Here we are half-awake
The second-best part of this highly mediocre day was a gyro on which I put a phenomenal amount of tzatziki, to the point that by the end of it the meat was probably the condiment. The best part was taking a walk with ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
spatch right before sunset. I remembered to bring my camera.
Since our street has proved something of a canyon when it comes to afternoons, I have gotten into the habit of walking up to Tufts for my allotment of late sun and brick.
Their last roses of summer are particularly voluptuous.
This Karnak-wall of sandstone belonged to one of the residential halls.
Up close it was filled with the wealth of tiny shells and spines and bones, the settling of an ancient seafloor.
Rob took a dramatically sun-flooded picture of me.
I liked the interaction of the subject with the shadow.
This brilliantly dead leaf in its mesh of green looked like as good a symbol of autumn as any to me.
A moment of silence for the birch that used to grow around the corner of our block.
I am not sure that Series 13 of Doctor Who holds together at all, but since Kevin McNally was playing essentially Marcus Brody if he had started in parapsychology instead of classics, I enjoyed him very much.
spatch right before sunset. I remembered to bring my camera.
Since our street has proved something of a canyon when it comes to afternoons, I have gotten into the habit of walking up to Tufts for my allotment of late sun and brick.
Their last roses of summer are particularly voluptuous.
This Karnak-wall of sandstone belonged to one of the residential halls.
Up close it was filled with the wealth of tiny shells and spines and bones, the settling of an ancient seafloor.
Rob took a dramatically sun-flooded picture of me.
I liked the interaction of the subject with the shadow.
This brilliantly dead leaf in its mesh of green looked like as good a symbol of autumn as any to me.
A moment of silence for the birch that used to grow around the corner of our block.
I am not sure that Series 13 of Doctor Who holds together at all, but since Kevin McNally was playing essentially Marcus Brody if he had started in parapsychology instead of classics, I enjoyed him very much.
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Pretty pics, as always. The "Karnak sandstone" in particular. The colours and composition, quite abstract.
S13 is... is. It's been so long and I still haven't made up my mind.
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Thank you! I like angles of sun and stone.
S13 is... is. It's been so long and I still haven't made up my mind.
I had a genuinely good time with "Village of the Angels" as a Nigel Kneale-style sci-fi ghost story which was unfortunately trapped in the metaplot, ditto the turn-of-the-century sequences chasing round the world after a clever variant of the time-honored archaeological key to the apocalypse, points awarded also for Joseph Williamson and his multidimensional maze of doors. Otherwise I suspect I would disagree with a lot more of it if I had engaged with it more.
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I am not sure that Series 13 of Doctor Who holds together at all, but since Kevin McNally was playing essentially Marcus Brody if he had started in parapsychology instead of classics, I enjoyed him very much.
Awww. It really does not, even by DW's standards, although I enjoyed the Mary Seacole ep, and they did something new and interesting with the weeping angels for a moment or two there, but Kevin McNally was great. Fandom doesn't agree on much, lol, but there was a lot of love for him and the random trio off having adventures in the 1900s & it was a shame they dispensed with him so needlessly, although he played that very well too. (Excellent fanfic opportunities re. the 1900s, top marks, no notes.) So glad you had fun with it and him!
(Tbf to Flux, even if it is Chris Chibnall, my nemesis, the eternal monkey's paw showrunner [--> not still bitter *eyes*], it was the series that was hit by the pandemic & had to be completely reworked for lockdown filming, so he does deserve kudos for getting anything made at all under the circs).
Congratulations on having managed a merely mediocre day! *hugs* (More seriously, I hope there are so many better days to come!! Or at least some; some would be nice, right? <3)
ETA: If you wanted any more Thirteen in passing, The Demons of the Punjab from s11 is really lovely and one of my favourite episodes of DW.
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Thank you! That one was all
but Kevin McNally was great. Fandom doesn't agree on much, lol, but there was a lot of love for him and the random trio off having adventures in the 1900s & it was a shame they dispensed with him so needlessly, although he played that very well too. (Excellent fanfic opportunities re. the 1900s, top marks, no notes.)
(You got recommendations, I'll read them. There's an entire audio series in those three years!)
He went out beautifully, but it did remind me of much of my formative science fiction where being my favorite character was detrimental to the health.
So glad you had fun with it and him!
Listening for about four days to 1776 put me in mind of Turn: Washington's Spies where he was my favorite after Burn Gorman and it is four seasons and not legally streaming anywhere available to me and I remembered he had featured in this series and fortunately it could be dialed up with minimal difficulty. It was probably very predictable that I should love him, but I am glad to hear that the sentiment was widely shared.
(Tbf to Flux, even if it is Chris Chibnall, my nemesis, the eternal monkey's paw showrunner [--> not still bitter *eyes*], it was the series that was hit by the pandemic & had to be completely reworked for lockdown filming, so he does deserve kudos for getting anything made at all under the circs).
Acknowledged. I am glad they managed to make it keeping everyone safe.
ETA: If you wanted any more Thirteen in passing, The Demons of the Punjab from s11 is really lovely and one of my favourite episodes of DW.
So noted! We watched definitely the premiere of that season and I believe the second episode as well and I enjoyed both the mix of companions and Jodie Whittaker and then for some reason we didn't get even as far as the one with Rosa Parks. This run of episodes I just watched would be the first time I dipped back into current Who since. (I know you recommended me a Welsh folk horror episode with Ncuti Gatwa, I just still haven't seen it.)
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I haven't, I'm afraid! I should look properly, but I've just been reading so much less online for the last few years.
and I remembered he had featured in this series and fortunately it could be dialed up with minimal difficulty. It was probably very predictable that I should love him, but I am glad to hear that the sentiment was widely shared.
Aww. Well, he always is so good, really. He was in the second series of Poldark when he was very young indeed and he was great right off the mark even then. I'm sorry people won't provide you with Turn, though!
I enjoyed both the mix of companions and Jodie Whittaker and then for some reason we didn't get even as far as the one with Rosa Parks. This run of episodes I just watched would be the first time I dipped back into current Who since.
Don't worry, I know you watching DW only happens sometimes! There were some very blah SF Chibnall eps in there, though (IMO, sorry), so I don't blame you! Rosa was very good & definitely worth watching, too, but the BBC put their foot down re. not having historical-only eps and CC had to add in SF Blah on top of Malorie Blackman's otherwise excellent script, whereas whatever happened when they did the same thing to Demons, idk, but it wound up working perfectly.
(I know you recommended me a Welsh folk horror episode with Ncuti Gatwa, I just still haven't seen it.)
Not to worry. <3 If 73 Yards ever does come your way at a good time for you, it's such a very strange ep (complimentary), and a lovely showcase for Millie Gibson's talents, and I hope you enjoy it too, but it'll happen or it won't, I know. (It has very little Ncuti in, though.) Fourteen had some really great standalone eps in both seasons - Inua Ellams's The Story and the Engine in particular was also wonderfully weird and deep in an equivalent (but different) way to 73 Yards so I recommend that too if no one else already has. But really - it was a very energetic and creative two seasons overall - Boom, Dot & Bubble, The Well were especially good & I really liked The Devil's Chord and Lux too, & The Interstellar Song Contest; Rogue is entertainingly meta, and I'm v fond of The Church on Ruby Road as an engaging/fairy-tale intro for Ncuti and Millie.
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The doorstop novel of "Around the World in Three Years" is probably not the thing to recommend to you, then. I hope you are reading as much as you like offline.
Aww. Well, he always is so good, really. He was in the second series of Poldark when he was very young indeed and he was great right off the mark even then.
I noticed that in his filmography! I was not somehow surprised: he has such a good face for the eighteenth century. I saw him first in I, Claudius, after which I lost track of him until Pirates of the Caribbean, after which I have always been interested in what he was doing, even when it was being the heavy of the week on Law & Order: UK.
I'm sorry people won't provide you with Turn, though!
It's not like I have time for four seasons of anything in my life right now, but even with all of its structural problems and its first-season excess of patriotism, I love so much of it and it remains possibly the only time anyone has ever noticed that Burn Gorman can be romantically adorable. And also someone the eighteenth century looks great on.
If 73 Yards ever does come your way at a good time for you, it's such a very strange ep (complimentary), and a lovely showcase for Millie Gibson's talents, and I hope you enjoy it too, but it'll happen or it won't, I know.
Ironically that one wouldn't be at all difficult for me to get hold of, because the Fifteenth Doctor being some kind of American co-production is on Disney+. I had to resort to the Internet Archive for Thirteen.
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Looking at what cropped up in the tag for that episode made me think I probably did look a while ago, because that is very much all or nothing there, isn't it? And sadly, probably not! I am reading a bit better offline than I used to, though. But never as much as I would like! <3
I love so much of it and it remains possibly the only time anyone has ever noticed that Burn Gorman can be romantically adorable. And also someone the eighteenth century looks great on.
Aww. He went around doing all shades of creepy so well everywhere else, that's the problem. But I can easily believe that he is the sort of actor who's good at just about everything.
Ironically that one wouldn't be at all difficult for me to get hold of, because the Fifteenth Doctor being some kind of American co-production is on Disney+. I had to resort to the Internet Archive for Thirteen.
Oh, I thought Disney had the whole New Who back catalogue along with it, but then I don't pay a lot of attention to where it's streaming in the US. (All I ever know is that it must be around on one of the usual suspects or there would be no end to the outraged screaming in my corner of the internet).
Anyway, Ncuti's era is great! RTD did his usual trick with finales to greater and lesser extent both times, so fandom has issues, but you know fandom, it always does! But he really did come through with a great assortment of very different & very good episodes across both seasons.
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I meant it about the audio series; I am unironically a little surprised that Big Finish never got in on that combination of characters, given their fan-favoritehood.
—Man, I just realized that with the most recent stupidity of tariffs, I don't know if I can still order Big Finish CDs, of which I have a stack that I never got around to purchasing on account of continuing lack of funds and now international shipping to the U.S. has been trainwrecked. It occurred to me immediately that this would damage my book-buying habits and things like my chances of ever actually sending a letter back to you like a person, but I forgot about physical media. Why do these people not just burn from the bones out?
I am reading a bit better offline than I used to, though. But never as much as I would like!
*hugs*
Even on a slow curve, may it keep getting better.
Aww. He went around doing all shades of creepy so well everywhere else, that's the problem. But I can easily believe that he is the sort of actor who's good at just about everything.
As far as I've seen! This really is the problem I normally have with character actors from the '40's.
Just to put in one last plug for the series, Turn gives incredibly good long-form acting from Kevin McNally, even from the start of the series when its moral ambiguity was much less developed and his alignment looked predictable. His character's arc is one of its slowest and most satisfying burns, not obviously signposted by the narrative, and I was always gripped by it even when I was e-mailing
Oh, I thought Disney had the whole New Who back catalogue along with it, but then I don't pay a lot of attention to where it's streaming in the US.
I'd thought it had, too, but was only offered Fifteen when I looked. The usual suspects for the rest at the moment seem to be Apple TV+ and Amazon. Tubi is still hosting as far as I can tell the totality of Classic Who, however, so I can look at Martin Jarvis and the disco lights any time I feel like it.
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It takes a while - they have now got Jodie and Mandip on board & the first boxset should be out already or at least very shortly, but I don't think they've got John Bishop yet, or any of Thirteen's other companions. They have still never had Matt, Peter or any of their companions, so they have impressionists playing Eleven and Twelve and new companions for them. So it does depend on things outside their control! It is totally a natural fit for them, though. They may do it yet!
It occurred to me immediately that this would damage my book-buying habits and things like my chances of ever actually sending a letter back to you like a person, but I forgot about physical media.
*hugs*
I was always gripped by it even when I was e-mailing [personal profile] sholio highly rational reactions like "RICHARD YOU ABSOLUTE PECAN."
That is a great reaction! Turn has just never really come my way, but it sounds good.
Tubi is still hosting as far as I can tell the totality of Classic Who, however, so I can look at Martin Jarvis and the disco lights any time I feel like it.
Always important! You could watch McNally's other DW appearance then, if that wasn't a really bad idea. XD (Not his fault obv; Six's intro is a v poor story with giant slugs for villains. People think Kevin McNally was good & it was a shame they didn't keep his character on, though, so 'can we keep him?' is now the standard reaction to him by DW fans. I do know at least two people who like it, though, so I suppose you never know. Personally I had more fun watching Martin Jarvis as a giant moth on fast-forward in episode 5 or whichever ep of The Web Planet is largely giant insects wobbling about chasing each other very slowly. Painful at actual speed; instant pick-me-up on FF. XD I was going to say DW shouldn't do giant insects but then I remembered the glories of The One With The Maggots, whatever the Wirr(r)n are, and the gravity-manipulating evil woodlice.)
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All right, I will cross my fingers for future arrangements. It's just such a a slam-dunk!
They have still never had Matt, Peter or any of their companions, so they have impressionists playing Eleven and Twelve and new companions for them.
That's kind of amazing.
Turn has just never really come my way, but it sounds good.
I know I have recommended it before, but I still do. Its availability is odd, by which I mean it's never even had a full home media release in the U.S. Its historical fidelity is variable, it takes almost the entire first season to get the flag-waving out of its system, its fourth season was drastically compressed by much-protested cancellation, and its second and third seasons are some of my favorite spy fiction, actual hands down, all the more since the late eighteenth century is not a traditional setting for le Carré-style explorations of the costs of being out in the cold, even when the cold is a small rural village in Long Island. I was surprised by how much I took to it. It has the slight, not uncommon problem for me where the official protagonist is not the most interesting character in the story, but the supporting cast makes up for it, which is where we came in. [edit] OH and I meant to tell you about two comments ago that thanks to our recent conversation, I now have a strong suspicion of where the protagonist's ahistorical but cool-looking leather coat came from.
You could watch McNally's other DW appearance then, if that wasn't a really bad idea. XD (Not his fault obv; Six's intro is a v poor story with giant slugs for villains. People think Kevin McNally was good & it was a shame they didn't keep his character on, though, so 'can we keep him?' is now the standard reaction to him by DW fans.
See, so the show should take the hint.
I've been staring at this podcast and wishing it had transcripts, since I can manage eleven minutes of Denholm Elliot on Desert Island Discs, but an hour of podcast is incredibly difficult for me to manage for anyone.
I was going to say DW shouldn't do giant insects but then I remembered the glories of The One With The Maggots, whatever the Wirr(r)n are, and the gravity-manipulating evil woodlice.)
You should totally tell me about that last one.
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They do similar things with the dead cast as well, including using their children/other relatives instead, which I just feel is going Too Far, but nobody else minds. XD
OH and I meant to tell you about two comments ago that thanks to our recent conversation, I now have a strong suspicion of where the protagonist's ahistorical but cool-looking leather coat came from.
I will look into it, but it does sound like the sort of thing where I'd be stuffed if it's not on DVD and the fact that it's not on my Amazon list as such despite me definitely having been recced it a few times by now, does not suggest that there is one over here.
LOl at the coat, though! Why not have a cool looking leather jacket in the 18th C? XD
I've been staring at this podcast and wishing it had transcripts, since I can manage eleven minutes of Denholm Elliot on Desert Island Discs, but an hour of podcast is incredibly difficult for me to manage for anyone
That is a shame. I'm not usually able to do podcasts either, so a lack of transcript is very frustrating and tantalising.
You should totally tell me about that last one.
I will, although I do need to tell you also that it struck me after that I could probably Google "the one with the maggots" and it would come up with the DW serial and I just checked and it really did, no other context needed. :D
The gravity-manipulating woodlice are in Frontios, which is a Fifth Doctor serial that I adore for having a sort of BBC Shakespearean DOOMED far future human colony where the leader is called Plantagenet among other things & features William Lucas, Lesley Dunlop, Jeff Rawle & Peter Gilmore, but which many other fans regard as merely mid, and they also feel the leader of the woodlice shouldn't have a nose. *handwaves objections* (I recommend it as a good Five serial, with a strong guest cast, a moody if studio-bound setting, and proper stuff for all three regulars to do, and also features the hatstand in a starring role. "Frontios buries its own dead.")
BTW, nothing to do with DW, but something that amused me this week - someone reacted to Gosford Park on YT (the 2nd person ever afaics), and someone else wrote in the comments that Tom Hollander apparently tells a story about Maggie Smith - that he hadn't met her before, and she turned up late and tired having been off shooting Harry Potter that day. He was too nervous to go over, until he finally said to himself this was silly, plucked up courage and asked, "How's it going, Maggie?" To which she replied, "Oh, deathly dull," and he was crushed.
And on the DVD extras there's a Q&A session in which Jeremy Northam says that on the first evening they were all together, he and Claudie Blakley were sat on a table with Maggie Smith to get to know each other, but she turned up late and tired having been filming Harry Potter, so she looked really unapproachable, and they were both too nervous to speak to her, so they sat there in silence while all the other tables were chatting away, until someone came over and said, "How's it going, Maggie?" and she just looked at them and said, "Oh, deathly dull," and finished them off.
(It may just be the JN one garbled and misattributed via YT comment, of course, but it's definitely more amusing if they really are parallel anecdotes.)
ETA: It looks like there are some German dvds, but it also mainly looks like I could only get S1 and that even if I could get really lucky with s1, 2 & 3, I still couldn't get s4. (It claims to have a s1-3 release but this is apparently just a front for 9-1-1 somehow). Amazon certainly seems to have R1 releases, though, or claims to, although maybe only already out of print.
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I did not actually know any of the roles had been handed down generationally. I will consider how I feel about that. It certainly doesn't bother me that Ian Shaw wrote and played his father in The Shark Is Broken, which of necessity entails some of Robert's acting as Quint as well as all the backstage stuff.
I will look into it, but it does sound like the sort of thing where I'd be stuffed if it's not on DVD and the fact that it's not on my Amazon list as such despite me definitely having been recced it a few times by now, does not suggest that there is one over here.
I was afraid that would be the case. Here there were home releases for the first three seasons and then as of the last time I checked nothing for the fourth, which means I couldn't just get the series out of the library when I was reminded of it, although in that case I might not have discovered Professor Jericho and we wouldn't be having this conversation: causality!
LOl at the coat, though! Why not have a cool looking leather jacket in the 18th C?
Kevin McNally, Doctor Who fan favorite the show never keeps and sharer of scenes with eighteenth-century bomber jackets.
That is a shame. I'm not usually able to do podcasts either, so a lack of transcript is very frustrating and tantalising.
If I decide to throw my brain on it, I'll let you know what I find! The chances at the moment of my doing something else with it are much better, unfortunately. Like seeing doctors. This week has been doctors. It could be something else for a change.
(It may just be the JN one garbled and misattributed via YT comment, of course, but it's definitely more amusing if they really are parallel anecdotes.)
Definitely. The idea of that being her standard line to get people to leave her alone after a long day of Harry Potter is perfect.
ETA: It looks like there are some German dvds, but it also mainly looks like I could only get S1 and that even if I could get really lucky with s1, 2 & 3, I still couldn't get s4. (It claims to have a s1-3 release but this is apparently just a front for 9-1-1 somehow). Amazon certainly seems to have R1 releases, though, or claims to, although maybe only already out of print.
So nobody has a legal fourth season! Fantastic. What the hell, AMC. This is not as much of an incentive for people to subscribe to your proprietary streaming service as you may think.
[edit] This is a bit stupid, but someone actually appears to have put the entire series on Dailymotion. It's not organized in playlists, but I can see Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, and the elusive Season 4. The quality is meh, but the whole thing seems to be there.
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Absolutely!
Like seeing doctors. This week has been doctors. It could be something else for a change.
<3<3<3 Yeah, Doctor Who is one thing; nothing but real doctors is another! *hugs*
The idea of that being her standard line to get people to leave her alone after a long day of Harry Potter is perfect.
More the flip side of the same conversation, if it isn't just a confusion - and poor Dame Maggie getting no luck with conversation all round if so, heh. It's what happens when you get that awesome?
This is a bit stupid, but someone actually appears to have put the entire series on Dailymotion.
Oh, well, good! I'm glad it's turned up somewhere you can get at it if you need to! It would be nice if it was available sensibly as well, but then when we say available sensibly, I suppose we do at this point between us share a very last decade definition of that. ALAS. *fistbumps*
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Oh my God he grew into his face. Those eyebrows needed another ten years at least.
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Ha, you went and watched the slugs and the twin maths geniuses, didn't you? XD
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Yeah, and then I rewatched the entire first season of Turn to recuperate!
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Understandable! XD
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Thank you!
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Let me know what he thinks of them!
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I am struggling this week and so I especially appreciate the pics as a reminder of a world that is not so inside-baseball that I am the mole person under the dugout.
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I seriously think one of the add-on problems of the last few years has been the interference of illness with my normal walking, which is supposed be like five miles for an errand.
I am struggling this week and so I especially appreciate the pics as a reminder of a world that is not so inside-baseball that I am the mole person under the dugout.
You are not the mole person under the dugout. You are the pitcher who might wind up a well-earned beanball at somebody's head.
*hugs*
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Thank you!
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Also that is just the proper ratio of tzatziki to anything else in a sandwich. As long as the pita doesn't collapse, you're good. Really, even if it does.
P.
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Thank you! I am very fond of the shadow.
Also that is just the proper ratio of tzatziki to anything else in a sandwich. As long as the pita doesn't collapse, you're good. Really, even if it does.
It was structurally unsound beyond the first bites and I regret nothing.
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Thank you! I hope I have a good theme tune.
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Thank you so much!
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There's something in the center of the former birch tree that looks elevated, so that at first I could see only a very broad mushroom--I didn't even notice the lower part of the stump. Now I see it as it is, but it makes me think about how our transformations, disguises, and alternate selves are always present.
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Thank you so much!
The light in the first few, and I love you and Shadow Spatch in conversation in that one. (Is that a dragon on your shirt? Very cool.) And yes, the softness and richness of the rose is SO alluring. Puts you right in a certain frame of mind.
It is a dragon! It was a birthday present in 2020. My niece loved it so much that I believe she got one of her own.
The shadow, the rose, and the sandstone are my favorites.
There's something in the center of the former birch tree that looks elevated, so that at first I could see only a very broad mushroom--I didn't even notice the lower part of the stump. Now I see it as it is, but it makes me think about how our transformations, disguises, and alternate selves are always present.
It looked to me like an optical illusion, as if the sawn wood had been drawn on to the living bark. I just loved it so much as a living tree.