Destroy All Onions!

In my watching of videos, I’ve finally caught up with the beginning of Stargate Universe.

When I saw a couple of episodes in Dallas last year, I said it hadn’t impressed me a great deal. But when my friends challenged me on this, I did say that I had missed the first episode, with all of the scene-setting and introduction that would have given, and that this may not have helped.

Well, now I’ve watched the first four episodes, and I have to say that I am enjoying it after all. The conflict is much more understandable now, and makes more sense. There’s a part of me that even finds it quite touching that people cross galaxies to tell families that they love them. But best of all, the synthesizer music makes it sound like sci-fi – I really like that.

So I admit I was wrong about it, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of it.

Well, it had to come sooner or later, and it came too soon.

But last night, New Years Day, brought the final episode of Doctor Who as we have known it, with David Tennant, Russell T. Davies, Julie Gardner, and Phil Collinson. The next time we see it, almost everything will be different. So how did it end?

Warning – if you haven’t seen it yet, then stop now – spoilers follow.

What was good:

• I have to admit that it was a real joy seeing Bernard Cribbins’ name in the titles. He is a legend, and it was cool to see him get a major role. And it worked very well. As a side note, I noticed that the Doctor seldom accepts salutes from anyone, but he accepted them from Wilfred. I liked that too.
• In some ways, the timing was good – I’d hate to have to wait a year for the next episode.
• The Master was good. As a crime of opportunity, cloning himself onto the entire human race was very in character, and John Simm was fantastic as all the different copies of himself at the end of part one. In part two, there was less of that comedy, and instead we see the Master as the ultimate survivor, happy to join any side as long as he survived. I’ve always liked the Master, and though I think the character has been all wrong recently, I liked him in this.
• It was great to see the return of the Time Lords. I’ve been waiting for this. And to have Rassilon as president was a gorgeous touch. The Time Lords, in their desperation, reached back to find a leader of dubious integrity, but unquestioned power. That seems in character for them. And the plan to end the war by ending time itself seemed in character given the mood they were in.

What wasn’t so good:

• The Time Lords finally return, but leave again. That sucks. The Doctor has always rebelled against authority, and that stemmed from the fact that he was a rebel and an outcast from his own people. When he was the last of his people, he went from poacher to gamekeeper, which I think explained his actions in the Waters of Mars to some extent. I think it would have been better to have kept the Time Lords in place after their return, for the possibilities that it would have given. But it was not to be.
• How long can we drag out an ending? I was watching it online, so I could see that the plot ends had been tied up, but there was still a lot of time to go. I wondered what kind of plot twist was to come. What I didn’t expect was a farwell tour from the Doctor. I know why Russell wanted to do it, but I didn’t love it. And I don’t like Martha’s new hairstyle.
• In some ways, the timing was terrible – I complain quite a bit about Eastenders at Christmas, where they put so much effort into making sure that all the characters have the most miserable time possible, which I think is horrible. To be honest, I’d rather have had a Christmas special that was more upbeat, and kept the regeneration until later in the new year. But of course, then the BBC wouldn’t have had the huge ratings, and I suppose that’s what it’s all about (and not the okey cokey, as is so widely sung).

What I’m not sure about:

• The Doctor’s speech before he saves Wilfred. I can understand it, and it was a very human thing to do. But the Doctor isn’t human, and I’m not sure I like it – I don’t think it’s very in character for him. But I can certainly understand it.
• The regeneration setting the Tardis on fire. It didn’t do that last time, or any other time, so why should it this time? I believe I know the reason why – I’ve heard that the new series will have a refitted Tardis. But it still doesn’t make sense.
• There was an opportunity to show the Doctor’s actions in the Great Time War, but once again, it wasn’t done. It’s clear that he was fighting in the war, but not quite on the side of Gallifrey, which I guess we already knew. But it’s still a great untold story, unfortunately.

So there we have it. The end of an era. I said to someone recently that I could now die happy, because after all these years I have been proved right – that Doctor Who really is cool, and extremely important, as shown by the complete media saturation over Christmas. It’s extremely pleasing for those of us who kept the faith through the poor years of Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy, and the wilderness years of only books and CDs. It’s been wonderful to see Doctor Who back on top again.

And yet I keep having the same conversation with friends. We are all worried about what will happen next, when a whole new team takes over. But I have some faith in that new team, with Stephen Moffat at its head, and we haven’t too long to wait. In the meantime, in the words of the Doctor himself:

One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine. 

Just wanted to wish any blog readers out there a happy Christmas. But since I’m writing, here’s a few highlights of the last few days before Christmas.

• Amazon didn’t let me down. Nearly everything arrive the day before Christmas Eve, with one thing arriving today. Good work Amazon!
• And the nice people from the cancer charity were wrapping presents at Castle Court again, which is a scenario where everyone wins.
• Also in Castle Court, there was brass quartet vs Noddy Holder on the PA. I was delighted that the brass players won.
• And a busker outside Boots on Royal Avenue singing and playing his guitar without amplification so loudly he could be heard on the other side of the street, even over the strings players outside Next.
• But best of all, he was singing Heatwave by the Martha and the Vandellas (here if you’ve forgotten it). He deserved something for pure volume, but much more for sheer style.
• Going back to the weekend, I really enjoyed the services in church on Sunday, and the Christmas party at Carson’s.

Unfortunately, Christmas doesn’t make life perfect, which I am very aware of this year. But I hope y’all have a happy and peaceful Christmas, and that the New Year brings you all that you hope for.

When I woke up this morning, it seemed like a nice enough day. I woke up on time, it wasn’t raining, there was no fire in the sky, or plagues of frogs, or zombies in the streets. Just an ordinary day.

But I was wrong, because it was Monday.

And so it was that I discovered when I was most of the way to work that my laptop was still sitting in the house, at the bottom of the stairs. So I had to turn around and walk home again to get it. And then I had to walk to work again. I reckon it was at least 3.5 miles of a walk just to get to work, and I was three-quarters of an hour late.

I hate Mondays. Hates them. Nasty Mondayses! Why does they want to hurt us??

I went to the cinema yesterday afternoon with the Youth Club to see the new animated version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

I have to admit that my expectations where not very high. After all, it’s a well-known story, that’s we’ve all seen in a dozen different ways over the years. And since this is an animated version, I had assumed it would be if not childish, then focused on the children’s market.

I was wrong. I really enjoyed it. It is very faithful to the original book, with language that probably will go above the heads of children in a few places. But that original story is shocking – when Scrooge is asked for a contribution for the poor and responds “Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?”, there is genuine shock at just how selfish he is. It’s not played for laughs – this is a horrible person.

Likewise when Marley’s ghost enters, chained to several heavy money chests that he must drag around with him in the afterlife, and says that they are “the chains he forged in life… link by link, yard by yard”, it is both appalling and challenging.

Indeed, although the film is rated PG, I would say parts of it would be hard for children to understand, and other parts might be a bit scary.

I will admit that the film probably slips a bit as it goes on, but there is a great story of a life examined and changed, and none of us are beyond the need for that. I think it deserves to be a Christmas classic.

When I am at home, setting my video (yes I know, a video recorder – how 20th century – but it works for me), it always seems to me that I watch quite a bit of American television.

I am now in America, the home of American TV. The television in my hotel room has 79 channels. So have I enjoyed my tv-watching experience?

I have to say, no, it’s been pretty underwhelming.

Here are the main things I’ve been watching over the past 4 weeks:

• Robot Chicken – this is just extremely silly and childish. It’s made up of a series of very short sketches, many of which are parodies of other tv shows. I suppose it’s a cartoon for teenagers, since it appears in the Adult Swim part of the Cartoon Network. It hits the mark enough to be watchable, and the individual sketches are so short that it’s not too painful when a sketch is rubbish.
• Family Guy – I could watch this at home any time on BBC3, but I usually don’t. Here it seems to be the most watchable thing I can find between 9:30 and 11:00. An amazing fact I recently discovered is that Seth MacFarlane does the voices of Peter the dad, Brian the dog, and Stewie the baby. They don’t sound at all alike – I’m impressed.
• Stargate Universe – this is a new programme from the people who previously brought us Stargate and Stargate Atlantis. I’m not convinced that it’s going very well.
• King of the Hill – again, I could watch this at home, but usually don’t. But at the end of a hard day’s work, it’s a much more gentle comedy than Family Guy, and a reasonable background for blogging.

So where is the quality television? Heroes, Fringe and Dollhouse are all being shown, but I haven’t caught any of them. There must be some funny scheduling going on. Oh, I did catch a repeat of Lost one night too.

So it’s true what they say – there’s 57 channels but there’s nothing on.

Some random facts about being here in Dallas.

• I’m actually in the city of Irving. It’s a part of Dallas County, as opposed to being a part of the city of Dallas itself.
• The taxation system here is inordinately complex to an outsider. When you go to a shop, the price on the price tag doesn’t include the 8% sales tax which is added on at the till. So you never know how much you will pay for anything.
• But taxes are all payed separately, so you have a federal tax, a state tax and a city tax. There may also be county tax, and there’ll be a tax for your local school district. So taxes are set at a very local level.
• And that’s because lots of things are organised at a local level. The local police are the Irving police, paid by the city of Irving, from city taxes, and not from state or federal tax.
• And the taxes on internet purchases are fascinating. If I buy a DVD from Amazon, I pay no sales tax because Amazon have no shops in the state of Texas (or anywhere else, of course). But if I buy a DVD from Best Buy or Frys Electronics, I will have to pay sales tax because they both have shops locally. I didn’t buy it from the local shop, but because I could have done, sales tax must be applied. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but I am a simple man…
• And the road labelling system is opaque too. Roads have so any different designations. An Interstate will have a interstate number, and a number for each state it passes through. But some of these roads get names as well. So the John W Carpenter Expressway is also state highway 114. I like names, as does Mrs Satnav. But the big road sign says 114, and the name only appears on a small green sign about 1 meter from the junction, so it’s almost impossible to know when you’re due to turn. Likewise, he sometimes tells me to stay on Interstate 35, but at that point in time, all the road labels refer only to state road numbers. As I say, I find it confusing.
• And I went back to the IHOP last night, because I think it’s great.

Friday and Saturday were fairly busy days, especially since I worked for pretty much all of Saturday.

But that meant I was free on Sunday, so to make up for a boring day, we had a road trip. Everyone had recommended Austin as a good place to go to, so we headed for there. Unfortunately, it’s a 200 mile trip, but we got up early, and headed off.

Unlike some of the previous driving expeditions, it was a nice straightforward route, on Interstate 35 pretty much all the way, so there weren’t any arguments with Mrs Satnav for a change.

The first exciting event on the way was when we found Willie’s Place.

Willie's Place

There’s not much can compare with the surprise of suddenly seeing a billboard with an enormous picture of Willie Nelson by the roadside. It turns out Willie runs a truckstop with a general store, a theatre for his country and western mates to play at, and a filling station specialising in biodiesel. They also run a radio station out of there, which we listened to, but only very briefly…

Then off we went, through the Texas countryside. Once you’re out into the country a bit, it becomes a little less repetitive than the cycle of clusters of fast food, petrol stations and hotels on either side of the road. We saw stereotypical American farmhouses, with white fences, and interesting looking local restaurants. We passed through the Czech town of West, where all the names have a lot of “k”s and “z”s in them, and the speciality is kolaches (the strawberry and cream cheese one I had wasn’t bad at all). We saw the interesting skyline of Waco, but I have to admit we didn’t stop to admire it.

Austin itself wasn’t what I had expected it to be. We went to the state capitol building, which was very impressive. They have some excellent paintings of the big events in their history, like the battles of the Alamo and San Jacinto. They’ve got a lovely dome, with a great mosiac beneath. And some excellent staircases. They also have pictures of all their past governors, like George W. Bush.

We then had some lunch, where we had the worst service I’ve had since I’ve been here, and walked along the river. My colleague, who is used to the Ganges, was a little surprised that the Colorado wasn’t bigger (after all this is Texas). It turns out that it’s not actually the same Colorado river that fuels the Hoover Dam, and carved out the Grand Canyon, but a different one with the same name (those Americans and their re-use of names – honestly!!).

One of the more unusual attractions of Austin is the colony of Bats that live in the expansion joints in the bottom of the Congress Street bridge. At sunset, the bats get restless, and then fly out from under the bridge to go and eat insects all night. We got ourselves a standing spot by the bridge, and sure enough at about half seven, the bats started to come out to play. And there were loads of them! Thousands and thousands! It was very cool, but didn’t photograph well, since they waited until it was dark.

We then headed for the 6th Street area, which is meant to be where the action is. Unfortunately, Sunday afternoon isn’t the most hip hop and happening part of the week, so it was pretty quiet. We did hear some live music, but not a lot. This wasn’t helped by the fact that we had to leave fairly early to get back to Dallas.

But the journey home turned out to be the most exciting part of the day. As we drove, we could see lightning in the distance, to our left. We kept driving, but we kept seeing it – we weren’t leaving it behind. Then we were driving straight towards it. It was proper big Texas lightning – lots of forks, that completely lit up the sky. And then the rain started – big Texas rain, absolutely hammering down, with the wipers on high speed just to see the cats eyes on the road and keep us in our lane. We slowed down to try and stay on the road, but the trucks had no intention of taking it easy, and when they passed us the wake and spray made it impossible to see anything. It was really scary.

Worse still, it’s very sore on the eyes to drive like that for any length of time, and it had been a long day, so I was getting pretty tired by the time I got back to the hotel, and it was a struggle to keep my eyes open. In retrospect, it was a good day, but at the time I was just relieved to get home safely.

I forgot Thursday’s lunch!

We went to a sandwich shop, and I tried a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I don’t believe I’ve had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before. It was much nicer than I had expected.

To me, it sounds like it mixes sweet and savoury in a dangerous way – like jam and cheese, or sugar and ham (warning I ust made those up – do not try them at home). But actually, it really works. It’s pretty heavy going mind you, but was delicious, and I’d eat one again.

American food!

Since there was a large group of travellers, and one of them was celebrating their birthday, we went to an expensive restaurant on Wednesday, and I had a really good steak.

Last night I had tea on my own, and went to the IHOP. I think the IHOP is fabulous, as it represents a genuinely American cuisine that I’ve never seen anywhere else. Their pancakes are really, really yummy, and my omelette was spotty dog too.

So then this evening, my dining companion is only in Texas for one night, so he wanted to do something really Texan. So I had a chicken fried steak, which turns out to be a steak that has been treated like southern fried chicken by being battered and fried. It was rather good. And then pecan pie for dessert.

I like food. And when I get home, I’m going to have to diet for a long time…