DC

I am coming to the conclusion that this throat is not simply the effects of much talking at Eastercon coming about ten days after an URTI; I think I caught another URTI at Chester. It is mild, but bloody annoying, grumbling away in my nasopharynx. It is a beautiful day, but I know what I need to do is stay in and rest. Bum.

So I am mentally fuzzy, and a little woozy, so not all that productive today. I did manage to get out in the past couple of days to spend time with banhe, sheonamcc and ambersrequiem, which helped recharge my batteries a bit. Trout on Thursday was good, but I did despoon a lot at about half nine. What a pain.

What I need to do in the next day or so is actually go through the addresses I got at Eastercon and organise them. I suppose I should really wait until I can be sure I can focus on the text...

One programme item at Contemplation, of course, was the screening of Doctor Who. It was not the pile of steaming ordure which the first episode was, so it was very well received. But I watched it again last night on BBC4 and... it really was not very good, was it?* (I actually almost feel asleep during it.) I would almost rather watch The Gunfighters again... Actually, strike that almost. *sigh*

If only that were the worst thing on television last night. A new series of Have I Got News For You started last night, and I watched that... and wished I had not, because what immediately preceded it? An election broadcast by the BNP. Where is an emoticon for jaw hitting floor when you need one?

As you might expect, the actual words they delivered were very carefully chosen so as not to frighten the horses. (They are not, unfortunately, so mentally challenged as the NF were.) But the imagery...! At one point, behind the talking head, there was a graphic of shuffling, slope-shouldered, zomboid silhouettes and the text immigrants everywhere.... OMFG! I am trying to work out if there is any chance of this bunch getting a representative into Holyrood, but my head is not clear enough. There are places like Ibrox to take into account. How many votes does it need for one of these twunts to get in on the Glasgow list?

Also WRT the elections... I was not pleased to learn from banhe the other afternoon (yes, I have not been keeping up with all the news, either!) that the SNP have taken Souter's money. *head in hands*

At least we have the options of Greens and a local independent here.

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Gah. I am going to have to go and take some medication, I think. In the meantime, here is a wee meme I have picked up via loveandgarbage and sharikkamur. How this works is: you go to IMDB and pick 10 of your favourite films. Pick 3 plot keywords from each and see if people can guess what they are. Here are my ten films for you to guess (no cheating by looking them up!):

1: Messiah, Payphone, Negative Footage [2001: A Space Odyssey, guessed by blue_condition]
2: Ice Age, Throat Slitting, Title Spoken By Character
3: Catholic Church, Neo-Nazi, Condom
4: Rain, Paranoia, Ocean
5: Anti-Conformity, Peace, Mud [Woodstock, guessed by blue_condition]
6: Satire, Redhead, Military
7: No Opening Credits, Unspoken Love, Sword Fight [Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, guessed by soon_lee]
8: Hitler, Nazi, Swedish Sex Bomb [The Producers, guessed by loveandgarbage]
9: Air Base, Decoder, Torpedo
10: Very Little Dialogue, Character Name In Title, Firework

I have tried to pick keywords which are not the obvious for most of them, although in two of the more obscure I have taken one obvious keyword at least; one film is from this century, most are more than 20 years old. Three of the films are in languages other than English. One is in English and another language.

And now, here is exactly the same thing done for TV programmes:

A: Character Name In Title, Time Travel [Play For Today: The Flipside of Dominick
Hide, guessed by wibbble]
B: Conspiracy, Demolished Town, Sequel
C: Sex, Student, Hospital
D: Midget, Conversion, Heathen
E: Religious Differences, Pursuit, Morality [Battlestar Galactica, guessed by loveandgarbage]
F: Hit And Run, Hospital, Police [Life On Mars, guessed by wibbble]
G: Famous Opening Theme, Corridor, Ethics [Doctor Who, guessed by wibbble]
H: War Room, Scandal, Election
I: Cult Favorite, Interracial Relationship, Famous Score [Star Trek, guessed by wibbble]
J: Cult Favorite, Surreal, Ensemble Cast

This list contains three American programmes, all the rest are British; there are two comedy series; seven are classifiable as SF. None of them are obscure (there were obscure ones I was tempted to use, but not having more than one keyword made that difficult ;o) ).

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[*All right, that was an understatement. There is a very happy goat in the corner...]

This is a bit of reflection on the panel of that title at Eastercon, not an in-depth thing about the episode, but even so, ( if you haven't seen it you want to skip this )

So. Tomorrow it is time to decamp for points south, and Eastercon. I have been having a quick look at the programme, groaning at having to be up and sentient at some ungodly hour on Sunday (11am!), but generally thinking that it looks like a damn good programme. It certainly has one of the classic features of a good Eastercon programme, namely that whenever I see an item I really want to see, it coincides with another one I really want to see (or have to be at). Contemplation is looking good, and I think Chris and Fran and their team have done an excellent job in getting an Eastercon together so quickly. I am hopeful that this will be a good one.

I hope that someone will go to The Great Clomping Foot of Nerdism at 20:00 on Friday and tell us all about it here afterwards, since having volunteered someone for another panel on at the same time I kind of feel I should be there to lend moral support. I shall avoid referring to the Eastercon Better Not Mentioned, honest. I also would have liked to hear the talk on Web 2.0, but have to be elsewhere at the same time.  Yep, this might be a good one.

I am slightly.... No, a bit more than slightly concerned about my spoons. Various things have contributed to my spoons being depleted in recent months, and also to my not getting the opportunity to adequately refresh them. I am probably at the level I would have liked to be around Sunday at the moment, which is not brilliant. I may be able to run on adrenaline (I can do bursts, of up to a week if necessary, if I don’t really stop and I am driven by necessity or having a good time, but it demands payback afterwards). Probably with caffeine. I might be able to build in enough rest time to see me through without that. We shall see; if anyone comes across me and I seem antisocial (apparently not listening or focussed, monosyllabic replies), then it is spoons that are the problem.

One of my concerns about spoons is that it might limit the amount I can do, in terms of helping out. (Because as well as being a good thing to do, it is fun.). Let's hope not.

According to the final (I am not saying a word...) Contemplation programme, it is still not certain that Doctor Who shall be shown on the Saturday. Know what? I don’t really care. I am baffled that the same time which gave us most of Eccleston’s series and something like The Girl In The Fireplace can also give us drivel (being polite, here!) like, oh, Fear Her, and the guff about Rose which inundated the last series... and Saturday’s episode. (And, to focus on a completely unimportant bit of trivial detail, could they not have found someone who could show Freema Agyeman how to use a stethoscope the right way round?)

Just wondering, too, if I was the only person who heard the continuity announcer heralding the start of the third series of Doctor Who and thought something along the lines of Mumble mumble mumble feckin’ 29th!

Life On Mars... It has just occurred to me to check what has happened to the DVD release date, since that was supposed to be next week, but that was before sodding football screwed the screening of the current. Yep, it has been pushed back to April 16th. Interesting that last night there was no end-of-episode preview of next week. A good episode... though I may have nightmares about Gene Hunt, Diana Dors and a bottle of chip oil for some time to come... hopefully sans the Tufty costume, at least.

By the way, Satellite 1 shall have a presence at Contemplation (all the Politburo, I think, unless something unexpected happens). At Eastercon you can sign up for Satellite 1 at the current rate of £15; prices rise when Contemplation is over.

Incidentally, there is a group picture of the Politburo on the web site. Interesting how stern most of us look; I was certain I was smiling, too...

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While I have been writing this, a worrying tickle has set in in my throat. Oh, for fuck’s sake! That’s all I need, another URTI... Fingers crossed it comes to nothing.