Doctor Who series two

As much as I loved the first series of the ne Doctor Who, I've been underwhelmed by series two, with the new New Doctor (David Tennant.) At first I couldn't put my finger on what was different, other than the obvious: a new new Doctor. Tne I realized, the writing of the episodes of not good. It's just not. The episodes are uneven and frequently Plotonium is used in the last five minutes for the Doctor to save the day. And there is nothing as cheap as Plotonium.

The first episdoe, "New Earth" made no sense. People who can spread disease by a touch can't neccessarily spread the cure by a touch. It doesn't follow. Plotonium.

"The Iron Claw" was okay. A bit too much of the Doctor being chased through Victoriana by a werewolf for my taste. And Rose kept trying to make the Queen say, "We are not amused." Someone needed to smack her.

"The Girl in the Fireplace" was a good idea, but it got bogged down by sticky sentiment. And, how creepy are the clockwork robots?

The Cybermen episodes were merely okay. They weren't fantastic.

I did enjoy the "Impossible Plant/Satan Pit" episodes, if only because it was a simple, straight forward, fight a monster story. No clever tricks. No social commentary. Just the Doctor and Lovecraftian-like telepathic squids in space with something horrible in a pit under the planet. A good, solid story. And I like saying "Squids in Space!"

But "Love and Monsters" is a truly great episode. It was fun and clever but not cloying and sentimental. True, the Doctor and Rose where like guest stars in their own show, but it was a good story. No plotonium. No sentimental sticky spots. Plus, there's a Scooby Doo like chase scene that had me laughing out loud.

I'd have to give the second series a B. Good but not fanastic. Frankly, I expected more. Previous work has been exceptional and I can tell you are not work to your full potential.

Please thuroughly revise Series Three, to remove the weak plot points and unnecessary use of Plotonium, before submitting it for consideration.

Bloomsday

Another June 16th, another Bloomsday.

The bulk of action in James Joyce's Ulyssess takes place on June 16, 1904. It's a mountain of a book, but I really felt like I accomplished something when I finished reading the damn thing. I even liked bits.

At my uni, they did public readings outside the student union from morning well into the night.

This year Bloomsday is cancelled in Dublin due to the funeral of the prime minister. My favorite qoute on the subject is "You can't cancel Bloosday. That's like saying you can cancel Monday or Tuesday."

I heard on the drive home on NPR that the grandson of Joyce was trying to stop public readings of Ulyssess because of copywrite issues. The Rosenback Museum in Philadelphia has the original manuscript of Ulyssess and is planning a public reading today, Bloomsday, regardless of the young Mr. Joyce. And apparently Stephen James Joyce is also being sued for copywrite abuse, trying to supress publications about his grandfather that he does not like, and possibly distroying correspondence of interest to scholars.

In this New Yorker article we learn that Stephen James Joyce once turned down the requet of an academic from Purdue because he considered the name of the sports team, the Boilermakers, vulgar.

Sounds like a class act.

Joyce's unpublished work enters public domain in 2012.

Happy Bloomsday.

George Washington Did What??

Little known fact:

George Washington crossed the Delaware to wrestle a whale. True story.

Actually, this steams from Delmar being underwhelmed by the size and majesty of the Delaware at Washington Crossing State Park and scoffing that G.W. could just jump across if he had a running start. He was not impressed a was lead to believe by many public school history books that the Delaware was a wide, majestic river.

Here's a poem that only raised expectations. And a mug with the famous painting.

I thought the Delaware was decent sized. So I said, "Two other boats didn't make it over that day. And the water was freezing."

Not impressed.

"Would it helped if he wrestled a whale on the trip over?"

"Yes! George Washington wrestling a whale. That's a President."

So I thought the nonsensical idea deserved an illustration.

Hey Baby, You Look Pretty to Me

After a long day of work, I'm unpacking the laptop/breifcase, etc from the car and some guy (dark skin, tall, thin, not unattractive) comes up to me and says, "Hey Baby, you look pretty to me."

I hesitate. You look pretty to me. That's a rather backhanded compliment. I'm sure he didn't mean it that way, but all I could think was, "And to everyone else but you, I'm a dog. Thanks for tossing me a bone."

I say, "Thanks." Totally skipping the "for the bone" that was my innner monologue.

"I saw you yesterday but you were in a hurry."

"I was on my way to work." I take my sunglasses off, waving my wedding ring in front of my face.

"What's you name?"

"Melissa."

"Felicia," he says.

"Um, Muh-Lis-Ah," I say slowly.

"Fuh-Li-Ci-Ah," he repeats.

Great. I look pretty to him and he thinks my name is Felicia.

Still, I always appriciate the odd chat-up.