Moving forward, but glancing back
Sunday, I locked the door to the Portsmouth apartment for the last time, and turned the keys in to the main office. It’s weird, looking at the place all empty and echoey. That apartment was home for 18 months; having spent most of the first 30 years of my life in one dwelling, I always find it strange to leave.
We’re having folks over on Saturday night, so the new place has to be presentable. That’s an interesting task, as our five rooms of this ‘n’ that have to be shuffled into a house which still has plenty of Starr’s parents’ stuff in it. Of course, since some of that stuff includes objects such as big flat-panel TVs, I can accept the challenge, but it’s still a lot like trying to work the new expansion cards into your favorite CCG deck without going over the card count.
In other words, I’m still exhausted. There’s a bright side when I pass my old exit every day and remember that I don’t have to stop at the apartment for anything, but with the work we still have before us, I predict that Sunday will be chock full of slacking.
Anyway, let me tell you about the awesome computer I set up in the study this week. 8 MHz processor – 4 megs of RAM – 20 meg hard drive! The 9″ screen will display images in a palette of two colors (black or white), and the entire operating system fits neatly on an 800K floppy.
I love that old Macintosh SE; it was a much-appreciated gift from rattrap back in (I think) 1991 or so, and I got a lot of Starfleet paperwork, creative writing, and Hypercard gaming done on it. Eventually, my dad bought me a Mac LC III which introduced me to the amazing world of color graphics; the LC III is long gone, but the SE booted up happily on my shelf and is right now running MacWrite II, A Mess O’ Trouble, and the Dark Side of the Mac screensaver. Very decorative and retro. (The clock battery inside is long dead, and I’m not sure it’s worth cracking the case just so I don’t have to fix the time on every reboot. Otherwise, it’s humming along nicely.)
And may I also wish a Happy Birthday to shrewlet, who may well have found the Answer to the Ultimate Question…
See if you can find him on the monitor
Oh, speaking of Freecycling, I’ve got a flatscreen TV in the apartment that neither Starr nor I want to carry downstairs, much less haul out to the house. It’s a 27″ (or 29″, I can’t remember) Philips HD television that handles 1080i (and I think 1080p). It’s got an HDMI input, S-Video and composite video on the side, and coaxial and 2 or 3 composite inputs in the back.
We bought it off the Philips website as a refurb for about $500. It came with a power board issue that would cause it to spontaneously turn off, but it could always be turned back on in 2 or 3 minutes or so, and the problem hasn’t recurred in about 6 to 8 months. It’s a flatscreen, not a flat panel, so it still has a nice heavy picture tube, and that’s why I’m not interested in moving the thing. We have Craigslisted it, but everyone interested so far has been a no-show.
Anyone willing to come over and haul it off can have it for $200. We have two nice flat panel TVs that Starr’s parents are leaving with us, and are planning to just buy our own flat panel when we move again.
Takers?
Brief updates
- 09:38 Was not expecting polling line to be so long. Pleased to see it, but means I will have to go back again after work. Poor time management. #
- 17:06 Morning wait to vote: 60-90 minutes, impractical. Afternoon wait: 2 minutes, no worries. #
- 21:17 I cannot believe I’ve got CNN on the TV for the first time in years. #
Sent subspace radio by LoudTwitter
Brief updates
- 21:53 @meiran Eccleston rules, as far as I’m concerned. However, Tennant does get 2-3 awesome episodes per season. #
Sent subspace radio by LoudTwitter
Too much realism, thanks
Insurance companies: if you don’t stop showing me commercials where a car accident is re-enacted in first-person perspective, I may just go all PTSD on you, and none of us want that.
Perhaps I’m whining and should just suck it up, but every time someone does that on TV or in a movie, I have to restrain the urge to freak out. Been there. Did that. Did NOT enjoy it.
Brief updates
- 18:36 Wow, “Ice Road Truckers” is just like “Deadliest Catch” except, boring. #
- 19:38 As I suspected, my Jedi robes were ruined by the leaking battery in the trunk. My fault for not cleaning trunk quicker. #
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Grown-ups of Time
I recently finished Series 4 of the revived Doctor Who. In many ways, the finale wrapped up and tied together the last four years of programming, as Russell Davies is moving on to other projects. The finale was a slam-bang affair, one comparable to ST:TNG’s “The Best of Both Worlds” in breathtaking moments and an edge-of-the-seat cliffhanger. However, the finale underscored certain themes of Davies that I hope to see put to rest.
Originally, the Doctor was a political fugitive from his people, but he eventually evolved into a crusader of Time and Space, saving individuals and entire planets from oncoming disaster. His fourth incarnation sacrificed himself to save the existence of the universe from one man’s foolishness. The Doctor was clearly fulfilled by his never-ending quest.
When the Doctor returned to television, he was in some ways a broken man. He had been at least partially responsible for the destruction of his race in an attempt to prevent an apocalypse (a futile attempt, as it turned out). Other characters made much about the Doctor as the bringer of Death. Of course, he repeatedly staves off even greater death and destruction, but apparently one gets minimal points for that.
Rose Tyler’s love healed the Doctor, and in fact he began to return the emotion openly for the first time in the 40-year history of the show. But he then regenerated into a new body and personality, and Rose was forced to leave him, and he sank into depression and despair. The crusader of Time and Space was replaced by a sad, lonely immortal who kept on keeping on mainly because he didn’t have anything better to do.
When the villain of the finale mocks the Doctor for creating a band of “Children of Time”, willing tools who will aid our immortal in the destruction of lives and worlds, it’s completely unfair, and yet the Doctor shows hurt and shame. What he’s really done, of course, is give a succession of companions a broader perspective, the skills and the confidence to defend themselves and their loved ones, and the ability to make the awful decisions at times when the Doctor isn’t around. They are “Grown-ups of Time” now, but the Doctor is too busy wallowing in failure to deal with that.
The new helmsman, Steven Moffat, has written episodes that temporarily bring back the crusader. While Moffat’s Doctor in these tales retains a vulnerability that the older series did not give him, he remembers his role as the defender of Life, and revels in the challenge. I absolutely hope that future seasons return to that philosophy, as the worn-out, depressed Doctor is a shadow of the beings he once were, and I become sadder with every episode in which he flails about desperately.
Why have I gone on at length about this? Because the older Doctors, the Fourth especially, represent in many ways the person I’ve always wanted to be. Assertive, cheerful, full of wonder, and up to the challenges of life. Frankly, the Doctor these days has a far emptier life than I do, and it’s hard to see the fictional hero I’ve felt so connected to suffer so. I guess this is something of a “Get Well” card to my old hero.
Further points, with spoilers, below
In which a writer avenges himself upon his fans
“Midnight”: the most excruciatingly painful 43 minutes of Doctor Who I can remember watching.
I’ll be kinder to the science flubs from now on. This episode had no science issues, no overt plot stupidity, no unreasonable characterizations, no bad acting… and yet I can assure you I’ll never watch it again if I can help it.
The episode is a cheap “bottle” show, intended to save money (I’m sure) for the Library two-parter and what I suspect will be another three-part finale. One set, and few actors: a futuristic tour bus with a small group of tourists aboard. The episode may have been a bargain for the writing budget as well, because very little happens.
“Where’s the override?”
Found Iron Chef Japan on the Fine Living Network. Now I need only suffer through the occasional Martha Stewart commercial to get my fix. Sadly, NBC / Universal came down on them about the Backdraft music, and the whole show’s been re-scored by someone who didn’t really get it; but it’s better than nothing.
There’s a tire fire in North Carolina this week, and the smoke’s traveled all the way up here. The air in Portsmouth is nasty. I feel like someone in a cyberpunk book who should be walking the city streets with a small respirator. Sucks, because otherwise the heat’s much more tolerable today.
Thank goodness for the Baen Free Library and the Baen CDs. Because of those resources, I didn’t pay any money for John Ringo’s The Hero. Now, I enjoyed his first “Posleen” books well enough, though the ending of the war was unsatisfying; but this book pretends to be one story for 100 pages (!) and then, without warning, changes its mind, abandons nearly everything, and becomes a completely different story.
Imagine you’re watching the second Trek movie, getting into the story, and the first face-off between Kirk and Khan has just ended. Suddenly, a renegade cadet from the Enterprise steals the Genesis Device plans, uses the prefix codes to cause warp core breaches and destroy both ships, and hides in the Mutara Nebula in a 72-hour survival spacesuit to wait for an arranged Romulan pickup. Unknown to him, one of Khan’s men got out in a similar spacesuit, and is hunting him down as the only chance for survival.
While the “hunting each other down” part of the movie might be gripping, I assume most people’s reaction would be, “WTF? What happened to the plot I was just watching? Who are these people? I don’t even like these people.” That was my reaction to this book. Ah, well, it’s not like I don’t have lots more to read, including In The Serpent’s Coils, Grave Peril, and Little Brother (yes, it’s a free download).
Oh, and while I’m reviewing things, have I mentioned that I am now quite the Steven Moffat fan? The ending of “Forest of the Dead” had me saying to myself, “Bit of a downer, but everything lined up properly, lotsa neat stuff, some good lines. Good episode.” Then: Non-specific Spoiler
Allez Cuisine!
Things I like about Iron Chef America:
The Chairman’s confident good humor.
Stern-visaged samurai chef from Japan, Masaharu Morimoto.
Cooking geek Alton Brown.
Smack-talk and teasing between the chefs.
No air-headed commentary from Japanese actresses.
Things I miss about Iron Chef Japan:
The Chairman’s culinary megalomania.
Maverick avant-garde chef from New York, Masaharu Morimoto.
Professional fortune-teller Kazuko Hosoki.
Chefs focused on their dishes as if lives depended on them.
Air-headed commentary from Japanese actresses.
