Things I Love at the Moment
* Flight of the Conchords: New Zealand’s fourth most popular folk-parody duo. These guys are at least twelve shades of amazing. The music alone is brilliant and hilarious. (“I’m not crying/It’s just been raining on my face/…I’m not crying/I’ve just been cutting onions/I’m making a lasagna…for one.”) But the TV show, too? So much love.
* Blackpool: I've gotten through 4 eps so far, and it's getting very interesting. A question to the David Tennant fans who's seen this, though--how does one watch this without becoming an absolutely useless pile of goo every time DT is on screen? Because that's what I've been reduced to. The singing and the puppy dog eyes and the oral fixation. Oh, there's been much giggling and blushing my part, especially when his character is shagging that lady who played the giant red spider Racnoss queen or whatever in 'The Runaway Bride.' *fans self*
At the very least, the series is making me curious about the failed Hugh Jackman version, Viva Laughlin. And how in the hell did Rex from Days of our Lives Eric Winter pull off David Tennant's role?
* Chaos Theory in Vortex Orbits in Relative Dimensions in Time and Space: Best. Baby!Fic. EVAR. Sweet monkey jeebus, my love for this fic has reached embarrassing levels. It's so well-written and so in character and so witty and so ovary-explodingly adorable and so heartbreaking in the very best of ways that I don't know what to do with myself. I would recommend this fic even to people who don't like baby!fic but have even a passing fancy for Ten/Rose. (I remember the time when the idea of the Doctor and Rose shagging was squicky to me what with him being an alien and all. Now, I'm actively pimping baby!fic. Oh, how perceptions have changed.)
* The new Contemporary Grind mix playing at Starbucks: Usually, the promo songs we play bore me to tears. This time I was pleasantly surprised to hear some actual good, upbeat music: Spoon, Kate Nash (with unbleeped songs, gasp!), Paolo Nutini. All of the awesome almost makes up for the buttload of Norah Jones and jazz and other sleepytime songs that still make up 70% of our music.
* No more Big Shots on my DVR: I kept them this long out of a sense of obligation for my being a card-carrying Michael Vartan fangirl. Thanks to the McAvoy Skip (a term my sister coined by watching an entire disc of some BBC series in the span of an hour by ignoring all plot and skipping to the pretty James McAvoy scenes), I've finally blasted through all 13 eps without actually absorbing any information other than1) Michael Vartan is gorgeous as hell--and even more attractive when interacting with his TV kids--but not exactly the best actor in the world;
2) After Veronica Mars and Big Shots, Ryan Devlin has "sociopathic (maybe-)rapist" down;
3) There is no justice in Joshua Malina always having his shirt off yet Michael Vartan is always fully clothed; and
4) Christopher Titus has three shades of acting: panicked, stressed, and stressed sarcasm
Too bad the show ended right as it was beginning to get interesting (read: Zack's express train to Crazytown).
* Donna Noble love: Not to trivialize my adoration for Rose Tyler or my passable like for Martha Jones, but my love for Donna right now knows no bounds. (see cut below)
* The new Olympic sport of Graduation Marathoning: Bonie's UC Davis graduation on June 13 (Friday), mine at UCI on June 14 (Saturday), and Susan's at UCLA on June 15 (Sunday). Gotta love the UC system for putting most of the graduations on the same weekend. And this isn't counting all of the graduations in May for the private schools and CSUs. Thank goodness not all of the Kids are graduating this year. I'm not sure my liver can handle all of the alcohol that is sure to flow after every ceremony.
***
Some brief notes on last week’s ep of Doctor Who because I want to stake claim on theories now before I’m either proven right or, most likely, horribly, horribly wrong.
* I. Love. Donna. Before the series began, I figured I'd like her because what the Doctor needs the most right now is someone who will (quite literally) slap some sense into him. I didn't anticipate how much I would utterly adore her and everything she brings to the table. Their dynamic is far surpassing my expectations. I loved that even though Donna didn’t completely agree with destroying all of Pompeii, she understood the Doctor’s obligation and made it so she shared his burden in pushing the lever.
* The licking! Oral fixation jokes aside, it's such a relief to see him licking things again, something we haven't seen since S2.
* "You fought her off with a water pistol. I bloody love you." The Doctor saved the day with a water pistol. Let's let that sink in: he saved the day. With a water pistol. What other show does that and gets away with it? I LOVE IT.
* I like that they addressed the question of why the Doctor mucks about with certain events but not others. And as tragic and horrible as it was, I was kind of in awe at the reveals that wibbly-wobbly timey-wimeyness of events dictated that the Doctor is the one who caused the eruption of Vesuvius and him saving the family is how the word “volcano” was coined. I have a feeling that saving that family is gong to come back around for the Doctor again somehow. Hmm.
* Regarding the whole "She is returning" bit [insert flailing here], my theory is that this universe and Rose's universe are converging, hence the planets disappearing from this universe and possibly going to that universe. It explains how Rose is able to fade in and out of this universe. This also goes with the possible theme of entities being lost: planets and Rose (who is "still lost," according to the Doctor).
* Or! Second theory! The disappearing planets have something to do with the Shadow Proclamation, which seems to be like the Geneva Convention for interplanetary relations. If I understood correctly, planets aren't disappearing as much as being taken away. Perhaps a civilization is going against the Shadow Proclamation and claiming planets as their own
Overall, I really enjoyed the ep. It’s so nice to see lighthearted!Doctor again. At the same time, so far, the writers have been doing a fantastic job with keeping the show happy and bouncy while injecting real emotional moments.
***
This weekend, I'll be pulling a Starbucks hat trick by closing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. God help me if this weekend is anything like the last, when 70% of our sales were Frappuccinos.
In the meantime, wooo for the NBC Thursday Night Comedy Trifecta of amazingness: The Office-30 Rock-Scrubs!
ETA: NOOOOOOOO, JIM! DON'T DO IT (yet)!
Now, I'm all about the PB&J, but it is so not the time for them to get engaged. They have far too many issues they need to work out individually before jumping into marriage. For the love of cripes, Pam just got out of a 200-year engagement. I know she and Jim have loved each other forever and a day, but give it at least a couple more months of dating before talking about giving Pam another ring.
Maybe in a season or two when Jim grows up a little more and Pam does something about her answering phones for a living, they can try for a little more permanence. But all of that should definitely not be happening now. I've had an inkling that something like an engagement was coming, and my reaction to that was the same as my reaction during the episode: simultaneous swooning and exclamations of "No! Don't do it! Too early! Not yet!"
That said, oh, are they adorable or what? With the flirting and holding hands and casual discussion of moving in together and fake-out proposal! And Jim whipping out the engagement ring that he bought a week after they started dating (which he is also apparently carrying around with him)? *cuddles them both*
* Blackpool: I've gotten through 4 eps so far, and it's getting very interesting. A question to the David Tennant fans who's seen this, though--how does one watch this without becoming an absolutely useless pile of goo every time DT is on screen? Because that's what I've been reduced to. The singing and the puppy dog eyes and the oral fixation. Oh, there's been much giggling and blushing my part, especially when his character is shagging that lady who played the giant red spider Racnoss queen or whatever in 'The Runaway Bride.' *fans self*
At the very least, the series is making me curious about the failed Hugh Jackman version, Viva Laughlin. And how in the hell did Rex from Days of our Lives Eric Winter pull off David Tennant's role?
* Chaos Theory in Vortex Orbits in Relative Dimensions in Time and Space: Best. Baby!Fic. EVAR. Sweet monkey jeebus, my love for this fic has reached embarrassing levels. It's so well-written and so in character and so witty and so ovary-explodingly adorable and so heartbreaking in the very best of ways that I don't know what to do with myself. I would recommend this fic even to people who don't like baby!fic but have even a passing fancy for Ten/Rose. (I remember the time when the idea of the Doctor and Rose shagging was squicky to me what with him being an alien and all. Now, I'm actively pimping baby!fic. Oh, how perceptions have changed.)
* The new Contemporary Grind mix playing at Starbucks: Usually, the promo songs we play bore me to tears. This time I was pleasantly surprised to hear some actual good, upbeat music: Spoon, Kate Nash (with unbleeped songs, gasp!), Paolo Nutini. All of the awesome almost makes up for the buttload of Norah Jones and jazz and other sleepytime songs that still make up 70% of our music.
* No more Big Shots on my DVR: I kept them this long out of a sense of obligation for my being a card-carrying Michael Vartan fangirl. Thanks to the McAvoy Skip (a term my sister coined by watching an entire disc of some BBC series in the span of an hour by ignoring all plot and skipping to the pretty James McAvoy scenes), I've finally blasted through all 13 eps without actually absorbing any information other than1) Michael Vartan is gorgeous as hell--and even more attractive when interacting with his TV kids--but not exactly the best actor in the world;
2) After Veronica Mars and Big Shots, Ryan Devlin has "sociopathic (maybe-)rapist" down;
3) There is no justice in Joshua Malina always having his shirt off yet Michael Vartan is always fully clothed; and
4) Christopher Titus has three shades of acting: panicked, stressed, and stressed sarcasm
Too bad the show ended right as it was beginning to get interesting (read: Zack's express train to Crazytown).
* Donna Noble love: Not to trivialize my adoration for Rose Tyler or my passable like for Martha Jones, but my love for Donna right now knows no bounds. (see cut below)
* The new Olympic sport of Graduation Marathoning: Bonie's UC Davis graduation on June 13 (Friday), mine at UCI on June 14 (Saturday), and Susan's at UCLA on June 15 (Sunday). Gotta love the UC system for putting most of the graduations on the same weekend. And this isn't counting all of the graduations in May for the private schools and CSUs. Thank goodness not all of the Kids are graduating this year. I'm not sure my liver can handle all of the alcohol that is sure to flow after every ceremony.
***
Some brief notes on last week’s ep of Doctor Who because I want to stake claim on theories now before I’m either proven right or, most likely, horribly, horribly wrong.
* I. Love. Donna. Before the series began, I figured I'd like her because what the Doctor needs the most right now is someone who will (quite literally) slap some sense into him. I didn't anticipate how much I would utterly adore her and everything she brings to the table. Their dynamic is far surpassing my expectations. I loved that even though Donna didn’t completely agree with destroying all of Pompeii, she understood the Doctor’s obligation and made it so she shared his burden in pushing the lever.
* The licking! Oral fixation jokes aside, it's such a relief to see him licking things again, something we haven't seen since S2.
* "You fought her off with a water pistol. I bloody love you." The Doctor saved the day with a water pistol. Let's let that sink in: he saved the day. With a water pistol. What other show does that and gets away with it? I LOVE IT.
* I like that they addressed the question of why the Doctor mucks about with certain events but not others. And as tragic and horrible as it was, I was kind of in awe at the reveals that wibbly-wobbly timey-wimeyness of events dictated that the Doctor is the one who caused the eruption of Vesuvius and him saving the family is how the word “volcano” was coined. I have a feeling that saving that family is gong to come back around for the Doctor again somehow. Hmm.
* Regarding the whole "She is returning" bit [insert flailing here], my theory is that this universe and Rose's universe are converging, hence the planets disappearing from this universe and possibly going to that universe. It explains how Rose is able to fade in and out of this universe. This also goes with the possible theme of entities being lost: planets and Rose (who is "still lost," according to the Doctor).
* Or! Second theory! The disappearing planets have something to do with the Shadow Proclamation, which seems to be like the Geneva Convention for interplanetary relations. If I understood correctly, planets aren't disappearing as much as being taken away. Perhaps a civilization is going against the Shadow Proclamation and claiming planets as their own
Overall, I really enjoyed the ep. It’s so nice to see lighthearted!Doctor again. At the same time, so far, the writers have been doing a fantastic job with keeping the show happy and bouncy while injecting real emotional moments.
***
This weekend, I'll be pulling a Starbucks hat trick by closing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. God help me if this weekend is anything like the last, when 70% of our sales were Frappuccinos.
In the meantime, wooo for the NBC Thursday Night Comedy Trifecta of amazingness: The Office-30 Rock-Scrubs!
ETA: NOOOOOOOO, JIM! DON'T DO IT (yet)!
Now, I'm all about the PB&J, but it is so not the time for them to get engaged. They have far too many issues they need to work out individually before jumping into marriage. For the love of cripes, Pam just got out of a 200-year engagement. I know she and Jim have loved each other forever and a day, but give it at least a couple more months of dating before talking about giving Pam another ring.
Maybe in a season or two when Jim grows up a little more and Pam does something about her answering phones for a living, they can try for a little more permanence. But all of that should definitely not be happening now. I've had an inkling that something like an engagement was coming, and my reaction to that was the same as my reaction during the episode: simultaneous swooning and exclamations of "No! Don't do it! Too early! Not yet!"
That said, oh, are they adorable or what? With the flirting and holding hands and casual discussion of moving in together and fake-out proposal! And Jim whipping out the engagement ring that he bought a week after they started dating (which he is also apparently carrying around with him)? *cuddles them both*