More Updates

So yeah, I reset the blog layout back to a faster, default template, changed it to blog.html instead of index.html, and linked it through from the new index.php main page. Hopefully this won't throw everyone too much, not that I imagine many people visit or read this anyways. \o/

~J

Quick Update on the New Site

Work on the latest version of the website is progressing. Something was badly wrong with the blogger version of the site, so I plan on reverting this to a simple blog page, stripping all templating, and doing a new main page. While I don't have the technical knowhow to import blog posts into a normal webpage, I will at least include links to the latest blog posts on the main http://www.demajen.co.uk page. It's an opportunity for me to get back into the web-development scene, as blogger, while convenient, is also a bit too unsatisfying from a coding point of view. I'm going to have a go at learning PHP and XML, so I'll see what I can come up with in the near future.

~J

Website Redesign

I've been wanting to redesign the site (http://www.demajen.co.uk for those of you reading the imported blog on Facebook) for a while, mainly due to the fact that it's been over a year since I last did it, and the background/artwork was getting a bit out of date.

Sadly it's taken me a good two weeks to come up with any ideas. I tried a variety of things but fell back on the fact that if I made it too complicated, I'd never update it. Thus instead I spent a good portion of the time trying to figure out a way to skin the blogger aspect of the site, and I'll build everything else round that.

The basic template is now up, but there's a few things to work on:

1) The Archive/Previous Post links don't show up well enough on the background.
2) The main post area may also get a background of some kind.
3) The borders that run down the page suddenly stop for some reason.
4) The image map menu on the banner may get some rollover images so they glow and give a bit more jazz/interactive feeling.
5) Missing a footer/copyright notice.
6) Page background is screwed at higher resolutions than 1440x900.
7) IE and Safari cut off the page at, oddly, the exact same place the borders stop running down the sides.
8) Content isn't centered on IE.

But other than that (>_>), it doesn't look too bad at all.

~J

Erase and Rewind

I watched the latest episode of Doctor Who last night, which gave Catherine Tate more of an opportunity to shout at us (a trait acknowledged in the actual story itself for some humorous effect) in an episode that explored what life would be like without the Doctor. It was quite an interesting episode, showing us events that previous companions have been involved in, but how events turn out if the Doctor was to have died in the second Christmas special (the one with the Empress of the Racnoss). It set off a chain of events with repercussions throughout recent history: without the Doctor and Donna having met, no one is able to stop the Judoon stealing the hospital from London (and Martha Jones dies up on the moon); no one is able to stop the Titanic crashing into Buckingham Palace (and the whole of London is wiped out); no one stops the Adipose plot (and 60 million Americans are all killed).

It shows a Donna Noble who never has the chance to break out of the mould, who isn’t given the opportunity to spread her wings and become something better (and while I’m not a huge fan of the character, she has grown on me the last few weeks as she’s gradually become less of the runaway bride and more of a fleshed-out character).

It also shows the return of Rose Tyler. It’s an interesting development in the plot, as the episode Doomsday from the end of the second season still sends chills down my spine. The moment near the end where the Doctor and Rose are separated in parallel universes is one of the strongest dramatic moments on this or any other show I’ve seen in twenty seven years. To bring her back was inevitable, but the look on the Doctor’s face when Donna tells him “Bad Wolf” was incredibly well-played by David Tennant. It was a mix of elation — he and Rose shared something after all — but utter horror too: not from having to deal with her, but simply knowing that having that chance, that the universes are bleeding together, is not going to end well for any of them.

Over several blogs I’ve mentioned how Russell T Davies skipped out on many storytelling opportunities by having the Time War destroy Gallifrey and leaving the Doctor alone in the universe, and yet we’re now faced with what is likely to be a big shiny Reset Button™ and I’m not as excited as I thought I might be. With RTD leaving and Moffatt taking over, it does seem right that he would get a tabula rasa to work with, but four seasons of emotional attachment to characters will be difficult to put behind. It will depend on how it’s done, assuming it is done at all. If it could be done in such a way that the Time Lords can come back without those essential relationships that have been built up disappearing, then I will be happy. But we’ve seen the Doctor grow hugely as a character based on his interactions with Rose, Martha, Donna, Captain Jack, Sarah-Jane, Mickey et cetera, and I simply don’t want all that to mean nothing, either for him, or for them.

Obviously you could play the “they never met” card for the companions, and keep the Doctor remembering, a bit like they did for Connor and Angel in the last two seasons of Joss Whedon’s Angel. It would work, and it would continue with the theme of torturing the Doctor — even if he does get his people and home returned, I’m still not certain he is emotionally strong enough to be able to look upon Rose Tyler and not have her know who she is. Or maybe I’m not. He’s walked away from her before through choice after all. Maybe I just don’t want to see that connection die. I thought having Martha Jones’ tortured family stuck at the eye of the storm and remembering everything when the whole world forgot the events of the Master’s rule as the paradox was reversed at the end of season 3 was a very bold, dramatic move after all.

So yes, I’m ambivalent about the whole event. While I don’t really want a big reset button to be pressed — for the reasons listed above — I’m intrigued as to how they will do it if they do do it — my writer’s curiosity I guess.

Now, how does Davros fit in to all this...

Friday the Thirteenth

Is that how you spell 13th?! Anyone know? I was gonna be patronising about how we should all write out numbers in full more often but seriously, do they ever look right if you do?!

Ahem anyways, a short blog today to tell you about my day at Dormston High in Sedgeley.

Was very straightforward really. Got phoned the other day saying there was work available, and despite my bad back I leapt at the chance for some pennies as now the iPhone 3G has been announced, I know I’ll have to get one (faster downloads will be awesome for me, as the iPhone is mostly a mobile internet for me!) Went to bed earlyish last night, made sure not to take any of my painkillers (as they fuzz my head up), and slept pretty well.

Up at 6:40am this morning, had breakfast, shower, got dressed, out the door buy 7:45 —well within the timeframe needed to get me there via the power of MomTaxi. Got to school on time. VERY nice-looking place. Lovely reception area and nice lobby/courtyard. Really impressive to look at. Start to think positive.

Staff briefing is VERY brief, and then a woman approaches me and asks me who I am. I give her my name and supply agency, and she passes me on to the supply coordinator who informs me she has no idea why I’m here.

Ooookay. So she takes me to her office and explains that the guy who has been there recently has turned up for work today. I knew about him being there, but I’d been told he wasn’t available for that day so the agency had asked me to come instead. But now apparently they had both of us.

Couldn’t get anyone on the phone so I say my farewells, being not massively bothered about not having to work, and get on a bus heading for Dudley in an attempt to get home cheaply.

Ten minutes into the journey, I get a phonecall from the boss, explaining how wires have got crossed and the guy who had turned up at Dormston was actually supposed to be at Pedmore, and could I get there.

Well yeah, I could, but I was on a bus to Dudley and it was gonna take me a good while to do so. “Get off the bus and I’ll come pick you up,” says the boss. So I do. I’m standing on Wolverhampton St. next to Kwik-Fit. Wolverhampton St is the main road into Dudley from Sedgely way. Easy enough to find says Mother, who I inform of this.

But I still don’t manage to get to school until just after 9:30, 15mins before the end of first lesson. By the time I’ve got my timetable, got over to science, and apologise to the necessaries, its 5 minutes before period 2. Still, means I only had to teach four lessons today. 1 on chemistry, 1 on physics, and 2 music (and I didn’t really teach the last music lesson either — the normal teacher’s son ran the class, which was weird.)

Sounds like a reasonable day, apart from the somewhat shitty start. Remember what I said about the no-painkillers though? Well, turns out by 10:30am I was in considerable pain and had to risk head fuzziness so as to counter the shards of glass being thrust up and down my spinal column (that’s a metaphor people, don’t worry!) So as the day wore on, my head was just going more and more whooooo and by period 5 I’m not sure I was all that coherent. Good job I wasn’t really teaching the lesson.

And then I realised I’d forgotten to print out and take a timesheet with me, so I couldn’t even get that signed off. Popped into the office and sorted out my availability for next week and asked them to sort out the timesheet for me, bought myself a baguette from the French Deli to eat while I recuperate before the weakly shop, and I’m now sitting here half-tempted to go have a nap/try not to pass out.

That was my Friday 13th. How was yours?

Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead - "review" (kinda)

I don’t tend to write reviews of Doctor Who episodes, simply because I imagine I’ll come across gushing like a fanboy, and I do try to avoid being a real fanboy about anything. I’m an incredibly critical person, very rarely able to say anything is so 100% brilliant that nothing was wrong with it at all — especially not television.

But I am a lifetime fan of Doctor Who. I remember being introduced to the programme way back in the 80s. Sylvester McCoy was the Doctor back then, and I remember the Doctor and Ace’s adventures for the 3 or so seasons they travelled together. There was something incredibly likeable, dark, and mysterious about McCoy’s Doctor, especially after the initial season of his time playing the part, where the scripts took a much darker, more interesting direction, questioning who the Doctor is and why he travels as he does.

One of my biggest beefs against Russell T. Davies’ reimagined series was that it was clear from the start that the Timelords, that Gallifrey, were no more. I thought, rather naively, to begin with that this would cut out a huge amount of storytelling potential.

I’m happy to admit that I was wrong. While I sometimes think that the new series has kinda missed out on some of the Lore of the series, most of the stuff that I’m thinking of is from the book line anyway that took place before the Doctor Who telemovie, when no Doctor Who stuff was on air.

I’m thinking Lungbarrow specifically in many cases, which went a long way to exploring a lot of the mysteries of just who the Doctor is, what he could have been, and why he is who he is; but at the same time introducing yet more mystery to the character. Is he a genetic reproduction of the mysterious Other of Gallifreyan history? Will we ever know?

The new series has been brilliant at these little snippets about the Doctor’s past. Lots and lots of little throwaway comments about his life from all the times we’ve not had him on screen. He’s been a father. He’s not good with weddings. He chose his title for a reason. And now, with this marvellous two-parter from Stephen Moffat, we know that at some point he will (probably) find a soulmate, someone he will trust so implicitly that he will reveal to her his real name.

Looking back at Stephen Moffat’s episodes from the 4 seasons so far, I must admit that I’ve enjoyed each one. Even the Empty Child/Doctor Dances, which creeped me out a little bit. There’s something remarkably rich and admirable about the way this man tells a story, and I’m now in the fun position of being torn about what my favourite episodes of the series’ are now.

You see, this time last year I would have said “Blink” was probably the best Doctor Who episode, even if it barely features the Doctor. It was so *clever* and emotional.

The year before, I would have said “Girl in the Fireplace,” and not just because I think Sophia Myles is incredibly hot. Again, it was fun, it was clever, it had little mysteries to reveal, and it was packed full of emotion.

And then came “The Sound of Drums” and the 3-part conclusion to season 3. This arc with the Master was beautifully performed, and while I personally thought the third of the three was a slight letdown until the last ten minutes, the joy of seeing the Doctor pitted against the Master, finally seeing a fellow Timelord in the new series, and then having it all taken away by the end was a hugely emotional turning point in the story. Just as the Doctor is coming to terms with his survivor’s guilt, he’s thrown another curveball.

I would have said those were my favourite episodes, until this latest two-parter. They were excellently paced, featured brilliant acting, a “have you quite clicked it yet” plot, several layers of mystery, and yet another curveball for David Tennant’s Doctor. The whole story with Professor River Song and what her relationship with the Doctor is is STILL left deliciously mysterious at the end of the episode. It’s obviously hinted at that the only situation in which the Doctor would reveal his true name to anyone is during a marriage ceremony, but that is never explicitly stated, and that’s just the way I like it.

The Doctor needs to remain mysterious for him to have his appeal. Would we still have the same affection for the character if he was no longer just “The Doctor” and was called by some Gallifreyan name? I doubt it. His circumstances, his past: we need just enough of that hinted at so we know he’s experienced some degree of tragedy so great that he travels simply to cope with the magnitude of it. In Silence in the Library/Forest of Death we get not hints about his past, but hints about his future. Part of me is fascinated by the idea of knowing what happens in those events. How he meets River Song in future and their whole thing happens.

But then part of me doesn’t want to know. Because the conclusion of their story had such a huge dramatic and emotional impact, I’m not sure any revelation of their “first” and subsequent meetings could do the concept justice.

I think one of the reasons this episode resonates so much to me is the idea of being in love with someone who doesn’t know who you are, a concept that forms part of the foundation of my first novel, and kind of slips into the second and third parts of the trilogy too (or will do, when they’re written). It’s actually kinda strange how many of my ideas seem to end up used in episodes of Doctor Who before I get a chance to publish them — someone must be in my head invading my thoughts and stealing my ideas. Or something.

There is a bit of time travel and reincarnation in the trilogy, as well as an underlying thread that will be revealed by the end of the books. I suppose in a sense I’ve used that Doctor Whovian device as something to drive the story, though my characters have zero control over the method of travel and spend much of the trilogy dealing with paradoxes which hopefully all work in a continuity sense.

But anyways, I was talking about these two episodes. I’ve just watched them again, back-to-back, and I must say I’m looking forwards to two things now:

1) How is Russel T. Davies going to top those two episodes this series — its already well established that Rose is going to return, and stuff is going to hit the fan, but I’ve avoiding reading any spoilers about what might happen next.

2) What is Stephen Moffat going to do with the series when he takes over in 2010 for series 5 (and yes I really REALLY hope that David Tennant is still the Doctor by that point.)

Not really a review is it this... So I’ll give the episodes a score of 9.5/10 — as close to storytelling perfection as I can imagine at this time.