Mystery sky
3 January 2007 20:26![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kribuJust noticed that there is a rather full moon up there in the sky. And clouds rushing around, gliding past it at gread speed. It might be a little windy, I think. I'm almost tempted to go for a few more moon pictures, but I think I'd like a lens with more tele reach for that... ah yes, I was planning to get a 70-300 mm one at some point.
So, 2007. Happy new year, anyone reading this! My new year's eve was as boring as they come... was surfing around randomly and trying to survive the sounds of the Great Battle outside, which seems to have lasted a good several hours. And trying to survive the neighbours. Eurgh. I really don't appreciate Russian disco (well, any kind of such horrid sounds, really) at full volume at 5 AM, with drunk people "singing" along to it, also at full volume. Bleh.
But I survived, and it's 2007. Will take some getting used to.
After not having watched much anything lately, I had a very entertainment-filled evening yesterday. I'm all caught up with various spin-offs of the Doctor Who world now (spin-offs of the television kind, anyway). The Sarah Jane Adventures fortunately did not disappoint. Yes, it's kiddie stuff, and quite obviously so, but not too kiddie for me to enjoy. Decent effects, some fun dialogue, decent plot (for a kiddie show), and the kids themselves were not that bad (well, two of them anyway). And Sarah Jane was fabulous. Elisabeth Sladen really does look great for a 58-year-old, and I enjoyed the little mentions of her original time... as well as those lovely pictures of the Brig.
Torchwood... Captain Jack Harkness was really rather good. Really. And the season finale, even in spite of some completely rubbish bits (and some pieces stolen directly from Angel), was not as bad as I feared. And it did actually end intriguingly enough... clever bastards, now I'll have to watch both Torchwood series 2 and Doctor Who series 3 to find out just what the hell that was all about.
As the season's over, I've been trying to form some coherent opinions of the whole thing. Not easy. It does have some promise, and I dearly hope the next series will manage to build on the strengths of the format and avoid the, um, attempts at being "adult". For me, the most effective episodes were clearly the ones that actually dealt with issues in a more dignified, mature way, and not the adolescent sense of "ooh, blood, gore, swearing, sex" adultness. And I realised that the episodes that really stood out for me all had to do with the past - Ghost Machine, Small Worlds, Out of Time and Captain Jack Harkness, which were just enough to make me want to keep watching it.
I've also decided that at least as long as I'm allowed, I will "take it easy" with work. In other words, I've been careful to watch my workload and adjust it myself since getting back to work after my sick leave - I've decided to keep my daily load at 6000-6500 words, which I've steadily managed, and try to avoid doing either more words or more hours. Six hours is the absolute maximum I can take now, I think - keeping it at five is better. At least my back aches, which were starting to become pure torture before my extended sick leave, have got less now, on most days they're not even there, so it seems five hours is what my back can actually take of that chair.
I am feeling somewhat guilty over doing short days, but I've got to the point where I do need to take care of myself first and foremost. And objectively speaking, I don't think I'm being lazy or unfair to others, as 6000 words a day should be considered reasonable, I think.
So, 2007. Happy new year, anyone reading this! My new year's eve was as boring as they come... was surfing around randomly and trying to survive the sounds of the Great Battle outside, which seems to have lasted a good several hours. And trying to survive the neighbours. Eurgh. I really don't appreciate Russian disco (well, any kind of such horrid sounds, really) at full volume at 5 AM, with drunk people "singing" along to it, also at full volume. Bleh.
But I survived, and it's 2007. Will take some getting used to.
After not having watched much anything lately, I had a very entertainment-filled evening yesterday. I'm all caught up with various spin-offs of the Doctor Who world now (spin-offs of the television kind, anyway). The Sarah Jane Adventures fortunately did not disappoint. Yes, it's kiddie stuff, and quite obviously so, but not too kiddie for me to enjoy. Decent effects, some fun dialogue, decent plot (for a kiddie show), and the kids themselves were not that bad (well, two of them anyway). And Sarah Jane was fabulous. Elisabeth Sladen really does look great for a 58-year-old, and I enjoyed the little mentions of her original time... as well as those lovely pictures of the Brig.
Torchwood... Captain Jack Harkness was really rather good. Really. And the season finale, even in spite of some completely rubbish bits (and some pieces stolen directly from Angel), was not as bad as I feared. And it did actually end intriguingly enough... clever bastards, now I'll have to watch both Torchwood series 2 and Doctor Who series 3 to find out just what the hell that was all about.
As the season's over, I've been trying to form some coherent opinions of the whole thing. Not easy. It does have some promise, and I dearly hope the next series will manage to build on the strengths of the format and avoid the, um, attempts at being "adult". For me, the most effective episodes were clearly the ones that actually dealt with issues in a more dignified, mature way, and not the adolescent sense of "ooh, blood, gore, swearing, sex" adultness. And I realised that the episodes that really stood out for me all had to do with the past - Ghost Machine, Small Worlds, Out of Time and Captain Jack Harkness, which were just enough to make me want to keep watching it.
I've also decided that at least as long as I'm allowed, I will "take it easy" with work. In other words, I've been careful to watch my workload and adjust it myself since getting back to work after my sick leave - I've decided to keep my daily load at 6000-6500 words, which I've steadily managed, and try to avoid doing either more words or more hours. Six hours is the absolute maximum I can take now, I think - keeping it at five is better. At least my back aches, which were starting to become pure torture before my extended sick leave, have got less now, on most days they're not even there, so it seems five hours is what my back can actually take of that chair.
I am feeling somewhat guilty over doing short days, but I've got to the point where I do need to take care of myself first and foremost. And objectively speaking, I don't think I'm being lazy or unfair to others, as 6000 words a day should be considered reasonable, I think.
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no subject
Date: 7 January 2007 19:28 (UTC)True - and God knows I've spent many hours in front of the computer, reading fanfiction, especially back when I got into Spike/Buffy fanfic. Haven't read much lately - it usually goes in phases. I remember sometimes getting bad neck-aches from reading stuff for hours on end ...
What kind of fanfic are you reading at the moment?
no subject
Date: 7 January 2007 19:32 (UTC)Right now I'm still in a proper Harry Potter fanfic phase though. Well, mostly Snape/Hermione, but also some just general Snape-oriented stuff (no slash, I don't really care for slash at all), and some general Hermione-focused stuff. I'm sad, I know. ;-)
no subject
Date: 7 January 2007 19:38 (UTC)No, you're not :-P. The people into Harry/giant squid are sad :-P
Ohhh - Snape. I must say, I'm really really looking forward to both the movie and the last book.
BTW - have you heard/ read anything about the movie Snowcake? I saw a trailer on the Leaky Cauldron site, and it didn't look half untineresting - and hmmm, Alan Rickman ... :-P
no subject
Date: 7 January 2007 19:51 (UTC)True. ;-) I really don't get some of the pairings people come up with... *shudders a little*
Ohhh - Snape. I must say, I'm really really looking forward to both the movie and the last book.
Oh yes. The last book, especially. Although I'm really afraid Snape won't survive it, no matter which side he's on. If we're even told which side he's on, for that matter... wouldn't it be nice and evil of Rowling to just have him killed by some over-eager people (like, say, Harry ;-)) before anyone's had a chance to actually find out why he's done, well, everything he's done.
I'm looking forward to the Order of the Phoenix movie too. It's a lot of book to fit into one film, but on the other hand, the story is more straightforward than Goblet of Fire was, so it might be easier to prune it into a decent film-length script, I hope. And there should finally be more Snape than in the first movies (although one thing that surprised me most when re-reading the books is how little of Snape there actually was in them, before OotP - considering the impact he had).
BTW - have you heard/ read anything about the movie Snowcake?
Not much really. I just know that there is such a movie, and that's about it... should probably take a look at that trailer myself at some point. I've been somewhat out of the loop regarding all things Rickman lately, but might be interested if it seems good.