written on the cards

I’ve just finished the first of the three new Torchwood books – Pack animals by Peter Anghelides.  I liked it but I wouldn’t say I loved it.  Other Torchwood books I’ve polished off in an evening but this one took several days.  I think it took me time to adjust to where it was in the Torchwood timeline but nice to have the old gang back together again.

The MonstaQuest set of game cards come to life unleashing aliens, beasts, weather events and freakish plantlife upon the people of Cardiff.  Amid much dismembering of bodies and a seemingly rival outfit called Achenbrite, Torchwood eventually save the day.

There are bits of the story you just feel like you’ve read or seen before – the cards coming to life, Ianto as the invisible man. Still, not a bad read.

“they break my heart”

1851 London is the setting for the 2008 Doctor Who christmas special.  Russell T Davies again serves up a treat with plenty of nods to episodes and Doctors past and just as much explanation for those new to Who.

The Doctor arrives to find someone he thinks to be the next Doctor (played by David Morrissey) and his companion Rosita – The Doctor likes that name.  The new wannabe Doc has a certain “doctorish” arrogance which while it sits just fine on the real Doctor is a little annoying on the newbie with lines to Rosita like “The Doctor’s companion does what the Doctor says, now off you go”.  After a bit of a boys own adventure and a run in with a Cybershade – a not so cute and fluffy overgrown cyber-cat, the two Docs become best of friends.

There’s a lot of parallel mirroring which doesn’t quite add up. The new Doc has his own sonic screwdriver which is an actual screw driver, the sonic part being the noise it makes when he taps it on wood.  There’s a new TARDIS too – a blue hot air balloon – Tethered Aerial Release In Style. The new Doc knows he’s missing memories and after the discovery of a cache of infostamps the Doctor realises the new doc isn’t and rather has just absorbed all the info on Doctors past from the Infostamp to replace his own less pleasant memories.  There’s a certain sadness as the Doctor loses the hope he had of him being a friend who may know him.  When the Doctor says to him “You wanted to become someone else because Jackson Lake had lost so much” you just know the Doctor is also thinking of himself. The new Doc, Jackson Lake reveals memories of the Cybermen killing his wife.

We first see the Cybermen in a snow filled cemetery, a nod to the 1966 “The “Tenth Planet”.  That was the first time the world saw Cybermen and then they marched out of the snow. The Cybermen are controlled by Mercy Hatigan played by Dervla Kirwan. Her red frock at the cemetery is a wonderful visual contrast. She selects four mourners at the funeral and having fitted them with earpieces controls them to round up the children.  The children who all look like they’ve walked off the set of Oliver are put to work in what looks like the Torchwood Hub after a Dickensian makeover. With the expected twists the Cybermen turn Miss Hartigan into the CyberKing but she is too strong and continues to control them.

Eventually the giant CyberKing rises from the Thames.  We know it is the thames as St Pauls is the only recognisable building in the cityscape.  Of course in the final clearing of the children from the work house just before the CyberKing rises, it turns out Jackson remembers he has a son and who should be waiting on the uppermost level needing to be rescued. The Doctor says “You’ve got a son, a reason to live” to which Jackson replies “And you haven’t?” ouch – poor Doctor.  Blue eyed son is duly rescued before the whole thing erupts in flames. The Doctor rushes for the TARDIS of the hot air balloon variety and comes up alongside the CyberKing.  A few carefully altered Infostamps aimed at the CyberKing make her aware and break the hold the Cybermen have over her.  Her self awareness leads to her self-destruction.

Of course we can’t have the CyberKing fall and take out several more blocks so the Doctor manages to suck it into a time vortex all nice and tidy.

Then there’s the parting, Jackson wants to see inside the Doctor’s TARDIS which he does though in a nod to the Doctor Donna episode he can’t stay long as it is causing his head to ache. They discuss why the Doctor travels alone, he offers up various reasons and finishes with “They break my heart”. He agrees to share a meal before his departure but there is the constant reminder of the Doctor’s aloneness.

The Christmas Invasionprobably stands out as still the best xmas episode for me and last years Voyage of the Damnedwas a tough act to follow but this year didn’t disappoint either.  As Russell T Davies said “Morrissey is the greatest Doctor we’ll never have”.

grinch time

So today was my work christmas lunch.  I ate lunch with my workmates.  It is close to christmas.  The association was no closer than that.  The location was fine and the food was delivered promptly. As we sat down it was announced we were not allowed to drink then go back to work. Seriously????? Apparently our code of conduct says so – I’ll have to look that up. We had a 2 hour lunch planned but after an hour were sitting there finished eating and there wasn’t much reason to stay longer.  Discussions at the table revealed that other teams at work had had christmas lunches and had a drink with their meals. So why were the rules enforced with us?

Honestly, I don’t know why this announcement couldn’t have been made earlier – like when we were deciding what to do for the team xmas bonding. Similarly, I don’t think we’d have gone to a pub for lunch if food was all we were after. The pub has to be disappointed too – must have eaten into their profits. Mind you, they never offered us coffee so they missed a few sales there.

passengers are an optional extra

Have you tried catching a bus lately? I’ve lost count of the number of buses which have just simply not bothered to slow down and stop to pick me and other passengers up from my stop.

It used to be that if a driver approaching a stop saw someone looking at the timetable they’d slow enough to check that the passenger wasn’t looking for that bus.  At the weekend while on a bus I watched a person signal a bus then turn to pick up their grocieries. The bus started to slow when signalled but then sped up and drove off while the person was picking up their groceries – that’s just mean.

I heard one bus driver complaining about the super gold cards - he thought more elderly folk are catching the bus and it is slowing the bus runs down – the super gold card users take longer to get on and off the bus and apparently expect the drivers to wait till they’ve found a seat. It seems therefore the best answer is to rush past potentially fare paying passengers in order to make up some of that time.  I guess they’ve run out of things to complain about with snapper so the free rides for the elderly is the next target. Where’s their christmas spirit?

no live blogging

On Friday I attended the Victoria University Post election conference held in Parliament’s Legislative Council Chamber.  It is about my third one I think and they are always fascinating.  A mix of media, campaign managers and academics disect the campaign.

It is held under Chatham House Rule so you can use the information just not identify who said what, nor the identity of their organisations.  After morning tea, the request was also made for no live blogging – to be honest the person doing the asking appeared as though they weren’t sure what they were asking.  Besides they were already too late. Some blog posts had already been written and released to the wild, just not by me.

So over the next few days I will sift through my copious notes and prepare an entry on how each party’s campaign went.  Lots of people talked about multiple parties and there were plenty of questions and comments from the audience so you can’t make assumptions about who said what.

twins

Well not really. But don’t you hate it when you turn up somewhere and someone else is wearing the same thing? John Key and Helen Clark were unusually in sync with John’s pink tie and Helen’s pink jacket.

just not harry

Yesterday I popped into town to pick up a copy  of  The tales of Beedle the Bard, the latest from J K Rowling.  Clearly I wasn’t as enthused as I have been about the Harry Potter books in the past as I didn’t rush in the day it was launched.  I finised reading the book before I even got home – waiting for the bus and during the short bus ride.  It was okay, but it wasn’t satisfying.  Then again I guess I’m older than the target market for the book.

Considering I went into the bookshop to buy only this book, I managed to leave with 5 books and a DVD.  I was very excited to see the new Torchwood books were in store and decided to grab all three. I’ll review those as I read them.

apostrophe crime

I just can’t help myself – if I see an apostrophe out of place on a sign or printed material, I have to let someone know. I’d like to think they take this information and do something about it, correcting the offending apostrophe in the next print run. I rather suspect they quietly roll their eyes and moan in the staff room about how picky some people are.

On Friday I pointed out an error to a bartender. The cocktail menu included fejoa’s [sic] in a list of  ingredients. I didn’t expect his reponse “I didn’t write it”. That doesn’t make it okay. There is no defence to a mis-placed or mis-used apostrophe.  And besides, that was poor customer service on top.  All I wanted was some kind of acknowledgement that he’d pass the information on to management but I suspect he doesn’t care.