sundries

[rm]

I have just visited the cat. While she is still not eating on her own and is still jaundiced, today she sat up, meowed, try to come out of her little hospital enclosure and was otherwise more interactive with me. She also seemed less bloated and seemed to be breathing better. While we could still get a lot of bad news tomorrow, this is the first time in days I've had actual hope for her, and it's good to see her less miserable.

Jack's back. Actually, I just chopped off all my hair. Thank god. I feel about a bazillion times better. It's cute (at least it was until the fucking hairdresser tried to make it flouffy -- LEAVE IT ALONE -- I AM NOT A POODLE). Once I wash it it'll be near perfect. I'll get a little trim before Gally, and we'll be good to go.

Okay, so the response to expensive cat illness shouldn't be retail therapy, but I caved and bought myself a new pair of eyeglasses. The frames are Ray-bans, god help me (only funny if you are a child of the 80s, I think) -- fairly rectangular, gunmetal grey, and really, really, REALLY awesome. I spent more than I wanted to, but hey, they'll be ready tomorrow. Transitions lenses too -- so sunglasses and not!

Hard Choice for a Comfortable Death: Terminal Sedation. I tried to read this last night, and failed, which is unlike me. Got through it this morning.

The NY Times on marching bands. But really? It just makes me want to watch Drumline again. I love that movie so much it's embarrassing.

Really need to order/get a stud set for my tux like five minutes ago. If not today, tomorrow. I resisted the urge to traumatize Patty with the easy availability of one celebrating her alma mater. Her alma mater is like a fandom. It's really scary.

cupidsbow is doing this brilliant thing of 12 Days of Cliche with Torchwood fan offerings. Day 2 was mpreg, which is weird in TW fandom, since a) it's canonically relevant (I say relevant as we don't know if Jack was lying or not) and b) it actually can be used to address a lot of other stuff that is central to TW canon. I find TW is the first and only fandom I'll read mpreg in, and I wonder why that is. It's not erotic to me, and it's certainly not making these men seem more familiar to me or my experience. I suppose it's the unlikeliness -- and that is familiar. Jack or Ianto having a damn baby is only marginally more absurdist than my having one. Or something.

marchek sent me a remarkable little poem, 221B, by Vincent Starrett about Sherlock Holmes, that in its first couple of lines really speaks to what I'm doing for the Bristol paper, and I think would also be of interest to many Torchwood fen.

While I didn't much care for Part 1 of The End of Time I gotta say the new trailers for Part 2 (especially this one) give me chills. I normally don't consider trailers spoilers, but these are pretty spoilertastic. I have a lot of hope that RTD's habit of making the second half of two-parters too big manifested in the first half this time, and that the second half is going to be cold and chilling. Also one of the other trailers has the sentence "he must stand at arms or lose himself and all this world." HELLO THEMES FROM CHILDREN OF EARTH, I SEE YOU.

Comments

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

re: Vincent Starrett
...Whoa. Flashback city. One (wrongly)assumes the whole world has the same memory bank. *shakes head*

re: Little
Very glad to hear it. May the good news continue!

[mellacita.livejournal.com]

I am so sorry to hear kitty is sick! My boy had fatty liver over the summer. He didn't make it, but it was because of other conditions. The fatty liver itself if very reversible. Sending good thoughts your way.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Jack hair :) There will be pics in the future?

Patty's alma mater is like a fandom?
Is it Indiana Jones' Uni?
The University of Chicago?

Poor Kitty :( I hope everything works itself out soon.

Re: Starett, good lord, the resonance was bloody deafening! I'm feeling very choked up and I speak both as a Torchwood Fan and a Sherlockian (though it's been years since I've read them... I'll never forget Irene...).

[rm.livejournal.com]

I've never read Holmes (I'm reading it on the cruise), but yeah, I was like "WOAH!" for most of that poem.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

You've probably heard this a thousand times, but you'll really like the books.

I mean, they're the kind of men you aspire to be :)

Also, the mysteries and logic are very fun.

If New!Who is continuing the trend, I really hope we see Arthur Conan Doyle in the near future.
I'm pretty sure there's a TW/SH crossover fic in existence, but not much (I would have found way more by now).

[melebeth]

I'm not crazy about original Holmes, but I love (love love love love love) Laurie King's Mary Russell series where she teams Holmes up with a brilliant, competent, academic female sidekick. The first book is The Beekeeper's Apprentice, and I can not recommend it highly enough.

[cinnamonteal.livejournal.com]

Have you tried the Carole Nelson Douglas Irene Adler series? I'm a new convert to the Mary Russell series, but have had a deep, deep love for the Irene series for years. The first book is/was named Goodnight, Mr. Holmes. (They keep changiing the names of the books, and since my copies are all with the original names I'm not sure what they're calling them nowadays - but it's *not* her cat mystery series.)

[melebeth]

Oooh. I have not, but I will look for them.

[fleur.livejournal.com]

Bravo for Little!!

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

Aww, kitty.

Hairdressers always do the exact opposite of what I want with the styling part. Yet I let them do it and hate my hair all day until I wash it the next morning. I have faith that one day the result will be awesome, but I've been doing my own hair forever and I know where the cowlicks are. :D

[rm.livejournal.com]

Word. I always feel rude undoing their hideous styling handiwork, so I just wait it out.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

They get halfway through blow drying mine even though I told them it would not work and they look freaked out and either march me back to the sink or go nuts with a spray bottle. Fine curly hair turns into a dandelion clock when blow dried!

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Yes, this.

I'm getting a hair cut tomorrow, and I know that I'll hate it until I wash it later that day.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

I once had a pigeon crap on my head while on my way to my friend's wedding.

Luckily, I was meeting the bridal party at the salon. I walked in and requested an emergency hair wash. All was well until she dried it and started to do things that would make me look like Hillary Clinton.

I finally asked her to stop and if I could use the product on that shelf over there. Thank GOD they carried the line I prefer.

I felt like a dick, but it was an unplanned situation, and I knew how I wanted to look.

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

I feel bad too, so I just sort of... let them.

I had a haircut for a holiday party this month and she took FOREVER with it, so I had to just go home and dress. It was okay, but oddly curled with the round brush and blow dryer. And I felt like I was wearing a wig. :D

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

As a fellow child of the 80s I think that could only be funnier if they were Oakleys.

[rm.livejournal.com]

This is true. Terrifying and true.

[marchek.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you like the poem. When I heard the first two lines of the radio I completely stopped what I was doing. I thought, "Wait, did I hear that correctly?" and then I had to go google the whole poem.

I'm glad to hear that you have your hope back regarding Little.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

Drumline is an amazing movie and you should feel no shame. Only pride and awesome. :)

I will continue to think thoughts of love and healing for Little.

[airspaniel.livejournal.com]

That poem really hit me sideways. I teared up a little, and I'm at work, so it was kind of awkward. Maybe I'm still immortality sensitive post-Band of Brothers, but still..

I'm really surprised you've never read Holmes. You'll enjoy it, though, I have every faith.

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I don't know why hairdressers feel the need to do that - just do what I ask and leave me be! I finally found one who would do that. Just give me the perm and be done with it. I don't want you floofing or putting product in or whatnot.

I'd like to see a picture of the new sunglasses - they sound nifty.

ETA: And I just read that poem, and got a lump in my throat and a pain in my heart.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I can't think of Ray Bans without thinking about Bret Easton Ellis.

Come on magic cat, feel better!

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

re: COE and EOF

I didn't realize until about 10 minutes ago that it was the same director..and apparently Euros Lyn had to be really talked into doing EOF.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pj1f2/Doctor_Who_The_Commentaries_The_End_of_Time/

And as I'm listening to this..they discuss loving Donna. ORLY? I'm vaguely reassured, as she's so much 'my' Companion, and yet I don't really deep down believe it..

[rm.livejournal.com]

Euros Lyn gets such AMAZING performances out of people. I didn't love the episode, but the acting! Man... such great stuff. With Simm and Tennant it's less obvious, because they're good experienced actors, but the very tight leash he had on everyone on CoE was really clear, the results were stellar.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

Do you think the acting-President's glove is 'related' to the TW glove..? That's not typical Gallifreyan technology, IMO.

[rm.livejournal.com]

What glove?

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

From part two's first few minutes; it's not metallic, but..

[rm.livejournal.com]

It's absolutely the same prop item, and I certainly feel like TW left the issue of those gloves (where they came from, what they are supposed to do) open. I also feel like TW makes it pretty clear that those gloves are BAD NEWS, and I think, assuming this isn't just borrowing a prop item and making it unrelated, that the appearance of a Risen MItten may go a long way to implying that the return of the Time Lords means they are returning as villains. The Risen Mitten reappearing is also arguably a potential set-up for TW, S4. It also may mean some wacky Ten deathbed pre-regeneration speech. I hadn't noticed that AT ALL when I first watched it, but it raises a lot of possibilities.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

I think so.
I'm rather eager to see how they rationalize the Time Lords' prediction of the future and the Oods', too.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

Did you watch the Confidential: Lords and Masters yet?
(http://www.ninjavideo.net/video/53969)

MOAR CRACK PLZ THX

ETA: There's some good flashback data in here that I think will help explain some stuff in new Who.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'm watching it now. Interesting stuff in there. I want to do something with this Wilf as the Doctor's soulmate business.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Just noticed in that shot with the Timelords behind the president guy with their hands over their eyes -- very Fires of Pompeii.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

I'm so damned curious as to what's going on there.

So hard to wait til next week! My mind is racing. Is this all another Rassilon thing?

And I just can't think of "Fires of Pompeii" without thinking of the Sisterhood of the Flame from "Brain of Morbius" (which is a rather lovely gothicy story) - the costuming, the psychic visions are all very close, really, and considering how much of a fanboy RTD is, I find it hard to believe it's a coincidence. Though I don't think the Time Lords ever turned to the Sisterhood for anything other than the "Elixir of Life"..though there's a possibility that the psychic at the table could be of the Sisterhood as a throwback to another Gallifreyan race, the Pythia. I wonder how far RTD is really going to go..? Regardless, if I wrote fan fic, my brain would be buzzing.

[dorei.livejournal.com]

my mother had stage 4 lung cancer, but the actual cause of death was morphine poisoning. I am ... not sure how I feel about that. The one thing I *do* know is that it was my father who pushed the meds into her system, and I don't hate him for doing it.

I still miss her an awful lot, though, and really wish she were here.

[labellerose.livejournal.com]

Sending get well and Bast-blessing wishes for kitty...

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, I haven't thought of "221 B" since college, when I had it posted on the door of my dorm room.

Part one of EOT felt so overstuffed to me. They kept throwing all these plot elements at the viewer -- Saxon coven! Yet another crazy rich guy chasing immortality! Disguised aliens! -- that normally would get individual episodes. Plus, the end felt like "The Empty Child: Mad Timelord Edition." That said, I cannot wait to see how it all plays out.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping this was a case of RTD frontloading the stuff that, for me, normally makes his episodes fall-down and that the second half will be filled with the stuff I think he does very well (and which was there, but obscured in the first half of EOT -- the stuff with the Doctor and Wilf, the quiet scenes with the Doctor and the Master, etc.).

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

I loved the cafe scene, especially the "Someday I'll die" / "Don't you dare" exchange, which came just as I was thinking, "Cheer up, emo Timelord." (I can't help comparing Ten's mid- end-of-life crisis to Four's quiet trepidation when he spots The Watcher.)

[ladypeculiar.livejournal.com]

You know, I hadn't actually thought of Holmes before regarding your Bristol paper, but it actually fits perfectly . . .Doyle killed Holmes off, and was practically forced into bringing him back due to pressure from fans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventure_of_the_Final_Problem

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

Re: DW, all manner of thoughts:

- Is that a glove? Because, you know, that looks an awful lot like a glove. Just saying.
- OMG, WILF GOING ALL STAR WARS.
- Crying and giving Ten his gun and ZOMG WILF.
- I stand by my earlier statement that I can't really judge Part One until I see Part Two. And this is why.

Re: terminal sedation, that's difficult. I've spent four years trying to figure out what I actually want in a living will, or what I'm comfortable with where my mom is concerned. It's scary to imagine being knocked out for what someone might genuinely think is my own good if I don't wish to be. Or to be under when I need to be because of pain, but not to be able to wake up if I want to. I think about the sedation I went under for a surgery, and how I fought my way up out of it when the drugs started to wear off. And, you know, I just don't know. I'm glad you shared this, though. It's more to consider.

Re: 221B, wow.

[lachupacabra.livejournal.com]

*a million hugs & good thoughts for kittys recovery*

[stardust9121.livejournal.com]

Re: Marching bands and Drumline: I have a feeling you'd be pretty interested in drum corps, especially given the history and traditions it comes from.

[/geek]