doctor who
The Unadventurous Adventures of Daryl L.
Oh hello.
My photos from Europe and Hong Kong are up.
Here are a very select few.
Big Ben:
At the Emirates Stadium:
Parking my TARDIS in London:
View of the Eiffel Tower:
Saying hi to an old friend:
Here’s the Louvre:
My very first Goya’s:
And finally…
Meanwhile, you can go over to flickr for the photos. [Europe] [Hong Kong] Many more over there.
d
A Link Rojak
Hello. Here are some random things.
Turn Left
A number of Doctor Who scripts by Russell T. Davies are available for download here. [via The Writer's Tale]
Theatre, Not TV
Adrian Pang is leaving MediaCorp to focus on his efforts in theatre. [via The Straits Times] I suppose this means I should forget about that idea of writing a drama series with him as my lead.
The (Not-So-)Quick Brown Fox
Jumps over the (not-so-)lazy dog.
Unnamed
“There are two poles — one says we’re just this machine, and the other says, what a piece of work is man. I did not want to come down on one side or the other. It’s possible that this poor guy, with enough research and enough time, could have solved his problem — but essentially, the mystery at the heart of his entire being can never be solved.”
Joshua Ferris talks about his new book, The Unnamed. [via The Barnes & Noble Review]
d
Goodbye, No. 10. Hello, No. 11.
Bye Bye, David Ten-nant
As I was busy taking my Christmas-New Year break, the Tenth Doctor said goodbye to audiences with his final episodes. Farewell, Tenth Doctor. It was a great run, in spite of the scattershot quality of the stories. I think David Tennant’s run will probably be remembered as the one that almost miraculously catapulted the Ninth’s successful revival attempt into a real force to be reckoned with, which is great for all the long-time fans of the show, of course.
But if there’s one thing the show has taught us, it’s change. Time to move on, and here’s a trailer of the new series coming this year, with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan looking quite good in their roles:
I must complain about seeing the Daleks again for the sixth time (I think?) in five years, although I’ll reserve judgement until it becomes clear what all that’s about. It’s nice to see vampires that are not sparkly Twilight things in this day and age. And I’ve never been big on River Song, but I’ll wait and see what she brings to the new show. Apart from that, everything is looking good to me. Including the very fleeting glimpse at what I suppose is the new TARDIS interior.
I think it’s going to be a rocking 2010.
One Week
Oh no! One week to school! I think! Wait, I better get that date checked out.
But yes, not too much longer. It hasn’t been too bad, really, and I’ve got quite a few things done. I think I’ll spend the week just trying to sort out the little administrative stuff and do a little stockchecking. I’ve got some books I want to finish up with, some videos (including the marvellous Planet Earth), and some other chores to settle. I also want to plan a bit for the coming semester. To make it a bit more exciting, I hope.
Well, phew, 2010 already. Here goes nothing.
d
Moonwater
Study Week
It’s the study week. I feel immensely numb. As if they can’t hurt me. Well, I suppose after that storm of a semester, that’s sort of true. The exams are spaced out like nobody’s business, so I get the feeling that it’ll be a slightly different exam period. We’ll take it a day at a time, I suppose, but now that it’s the third year, I don’t think that it’s going to be causing any major states of alarm.
My study plan is actually quite simple. I’ll just be cycling through the things over and over until we reach D-day, and then it’s basically an amusement ride on rails. So, here goes.
Space!
Water found on the Moon! [via SPACE.com]
The Lovely Bones
Boneworms are a relatively newly discovered genus (Osedax) of worms that eat bones. They live in the sea. [via ScienceDaily] Most of them haven’t been named, but their story is immensely interesting.
Moorcock x Doctor Who
Michael Moorcock should be penning a new Doctor Who novel. [via Moorcock's Miscellany]
风声 Trailer
I want to watch this movie.
d
It won’t be long… (Yeah yeah yeah yeah)
After Tomorrow
Today is Monday! Today I have the final presentation for a project that has taken up very much–maybe too much–of my time. I’m sure it’ll all feel very happy once it’s over, except for the fact that I have a test tomorrow that I haven’t started revision on. But beyond that, it’ll all be over. For now (writing this on Sunday), I’ll just be happy if I manage to survive the next couple of days without incident.
And goodness, it went by in a flash. I know I say that every semester, but this one has been just that bit different. I tried harder to keep up with friends; I found myself having to deal with minor crises one after the other; and I made a little progress where work was concerned. I didn’t burn out, which is surprising because I thought I would. And as far as friends go, I think I learnt a little about what some friendships mean to me, and I think while I’ve lost some of these acquaintances, there are some that I now hold closer than I ever thought I would, which is probably the best thing that’s happened in the past three months.
It’s not been a bad three months. Sure, occasionally upsetting, but otherwise pretty good. I think something happened. Something changed. I’m not sure what.
Strange, I was talking about school work just a few sentences ago. But I think the point is it all went pretty well, bar a few hiccups along the way.
Right, the final countdown.
Water Always Wins
Waters Of Mars is broadcast this week, and here’s a new trailer. Well, it was new when I first saw it.
d
A few interesting things.
Tissue Culture Lab
Yesterday, I read this article that came in two parts. It was of particular interest to me because I happened to be writing about bioethics and was taking a break by checking out my RSS feed.
[Part 1 via we make money not art]
[Part 2 via we make money not art]
“The aim of the wet lab was not to have us run our own lab. The objective of the workshop was to present the general public with the technology and the dilemmas that accompanies it. A hands-on approach takes the technology beyond a strictly scientific approach and informs the debate on the ethical, cultural and social implication of tissue culture. What does it mean to work with living, semi-living or formely living beings? What does it mean to grow disembodied cells from a former organism? What’s the meaning of tissue culture for artistic purposes versus health application? Or the development of a new weapon?”
I like particularly that there is an artistic dimension to it that I wouldn’t quite have thought of.
New Doctor Who Logo
Here’s the Doctor Who logo going into 2010. [via BBC] I think it’s lovely because it definitely reminds me of the old Who in a good way. I suppose they’ve stopped needing to appear new and trendy, and that it’ll draw upon some of the old series in the Moffat era.
QM Microscopy
MIT electrical engineers propose a quantum mechanical measurement method that, unlike electron microscopy, will not require electrons to bounce off the material surface in order to produce an image, thus avoiding sample damage. [via PhysOrg]
Two Artists
Fleet Street Scandal is an online store features the art of Kevin Dart and Chris Turnham, and I really quite like it. [via Fleet Street Scandal] On the other hand, Ghee Happy is an endeavour by Sanjay Patel that “celebrates Indian/Hindu mythologies and culture [through] design and storytelling in a fun and charming way.” [via Ghee Happy]
Book recommendation will be up next, I think.
d
Do The Right Thing
The Right Thing
The next project is about heroes, I think. That’s the way it looks to me now. After a few days of pondering in various stylish poses, the ideas still refuse to come together, but it seems to be making a little progress. The biggest challenge will of course be deciding which ones work and which ones don’t, and putting a leash on it all, though I suppose I should wait until it at least tries to come together first.
For now, a few vague words about it because I don’t know what else to write about now. It’s about desperate people and about doing the right thing, something that doesn’t always feel right, as I’ve recently been reminded. It’s probably quite bizarre, but I’m not too sure about the balance between the gritty and the fantastic. The only places that these intersect in the right way for this project are horror and Kafka, though I realise that my current ideas require asking for more breadth than either of those might be able to afford. So it’s all a bit tricky-looking now.
Still, my deadline for this is ages away, so I reckon I’m making good time.
Awful
Speaking of doing the right thing, I feel awful now. Funny how that works, isn’t it? Without being any less vague, I suppose in time we’ll learn if it was the proper path to take.
Two For Who
These are official BBC things, so I’ll consider them non-spoilers, but I’ll say that they confirm pretty big things that you might consider as spoilers (especially the second one) so if you want to be on the safe side, avoid watching.
Two new trailers for Doctor Who at Comic Con, the first for The Waters Of Mars. [via YouTube]
The second is the shaky cam-one for the Tenth Doctor’s finale. [via YouTube]
d
Tweed
Editing
I’ve been editing. It’s not been fun. Everywhere I look it looks bad, though it’s fair to say that that happens to me every time I get here. I’m still trying to get a grasp of the whole thing, so that when I do a once-through I’ll be able to tell if it’s not uniform enough. It’s not really been going well. I might step away from it if I have to. I’m in no hurry, though I have to keep reminding myself about that.
Shopping
I wanted to shop for a few presents (far ahead of time) and I went on Amazon and browsed around quite a bit. In the process, I learnt about the variety of Amazon deals (okay, so I’m a bit slow to the party). I also identified a few things that I thought I could pick up, which made me quite happy. I’m just a little undecided on the presents and stuff, so I’ve yet to make an order.
On the other hand, I tried to find this set of collectible The Sandman postcards on Amazon. You see, a few years ago, they printed sets of 40 postcards and put them each in pretty boxes. I bought one of the boxes. Pretty postcards are one of those things that I like collecting, but for some reason, I thought of using them. So I used slightly over half of them over the years, and now I’m left with a diminished set. I thought I ought to get another one, but it wasn’t to be because it’s out of print and not available on Amazon anymore. If you have a heads-up on where I can get a new set for a reasonable price, do drop me a note here. Thanks.
Eleventh’s Costume
Here’s Matt Smith in-costume as the Doctor. I quite like the look of it. It kind of has a bit of the quirky charm you’d expect of an old Doctor and also the fashion restraint of a new Doctor. Very neat and clean, and he seems to wear it well. Can’t wait for the new series!
d
Rainy Days (*Bang Bang* *High Kick*)
Not Just The Weather
It’s been rainy, yeah, but it’s also been more than a little gloomy for me these days. Since last Friday, in fact. Doesn’t look to be clearing up soon, although I think we all get used to gloomy days after a while and just learn to make the most of them.
Writing has been good. I’ve continued at my ferocious pace and am happily forging ahead with no hint of letting my foot off the gas. I will today, though, because I’m going out to take my mind off of things. I’m hoping that the extra thinking time I have today allows for some good planning of the following chapter, which is extremely long (at least in my mind) and I really need to kick the awesome gearbox up to the fifth gear. I’m six or seven chapters in and I realise I haven’t quite stepped it up yet. I better do it before it’s too late.
Otherwise, it’s all looking okay. It’s just my personal life that’s going through a little bit of a rough time, and my closest friends have not been in touch, having gone overseas for exchanges and work-and-travel, so it’s all been more than a bit difficult.
*Bang Bang* *High Kick*
This is pretty self-explanatory, but it has a Doctor Who fan onboard the TARDIS in a special scene with Captain Jack written specially for this. David Tennant cameos.
Love it when John Barrowman pops about going, “Bang bang!” and then kicking the air after one such instance.
d
Saturday Bonus
Does Whatever A Spider Can
Apparently, to perk up all the studious students in the study area, Spider-Man paid a visit to my school on, I think, Thursday night.
Way to go, Spidey! I always knew I could count on you! Though… can we talk about the recent movies…
Finale!
Final episode of Series 4 was… okay. A bit busy. And seriously, it was never ever going to top the Series 3 one. Not too bad, though.
Marvellous
The Museum of the Mad, the Macabre and the Marvelous, created by C.D. Richardson. Lovely. [via The_Marvelous]
Studying
Is not going too good. But what can I say, I just do what I can and laugh in the face of danger.
d
