And that's when it all ended

i am a topologist

2010-10-19T23:23:57Z

and topologists are awesome.

you said we had unfinished business, but it's finished now

2009-08-12T11:49:49Z

you might've noticed that i haven't really blogged that much in the past year or so - i mean, heck, my first post of 2009 was in july. that's pretty shameful, especially since i'm someone who quite enjoys dipping into my blog archives on occasion (morbidly embarrasing as they can sometimes be). i guess i stopped blogging for a variety of reasons - lack of time, laziness, lack of anything worth blogging about - but those same reasons that never stopped me in the past, y'know? and reading through my old blog archives does make me want to start blogging again.

accordingly: i am going to! only, elsewhere.

it was what, four years ago when i started blogging here? four years doesn't really seem like a long time, but it really is, and a lot has happened and a lot has changed in those four years. i've recently read through my entire blog, and i don't think you really realise how much you've changed until you actually see that? y'know, i have this idealised memory of me in 2005, and it doesn't seem too far from who i am now, but then you go back and read stuff you wrote then and you're like "umh, cringe much? why did i ever write this?", and you realise how different you were back then. i mean, if you go and read my first ever post (which is something that you should never, ever do), it's hard to imagine me writing anything of the sort these days.

in short: i feel like a fresh start; a new blog without four years worth of archive posts behind it. i was actually going to just make my archives private and start again here, but as it turned out, i think you need a paid account to do them all in one go, and it was just far easier to start a new blog elsewhere. i'll still read my flist daily, and i might even post here on occasion! who knows? i'm not disappearing, at any rate. so, i suppose - farewell, but not goodbye!

finally did its time
one million keystrokes have gone by
and i've never saved another's life
why didn't i choose the other way?
i'm damned if i go, damned if i stay

then there's the place i am in
all pages in your lap
all levels in the dark
everything just comes
and then goes again

rootpot.wordpress.com

rootytheroot @ 2009-08-09T11:53:00

2009-08-09T10:54:29Z

Karen Traviss quits Star Wars, cruel fanboys celebrate. Hmm.

rootytheroot @ 2009-07-23T16:47:00

2009-07-23T18:05:10Z

there was a time i was proud to be me
but now i'm all lost at sea

there was a time when i couldn't complain
but now it's you i only blame

baby i'm...
maybe i'm not me

there was a time i was happy to know you
because you were me
and i was you

but now i wish i had left you
without knowing all of his feelings

baby i'm...
maybe i'm not me

you were my best friend
and i pulled out the rug from under your feet
i can't believe i had the nerve to leave you standing out on the street

there was a time i was proud to be me
but now i'm all
lost at sea

baby i'm...
maybe i'm not me

rootytheroot @ 2008-12-23T10:42:00

2008-12-23T10:43:00Z

gaily gaily glee gaily glee gaily gaily gleeee

rootytheroot @ 2008-12-09T18:46:00

2008-12-09T19:01:18Z

This is my new favourite.

rootytheroot @ 2008-11-28T23:34:00

2008-11-28T23:34:55Z

i know they don't understand

they don't get us at all

rollercoaster

2008-11-07T22:21:43Z

i'm out of sync,
i'm out of time

YES.

2008-11-05T05:01:23Z

no regrets

2008-10-10T21:26:02Z

oh, we had the BEST of times. <3

i will drop you straight away

2008-10-03T21:49:54Z

new official decree:

frinedays are winedays

you'll be gone tommorow

2008-10-01T17:46:34Z

My timetable this year isn't as snazzy as I've made it in the past - I'm using Open Office, which succccks big time, and I only have lectures (no tutorials in third year - we're meant to show initative and go off and work for ourselves!) so there's no need to colour code it. It's pretty snazzy in itself, though - thanks to no tutorials and the group project I'm doing, I only have 10 contact hours a week! That's a huuuuge step down from the eighteen I'm used to.

I've only been at uni for a week so far - and I've only had two days of lectures thus far, too - but it's been fairly fun. It's been really good to see everyone again, and I've settled in fine. It doesn't feel like I've been away at all, really.. or perhaps as vikiq said, it's felt more like a reading week or something, rather than a full blown four month holiday.

I haven't done much work so far, though. This should probably change at some point, especially seeing as I have four afternoons off a week. It's sort of hard to crack down at the minute, though, cause I've only had one lecture for most subjects, so I can't really attempt problems sheets, and exams just feel too far away to be sitting down and cracking on with hardcore studying. I've checked a book out of the library for my group project - it's by GH Hardy, yay! - which I've been reading a little, but it's slow going. I think I need to jack up the motivation factor a few notches, y'know? Self discipline, too. I got home today and made a little timetable of stuff to do this afternoon, of which I have done one - sat and read a few chapters of Starfighters of Adumar. It'll be two things checked off, actually, once I've blogged. I was sort of hindered by our house being invaded by a scary painter guy (who left his paint roller in our sink.. oo-er), but still..

(I've not read Starfighters of Adumar for a few years, but I needed cheering up, so I decided to reread it. It's my favourite Star Wars book - perhaps my favourite book full stop - yet I'd forgotten just how good it is. Wedge, Tycho, Janson and Hobbie are my favourite ever - they need to make more books featuring them going on missions and the like. It'd be the best.)

Since I last blogged, piles of info about the new SW novel contract has emerged, and it's pretty exciting - it really seems to be a lot more diverse than the last contract, and there's lots of fresh blood, which is good. Really looking forward to Paul Kemp's Jaden Korr novel, although that's not out for another two years (!!), and Imperal Commando should be great, too. In the here and now, I've got Order 66 to read next, and then Milennium Falcon, which I'm hoping will actually wrap up LotF, seeing as how Invincible forgot to.. seriously, though, I'm a huge James Luceno fan and MF should be great - just why'd they have to switch it with Shadows of Mindor?

The Force Unleashed and The Clone Wars were both hyped up to be "the biggest Star Wars event of 2008!". Well, TFU was hyped as the biggest Star Wars even of 2007, but we all know what happened next.. but forget them. Shadows of Mindor. That's where it'll be at this year. But barely - it comes out on December 30th. Eep!

I'm getting urges to watch more SG-1.. Lou introduced me to it over Easter, and the more I watch the more I love it - we're midway through Season 3, which has been fantastic so far. The problem is, though, she keeps the DVDs. She says she likes watching them with me; I think it's a cunning plan to keep me hooked. She's like a drug dealer, than woman, only with Jaffa. And Goa'uld. And Richard Dean Anderson, yum.

These SG-1 urges are not, however, as big as my urges to EAT SOMETHING. I'm making risotto tonight! I have salady stuff to go with it and everything. It will either be incredibly exciting or a huge mess - I'm betting on the latter. But yeah - I'm in Sheffield, I'm settled in, and I'm alright. I'm always alright.

i will make it legal

2008-09-25T08:25:11Z

Back to university today! Am sad, yet happy. Will blog properly when there (maybe).

"Give it a go" events on offer at the university this week:

Is this.. something different than what I think it is?

EDIT: Oh wait, it's just this.

Or so they say..

rootytheroot @ 2008-09-09T17:28:00

2008-09-09T16:31:48Z

GOD PEOPLE, it's just eight months. Yeah, it sucks I know, but it's not been cancelled or anything. ~~And it's not like it'll be any good, either.~~

I hate fandom sometimes. Don't bite the hand that feedeth!

rootytheroot @ 2008-09-04T11:33:00

2008-09-04T10:34:30Z

nooo ashley dean left iLT :(
his hair was the bestest

rootytheroot @ 2008-09-02T18:59:00

2008-09-02T18:06:20Z

i'm hardly a computer geek, but i'm really excited about chrome, despite being perfectly happy with firefox. the fact is, i'm a bit of a closet google fanboy - everything they do, they do so well.

i hope it's good.

and i thought character was a good thing

2008-09-01T12:45:49Z

It's been more than two weeks since I last blogged, and don't really have much to report. I guess that's representative of this summer as a whole - it's been really, really fun, and I've enjoyed all of it, but I've felt like I'm going nowhere. That's okay, though - a month today university term starts again, and then I'll have a focus again. It's not bothering me too much - I just feel a little.. in limbo right now.

Or maybe I'm just getting a bit reflective because the summer's drawing to a close and I've nothing else to blog about.

Adrens was nice enough to lend me not only Ace Attorney 4 (I still have to play the 3rd one, though.. ) but his DS, too (mine still has no charger, I think it's in t'Sheff) and it's really, really awesomesauce. I love love loved the first game, but Justice for All disappointed me a bit (except for Turnabout Big Top, ofc), so I was a bit wary going into AA4 (especially since you don't play as Nick any more!) but wheee it's the bestest. It also has the best "Objection!" music EVER.

Plus, more Ema Skye. YES. <3

TV trailer for The Clone Wars. Even afer the lacklustre movie, I'm willing to give the series a chance, and the trailer looks pretty good, even if it seems all Anakin and very little Obi-Wan. (Do people actually like Anakin?) I really believe that the series will suit the weekly TV show format a lot more than it suited the cinema - I think a lot of disapointment people had with the movie was that it felt a lot like a couple of TV episodes stitched together, right down to the wonky pacing and the unimportant storyline.

Besides, the trailer has Plo Koon in it lots. Speaking. Plo Koon! He's the bestest.

Sheffield in a month. The lack of maths in my head worries me. Maybe I should "knuckle down" and do something about it? For all my want to get back to Sheffield and start uni again, though, I just can't get motivated. I'd blame the lazy summer, 'cept it's not really summer any more.

"Did you get shot down again?"

2008-08-16T19:33:07Z

So I saw The Clone Wars last night, and it was actually really good fun. The action scenes - and there were plenty - were nothing short of breathtaking, and both Obi-Wan and (gasp!) Anakin were really likeable. Anakin, especially - I do believe that this is the first time I've actually warmed to him since the Revenge of the Sith novel - who is a real wrecking ball in the film, which is how I've always wanted to see him portrayed. And the space battles were fantastic - well on par with the opening battle of Revenge of the Sith.

The film's great fun, but it has plenty of flaws. Most of the dialogue is atrocious, the lightsaber battles fall a little flat, and the pace really dies off in the second half, mostly because of a somewhat pointless subplot involving Padmé. Seriously, does anyone actually care about Padmé? I can't stand her. I prefer my Star Wars more intelligent than this, too - although the film is at times in danger of straying into meaningful discussion, it's all too quickly passed over (Karen Traviss' novel adaptation of the film really succeeds in this regard, though - like all Traviss books, it's intelligent and meaty). And that's the films main failing, really - it's not very meaningful in any way. We know the two main characters and the main villain aren't going to die, and we have a fairly good idea that Rex, Ahsoka and Ventress aren't going to bite it either. This is, after all, the season premiere for the upcoming TV series. And at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter whether the Jedi succeed in their mission or not, because we know how the Clone Wars play out.

As great as it was to see Star Wars in the cinema - something I never thought I'd get to do again - I have to wonder if releasing the film into cinemas was the right move. This isn't the seventh Star Wars movie - and it's unashamedly so. From the remix of the theme tune to the lack of opening crawl to the much smaller scope, it's clear that this film isn't trying to be up there with the saga. I'm actually quite looking forward to the actual TV series, because as a season opener, The Clone Wars is fantastic. You just have to realise you're not watching a Star Wars movie - you're watching 100 minutes of a story set in the Star Wars galaxy. If that makes sense.

For all these criticisms, though, the film - especially the first half - manages to be an extremely fun ride. I think you have to be aware of what you're going to see - don't expect any massive revelations or groundbreaking events - and it would really help to have a working knowledge of the Clone Wars era lore to really grok what's going on vis a vis Count Dooku's machinations.

I think the film merits a 6/10. In comparison, I'd give the excellent Karen Traviss adaptation 8/10 - whilst not a "must read" like Matt Stover's adaptation of Revenge of the Sith*, it's really worth picking up if you enjoyed the film at all. Traviss fleshes out the film really well and gives us some really refreshing takes on the main players. (In spite of the terrible Revelation, she's one of my favourite Star Wars authors currently writing - I actually cannot wait for Order 66.)

Whatever your opinion on the film, though, seeing the blue-against-black A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.... up on the big screen again has to have given you chills. I know it did me.

It's been a really busy but fun week - I think I've spent more days with friends than without. We had a really fun party at mine on Wednesday, in which we watched Batman (the fantastically camp 1966 film, that is), met Stu's girlfriend for the first time (she's lovely, Stu :) ) and drank lots of cider (and not enough lager, evidently - my fridge is full of it). Jep, Adrens and I ended up staying up til 5am just talking and then playing Star Wars miniatures, which is always great fun; perhaps even more so when drunk. I wanted to play Talisman - when don't I? - but no one else would, unfortunatley. Story of my life.

*(Seriously. If you have even a passing interest in Star Wars, READ THIS BOOK. NOW. There are not words enough to describe how.. utterly fantastic it is.)

rootytheroot @ 2008-08-05T15:06:00

2008-08-05T14:07:35Z

The production values are nonexistant, but this is just too awesome not to be the best ever.

always alright

2008-08-04T22:46:44Z

I've spent the last few days in York; we all went ~~down~~ up there to visit Paul, who's staying there all summer to sort out endless boxes of shoes (or something). I had a good time, although I'm pretty much shattered now I'm back. I am looking forward to sleeping in an actual bed tonight. Carpet burns ftl.

Because I'm too tired for an actual blog:

Lager from aldi may be cheap, and named after awesome mythological figures, but it still sucks. AVOID.
Ice tea is not just cold tea. I learnt this the hard way. It's okay though, because I had some of the actual stuff on the train home.
"TITS! LOOK AT ME TITS!" Thanks for nothing, Paul.
I am turning into my dad.
I found someone in a pictochat room on the way home! Her name was AbbyB. I drew a train and Mario; she just drew some strange faces. Then I got to my stop.
The temptation to jump off at Sheffield ~~and run around shouting "IT'S SHEFFIELD"~~ was great both there and back.
Trying to lock yourself in out of order toilets = bad.
Ostrich burgers = YEUCH. I can only eat meat if the animal is NORMAL, ie, I have seen one.
Cash points that charge £1.99 = I'll pay you later.
Mean Girls is actually really, really funny. I want to watch more girly films. Maybe even High School Musical. GETCHYA GETCHYA GETCHYA HEAD IN THE GAMMME!
Lindsay Lohan pretending to be able to do calculus is annoying, however. GRR!
I think I finally got the full emotional impact of Invincible. Booo.
N still sucks. I didn't get it then, and I still don't get it now.
You've got to make yourself turn left.
Hrm.
I was disappointed we didn't get to see the Batman movie - no, not The Dark Knight, but Batman: The Movie! Jep bought the dvd for £3; bargain.
It is impossible to remove bras with one hand, no matter what the internet says.
"When talking to your daughter about her period, whatever you do, DON'T TALK ABOUT IT IN PUBLIC!" WikiHow, what would I do without you?
"Saucesome" is the best word ever (this month).
Douglas Adams was right - towels are the most useful things ever. I only regret that I didn't take more of them.
Not York related, but anyway - the new Facebook sucks. Ew ew ew ew ew.
Neither is this - I have been waiting four years to read the p167 of Jedi Twilight. (It's the end of Part One). You know which bit.
There should probably be some sleep soon. Ie now.
It's been a very nice weekend.

you seem to come and go
i never seem to know
and all my time
is yours as much as mine
we never have enough
time to show our love

curse your soul, i don't want to know you

2008-07-21T17:14:43Z

My computer decided to die on me last Monday, and it took the best part of a week (and about eighteen trips to Measham Computers) to get it fixed. I'm still not sure what was wrong with it, but to cut a long story short, I now have like.. zero programs (they kept my documents and musics, thank God) and a nifty wireless card, rather than the USB wireless stick I had before. Apparantly it was making the computer hang, or something..

It's been a slow, (mostly) quiet week. I went to the Ashby Agricultural Show last Sunday, which as ever was thrilling. Jim and the rest of the family came down for it, though, so much more fun was the picnic afterwards. Jim doesn't half make me laugh. Even more thrilling than the Agricultural Show was yesterday's Heather Scarecrow Festival! And by "even more thrilling" I mean "even colder and rainier". Don't let me put you off, the Scarecrow Festival's actually quite good fun - there are some really impressive scarecrows there - but going year after year you begin to notice that there are some houses where every year they just wheel out the same scarecrows. There are only so many times you can look at a (technically excellent!) Uncle Bulgaria scarecrow and be impressed - the novelty is wearing off, guys.

What was thrilling was Invincible, which I borrowed from Pete (I still refuse to buy it in hardcover). It's a very strong book - definitely the best one in the series - and although extremely short, it's really punchy and violent and - despite the complete and total lack of conclusion to *any* plot line in the series, bar about three of them - satisfying. If I had to compare it to anything, I'd compare it to Kill Bill - the book goes from fight to fight to fight, with a minima of discussion and contemplation inbetween. There's been enough "should we, shouldn't we?" discussion so far in the series, and far too much Jedi inaction in the first half or so, so it was extremely refreshing to see them actually take the iniative and do something unflinchingly.

Still, I wish there'd been an actual epilogue..

I have a lot to say about Legacy of the Force, but I'll save that for another day. My verdict on the series? A resounding meh. It's certainly no New Jedi Order, and the way it was written - nine books, three alternating authors - was the worst decision ever. Continuity and cohesion went out of the window, and we ended up with nine very well written books, each of which had very little to do with the last. There are no bad books in the series - I dislike Revelation thematically, yes, but it's very well written - but it's a bad series, all the same.

I found a cafetière and lots of coffee (which, unlike everything else in our house, isn't decaffinated!) in our pantry. After a year of the worst instant coffee ever (seriously, avoid Co-Op Fairtrade coffee by the plague, it's yakky), it's like being in seven different heavens at once. My tea-loving girlfriend now hates me, but I don't mind, for I have a limitless supply of coffee.

What I don't have, however, is a limitless supply of time, and lately the days seem to be rushing past. I think the solution is to get up earlier. Hmm. Meditate on this, I will.

rootytheroot @ 2008-07-13T17:53:00

2008-07-13T16:54:14Z

continental lager is bad lager :(

rootytheroot @ 2008-07-10T18:48:00

2008-07-10T18:22:59Z

So, I'm back home for the summer! The last few days in Sheffield were pretty much fantastic - moving in downstairs was very exciting and living there has been great fun, as was the housewarming party we had last Tuesday and the Student Associate barbeque on Friday and generally seeing people lots. For the first two weeks on the SAS scheme, if felt like my days consisted of going to school, and then I had some spare time in between. The last week, my days consisted of seeing people and being happy, and school was the bit in between.

I think I got a lot from the three weeks in school, though. In fact, I think I got too good a view of school - working in a sixth form college near the end of term, I saw only the highs, rather than the lows. Still, I think it was the perfect place to send me - I got exactly what I wanted to get. I also got to do a real chunk of actual teaching, which was really rewarding, and I don't think I'd have got to do at other schools. I don't think teaching is for me, really - I think I could do it, sure, but I think my calling is elsewhere. Plus, ew, kids.

Back at home, I am faced with a decision - do I spend my time doing something productive, or rewatch every Doctor Who from 2005 onwards? Obviously Doctor Who won out, and I'm currently halfway through season one - up to and including Dalek, which I always quite liked and never really saw what all the fuss was about (this time through was no different). It's strange, watching series one again after three more series - it's so different. I do miss Christopher Ecclestone, though - he's my Doctor, and infinitely better in the role than Tennant.(Hush, everyone - I do like David Tennant, just Christopher Ecclestone = best ever). There are also some shockingly bad episodes (The Long Game, The Parting of the Ways) and nothing truly exceptional outside of Moffat's two-parter and Father's Day. It's a series of inconsistencies, really - I don't think the program really found its feet until series 2. But it's very refreshing to watch it again from the start, and there's none of the self-indulgence that plagued the first half of Doctor Who this year.

But what about this year's finale? I enjoyed it, although it was actaully pretty bad. It wasn't as disappointing as Last of the Time Lords was last season, but then again, The Stolen Earth was no The Sound of Drums (which I think gets my vote for best New Who episode to date). Martha and Jack kicked ass, and didn't die, so I was a happy camper, no matter what else happened. The scene with all the new series companions flying the TARDIS was so triumphant, though, that I can forgive it for also being the cheesiest thing ever. I've been rewatching that scene a lot on the iPlayer, because there's just something so perfect about it that I can't describe. I like the fact that it's a great endcap to Rusty's run on the show - this is his last season proper (he's still got the 2009 specials to do, though), and what better way to bow out than have pretty much every major character he's introduced doing the impossible and drag Earth through time and space using the TARDIS?

Besides - German daleks. German daleks!

I have no idea how I will survive next year without a season of Doctor Who to keep me going through exam period (I passed everything, by the way!). The two have always gone hand in hand.

Summer's been really good so far. Let's hope it stays this way, and that the sun stays out. But maybe that last bit's too much to ask.

in a parallel sea what would i be

2008-06-07T10:29:49Z

I'm meeting up with Jep for lunch today, cause he changes train in Sheffield or something, so I got up nice and early this morning to crack on with revision. Hence why I'm blogging, ahah.

I'm four exams in, and things have gone well so far. Both PMAs were absolutely fine, and both AMAs went okay. Only two exams left now, but they're the big two; the two I was most worried most about throughout the year. I finished revising the vector calculus notes this morning (see! i did work really!), so I'm going to spend the next two days doing examples, and I think I'll be fine for it (I like vector calculus. a lot.) but then I have PMA222 on Wednesday, which I have like.. no chance to revise for and is incredibly complicated anyway. And the notes go on forrreevvveer. Hmm.

I'm not desperatley looking forward to the end of exams, though. It's not like I'm going home afterwards, or anything, and I quite like the little pockets of time between exams when you can sort of.. immerse yourself in maths and have things you didn't really understand during the year finally click and the like. Not to mention that literally the moment the exams finish, I'm starting "work", by which I mean my school placement. If I find my CRB form, that is.. I seem to have lost it, and they want to see it next friday. Erm..

(Do I use too many brackets? I think I use too many brackets.)

(the easy way out)

2008-05-26T12:31:55Z

Sooo, since May 2nd I've..

Had my last ever lecture of year 2, and my last tutorial ever, since we don't get them in the third year. Phil, Rob, Sarah, Vikki and I all went to lunch at the University Arms on Thursday (which was my last day), and it was awfully sad. A week out of lectures now, I miss them. Mostly for seeing the people, but also for the maths. It's never as fun when you're revising it.
Won two Friday Night Magic tournaments! - I love Mana Ramp. I also won a Shadowmoor draft we did at the society (my deck was insane - Oona, Glen Elendra Liege, Biting Tether, Steel of the Godhead, like three of the blue-black scarecrows) and went 2-2 at May's Steel City Magic tournament, which I was fairly pleased with.

I'm really enoying playing Magic at the minute. I dropped out of NoDDSoc after easter so I could take it more seriously and start hitting FNMs down at Patriot and the like, and I've been having a great time since. The playgroup here at Sheffield is full of guys who are great fun to just hang around with, as well as being able to play some good Magic.

Been down to Cambridge for a weekend. Lou and I watched loads of Stargate SG-1 (There But For the Grace of God = greatest. episode. of. anything. ever.), which was great at the time but now I just want it to be summer so I can watch more. Seriously. On the Sunday Pitori came up, and we went to see Spiritualized at the Junction. They were phenomenally good; You Lie You Cheat was a real highlight, as was Lord Can You Hear Me which is like my fave Spiritualized song anyway, so I was really pleased to see them play it. And Jason Pierce is hawt.
Been home for a weekend! It was Lou's birthday (of sorts), so most of the crew came home for the weekend. It turned out to be a great sunny day, so we spent most of it outside, playing cricket and drinking cider. We went pubbing in the evening, and Tom joined us, which was pretty cool. And on the Sunday, Lou and I watched Stargate. STARGATE. STARGATE. STARGATE. That is my thought process atm. (And Dr. Frasier is hawt.)
I was pulled into an alternate dimension named Delkoz - or at least my GURPS character was. In what turned out to be an extremely exciting and tense finale for our GURPS game, we were all trapped inside a mansion as it was pulled into this alternate dimension, as part of some master plan by our leader Jake Tellur. I'm looking forward to seeing where the game goes next year - especially with recent developments. Will my characters time-travelling, dimension-spanning plot to unseat Jake Tellur work? We'll have to wait and see.
I've revised!
And put off revision!
And revised some more! Feeling in.. okay shape about these exams. AMA224 and PMA222 are the two problem exams, but they're also the two last exams - the four I have next week are all really, really straightforward. It's just a case of polishing them up, with the problem being I don't really have enough time to get them all honed as much as I'd like. But we'll see. I'm going to pass everything this time, at any rate!
Watched the Doctor Who rest-of-season trailer that supposedly makes up for the lack of DW due to Eurovision this week. It looks good, but as always, a bit overblown. I'm not all that sure about this season of Doctor Who - each episode seems to have been a bit forgettable; it really doesn't seem like we're halfway through the season already. And aside from last week's The Unicorn and the Wasp, which - as a piece of roaring good fun - was flawless, I don't think we've had any truly exceptional episodes. I dunno, I miss the dark undertones of last season or the inevitability of season two. More and more I miss season one - once exams are over, I think I'm going to sit down and watch through that entire series.

Something Wikipedia made me think of - in The Sound of Drums, the Master mocked the Doctor for taking such a self-righteous name. "The man who makes people better!" he sneers - but it's true. David Tennant's Doctor does make people better - by running in there, shouting a lot, and solving whatever the problem is. There's no question that Doctor Who these days is about the Doctor. But Chris Eccleston.. the show was never about him. It was about Rose, yes, but it was about everyone else they met on their travels. The Ninth Doctor was an enabler, someone who didn't as so much make people better, but make people better. He wouldn't solve peoples problems for them, but give them the ability to solve them themselves. And he was so sad. I really miss him.

(Probably) done all sorts of exciting things that I can't remember - call it an occupational hazard of not blogging for a month.
I was visited by my parents. Well, it's not technically true right now, but by the time most of you read this, it will be. They're coming up to see me! And I really want to get some work done before they arrive, so I'm going to have to end this blog sharpish! I'll try and not make it three weeks before the next one.