Things in space
I was reading up on Apophis with tungol yesterday - Near Earth Asteroid voted Most Likely To Collide With The Earth In The Next 100 Years. A few years ago it was demoted to likelyhood zero, which is probably good since the thing is 350 m across and would have made a mighty large dent (or possibly splash). By comparison, KT was 10 km across when it struck, so that's still quite a bit smaller, but still.
But anyway. It's not going to hit us, or the moon, but it's going to get awfully close. It'll be closer than our highest sattelites in 2029. This is close enough to (a) see (at a magnitude of about 3.4) and (b) theoretically go stand on.
So, my point. We should totally try to go stand on this thing. This would increase the number of things human beings have stood on to three. It might just be going too fast...but it's coming to visit, it behooves us to say hi. And it's a nice practice run in case something is planning on hitting the Earth.
Anyway, it's a while off - someone remind me about all this in 2029. Maybe it's the letterboxer in me, but I totally wanna go stand on this thing and shout to the heavens "Humanity Was Here!"
***
"The Greatest Show in the Galaxy" : not so grete aktually.
I really want to like this episode more than I do. I love the premise. Which makes me think this would make excellent Deadlands. But unlike most things I've said this about, I think it would make better Deadlands than it made an episode. The first half was basically a series of Random Encounters. In a desert. And then there's a circus. So, good for Deadlands, not really so good for Doctor Who.
The other thing that struck me about this episode, particularly the first half, is how stupid the Doctor is being. He's not even like "there's something sinister here, we'd better check it out" - he's like "But circuses are FUN!" It really broke the suspension of disbelief. It's Sylvester McCoy, he's always got a plan. And then the second half seemed to suggest he'd had a plan the whole time but...that really isn't how he was playing it. So a whole lotta cognitive dissonance. And then it occurred to me: this episode would have been totally believable with Tom Baker. The Doctor's behavior in the first half is far more in keeping with the whole "maybe they were having a giant outdoor breakfast party" attitude of the Fourth Doctor. Also his dismissiveness of Ace's misgivings seems far more Four and Sarah Jane (or honestly Four and Leela: "by the pricking of my thumbs no I can't! and neither can you!) than it does Seven and Ace.
That said, my strongest memories of this episode were of the Doctor removing eggs from his mouth and, on second viewing, I still really loved the idea of the Doctor performing cheap stage magic for Elder Gods. As I said, I love the premise of this episode. And then he used his umbrella as an umbrella!. I think this may be the only time I've ever seen the Seventh Doctor's brolly open. That was strangely epic. And I really did like Mags.
***
Probably going apple picking this weekend if the weather is fine. Then likely we'll go see Cowboys & Aliens next Tuesday. And I think that's it in terms of upcoming news.
And I'm totally listening to music about Sputnik and it's awesome:
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP Hello there!
Sputnik sails giggling through the skies!
Red flags, red faces jump in to race
As the space age begins with a Surprise!
(seriously, I adore the internal rhyme)
But anyway. It's not going to hit us, or the moon, but it's going to get awfully close. It'll be closer than our highest sattelites in 2029. This is close enough to (a) see (at a magnitude of about 3.4) and (b) theoretically go stand on.
So, my point. We should totally try to go stand on this thing. This would increase the number of things human beings have stood on to three. It might just be going too fast...but it's coming to visit, it behooves us to say hi. And it's a nice practice run in case something is planning on hitting the Earth.
Anyway, it's a while off - someone remind me about all this in 2029. Maybe it's the letterboxer in me, but I totally wanna go stand on this thing and shout to the heavens "Humanity Was Here!"
***
"The Greatest Show in the Galaxy" : not so grete aktually.
I really want to like this episode more than I do. I love the premise. Which makes me think this would make excellent Deadlands. But unlike most things I've said this about, I think it would make better Deadlands than it made an episode. The first half was basically a series of Random Encounters. In a desert. And then there's a circus. So, good for Deadlands, not really so good for Doctor Who.
The other thing that struck me about this episode, particularly the first half, is how stupid the Doctor is being. He's not even like "there's something sinister here, we'd better check it out" - he's like "But circuses are FUN!" It really broke the suspension of disbelief. It's Sylvester McCoy, he's always got a plan. And then the second half seemed to suggest he'd had a plan the whole time but...that really isn't how he was playing it. So a whole lotta cognitive dissonance. And then it occurred to me: this episode would have been totally believable with Tom Baker. The Doctor's behavior in the first half is far more in keeping with the whole "maybe they were having a giant outdoor breakfast party" attitude of the Fourth Doctor. Also his dismissiveness of Ace's misgivings seems far more Four and Sarah Jane (or honestly Four and Leela: "by the pricking of my thumbs no I can't! and neither can you!) than it does Seven and Ace.
That said, my strongest memories of this episode were of the Doctor removing eggs from his mouth and, on second viewing, I still really loved the idea of the Doctor performing cheap stage magic for Elder Gods. As I said, I love the premise of this episode. And then he used his umbrella as an umbrella!. I think this may be the only time I've ever seen the Seventh Doctor's brolly open. That was strangely epic. And I really did like Mags.
***
Probably going apple picking this weekend if the weather is fine. Then likely we'll go see Cowboys & Aliens next Tuesday. And I think that's it in terms of upcoming news.
And I'm totally listening to music about Sputnik and it's awesome:
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP Hello there!
Sputnik sails giggling through the skies!
Red flags, red faces jump in to race
As the space age begins with a Surprise!
(seriously, I adore the internal rhyme)