As a major project, David Plotz was reading the Hebrew Bible (aka Old Testament, but not necessarily in the order the Christians would expect) and blogging his summary. It's been a long time, but he's finally finished.
It has been interesting reading, and nearly makes me want to read the most read fictional book of all time (like my opinion isn't known). Certainly there have been the odd thing cropping up that explains where certain cultural references come from, but this has been a rather painless way of getting into what the Bible has to say.
David considers himself a Jew, but not a hardcore Jew. As such, he was taking the Bible in a lack way, not looking for great insight. I think, if push came to shove, it might have to admit that what's in there might not be that admirable, let alone believable, but this is religion we won't ask that question.
Either way, he's now preparing a book about this all, and is looking for someone to tackle the New Testament, but the work for now is complete and well worth the read.
Saturday, 9 June 2007
Blogged the Bible
Friday, 8 June 2007
Freaking cool to the power of ten
Ever wondered just how things change on magnitude scales? Check out the video at the following link:
http://www.fugly.com/videos/4467/powers-of-ten-video.html
You can also check out the main website at Powers of 10.
(The YouTube version of the video was removed, but there's another version with Morgan Freeman narrating a Japanese version.)
Thursday, 7 June 2007
SNS: Water Like A Stone
The third of the second season: Water Like A Stone by Nigel Fairs
SAPPHIRE: It's Christmas Eve.
STEEL: Is that relevant?
SAPPHIRE: Only if you haven't brought me a present yet, Steel.
Nigel Fairs presents us with a Christmas present of a Sapphire and Steel play, in the theatre tradition. Which, as far as I can make out, consists of badly written plays and awful music. And lots and lots of padding. Seriously. I could easily have hacked away at this and made it far tighter and fit on only a single disc. Episodes two and three could easily have been compressed, and thus be far less annoying.
And it's not really Christmassy either. Oh, it's set at Christmas Eve, and we get a quick burst of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", but other than that it could be able time of the year (or, if you must, any time during panto season).
I'm trying to think of a good way to summarise the story... the audio opens with setting up the stage... then there's lots and lots of padding, and then it abruptly gets tied up. Hang on, where was the storyagain? Frankly, skim lightly to episode four and that's about all you need.
Aside from the two, as ever, wonderful mains, we also get Lisa Bowerman (who is, I presume, contractually obliged to turn up in every line Big Finish produces) as the new element Ruby, with the power of... song, as far as I can tell. Seriously, just what is her deal? She's only really introduced so that... well, that would be spoilers. And we also get that other regular Nicholas Briggs, playing not to far from his usual role of rather uncomfortable typical man. Still, they have seriously meaty roles, and everyone gets to play something a little different.
The bonus on this disc are some outtakes and a chance to hear the singing without interruptions. Tha's a nice idea, but Dolly's song is something I personally need never hear again.
Overly padded, and not much of a Christmas treat, but... actually, no but. It's probably adequate if you don't realise there's not much going on.
Wednesday, 6 June 2007
Behind the picture
Our convention made the paper (p3 of Monday's Dominion Post)! However, we were the 28th National Science Fiction Convention, not the 29th. And that's Blair Rhodes, master volunteer, as opposed to Organiser (although his quotes were better than those of the actual organisers).
The photo is better than the usual "photograph the wierd people dressed up in funny costumes". The masquerade was the previous night, and there weren't that many hall costumes around, so they were out of luck there. However, as it happens, for Conspiracy I, there was a photo in the paper of Steve with his remote controlled Dalek, so this one worked really well.
As the paper points out, this Dalek was the most expensive item in the auction. Angela Rosin was the GUFF fan from England, and we asked her to bring Doctor Who items with her. She had about six or seven items, and after seeing what they went for she commented that she should have brought over a lot more! (It's not so much the cost that's the problem, but the postage.)
The two aliens behind Malcolm were from Fusion car audio. I brought them for the con, but would have liked to have gotten them as spondership. And considering that they made the photo (although you can't quite make out the name), we really should have been given money by them!
I also had my photo taken, but obviously wasn't as photogenic. Oh well, at least it wasn't someone in a Star Trek uniform!
Tuesday, 5 June 2007
DW: Episode 3.9
Now that's how to do an emotional story!
One of the cahrges leveled against Father's Day was that the emotional aspect was hammered into the audience. Paul Cornell drops it down a notch and manages to evoke the emotional voice without the didactism. (At least until the end, with the war tribute, where it goes completely off the deep end.) The John Smith and Joan moment was very well done, and stayed on the true side of schmaltzy.
And we get the war aspect really kicking in now, merely hinted at last time. There is a lot of "running from the monsters" in this episode, but the point is the boys fighting more than the running away. Paul can't resist (or possible RTD, as he's been known too as well) from having the lead monster espouse the moral for all and sundry, but it is better told through the actions than the words.
Speaking of words... this episode really shows the Doctor as, well, annoying. Swanning in with lots of technobabble and, in many ways, reducing the wonder of the wonderous things around him with a casually tossed off explanation. David Tennant certainly put a lot more into the John Smith acting than he did the Doctor, and it would have been nice to keep that side going for a while. (Still, I did like the ending line "he was being kind to us".)
Throughout this season (or series, if you must), Martha's been shown as more able to take on the lead position, so this story works perfectly in that character arc as there isn't a choice but for her to lead. That all said, aside from one moment in the Martha/Joan standoff, I'm not immediately not seeing Rose as easily fitting in here.
In all, a great story that works better on the emotional side that Paul's previous effort, but the ending went over the top a little.
Next week: I have no idea, but it looks different! (Is it a "breakout" episode?)
Monday, 4 June 2007
So... very.... tired.....
It has ended. I am now home and am trying not to crash so I can have a proper sleep pattern, but it's not easy. While the hotel did have in internet connection, there were problems with it, one of which was that I couldn't log into my blog!
Still, it seemed to go quite well. Had a few comments about how good it was to have a packed program. I spent most of my time running around making sure that that packed program went off as planned. Apart from a handful of events, everything went off as planned, so that was great!
Our guests were lovely people. At least, they seemed that way from the few moments I said "hi" to them (see above re busyness). Quite happy to help out with last minute things, and they all said they enjoyed themselves, so I'm happy to believe them.
Already signed up for the next years con, Conjuction, as they have a pair of special guests. (I would announce that they are Kate Orman and Jon Blum, but don't want to steal their thunder.)
Anyway, I'm now back home, and, yes, on the internet already, making sure I can blog tomorrow about the latest Doctor Who episode. Although it might be posted a little later than usually. You might be able to work out why...
(PS. I might say more later, but as anyone who's run a convention will tell you, you don't get to see the events if you're busy running things...)
Friday, 1 June 2007
Friday madness
Today it really starts, ready or not. One of our guests yesterday had a bit of fun with an unexpected stopover in Nadi, but is now with us.
Main thing today is the writer's workshops, and, of course, the opening ceremony. All speed ahead!
