( Cut for spoilers )

And, speaking of the next few episodes, fullmoon_dreams gave a squeeful review of "The Stolen Earth" containing no spoilers. (Thanks!) *lol* So, now I'm very much looking forward to seeing it. As it turns out, there is no Doctor Who episode being shown here next Friday due to the holiday (Independence Day), so that means that I will be in the UK (or traveling there) for the last 3 episodes! *pouts*

Finally, I'll mention that I finished my last day of inpatient rounds, until November, this morning. Yay! And, now I'm just on my pager until 7 am, when I'm switching it over to the next doctor rounding on the inpatient service - I don't want to be paged all night, but, if I am, at least I'm done with it all at 7 am. So, although this isn't entirely appropriate for a post about Doctor Who, I'm reminded of this saying from my residency: They can always hurt you more, but they can't stop the clock! (Hmm...for some reason, I always thought that was one of the Laws of the House of God, but it turns out only the first half is...)

"Oh, I'm thick! Look at me, I'm old and thick! Head's too full of stuff - I need a bigger head!"
--The Doctor, Silence in the Library

Silence in the Library was the episode of Doctor Who broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel last night. It was about an enormous library in the 51st century taking up an entire planet. Nothing else was on the planet except the library - it wasn't clear to me whether it was a man-made planet created for the purpose of being a library or a pre-existing planet upon which the library was built. Anyway, as the Doctor is always drawn to trouble, it turns out that everyone in the library has disappeared, hence the silence, and there is a mysterious warning about keeping track of the shadows. I really liked it! :) 
( Cut for spoilers )

I know it sounds really lame because, you know, it's all in English (except for the odd alien language and Latin), but when cynodd, crabbydragon, and I watch Doctor Who together, we turn on the subtitles. This started because their daughter, HRT, who often plays in the same room while we're watching it, is very noisy (like all 3-year-old children). But, now we do it even when she's taking her nap or gone to bed for the night. The thing that we've learned to appreciate about the subtitles done by the BBC is that they also tell you what song is playing in the background and who the recording artist is. Obviously, this is very convenient, if you've always wondered what a particular song is called ("Moonlight Serenade" by Glenn Miller, for example) or hear a new song that you particularly like.

So, last night, we watched "The Runaway Bride", which is the 2006 Doctor Who Christmas special, and heard the song "Love Don't Roam". I thought the song was catchy (obviously, or why would I still be thinking about it today?) and it seemed like something I should already know. Strangely, though, the subtitles only identified the name of the song and not the artist. And, today I went searching for it.

( Read more... )
( Read more... )

I'm somewhat abashed to find myself so captivated by the story of the Doctor and Rose, but there it is. :-D

This has the potential of offending most people on my f-list (if so, I apologize), but I found it amusing anyway. It's a scene from the film, Downfall, which is about Hitler's last days, with new subtitles about the Torchwood series 2 finale:


by MadameDeVideoland

ETA: The above video seems to have been removed, but it can be found re-posted here.

Apparently, this clip has been used a lot. There are other versions with subtitles that feature Hitler yelling about the Vancouver Canuck's not getting into the playoffs, the Dallas Cowboys not making it to the Superbowl, being banned from "Microsoft Live", and somebody stealing his car, among many others.

I have no complaints about the Torchwood series 2 finale, though - I liked it once I got past the shock. :)

For the first time yesterday, cynodd and I actually planned well enough in advance that we, along with crabbydragon, were able to watch 2-1/2 episodes of Doctor Who during Her Royal Tininess's nap! :-D They were, from series 2 (still cjmr's and d_84's DVDs): "Tooth and Claw", "School Reunion", and "The Girl in the Fireplace". HRT woke up during "The Girl in the Fireplace", but it worked out because it's about a pretty female French aristocrat in the 18th century whom the Doctor saves after making a dramatic entrance on a white stallion. HRT is in her Princess Phase, of course! (Last night, she was lamenting that they couldn't live in a pink house, while she sat in her little pink & purple chair wearing a pink T-shirt with flashing red lights that had a picture of Disney's Cinderella, Belle, & Ariel on it... *lol*)( Read more... )

I'll end with this blurb from Neil Gaiman's blog. In anticipation of David Tennant's portrayal of Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company, he has written this spoof of the Doctor doing Hamlet:

"To be, or not to be, that is the question. Weeelll.... More of A question really. Not THE question. Because, well, I mean, there are billions and billions of questions out there, and well, when I say billions, I mean, when you add in the answers, not just the questions, weeelll, you're looking at numbers that are positively astronomical and... for that matter the other question is what you lot are doing on this planet in the first place, and er, did anyone try just pushing this little red button?"

I was struck by the fact that both of the following stories involve grown men having sex with 8-year-old girls.

The first story was one I heard on NPR yesterday morning, Justices Weigh Death Penalty for Child Rape. It involves the case of a man in Louisiana who is on death row for raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter about 10 years ago. Apparently, the girl suffered injuries, requiring extensive surgery, in addition to the mental trauma. The sentence has been upheld by the Louisiana Supreme Court and is now being tried in the US Supreme Court. I suppose that the argument for the death penalty is that the crime was heinous. However, there are many better arguments against, not least of which is the significant possibility that an innocent man might be put to death because children are particularly vulnerable to being led to say or believe things that may not be true. After all, a major principle of the US criminal justice system is that "it's better to let nine guilty men go free than to convict one innocent man."

The second story is one that I saw on CNN today while eating lunch at work, Girl, 8, granted divorce in Yemen. This story is about an 8-year-old girl who was married by her parents to a 30-year-old man who, she complained, chased her, beat her, and forced her to have sex with him all the time. The girl actually went to a judge to file for divorce herself, which I find to be a remarkable thing for an 8-year-old to have done, defying all the adults in her life. (Her parents had refused to help her.) According to the article, girls under 15-years-old are allowed to be married, but engaging in sexual activity with them isn't allowed when they are still pre-pubertal. However, there is no criminal aspect to doing so, apparently, and the "husband" received no punishment. The girl's family actually had to pay him damages, it sounds like. Hopefully, the girl won't now be the victim of some kind of "honor killing".

Although both countries have the death penalty (ok, I don't know for certain that Yemin does, but I can't imagine it doesn't), the extreme cultural differences demonstrated by these cases is very interesting.

Finally, Doctor Who trailer #3:


posted by Neyah444