So I’ve been at my new job for just over three months, and I’ve just recieved my first Learning Tree brochure addressed to me at my new company. Pretty depressing that even totally changing jobs only gets you a few months escape from the small rainforest these guys send – and I’ve never even been on one of their courses either.
Monthly Archives: June 2006
Be Careful What You Wish For…
I have to say, like a number of other people I was getting pretty fed up with the dismal May we had to put up with… However, I think I’d rather have the rain than this, at least I could escape the rain inside. With the soaring temperatures we’ve had for the past few days there is no escape at all, even with all the windows open it is still like a sauna in the house. Not only that, the sunshine and heat has kicked off the pollen and sent my hay-fever into overdrive, so even if I do manage to find a cool spot somewhere, I’m still sneezing…
Thankfully, it does look like the weather will settle into something a bit more comfortable in the middle of next week, certainly down from the almost 30 degree heat and high humidity we’ve had the past few days, will definitely be a relief around here….
Leaving Loose Ends
Tonight we got the second part of last week’s Doctor Who, The Satan Pit, and for once, the Doctor didn’t get all the answers. Sure he defeated the monster, but in doing so the alien planet complete with it’s ancient civilisation, and the ancient writing that couldn’t be translated were lost in the black hole. The Doctor is asked by one of the scientists in the final scene what he actually saw in the pit, but he merely dodges the question. As he says, if he knows all the answers, what is the point in continuing to travel?
Having said that, the episode itself was suitably spectacular. On the surface of the planet they had Rose trying to escape from the murderous possessed Ood, whilst down below, the Doctor took a leap of faith down into the pit. The monster had previously claimed to have come from before time, being imprisoned by a civilisation in the universe that came before (possibly the reason that the text was unknown), something which the Doctor did not believe was possible. When we finally saw the creature, it was a really spectacular giant devil. We also got an impressive sequence as the rocket from the base attempts to escape the black hole, before being sucked back by the destruction of the planet.
As predicted last week, quite by chance, and just in the nick of time, the Doctor discovers the TARDIS. We’ll put to one side quite how it ended up there considering that when the TARDIS fell down last week the pit was closed, although I guess it could be argued that it was somewhere above the pit, and dislodged – falling down the open pit when the lift plunged later in the episode… Anyway, with the help of the TARDIS the Doctor manages to rescue both the one remaining scientist, and saves the spaceship from the black hole, so we get the classic TARDIS spinning through space, hauling a great big spaceship behind it.
Interestingly, many people have described this as one of the more frightening episodes of the series – having said that, I didn’t find it particularly scary. Perhaps the devil associations add to the fear for some, I don’t know.
Next week we can look forward to Love & Monsters, where an obsessive group is trying to track down the Doctor and Rose. It also includes The Abzorbaloff, the creature that won the Blue Peter Design a Doctor Who Monster competition last year. The creature is actually played by the comedian Peter Kay, who also appears as a character called Victor Kennedy in the episode. Whether they will turn out to be one and the same remains to be seen…
Book of Daniel Hidden Away on ITV4
Earlier in the year, you may remember me raving about a new US TV show called The Book of Daniel, and the associated controversy it was generating amongst various conservative Christian groups in the USA. Needless to say, the campaign succeeded in getting the programme pulled after only four episodes, with the remaining episodes turning up for streaming download a short while later.
Anyway, quite by chance, Beth found last week that the programme has been showing on ITV4, hidden in amongst endless repeats of Police Camera Action, with a new episode showing on a Tuesday at 9pm, and a repeat in the early hours of the next Tuesday morning at 12:35am. Looking at the schedules it looks like we’ve missed most of the series, however hopefully it will be shown again. If you haven’t seen it, it is well worth watching – you can read my thoughts on the pilot episode at the original post here.
Free Postcards
Dave Walker, over at The Cartoon Church has published a thank you to people passing out his cards. I have to say that I haven’t actually given any out just yet, as I only got mine yesterday – my ‘free stuff’ radar only having spotted the offer a week or so after he made it! Having said that, one is certainly heading towards Rev Richard, who quite frequently uses Dave’s cartoons from The Church Times as illustrations for sermons and to open meetings.
If you haven’t come across The Cartoon Church the site is certainly worth a look. If you’ve got anything to do with a church, then you’re sure to find a lot of stuff there to make you laugh. Even if you don’t have much to do with a church there are still a lot of non-church related cartoons. Dave does actually have local connections, in that between 2002 and 2005 he was a Youth Worker over at the churches in Cookham. However, he also has had another of his websites, ‘The Dullest Blog in the World‘ – a send up of the content of some of the blogs you come across – reviewed by the New York Times!
Incidentally, he also spent the time transcribing the quote that Tony from the Monastery made about the churches he has visited, that I just paraphrased…