Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Well, if this isn't ADD


i'm not sure what is.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Matt Smith? Who?

And here's my review of the latest season of Doctor Who:



Goodnight ladies and gentlemen!

Okay seriously, i'm going to try and break this down, let's start out with the Doctor:


At first, i was a bit weary of Smith playing Who, i mean, he's just so young!
Although i did love the explanation in that short where the tenth Doctor met the fifth, something about how he tried to act all old and serious in his younger days. Cute.
But once i saw Smith in the tweed jacket and bowtie, i figured we were in for good times, and mostly i was right.
He plays a goofy, and really fun doctor, yet his rage is frightening as he seems unstable, while Tennant's Doctor was frightening because of his "lone god" vibe.
Smith is also quite good at portraying how alien and old the Doctor is. It's a nice change after Tennant's very human Doctor, not that i'm saying it was bad.

My fanwankery theory is that the ninth Doctor, despite his distance and coldness, had started a relationship with Rose (they danced, there is no denying the innuendo) so when he changed, he became someone to fit that role better. Of course this lead to trouble, Martha, Queen Elizabeth, Madame de Pompadour.... Well anyway, he changes again into someone trying to keep some distance from humans, as he said the advancing Amy:"But you're human!"

As for Amy and Rory, it's a bit odd, Amy seems to be a combination of Donna (readhead, loud, scary, and the most important person in the universe) and Martha (wants the Doctor, badly)
While Rory is just Mickey, jealous of the Doctor, whiny, somewhat useless, until he grows a fucking spine. I'm sorry but Rory was useless until he realized Amy really did love him, and that was the middle of the series, and he dies two episodes later.
Oh hey, spoilers.
At least we can look forward to him being awesome and potentially having thousands of years of knowledge. And since he was Roman, he can likely fight now! Shame they took away his handgun though (or was it a firearm?) keeping Rory plastic would have been fun.

I think the most amusing things with Amy and Rory are the obvious subtle things, like Rory being a nurse, well of course he's a nurse, but when put in context of how Amy would make him dress up like the Doctor, or a Roman solider... Oh, Rory. They set him up in an occupation where he can help, but he's not a doctor. Then there's also fun stuff like Amy being dressed up like a police woman, living a blue house...

Now my ranking of the episodes:
  1. "The Lodger"
  2. "Amy's Choice"
  3. "The Eleventh Hour"
  4. "The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang"
  5. "Vincent and the Doctor"
  6. "The Hungry Earth"/"Cold Blood"
  7. "The Vampires of Venice"
  8. "The Time of Angels"/"Flesh and Stone"
  9. "The Beast Below"
  10. "Victory of the Daleks"

Everything about The Lodger was perfect, it's by far one of my favourite episodes of Doctor Who.
Amy's Choice was good, as it was the point where Rory stopped being jealous of the Doctor, Amy realized her strong love for him, and even if he was just part of the Doctor, the Dream Lord was an awesome character. Toby Jones was a perfect fit for the role, also amusingly enough, he's the voice of Dobby.
I put the first episode above the finale because, well the first episode was better, the finale had too many paradoxes, miracles, and universal reset buttons, but it was damn entertaining.
You have to love van Gogh, that's all there is to it.
The Sillurian episodes were entertaining, mostly because i hated that lady, everyone hate's that lady, there's always a character like her, the one that accuses someone of being a witch, getting everyone riled up when things are already bad, the one that does something out of panic to make things worse. Many people feel uncomfortable because of these characters, because they're so fucking real. Just thinking of that horrible old hag in The Mist gets me riled up, and that's not even a good movie! It's just nice to see how unrealistically optimistic the Doctor is about humanity from time to time. The fact that science behind "Homo reptilians" didn't make any sense did bother me a bit, but it was a solid story other than that.
And while a lot of people loved the angels story, i really didn't. i felt Moffat totally ruined the mythology and scare factor of the angels with this episode. Blink was a brilliant episode in an otherwise dull series (i really didn't like Martha, what can i say? Don't worry though, i absolutely loved Simm as the Master) but this was just stupid, why is the angel snapping necks? i mean killing Bob to steal his voice i could maybe understand, but why kill the solider before him? Why not feed on them, or give them to the weaker angels so they can feed. Whatever.
I was one of those that picked up on the missing jacket and tonal change when the Doctor came back to talk to Amy. Which, would have made me feel smug and smart, but the final was wishy washy instead of timey wimey. The whole angel in the eye thing was kind of eh, same with anything that holds the image of an angel. And i don't know how i feel about River, she sure is smug, amusing how she keeps using items of Captain Jack's though.

As for the final, i'm mostly disappointed that the Doctor didn't pop out of the wedding cake.



One of the best moments of the entire series: "You're a lucky man, she's a great kisser!"
Amy trying to rape the Doctor was pretty hot though, just sayin'.

i loved how fun and light hearted the final was, i also loved "Fezzes are cool." and while i had no problem with Amy taking it away from him, River shooting it was just cringe worthy, as was her getting a Dalek to beg for mercy, i mean come on, it's a fucking Dalek. Rory standing guard for nearly two thousand years was nice, especially since he didn't ditch his centurion armour until after WWII. Oh, Rory. But the way the Doctor just came back, well i tie it back to angels.

You see, at the end of, well, The End of Time, the Doctor is presented with two female Time Lords that stood in defense of him, the leader of the Time Lords referred to them as weeping angels. Then there's Amy Pond, fairytale Amy Pond, and she's got something on her back in her eye. So yes, on her wedding day, dressed in white, she weeps, and the doctor is reborn. Whatever Moffat.

And while the cracks are gone, there are still so many unexplained things, and not just the obvious story of River or "SILENCE WILL FALL" but, the stairs in Amy's house looking like the stairs to the wannabe TARDIS, where the fuck the wannabe TARDIS came from, why Amy was crying and pleading to have the Doctor to leave in The Beast Below. i suppose they could be tied together, but it's still annoying.

In the end it's much like all past series of Nu Who, some strong stories, some weak ones, some bad moments, however a lot of really great ones as well.
i look forward to seeing what the xmas special is going to be, here's hoping that the Oriental Express in Space was a throwaway joke.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Pöpcørn



How did i not know that Muppets Studio was making shorts for the internets?
New Swedish Chef, Popcorn, and Statler & Waldorf at the end of every short?
Muppets are cool.


Thursday, July 1, 2010

to a t



Have i mentioned how this just keeps getting better and better?
This is a really fun video, it captures the sexuality of earlier teasers and the way it's shot backwards leads to some interesting flails and lip movements from our mysterious mistress.
Interesting that she's also now the Lady of the Lake.
My only hope now is that release a physical copy of their album once all the songs are out.
See you when "y" is released space cowboys...