Doctor Who and Wimbledon, day 6.

As much as I enjoy tennis, I enjoy Doctor Who so much more. I was almost to the point of throwing things at the TV as programs started being moved in favour of the Murray/Haas match. I was willing Murray to win every single point just so Doctor Who would not be interrupted. But, luckily enough, Murray won the match about 30 minutes before the Doctor graced the screen. *Phew*

So, what happened at Wimbledon? Not much. Caroline Wozniacki gave Jelena Jankovic a good run for her money. I was hoping that Wozniacki might win. But no. After a fantastic first set, she lost the match 6-2, 4-6, 2-6. Ah well.

Other than that, nothing spectacular really happened. Janko Tipsarevic ousted Dmitry Tursunov 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. Shahar Peer took out 9th seed Dinara Safina 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 8-6.

As for Doctor Who. Fantastic! I loved The Stolen Earth. I especially loved the crazy Dalek Caan. After all, every race needs its crazy psychics! The sound of drums popped up every now and again... Is this something to get excited and shiver with antici..... pation about? But anyway. I shall stop there in case I let anything important slip that spoils it for anyone (*waves* hello Dave!). I can and I can't wait for next week.

Wimbledon, Day 5.

Big news for the day: Ana Ivanovic, the number one in the world, was ousted by wildcard Zheng Jie. Zheng, ranked 133, decimated Ivanovic, 6-1, 6-4. I don't think I've seen Ivanovic break down like that since the final at Roland Garros last year.

11th seed Marion Bartoli (FRA), a finalist last year, was also knocked out. This was due, in part, to injury. Bethanie Mattek (USA) soldiered on to the fourth round 6-4, 6-1.

But yay! for Marat Safin! He finally made it through to the fourth round after a tough fight against 29th seed Andreas Seppi (ITA). In fading light he came through 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. I think I enjoy watching Safin even more now, as Principessa will sit on my knee and watch with me, cheering everytime he gets a point: "Yay! He scoreded another point!" She is just soooo cute!

So, Andy Murray takes on Tommy Haas (GER) today. I'm not sure I'll be watching all of the match as Doctor Who will probably be on when he's playing. I am NOT missing the Doctor, not when there are only two more episodes left. And not now, when Davros is coming back to the fold. I am really looking forward to these last two episodes.

Wimbledon, Day 4

Another day of mixed fortunes. While Andy Murray triumphed, Anne Keothavong and Chris Eaton both fell despite valiant attempts. Keothavong lost to Venus Williams, 5-7, 6-2. Eaton lost to Dmitry Tursunov, 6-7 (2-7), 2-6, 4-6. (Considering that Tursunov is ranked 639 places above Eaton, I think this is an amazing result. It was also very refreshing to see someone who served and volleyed every point. It's something you don't see very often nowadays. The wind did affect both players at one end of the court, and I think had the conditions been slightly better Eaton would have had Tursunov. I really hope he fights his way to the top 100 soon.) Andy Murray beat Xavier Malisse (BEL) 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.

On other Wimbledon news, it was a day for falling seeds.

• (6) Andy Roddick (USA) vs. Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-7 (4-7)
• (9) James Blake (USA) vs. Rainer Schuettler (GER) 3-6, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4, 4-6, 4-6
• (19) Nicholas Almagro (ESP) vs. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 2-6
• (24) Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) vs. Marin Cilic (CRO) 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 5-7
  

The biggest surprise was in the women's game:

• (3) Maria Sharapova (RUS) vs. Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 2-6, 4-6
• (10) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) vs. Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) 3-6, 6-4, 1-6
• (13) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) vs. Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) 6-7 (10-12), 6-4, 3-6
• (22) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) vs. Ai Sugiyama (JPN) 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 2-6
• (25) Lindsay Davenport (USA) vs. Gisela Dulko (ARG) Walkover (Knee injury)
• (26) Sybille Bammer (AUT) vs. Shuai Peng (CHN) 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 3-6
• (32) Sania Mirza (IND) vs. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP) 0-6, 6-4, 7-9
  

So that's now the third seeds from both the men's (Djokovic) and women's (Sharapova) gone. Who'd have thunk it! It's also nice to see that Tamarine Tanasugarn is continuing her great run after winning at 's-Hertogenbosch last week, and that Ai Sugiyama is still battling on.

Keep Rickrolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, huh!

Just watching the tennis, Chris Eaton vs. Dmitry Tursunov. We all knew it would be tough, but at least he's giving it a good go. He's currently two sets down, and it's 3-2 to Tursunov in the third. I'm very impressed with Eaton, though.

But, I had to post. Twice today I have seen the term rickrolled. WTF, though I. The first time I let it pass. The second time the rickrolling was there in front of me, so I had to see. And did I giggle! Here, for your entertainment, is Doctor Who, Rickrolled!

Wimbledon, Day 3. And other stuff.

It was a disappointing day, yesterday. Elena Baltacha could not build on her battling victory of the first round. She went under to Zheng Jie (CHN), 2-6, 5-7.

The big news of the day was the unceremonious dumping of Novak Djokovic. Former world number one Marat Safin bossed the game completely, not allowing Djokovic any foothold in the match. To be fair, Djokovic seemed rather out of sorts, but I haven't seen Safin play that well for a long time. I'm hoping he can keep this form, I like watching Safin play.

The tennis took a back seat to my tutorial in the evening. It was nice to meet the tutor, even though it seemed he didn't realise Kirst was there for the tutorial too. I think he thought she was my helper. Oops! But other than that oversight, he seemed to be a very good tutor, sooooo much better than the first tutor we had. He was able to start a debate about masculinity and femininity, and how they are contrasted within the works we are studying for Block 5. It was a big help going to the tutorial, and being able to throw ideas around with others. It really helps in shaping my own thoughts, and focuses me to get down to the work. That maybe why my Wallace essay was so bad. I didn't have that focus. I just wish there was a tutorial for Don Juan, as that was overlooked in the tutorial last night. Ho hum, will have to muddle through that one on my own. (I did sit down and listen to it properly last night, but I couldn't shake the image of a dandy with sparkly teeth skipping and jumping around lush green hills every time the Don Juan strut section happened!)

Wimbledon, Day 2.

Well, it was a surprising day yesterday.

Naomi Cavaday played out of her skin in the first set against Venus Williams, but Venus pipped her in the tie breaker. The second set was a bit of a non-event for Cavaday, really. Score: 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

Anne Keothavong, on the other hand, battled back from a set down to win her match against Vania King (USA). Score: 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Katie O'Brien also went out. At one point in the second set she was 5-0 up against Shahar Peer (ISR), but Peer won the next seven games to take the match. Score: 3-6, 5-7.

The blokes fared a bit better, two of the three of them getting through to the second round.

Andy Murray played in a highly entertaining match against Fabrice Santoro (FRA). In the end, Murray took the match in three straight sets. Score: 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

Ranked outsider Chris Eaton, who battled through qualies, rallied hard against Serbian Boris Pashanski, making it into the second round in straight sets. He faces a tough second round match against Dmitry Tursunov (RUS). Score: 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.

Unfortunately, Jamie Baker fell to Stefano Galvani (ITA). Score: 4-6, 2-6, 3-6.

Game, set, and no rain?

So, it was the first day of Wimbledon yesterday. I have to say, it went better than I was expecting. Firstly, Elena Baltacha won her match against Angelique Kerber, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5. Happy, happy, happy. Unfortunately for Melanie South, her match against Alona Bondarenko didn't go quite as well, although she put up a spirited fight, losing 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 4-6! Alex Bogdanovic also put up a fight, but went down 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (4-7) to Simone Bolelli. Ho hum.

Today we have Andy Murray, Chris Eaton (who battled through qualies to get there), Jamie Baker, Naomi Cavaday and Anne Keothavong playing. Katie O'Brien might also be playing today. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that more than just Andy Murray progresses through. I don't hold out much hope for Naomi Cavaday, shes up against Venus Williams, but I'd love her to shock Williams and go through!

I'm looking forward to pawing through 'Kult' now, while waiting for Wimbledon to start. 'Kult' is a roleplaying game from the 90s. I owned it way back when, but sold it because I didn't play it much. Over the last few weeks it popped into my head as being a way to feed my brain with some ideas for story writing. So I went on a quest to find it. Imagine my shock at finding out it was no longer in print, and that I would have to track the bugger down! I had no luck, then last weekend I found a copy on Ebay. 'Yipes,' thought I, when seeing the price. £40! I had a few quid left from my grant, so I thought, 'what the hell, let's just get it!' So get it I did. And read it - I will. Now.

Mr Wallce, where is my divine intervention?

69%. Ho hum. My worst mark since TMA02. At least it was a pass, and more than 40%. Suppose that is something positive, at least.

I have finished the Pygmalion section of the next block. I think I have decided that this will not be one of my choices for the next essay. I am more or less decided on Medea, and I am toying with the idea to use Don Juan too. I found it hard to immerse myself into Wide Sargasso Sea, so I think I might give that a miss.

Cheesy Bread-face

Principessa has started experimenting with different mediums for her art. Here is a piece called 'Cheesy Bread-face on Cow Hide Couch'.

I really like the use of a halved Babybel cheese to make the eyes, and the carefully torn bottom crust from another piece of granary bread to make the mouth. The smeared Marmite nose finishes the piece off.

Memory...

(Pinched from Elizabeth Bear's blog)

"If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now,even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory ofyou and me. It can be anything you want -- good or bad. When you'refinished, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (ormortified) about what people remember about you."

The art of a thousand walls.

Well, maybe not a thousand. In fact, it is the art of just one wall. My bedroom wall. Courtesy of Principessa. I think she has an irrational fear of using blank paper or something.


This little fella is above the radiator. He almost looks like a 'Chad was here' character.



This big beastie is above Principessa's bed. (Yep, she still sleeps in my room!) I think it looks a bit like a three year old's interpretation of the great Cthulhu! I would say 'but that's impossible as she has never seen a picture,' but then I remembered that her Uncle Gaz let her have the cuddly Cthulhu I gave him for his birthday.

She has been learning to write her name recently. I was really surprised when she shoved a piece of A4 paper in my hand with her name in her cute three-year old scrawl across the page. Made me so proud, it did!

Oh. My. Lashes.

Yeah, OK. Three posts in one day. What the hell!

After just about getting my money back on the Gold Cup bet I made yesterday, I thought I'd have another flutter today. I had a look down the Ascot races, but I was tripped up on the main race of the day. There were two horses I liked, and I couldn't choose. So I asked Principessa to choose the jacket she liked the most. Then I thought, let's just put a twist forecast on the two horses I couldn't choose between.

Wouldn't you just know it, the twist forecast came in! How chuffed am I? And all because I could make some tenuous connection between the horses - Lush Lashes and Infallible. Connection? Make-up!

*Dances round the room while wishing I had put a fiver bet on instead!*

Happiness is...

Playing with Wordle. I had a mess about with it earlier, and I have made this 'postcard' with the Wordle result from one of my poems.


(Click for larger image)

These dreams...

Don't you just hate it when you have a dream, you are quite sure you are dreaming, but you wake up feeling that the dream was real?

This morning I was woken with that kind of start. I was dreaming that I was asleep, yet I was somewhat awake at the same time - I was able to view everything in the bedroom. Or maybe I was dreaming that I was in the bedroom in the dream. Anyway. I could hear a buzzing sound. I pinpointed it to the curtains, but then it started getting closer. I had in my mind 'There's a bloody wasp coming to get me!' The next thing, the buzzing is right at my ear and I could feel the displaced air on wisps of hair, the proximity of the sting making me sleep wince! Then the wasp landed on my ear, and I was trying to move without moving, hoping that the thing didn't crawl into my ear and sting my eardrum or something! I gently and quietly moved my head, so that the wasp was brushed onto the quilt, and hid my head under the covers. It was this move, in my dream and in reality, that woke me up. I spent the next five minutes listening for waspy buzzing, just in case I hadn't been dreaming!

Can you tell I don't like wasps? I think that this dream was residual fear from last week when I was buzz attacked by an absolutely massive wasp in the bathroom. What freaked me out more than this wasp just ending up dropping from somewhere and buzzing around behind me for a few minutes, and me being just a little incapacitated to get away from it, was that the wasp somehow ended up caught in my hair just above my ear. The buzzing alone is enough to reduce me to tears, but the proximity of the sting to my head completely shook me. Then the bloody thing just dropped from my hair and onto the floor by my foot! Argh! I think I did scream, too!

Well, enough about wasps and dreams of wasps. *Shudder*

I should get my Wallace essay back in the next few days. I am so worried about it. I know now that I didn't answer the question properly, as I've moaned about already. I'm not even sure now that I had enough in there to give me a pass. I'm so disappointed in myself *sigh*.

Woohoo!

I thought I'd have a flutter on the gee-gees today with it being Gold Cup day. So, I bet on one horse in each of the six Ascot races. The first three came nowhere. Bugger. I had given up getting anything back. But then, a tennis-associated named horse - Fifteen Love - went and won it's race, coming in at 28-1! Yay! That'll do me. I'm just hoping that King Of Rome doesn't come anywhere, because I didn't bet on him in the end.

Wordy clouds

Hee, this is fun! Go to Wordle, then take a block of text, put them in the text box and create your own word clouds. Here's one I made earlier.

Go, play!

What's another word for leg?

Principessa, sitting at her computer, lifts her leg up and rests it on the desk.

• I've got stickers all over my tentacles, Mummy.

And that, with a lot of laughing, was that!

D'oh!

I am wishing I hadn't jumped the gun and sent my Wallace essay off on Sunday. I can now see ways it could have been improved, made to read more fluidly. Bum! I think I have put enough in to at least get the pass mark, but I could have mentioned the blurring of boundary lines between science and religion, and the resulting separation of science and spiritualism. Argh! That would have made the essay better by a whole lot! That'll teach me not to rush things just because I can't get my head around it at the time.Ah well, hindsight is a useless beast, foresight the evasive beast.

The sunburn is now turning into prickly heat. I don't which is worse - the heat and pain of the burn, or the incessant itch of the prickly heat. Grrr!

I'm all a bit grrrr today as it is. That stupid creature called a brother decided he'd try and pay off his catalogue bill with his XBox360. He bought it over with a bunch of games. Today, he came in saying that he needed money so he was going to take the games to Gamestation to exchange them for cash. When I confronted him about it he said that he had given me the XBox but not the games. When I told him that I was not stupid, that I had checked around to see how much a brand new XBox360 cost, and that I could get one for less than he owed me for the catalogue, he flipped his lid! He must really think I am a mug, that I would take the seconhand XBox without looking around first and making sure what he gave me would cover his bill. Idiot! (Me, not him, for believing he wouldn't try to rip me off. I shall not be believing anything he says again.)

Anyone for tennis?

I finally got to see some live tennis yesterday at the Liverpool International. What a great day!

The first match on court was a doubles match between Mansour Bahrami, Barry Cowan, Ilie Nastase and Peter McNamara. I was chuffed at having the opportunity to watch Bahrami, he is such a funny player.

Mansour Bahrami

Next on court was the first ladies singles semi final between Caroline Wozniacki and Tamaryn Hendler. Wozniacki won this match, 6-3, 6-4. She's a really good player, but I've said that before.

Caroline Wozniacki

Next up was the men's semi final between Paul Capdeville and Robert Kendrick. I thought Kendrick would have had this match, but Capdeville pipped him in the tie breaker in the first set, and outplayed him in the second. The result - 7-6 (12-10), 6-4.

Paul Capdeville and Robert Kendrick

After the men's singles, the crowd-puller match happened. This was the Legend's mixed doubles between Pat Cash, Jana Novotna, Mikael Pernfors and Martina Hingis. Another funny, yet serious, match. Cash and Hingis had many a tete-a-tete at the net, and many extremely high lobs were returned. It was a very good match, with Novotna and Cash winning 8-5.

Cash, Novotna, Pernfors and Hingis

I left after the doubles, the sun was taking it's toll on me.



Ouch! Can you see where I had been wearing my entry band and bobble? Asides from the sunburn I had a fabulous day. I think I might go again next year.

(I just wish I had recorded the Queen's tennis. SkiDaddles said that the Nadal match was a good'un!)

(All photos (c) ME! That's why they are not all that good!)

Strictly Come Star Wars

You haven't lived until you see a Wookiee dance Footloose, or Darth Vader... Well, see for yourself!



Fantastic!

Turning to ice cubes.

Principessa is a funny Monkey.

I was drinking a small can of lemo before, and she sidles over to me, eyes fixated on the can.

• Me: Do you want to try some?
• Princi: No. It is hot and will burn my tongue.
• Me: It's not hot, it's cold. Feel. (Holds can out to Princi.)
• Princi: (Touching can.) But if I drink that I will turn into ice cubes.
  

What can you say? Maybe I should stop her watching Tom and Jerry?

Alas, poor Wallace, your reputation never preceded you!

Done. Done, done, done. Well, as done as I can be.

I struggled through the last of the referencing and finishing the essay last night. Pants is not the word to describe that pile of mulched together words that hardly forms an answer. I can't believe how hard that damn essay was to write after enjoying the block so much. I'm going to leave it until Sunday, just to mature, then I will toothcomb it, edit it if necessary, and wing it into cyberspace to be marked. My poor brain hurts so much that I'm not sure I want to think about 'Pygmedjuan Sea'. But I must. Onwards, ho!

I am hoping the weather holds out for tomorrow. I'd be so miffed if it the weather turns bad and the tennis is called off. I've only been waiting a year to go and watch it. But, the weather is not looking good today, so I don't hold much hope for tomorrow. Bloody typical, it is, as the weather has been quite good for the last week. Bugger!

Oh, but talking about the tennis, yesterday's R16 match between Kei Nishikori and Rafa Nadal was brilliant! I was so impressed by Nishikori, I really wanted him to win. His flying forehand is fantastic. He's definitely one to watch for after taking the second set from Nadal. I would have like to have seen the Delray Beach final now, when he beat James Blake. Looking forward to seeing more of Nishikori.

Panic over!

SkiDaddles op went well. So well that he's at home already. The anaesthetist decided that he did not need the general, so he had the op under local anaesthetic. *Phew*

Andy Murray is in action again. Today he is playing Ernests Gulbis. Currently Gulbis has the first set and it is 5-1 to Murray in the second set.

I am still battling with the Wallace essay. It is turning into an epic of grand proportions. I am just wishing that I hadn't been lazy and noted the references while I put down the essay. Stupid me! So today I will go through and put in the references, then get down to finishing the damn thing off. Then I can start the next block: Myths and conventions. Just got to decide on which two of the set texts I shall do the next essay on. I have Medea, Pygmalion, Wide Sargasso Sea or Don Juan to choose from. I can't believe I'm nearly onto writing TMA07! This course seems to have gone by so fast!

My love don't cost a thing...

So, I had to call the bank today. While on hold, waiting for the call to be answered, the interlude music was 'My Love Don't Cost A Thing' by J-Lo. Yep. Dripping with sarcasm.

The tennis has been good today. No surprises as yet, though I was kind of hoping that Troicki could beat Nalbandian. No such luck! I'm just pee'd off that I can't watch the doubles matches. The stupid BBC cut transmission just before it started. Bah! Humbug!

I shall discover if the soup I prepared today will taste OK tomorrow. I'm just a little dubious about it. The smell of the maitake mushrooms was quite unpleasant at first, but now the full soup base is done they don't smell too bad. I just hope I put enough ginger in. We shall see.

Tomorrow will be a day of dubiousness in more ways than one. Dad is going in to hospital to have a ganglion removed from his thumb. It'll be his first time under general anaesthetic, so I'm a bit worried.

Well, going to watch the end of Question Of Sport with skiDaddles.

Anti-climax

Hmph. After the other Brits went out yesterday I was looking forward to a really good grass court tennis match between Andy Murray and Sebastien Grosjean. What did I get? Two games. Grosjean retired with a leg injury. Ah well. Will have to wait until tomorrow now. Hopefully there'll be some good tennis during the rest of the afternoon (C'mon Richard Bloomfield!).

On the essay front, I'm up to around 1120 words now. Still need to work a bit more on the socialism section, but I've done the conclusion. I'm feeling OK about this assignment, it's the first time I haven't had an imposing sense of doom about what I have written. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I think I'll try and get the essay finished tonight when (and if!) Principessa goes to sleep. I really want it finished, with a day or two to let it rest before I go through the draft again.

Decimated!

(Pic from Eurosport)

I was quite looking forward to the French Open final yesterday, expecting a good old tennis barney between Nadal and Federer, though I knew Nadal would win. What I wasn't expecting was the comprehensive ass-whooping that Nadal dished out! 6-1, 6-3, 6-0. Hardly made the final worth watching. Hopefully, Queens will be worth watching.

I think I am about 850 words into the new draft of the Wallace essay. Still 350 words to go, and I need to squeeze socialism and the conclusion into that, with maybe a bit of cleaning up on spiritualism and the introduction. I'm kind of happy with the history of science and early life sections. I'm just hoping the whole thing gels together.

Heee! I received my first Moleskine notebook today. It was a free gift from the Folio Society, the place I buy posh books from. I loves them there posh books. But I think I need to stop buying from them for a while. It is too expensive an addiction to feed now!

Well, while Principessa and Nanny are out in the garden, I think I will try and knuckle down and finish the essay.

Age banding - what an idiotic idea.

So, the latest hair-brained idea to hit our bookshelves will be age banding. Publishers are aiming to put a banding system on book covers to advise on the 'reading age' of the books. I'm sorry, but this is a bit ridiculous. Think about it. This is going to alienate readers, children especially, by giving a system that says 'well maybe this book is a bit too old for you.' Surely this is the job of the parents, not the publishers? This system is going to an exclusive thing, rather than inclusive, and haven't kids nowadays got enough to cause them complexes? Books are meant for escapism, not to tell a kid 'hey, this isn't for you, so don't even think about it', which is what this system could do. Okay, I know it's there already, but it's invisible, guides in book club magazines etc., there for parental advise. That's how it should stay. If a child is reading, and old enough to choose the books they enjoy reading, then they should be allowed to do so.

I'd hate to think what would have happened if this system was around when I was young and getting into reading. One of the books that really gave me the bug for reading was James Herbert's Rats, and I picked that up when I was bored one day when I was about 12. If it had been banded I know it would be put out of my 'age range' being a horror book, and being the way I was when I was younger I probably would have left it alone. The same with some of the sci-fi books I picked up. This banding system is a really idiotic idea.

If you agree, and you haven't already, go to No to Age Banding and sign up. This is a restrictive system that is not necessary. Surely it's just adding to the whole nanny state business?

Brain stew

(Pic from Eurosport)

Damn you, Mr Wallace!

So, having got 1000 words into the HoS essay I am now having to start again. Boo! Hiss! I could tell it wasn't right when I started struggling around 800 words in, but I kept on pulling useless teeth. I emailed my new, shiny tutor and explained how I had interpreted the question and asked some general advice. Most of my interpretation was correct, I was just missing the point historians of science have played. So while I was correct, my whole essay plan was wrong. Phooey! So it's back to the drawing board, and so far I am having little success with rehashing the thing.

I'm taking a break at the mo, watching the Federer-Monfils match. The score is currently 6-2, 3-4 to Federer. I'm hoping Monfils can keep up the good start and win the second set. It is 40-30 in game 8 to the Fed. Oops, okay it is 4-4 in second set now. Whoever wins, Federer I expect, will go on to meet Rafa Nadal (who beat Novak Djokovic in the previous semi) in the final of the French Open.

Of suidice pacts and Doctor Who

(Click for larger image)

Mumbles finally received the pages about my great grandmother's 'Room 667 tragedy' from the Daily Mirror archives today. Here are some of the stories. It is so strange to find things like this in the family tree, but interesting all the same.

Hmmm. The rumours still abound about Neil Gaiman writing an episode of Doctor Who. And wouldn't you just know that it would be to do with the 'Voyage of the Damned' episode? You know, Astrid (the Kylie character), who was turned into stardust? Get it? *sigh* Check this out, nicked from Life, Doctor Who and Combom:

60X The End of Time - 2009 Christmas Special
203. 251209 By Russell T Davies
At the end of the 2009 Christmas special the 10th Doctor catches a cold and it causes a temporary regeneration. He turns into a woman!

601. About Time
030410 By Steven Moffat
A darker, edgier season with a Doctor suffering from his loneliness. Two new assistants join him and together they investigate time bleeding and other strange goings on in parks around London.

602. The Dust of Stars
100410 by Neil Gaiman
Kylie Minogue is back as Astrid! Somehow she's found a way to merge with an obsolete TARDIS and, being symbiotically linked with it, she's able to trace the Doctor. She needs to warn him about an impending disaster from the center of the galaxy.

603. Scherzo
170410 by Rob Shearman
Time continues to splinter throughout the universe and the Doctor and companions fall through a crack into another universe with different rules.

604. Family Reunion
240410 by Stephen Greenhorn
Doctor-lite episode. The Doctors daughter discovers a world shifted out of phase with the rest of the universe. She finds that her symbiotic nucleii allows her access and discovers Time Lords frozen in time. She finds a way of tracing active Tardii but it leads her to discover other problems.

605. Time of the Zygons
606. Loch Ness Monsters
010510 by Helen Raynor
080510
The Zygons have taken control of a black hole in the center of the galaxy. They have been experimenting with time travel and discover how to grow almost anything in a fraction of the time. In minutes they have a Zygon army, ready to take over the galaxy with the help of a zetronic beam.

606. Fractured Time
607. Merlin
150510 by Steven Moffat
220510
Jack is back. But he's not the Jack we know. People from the Doctor's past return to haunt him. The unstable black hole is causing ruptures in space time, allowing universes to bleed through from alternative realities. There is a real risk of the Doctor being sucked into one permanently.

608. Ice Time
290510 by Ben Aaronovitch
The Doctor is trapped in a field of frozen time in an alternate reality. It's up to the Brigadier and UNIT to rescue him, with the help of a few friends.

All sounds very intriguing, but the Neil Gaiman thing seems to be stretching my suspension of disbelief. I would like to be proved wrong, but it just sounds a little too cheesy!

Of words and worlds...

On the subject of the call of different worlds, here is a post from my very first blog. And yes, it's awful, but this was six years/16 years ago, before I really fell to the writing bug and began taking it seriously:

( 9.8.02 ) Ally
Oh well. Don't you just hate it when something happens and you all of a sudden pick something up you started ten years ago with the new revived vigour of 'I *must* do this to prove to myself I am not worthless'? Well, if you don't I surely do. Cos that's just what has happened to me.
I was reading a short story the other night, and it hit something in that stupid grey mass called a brain that caused me to think the 'Hey, I can do this, and I've had this idea for the last ten years that I just haven't expanded on'. So, I went and dug out this old, battered, orange envelope folder that housed the beginnings of a world in the making. There were ideas for characters, creatures, and the vague inkling of a story. So, biting off more than I could chew, I've been sat round for the last day trying to work out how I could make this thing work, but getting nowhere as fast as dead dog. Hmph. Thing is, I know if I put my mind to it, I could probably get something out of it, but I just feel so dejected and apathetic at the mo. Anyways, here's a little bit of something I wrote for this story ten years ago, lemme know what you think.....

Once again, alien dialogue caressed her tongue, stimulating her glands to taste it's utterance.
Savouring the unspoken words, Altharien mastered her fear-strangled vocal chords to delight the parched air with the haunting ululation that danced in her throat. Unaware that she was now on her feet Altharien stood over the trickling lines of water facing the black trees. Directing her voice, she versed the unknown chant to the trees.
As she sang, the words took on ghostly forms in the air before her. The inch tall, brown and green firefly words cavorted and pirouetted gracefully to the trees. Embracing the wood, their fire burned brightly before fusing with the blackened bark. Gradually the words faded from Althariens song, each one taking shape and skipping to the refuge of the trees. She stood watching, quietly contemplating the dance of the fireflies.

Eeps! How bad is that? Not only the writing, but the punctuation, grammar and sentence structure! Yikes! I would like to think that my writing style has progressed since then!

All worldly, like!

Yesterday, on the Wyrdsmiths website, Kelly McCullough asked this question:

What do you folks think? If you're a writer, do you find there's a big difference between having someone else's world in your head and having one of your own? Does one seem to fill your brain more? Is there a cognitive difference in terms of creative brain space vs. consuming brain space? If you're not a writer, how do you experience a fictional world? Is it a place you wholly contain in mind, or is it very much a place that you access through the gateway of a book?

Wow. This is an interesting question.

Well, for me, I find that I can switch between my own worlds and the worlds of others without a second though. It depends on the author to if there is a difference between someone else's world and a world I am creating. If the writer has a well realised world - like Middle Earth - then it's almost like living in a world of my own making, as you can realise all the component parts, the people, the plant and animal life, and the way that world works. The only real difference between my world/their world is that I'll have a more intimate knowledge of my worlds, and my characters, as they come from my brain.

In respect to the worlds I create, I have no problem bouncing from one to the other. I mostly work in fantasy worlds, so each will have it's own distinct character - myths, hierarchies, people etc. - and other stories are written in a slightly warped version of the actual, everyday world.

As for creative brain vs. consuming brain, well. Other author's worlds only become consuming when I am thinking about them. Otherwise they are kept in the 'Other Worlds That Aren't Mine' storage room in my head. As for creative, well, that's an ongoing process, both consciously and subconsciously. My own worlds are there, constantly, whether I am thinking about them or not. (Oh, deja vu! I'm sure I wrote that last line, those exact words, in a dream last night!) A lot of stuff goes on subconsciously, and only becomes consuming when I am writing in that world. Every now and again an idea from another world will float to the surface, so I'll just scribble a note down and go back to the world I was playing in.

I can also remember what it was like before I started writing. There were some worlds that I could only live out if I was there in the book as it were. Places like Gemmell's Drenai novels and Donaldson's Land. But other places, like Middle Earth and Lumley's Sunside/Starside, I can live in without being in the book. It only takes thinking of a character for me to be back there.

So, that's my answer. And reading that back it makes me sound like a real writer. Maybe one day I'll get a full story finished in one of the fantasy worlds that're bouncing around in my head.

Well, it's now time to live in the world of a three year old, so I'm off to introduce Principessa to some Roman mythology, or maybe I'll veg out in front of the television watching programmes for three year olds.

Kid logic.

Principessa is starting to get more argumentative these days. And arguing with some form of logic and fact. The lastest argument is the bedtime argument.

• Me: It's time for bed.
• Princi: Mummy (points to window) it's not dark.
• Me: It's still time for bed.
• Princi: But Mummy, it's still light. It's not dark. It's not night.
  

What can you say? Perfectly logical. It's more or less impossible to get her to go to sleep much before 11pm at the moment. I am thinking of waking her up at 5am and saying 'But it's light. It's time to wake up."

She's also making me laugh lots when I'm playing Guitar Hero - most of the time at her request. I think she likes the tunes. Why does she make me laugh? She tries to sing the songs. Well, more shout than sing. And it is soooo funny and cute! She especially likes 3's and 7's by Queens of the Stone Age. It makes me think I should re-invest in some QOTSA albums.



(OK, while looking for the 3's and 7's vid to put on the blog, the song started playing and Principessa hoofed it down the stairs, burst through the living room door and looked mightily confused that the GH3 tab was not playing on the TV! Funny little Monkey! Oh, and I call her Monkey because she was born in the year of the monkey, and she climbs like a monkey too!)

Well, I'm just on 1,100 words into the Wallace assignment. Not good as I only have just over 100 words left, and I have more spiritualism stuff to cover, his socialism to start, and a conclusion to wind the whole thing up. I think it might be time to go through what I have written and see if there is stuff there that I can cut. Grrr. I think it is all relevant. And I hate cutting things in case they are the things that are being looked for in the essay. Bum! I'm kind of looking forward to this essay being done with, even though it's been, by far, the most interesting of the units.

What would Mary Whitehouse think?

I really enjoyed last night's Doctor Who. It made me realise that I would like a timeshare in Moffat's head, so when living in Johnny Vegas's head (as mentioned here) got a little too warped, I'd have a parallel world of different warped to holiday in. I absolutely loved the 'the smell of books' lines. Reminded me of a Giles line from Buffy. Looking forward to next week's episode now.

I noticed this on the msn homepage too, and had to laugh at 'strangulation by obscene vegetable matter'! What would Mary Whitehouse say to flesh eating shadows?

(BTW, Dave, if you're reading this, don't click the link. It's a spoiler!)

I did have more to blog about, but I am currently playing Rapunzel to Principessa's prince - or that's what it feels like - so I am off to save my hair.