Thursday 4 March 2010

TV

Argumental
3x05 (2/3/10 edition)

Five Days
2x01 Day 1
Following a direct sequel featuring two of the first series' ensemble cast promoted to leading roles (Hunter, which was on in January 2009), this new series of the original takes the Criminal Justice route: same format, completely new story with new characters. Whereas Criminal Justice needed this to work, Five Days' concept isn't so beholden to needing new characters, new setting, etc -- if it's about five key days in a criminal investigation, there's no reason the police officers involved couldn't be the same. It's a bit like scrapping Jack Bauer, CTU and all the rest after one season of 24 because it's unrealistic they'd ever have to deal with another terrorist threat in a 24-hour period.
Anyway, it's an intriguing -- if occasionally slow-going -- start. Hopefully there won't be too much of the dull "it's not your jurisdiction" crap with the lead character though -- the couple of moments in this episode were already dragging, and the Next Time trailer suggested it plays an even bigger role in Part Two. Oh dear.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Tinga Tinga Tales
1x12 Why Warthog is So Ugly
1x13 Why Jackal Howls at the Moon
1x14 Why Frog Croaks
[Watch episodes 12, 13 and 14 (again) on iPlayer.]

Magazines

Doctor Who Magazine #419

Amongst many other things in the new DWM (including three new episode titles) is a letter I wrote. Hurrah!

I sent it a while ago -- in time for the last issue, in fact -- so when it didn't appear I assumed it had been left out. It's better timed this edition, however, as it coincides with their review of the DVD/Blu-ray release of the 2008-10 Specials (which is, as you may have guessed, what my letter was about).

It's been trimmed for inclusion in the magazine, which is fair enough; I'd include the full one here, but I can't currently access my sent emails (see here for why) -- if I remember, I'll post it another day.

[Edit: I've now posted the letter here.]

Articles

Oscar and Me by John Scalzi
(from Whatever)
Discovered thanks to an article further down this post (ah the joys of alphabetical listings). This particular piece is about what it's like to borrow an Oscar for a few days and what discoveries you make. Fun.

TGE Review at SFReviews.net, Plus a Bonus Childhood Story by John Scalzi
(from Whatever)
I've never heard of John Scalzi, his novel The God Engines (that's the TGE of the article title) or the site SFReviews.net, but I saw this article linked to from twitter and was intrigued. I share it because it's a nicely written true story that's also True. Lessons learned 'n' all that. (The rest of his blog is rather nifty too, as it turns out.)

Technology

new iMac

As followers of my twitter may be aware, I recently won a shiny new iMac from raffle.it. It arrived this morning and it is, as is common for Apple products, a thing of beauty.

And a much-need one too, because my 3½-year-old iMac was beginning to show serious signs of wear. Not to mention the always-welcome benefits of an upgrade in screen size (to 21.5") and resolution (Full HD!), boosted power (up to 2.4x better than the previous generation, and mine's older), and all the other nifty things new Macs have (Magic Mouse! Freakishly small keyboard! And everything's so light (as in not-heavy, not, like, glowing...))

(After all those links, I feel like I need a disclaimer saying I'm not paid to endorse any of the companies involved! But it is great.)

Currently, however, I'm using Migration Assistant to transfer the files from my old iMac. Apparently it's going to be another 19 hours, and I can't use either machine while they're at it. Damn.

Guess I'm just stuck with my MacBook Air for now then. Woe is me, eh.