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[IGNORE ME!!!!]

I've got a bad tendency to sort of hover over DS like a scientist hovering over a bubbling experiment, so that podcast was filled with all sorts of valuable data, but at the same time the experiment is still going on and I'm chewing my nails because I really don't know yet if it's going to be a magic potion or just a big smell.

Anyway, all this poking at the board interferes with the data so in the words of the Grand Galactic Inquisitor, IGNORE ME!!!!

(Sorry, ought to keep my mouth shut really rather than doing a Grant Morrison and adding extra bonus comprehendability for the web. Ace podcast as usual - we should set up that thing soon.)

AUTHORIAL INTENT DEPT: They were going to torture him to death.

Great episode! Felt an urge to hide behind the sofa during the video loop bit, always a good sign. Matt Smith is phenomenal, and how wonderful to have a Doctor who makes one terrible error in every episode! He's so marvelously fallable.

Already complained to the BBC about the Norton ident and I suggest everyone else in the country does too, on principle. I might have missed it thanks to the iPlayer, but the BBC needs a good rap on the knuckles before this kind of nonsense spreads.

I'm occasionally on it, work permitting - mostly as Stardust The Super Wizard.

Actually looking at that Labour crime policy again I think I must have just clicked on the wrong one by mistake. It's nutty. Can I have a do-over?

Great find, Dudley - I'd recommend that to anyone. Turns out I'm mostly Green Party with leanings towards the Lib Dems, which is making me think a little about which of the two I should vote for.

The one shurely shome mishtake? moment was finding out that I agree with Labour on crime, which is strange because Labour's policy of creating new and ever more draconian laws whenever the wind changes is one of the reasons I've come to despise them. Oddly the policy didn't mention this little quirk and instead seemed to focus on more accountability for the police, unless I accidentally missed the part about expanding thoughtcrime legislation.

I think for fairness the Labour policy statement should include things like "We plan to create a legal system where you can get five years in 'the hole' for looking sideways at a public building while thinking about porn" and "We're changing the name of the country to 'Strangeways' so we can lock you all up at once, you naughty naughty people" to reflect the policies they've ruled by for the last far-too-many years.

Apart from that, great site. Fun spotting the BNP policies which are all totally insane and revolve around getting rid of THOSE PEOPLE as a universal panacaea for all our ills. Not so much fun seeing that 9% of visitors seem to respond strongly to their freaky Hitler-speak. (God DAMMIT Jim got there first.)

Jonathan Bartley on the Nicky Campbell doc:

http://blog.echurchwebsites.org.uk/2010/04/05/verdict-nicky-campbells-easter-sunday-bbc-documentary-christians-persecuted/

I'm just putting that up for balance because I SURRENDER and I'm running back to the Doctor Who review thread where I belong with my tail between my legs. YOU WIN! I can't stand the political heat! Also I hate Christmas and want to replace it with LIFE DAY. (And I gotta get back to work! Sorry guys for this cowardly retreat. I'll check back in tomorrow and see how it all shook out.)

(shakes fist, boards TARDIS, enters political exile or possibly Zero Room)

Stewart Lee on Political Correctness:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGAOCVwLrXo

http://www.fivechinesecrackers.com/2009/12/how-to-write-christmas-is-under-attack.html

Another fine episode. Tennant and RTD would have made a whole barnful of hay with it - and there's still the occasional Tennantesque moment popping up - but this is all more... moderate. Nuanced. Subtle. Not too much of any one thing (apart from maybe THE CRASHING MUSIC OF MURRAY GOOOOOOOOLD) but just enough for a perfect TV confection. The previous Who was often good enough, but these two have been actively good, with no 'enough' needed, and parts of them have been absolutely perfect.

One thing that leaps out at me -  Moffat has an interesting handle on the creepy, just where it edges into the surreal. Dream logic, fairy-tale logic. In the hands of a less baroque imagination the evil fascist state might have been a wee bit by the numbers, but then Moffat comes along and has the whole thing enforced by eeeevil fortune-telling dummies with creaking, rotating heads. Marvellous!

And the [spoiler]PROTEST or FORGET[/spoiler] bit was deliciously savage and happily maimed everyone in the audience, as the best satire should. There are kids watching that who'll remember it the rest of their lives whenever a politician speaks.

(Re: The Logo - I'm on record as LOVE LOVE LOVING the Chrome Monster, but I've also got a soft spot for the rounded corner logo, including in its current incarnation as part of the 'deep branding' logo the prog rocks at the moment. I don't remember the conversation with Buttonman but considering I'd probably had roughly 1,000,000 units of alcohol that's hardly surprising, and I probably did say something along the lines of 'THAT CHROME LOGO WAS AAAAAAWESOME I'm getting a tattoo of it'. THREAD DERAIL OVER.)

ANYWAY I just saw Kick-Ass and it was pretty awesome - being turned into a film really worked for it. I guess I'd answer Adrian's point by saying that I liked the way it started off in a relatively real world and then began to slide into dementia until you were left with [spoiler]jetpacks and supervillains.[/spoiler] It wasn't so much that Kick-Ass's appearance on the scene led to superheroes becoming real so much as his opening a slight crack in the natural order of things allowed all manner of bugfuckery to seep through.

Right, just grabbed a spare hour to watch this and it was BRILL SKILLS. The new Doctor nicks stuff, runs about and is completely irresponsible, but not in a "OOOH look at MEEEEE, I'm completely irresponsible BUT NOT REALLY actually I'm quite deep and broody and hunky now listen to my sad tale of WOE" way like Tennant was. There was a moment right at the end when I thought Patrick Troughton had come back from the dead only someone had shot him up with Red Bull and given him acromegaly. Not a single EMO MOMENT in the whole thing, even when poor old Amy got jilted twice. AND WHICH ONE IS SHE [spoiler]MARRYING[/spoiler] EH? What a soap opera plot! Nice to see that - while she does ogle the Doctor's SEXY SPACE BOTTOM and possibly his rude parts as well - her actual emotional arc for this series is nothing to do with him.

Not-Tharg Matt Smith is ACE as far as I'm concerned - looking forward to more THRILL POWER next week!

Finally home and flopped in my armchair. Had a lovely time - thanks to Rich and Bou for organising such a great con, and lovely to meet all the boarders as well! Hope to see you all again next year!

My first reaction was to CAVE like molesworth befor a BEKE chiz chiz chiz

It's a great blog. More please.