Feigenbaum's Musings

*sigh*

Rusty, Rusty, Rusty...another end of season finale, his last one, and thoughts below.

( Blowout At The End Of The Universe. )

Right it's late I'm sure there's more but that's all I'm putting together for now...count your blessings ;)

Gonna put this under a whacking big cut as it avoids some seriously spoilery cracky thoughts/ruminations I've had about the character of Donna from the new season of Doctor Who.

( Here Be Future Ep. Spoilers!! )

It's cracktastic as I say...probably a million miles wide of the mark, and I'll be snorting at this post come the end of the season. But it's been bouncing about in my head since last night, and thought I'd get it out there. You may now commence to throw things!!

To my old pal (and I mean that chronologically not age wise!!)

delicateone on her big day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Enjoy your trip to view The Tennant in person tonight!! Try not to drool too much...and if it all gets too much lie back and think of Rose. The urge to kill should counter the Squee quite nicely. ;D

A sort of spur of the moment self made Media meme-ish thing...

1. Something I Don't Believe
Warner's claims that they aren't splitting Deathly Hallows the final Harry Potter book into two movies for the money!!! Pull the other one boys, it's got bells on...mostly from cash registers.

2. Something I Can All Too Readily Believe
That CBS are so shortsighted as to be prepared to throw away Jericho, their best written, most innovative and critically acclaimed show, not once but twice. Network executives have all the foresight of the guy that predicted the Millennium Bug would revert the world to the stone age.

3. Something I Want To Believe
a) That Sci Fi will pick up Jericho.
b) That Russell T. Davies won't ballsup the Season 4 finale of Dr Who/return of Rose.

...absolutely no prize for guessing which of these two is the longer shot for me.

Haven't done this for a bit so a bit of ramble over parts of last nights "Adrift". Follow the fake cut with one of the best lines I've heard on TV for ages...

( Bollocks to Serenity )

Just the two episodes left and overall this season has been far better than last. Just hope they don't piss everyone off in the last one. Too much change too quickly is never good, that's all I'm saying.

Roll on April 5th and the return of Donna...and that skinny bloke in the blue box I suppose.

And just a sad moment acknowledging the death of the great Paul Scofield http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080320/ap_en_ot/obit_scofield a fine actor, and by all accounts a fine man...and there are a few others who could learn from his attitude to Knighthoods. *eyes Sir Sean of Connery*

Hope all who celebrated the day that was in it yesterday are well, or at least not suffering too badly. I myself was very good on the day...just not very good on the days preceeding it! :D

Parade was great, three quarters of a million people on the streets on a lovely day so the poor American marching bands and cheerleaders in their rather skimpy outfits didn't freeze their arses off. But the best event this year was the moving of the giant 5.5 tonnes of a Fireworks display to The Rock of Cashel, an ancient castle that rises up above the plains of Tipperary (to which it's a long way to go ;) ). Was a bit dubious about moving it from Dublin myself, but with 100,000 people gathered on the plains to it's 360 degree views, and the contrast between the ancient walls and the music/laser/fireworks display it was, I must admit, truly spectacular.

( BOOM! )

In any event, one trusts you enjoyed yourselves in the increasing global madness the day seems to be generating...St Patrick's Day parade in Beijing, so big the security police wanted it cut down in size...good grief. Me? I'm still just trying to figure out how I managed to drink 5 double vodkas in a short space of time and feel absolutely no effects whatsoever.

Anyhoo..it's quiet here, hence my having the time to do this. Between St Patrick's Day yesterday and Good Friday at the end of this week, it's a 3 day week here and most people have decided to bugger off for those 3 days. But not yours truly, I'm steadfast I am, nose to the grindstone, conscientious...stuck here. *sigh* Ah well.

More timewasting! In the form of a short writers meme nicked from

zaftig46 who in turn nicked it from

janlowell on the subject of writers and their quirks.

Let's be interactive with this, f-list. I'll tell you my quirks, you tell me yours.

1. Music: Sometimes. When I used to study and/or write essays for college, music became a must. But interestingly enough, when writing fiction less is often more. Its use really depends on my mood and what (or who) I'm writing. I find now that music inspires me more to ideas away from the written page, rather than aiding me to write them while at said page.

2. Favourite spot: Used to be perched on top of my bed with the keyboard in my lap, and my dog curled up in the crook of my leg. Highly comfortable (with it's own source of eco friendly doggy heat!) and no need for constant shifting, except when my dog chooses to stick her equivalent of an elbow into my shin. However, with my increased use of a laptop over this past year or two, it's become a lot more fluid , with couch, chair, table, plane, train all coming into play...needless to say though, my dog is not so happy with me. All in all with the laptop I no longer have one favoured spot...save wherever it's impossible for someone to look over my shoulder.

3. Finding inspiration: Reading, definitely. Mostly historical texts and biographys, which are a wealth of often very surprising information. There is very little in the world which has not happened to someone or somewhere in the past in one form or another, and such people and events always get me to musing on "What if's.." and "How that could adapt..." type ponderings. Also the interweb. I am a trivia hound, one interesting titbit leads to me another and another till I have a mind full of generally useless (but surprisingly handy for characters) facts. I must also admit to the TV and movies, both visually and through the twists, turns and machinations of some of my favourites.

4. Writer's block technique: Bed. Night. Regular bed time. In that half hour slot, just as you're lying there, before you go to sleep, when all sorts of flotsam starts to float around in the brain, I let my mind drift over the subject, not just of the 'block' but over what's written as a whole. Sifting through it in a relaxed non linear way, future aims, starting points, the characters...sometimes an avenue I haven't thought of will pop into the head, or a new character who can fill a gap, or simply the realisation that in order to get to point C from point B, I must go back and rework point A. That and or early in the morning just after waking up when the brain has that little tidal surge of unco-ordinated information and is freshly sifting through it. Amazing the sort of things that can pop into your head.

5. Stuff in your writing environment: Clutter. My clutter. All kinds of things. Books, TV, DVD's music. Remotes. Pens. Old Cables. Bills. Drinking Glasses. Pencils. Paper. Discs. Games. Letters. Collectibles. You name it. The things that, despite the 'bomb has gone off' style of decoration, projects a kind of comforting chaos, that both makes me feel at home and can stimulate just by fixing on one object or another.

Your turn, f-list.

God let it be the weekend.

It's Thursday which in work terms for me is blah enough, but I am absolutely brain drained by this past few weeks. Slowly but surely every moment of the working day (and beyond) has become increasingly fraught and packed to the gills, it's like since I've become the go to gal for everything! The only upside to it is the amount of overtime for holidays I'm building up. I don't even really have the time to be doing this but I'm in a two fingers to the world kinda mood so stuff it. I want the weekend. And this week is St Patrick's Weekend which apart from all the partying that goes on, has the blissful promise of an extra day to re-charge the batteries.

Needless to say there will be partying, especially as we have long absent relatives travelling home from abroad. By way of a little bit of trivia for you this coming St Patrick's Day, I should inform you that it is a little known Irish trait (outside of Ireland) that a group of Irish people together cannot make a decision quickly, or indeed agree on a plan....without wibbling...counter proposing...and out and out arguing. It doesn't matter what level we're talking about. Family...work...government...once there's a group decision making process it's always the same. This is in fact one of the main reasons the English managed to hold the country for so long, and why we seem to take ten times as long to build anything compared to somewhere else. We're great ones for the in-fighting. And such indecision has gripped my extended family for nearly 3 weeks now. My Uncle David is returning from Cyprus and the deliberations over who was to host what and when are now entering their 22nd day...we're still none the wiser and he arrives in with my Aunt Mary tonight! I love my family but....*headsdesk*

In trying to re-charge and stimulate the numbified neurons in the brain after work, I've been reading and watching some TV (the latter of which I know is supposed to be a contradiction in terms re-stimulating the brain still...). Shall stick musings on that under several deep cuts...

( Books - Read Me )

( TV - Watch me...well some of me. )

( Torchwood - Also TV but more cracktastic )

Well that's it for now...and more than enough sez you.

Just time for me to wish the always interesting and generous

only_seimei a great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Movie ramblings covering a variety of topics which I shall put under a cut as it's just a heavy dose of the verbals cuz I feel like writing....

( Mummy Mia )

It's February and like an oven in here. So bad I've had to borrow a fan. And instead of having a clear desk to take a good run at this book launch tonight for the Head of School, I've got a meeting at 1.30 with a student, and then a panic run at getting a document in, that my boss should have got in on the 4th of February.

I've been working like a dog recently, despite being ill after my trip, this includes Saturday spending 6 hours with 18 students who had taken on an Online Course when 80 percent of them clearly don't have the skills...and in one case don't have the computer...for it!!

I've not updated here in a donkey's age, and I've got 40 minutes before this student arrives so instead of doing work I'm saying bollocks to it, and doing what I want for five seconds.

And right now what I want to do is say...HAH to you British Media Moaners!!!

I read an article about 3 weeks ago, online, from The Times film critic which pretty much accused the AAMPS of taking the British down a back alley and beating them up. All because their precious Atonement didn't get an avalanche of nominations, and most particularly because the even more precious Keira failed to bag one.

Point 1) Atonement, while being excellently shot and well acted by Romola Garai in particular, didn't remotely deserve the lavish praise heaped on it by the media in the U.K. In fact it was for the most part, predicatable, pedestrian and pretty boring.

Point 2) Keira Knightly is one of the single most limited leading actresses on screen today. So much so that it beggars belief she nabbed an Oscar nomination for that thing that was supposed to be Pride & Prejudice. The fact she managed to get even a Golden Globe nomination for her one dimensional moaney, whiny, utterly un-likeable portrayal of Cecillia in Atonement is I'm sure, solely down to the sellability of her face and the power of money behind a campaign. WTF James McAvoy's character ever saw in her I was never able to fathom.

Point 3) To have the British Movie folk accusing the American Academy of being anti-foreigner, when their BAFTA's have regularly been uber-laughable pats on the backs for the boys 'n gals at home is bare faced gall and cheekery of the highest order.

It's also a complete case of fabrication and sour grapes. The American Academy has always been exceedingly generous to foreign movies and actors. And this year, as if any more was needed, the proof of the pudding came in all 4 acting awards going to European Actors. As two of them were British (even if they don't claim Daniel Day Lewis so much any more), you'd think they'd be happy but the comparative kind of lack of enthusiasm that greeted the victors this morning on British TV, as compared to last years huzzahs when Helen Mirren won for The Queen, was noticeable. They're still pining I think. Tilda Swinton's great, but she's no Keira...and not even La Grand Dame Helen it seems.

As to the actual winners, can't comment on D.D.Lewis or Javier Bardem as have not yet seen either There Will Be Blood or No Country For Old Men but both seemed shoe ins, so no surprise there. I shall continue to root for Johnny Depp, who for sheer breath of character, and willingness to be different (never mind talent!) by law of averages HAS to win one eventually! But I can comment on Tilda, who though she wouldn't have been my choice was memorably nervy, fierce and amoral in Michael Clayton and a worthy winner. And most particularly I can comment on Marion Cotillard who was absolutely awesome.

La Vie En Rose was a flawed movie, most particularly because whatever way the director chose to shot and edit the movie, the narrative got disjointed and the timelines confusing as we flashed back and forth. But nothing could take from Cotillard who was absolutely mesmeric as Edith Piaf, going from about 15 years old to her death in her 50's when she looked about 90 thanks to unrelentingly burning the candle at both ends her entire life. It was a tour de force performance and utterly worthy of the award.

Fair dues to the Academy too for giving Best Song to "Falling Slowly" from a small Indy Irish movie that cost no more to make than about 2 days worth of work from La Knightly.

Huzzah for the return of TW...you were a bit cack from time to time last year, but I missed your crack ficcy, shagalotic, plot holey, dodgy skience, fun. And the "yeah baby!!" that is Jack.

If you have the Beeb you have ALL John Barrowman ALL THE TIME. But he ain't Jack. Never has it been so easy for me to divorce the attractiveness of a character from that of an actor before. Hence despite the plethora of all singing, all dancing, all cooking, gardening, dry walling, JB...tonight felt like ending a drought.

Shall be quick! But a definite thumbs up for a fun start.

( I'll Go With Vera, Here )

Now...how can we get Alexis Denisof in the show, plz?

Just a little something nicked from

only_seimei while I await the uploading of materials for my Father's 70th birthday ~~roast~~ 'tribute' vid so I can get it done in time for next Saturday....and while I watch the clock tick down to midnight for recording purposes.

So a few days after "Voyage of the Damned" Queen Elizabeth II has decided to give Kylie an OBE in her New Years Honours list. This is presumably for helping to save the Doctor, so he in turn could stop the Titanic MkII from crashing into her London gaffe....oh no wait, apparently it's for "Services to Music".

Erm...yes, that's more believable.

*snorfle*

As I linger here trying to get my temperature down 'again' *grumbles about propensity towards holiday illness* I found my attention directed towards 2 articles in The Times. One on the Doctor Who Christmas Special and another on the furor surrounding Catherine Tate's Christmas Special. It's just all sooo special!

The Times critic hated the Who Special and though I didn't, I find it hard to disagree with several of the points made. Suffice it to say I was with those that thought this was "Mehhh", and not a patch on last years effort.

That was the short version of my thoughts, for those who are gluttons for punishment clicky below.

( A duality of thoughts )

is enchanting. It's so nice to have something live up to the trailer for once!!!

For anyone who loves the classic Disney animated movies or just fairytales in general, this is a must. There were so many ways the actors and writers could have made this fall on its face and/or nauseatingly treacly sweet and instead it's a witty gem of a flick with a lovely central star making performance by Amy Adams (who I only just realised played Susan in Talladega Nights!). Perfect feel good holiday fare, that's both heartwarming, clever and laugh out loud funny. Expect this one to feature in the musical set pieces on Oscar Night, and for once I'll be looking forward to them.

And extra kudos to whoever decided to get Julie Andrews to do the narration. :D

After a long long day in full Christmas cleaning / decorating mode, had a lovely long chat on MSN with my mad French friend Michele this evening, mostly catching up and reminiscing over our days in XFiles fandom now that shooting on the new movie has gotten underway. Apart from being pleased about revisiting the show and characters that I loved (mostly when Chris Carter their creator wasn't directly involved) it has the added possible bonus of bringing 'The Old Gang' back together again.

It's a source of some amusement and introspection (and no little thankfulness) to me that Fandom of various sorts, has given me some of my very dearest friends. Michele and the 4 other girls that used to make up the 6 strong UX (UK XFiles newsgroup) gang that used to terrorise/weird out all and sundry with our bizarre mixture of wit, wisdom and ~~outrageous smut~~ ribaldry are amongst the very best of them. Different types, disparate lifestyles but one sense of humour and never-endingly supportive and caring. Even though we drifted (being so far apart geographically) we have still kept in touch to varying degrees well past the end of the show that caused us to meet. Now with the new movie looming in the summer of next year, Michele is trying to lure me back into a revitalised fandom and it looks like we might all be hooking up again. No matter how the movie turns out I know that'll make the event worthwhile. Though I think we can discount the infamous Margarita/Tequila shooter nights this time around as they'd probably kill us now we're all fuddy duddy 30+ year olds. Well...maybe they'll be discounted. ;)

In fact it definitely can't be discounted as Chris Carter is the writer of this new movie and The XFiles is a prime example of a creator not being the best person to run his own creation.

Something that increasingly could be applied to Russell Davies it seems. Apart from his increasing God complex regarding the Doctor his latest remarks about Martha vs Rose are just the jaw droppingly ridiculous final nail in the coffin of his credibility regarding companions. Martha was always going to be second best?! God save us. It's been patently obvious for some time that his views of what makes a 'perfect' companion for the Doctor are seriously at odds with those of us who actually recognise the difference between someone who is a selfish whinger and someone who gives a damn about those around her. Depending on the time of the month you're a reasonable to good plot writer, Russell but you seemingly know feck all about what makes a person (specifically a female companion) worthy and I really can't wait for you to bugger off.

Suffered through a miserable weekend with the stomach flu last week, but this week finally went off to see Golden Compass, something I had been anticipating since seeing the trailer. I haven't read Northern Lights yet so can't comment on Phillip Pullman's book, and from what I've heard from post portem chats with

thecolin1 there are some *huge* differences. Have to say I'm glad to hear that, as I am planning to read the Trilogy, and if it was up to the movie I wouldn't bother. I've seen some rave reviews etc, but have to say I found it kind of "Ehhh...." It wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, it was just...okay. FX were top notch, Sam Elliot was a lovely change of pace, and even if it's predictable to see/hear the likes of Messrs Jacobi, Lee and McKellen in these kinds of movies there's no denying the class! But the film itself was, I thought, too po-faced, a little pompous and in need of a defter touch and more humour. The young actress playing Lyra was fine, even if her accent came and went here and there, but her character wasn't terribly engaging...but having said that she was eminently more watchable than Nicole Kidman. Don't get me wrong, I like Nicole Kidman generally speaking, but she does have a tendency to overdo it from time to time. There's a definite melodramatic streak running through her performances that flares up from time to time, and this was one of them, perhaps because it was a "Fantasy" film and she felt it warranted it. It really didn't. Maybe I was just expecting too much as the Pullman novels are held in such high esteem vs the more popular Potter ones, maybe the movies shall improve as more exposition occurs. I hope so.

In the meantime, tomorrow in advance of an extended family Christmas dinner out shall head out with some friends to see Enchanted, which looks funny as hell!

Hope everyone's Christmas/Holiday preparations are going well! :D

As some on my flist will know I loathe, detest, and generally am not very fond of Thursdays.

They are the bete noir of my working week, full of financial headaches, grasping sods and visitors suffering from terminal moronicity. However the past two Mondays have started to take on a frighteningly similar perspective with one twit after another making inane requests that either have nothing to do with me or which would require me to a) have a fully operational time machine to allow them to be fulfilled or b) a wand to magic into existence the funds they wish.

( Bags o' fun )

And don't get me started on the so called intelligentsia in here who can't even work their email, nor install software, nor plug in colour coded cables properly...that was just a nugget to help me start off the afternoon.

Sorry about the increased number of moaning work posts, but you can blame Aeryn, it's all her fault (heheheheh). :D Normally she'd be the one getting my stress defusing rants of a working morning on IM, but as she is up to her eyes at home, and therefore saved having to hear it, you lot getz it! :D

...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071130/ap_on_re_af/sudan_british_teacher

thank God the poor woman is only being deported, hope to hell she makes it through her prison time before she leaves. The one good thing *is* that the British Council of Muslims HAS actually come out and condemned all this idiocy, something that seems to have surprised even the average British Muslim on the street if this mornings reaction is anything to go by.

On the other hand the Telegraph is its usual pseudo-right wing self. *rollseyes* And it was quite funny to hear RTE dramatically announce last night on the 6 o'clock news, that Islam is now Ireland's 3rd most prevalent religion...and then tell us that there were 33,000 adherents...less than 1% of the population.

...thoughts and prayers to

aerynstales and

thesummoner as their littlest lad heads into surgery today.

Here's to it all going swimmingly and having him home soon. :)

EDIT: Pleased to say that all has gone well according to the Doctors and he is now out and in recovery. :D Hee!!

As a company keen to establish firmer ties with a large University...

1.) Do NOT set up a 10am appointment with said city centre University, when you are attending a 9am meeting on one of the southern most extremes of said city and it will take you at least 45 minutes in morning traffic after said meeting to get to your 10am appointment.

2.) Do NOT stay in said 9am meeting for an hour and a half without calling your 10am appointment whose number you DO have as it was provided for you the previous week by your firm.

3.) Do NOT, as a company contact, say (when the University rings you to say that she is now an hour and a half late) that you will track down said Rep and call straight back. Only to let half an hour go by with NO contact, forcing University to call back and discover that you have gone on a break.

4.) Do NOT, as said company contact's replacement, tell now thoroughly pissed off University that the Rep is "only a couple of minutes away from you and will be there any moment" when you don't know this FOR A FACT.

5.) Do NOT be surprised, following point 4, when University gets thoroughly pissed off (and makes that known) when your Rep FINALLY contacts the University and utterly contradicts your 'couple of minutes statement' by announcing hat she is only *now* embarked on her journey to the University and it will be a further hour (due to aforementioned traffic from southernmost city tip) at least before she gets there. Nor should you be surprised that said University tells her they're not working to her timetable and tells her to come back when it suits them.

Simple, clear, easy to follow.

Oh and by way of a side bar:

As a general rule, as a foreign student if you are going to pester a University repeatedly for a complex report which you ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY MUST HAVE SIGNED STAMPED AND FAXED TO YOU IN SAID FOREIGN COUNTRY IMMEDIATELY FIRST THING MONDAY MORNING!!!. It helps if you give the right Fax number and don't take the day off so no one can get in touch with you.

...and it's not even lunch time.