Doctor Who episodes and random cultural stuff
I had a busy week.
Macbeth was good. It wasn't amazing, like Ian McKellen in King Lear, but it was solid and entertaining. Strangely enough, the aspect I liked most was the witches. They were like evil zombie nurse witches, and they chanted their parts with industrial-ish music and distorted video playing behind them. I think after the production ends, they should start a Goth band and do a club tour. I'd totally go see them.
Anyway. Further thoughts are here.
(Also, that guy from State of Play was in it. I was excited to be in the same room with someone who's acted with John Simm. *is embarrassed*)
Saturday night jaydk came over for our usual Doctor Who extravaganza. It's so good to share a fandom again; the last time we had weekly TV nights was season seven of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 2003 (OMG that was five years ago!).
This week we watched:
* The Quatermass Experiment, which is a live TV drama from 2005. It was an interesting experiment, but uh, in general I'd say there's a good reason why TV is not usually filmed live. It was pretty dull, especially because so much hinged on us being scared of the alien, and there is nothing scary about a sweaty pale guy lying around and glaring at people. On the plus side, David Tennant was good (and so, so cute) and it further proved the incestuous nature of British television; in addition to Tennant I recognized Indira Varma (who is gorgeous and talented and I wish she'd return to Torchwood), Mark Gatiss (Doctor Who), and Andrew Tiernan (Life on Mars).
* Then we walked a few blocks downtown to see Common Rotation at a club called the Living Room. It was excellent, definitely one of the better Common Rotation shows I've seen recently. They played a good mix of old and new songs (and even treated us to a rare rendition of "Indie Rockin'," which always gets the crowd laughing). Last time they seemed really exhausted and lacking in energy; this time they were totally on, bantering between songs and telling stories about being in high school together. Apparently they had a terrfying scary gym teacher who inspired a former student to become a serial killer; luckily he just inspired them to write snarky songs about him.
Adam (who is usually shy) was even hanging out with the crowd before the show, and actually came over to chat with jaydk and me. (When he waved, jaydk was like "Who is that?" and I was all "Um, Adam Busch." Hee.) I was already rather drunk, and I definitely remember telling him that he should listen to PIG (what? he asked for music recs! and then he told me I should listen to this folk singer in Brooklyn with dark lyrics named... Jeff? Zach? something... I forget) and then we were talking about apartments and I told him he should move to Williamsburg because he's got the hipster glasses and he'd totally fit in. (I hope that wasn't rude. Unfortunately I turn into a gigantic incoherent dork when I talk to people I admire. My life is so random and surreal sometimes.)
Who'd have thought that one of the most memorable things to come out of Buffy fandom would be this band that I've totally come to love, despite it being outside of any genre I ever listen to? And all because one of the guys played a part on Buffy five years ago? *loves fandom*
Then we picked up vegan Middle Eastern food and walked back to my place. I love the energy of the East Village on a Saturday night. My neighborhood is one of my favorite places in the world. How awesome is it that half the concerts I go to are within walking distance, and I can pick up something vegan at practically any hour?
* And we watched the David Tennant/Phil Collinson/Helen Raynor commentary on The Five Doctors. It was a bit strange, as we hadn't actually watched The Five Doctors itself, but it was a lot of fun. Especially as we were already pretty smashed, and the commenters were getting increasingly drunk on champagne as the commentary progressed. I can't even remember much about it, except it was funny, and David Tennant talked about one of the companions having inspired him to spend some time alone in his room as teenage boys do. Anyway, I highly recommend watching it, particularly if you're drunk.
* Continuing our series two rewatch, Love and Monsters. This was actually the first time I'd seen Love and Monsters all the way through, as I've previously experienced an irresistible pull to get up and do other things whenever it's been on. The problem with this episode is that, um, it sucks. I think it is by far the worst episode of new Who. (Yes, even worse than the penis!head Dalek ones, since at least those have a nifty old New York setting and David Tennant acting his adorable ass off).
So, all right, having finally watched it all the way through, I think its biggest failure is one of tone. The show is usually very good at balancing light and darkness (take, for example, the way AoG/Doomsday can make you laugh at that hilarious and cheesetastic Dalek/Cyberman snark-off and then tear your heart out when Rose "dies"). But the tone of this episode is all muddled; it expects us to care about its characters, then laugh at their tragedies, then take the ending seriously.
The first half I actually like (well, except for the fact that all of Elton's "cute" affectations are all... blatant and cliched affectations, and no matter how well Marc Warren may act, the man creeps the fuck out of me--see his appearances in Life on Mars and State of Play for why). But. It does a good job of establishing a group of likable characters, and it's one of the best portrayals of the positive side of fandom that I've seen. That really is how fandom at its ideal can work out--that through a common interest, you develop genuine friendships and are able to explore your own creative impulses in a safe environment. The characters are all sweet, flawed, socially awkward, and likable--honestly, a lot like the people who really are drawn to fandom. And I love how it's portrayed as a healthy thing.
And then... the bad guy shows up. I think it's trying to show the dark side of fandom, that at its worst it can get disturbing, obsessive, and stalkery. And that a powerful figure can have a lot of influence in getting sane people to do scary things. But... it's kind of hard to sympathize with them when they could just tell him to fuck off. And why would he absorb the group members, since they're the ones helping him find the Doctor? Shouldn't he be absorbing random folks off the street who aren't of any use to him? How can we possibly take someone so stupid seriously as a threat? And... how can we possibly continue to treat this as an amusing light-hearted episode when the characters we've just come to like are being horribly murdered? (And there's something so creepy in the subtext, losing your body and your autonomy but still being consciously aware, physically trapped in the thing that killed you.)
*shakes head at Russell T. Davies*
I liked Jackie in this episode. It's nice to get a glimpse of her life and to see her interacting with someone other than Rose, the Doctor, or Mickey. It definitely gives her more dimension; I can sympathize with her loneliness even when I don't agree with her. (Woman, your daughter is an adult now. You have to let go. Stop trying to live through another person! Find your own reason for living!)
I even liked how the theme that the Doctor inspires others to help themselves plays out in this episode. The hero isn't the Doctor, or Rose, or really even Elton; it's Ursula. She's the one who tries to fight the Abzorbaloff and who figures out how to kill it.
But. Back to the problems with tone. They make a stupid joke about how one of the characters who's been murdered is stuck with her face in the Abzorbaloff's ass? Everyone dies, but it's okay because Ursula's still alive as a face in stone? And they can still have sex? Oh god, EW EW EW. What the fuck? Why did RTD think that writing that was a good idea? *shudders* And passing it off as a happy ending? WTF kind of life is she going to have now? Yes, better alive than dead, but it's still a tragedy for Ursula. THIS IS NOT A HAPPY ENDING, NO MATTER HOW MUCH ORAL SEX ELTON IS NOW GETTING. (Want to complain about gender issues in Doctor Who? Here's an instance I'll totally agree with.)
I liked Rose in this episode; she's both protective of her mother and compassionate toward Elton. I think RTD had a decent idea about Elton's obsession with the Doctor coming from his repressed memory of his mother's death, but seeing as it jarred horribly with the goofy tone of the episode, I call it a failure.
The one thing I genuinely like about this episode is Elton's speech at the end. It sums up one of the reasons I really love Doctor Who, which is that there's more to life than "normal," and even when it's dangerous and may end in tragedy, the wonder of the universe is worth the risk. (I just wish they'd tacked that nifty ending onto a completely rewritten episode that didn't suck so much.)
* And then Fear Her. Which certainly looks better in comparison to Love and Monsters. This episode has a weird mix of awesome and awful; I don't know the behind-the-scenes dirt, but my assumption would be that they ran out of money and had to do an episode with almost no special effects or interesting sets.
So. The plot is pretty boring, although I do think it has a couple of good elements. I like that the alien isn't evil, but is just a lost child, and the Doctor finds a way to save both the alien and the human children with no one getting killed. It would be lame if Doctor Who did happy endings every time, but I'm glad that they do it occasionally to balance out the dark episodes.
However, a lot of this plot just meanders pointlessly, and the Olympic Torch thing is so over-the-top that I cringe to watch it. (I like the idea--the power of humanity united, which kind of foreshadows the ending of series three--but the execution is embarrassing.) And I know from Casanova that Nina Sosanya is a good actress, but she doesn't have much to do here except look concerned. The evil!father plot is also a bit silly, although again I like the idea (their love overcomes their fear) better than the execution.
But on a metaphorical level, I actually like this episode a lot. It's about the importance of love and connection (the mother's love calming the daughter, the mother and daughter bonding to scare away the evil father, the positive force of humanity powering the Isolus ship, Rose's love for the Doctor inspiring her to save him and the emphasis on how much Rose inspires the Doctor [which we see again in "The Shakespeare Code," that the memory of Rose keeps him fighting]). And it's also about the terrible consequences of lack of love, of being alone; no wonder the Doctor identifies with the Isolus. It shows that his Gallifrey angst is still there and foreshadows his own broken-hearted darkness in series three. And I love that Rose identifies with the humans and the Doctor identifies with the Isolus; yet another reminder of his alienness, and of how the Doctor and Rose complement each other. (He's got this big alien perspective and she's got this small human perspective; both are important and, while here you can see the Doctor and Rose clashing a bit because of their differing POVs, it's good for both of them to be exposed to the other.)
"Fear. Loneliness. They're the big ones, Rose. Some of the most terrible acts ever committed have been inspired by them. We're not dealing with something that wants to conquer or destroy. There's a lot of things you need to get across this universe. Warp drive... wormhole refractors... You know the thing you need most of all? You need a hand to hold." (*takes Rose's hand*)
YEAH THAT'S NOT FORESHADOWING SERIES THREE OR ANYTHING. :P
I like that such an on-the-surface fluffy episode actually has a very dark subtext when you watch it in retrospect. Which is also hinted at by the foreshadowing of "Doomsday" at the very end.
The main thing that keeps this episode entertaining is the chemistry between Tennant and Piper; they are so much fun to watch together here. It's a nice little episode for exploring how the Doctor and Rose relate to each other; how comfortable and happy they are, and how effortlessly they interact. This episode has a bunch of awesome little character moments that help make up for the lack of an interesting setting or plot:
* The Doctor getting offended that Rose is praising the cat instead of him. Because it's a cute little character moment and because he so thrives on Rose's attention.
* The Doctor taking Rose's outreached hand while talking about the importance of having a hand to hold. I love that they made this a slip-up on his part--she's actually pointing--because it reveals how much he cares about her, but how awkward he is about being able to express it. Which leads right up to Doomsday and his inability to tell her how he feels until it's too late. (And for all the talk about how Rose is too dependent on the Doctor, I think he's at least as emotionally dependent on her. He just has a harder time expressing it. And I think the taking her hand and the line about having been a father are signs that he does want to truly open up and connect with her, and is just starting to get comfortable enough to do it... and then time runs out. *sob*)
* The Doctor eating the jam with his fingers. Because it's so cute. Because as much as he's the hero swooping in to save the day, he's still a socially awkward alien. And because it only takes a look for Rose to tell him that, no, this is not socially appropriate behavior. (They communicate with their eyes! They don't even need to speak!)
* The Doctor and Rose working together to build the whatever-it-is. Just the casual and comfortable way they interact, and the way Rose has apparently picked up knowledge of what the various technical thingies are. (And the Doctor's casual line about having been a father--I honestly have no idea what to think of that. Accident of babble or purposeful dropping of info? Intentional agenda, subconscious agenda, no agenda at all? What agenda--that he'd like to have a family again? [Oh god, please don't say timebabies.] That he'd like to open up to Rose about his past? I don't know. But I love it.)
* Badass Rose with the pickaxe. Rose figures most of this episode out on her own--that the children are missing, that something's up with Chloe, the location of the Isolus' ship, and so on. This is kind of the height of her growth as a character--she's a competent partner for the Doctor, and as much as it hurts to leave him, she's now got the skills to kick ass on her own.
* Edible ball bearings. Because even when the Doctor goes off into ridiculous babble, Rose listens and remembers what he says.
So, yeah. Certainly not the most brilliant episode of Doctor Who ever made, but still a lot of fun to watch.
And then on Sunday (you'd think jaydk would be sick of me by now!) we went to a jazz club in Times Square called Birdland for jaydk's official birthday celebration. It was actually a huge amount of fun. I don't know anything about jazz, but it was really creative music, so I just kind of drifted and drank fancy drinks and let the music draw pictures in my head.
I had a mojito, which was average; a mandarin martini, which was yummy and not too sweet and made with fresh citrus fruit; some kind of vanilla-cream concoction which was amazing; and a pear martini that really did taste just like pure essence of pear. We were having so much fun that we decided to stay for the second set, for which they moved us right up front. It was really cool to watch the band members interacting with each other as the performance went on, and to try to figure out how much of it was improvised. It's not something I'd do every week--the place was really touristy--but for an occasional experience it was really cool.
Then we walked to the subway through Times Square, and I'm reminded of how much I love New York. Because, y'know, it's not like I'd go to Times Square all the time, and usually I'm bitching about how annoying and full of tourists it is (and if you ever visit New York as a tourist, please do something more authentic), but still. It's an amazing place, huge and surreal and with its own kind of insane beauty. In a thousand years, people will remember New York City and Times Square. And it's two subway stops away from me. *adores*
[Cross-posted to InsaneJournal with a way cuter icon]
Macbeth was good. It wasn't amazing, like Ian McKellen in King Lear, but it was solid and entertaining. Strangely enough, the aspect I liked most was the witches. They were like evil zombie nurse witches, and they chanted their parts with industrial-ish music and distorted video playing behind them. I think after the production ends, they should start a Goth band and do a club tour. I'd totally go see them.
Anyway. Further thoughts are here.
(Also, that guy from State of Play was in it. I was excited to be in the same room with someone who's acted with John Simm. *is embarrassed*)
Saturday night jaydk came over for our usual Doctor Who extravaganza. It's so good to share a fandom again; the last time we had weekly TV nights was season seven of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 2003 (OMG that was five years ago!).
This week we watched:
* The Quatermass Experiment, which is a live TV drama from 2005. It was an interesting experiment, but uh, in general I'd say there's a good reason why TV is not usually filmed live. It was pretty dull, especially because so much hinged on us being scared of the alien, and there is nothing scary about a sweaty pale guy lying around and glaring at people. On the plus side, David Tennant was good (and so, so cute) and it further proved the incestuous nature of British television; in addition to Tennant I recognized Indira Varma (who is gorgeous and talented and I wish she'd return to Torchwood), Mark Gatiss (Doctor Who), and Andrew Tiernan (Life on Mars).
* Then we walked a few blocks downtown to see Common Rotation at a club called the Living Room. It was excellent, definitely one of the better Common Rotation shows I've seen recently. They played a good mix of old and new songs (and even treated us to a rare rendition of "Indie Rockin'," which always gets the crowd laughing). Last time they seemed really exhausted and lacking in energy; this time they were totally on, bantering between songs and telling stories about being in high school together. Apparently they had a terrfying scary gym teacher who inspired a former student to become a serial killer; luckily he just inspired them to write snarky songs about him.
Adam (who is usually shy) was even hanging out with the crowd before the show, and actually came over to chat with jaydk and me. (When he waved, jaydk was like "Who is that?" and I was all "Um, Adam Busch." Hee.) I was already rather drunk, and I definitely remember telling him that he should listen to PIG (what? he asked for music recs! and then he told me I should listen to this folk singer in Brooklyn with dark lyrics named... Jeff? Zach? something... I forget) and then we were talking about apartments and I told him he should move to Williamsburg because he's got the hipster glasses and he'd totally fit in. (I hope that wasn't rude. Unfortunately I turn into a gigantic incoherent dork when I talk to people I admire. My life is so random and surreal sometimes.)
Who'd have thought that one of the most memorable things to come out of Buffy fandom would be this band that I've totally come to love, despite it being outside of any genre I ever listen to? And all because one of the guys played a part on Buffy five years ago? *loves fandom*
Then we picked up vegan Middle Eastern food and walked back to my place. I love the energy of the East Village on a Saturday night. My neighborhood is one of my favorite places in the world. How awesome is it that half the concerts I go to are within walking distance, and I can pick up something vegan at practically any hour?
* And we watched the David Tennant/Phil Collinson/Helen Raynor commentary on The Five Doctors. It was a bit strange, as we hadn't actually watched The Five Doctors itself, but it was a lot of fun. Especially as we were already pretty smashed, and the commenters were getting increasingly drunk on champagne as the commentary progressed. I can't even remember much about it, except it was funny, and David Tennant talked about one of the companions having inspired him to spend some time alone in his room as teenage boys do. Anyway, I highly recommend watching it, particularly if you're drunk.
* Continuing our series two rewatch, Love and Monsters. This was actually the first time I'd seen Love and Monsters all the way through, as I've previously experienced an irresistible pull to get up and do other things whenever it's been on. The problem with this episode is that, um, it sucks. I think it is by far the worst episode of new Who. (Yes, even worse than the penis!head Dalek ones, since at least those have a nifty old New York setting and David Tennant acting his adorable ass off).
So, all right, having finally watched it all the way through, I think its biggest failure is one of tone. The show is usually very good at balancing light and darkness (take, for example, the way AoG/Doomsday can make you laugh at that hilarious and cheesetastic Dalek/Cyberman snark-off and then tear your heart out when Rose "dies"). But the tone of this episode is all muddled; it expects us to care about its characters, then laugh at their tragedies, then take the ending seriously.
The first half I actually like (well, except for the fact that all of Elton's "cute" affectations are all... blatant and cliched affectations, and no matter how well Marc Warren may act, the man creeps the fuck out of me--see his appearances in Life on Mars and State of Play for why). But. It does a good job of establishing a group of likable characters, and it's one of the best portrayals of the positive side of fandom that I've seen. That really is how fandom at its ideal can work out--that through a common interest, you develop genuine friendships and are able to explore your own creative impulses in a safe environment. The characters are all sweet, flawed, socially awkward, and likable--honestly, a lot like the people who really are drawn to fandom. And I love how it's portrayed as a healthy thing.
And then... the bad guy shows up. I think it's trying to show the dark side of fandom, that at its worst it can get disturbing, obsessive, and stalkery. And that a powerful figure can have a lot of influence in getting sane people to do scary things. But... it's kind of hard to sympathize with them when they could just tell him to fuck off. And why would he absorb the group members, since they're the ones helping him find the Doctor? Shouldn't he be absorbing random folks off the street who aren't of any use to him? How can we possibly take someone so stupid seriously as a threat? And... how can we possibly continue to treat this as an amusing light-hearted episode when the characters we've just come to like are being horribly murdered? (And there's something so creepy in the subtext, losing your body and your autonomy but still being consciously aware, physically trapped in the thing that killed you.)
*shakes head at Russell T. Davies*
I liked Jackie in this episode. It's nice to get a glimpse of her life and to see her interacting with someone other than Rose, the Doctor, or Mickey. It definitely gives her more dimension; I can sympathize with her loneliness even when I don't agree with her. (Woman, your daughter is an adult now. You have to let go. Stop trying to live through another person! Find your own reason for living!)
I even liked how the theme that the Doctor inspires others to help themselves plays out in this episode. The hero isn't the Doctor, or Rose, or really even Elton; it's Ursula. She's the one who tries to fight the Abzorbaloff and who figures out how to kill it.
But. Back to the problems with tone. They make a stupid joke about how one of the characters who's been murdered is stuck with her face in the Abzorbaloff's ass? Everyone dies, but it's okay because Ursula's still alive as a face in stone? And they can still have sex? Oh god, EW EW EW. What the fuck? Why did RTD think that writing that was a good idea? *shudders* And passing it off as a happy ending? WTF kind of life is she going to have now? Yes, better alive than dead, but it's still a tragedy for Ursula. THIS IS NOT A HAPPY ENDING, NO MATTER HOW MUCH ORAL SEX ELTON IS NOW GETTING. (Want to complain about gender issues in Doctor Who? Here's an instance I'll totally agree with.)
I liked Rose in this episode; she's both protective of her mother and compassionate toward Elton. I think RTD had a decent idea about Elton's obsession with the Doctor coming from his repressed memory of his mother's death, but seeing as it jarred horribly with the goofy tone of the episode, I call it a failure.
The one thing I genuinely like about this episode is Elton's speech at the end. It sums up one of the reasons I really love Doctor Who, which is that there's more to life than "normal," and even when it's dangerous and may end in tragedy, the wonder of the universe is worth the risk. (I just wish they'd tacked that nifty ending onto a completely rewritten episode that didn't suck so much.)
* And then Fear Her. Which certainly looks better in comparison to Love and Monsters. This episode has a weird mix of awesome and awful; I don't know the behind-the-scenes dirt, but my assumption would be that they ran out of money and had to do an episode with almost no special effects or interesting sets.
So. The plot is pretty boring, although I do think it has a couple of good elements. I like that the alien isn't evil, but is just a lost child, and the Doctor finds a way to save both the alien and the human children with no one getting killed. It would be lame if Doctor Who did happy endings every time, but I'm glad that they do it occasionally to balance out the dark episodes.
However, a lot of this plot just meanders pointlessly, and the Olympic Torch thing is so over-the-top that I cringe to watch it. (I like the idea--the power of humanity united, which kind of foreshadows the ending of series three--but the execution is embarrassing.) And I know from Casanova that Nina Sosanya is a good actress, but she doesn't have much to do here except look concerned. The evil!father plot is also a bit silly, although again I like the idea (their love overcomes their fear) better than the execution.
But on a metaphorical level, I actually like this episode a lot. It's about the importance of love and connection (the mother's love calming the daughter, the mother and daughter bonding to scare away the evil father, the positive force of humanity powering the Isolus ship, Rose's love for the Doctor inspiring her to save him and the emphasis on how much Rose inspires the Doctor [which we see again in "The Shakespeare Code," that the memory of Rose keeps him fighting]). And it's also about the terrible consequences of lack of love, of being alone; no wonder the Doctor identifies with the Isolus. It shows that his Gallifrey angst is still there and foreshadows his own broken-hearted darkness in series three. And I love that Rose identifies with the humans and the Doctor identifies with the Isolus; yet another reminder of his alienness, and of how the Doctor and Rose complement each other. (He's got this big alien perspective and she's got this small human perspective; both are important and, while here you can see the Doctor and Rose clashing a bit because of their differing POVs, it's good for both of them to be exposed to the other.)
"Fear. Loneliness. They're the big ones, Rose. Some of the most terrible acts ever committed have been inspired by them. We're not dealing with something that wants to conquer or destroy. There's a lot of things you need to get across this universe. Warp drive... wormhole refractors... You know the thing you need most of all? You need a hand to hold." (*takes Rose's hand*)
YEAH THAT'S NOT FORESHADOWING SERIES THREE OR ANYTHING. :P
I like that such an on-the-surface fluffy episode actually has a very dark subtext when you watch it in retrospect. Which is also hinted at by the foreshadowing of "Doomsday" at the very end.
The main thing that keeps this episode entertaining is the chemistry between Tennant and Piper; they are so much fun to watch together here. It's a nice little episode for exploring how the Doctor and Rose relate to each other; how comfortable and happy they are, and how effortlessly they interact. This episode has a bunch of awesome little character moments that help make up for the lack of an interesting setting or plot:
* The Doctor getting offended that Rose is praising the cat instead of him. Because it's a cute little character moment and because he so thrives on Rose's attention.
* The Doctor taking Rose's outreached hand while talking about the importance of having a hand to hold. I love that they made this a slip-up on his part--she's actually pointing--because it reveals how much he cares about her, but how awkward he is about being able to express it. Which leads right up to Doomsday and his inability to tell her how he feels until it's too late. (And for all the talk about how Rose is too dependent on the Doctor, I think he's at least as emotionally dependent on her. He just has a harder time expressing it. And I think the taking her hand and the line about having been a father are signs that he does want to truly open up and connect with her, and is just starting to get comfortable enough to do it... and then time runs out. *sob*)
* The Doctor eating the jam with his fingers. Because it's so cute. Because as much as he's the hero swooping in to save the day, he's still a socially awkward alien. And because it only takes a look for Rose to tell him that, no, this is not socially appropriate behavior. (They communicate with their eyes! They don't even need to speak!)
* The Doctor and Rose working together to build the whatever-it-is. Just the casual and comfortable way they interact, and the way Rose has apparently picked up knowledge of what the various technical thingies are. (And the Doctor's casual line about having been a father--I honestly have no idea what to think of that. Accident of babble or purposeful dropping of info? Intentional agenda, subconscious agenda, no agenda at all? What agenda--that he'd like to have a family again? [Oh god, please don't say timebabies.] That he'd like to open up to Rose about his past? I don't know. But I love it.)
* Badass Rose with the pickaxe. Rose figures most of this episode out on her own--that the children are missing, that something's up with Chloe, the location of the Isolus' ship, and so on. This is kind of the height of her growth as a character--she's a competent partner for the Doctor, and as much as it hurts to leave him, she's now got the skills to kick ass on her own.
* Edible ball bearings. Because even when the Doctor goes off into ridiculous babble, Rose listens and remembers what he says.
So, yeah. Certainly not the most brilliant episode of Doctor Who ever made, but still a lot of fun to watch.
And then on Sunday (you'd think jaydk would be sick of me by now!) we went to a jazz club in Times Square called Birdland for jaydk's official birthday celebration. It was actually a huge amount of fun. I don't know anything about jazz, but it was really creative music, so I just kind of drifted and drank fancy drinks and let the music draw pictures in my head.
I had a mojito, which was average; a mandarin martini, which was yummy and not too sweet and made with fresh citrus fruit; some kind of vanilla-cream concoction which was amazing; and a pear martini that really did taste just like pure essence of pear. We were having so much fun that we decided to stay for the second set, for which they moved us right up front. It was really cool to watch the band members interacting with each other as the performance went on, and to try to figure out how much of it was improvised. It's not something I'd do every week--the place was really touristy--but for an occasional experience it was really cool.
Then we walked to the subway through Times Square, and I'm reminded of how much I love New York. Because, y'know, it's not like I'd go to Times Square all the time, and usually I'm bitching about how annoying and full of tourists it is (and if you ever visit New York as a tourist, please do something more authentic), but still. It's an amazing place, huge and surreal and with its own kind of insane beauty. In a thousand years, people will remember New York City and Times Square. And it's two subway stops away from me. *adores*
[Cross-posted to InsaneJournal with a way cuter icon]