Wimbledon, Men's Final. Silverstone. Journey's End.

(Picture from www.wimbledon.org/)

Back to back they faced each other, drew their rackets and aced each other!

Rafa won! That was a fantastic final, full of excitement. I thought it was over in the third set. Rafa had taken the first two sets, 6-4, 6-4, and he was 4-5 in the third. He was playing just a notch better than Roger, so I thought he would break Roger and go onto win. But - dun dun duuuuun - rain delay! The third set went to a tie breaker. Roger turned on the tennis magic to win the breaker 7-5. The fourth set, littered with championship points for Rafa, also went to a tie breaker, again won by Roger, 10-8. At two sets all, 2 games all and 40-40, another rain delay. After about 30 minutes they resumed play.

After a really tough battle royale, Rafa took the fifth set 9-7. I think at the end of it all, after climbing to celebrate with his family, then taking a jolly jaunt over to the Royal Box, Rafa was a bit shell-shocked. But, I think, the better player won.

(Picture from www.bbc.co.uk/sport)

Yay! Louis Hamilton did go on to win at Silverstone. From a starting position of fourth, he jumped to second spot from the starting line, then overtook Heikki Kovalainen on the fourth or fifth lap, and led for the remainder of the race. 'Twas an incredibly interesting race in wet conditions.

(Screencap from time-and-space)

Now. Doctor Who. Journey’s End. Not sure if I enjoyed it, or if I was a little disappointed. It had the making of a great episode, it wrapped up all loose ends, but it seemed a little too convenient. However, there were some fantastic components. The threefold man idea was complete genius. It also provided a reason for Donna’s repeated comment ‘I’m only a temp. Catherine Tate completely out-acted David Tennant, and I’d go so far as to say she was amazing. She nailed the quick talking explaining Doctor trait perfectly, though Tennant mimicked her quite well too. Dalek Caan, what a twist! Davros, too, was brilliant. Unfortunately, the cameos from everyone else seemed to fall by the wayside, seeming all pretty pointless.

I do have more to say, but I wont, for fear of spoiling it for peeps yet to watch it. All that’s left to say is – there’s a Doctor-shaped hole in Saturday evenings that needs to be filled!

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.

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!

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!

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.

Woohoo for Moffat!

OK, so this is no slight on RTD, after all he did bring the Doctor back to our screens and made Saturday nights good again (for thirteen weeks of the year!), but I am so glad that Steven Moffat is taking over as head writer for the next series. The episodes he penned were fabulous. So chuffed!

I went to see Iron Man with Laura last night. What a fantastic film. I was disappointed when Robert Downey Jr was cast as Tony Stark, but I was pleasantly surprised. I love the fact that Stan Lee still has to do his Hitchcockian style cameo. Twas good fun!

I've also been taking a break from studying. I needed to sit down and just read a book that didn't need careful perusal. So, after ditching Un Lun Dun - it just started to drag and drag - I decided to read The End Of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas.

First thing to mention about this book; it is, for want of better words, deliciously Goth in its appearance. It has a lovely deep to bright red cover and the edges of the pages are black. It gives the book a little extra something.

Second thing to mention; it reads as if it was written by someone who had done a humanities degree comprising Literature and philosophy. Sometimes it feels like it should be a course book. The story itself reads like a thought experiment, but that only makes it more interesting to read. I'm not too sure about the main character though, and it does seem a little lack in characterisation. There are lots of infodump occasions too. Other than that, it is holding my attention.

So I shall go now and finish reading it. And then I will read over my TMA one last time and get it sent off. Fingers crossed it doesn't come back as a fail.

"I thought you'd be bigger!"

Yep. I indulged a guilty pleasure last night and watched 'Road House'. I love that film, even though it is no classic! I think it must be because Sam Elliot is in it.

So, Doctor Who. I am so surprised at how many peeps missed the appearance of Rose. Okay, so it was a 'blink and you'll miss it' scene, but from things I have read on forums and blogs I'd have expected more people to be looking out for incidents of Rose. I'm not overly observant (probably not a good thing, need to pay more attention!), but I noticed it! Hmmm.

Principessa has prepared a little office space in the front room for herself. Nanny deposited a little wooden bedside table (really, just four bits of wood screwed together, probably bought from IKEA!) in the front room this morning, so Principessa has arranged it as her laptop table. And you would not believe how organised she has it, I've never seen her arrange a space so tidily! We had some nice time together this afternoon, vegging out with the Doctor on the DVD player (series two, again. Chips and school and Shower Dcotor Who, again! When will Principessa let me watch the Master episodes of series three?).

I have completely stalled with the latest block of the OU course. I haven't studied anything for days now. Not a good thing as there is only another three weeks to get this next TMA written up. Sorry, two weeks, as I have to write it up and post it out, so I have to factor postage time into the equation. I think I have entered burnout, my brain just needs a rest! I attempted to draft the persistent minorites section of the TMA, but ended up writing around in circles and not making much sense at all. I think I might leave it for now and get on with the art history bit, and do some reading around the death of Socrates. I can't wait to get away from this block...

All the bees have disappeared?

No, this is not a reference to actual bees disappearing. This is the Doctor Who quote that is buzzing all over the net. I've noticed loads of it around, and people have latched onto it and are speculating what it could mean for the series. Well, I thought I'd add my tuppence worth.

I've seen some pictures for this year's Christmas special, so my thoughts are (whited out below so I don't spoil anything for others! If you want to read it, highlight the section):

In a Patrick Troughton episode (The Tomb Of The Cybermen), one of the characters (a German named Klieg) describes cybermen "like bees in a giant honeycomb, awaiting for a signal to awake from their winter sleep." Could the bees disappearing be a reference to this? Also, it has been said that David Morrissey might be playing the part of the first Doctor, but I reckon he looks more like the second Doctor. If so, it would give the bees thing even more weight.

Well, that's my Doctor Who speculation over with for now. The fourth series, after its poor start, is going well. The episodes have been much more enjoyable, and the last episode with the Oods was really good. I still think the Oods resemble a cross between Cthulhu and Bela Lugosi's Dracula though!

Right, enough DW. I had a look at my Feedburner account before and saw one of the best searches ever that led to my blog:

• dave mckean please help me on writing

I am so sad (in the geeky way, that is), I think this is great. If only Dave McKean would teach me to draw! I think I would ask Neil Gaiman or Michael Marshall Smith or Brian Lumley for help with writing though.

The excitement....

Was barely contained and only partially worth it. Bah!

The new series of Doctor Who... Hmmm... I wont say too much because I don't want to spoil the story for peeps reading this who haven't seen the episode yet (Hi Dave!).

Well, Catherine Tate was good. There was a fantastic bit with her and the Doctor when she finds him, and Sarah Lancashire was good as an alien nanny, but other than that the episode was a bit like pulling teeth. I really didn't enjoy the story, the bits for Donna were the only parts that made it bearable. Me, saying that! Didn't think it'd happen! David Tennant was his usual Doctor self, though his performance just seem to lack something.

Hmph, after all the waiting I was disappointed. The whole episode was too cutesy. I suppose the only way to go from here is up? I hope so.

More Doctor Who related blogging. Sorry!

I was just having a nosey through the messageboards at the OU. Well, what can I say? I was truly devastated when I read a posting on the Doctor Who boards that Amy Winehouse was going to play a character in Doctor Who. ARGH! No! How could they do that to me? That would totally kill my enjoyment of Doctor Who, and would turn me off completely. I can't stand her.

Okay, so I'm not Catherine Tate's biggest fan, but I could deal with her being in it. I am hoping that she builds on 'The Runaway Bride', and makes Donna a character I like. But Amy Winehouse? No way. Could not deal with that. So I was so glad when I discovered it was an April Fools joke.

Phew. I can breath easy now.

LOLSnoopy

I love this. Drawn by a guy called Evan Shaner, I found it on Wil Wheaton's blog, and being a big Snoopy fangirl I had to post it. Absolutely fantastic!

Well, the Doctor Who thing happened again this morning. So sick of 'School and Chips' was I that I told Principessa that she could watch it, but it would be an episode of my choosing. So I put on 'Werewolf Doctor Who'. This was the response (until kung fu monks appeared):

• "No, not this one. This one is not my favourite. 'School and Chips' is my favourite."

Well, that told me, didn't it. I fully expect to be watching that before she goes to sleep tonight. Roll on new Doctor Who, save me!

Allons-y, Alonzo!

I am really enjoying watching Big Bang Theory. After studying the basics of philosophy on the OU course it made me laugh last night when they were going on about reductio ad absurdum. I feel all the more geeky for it! And the Doctor Who mention! I think I punched the air! So sad am I! But what do I care? Hehe!

And speaking of Doctor Who... It's that time of year again. The anticipation is building... Only two more weeks to wait! Oooooohh, excited! Not only because it's new Doctor Who, but because I'll be able to watch something other than 'Daleks and Cybermen', 'Chips and School' and 'Shower Doctor Who', all Principessa's favourite season 2 episodes. I think I must know the script for them off by heart now!

I can't believe how unafraid Principessa is of Daleks. When I was her age, and watching Doctor Who, I was petrified of them. So much so that when we went to an exhibition in Blackpool I ran crying and screaming from the room where the Daleks were! But Principessa, well, she sits there and giggles at them, and when they suck brainwaves with the sink unblockers she thinks that they are eating people like chocolates! She is one scary little girl! I think she's going to like horror films when she is older.

Plays like a demon!

I love watching Jo-Wilfried Tsonga play tennis. That's all there is to it! The match against Mikhail Youzny this morning was fantastic. He is fearless when he plays, and I know I have said that before, but it's so true! I think, with all the confidence he has built for himself over the last week, he should give Nadal a run for his money. I really can't wait to watch that match (though I probably wont be able to as it will most likely be on in the early hours of the morning).

The ice-skating is on now. Something else I like to watch. I just hope that the Kerrs will do well in the European Champs.

I was made up this morning to find that there are people who actually read my blog. Thank you!

(Okay, I know I have the neocounter widget (isn't widget a fantastic word? Makes me think of an old John Smiths advert; Widget, it's got a widget, a lovely widget. A widget it has got!), but you don't know from that if anyone stops to read, or if they just surf past.)

I stayed up last night, hoping to watch some of the early matches, only to find that Eurosport were playing repeats of the Federer/Berdych match. I humphily began flicking through the channels, and ended up on Beeb One watching the movie 'Remember The Titans'. I've never taken the time to watch it before, and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. I think I probably missed the first half hour, but that didn't take away from the rest of the film. I like fact-based films simply for their reality factor.

Well, I'm off now to read some books with Principessa (or rather, just one book, the book she calls the little book. It is called 'The History Of English' and traces back the origin of the English language. She likes the literary darlekects!), and then we will watch Shower Doctor Who (otherwise known as New Earth).

Travels in time.

Since Christmas, Principessa has once again become enthralled to the Doctor of Who. At least four episodes every day. She is finally out of the Daleks and Cyberman phase, where we had to watch the respective episodes over and over and over again (and as we only have access to series two of the new Doctor, we only have four episodes). So today we are watching Dancing Doctor Who (otherwise known as The Girl In The Fireplace) and Chips and School Doctor Who (otherwise known as School Reunion). I love how Principessa changes the titles, although sometimes it is hard for me to decipher her code names!

I am made up that she loves Doctor Who (to the point where, about seven months ago, she actually said "Mummy, I love Doctor Who."), and she has even been watching some of the Tom Baker ones that have been replayed on UKTV Gold. But she still loves the Daleks more. "Mummy, I really like the Daleks," she said yesterday. I have to agree though, after all, they were given some of the best lines ever in Doomsday. I still laugh when the Dalek says "This is not war. This is pest control," when facing off against the Cybermen. In the words of Christopher Ecclestone's Doctor (possibly one of the worst Doctors, ever), fantastic!

I am very much looking forward to tomorrow evening. Torchwood starts again. Woohoo. Not so much travels in time than travels in Cardiff. But whatever, it is still all good. I am hoping that, now the foundation of the first series has been laid, the second series will be amazing.