The Antisocial Socialist

 I know we're all busy and we're in the Darkest Timeline and Chibs is terrible, but it's weird that there is new Doctor Who and no one's talking about it at all??? Anyway it's a hot mess but at least the Doctor was only slightly, rather than wildly, out of character.

(That said I enjoyed the five-hour YouTube video about it more than the episode.)

I vaguely heard that the US was getting an eclipse (as in this was all over my FB feed) but assumed it wasn't going to affect here, but I found out yesterday that, no, indeed, we were getting 72% of an eclipse. A woman's paycheque worth of an eclipse. So I made last-minute plans with metalana. She is an A++ good influence on me as she makes me shoot RAW, so they came out slightly better than expected, and also made pinhole viewers since getting eclipse glasses at the last possible moment is not a thing that can be done. At any rate, we didn't need to bother, because during an eclipse, the usual rules of capitalism and urban living get suspended. Everyone came out to the beach and people were happy to share their eclipse glasses and show off their homemade viewers, which ranged from two pieces of paper to someone's modded-up telescope. The telescope people invited us to hang with them and gave us Coke and were generally lovely. Pointing a DSLR at the sun is not as dangerous as pointing your eyes at the sun, but is kind of pointless unless you have more sophisticated gear than either of us have, but I did get some awesome shots of shadows and things we found whilst wandering around.

( Pictures that are not pictures of the sun )But let's be honest here; cool photography and socializing with your neighbours is not what makes Eclipse Day great. The best thing is that, after a number of my friends joked that Cheeto Benito was going to look directly at the sun like a fucking moron, CHEETO BENITO FUCKING LOOKED AT THE SUN LIKE A FUCKING MORON. This is the actual best thing to happen and I am so overjoyed you have no idea.

You might celebrate something else, but today is Pajamas Day for me, wherein I am fucking around the house making up for a lack of slack time and an excess of having to wear pants in my life.

I did some more arts. katebacross requested Who characters made by the Star Wars team. I am 99% sure I have seen this concept tackled by people with far more technical and creative talent than me but I couldn't resist. It's just a quick sketch because I know I can't do it proper justice anyway.

( really quick )

Then I did proper art. Kinda. I've been neglecting my space octopus and one of my goals was to rectify this.

( lurking in the deep )

So I'm told that this was a lackluster opener, writing-wise. Gotta disagree. It had me squealing like a silly fangirl from the first shot of a T-Rex stomping over Victorian London. I understand many people's critical analyses of Nu Who and that's all good and important (read ed_rex's critique here; he is not wrong on the gender issues), but I don't expect consistency and nuance from a show that originally won my heart with monsters made out of spraypainted bubble wrap. If you have more time than I do, have a read through some of Philip Sandifer's reviews of Classic Who for why continuity is not important.


I have no desire to watch DW alone when it's a joy much better shared; here is the buffet that my friends and I put together, with cheddar-jalapeno Dalek muffins by L., TARDIS and Dalek chocolates filled with vegan marshmallows by me, custard tarts and cod cakes by A., and in the background, some non-thematic shish-kabobs so we didn't all pass out from too much alcohol and sugar.

( Largely positive )

Today was, apparently, the day to get cool shit in the mail. First, when I left the house on my way to physio, there was a Doctor Who ice tray in my mailbox. It's not especially convenient for ice cubes, but my intent is to make chocolates with it because I'm awesome that way.

Nevertheless, in the meantime it also does make ice cubes, albeit really large ones, so here is Marinetti exterminating an ice Dalek:


My badass Adventure Kitty, you guys.

Here's what the TARDIS one looks like:



As if that wasn't already enough to make my day, I got yet another package in the mail in the afternoon, this one from the lovely and talented nihilistic_kid. He'd blogged awhile ago about the most hilarious ever Jews for Jesus pamphlet, a rare specimen of the sort I collect for the lulz, and actually sent it my way (along with a book that looks awesome).

Feast your eyes:



It's about how Jesus is more awesome than Justin Bieber. Which is really setting a low bar if you ask me, but I am probably not the target audience. Anyway! In an effort to share some of the joy, I've scanned the whole thing so that you can read it, print it, and evangelize. You're welcome!

marnanel clearly hates me, so he sent me a link to the YouTube videos of Mike Huckabee. I didn't know that Huckabee made animation, did you? Now this knowledge can not be un-known.


[It's here, but you shouldn't watch it.]

Naturally, no one has bothered to caption or transcribe this video, so I'll do my best, in the service of web accessibility and also so that you never need to suffer through actually watching this.

( cut to spare your brains and browser window )

Go on, have a cry at this.

The latest episode of Doctor Who was the first portrayal of mental illness on telly in I-don't-know-how-long that didn't make me want to punch my fist through the computer screen.

Also, I may have cried a bit, though I am in a weepy mood lately regardless of what I'm doing. Still, it was quite good.

---

Ohdeargod. The latest "Hark, a vagrant." The one about Canadian literature is so true that I wish I could travel back in time, show it to my long-suffering teenage self with her face stuck in compulsory Margaret Laurence, and say, "It's okay dear. One day, this will all be the punchline of a very funny joke."

On a happier note, I just watched The Eleventh Hour.

Every moment was pure squee and yay. Welcome back, show! Also, I am rather fond of the new theme and opening sequence. And the bowtie. Not everyone can pull off a bowtie, but I think more people should at least make the attempt.

Related: Are Teabaggers Daleks or Cybermen?