Why I will get nothing done before I leave for spring break trip.

[readingredhead]

New Doctor Who. As I've only seen one episode it's totally possible that I will have to revoke this sentiment but something makes me doubt that, so here goes: Matt Smith has what it takes to make it. He's not David Tennant but he knows it and he's not trying to be. He's just being his own kind of Doctor and obviously having good fun with it. EDIT: Just watched second ep and while it doesn't make me like Matt Smith any more or less than I previously liked him, it does make me like Karen Gillan lots and lotses. I like that she's feisty and that it seems like, unlike previous companions, she's going to actually challenge the Doctor and argue with him and stuff. Not just sit there with puppy eyes when he's about to destroy the world and tell him to stop. I read an interview where Karen said Matt was like her annoying older brother, and I think that sort of shows in this ep, in a good way. Why do I have to be out of the country for the next one??

Torchwood. I have heard it is not on par with Doctor Who but seriously, John Barrowman. Need I say more? Also, awesome Welsh accents. I am seriously in love with the breadth and variety of British accents, and not just with that singular concept of "the British accent" (which almost always means the Oxford accent to Americans, including me before I lived here).

Changes by Jim Butcher. The most recent Dresden Files book, which just appeared in my mailbox and promises to be completely game-changing. I'm almost afraid to read it because I know I'll breeze through it in six hours and then be left waiting another year for the next one.

A Wizard of Mars by Diane Duane. The most recent Young Wizards book, which also just appeared in my mailbox in the same shipment from Amazon and is only the book I have been waiting for ALL MY LIFE. Seriously. It's been FIVE YEARS since the last YW release and I've waited oh so patiently. This is worse than waiting for Harry Potter because a) there are no movies and b) the fandom is much smaller, so there are fewer people to understand your pain (however, the small-but-dedicated fandom is generally one of the things I love about YW, so I shouldn't complain). I'm definitely afraid to read this one because I have no idea how long it'll be until the next one appears, and I do not know what I will do with myself in the meantime and with the waiting. This isn't like Jim Butcher where I know he'll pop out a book a year, no sweat (which allows me to read them so quickly when they come out). Diane Duane is meant to be savored, in slow but intense portions. I would almost say it has to be read casually, except there's nothing casual about it. In fact, I don't even remember what it's like to read one of her books for the first time anymore. The last time I had that experience, I had only just gotten a livejournal and certainly didn't blog about it. I just emphatically don't want it to be gone.

Preparation for spring break trip will probably take more time/effort/energy than I give it credit for. I mean, I'm gone for 16 days which I'm spending in 5 cities in 4 countries in 2 time zones (though only one continent this time). By the end of the month I'll have seen where the Thirty Years' War started, the Cold War (symbolically) ended, the great temple to Athena was built to command an entire city, a man named Freud revolutionized our perception of selfhood, and the small Greek island immortalized courtesy of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It will be AMAZING. But try packing enough stuff for all of that in a small suitcase and you run into some issues (or at least I will...when I finally start packing the night before I leave).

Finally, it's sunny outside. Why in the world would I want to get things done when I could sit outside in the sunshine and just revel in the world being such a beautiful place?

Comments

[hodgetopodge.livejournal.com]

Your assessment of Torchwood is spot on. I've only seen one episode, but it's no Who. It's mostly the hot guy and Welsh accents.

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Have now watched 3 episodes, and so far it really is the hot guy and Welsh accents and generally there's sex too (though so far mostly off-camera except for that sex-crazed alien thingy). Granted with hot guy and Welsh accents around, this should not be a surprising development? XD

[hodgetopodge.livejournal.com]

Right, I forgot about the sex. The way that should be played off (but is avoided for the sake of offending viewers our age and older) is by explaining that it's Doctor Who for adults. I'm not surprised-- I'd be about twice as willing to jump someone with a Welsh accent, always assumed that was a universal preference.

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Uh, YES. Although of jumpable people on the show, I would pick the one with the American accent. (Irony of ironies, he's not interested. Oh John Barrowman. Now, if we were talking about his character instead of the actor this would be a VERY different story.)

[hodgetopodge.livejournal.com]

Fantasy is fantasy. I say keep it. You're not likely to meet any of the actors anyway. Barrowman from Scotland and can put on a Scottish accent when it suits him. Does it strike you as odd that for a show that pretends to be English but has been Welsh for the past 5-6 years stars mostly Scottish actors? I prefer Tennant's native accent. Some people are vaguely attracted to dialects other than their own because they are 'exotic.' I find it attractive because it's a nerdy hobby. I have a bad habit of trying to emulate the kinds of vowels foreigners use. It seems mean or irreverent, but I'm really trying to be affectionate. And people who know me well know that my speech patters (and especially vowels) are in flux, likely to move a half step in any direction by next Tuesday. I play with switching to the non-rhotic r, h-dropping, the ways we use 'got,' &c without meaning to, but somehow I still manage to come off as being from anywhere in the States I want to be from this week.

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Oh I am well aware re: fantasy. And re: lots of Scottish people! I think Tennant's real accent is AWESOME. But I also really like Amy Pond's accent. Not a Scottish Doctor like Tennant had hoped for but at least a Scottish companion? And one who doesn't live in London! A bunch of my British friends and I were talking about the improbability of Rose, Martha, and Donna all being, not just from London, but from south/west London. One of them even suggested that this would probably be joked at by the show's writers at some point -- and that it would be quite possible (and amusing) to retcon in something that explained the TARDIS's strange predilection for south/west London locales.

I used to be more like you with the accent thing but I find myself more and more interested in being able to pick out the accents of others than being able to mimic them myself. (Possibly because I'm not very good at the mimicry.) What I do like mimicking is word usage - so although my British accent is acceptable at best (and laughable at worst), people will believe I'm from here if I want them to because I've picked up the phrasing and speech patterns. I think I am more proud of that than of the accent. (Again, probably because I am not very good at the accent.)

[transientrain.livejournal.com]

Where'd you find the new episodes? Share!

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

I'm going to sound very snooty as I say this, but I live in the United Kingdom. I can watch them in high-quality direct from the BBC website. :) :) :)

However, if you don't mind middling quality, you can also stream them here (http://watch-series.com/serie/doctor_who).

And here (http://hotfile.com/dl/37265592/45fab4d/doctor_who_2005.5.02.the_beast_below.hdtv_xvid-fov.avi.html) is a link to download 5x02 "The Beast Below" that I found...no similar one for 5x01 "The Eleventh Hour" at the mo, which is a shame since I liked that one better.

[jenepel.livejournal.com]

I have to agree about liking Amy/Karen - the second ep really had me warming to her.

Although you had better exempt Donna from this: "I like that she's feisty and that it seems like, unlike previous companions, she's going to actually challenge the Doctor and argue with him and stuff. Not just sit there with puppy eyes when he's about to destroy the world and tell him to stop." otherwise wtf? (Also really tbh I'm not a huge Rose fan but she was pretty feisty too.)

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Okay, I wasn't entirely being fair. Most of them don't make him stop with puppy eyes. And I really do LOVE Donna, like, to pieces. Still better than I like Amy, in fact. I guess that what I was trying to articulate about Amy is that, not only is she feisty and willing to argue/challenge, she also doesn't seem to be easily sidetracked/awed by the fact that the Doctor is a time-traveling alien with ridiculous intelligence. Possibly because of his repeated misunderstanding of "five minutes." And somehow also I don't get anything like a romantic vibe between her and Matt WHICH IS A GOOD THING. Got enough of that for a bit, I think.