Getting it right
In the first episode of the 2005 Doctor Who series, Rose tries to find out something about this strange Doctor she’s met. Clive the conspiracy theorist tells her that he has one constant companion – Death.
Clive has a point. Though the Doctor usually prevents bad situations from getting much much worse, there’s no doubt that people drop like flies while he’s around, and that’s been the case throughout the 44-year history of the series. It’s strongly implied that just before he met Rose, the Doctor was partially (if, perhaps, accidentally) responsible for the death of his entire race.
So, for me, the scene in Friday’s episode where the Doctor begs the Chula nanogenes for one tiny miracle – one day where no one dies because he wasn’t a little faster, a little smarter, or a little luckier – is poignant as hell. Imagine the guilt that a compassionate man would carry after 900 years of not quite getting 100%, wondering if maybe he could have made it all work a little better.
Then, see the look on Eccelston’s face as this time he gets it right. For once in all his centuries, no one has died on his watch, and there are no horrors which are even partially his fault. Eccleston plays it beautifully, and maybe this is just a TV show, but it’s moved me every time I’ve watched it.
On the other hand, my geek cred is eroding a bit. 5 episodes into the new season, I haven’t managed to find time to watch even one of them. Oh well.
People being silly
Just in case anyone hasn’t heard, the IQ Challenge meme is apparently a prank, and the numbers are rather meaningless. Some folks would sya that’s true of many IQ tests out there, but I’ll leave that debate to others for now.
I’ve been using something called “AXE Snake Peel” in the shower for a few weeks. Rain bought it for me… it’s mildly abrasive, smells good, and seems to be fine for washing up. Their website, though, asks me to use their product and join the “Order of the Serpentine”. Y’know… I just don’t feel I need to become a member of a “secret” society just to use a bath soap.
As so often happens when I’m composing morning journal entries, there was something else I wanted to say, but I forget. Ah well. Guess that means I have to go to work now.
Cue John Cleese
In WoW, warlocks drain soul energy from their enemies and store it to power their spells. Tuesday night, I drained the soul of a parrot. Hey, it attacked first!
Stacey “Pink Five” is back. Amazing to me how one can start off making a one-camera, one-actress short Star Wars fanfilm and go on to making a 60-minute extravaganza that includes a full-scale X-Wing prop and legal agreements with Lucasfilm. But then, we live in a time where Star Wars fandom gets its own Hasbro action figure.
We started up the grill last Saturday, officially welcoming back Spring!
Ah, the wind in my knees
I wore the Utilikilt to work on Friday. Everyone liked it much, and I got lotsa compliments. The shirt I picked out to wear with it was pretty weak, but then I’m pretty sure no one noticed I was wearing a shirt.
Everyone wanted to know what I was wearing beneath it – I told them it was $5 each to find out. One of my co-workers was visibly tempted by the deal. (Yes, I was clad. I’m not going ‘regimental’ to my workplace, no matter how cool my co-workers are.)
Web video link-of-the-day: A City of Heroes performance troupe in Bobbo Number Five.
Intermix at 6000 degrees and rising
I want to rant about the idiots who claim that “freedom of religion” gives them the right to harass people they don’t like, but I am controlling myself.
With great difficulty.
“Mirondarah” could be a Japanese monster movie
Last night, raininva‘s rogue and my mage assaulted the ruined desert city of Zul’Farrak with shrewlet‘s paladin and a little other help. I died a lot; that seems to be the mage’s job. When I moved forward to see what was going on, I attracted aggressive attention (‘aggroed’); when I hung back, stuff snuck up on me from behind and clocked me before the rest of the party could react. Ah, well. At least Shrewlet was able to resurrect me, and I completed 4.5 quests I’d never have finished on my own. 1/2 a level worth of experience; really, a pretty good evening in the game.
One of the quests involved summoning and defeating the giant water lizard Gahz’rilla. Just for rattrap‘s info, Gahz’ruki was nowhere in sight.
Before that, we spent a couple hours at my workplace’s Game Day. The host had a really nice place in an area we wouldn’t mind living… must weasel some info out of her 🙂 Rain and I spread the gospel that is Apples to Apples, and lo, it was good.
Saturday, I played in the comp a bit and then spent 6 hours cleaning the house; you can actually see the floor of my office now, yay! That night we broke in our copy of the WoW board game in a four-person run with Bert and Meche. Took about 5 hours to finish, and Rain and Bert’s Horde characters finished off the boss on turn 33 or so. I have to look up who to contact – upon opening the game, we learned that it’s missing one of the character figures.
There’s an Internet rumor going around that the PlayStation 3 will cost $600 – $700 upon release in the US. Of course, Internet rumors aren’t known for having a lot of basis in reality. However, if it’s true, it may be a good thing that I still have many months’ worth of PS2 games to finish.
