Don't suffer the embarrassment of being exterminated by an out-of-date Dalek! These bright colorful new Daleks are so wonderful it makes it almost an honor to be killed by one. Almost.
The question is, are the New Daleks the wave of the future, or more like New Coke? And why does the BBC want to go to the prom?
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
Doctor Who: Our Imaginary Friend
The BBC television series Doctor Who began in 1963 and except for a gap of some years has been running ever since. In the UK, for most people Doctor Who is a childhood memory.
My earliest memories of Doctor Who are of the Doctor Who movie made in the 1960s, which ended up as all scary things did on Saturday evening television. I remember the Daleks chasing after the elderly Doctor and his granddaughter Susan and my heart beat so fast from the excitement because I just could not see how ANYONE could escape those horrid Dalek things.
The writers of the new Doctor Who series seem to have decided to play on the childhood-memory aspect of the Doctor while introducing the 11th Doctor. It begins with a young girl meeting the newly regenerated Doctor, who is still dressed in the raggedy clothes of the 10th Doctor. The Doctor discovers that the crack in the bedroom wall that the girl is afraid of is actually a portal to hell (kind of like the one in my basement, only drier). He runs out to the TARDIS and tells the girl he'll be back in 5 minutes.
Twelve years later, the Doctor is back, the girl, Amy Pond, is all grown up and working as a Kiss-o-Gram girl, and they save the universe from something-or-other. Amy gets to introduce her childhood imaginary friend, whom she calls 'The Raggedy Doctor', around to all the folks who thought she was a bit nuts. And the Doctor invited Amy for a ride in the TARDIS. Just wait 5 minutes and he will come for her....
Two years later.....
Besides the Doctor-as-imaginary-friend thing, I also noticed that by the end of the episode, Amy Pond had known the Doctor for most of her life. The Doctor had known Amy for part of one day. Mind you, the writers didn't really follow up on that and after the adventures of the current season this disparity no longer applies. But I kind of identify this: the central figure of My Whole Life, that I've known for years, thinks of me as 'that odd girl I just met today'.
Other BBC America stuff
BBC America has begun showing their television series Law & Order UK, a spin off of the US Law & Order series. One of the stars of the British series is Freema Agyeman, who played Martha Jones on Doctor Who. I supposed because the L&O: UK writers thought the audience would expect her to pull out a laser cannon and start killing Daleks, they put Freema in mousy sweaters and gave her character a personality very like that of Annie the ghost from Being Human. (Well, I do like Annie the ghost, but I'd think a prosecutor would have a bit more of an assertive personality.)
I had heard that Freema had turned down a role on Torchwood, again playing Martha Jones, in order to do L&O:UK. Which was a very good thing since if Martha Jones had been at Torchwood during that last season she wouldn't have survived the bloodbath--- they even killed off the pet pterodactyl!
My mother and I both thought Law & Order: UK was pretty good. We are both Law & Order fans and also both like British television--- though my mom prefers hers without werewolves and/or Daleks. But I thought the pilot episode of L&O: UK needed a bit more spark--- maybe they could have borrowed Chris Meloni and Mariska Hargitay to play visiting American cops Stabler and Benson. Stabler could have given the Brit cops lessons on how to bounce a perp's head off the interrogation room walls....
Monday, October 4, 2010
UK Advice Columnist: Loving Mums should Smother their Disabled Kids
As a person with a disability (Asperger Syndrome) I'm glad to say that my mother must not have loved me in THAT way since I'm still alive and kicking. The worst part is that this woman has no clue that for the rest of us, when we find something or someone suffering, our impulse is to help rather than brutally murder.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Having fun with my juvenilia
As I am working on the new poetry book, I'm having to go through some of my earliest poems--- my juvenilia (though I was already old enough to be tried as an adult when I wrote them).
We all like to think we are making progress in our writing, and so sometimes we are embarrassed enough by some of our early work that we are tempted to through it out. But resist that temptation. Because for one thing, old writing can help you measure your progress. And sometimes you will be surprised by something that you wrote years ago that turns out to be good enough to keep, or at least be worth the effort to re-write.
Total Word Count Guesstimate
I don't know how many words the poetry book is going to run. It's actually more a matter of the number of pages. Currently I am at page 38 which is nearly halfway to the minimum.
A Guessing Game
These are two of the poems of the new book. One was written in my first year of writing poetry (un)seriously. The other was written this year. Guess which one is which. Note also that the titles of these two poems are in the running for being the book title, so if you like one or another say so.
running about on hens' legs
for baba yaga
trouble, trouble vicks and tea
break the corners of tv
hide the harp and bend the lid
do you know what marko did?
too late
too late
anticipate
simmer pansies vixen tee
build the carpet on the sea
ninth horseman
my heart's
frying in a cast iron skillet
the refrigerator watches sullenly
as the world melts
We all like to think we are making progress in our writing, and so sometimes we are embarrassed enough by some of our early work that we are tempted to through it out. But resist that temptation. Because for one thing, old writing can help you measure your progress. And sometimes you will be surprised by something that you wrote years ago that turns out to be good enough to keep, or at least be worth the effort to re-write.
Total Word Count Guesstimate
I don't know how many words the poetry book is going to run. It's actually more a matter of the number of pages. Currently I am at page 38 which is nearly halfway to the minimum.
A Guessing Game
These are two of the poems of the new book. One was written in my first year of writing poetry (un)seriously. The other was written this year. Guess which one is which. Note also that the titles of these two poems are in the running for being the book title, so if you like one or another say so.
running about on hens' legs
for baba yaga
trouble, trouble vicks and tea
break the corners of tv
hide the harp and bend the lid
do you know what marko did?
too late
too late
anticipate
simmer pansies vixen tee
build the carpet on the sea
ninth horseman
my heart's
frying in a cast iron skillet
the refrigerator watches sullenly
as the world melts
Friday, October 1, 2010
Editing an expanded poetry volume
My poetry chapbook on Lulu.com has done amazingly well--- it sold 1 copy, to my mother--- and so I'm doing a complete re-write and expansion into a full book which can be sold on Amazon.com. If I work really hard on it, maybe I can sell another copy to my mother.
The chapbook was called 'surly petunia' after the name of one of the poems. I figure the new book should have a different name, even though it's going to have all the poems from 'surly petunia' plus whatever other ones that I've written that don't now annoy me. I'm also NOT including the one which is an acrostic featuring the 'F' word, which was an even dumber idea than you'd think. Acrostics are HARD!
I've also changed my pen name from N. I. Annakindt to nissa_ami_kato, because I really like my new internet name. You can even sing it! You know that song 'Mr. Roboto'? The part that goes 'domo arigato, Mr. Roboto', you can sing 'nissa_ami_kato, Mr. Roboto'. At least, you can if you are as weird as me.
The possible titles for the new volume include 'jungle spiders', 'wired floor sculptures' and 'alien invasions & the love of lawn furniture'. and, well, any other poem titles from the poems in the book. I'm also willing to entertain suggestions from readers so long as those suggestions are NOT 'what a piece of sh---' (because I've already thought of that one myself, but decided against it since my mom might not buy it if there is a Bad Word in the title.
I also wouldn't mind some input on the poem I'm adding to the book right now, which goes like this:
paper dragons
blue & yellow folded paper dragons
sail away in an indigo Tintenfaß
dragons dangerous yet delicate
for they cannot breathe fire
and live
Well, I'm pretty much satisfied with this poem (which I wrote over 10 years ago). Yes, I'm way too easily satisfied. But the question I have is whether I should include a footnote to the poem explaining the word
'Tintenfaß'.
Would explaining that the word is German for inkwell, or at least mentioning that the letter'ß' is pronounced like 'ss', be helpful, or would it spoil the whole thing? I mean, when it comes to my poetry, I kind of think trying to understand what it means is beside the point.
If you have an opinion on this, let me know. Or else you can always go over to Dan Lacey's blog and view his latest pictures of Obama naked on a unicorn. Because you can just never have too many pictures of Obama naked on a unicorn. (Don't worry, they don't show Obama's naughty bits.) Dan Lacey also likes to paint people, including saints, with pancakes on their heads.
The chapbook was called 'surly petunia' after the name of one of the poems. I figure the new book should have a different name, even though it's going to have all the poems from 'surly petunia' plus whatever other ones that I've written that don't now annoy me. I'm also NOT including the one which is an acrostic featuring the 'F' word, which was an even dumber idea than you'd think. Acrostics are HARD!
I've also changed my pen name from N. I. Annakindt to nissa_ami_kato, because I really like my new internet name. You can even sing it! You know that song 'Mr. Roboto'? The part that goes 'domo arigato, Mr. Roboto', you can sing 'nissa_ami_kato, Mr. Roboto'. At least, you can if you are as weird as me.
The possible titles for the new volume include 'jungle spiders', 'wired floor sculptures' and 'alien invasions & the love of lawn furniture'. and, well, any other poem titles from the poems in the book. I'm also willing to entertain suggestions from readers so long as those suggestions are NOT 'what a piece of sh---' (because I've already thought of that one myself, but decided against it since my mom might not buy it if there is a Bad Word in the title.
I also wouldn't mind some input on the poem I'm adding to the book right now, which goes like this:
paper dragons
blue & yellow folded paper dragons
sail away in an indigo Tintenfaß
dragons dangerous yet delicate
for they cannot breathe fire
and live
Well, I'm pretty much satisfied with this poem (which I wrote over 10 years ago). Yes, I'm way too easily satisfied. But the question I have is whether I should include a footnote to the poem explaining the word
'Tintenfaß'.
Would explaining that the word is German for inkwell, or at least mentioning that the letter'ß' is pronounced like 'ss', be helpful, or would it spoil the whole thing? I mean, when it comes to my poetry, I kind of think trying to understand what it means is beside the point.
If you have an opinion on this, let me know. Or else you can always go over to Dan Lacey's blog and view his latest pictures of Obama naked on a unicorn. Because you can just never have too many pictures of Obama naked on a unicorn. (Don't worry, they don't show Obama's naughty bits.) Dan Lacey also likes to paint people, including saints, with pancakes on their heads.
Square 8: I am Joe's Functioning Label
Many years ago there was a magazine called Readers' Digest. It once ran a series of articles about Joe--- or, more accurately, about parts of Joe. There was 'I am Joe's Heart', 'I am Joe's Kidney', 'I am Joe's Alcohol-Damaged Liver', 'I am Joe's Left Testicle'..... Actually I might have made up the last one.
Bev, over at the blog Square 8, has done a take-off on this series called 'I am Joe's Functioning Label'. It describes how an autistic person's 'high functioning' label affects how he is perceived.
'Autism Spectrum Disorder' describes a number of neurological conditions which might include a person with 'low-functioning' autism who perhaps does not communicate with others and bangs his head against the wall even when President Obama is NOT making a speech, and also a person with 'high-functioning' autism and/or Asperger Syndrome who can (sometimes) 'pass' as a neurotypical ('normal') person.
The functioning label can be somewhat arbitrary--- for example, Asperger Syndrome is considered 'high-functioning', yet 80% of people with Asperger Syndrome are unemployed. And a person who seems to be 'low-functioning' may understand quite well what people are saying about him when they talk about how disabled/defective he is.
Anyway, I thought that was a great piece of writing and thought I would share it.
Bev, over at the blog Square 8, has done a take-off on this series called 'I am Joe's Functioning Label'. It describes how an autistic person's 'high functioning' label affects how he is perceived.
'Autism Spectrum Disorder' describes a number of neurological conditions which might include a person with 'low-functioning' autism who perhaps does not communicate with others and bangs his head against the wall even when President Obama is NOT making a speech, and also a person with 'high-functioning' autism and/or Asperger Syndrome who can (sometimes) 'pass' as a neurotypical ('normal') person.
The functioning label can be somewhat arbitrary--- for example, Asperger Syndrome is considered 'high-functioning', yet 80% of people with Asperger Syndrome are unemployed. And a person who seems to be 'low-functioning' may understand quite well what people are saying about him when they talk about how disabled/defective he is.
Anyway, I thought that was a great piece of writing and thought I would share it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
