It is so very depressing watching Americans especially, but Westerners generally collectively freak-out over ISIS & the infinitesimal chance that they might be killed in a terrorist-attack. Many of whom were around on the 11th September 2001, did see how we rushed then to surrender our hard-fought freedoms and abandon our liberal values, should have learned from that awful experience.
Last time I held out any smidgen of hope that we had learned, and that the post-9/11 madness had finally subsided, was with the election to the US presidency of one Barack Hussein Obama. I was quickly disabused of that quaint notion. And almost eight years later, we've still learned...nothing.
Well I say, we. Donald J Trump learned. Our political leaders learned. Learned how easy it is to cow the masses with the simple suggestion of fear. Be afraid. Be VERY AFRAID !!!
Great to see these guys again, all of whom have gone on to do wonderful things since. Should maybe crack open the four series DVD's again, then track down that last special, which I'm pretty sure I never watched before...
Very much a product of its era, and a cool time-capsule, as these things often tend to be. Best part has to be (from 3'16) Mike and his Merseymen (the Trends) doing Good King Wenceslas. Some pretty girls dancing there also, must say.
So, my firstposts on this blog came about a year ago, on the subject of Doctor Who. That wasn't my original intent. But after the semi-hiatus of the split series, the excitement of the 50th anniversary, and the prospect of a new darker Doctor, to be played by an older actor, in a throwback to Hartnell, my anticipation was very high. And the 2014 series frankly...sucked. Instead of plunging this new Doctor headlong into new adventures, Steven Moffat squandered an entire year's worth of Doctor Who on pointless psychodrama and an utterly uninteresting love-triangle of sorts between the Doctor, Clara, and fuckin' Danny Pink. Clara (a character who had already outstayed her welcome, Moffat having inserted her egotistically into the backstory of every single Doctor) started out in the first story childishly whining about the Doctor looking old and having wrinkles, and it took a whole series, before she got over her hangups with the Doctor's change, and before we had the chance to even start on proper stories for the Doctor's new actor, one Peter Capaldi. Granted, the series did have its good moments here & there, but overall, for me, there was much more bad than good, and the whole thing is something of a write-off in my mind. And then that fucker Moffat backtracked on the plans to write out Clara Oswald, more than a year too late already, with the Christmas-special, which I otherwise quite enjoyed...
A whole years' worth of Who down the toilet. The show turned into a parody of itself, with the already over-hyped companion elevated to primary prominence, and the Doctor at one point reduced to the figure of a whimpering child, needing Clara's comforting hand to help stanch his tears. Vomit !
Fast-forward to 2015, and this last series has been...yes...better. With Danny Pink out of the picture (maybe), less focus on Coal Hill (don't worry, Moffat has a whole spinoff in the works for all of the five or so fans asking for that) & on Clara's psychological hangups, we almost got a decent series. Of course, Moffat still did way too much of the writing himself, and much of the writing was sub-par. Of course, Clara was still the egotistical greedy bossy attention-whore she ever was. And a move away from single-episode stories was marred by the fact that the second story almost always inevitably fell short of the promise of the first. But it wasn't wall-to-wall shite...
I watched last year every Saturday, desperately hoping & praying that the series would finally start to come together, and every time disappointed. This year, I had much lower expectations, but still couldn't avoid those hopes, avoid getting emotionally invested in the outcome. And if nothing else, I had Clara (finally) getting written out of the show to look forward to. The whack-you-over-the-head foreboding of Clara's leaving was dragged out story after story, till finally, finally, in 'Face the Raven', she died. But actually, no, Moffat lied to us. Just as he did last year. Just as he always does.
No, we find in the finale of the 2015 series, that Saint Clara cheats death after all. A final fuck-you from Mister Moffat to all of the Clara-haters. Alongside a fuck-you to all of the critics of the idea of a female Doctor, as he sought to finally enshrine the notion of gender-swapping Timelords. And a fuck-you to all those who criticised the centrality of Saint bloody Clara, and the diminishment of the character of the Doctor, as we watched the Doctor ready to destroy the entire fucking universe for the sake of fucking Saint bloody Goddess of all Fandom Clara fucking Oswald, the Almighty ! But we're to believe that the other Timelords (including a resurrected Rassilon, brought back for fuck me if I know what reason) are the real monsters, right ? Not the terrorist who is willing to destroy all of creation in the name of Clara the Exalted One ?... Oh, and by the way, that crap about the Doctor + Clara being the hybrid teased throughout the series was one of the cheapest copouts ever. Are you fucking me Moffat ?
I like Jenna Coleman. I like Peter Capaldi. I used to like, and still have some smidgen of respect for Steven Moffat. But the man should have been gone years ago. His ego has run wild the last few years, as he has rewritten the entirety of Doctor Who canon in his own image, largely via his alter-ego, the vastly over-rated and ultimately underwhelming character of Clara. He's attempting to box in future 'show-runners', writers, and producers into his vision of Doctor Who, and his alone. Not that of the older fans, not that of the younger, not that of all the producers and writers who came before (including Saint RTD, he of the ill-conceived idea of a 'Time War'), and not that of any who come after. Doctor Who henceforth is to be Steven Moffat's Doctor Who™, and anyone who disagrees can go to hell.
And he'll get away with it. Already is. Already has. Most of the fanboys daren't criticisise him. Most of the actors, writers, producers, etc. who worked on Who in the past dating back to the 'sixties won't criticise him. For that matter, they rarely, if ever, have the courage to criticise any aspect of Nu-Who or related projects, such as the works of Big Finish, whatsoever. For many of them, it's their bread & butter, so in that regard, I can't blame them. And many of those who were most critical of Moffat and his ridiculous elevation of the Clara character probably stopped watching last year (did I mention the ratings ?), or if they watch still, don't care enough to complain or criticise any more.
I'm rapidly falling into the latter category, already was in fact before this latest series. This whole rant here is, I suppose, a matter of catharsis, more than anything else.
The Five Stages of Grief:
Denial Split series, Anniversary*
Anger Last year
Bargaining N/A really
Depression Last year to this
Acceptance Current moment
And why should I care really ? When the show came back in 2005 under Russell T Davies, there was so much I didn't like/disagreed with, and I was so much more invested in the Who of Big Finish (before much of their output went to shite. Yeah, I said it), that I was willing to write off this new Who as a different product for a different generation. Even as David Tennant took over from the ill-cast Eccleston, as some of the writing got better, as the show got closer to its roots, and further away from farting aliens and the likes of Cassandra (ugh, Zoë, you deserve so much better). Even as RTD, he of the ill-conceived idea of a 'Time War', finally left, to make way for a new 'show-runner.' And then that evil bastard Moffat introduced me to wee Amelia Pond, and her 'Raggedy Man', and I wanted to believe again. Fucking shite !
Here's my (generous) off-the-cuff ratings for the stories this year. Probably the first time I've ever done this, and, almost certainly the last.
The Magician's Apprentice (6/10) Great imagery, Missy was superb, sets up an intriguing cliffhanger. Enough already with the fucking guitar !
The Witch's Familiar (7/10) Needs more Missy ! Clara in the Dalek-casing closest I ever got to caring about Clara, since probably when she was a governess.
Under the Lake (9/10) Closest to scary as the series got, great suspense, chilling ending.
Before the Flood (4/10) And then this utter shite. Absurd monster, comedy alien, and all the nonsense about bootstrap-parodoxes aside, makes no logical sense whatsoever. Even the Doctor basically admits as much at the end.
The Girl Who Died (4/10) This idiotic nonsense would be the throwaway of the series, except it gets us invested in the idea of Ashildr, the ever-hyped 'Hybrid' of the whole series. Except...she isn't.
The Woman Who Lived (3/10) Ditto. The question of fitting infinite life into finite human memory was clever & poignant. Otherwise, this was pointless utterly missable filler.
The Zygon Invasion (5/10) Well, the whole idea of Britain voluntarily admitting masses of Zygons was nonsensical, every single character behaved irrationally throughout, and the thing reeked to high heaven of political correctness, but it was well filmed and augured well for...
The Zygon Inversion (3/10) The Doctor in a Union-Flag bedecked parachute a la James Bond ! Should have shut off then. And the Doctor's great speech ? Preachy pablum and platitudes. I struggled to stay awake, it was so boring. Supposedly, this was the moment that Capaldi came into his own as the Doctor. Bullshit.
Sleep No More (8/10) Didn't care for or fully understand this on first viewing. It rewards a second viewing, and I applaud Gatiss for the experiment. Didn't quite work out in practice, but one of the boldest efforts of the series.
Face the Raven (5/10) Who the fuck actually wanted Rigsy back ? Really, who are you ? And Why ?!! But we got to finally see Saint Clara die ! (kinda, sorta, not really...)
Heaven Sent (8/10) This is the kind of experimental story that really belongs in fan-fiction, or an audio, rather than on the teevee. Interesting, but not entirely original idea. Bit too obvious premise, and dragged out to anoyance towards the end. Capaldi excellent as always, almost no Clara, and best CGI of the series, the moving walls of the castle aside.**
Hell Bent (3/10) Very cinematic direction and effects.*** Liked the parts w/Peter & Jenna in the diner. Otherwise, this was the very epitome of everything I hate about Steven Moffat and what he has done/is doing to Doctor Who. Perfect end to the series in that regard. Managed to refrain throwing my remote.
* I liked An Adventure in Space and Time. Moffat to the best of my knowledge had nothing to do with it.
** They made this work in Harry Potter, and the rest of your CGI is excellent. Why was this so ridiculously fake ?
*** Meant to say something here; can't remember what now. Aw, fuck it.
Update: xx. The Husbands of River Song (4/10) Greg Davies was cool, Matt Lucas alright, wrapped up some of the threads of River Song's story, and had some decent one-liners. Other dialogue was cringe-worthy, story was shit, made no sense, and bored me to tears. More useless filler, justified largely on the basis on fan-service, rather than telling compelling interesting stories. Next...
Just in time for the talks in Paris* and as the last hopes of our keeping temperature-increase under 2 degrees Celsius evaporate, here's a nice video from Sky News illustrating what, at this point, our most optimistic future might look like due to our greedy shortsighted stupidity.
This video, released in the last 24 hours or so, on our 2° future was accompanied by scarier videos illustrating 3° & 4° respectively. For some reason, Sky has since chosen to set the accompanying videos to 'Private' status on YouTube.
To be generous to Sky, maybe these videos were just released prematurely by accident, and will be re-released shortly. Maybe.**
The remaining video is instructive.**** But we're missing the progression that the video-makers clearly intended with just the one. Also, each video ended with an encouragement to share said content via social media. Kinda hard to do that Sky when you disappear the videos with no warning, and no explanation.
* Which due to our ever currently convenient obsession with 'The War on Terror'*** are to occur under a 'State of Emergency' with protests conveniently banned. ** That, or representatives of Murdoch's buddies in the fossil-fuel-industries got wind of what one of his media-outlets was putting out, and convinced Sky of the benefits of a little self-censorship ? *** Many of the roots of which can be directly tied back to our dependence upon fossil-fuels, and support of the backwards regimes who control much of the supply thereof. **** Myself, I think there's an argument that some of the millennials and younger may have an excuse (living under Western corporate media & the likes of GOP-compromised educational systems) for not understanding just how dire the threat is. But, really, if you're over thirty or so and need any further convincing, then at this point I can't put it down to any better than, at most generous, wilful ignorance. Update:This vid. on 5° change may be a replacement for the other two videos I mentioned.
Been neglecting the cartoons on here of late. Been neglecting the whole thing to be honest. Anyway, first up, a dose of terrifying reality, brilliantly rendered by Ben Jennings in the Indy.
My favourite cartoon of the moment really...and one for the ages.
The GOP candidates for the US presidency, that is. First, here's Seth Meyers on Donald Trump's lies.
And then, this...well, this would appear to be the #2 in the GOP race currently, the consensus mainstream candidate, and his likely runningmate play-acting at being president, and getting to perform the all-important duty of...pardoning a turkey...
Okay, so the 22 Minutes piece isn't exactly high art, but you get the point perhaps. Just fourteen years ago, we watched terrorists crash jet-airliners into and bring down skyscrapers in Manhattan, with thousands dead. Watched people throwing themselves from windows to escape the smoke & flames. It hurt. It shocked. It scarred us. And we reacted in panic, rushing through new security-powers, turning ourselves into cattle in our airports, starting two wars, one of which hasn't quite ended even today, and the other of which helped birth ISIS.
We endured those attacks, far greater and more traumatic than those in Paris, and some of us at least, had mind to later regret our initial hasty rush to act, our temptation to give in to the demands of politicians who promised to keep us safe. Our stupid willingness to give the terrorists exactly what they fucking wanted. To be terrified into undermining that which makes Western society great, and waging what they could easily portray as a war on the Muslim world.
And now here we are again, having seemingly learned nothing in the years since. We have even worse politicians calling for more extreme action, demanding that we surrender what remains of our civil liberties in the name of security. We have the same incessant drumbeat for MOAR WAR. And we have an even more lunatic bunch of fanatical crazies trying to goad us into the clash of civilisations they so desperately desire.
We overreacted then, and we're on the verge of overreacting now. Calm the fuck down people, for all our sakes.
I would not have believed even seven months ago that I would feel as strongly about this man as I do today. Now, I'm long past making any excuses for him. He is the face of all the evil his party has wrought and continues to wreak. May a likely non-existent God have mercy on his soul.
Oh, and a premature Happy Christmas* Ev'ryone !...
* Fuck political correctness now and forever. Fuck Starbucks, regardless of how they decorate their cups. And fuck 'Merry'...it's Happy dammit.
In which video Imani's (above) tweet was featured, which I thought was kinda cool.*
Your prerogative Imani, your prerogative...
* Should have explained the context & intent better I suppose, but Imani doesn't know me from Adam, and I couldn't think what to say, hence, fuck it, just 'FYI.' Oh well.
Well, symmetry demands that we follow up the info-graf. of toddler-initiated shootings from the last linkdump with one for dogs, also from the Washington Post.
It seems the bugs like their new home in the unique environment that has experienced microgravity, space radiation, elevated carbon dioxide and continuous occupation by humans for nearly 15 years.
An analysis of dust collected from the artificial satellite found that Actinobacteria - a type of bacteria associated with human skin - made up a larger proportion of the microbial community in the ISS.
Raw Story revisits the claims that George W Bush went AWOL from the National Guard, a story ignored by the US media since Dan Rather was thrown under a bus in 2004.
No shit...WaPo: Good design causes the brain to pay more attention to news stories. As opposed to sites filled with those intrusive ads, fake headlines, miscellaneous clickbait, pages that take forever to load with all the third-party scripts, then crash the browser, and so forth...
Daily Beast: Ben Carson’s Stabbing Story Is Full of Holes. And because younger Spongebrain Ben Carson is an even more effective alternative to Valium than present-day Spongebrain, here's the man who could be the future leader of the free world:
C'mon, ask yourself, has an attempted stabbing even seemed a more compelling reason to make a theocratic maniac man president ?
The 'school resource officer' (aka cop) who ripped a student out of her desk and flung her across the room, has been fired. Always somewhat conflicted when paid bullies are held accountable for acting exactly according to their insanely militaristic training. And we need police in schools why exactly ?
* I am dedicated** to normalising the rendering of compoundwords in English, even if the rest of the English-speaking world is in denial. You think the long words in German are funny, really ? ** Well, somewhat, vaguely, kinda. Intently but lazily perhaps.
Jeb! clearly isn't cut out for this shit. Not sure I'd want him to be my dentist tho'. A lot of suppressed resentment bubbling under the surface there...
U.S. Transportation SecretaryAttorney General Anthony FoxxLoretta Lynch Announces Unmanned AircraftGun Registration Requirement
New Task Force to Develop Recommendations by November 20
WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation SecretaryAttorney General Anthony FoxxLoretta Lynch and FAA AdministratorATF Director Michael HuertaTodd Jones today announced the creation of a task force to develop recommendations for a registration process for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)Guns.
The task force will be composed of 25 to 30 diverse representatives from the UAS and manned aviationfirearms industry, the federal government, and other stakeholders. The group will advise the Department on which aircraft should be exempt from registration due to a low safety risk, including toys and certain other small UASto limit any exemptions, as all guns are dangerous. The task force also will explore options for a streamlined system that would make registration less burdensome for commercial UAS operatorshunters in rural areas.
The task force may make additional safety recommendations as it deems appropriate. Secretary FoxxAG Lynch directed the group to deliver its report by Nov. 20.
“Registering unmanned aircraftguns will help build a culture of accountability and responsibility, especially with new users who have no experience operating in the U.S. aviation systemfirearms safely and responsibly,” FoxxLynch said. “It will help protect public safety in the air and on the groundthe public and at home.”
Every day, the FAAATF receives reports of potentially unsafe UAS operationshandling of guns. PilotPolice sightings of UASopen-carry guns doubled between 2014 and 2015. The reports ranged from incidents at major sporting eventsschools and flights near manned aircraftmovie theaters, to interference with wildfirepolice operations.
“These reports signal a troubling trend,” HuertaJones said. “Registration will help make sure that operatorsgun owners know the rules and remain accountable to the public for flying their unmanned aircrafthandling and maintaining their guns responsibly. When they don’t fly safely, they’ll know there will be consequences.”
While the task force does its work, the FAAATF will continue its aggressive education and outreach efforts, including the “Know Before You Fly”“Know Before You Shoot” campaign and “No Drone Zone”“No Gun Zone” initiatives with the nation’s busiest airportsschools. The agency also will continue to take strong enforcement action against egregious violators. At the same time, it will continue working with stakeholders to improve safety to ensure further integration and innovation in this promising segment of aviationin the United States.
Secretary FoxxAG Lynch was joined by representatives from the following stakeholder groups:
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems InternationalThe National Rifle Association
Academy of Model AircraftCoalition of Gun Owners against the NRA
Air Line Pilots AssociationSensible Republicans
American Association of Airport ExecutivesSensible Democrats
Helicopter Association InternationalSensible Independents
- See more at: https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-transportation-secretary-anthony-foxx-announces-unmanned-aircraft-registration#sthash.8Jpy9SFD.dpufhttps://www.atf.gov/briefing-room/us-attorney-general-loretta-lynch-announces-gun-registration#sthash.8Jpy9SFD.dpuf
Not everything lines up of course. Original here, and yes I do approve of the idea.
For the record, I do support Americans' right to own guns in general. But I don't support absolutist interpretations of the second amendment, and don't think a gun-registry is a unreasonable violation of that right, anymore than background-checks, limits on the type of weaponry available*, or limits on cartridge-capacities. Oh, and a tax on bullets.
* I know, AR-15's are cool. So, in their way, are surface-to-air missiles. But do you really need one to defend yourself ?
The main stated reason for the students’ opposition was their conviction that it would have given the mainland too much economic power within Taiwan, which it could then use to wrest political concessions. But Lin’s participation was motivated more ideologically. She and like-minded “leftists” — her word — were convinced that cross-strait relations in general have benefited the rich on both sides to the detriment of exploited workers on both sides. The irony is that Lin came from a place where the study of Marxism is mandatory, only to find in the deeply anti-communist society of Taiwan what she called “true Marxism.”
“In China,” she said, “we learn about Marxism but nobody believes in it, but on Taiwan they really believe in it.” And, unlike on the mainland, where the last student demonstrations in 1989 took place before most current students were born, the students on Taiwan were able to organize themselves, to publicize their views, and to demonstrate.
“Anyone caught in the vicinity is guilty by association,” the source told the Intercept. If “a drone strike kills more than one person, there is no guarantee that those persons deserved their fate … so it’s a phenomenal gamble.”
Whadda shame, Jim Webb is dropping his (highly quixotic) bid for the Democratic nomination in the US. Meanwhile, the candidate in second place for the Republican nomination, Spongebrain Ben Carson, takes his campaign so seriously, that he is suspending it for two weeks to concentrate on selling his book...
Because the current greedhead leaders of the UK are completely and totally fucking insane... BBC: Xi Jinping to seal Hinkley Point nuclear power deal in UK. In the name of, no, don't tell me...'energy security', right ? Oh, and rate-payers are guaranteed to pay double the current rate of electricity into the bargain... So glad UK voters didn't elect a bunch of commies and socialists in the last election...
Vox: Senate Democrats want to increase the smoking age to 21. That would save lives. Uh, yeah, why not 42, or 84, or any other arbitrary number ? Really think the idiotic restriction on people who in every other respect are considered adult, drinking prior to 21 has worked out that well ? And why not prevent people from driving till their thirties, from owning a gun till they are in their forties ? Raise the age of consent to 25 say ? Why is a country that routinely tries children as adults in court, so insistent on telling actual adults what they can and can't do prior to a certain age ?
Bloomberg: Insurrection Erupts at the Democratic National Committee. DWS will get Hillary elected one way or another, and Hill's backer's on Wall Street will be sure to reward both. The Democratic Party is just a rented vessel, whatever voters may think. And with the GOP possibly slipping from its grasp, Wall Street is not giving the Dems their party back any time soon.
The Homs Liberation Movement—a division of the U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army—seems ready to use tactics associated with ISIS. “We will conduct martyrdom operations carried out by dissident officers,” al-Hourani said, using a euphemism for suicide attacks.
Though this may not be all that surprising. The Movement is an Islamist faction known to be a close military ally of the official al Qaeda franchise in Syria known as Jabhat al-Nusra.
Speaking of said conflict, the US & Russia are coordinating their presence in the air on some level, one would hope ?...
The Sheriff in Florida angry that the federal government is recalling one of his military-surplus armored personnel-carriers. Claims that his officers will have to go on 'suicide-missions' and 'people will die' as a result.
That HR-Manager from New York who sued her own twelve-year-old nephew over an apparently wrist-breaking hug...lost, you may be happy to hear. Or not, whadda I know ?
* Though the White House kept the meeting brief, and seemed to downplay the affair. Wonder why that might be ? ** We'll leave out by whom and to what ends perhaps... *** Well, full nudity...in the print edition...in the United States that is.
* Sorry, make that the overseas province of the PRC formerly known as America's Bitch. Sorry, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Others might say, one token album aside,...they did.*
* What, there was an album called The Menace ? Sure you didn't imagine that ? Perhaps whilst snorting coke with other brokers somewhere off Manhattan ?
