A co-worker today asked me what I did last night and all I could come up with was watching TV. So, a post not about TV (mostly).

-Yesterday was the annual Stampede breakfast at my work. It was my first company Stampede breakfast; I went to work for the company after Stampede had finished last year so I had missed out. Nothing too fancy, but it was a free breakfast. That's the best part about Stampede. :-D As for actually going to Stampede, I'm going Saturday with some friends. Mmm, mini doughnuts...

-Next week, I'll have been working for a year. Whoo, go me! I'll probably post more about that next week, but for now, yay, I'm still employed!

-I've been writing a lot while at work lately. Okay, to be more accurate, I've been writing while working. But not writing when I should be working. I type a few sentences then do some data entry, type a few sentences, enter some data, etc. Working at a computer that isn't my home computer seems to help with creativity. Or maybe it's the rampant paranoia that someone might come up behind me and see what I'm writing that's fueling the writing process. Whatever it is, it's nice getting stuff done. If I still have a job come November, I might give NaNoWriMo a try and write during the day while at work. It's probably the only way I'd make a daily writing quota.

-Alan Tudyk's been in town filming a low budget horror movie. A friend of my brother-in-law saw Alan about two weeks ago in a restaurant and we couldn't figure out why he would be here. The local paper had a story about three days ago about the movie, though it was more about how the director is Sally Field's son and how she was in town, too, to watch him direct. This is the first on-line article I've seen about the movie. The article makes it sound like the movie just stared filming but the production has been here for about two weeks now. So I have about another week and a half to stalk run into Alan.

-I heard about the Alien Nation remake Tim Minear is heading up, which is cool for him. I'm too young to remember Alien Nation so I'm indifferent about it being remade. I am not, however, indifferent about Syfy remaking Quantum Leap, which it might, according to io9.com. I've been watching reruns of Quantum Leap for about a year and a half now and I'm somewhere in season four, far enough into the show that I don't want to see a new take on it. Half the charm comes from the actors. This is Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell before they were a starship captain and a homicidal Cylon, respectively. And Quantum Leap was barely sci fi. Sure, Sam travelled through time, but he didn't do it with a flashy time machine and he didn't run around with a ray gun. Al was like the only constant sci fi reminder. The rest of the time, it was just Sam, trying to make right what once went wrong. It doesn't sound like a concrete thing at the moment, thank goodness, but the potential is there. The next thing you know, we'll have this:



Not that this would be a bad thing... ;-)

-Sigh, is it time to watch Torchwood yet?

Hmm, middle-episode-itis. Classic Who used to suffer from this, back when episodes were multiple parts. Serials would start off strong, fade in the middle, and then finish off pretty good at the end. So, less to comment on this time around.

( Spoilers for Torchwood: Children of Earth, Day Three )

A week of Torchwood isn't great for productivity though. It's all I can think about while at work. Not that I've been working super hard lately. :-D

I hadn’t planned on commenting on every part of Children of Earth, but hey, might as well. Nothing else is happening.

( Spoilers for Torchwod: Children of Earth, Day Two )

Onto “Day Three”!

Wow, it's been over a year since a new Torchwood episode has aired. That's one heck of a wait. A wait well worth it? I haven't decided yet. That's the problem with this format. Children of Earth is essentially one long, five hour episode and "Day One" is just one part. It's hard to judge something on just one part. But it seems like a decent start so far.

( Spoilers for Torchwood: Children of Earth, Day One )

It's going to be one heck of a week. Five episodes one after the other. It's different, it is the year off for all the Doctor Who related shows (well, mostly), but I'd rather go back to a regular season next time.

Whoot, it's your birthday! I hope you're feeling better and you get out to do some celebrating. :-D

And Happy Canada Day! Drink beer, wear a toque, eat some poutine, play some hockey, and just be happy to be Canadian, eh?

Happy Birthday kefira! I hope you had a good birthday today.

And Happy Birthday to my sister, too, if you're reading this. I hope you and the boy are watching Buffy season three right now, though you're probably eating nachos.

When I saw the new promo pictures for the mini-season of Torchwood, I felt an overwhelming urge to Photoshop in the Doctor. Don't ask me why. As you can see, it sort of spiraled out from there...


The original promo photo was posted by lucy_locket. I couldn't find any versions of the original picture that were big enough for my liking, but thank goodness for other intrepid fans. I'm not 100% completely satisfied with the end result, but I think it works well enough. I couldn't find a high-quality picture of Ten in a sitting position dressed in either of his usual suits, so in my mind, this is Ten II and he and Rose have gone to Cardiff to investigate some unusual activity.

Ten II, Rose, and an alt!Torchwood. There's a story idea somewhere in there...

So I visited Vulcan today.

The town, not the planet.

Though, it might as well have been the planet since this weekend it was Galaxyfest, Vulcan's annual Star Trek convention. It's amazing that my family and I hadn't gone before. Vulcan's about an hour's drive away so it's not completely out of the way. I mean, we visited back in 1995 when the town unveiled their replica Enterprise, but we had never gone for the convention. Okay, technically, we really didn't go for the convention this year since we didn't bother to pay to see any of the guests, but we still wandered around the tourism centre and took another picture in front of the Enterprise like good geeks should.

Vulcan got some good press after Leonard Nimoy said he was disappointed Paramount decided not to have the premiere of Star Trek in the town, so I can only assume lots more people decided to visit today. One proof of Vulcan's sudden thrust into the spotlight: a crew from G4 was wandering around town filming stuff.

Actually, they filmed me and my family. :P We were setting up our tripod so we could all be in the picture and the camera guy and the sound guy come running behind us to film us while we waited for the timer on the camera to go off. They even filmed us a second time while we were taking a picture in the Star Trek cutout thing they have next to the Enterprise. My brother-in-law, who's in PR, said they didn't need our consent to film us since we were in a public place. So I guess if G4 has a thing on Vulcan in the coming week, my family and I will be in it. Hopefully, only really briefly.

But TV crews aside, Vulcan's a cute little town that decided to embrace their inner geek and you really can't go wrong with that.

Futurama lives!

This proves that shows can come back from the grave, better than ever. Hmm, the shows starting with "F" on FOX seem to have a good resurrection track record. Family Guy, Futurama... What was that other show? About cowboys in space? :-D

Or maybe it's just animated shows. *shrugs*

I love Futurama. It's much better than The Simpsons, or, at least, recent seasons of The Simpsons. It's got sci fi goodness and great storytelling. And it has science jokes that I don't understand, but the fact that the show has science jokes that only ten people will get just makes the show more awesome.

24 Doctor Who icons:

[3] Nine/Rose icons (animated/still)
[5] Ten/Rose icons (animated/still)
[2] Ten II/Rose icons (animated/still)
[8] Doctor and Companion icons (still)
[1] Rose icon (animated)
[4] Random Doctor Who icons (animated)
[1] David Tennant icon (animated)

Teaser:
   

( The Doctor and his Children of Time )

seriously, io9.com, my new favourite source for fandom-y news

Did anyone else see this? About remaking Buffy, but without Joss. So what? Recycling TV shows is the new way to save the environment?

My primary thoughts boil down to: a) This is a lame idea and b) Wha?

A Buffy the Vampire Slayer without Joss Whedon? That's just wrong.

As much as I love io9.com – it’s my lifeline during my lunch hour (it’s fun to read and work doesn’t think it needs to block the website) – they really need to stop posting spoilers right in the article headline and summary for all to see. Yes, I know, it’s my choice to actually click on the link and read the details, but even just knowing something without the details sends me into a spoilerphobe tizzy. Though, what I consider to be a spoiler and what the average person considers to be a spoiler are radically different, so I can forgive io9.com (sometimes) when they post an article that reveals stuff I normally wouldn’t want to read about.

Naturally, it’s Doctor Who spoilers I want to rant about. But rant in a good way. And more specifically, rant about The Sarah Jane Adventures. You all know what I’m talking about.

( Casting spoiler for season three of the Sarah Jane Adventures )

Oh, and the io9.com article also mentioned the new Doctor Who animated adventure and some rumblings about a Doctor Who movie. By Doctor Who movie, I hope they mean like in-a-theatre-released-around-the-world movie, not a DVD movie. Because I would kill to see Doctor Who on the big screen. I would totally just fly to, like, London to watch the movie if it was only released in the UK. I’m excited about the cartoon, though. The last one was pretty decent, though I hope this time around the animation is a little better. In “The Infinite Quest”, the Doctor and Martha had like six facial expressions and they didn’t move around that much.

Hmm, it kind of feels like they’re making up for this year-without-Who. I like it. :-D

I haven't been a Miss Posts-A-Lot lately. No particular reason why really. My life has just been that boring lately I guess. I seriously need to get out more, but then, I'd rather stay home than go out. I mean, it's one or the other and staying home playing video games or writing sounds more appealing sometimes than hanging out with my friends. Not that I hate my friends or anything. I guess I'm a wanna-be hermit.

Work just has me worn out right now. There's so much crap to do and apparently I have to do all of it or at least most of it. Plus our boss feels the need to bribe us so we'll work harder. Beer and "nibbles" if we do a certain amount by next week. I think it's just silly. Either we get the work done or not. We can't force it to go faster. I know I can only work so many hours before my eyes go cross-eyed and my elbows and wrists start throbbing in pain.

Could be I'm also feeling "meh" because it's coming up on a year since I entered the work force. It's next week last year that I started my short-live career with that environmental engineering company before being promptly let go six weeks later. In July, it'll be one year since I started working my current job. A year later and I haven't really accomplished much. Not that I've been thinking about that. I know I should set some goals if stuff falls through, but kicking back and doing nothing is much more enjoyable right now.

Maybe it's the crappy weather or the lack of Doctor Who that has me down. Who knows.

I'm usually all about the shooting games. You shoot a thing and then you move to shoot more things. Very straightforward. So not the case with Portal. You actually have to think about stuff to move on. Totally not my thing, but boy, this game is addictive.

It's a completely non-violent game. The only thing you do destroy is the computer running everything and that takes more thinking than brute force. I learned right away that you can't rush through each level; you really gotta think things through and be patient. I think that's why Portal is so addictive. You feel so smart after figuring out the puzzle and you're left thinking, "Yeah, I'm awesome and I can be even more awesome when I figure out the next level." :-D It's not the longest game in the world though; you can probably finish it in one sitting if you're that dedicated. I managed it in two, but my left elbow is killing me now. This is worst than the time I played Chaos Bleeds for an entire week and ended up with sore fingers.

But the best thing about Portal is the plot. While there's not much to it - you're Chell, a volunteer in a science facility who's testing out the portal gun for a reward of cake at the end - the truth behind everything is kind of creepy. As you can see by my icon, the cake is actually a lie concocted by GLaDOS, the computer running the test. GLaDOS, who celebrates her evil triumphs through song. Seriously, "Still Alive", best video game song ever. None of this "One Winged Angel" nonsense.

I think I need to ice my elbow now...

I'll admit it. My family and I are Trekkers. We're not hardcore Star Trek geeks, but we've seen every movie and watched every show and for all the recent films, we've seen them together. So how could we not go see the new Star Trek movie opening weekend? And thankfully, it was better than I expected.

( Spoilers for Star Trek the movie )

I'm sure they'll make a whole bunch of new movies after this one, unless this movie totally bombed. Hopefully along the way they decide to make another Star Trek TV show now that there are new angles to explore.

Why must shows get good just at the end, especially shows with their fate up in the air? Excuse me while I ramble a bit.

( Spoilers for Dollhouse 1x12 )

While I'm tired of shows getting cancelled while other crappy shows are given long and pointless runs, I've also reached a point where I sort of don't care. It's the reality of the television landscape these days and it's not going to change. So, enjoy the good shows while they last and silently curse the stupid ones that won't die. :-)

Well, the con is over. Not much to report from today. There weren't any media guest panels, just Ed & Red's Mini Show. I suppose I should explain who this Ed is for those not in the know. Ed is Ed the Sock, a puppet who's, well, a sock with green hair and a cigar. He used to be on Much Music all the time and was the crass talking puppet. I actually found him to be quite funny, especially when he was mocking really bad music videos. He used to have a show called Ed & Red's Night Party, Red being Liana K (real life wife of the guy playing Ed the Sock). I guess now Ed and Red show up at cons and expos, doing a mini version of the show, interviewing guests and whatnot.

And it turns out Liana is a huge gamer and a big time cosplayer. Last year she showed up dressed like Power Girl. This year she was Cheetara from Thundercats. So just try to picture it. A sock with green hair, chomping on a cigar and a woman dressed like a upright cheetah.

( Con day two behind the cut )

I'm not sure if having all the media guests' panels on one day was a good move on the con's part this year. While it does free up the guests to simply sign stuff and take photo-ops, it also makes the second day kind of boring. Oh well. I'll still buy a weekend pass regardless the next time I want to go. And I hope they can book Tahmoh again. :-D

Tahmoh wasn't there! *breaks into hysterical sobs*

*takes deep breath*

I don't think I've ever seen that many people attend this con before. It was... wow. When I got there at 10:00, the line was so long it was leading into the other building next to hall where the con was. I was all worried I wouldn't get good seats, but oddly, once my sister and I got past the doors, the room where the BSG panel was was empty. Seems no one had decided to stake out seats beforehand. So we just walked right to the front of the room and planted our butts right in the middle. :-D



Tomorrow's sort of a lacklustre day, none of the media guests are doing panels, but they will be appearing for Ed and Red's mini show. That's right, Ed the Sock.

So tomorrow is the local comic book con. I'm very glad I bought my photo-op tickets beforehand; they raised the price for whatever reason, thus sucking more money from the geeks. Annoyingly, I just learned that if I want multiple items signed, that's multiple separate autograph fees, not one. Sigh. But they added some last minute guests and the latest one is a doozie.

It's Edward James Olmos! Adama himself. :-D

That just blows me away. They also added Kandyse McClure, so more BSG people to join Tahmoh thus making it a BSG panel rather than just a Tahmoh panel, but Eddie impresses me the most. We're Cowtown, Alberta. The big names usually don't come to us. Though I've noticed that Eddie does do a lot of conventions, so it's just another appearance among many. Still. Adama. Hee.

Title: Run (5/5)
Rating: PG
Characters: Ten, Ten II
Timeline: Post "The Next Doctor" but no spoilers
Summary: The Doctor's double returns with a message: the walls between realities are beginning to fall again. Can the two Doctors find a way to repair the damage before it's too late?
Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine. If they were, well, that's another story...
A/N: A huge thanks to my beta littlebatti.

Part One. Part Two. Part Three. Part Four.

( In that moment, the Doctor knew there were no hard feelings between them. His double had found an existence of his own in Pete’s World, living a life the Doctor wished he could have sometimes. )