rm | sundries, evening edition

Patty and I have booked our cruise-related flights. Sadly, we are flying out of Newark, but the times are tolerable and it's Continental (and not Spirit) and not the $600 PER FLIGHT that Delta wanted.

My father had another MRI for his kidney thing, so on Wednesday we find out if it's a cyst or something bad (by which we mean cancer).

I'm currently reading the Torchwood book Consequences. It's the one with the short stories. I like seeing this stuff from multiple Torchwood eras: I love having more Gaskell and I love seeing Owen and Tosh again. I'm not up to the James Moran story (that I suspect I have craft commentary on; craft commentary, of course, has been largely lost in some of the "this is Ianto!" "No it's not!" fannish wank I've seen about the story in question), I'm mostly just mentioning it now so I can state once again that I think Sarah Pinborough is doing the best work in the world of the TW tie-in novels.

Tosh get's zapped with this alien gadget that makes her more how other people want to see her -- in this case, Owen and Gwen, which gives her a bit of sexy attitude and leadership skills, but it's not really pleasant.

This results in a moment wherein the following happens:

'I told you we'd find it again soon enough. Sometimes you're so anal.' She laughed a little at her own joke and then lef the way to the lift.

Gwen watched her go, her mouth not dropped open like the two boys' hand, but still more than a little shocked. What had they done to shy, sweet Toshiko?

In truth, I can't quite put my finger on why I'm unsettled. Of course, part of it is that I'm supposed to be, and part of me is absolutely laughing and admiring Pinborough's audacity -- it's stuff like this (and real plotting and structuring that makes me compelled beyond seeing the Torchwood team) that makes me praise her work doing the tie-in stuff. But part of me is definitely off-put by what's really a cheap anal-sex joke at the expense of the bisexual character in the room (this is set when Jack is off with the Doctor between S1 and S2). Of course, Tosh striking the wrong note here is the point, but I felt... I read it and I felt like I needed to defend someone's honor, and that just surprised me a little, as did two very sexual characters like Owen and Ianto gaping over a little quip -- sure, it's Tosh being super weird, but it reads like boys being squicked by TEH GAY, a subject on which neither Owen nor Ianto have a leg to stand on.

I've been, for reasons unknown, watching crappy video of Otherworld thanks to the wonder of the Internet. I loved this briefly-lived show as a kid, and it's interesting trying to figure out why the hell this was the case now (random cracky mythology referencing ancient Egypt + uniform fetish?). Also? This wasn't on the air _that_ long ago, but it's really an insight into another world in terms of its value as a pop-culture artifact. We were so innocent and narratively weak!

New Yorkers, let's not forget The Players Club on Friday.