SYZYGY!

This time ten years ago, I was on a plane. 

I was flying from Edmonton to Montreal, via Chicago. I had two huge suitcases and a backpack containing all the stuff I hadn't had put in storage with a moving company, or pre-shipped to my best friend, whose back room I would be moving into that night. I had had a miserable three years in Edmonton. I had just lost yet another shitty job, and I couldn't face looking for another one in that city.  At the same time, my mother was sick, and possibly dying. What had started out as a Christmas trip home had turned into a move.

( Cut for length, angst and hospital talk. But there's a happy ending, honest. )

My birthday isn't until mid-September, but I have my birthday present already-- a shiny new32gb iPhone 4! I got it early because, well, one was available. I went to Futureshop to see if there was any way I could have my name put on a list, or at least find out when they expected a shipment, and the salesperson said they had two in stock. So I got one, rather than continue to play the cat-and-mouse game. I really hate that false scarcity stuff that Apple and Nintendo and all those guys pull. But it works, doesn't it?

And let me tell you, I understand why people are losing their shit over these things. I loved my iPod Touch, but the iPhone blows it out of the water. I had to go up to the military base the other day, and since I don't have a car, I had to take the bus out to somewhere to meet my lift. Instead of guessing where I had to get off, I was able to look up the bus stop I was supposed to get off at, and see where I was in relation to it! It's like I live in the future or something! I love having instant Internet access wherever I go. 

The iPhone is also replacing my camera, and I have had fun snapping pictures and not having to wait for the flash to warm up. It takes pretty good shots, too. And I have downloaded an app that lets you selectively colour photos. I played around with some pics, and did this:

Original




Original







The retina display is really sharp. It's amazing how much clearer things are on this compared to my iPod, and I always thought my iPod's screen was pretty good. I haven't really played with the video camera much, but I am looking forward to it.

As a phone, it sounds a lot clearer than my old one. I don't know much about dropped calls, since I haven't really used it as a phone much yet (Hey, I've had it a day, OK?) but the reception seems pretty good. The touch-screen phone interface takes a bit of getting used to, since I have only ever had little flip phones, but it's not that big a deal. And I love that I can check my messages without calling my mobile phone provider. Text messaging is great, because a) it doesn't take forever, and 2) I can actually follow a conversation now.

I haven't explored half of what this new device can do, and I am already in love. Meanwhile, John has inherited my iPod Touch, and I think he's infatuated with it. I don't think he ever understood my love for it, but now he's beginning to. He's been exploring all the apps, downloaded some books and podcasts, surfed the internet, and and has even taken it out for a run, and has proclaimed it "not bad". High praise from him!

I am constantly amazed by the technology in these little devices, and how easily they become indispensable. A few years ago, I didn't even have a cell phone. Now I have a computer in my pocket. It blows my mind!

I recently got into a friendly debate about feminism, children, and how women these days are free to decide whether or not they want children. The OP mentioned in her journal that it's no longer an issue for women in 2010. I have to disagree. While women have a lot more choice these days, thanks to birth control and changing attitudes, the default assumption is that women who get married do so because they want kids. Women are still expected to have babies, and those of us who don't want to are seen as selfish, broken, or worse. We are still cajoled and pressured to become mothers, and sadly, some women do bow to that pressure, even if they don't want to. Some women aren't even given the choice at all. So no, I don't think the issue is resolved.

I am married, and we are childless by choice. But that doesn't stop people from trying to pressure us into having kids. (Actually, John doesn't get a lot of pressure in that regard, because it's more acceptable for men not to want to become fathers than it is for women not to want to become mothers.) I have ranted about this on LiveJournal before. About a year ago, a friend of mine posted a follow-up article to something she read in MacLean's Magazine. I sent her a comment with my thoughts, which she encouraged me to develop into an article to submit to the publication she writes for. My follow-up was ultimately rejected, but I held on to it with the intention of posting it here eventually.

I have included the links to the original articles. Both are still available to read on-line, if you're interested. But let's keep the comments here, please. Both of these articles are almost a year old. (And don't read the comments over at MacLean's, I beseech you. They are poison.)

Alex does have a few redeeming qualities, such as her intelligence, her sense of humour, and her rather impressive repertoire of swear words. You end up kind of loving the little psychopath by the end of the first story. And I defy you to not fall in love with schrodinger's future Doctor. He bears a passing resemblance to Eleven, with his tousled brown hair and green eyes, but that's where the similarity ends. Unlike Eleven, he's almost supernaturally calm. He has a dry sense of humour and an inability to get overly disturbed by Alex's cheerful attempts to kill him. He dresses sort of like Ted from How I Met Your Mother. But for all that, he can go all Oncoming Storm with the best of them.

Alex is part one of a (sadly all too short) series. Part 2, Among Mad People, features Bernice Summerfield, which is worth the price of admission right there. It's a multi-chapter fic that doesn't fail to deliver the goods. Plus, did I mention Benny's in it? Two-Body Problem is quite good as well. It's a nice little coda to the series.

If you haven't already read this series, do yourself a favour. Read it right now.


Day 17 – A Piece of Who-Related FanArt




If you know who created this, please let me know, because it's AWESOME. I mean, seriously. Can you imagine what the reaction would be if Bill and Ted saw the Master's TARDIS from The King's Demons?

"Iron Maiden? EXCELLENT!!11!"

I want someone to write a fic where the Doctor, Bill and Ted, and Marty McFly arrive at the same point in time. Hilarity would ensue, obvs.

( The Days of Who... )

I am so far behind on this meme. It's been a weird week, with work and heat and a haircut and a pointless job interview and lots of hanging out with friends, and it's sort of hard to sit in front of a computer when your apartment is a jillion degrees and your hair is melting. I would have updated from my patio, but I as yet don't have a laptop, netbook or iPad. (I WANT AN IPAD.)

Ahem. Anyway, here are the first of the two meme days that I missed. More to follow.

Day 12 – Whatever Tickles Your Fancy


He's so awesome. He kills people with strawberry fondant surprise.



(Hey, I never said he was the best villain, just that he's my favourite.)


( The Rest of the Days of Who... )

Day 09 – A Who-Related Photo That Makes You Angry/Sad



This makes me both angry and sad.

It makes me sad, because Donna was going to travel with the Doctor forever, knocking about the universe with her best mate, and now she can't even remember him or her brain explodes. She was once the most important person in the universe, and now she's back to being the shallow, oblivious Donna from The Runaway Bride. Her whole family has to tiptoe around her for the rest of her life, and she walks around with holes in her memory. All those experiences were stolen from her.

It makes me angry, because Russell T Davies essentially ruined the character*. He sent Donna on an amazing journey, where she learned and grew and became awesome, and reset her to her old self. Why did all her memories have to be taken? Why not just block off the memories pertaining to the metacrisis, since those were the ones causing the problems? The whole thing was cruel and unnecessary, and it makes her journey mean nothing. I think I would have preferred that Donna died, because her death could have had meaning. I know he was going for tragic, here, but this wasn't tragic. This was just a waste.

I can't even watch Journey's End, because it makes me so angry, and I sometimes have a hard time watching the rest of Series 4, because I know what's coming.


( The Rest of the Meme... )



*He didn't exactly do wonders for the Doctor here, either. There's something a bit squicky about the Doctor forcing his way into another person's mind, while she begs him not to. That he's doing it to save Donna's life doesn't make it any better.

Day 07 – Your Favorite Piece of Music


I thought about choosing something from Series Fnarg, because the music has been so good, especially now that it's not played at full blast anymore. Amy's Theme in particular is really wonderful. I thought about Martha's Theme, or A Noble Girl About Town, but I think the one that I listen to the most is probably this one:

Madame de Pompadour



I love it because it's haunting and sad, and because it breaks my heart just a little every time I hear it. I love the little music-box thing at the end. And I love that it brings me right back to this gorgeous episode, with the courageous courtesan and her Fireplace Man, which was the episode that made me fall in love with Doctor Who.


( More meme this way! )

You want to. You know it.



His name is Bill:



And the original:



Happy Canada Day, everyone!

I skipped yesterday, because I felt crappy. But that means today you get a double post, so quit your whinging.

Day 03 – Your Favorite New Series Episode

Again, so many to choose from! I think before Series Fnarg, I would have said either The Girl in the Fireplace, Blink, or Midnight. But now that the latest series has ended, I think I can safely say that my favourite episode is Vincent and the Doctor.

Like Amy, I have always had a bit of a soft spot for Vincent Van Gogh. His story is so heartbreaking, and his life was so tragic, yet he managed to create some of the most iconic paintings of all time. Just about everyone is familiar with his work. I myself have a print of Starry Night hanging in my living room.

So to see his character brought to life in a way that treats him with respect, without treating his mental illness lightly, is always a wonderful thing to see. Yes, they had to Who it up a bit, because there has to be a hook of some kind to draw the Doctor in, but the monster was really secondary to the story.




Day 04 – Your Favorite Doctor(s)

I love all the Doctors. Yes, even Six, who doesn't get enough love. But I think I would choose Four, Nine, Ten and Eleven.

Yes, I know it's cheating to pick all the new series Doctors and the most popular Doctor of all time. But I can't help it. Four is My Doctor, because he's really the first Doctor I remember watching. For most North Americans, he's the first Doctor we ever saw, and we imprinted on him like baby ducks. Even when Doctor Who was barely a blip on my radar, I could instantly recognize Tom Baker's Doctor. Tom Baker (and his scarf) will always symbolize Doctor Who for me. I love his energy, his delivery, his big grin and his alienness. I love that he played even serious scenes for a laugh sometimes, because I think it's what the Doctor would do. His Doctor wasn't human, and he didn't react the way humans would.

Nine was the first New Series Doctor, and he brought something new to the role. He has a vulnerability that the others didn't have, because of the Time War. I am not always thrilled that Rusty killed off the Time Lords, but it did give Christopher Eccleston a chance to act all broody in black leather, which totally worked for him. You get the sense that he wants to be happy and fun-loving, but he can't because he's so damaged. So he pretends anyway. And it gives him a sort of manic energy. Nine is all kinds of messed up. It was a new direction for the Doctor. I am sad that Eccleston only did one season, but at the same time, I don't think more than one season of broody angsty Doctor would have worked out.

David Tennant's Doctor is more relaxed. He has shed most (but not all) of the Time War Angst, and he seems to be more about the happy fun tiems of time travel. Ten is unpredictable. One minute, he's a ferret on a caffeine high, bouncing from one interesting thing to another, and the next minute he's the Oncoming Storm, bringing the smackdown to people who dare do the wrong thing. He has the Angst, just like Nine, but he tends to hide it better, until it all comes boiling out. David Tennant is such a great actor, and he can turn on an emotional dime. One of the great things about Ten is you can tell David Tennant just loves playing him. Tennant is One Of Us, a geek and a Doctor Who fan. Plus, he's pretty easy on the eyes, isn't he?

And then there's Eleven. Like a lot of people, I was initially skeptical when Matt Smith was announced as the Eleventh Doctor. He was only 26. But Steven Moffat's no dummy. He's One Of Us, too, and he wouldn't pick just anybody to play the role of the Doctor. If he saw something in this weird-looking young guy that said "Doctor" to him, I was willing to give Smith a chance. And I am so very glad I did. Matt Smith is amazing as the Doctor. He's quirky and odd, with tons of energy, but he has the gravitas and demeanor of an old man. He had me convinced that he was a thousand years old right from the get-go. (Yes, I said a thousand. The Doctor clearly lies about his age.) Matt Smith brings something back to the character of the Doctor that I didn't even realize was missing until he showed up: Joy. The driving force in Eleven's life is no longer angst. It's sheer, wondrous joy. You got that sense from the first time he bounds up the ramp to the TARDIS console. He loves his life, he loves traveling, and he loves getting into trouble (even if he denies it). Matt Smith's Eleven is quickly becoming my favourite Doctor. I hope he sticks around for a long time.

Plus, he makes tweed and bow ties sexy. 

( The rest of the days... )