Procrastination man - Part 2

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Tuesday 29 April 2008

Sontar

Last Saturday was the much-dreaded return of Helen Raynor as writer for Doctor Who. Fears were high, anticipation low, after last year's Evolution of the Daleks. However, last year, the first part of her two-parter, Daleks in Manhattan, was amazingly good, despite some terrible terrible American accents. It was formative (that's where I found out about Hoovervilles) and entertaining. And even Ryan Carnes' character was not too annoying. Yet.
The Sontaran Stratagem, however, is different. The slot in the series was an asset, with Martha's return, and that could be either played up or played down. It was not played at all. Martha could have been just a random character from UN.I.T. The story per se is dull. And not in character with the classic Sontarans. Hopefully, next week's will remain on par with The Sontaran Stratagem, and not have all the action crammed into it (like last year's Helen Raynor episodes), and the (slightly off), slow pacing of the first episode will be entirely justified by the introduction of UNIT characters.
Still, aside from the story and the pacing, The Sontaran Stratagem has a lot going for it, especially in terms of production values. The acting is top-notch, especially from the geek boy Rattigan. And private Ross Jenkins. Characterisation was strong, and consistent with the classic series (good points for the Sontaran sense of honour). And, finally, the music - that Sontaran piece towards the end of the episode is the first Murray Gold masterpiece this series. There were several discreet fanwank lines, such as the UNIT dating controversy, which were placed in a cute way and not overplayed; and it was good to see the Sontarans still had an Achilles' heel in their neck! Also, I must admit I loved the conditional clause lines - and Rattigan's retort: both were delivered pitch-perfectly!
And UNIT. UNIT is the major strength of this episode. It looks like it's going to play a bigger part in the future, considering how much effort has been put into the characterisation of some of its characters. UNIT is more nuanced than in the previous series, but has more power as well... and the Doctor can thus emphasize on his differences and his distance from it (no guns, no orders,...). Well, I hope we're going to see more of UNIT in the new series, with (hopefully) a new Benton/Yates with Ross Jenkins; or, who knows, a new companion!
All in all, The Sontaran Stratagem was a "meh" episode. Not amazingly good, because of the story itself, but still quite good thanks to script editing and production values! Hopefully, next week will show that Helen Raynor can write two-parters!

Thursday 24 April 2008

Fairtrade: change your way of shopping


Despite the awesomeness of this ad... there's more to Fairtrade than meets the eye: it's not just a cool, or trendy, way of shopping. See this previous entry.

Wednesday 23 April 2008

Fancy some fun (agrégation!)

The written part of the Agrégation (high-profile competitive exam to recruit teachers... well high-profile does not begin to cover it) is now over... so if any of you fancies a couple of six-hour maths exams in French (yummy), they are available at the top of this page. The first one (Mathématiques générales, to be understood as Algebra) was fairly boring, and involved so many changes of bases it became more than mildly annoying. The second one (Analyse et probabilités, even though it was only Analysis this year) was, however, more interesting!

Cobra Starship

Cobra Starship are making well good music :-)
Here's, for the pleasure of your ears, Snakes on a Plane

For more Cobra Starship music, go to their myspace page. Particularly recommended is The City is at war
On their myspace are also the dates for their May 08 UK tour, if anyone is interested!

Tuesday 22 April 2008

Planet of the Ood: a future classic!

Planet of the Ood, third episode of the so far excellent thirtieth season of the best TV show in broadcasting history, Doctor Who, is set to become a classic.
Firstly, it is a real off-world story (not one of those cute New Earth stories which might just as well happen on Earth), which die-hard fans (allegedly) prefer. Secondly, it gets NewWho mythology just right, delving into the nature of the Ood further than The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit did. The Ood feel truly alien, and I reckon it would be good to see them more as the series keeps on growing.
But probably more importantly, it is just like one of the classic series' episodes. Alright, so it mentions the Sensorites and the Sense-sphere (from the 1963 first series!), which is kind of a cute nod to the days of old. But mainly, it:

  • is a critique of how the human race plunders the stars
  • can be put in relation with episodes of the human race (well, slavery here - those containers were sort of an obvious reference to that!)
  • has good ideas that should not have been brought to screen, because they just don't work visually. That big brain was just... wrong. When the concept of a gestalt mind centrally controlled was fine.


It is just like the Mara, back in Peter Davison's rule (Kinda - 1982, Snakedance - 1983). Everything is there, only reversed. The second appearance of the Ood is in most details like Kinda - except we don't have to be tortured by Adric. There's a whole critique of the human race, the sort of telepathic idea, and a big thing that doesn't work:
But it is better in many ways. There are cute little additions, like the external small brain, the stress on the cruelty of corporate mankind, a small attack on PR... and Murray Gold's music, which finally improves back to its previous level.
However, this episode was annoying as, once more, Donna is preferable to the Doctor. Seriously - that line "Being with you I can't tell what's right and what's wrong anymore" - "Trust me, it's better that way!" showed the Doctor under an angle that had been explored in The Fires of Pompeii when he left the family behind - someone who knows what he has to do but wishes he didn't. As interesting as this angle is, it is not very Doctor Who-ey, and certainly not Tenth-ish. It lacks the enthusiasm, the inventivity, and (with respect to the classic series) the bending of the rules. I'm willing to wager that, by the end of the series, he will be given the chance to revive Gallifrey and the Time Lords, will know he shouldn't, and Donna is the one who's going to push the right button. At the Medusa Cascade. And all of it contravening the Shadow Proclamation. And the consequence will be a lot of lost planets. There, I've put all the recurring themes from the first four episodes. I tell you, the finale is going to be epic!
Planet of the Ood was definitely worth the wait! Hopefully, The Sontaran Stratagem will be just as good, though I have my doubts!
Again, the photo (taken from the episode Kinda) is property of the BBC, though this is believed to be fair use.

Sunday 20 April 2008

Planet of the Ood - delayed

It's all in the title - due to various reasons I shall not watch Planet of the Ood until tuesday or wednesday.

But you gotta admit it looks awesome :-D !
On other matters, I have seen the Next Time trailer for The Sontaran Stratagem. Martha looks like she can't act anymore, but I believe (and hope) it's just this one scene. And just one more thing. Since when did Sontaran have teeth? That's just plain wrong. Mind you, it's the combination of RTD and Helen Raynor, so we will have some cheesy romance. And Sontarans do have mouths. Eeeew.
Yeah, my mind is seriously twisted. I blame it on not watching Planet of the Ood until tuesday or wednesday.
The photo is available from the BBC website, copyrighted by the BBC, though this is believed to be fair use.

Wednesday 16 April 2008

The Contest

It starts here... Let the feud begin!
[I can't believe Matt, who has editor privileges on this blog, didn't think of that]

Sunday 13 April 2008

Fires of Pompeii

Doctor Who just keeps on getting better and better! The Fires of Pompeii was on last saturday, and it felt like a high-budget TV movie, with great characterisation added.
The plot, in a few lines: the Doctor and his new side-kick, Donna Noble, materialise in Pompeii, 79 AD, one day before the eruption that doomed the city. Donna wants to save the people, but the Doctor says they can't - it is a fixed point in history that cannot be changed (like the destruction of Gallifrey). So off they go, back into the TARDIS. Except it isn't here anymore. Which gives the excuse for the couple to stay and find out about a very special sisterhood, and that all augurs in the city have real divinatory powers...
Episode Two of a Doctor Who series tends to be the Historical one. With a big H: Dickens, Queen Victoria, Shakespeare, and now Pompeii. But it also is the one where mystical powers are involved. They get more fantasy, and less sci-fi (ghosts, werewolves, witches, and now the sisterhood). Only Moffat's episodes can manage to be both historicals and sci-fi! This is a bit disappointing, as Doctor Who is, first and foremost, a sci-fi show. And it gets really bad when it is explained away with the line "Magic is science, only far more advanced than our understanding", which seems a bit too easy.
Fortunately, in this episode, the explanation was a bit more elaborate, and hopefully will be played on later in the series! However, some things are left unexplained (how the sisterhood's communication works, for instance), and we do feel a little cheated.
But that's all excused thanks to the great characterisation. Donna/Catherine Tate is simply brilliant in this episode. It is refreshing to see someone standing up to the Doctor and not get on to a one-way relationship with him. And it looks as if, thanks to that, she connects far more with the locals than with the Doctor, and has an independent opinion. Strong-minded, independent. Just like the young son of the family! This is the really great thing about Doctor Who - the great care with which secondary characters are depicted: you engage with them straight away, and are left off wishing they were companions! Well, I was, anyway. As far as companions from the Ancient Times go, we've only had Katrina so far; and she barely counts (or else Adam from series one counts!), and it's high time we got a sensible male companion! Bring on Jamie mark II!
Also, in this story, we get a nice continuity reference - to a Hartnell episode: The Romans. Cleverly done, with no actual necessity to have seen the story (though the Doctor is lying! He was the one behind the fire of Rome. And with The Visitation, it seems that the Doctor attracts big fires that go down in history!) Though another line seems to make the newer BBC Books non-cannon (the Doctor has visited Rome in The Stone Rose. Ah well, maybe "extensively" means more to him...). Fine by me, I shan't buy them anymore :-P
The other really good thing about Doctor Who, is how much care is given to wrapping things up nicely, even once the main plot is over. We had fine examples of it in series 1 & 2's finales, in the Moffat episodes, and most importantly in Human Nature/The Family of Blood. Not to mention two of the Christmas specials. And now they've done it again, including a scene that does not help the plot whatsoever, but brings a nice feeling of closure to the story!
Murray Gold's music, last night, if not as strikingly great as Doomsday' s, was not as cringeworthy as last week. All in all, the story, despite several minor defects (the energy converter, for instance), gets full marks!
Next week: Planet of the Ood. And oh boy, it does look very good!

Saturday 12 April 2008

Guide of the ENS for international students

Well, amongst the many projects I had this year, was the creation of a guide for international students coming to the ENS (as a BIE project).
I am happy, maybe even proud, to announce that, bar a couple more photos, and proofing, it is finished! The beta version is available in high resolution (around seven megabytes) and in lower resolution.
Any comments or corrections are welcome!

Partners In Crime

So, last week saw the return of the best show on television, aka Doctor Who, for a fourth, extraordinary series.
Partners in Crime was the name of the first episode. It saw the oh-so-much-despised Donna Noble, portrayed by Catherine bovvered Tate, return as David Tennant's side-kick. When the news broke last summer, I remember, I was reading about it in Metro on the bus; and I could not believe they would bring her back! Both the actress and the character had been worryingly annoying in the previous Christmas Special, The Runaway Bride. So, maybe even more so than with Smith and Jones, the pressure was high to make a good episode.
And it was fantastic. Not what would be rated as best of the best on The Doctor Who Forum - it was lacking the clever tie trick from last series' opener, or was just not emotionally charged in the way the Torchwood finale was; but still a pretty much enjoyable tale. The plot was cleverly constructed, and it is nice to see quite frequently in Doctor Who monsters who are not baddies. In series one, it was Moffat's two-parter; in series two, Fear Her, in series three the sun from 42. One could even argue more episodes are not baddie-centered (Gridlock comes to mind). And now, it is the Adipose.
In order to remain spoiler-free, not much can be said, but these are the cutest monsters on television. I want one!
A couple of great one-liners to finish:

  • I'm from Health and safety. Films department.
  • Health and safety. You be health, I'll be safety. (I'm so going to use that)


So yeah, a great episode (even though it was better suited to The Sarah Jane Adventures). Only Murray Gold's music was a bit off. Well, I say off - I mean, not to the best of the man's talents, but still pretty good!
Bring on The Fires of Pompeii!

It's starting again!

Lyon Revelation - what else? (Oh, yeah, Doctor Who) But yeah, we're giving the choir another go! Here's the advertising poster that will be put up shortly around the university... Poster
Hopefully more people will come this time!