The Time Of The Doctor - Hmmm (Spoilers Be A'Plenty, Having Seen The Ep Is Useful)

The Christmas ep has been and gone. And I was happy with it, and about it.

It was not however, without some issues...

It started out strong, Oswin making Christmas dinner for her parents and grandmother (it must be a stepmother?, Clara losing her mother is a strong plot point previously) and made up boyfriend, turkey in the Time Vortex, the holograph projector to put clothing on Eleven. The question, is this planet the Gallifrey put in the pocket universe by the thirteen Doctors. They go into a discussion of the allowed number of reincarnations, cleaning up some of the logic - Ten regenerating into ... Ten, because "I had some vanity issues". Thus making Eleven, because of the War Doctor and Ten's regen into Ten, the 12th and last incarnation, and bringing in the question of how, since we know there is a regen at the end of this ep, he can regenerate again. There is, in canon, yes I'm a nerd piss off, a possibility of the Time Lords granting more incarnations, so biology huh?

(Update: Also, since Donna took some juice from the Fighting Hand when she became Doctor Donna, is that a regeneration?)

However, after entry into Christmas, it slows down a lot, a bunch of lot. The wooden Cyberman was a neat scene, "Also, I didn't tell you that my sonic screwdriver doesn't work on wood." But, he has used the screwdriver to open doors, cut holes in floors, so as cool as the scene was, it missed. And, the time in Christmas frankly dragged. The children's drawings seemed to make my allergies act up, nice touch.

Now, Clara begs the Time Lords for help, and speaks the only name the Doctor has truly earned and loved. The Time Lords, never known for sentimentality or actually caring about anything, grant what Eleven called 'a new regeneration cycle (is that one more regen, or is that the full 12? Presumably the 12?), and regeneration starts, ending the war in Christmas somewhat anticlimactically, not the best segment they've ever done, fixing a problem with essentially a nuke as opposed to cleverness.

The ending with Eleven and Clara had my allergies reacting again, and the actual regen into Twelve (and I think Capaldi hit the right note in his second appearance), was right, I really liked the abrupt as opposed to some CGI fest.

The next question, waiting for the next season? Rose carried over from Nine to Ten, Ten lost and/or said goodbye to all his companions going to Eleven, a clean slate starting with Pond. Twelve seems to be at least carrying Clara over for a bit, and I really like Clara so good, I hope they make good use of her as opposed to, say, a 3 episode send-off, or going the Rose romantic direction. (That to me made for some great acting for Tenant and Piper, but, eh, not the strongest part of Ten's run for me, I absolutely adored Donna and their relationship.)

I'll be re-watching, of course, probably too many times (yes, Sweetie, deal...), and it was on the whole positive, but could have been better. Needed more Spudboy. Oh, and, Handles was a really good point, and made for a good scene and amazing callback when he powered down for the last time.

Thoughts, comments, scathing rebuttals?

I'm A Traditionalist - In A Certain Sense

My own little long-time traditions - get some popcorn and a good scotch.

Why is this not on heavy holiday rotation?

Good voice for Opus.

This was on every Christmastime when I was a little, well, younger paleo. Along with the White Seal.

Good Chuck Jones Stuff.

Nagaina freaked me out then, maybe now too!

And finally, we all know what paleo will be doing into the wee hours after work (I'm on vacation coverage today, pppbblltt! It happens, don't mind, there are probably 30 people on the whole campus, security and my team, so just keep active...) wee hours after work tonight!

Geeksquee!!!!

Update: Courtesy of a coworker

snerk!!

Some Random Stuff I Think - Day-Off Navel Gazing

Today was a day off from work, and after my plunge, last week, into the dark underbelly of the whole basement remodeling 'scene'; where a lot of time is spent on bent knees; a mysterious presence referred to as 'Mohawk'; a wide variety of music, emo, rap, 'gangnam' style; ummm, stuff; I took a full day off, vegging, a bit of a nap, coffee with whisky. In the course of doing nothing all day, a few thoughts wandered across my bean.

Don't know why I occasionally obsess on this song - it sounds like a vignette from classic Sesame Street, so I, for that reason, either love it, or think it should be killed with fire for violating the Law Of The 'Street'.

A commercial for AFLAC - the duck was painful enough at the beginning, with the voice of Gilbert Gottfried (who, make no mistake, is a funny bastard, see THE ARISTOCRATS) - but the latest spin, direct from the bubbling, bile-filled, olympic-sized pit of hell, is 'ooh, the AFLAC duck is in teh hospital with a sprained beak, send it a get well card'. Air bubble in the IV, baby. Flo is aging like fine Thunderbird as well, but still vaguely tolerable.

Ahhh, one Gilbert for the record - mute if at work, brain bleach on sale at ALDI.

The dumpster was stolen from my driveway this morning. I was briefly disturbed, but then I realized I am still parking in my front yard. Then I realized that putting coffee in my whisky made me forget that I knew it was leaving. Then I realized I needed another coffee. And whisky. And then I noticed that the dumpster was stolen from my driveway this morning.

Also, the paint touch-up is done, I should not see the general contractor ever again, which made me cry (no more mixing whisky, whisky, coffee, and whisky), until I remembered that he's an evil, slippery weasel and good riddance, hooker.

On my third episode of NCIS - I can always find it; if I were not married, and Abby Sciuto was a real person, why, I'd...fail horribly, my tongue tied into two half hitches, as she calls 911 to help the stroke victim with the Fargo accent, but still. 
(And the wife knows, so back the hell off - she has a fondness for the star of the show, some loser, name's not important, approximately 2,634 years old but doesn't look a day over desiccated.)

Watched the 10th Doctor ep Partners in Crime for breakfast (whisky, whisky, coffee, eggs, spam, spam, and whisky.) Donna is seriously my favorite Companion, besides most of the rest.

ALDI - your store for finely aged meat, veggies, fabric, tomato juice, meat by-products, generic alcohol, and hand lotion.

BBC America Is The Reason Cable Exists

Last night, watched the Tivo'ed Eleventh Doctor 2012 Christmas special.

AWESOME. Such a good ep. Right there with the Tennant ep on the space Titanic with Kylie Minogue. Tingles. Coleman will be a good companion.

Watching the Battlestar Galactica telemovie from at the beginning of the reboot, still amazing. Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katie Sackhoff, Tricia Helfer, James Callis, (also very good as Dr. Grant in Eureka). AWESOME.

With a few, rare exceptions, american TV can choke on a bag of dicks.

Does This Make Me A Successful Businessman?

Whilst perusing proselytizing posters in our corporate building today, on a quest for coffee, I noted we have a strong corporate presence in Canary Wharf, London. 

Now, recalling recent history, and the destruction of, hell, the turning into gravel and blood of, Canary Wharf, in general, and Torchwood One specifically, during the batlle for Earth between the Daleks and Cybermen, I'm thinking there may be some slots open - paleo's moving on up  to LONDON! 

Or, preferably, Land's End, but beggars can't be stuff and such, a bird in teh hand is worth a hand in a bush, wevs!

(sweetie - "That's just wrong!")
(paleo - "Just a bit of double entendre, honey - ")
(sweetie - "No, schmuck, business don't work that way! And you are a complete nerd!")

Or, p'raps not. Never mind. Fudge. Imma keep hoping.

Oh, and the quest for coffee! Failed. But I did find an excellent liquid printed circuit board finisher. Called 'Douchey and Gerbert', or some such stuff.

Deck Everyone In The Halls

Yesterday, so called “Black Friday”, a bukkake orgy of consumeristic stuff.

About mid-morning, as I finished my appointment to replace my truck window, Sweetie, being a lovely, kind, and savagely impatient woman, requested I do her a favor, given my proximity to one of the many malls in the Cities. Not the Mall of America, it would have been a short conversation, but one of the larger, somewhat more upscale malls. I adore my wife, and wish to make her happy, and this seemed reasonable. My train of thought being, ‘well, it’s noon, all the people who started shopping last night at 8 pm have hopefully had their heads pop, like a blueberry in a rotisserie oven, due to the shame of destroying someone’s Thanksgiving so that WalMart/Target/Kohl’s/Macy’s/Billy-Bob’s House Of Live Hamsters could make a couple extra bucks’.* Although I do not handle crowds well, and have in fact, over time, gotten worse at being in crowds, I thought I could deal.

In short, zoo. In short as well, holy dammit.

I couldn’t deal. Not a damn bit. In all seriousness, a fairly short exposure destroyed me physically and mentally for several hours. I was shaking. I had stomach acid that could etch stainless steel, giving me an idea for another career, but as creating such an abrasive was not, ultimately, as pleasant as many things, including repeated blows to the melon, I felt it to be an unsustainable path. It was an experience I shall not repeat, save under extraordinary circumstances, and then I’m bringing a cattle prod.

I did complete my mission, and now with some distance, have a few things to say.

I adore Christmas. I love Christmas. I am the spirit of Christmas, it is my favorite holiday. I love to give gifts. Not going to claim any particular hypocrisy, I love receiving gifts as well, but I stone get off on giving gifts. As much as people in general annoy me, especially mindless mobs, I would take a bullet for a friend and I like to show my appreciation and I love to give stuff. I understand the ‘mission to buy stuff’, it’s part of the whole ‘giving’ gig. I love to make my wife happy, makes me all warm and glowwy, and fortunately, she is very good at picking out/up the stuff I give her –

- sorry honey kidding yes I’ll be in the garage –

- and I love seeing her smile. So I get it. But I want to endorse an idea.

One gift, one good gift, for your loved ones. Good does not necessarily equate money, by the way, good equates to cool, heartfelt, smile-causing. Good equals putting some damn thought into it, if your child shows logic skills, get a Snakes And Ladders game, something you can do with your kid, rather than this year’s Torture-Your-Uncle-The-Geologist Barney or whatever the latest fad is. Fuck that shit, live like people, people.

I know this is nothing new, just my two cents, and I am very much a liberal, War-On-Christmas-What-Would-Jesus-Buy, let’s put some awesome sauce into the season rather than blind consumerism, type. 

Note: These two cents have not been endorsed by any major religions. Pat Robertson/Jerry Falwell/Saint Sarah, teh Virgin Of Wasilla say, “Buy, bitchez!”

The economy, while oh-so-painfully slowly growing**, is still poor, meaning that I feel safe guessing much of yesterday’s ejaculations were caused by the rubbing of plastic against laser scanner. Credit, by definition and design, is suxxors.*** C’mon people. Seriously?

A Plausible Pile Of Positivity

Now, since this is the beginning of the Christmas season, I am listening to the 24hr Xmas radio. Love it, honestly, I’m a real bug for Christmas, LOVE IT. I want to share a couple favorites. The first two, well, let’s face it, I is a weirdo.

Love Scully and Mulder…

TAP! TAP! TAP! TAP!

Patton Oswalt does the best deconstruction of yesterdays bullshit possible…

I debated including this, due to my enormous machoness, but I assure, I love this song un-ironically, proof, that as wildly annoying Mariah Carey is, she has occasionally shown a bit of talent, and the association with ‘Love, Actually’,  a movie that I also love un-ironically, don’t hurt…

Now, I did notice, and will not post proof because my eyes will bleed, that there are now remakes of the most insipid Xmas song ever, one by the wildly entertaining (in life if not at all in the musical world) George Michael, thrill junkie/idjit extraordinaire, 'Last Christmas'. Life ain't'nt totally perfect...

It's Christmas season! W00t!!1!!!

*Seriously, y’all are Satan. Suck a tailpipe.

**Which brings another thingy this holiday season to be thankful for, that the Lords Of Kolob decided that Willard Romney is to serve a greater purpose, arising with Transformer Jesus**** in teh Last Days, thereby saving us from 4 years of the thorough eradication of the working class in this country so that Billy-Bob, of House Of Live Hamsters Fame, can build a car elevator on his estate next to those Walton scamps.

***Credit card companies? Also Satan. Gonna need a bunch of tailpipes, or all y’all gotta share.

****If you’ve been exposed to the sheer IT’S ALWAYS PROJECTION lunacy of the Left Behind books, read Fred Clark’s (Slacktivist) fisking of it. Well worth the time to drop down the rabbit hole.

Normal People Don't Do This

Damn boss, you are crazy-awesome.



At breakfast, watched this live, as a lunacidal Austrian, Felix Baumgartner, rode a balloon to 23 miles in the air, subspace, jumped from 23 miles in the air, sub-space, to emphasize, 23 DAMN MILES, UP, and fell to earth, including a 4 minute 19 second freefall at over 700 miles an hour.

Slow clap, captain, slow clap!

Geek-Gasm 2, Teh Coleco Boogaloo

From the Oct. 6 football game between Ohio State* and Nebraska*, by the OSU marching band:



It should be noted that this is awesome, and a thing in the history of history! To wit, ya gots yer marching band. Old-school video games. Yay and stuff!!!

*Important note regarding college football. OSU and Nebraska are two Big Ten teams, Nebraska as of recently. Both teams and states have histories of turning out serial penguin molesters and country musicians, along with Michigan and Michigan State, and as such should not only be removed from the Big Ten, but from the rolls of NCAA history. Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, Iowa, wevs. Northwestern deserves respect because they have for years actually produced student athletes. Minnesota will never amount to anything. Penn State should be burned to the ground, ploughed under, the earth salted, then jumped on. Rinse and repeat.