Category: Daily Life

The BBC’s new production of Doctor Who has accomplished something pretty extraordinary – revived a much loved old television series without pissing off its fans (too much).

I watched a bit of the old Doc when I was growing up. I had my favourites in the show, but wouldn’t say I was a foaming at the mouth zealot with a bedroom wall full of TARDIS posters.

Like many I suppose, the new DW production has captured my interest and lately I have been keen to explore some of the mythology of the classic series. I think that is why the new series has been well accepted by old diehard fans – the show stays true to its roots. Many is the odd, obscure little detail from the classic series that reappears in the new series.

And it has been exciting to discover these little details – the mythology, as I delve into the oldest episodes. I feel very spoilt, because there are so many old episodes to explore – 26 seasons made between 1963 to 1989. It will be quite something to watch them all!

Ha ha sob! it’s funny but i wanna cry!

I made a lovely web site for the Hospice (as my uni assignment) which got nods of approval at work, but it turns out another designer had already volunteered to produce one for them.

The arrangement was made months before I started working there, apparently it has been waiting on my colleagues to provide the web site content (which most of them still haven’t done).

So now I’ve been asked to work with the designer to finish off the one she started. She’s a lovely lady who is doing our organisation a big favour but we have very different styles (tactful way of saying I prefer my work!)

I shall be eating lots of humble pie the next couple of weeks.

PS. tutor really liked my assignment, I scored a High Distinction and my head swelled from all the ravings he gave about it

Even though he was known as the “dandy” doctor, I’ve always liked the Doctor’s third incarnation. Friendly, well-mannered, warm humoured, intelligent, resourceful; he didn’t suffer fools gladly, particularly if they were authority figures, he still gave them what for.

Expelled to earth, he spent a lot of time helping an organisation called UNIT – sort of like a post-Canary Wharf Torchwood, without all the secrecy.

He was fond of his gadgets, and “Bessie” the vintage roadster. He could stick up for himself in a fight with a well-placed karate chop and was described by Jon Pertwee who played him as “a kind of science fiction James Bond”.

Further reading:

• Wikipedia
• BBC Episode Guide

Jo and I went to see this movie today. Got the thumbs up from both of us. Based on the book/s by Philip Pullman, with similarities to Lord of the Rings, and The Chronicles of Narnia.

It is set in a world similar to ours, in a parallel universe where people’s souls take the form of an animal “daemon”. I really like this idea – the animal behaves like a companion and can talk to its human. While the human is still a child, the daemon can change into different forms; eventually the daemon settles into a fixed form when the child becomes an adult.

The hero is a young girl called Lyra, who is on a mission to rescue her friends; and discovers her ability to read the strange symbols of the Alethiometer, or Golden Compass – a rare and outlawed device entrusted to her by her uncle the Lord Asriel (played by Daniel Craig).

Nicole Kidman plays the mysterious and sinister villain Mrs Coulter, who seems psychologically damaged and brainwashed by the ruling Magisterium. Jo said she enjoyed Kidman’s performance, I could only notice how unbelievably thin she is.

Before seeing this movie I read a review which commented on Sam Elliot’s overdone drawl, for his character Mr Scoresby. Yes, I see what the writer meant and particularly in contrast to the beautifully English growl of Sir Ian McKellen, who does the voice of armoured bear Iorek (a frighteningly fierce yet endearing character). Reviewer Roger Ebert comments that stories of this genre always seem to require British accents for some reason, and Elliot’s American drawl seems disturbingly out of place.

There are heaps of better reviews to read on this movie, I am simply going to say I enjoyed it without analysing the where-to-fors.

This book by Sally Morgan is listed as one of “Australia’s 100 favourite books” by the bookseller Angus & Robertson, and quite randomly fell into my lap when a friend from work brought it in and offered to let me borrow it. I’m glad she did, it was precisely the type of story I enjoy – thought provoking in a spiritual and philosophical way.

In My Place Morgan leads us through the journey of discovery about her family’s Aboriginal heritage, along the way we learn of some of the tragic hardships endured by her people in the wake of Australia’s white settlement. It is a story of injustice and exploitation but also a story of hope and pride.

After believing for much of her youth that she was of Indian descent, Morgan uncovers her true roots by determined but gentle extraction of personal stories from her reticent older family members, and a visit to the Aboriginal community where her grandmother’s people once lived.

The fear and shame which kept the past buried for so many years is gradually diminished when Morgan’s family recognise the importance of preserving their stories for the benefit of future generations – at the same time creating an understanding of why certain secrets should be allowed to remain buried.

In her forward Morgan writes:

This is a wonderful book, very hard to put down once you get into the story. It had me incensed at the injustices that occurred, moved and humbled by the family’s spiritual outlook and strong connection with each other.

For Christmas Hubby gave me the DVD set of Doctor Who Series 3, which I have just finished watching again (the first time was at a DW Club screening in Brisbane, although only the first six episodes; the second time when the series screened on ABC TV).

Watching it again inspired me to browse the BBC’s Doctor Who web pages and I found a real treasure – Fear Forecast episode ratings by a panel of four children ranging in age from 6 to 14 years. It is awesome to relive each story through the eyes of these kids, who provide their interpretations and reactions to what happens and rate each episode according to its scariness – all the way from “chilling” (The Shakespeare Code) to “off the scale” (Blink).