dom.blog

And have been since Saturday. It’s just the feeling of waking up on Saturday and knowing that the holiday is finally finally finally here. Not to mention Doctor Who is back and ooh wasn’t it good? Isn’t Martha wonderful? Of course, one of the (many) joys that Who brings is not just the programme itself, but the fannish enthusiasm. The old forum haunt at Outpost Gallifrey brought me much joy today with the following ethical question:

Should the Doctor have done more to defend the Plasmavore? OK – she was a murderer who was prepared to wipe out half the earth. However she was fighting for her life and the Judoon were not a legitimate police force but a hired mercenary gang out to impose a ruthless form of capital punishment. And this Princess may have been part of a ruthless Autocracy denying the people basic rights and freedoms.

(All credit to ‘sparacus’ for the question. The answer, incidentally, is no he shouldn’t have. Obviously. Made me laugh though.)

On Saturday the final stage of the grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary rolled out (yes OK, sometimes I think our family operates as a quasi-commercial entity) with a visit to Starlight Express – or more specifically, The 3rd Dimension or… something, which is some kind of revisionist version. Anyway, it was odd! I think everyone enjoyed it, though mostly through discussion of the bizarre plot and the really strong emotional connection to different ways of powering a train engine.

“What’s next…” we asked, “the heroic battle between different elements in the periodic table?”

(I think you have to have seen this musical to understand it, actually, so I’ll stop trying to explain. I’ve been advised to think of it as an 80s roller-skate disco, so I will.)

I then saw Casino Royale on Sunday. The problem here is that I’ve never actually seen a Bond film in the cinema before – the most I’ve come to it was seeing some of the classics on video years ago. So I wasn’t amazed and astounded this this one was better than the last few because, erm, I haven’t seen them. So I left the cinema agreeing with mum – a fun film for a fiver at Willesden on a rainy Sunday afternoon, but not a woaaah amazingly outstanding experience. It’s James Bond, I guess, what do you expect?

Though I’m glad we’ve sorted out that beautiful women will betray you, even if you wear a dinner jacket. Or if you’re a steam train, as in the case of Starlight Express, except of course ‘beautiful women’ then becomes, ur, ‘coach’ as demands that peculiar metaphor. I think I’ll stop attempting to connect these two bits of entertainment now and go to bed

Just a heads-up that journalism.co.uk is running a feature on Rubery Village and Nic certainly deserves all the recognition for the tremendous accomplishment that it was. The article also describes the (amusing, in retrospect) incident where I came close to being threatened with legal action by George Galloway.

The then 15-years-old-editor claimed he was contacted by George Galloway demanding that a comment story on the site that referred to the MP as a ‘madman’ was removed.

It still annoys me that he basically just vanished after complaining rather than engaging in a dialogue with either me or Nic. During the life of DomSez we did happily publish corrections and clarifications when they were raised, and on this blog I have taken things down in the past when people had a valid objection. But it’s all about the discussion – and barking down a phone doesn’t count as participating.

Oh and incidentally, George Galloway’s participation in those discussions that form part of his actual job? “Has attended 16% of votes in parliament – well below average amongst MPs.” Look, there’s even a source for you.