These are Truly Amazing Times

It has been a busy last couple of days! First off I would like to bring up a most excellent beer the Beer Demigods at Brix suggested. The Weyerbacher Simcoe Double IPA; full of flavor and taste, it never over powers you with the hops, goes down in a very refreshing way and leaves you craving more. Worth a try, along with Weyerbacher's Hersey Stout, which is age in Bourbon Oak Barrels, when drinking this you will more than likely have an experience similar to David Bowman Entering the Monolith.

Re watched A Scanner Darkly last night. The first time I had seen this was prior to actually reading anything by Phillip K Dick, and I must say that feeling more familiar with his work really helped in the enjoyment of this movie. Worth a watch, if anything for the craziness that is rotoscope.

I've been listening to a lot of Of Montreal and Caribou lately. I am really enjoying Caribou's new album Swim. Zach's already posted the video for Odessa off that album. I plan on getting my Orbital Playlist up soon that pertains to SPRING!

We are entering the third week of Doctor Who; I really enjoy Matt Smith's take on the Doctor. Next week we see Winston Chruchill and the Daleks! Lost is spinning away into what will be considered a conclusion that will more than likely have fans talking for long after the show is over.

The Eleventh Hour

The Eleventh Hour was the newest episode of the ever so classic television series Doctor Who. In this episode we were introduced to the newest Doctor, his new companion and a new TARDIS. In all honesty I was kind of expecting this to be a ho-hum episode, as the End of Time felt a little off the mark (especially after The Water of Mars). I was, however, glad to be wrong. David Tennant stepped into the role of the Tenth Doctor and did a great job of updating him for the new era we live in.

Matt Smith manages to take on the Doctor that David Tennant had created and bring him even further into the new digital age. He does a great job with the goofy traits the Doctor has without making him seem more comical than heroic. He also does a great job in not being too broody with the Doctor.

Amy Pond, the new companion, makes me want to marry a Scottish Woman. I know it sounds awfully misogynist, but really, her short skirts are a term I call 'hyperfoxy.' She's also a great companion, kind of reminds me of Romana from the Tom Baker days.

All in all, the episode was a little goofy; a little girl has a crack in her wall that she hears voices from, she prays to Santa to send someone to fix it, and at that same moment the TARDIS comes crashing into her backyard. I loved the idea of the Doctor telling this little girl he needed to fix the phase inhibitors in the TARDIS and he'd be back in 5 minutes, but due to the error of time travel comes back in 12 years. The Voices are a prison in an alternate dimension with a prisoner who's escaped through into Earth, the Doctor, of course, stops the Atarxi from vaporizing the Earth in order to stop the escaped prisoner. But really, how stupid would Doctor Who be if he lost and the world ended?

At the end of the day, I am excited to see more of Matt Smith as he gets more of a chance to grow into the Doctor. I am also excited to see where Steven Moffat takes the series after 5 years of Russell T Davies running things.

This Weekend

Lots of things planned this weekend!

Yesterday I logged into my battle.net account to learn I got in the Starcraft 2 Multiplayer Beta. Spent the majority of my night being owned by people who've obviously played a lot more Starcraft than myself. I do plan on sinking more hours into this weekend and maybe, hopefully, with the help of Zombie Jesus I will manage to win a game.

Tonight there are two art galleries opening up that I have full intention of exploring. The first is at Polyester on 16th and Harney. It is the Twisted Youth Exhibit, featuring the punk rock images of The Ramones, Plasmatics, Bruce Springsteen and Blondie by Adrian Boot. During his 35 year career, Boot has been the official photographer for Live Aid and is considered one of Britain's best music photographers.

Then to the Beamis Underground for Opening Receptions for Alex Myers, Brion Poloncic and Christine Stormberg. All three sound like interesting exhibits, the one I have the highest level of interest in would be Alex Myers.

Then on Saturday night The Beat Seekers are back in action at the 49'er. I feel rather masturbatory talking about them, being that I know them all personally. Never the less, I enjoy their wall of sound rock and roll and look forward to seeing their revamped stage show.

All this will be topped of with the celebration of Zombie Jesus with my family on Sunday.

Should be a wonderful weekend full of art, music, aliens and zombies; what more can you ask for?

NOTE: I forgot to mention that tomorrow afternoon we see the return of Doctor Who!! All new Doctor, all new adventures!

Doctor Who Trailer

If you are not excited for the new Doctor Who season that starts relatively soon, then uh, ok.

In the Loop

In the Loop is a British Political Satire based of the BBC Program The Thick of It. It follows a rather harmless and clueless Minister in the Parliament. After misstating in an interview that he sees war in the middle east as "unforeseeable," he is quickly used as a pawn in international politics.

I have never seen, or even heard of The Thick of It. Thanks to In the Loop I plan on spending some time with the television program. One of the greatest characters is Malcolm Tucker, a raging Scottish Spin Doctor who's profanity filled tirades leave you astonished as the offensiveness of his language. I may have been a bit bias since Peter Capaldi was excellent in this last season of Torchwood and Doctor Who.

This is a hilarious movie that is oozing with wit and charm. It does an excellent job at playing up just how flawed the humans who run this world are.

Doctor Who Video Game?

Kotaku reports that the BBC would like to make both Top Gear and Doctor Who video games (two things I love, crazy fast cars and the Doctor!).

I've always pictured a Doctor Who game to be similar to one of my favorite games on the 486, "Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego." You play as the Doctor, point and click adventure, TARDIS crash lands in some point in time and you learn that something is going wrong.

Much like Carmen Sandiego it would be a chance to teach a little history as you use your mind to solve the problems and save the day. I picture each level being a different point in time, and much like the current series there would be themes and clues that would result in some sort of epic final level.

I've honestly wanted nothing more in my life than a Monkey Island/Carmen Sandiego style Doctor Who adventure game

LOST

OMG FTW



I am excited to see the final season of LOST; the only TV Show outside of Doctor Who I am excited to see in 2010.

Happy Birthday Doctor Who!

Harlan Muir sent me a link to an article over at Wired.com about the 46th Anniversary of Doctor Who. Very interesting talking about the origins of the show. You can read the link here.

The Water of Mars

The Water of Mars is the latest in the last four specials to end David Tennant's run as The Doctor. This may have been the darkest episode of Doctor Who I've ever seen and by far one of the greatest episodes in the new series.

The episode begins with the Doctor setting down on the Red Planet, Mars, and venturing forth in search of fun and excitement. He soon discovers a base, in fact it is the first human base on another planet. It has been established in the series that there are certain rules within the structure of time that the Doctor simply can not interfere with. Referred to as 'fix points in time,' the viewer quickly learns that what happens on Bowie Base One is just such a point.

Now for those of you who are unfamiliar with Doctor Who, it began its run in 1963 and went until 1989. It was then brought back in 2005 and has been consistent since then. In the return you learn that there was a great war between the Doctor's people (The Time Lords) and their mortal enemies (The Daleks). The Doctor lead the final assault against the Daleks and watched both of their planets burn and be taken out of the whole of time.

In the end of Water of Mars the Doctor comes to the realization that he is not the lone survivor but the Time Lord Victorious. With this realization he knows that all of Time and Space is at his will, and both his hubris and compassion create such a chilling monster. Setting up for what promises to be an excellent end to Tennant's Doctor, the final special, which will air in two parts feels an eternity away.



I have fallen in love with Doctor Who since first watching the new series a few years ago. I find the Doctor to be one of the most interesting 'super' heroes out there. With the ability to manipulate both time and space, he uses this to seek out fun. He is also supposed to be the greatest mind in all the cosmos. He is an excellent character and extremely original in all aspects. As would be suggested, I highly recommend Doctor Who to anyone that is looking for something original, fun, and intelligent. Start with the new series and it is a lot easier work yourself into the older episodes.