With great pay rise comes great responsibility

...Only it wasn't so much a 'great' pay rise, basically it will cover the exchange rate differences, but it's the principal of the matter, ya know? Anyhow, with more work I haven't had a lot of time to blog but I have ideas for future blogs, starting with a new series I wanna call 'news of the day'.

Do any of you still use MSN or Windows Live Messenger as it is so ridiculously called now? Anyhow, when you log into the messenger section a small window called 'today' pops up with news headlines, horoscopes, and ads. There's the choice to view news-news or gossip-news, and mine is always set to news-news. Except you wouldn't think that with the headlines they give me. Here are the most recent headlines that WLM think is news worthy:

Okay so headline one and three are news, but is the fact that Lara Bingle got 'booted' from Dancing with the Stars? Or Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz's marriage? This is newsworthy to the Craig and Weisz families respectively, but not to us.

Again, some interesting headlines, except why is what happens on MasterChef headline-making news? And more Charlie Sheen? I think we had seen enough of him.

If you've seen any 'news' headlines that make you wanna laugh or strangle somebody let me know or put a link in the comments. Till next time,

Kathy

Music Time! Linkin Park "Iridescent"

Linkin Park has had some truly spectacular songs in the past, and while iridescent is awesome it doesn’t stack up to a lot of their older, more edgy pieces.

LP is a band of two time periods, one that has displayed their growth as people and musicians through their music. You cannot compare “Paper Cut” to “Leave out All the Rest”, it’s impossible, and yet both songs were created by the same band. “Iridescent” is along the same path as “LoatR” in that it’s softer and not a lot of auto-tune or computer generated sounds, and not a bamboo flute to be heard. And yet, this is a Linkin Park song, no doubt about that.

This is not just because of Chester’s unique voice (you hear that and you know who’s singing), but the tone and message of the song.

It’s called iridescent because it would be shiny if we could all ‘let it go’, but the truth is that it does take a lot to do that. But even as the song says “remember all the sadness and frustration/and let it go”, because you cannot truly let something go unless you have remembered it full. Whether it’s a past love or hurt at the hands of another or the pain of failing at something or never having gotten the chance to succeed, you cannot move past unless you have fully lived it, and accepted it.

Like most LP songs, most of the lyrics are powerful: “When you were standing in the wake of devastation” and “you build up hope, but failure's all you've known” are two of the most powerful lines in the song.

The music video is very weird, and I don’t think I got whatever they were trying to do. I like it enough, but I don’t get it. The Transformers are in there, cool coz I like them, and a couple of religious undertones (the snake, the last supper), but apart from that nothing else stood out. Chester’s eyes freak me out, but that effect was very well done indeed.

I really like this song, regardless of what this review might say. I’ve listened to it a few times and I think it’s a good mix of uplifting message to a downbeat... beat. It will never be called an inspiration song a la “Eye of the Tiger”, but it does have a nice positive message in it at the end.

What does everyone else think? Is it a good song or kind of iffy? Do you miss old school LP or do you prefer this style? Leave it in the comments.

Kathy

Themes: Linkin Park, Iridescent, Chester, LP, LPU, transformes, dark side of the moon

TV time: Doctor Who, A Good Man Goes To War

Demons run when a good man goes to war.

Night will fall and drown the sun, when a good man goes to war.

Friendship dies and true love lies, night will fall and dark will rise, when a good man goes to war.

This was an awesome episode that truly well done. Not my favourite ep of the season thus far, which would have to be The Doctor’s Wife, but still quite epic.

First of all, Rory the Roman is back again! All hail Rory! I admit to being a bit annoyed at Amy at the beginning for her words to Melody until I twigged that she was talking about Rory as I’d hoped she would be. It’s not often that Amy remembers that Rory is around, so I hope that this is the start of a new period for her.

I love the Doctor collecting people who we haven’t met yet. I mean, we’ve met them in this episode but we haven’t seen the first time that we’ve met them. If you know anything about time travel this will make sense to you, if yo don’t then just shrug and move on.

I’m not sure whether I like that River is really Melody, but I don’t unlike it. It was a kind of shock, but not one that I didn’t see coming. Truthfully though I thought that she was everyone related to the Doctor at some point, so I’d have to be right in the end wouldn’t I? I find it odd that River says this is the day that the Doc finds out who she really is and in a way it was-she’s the baby of two of his companions whose genes has been altered to be Time Lordy- but it a way it wasn’t. Knowing her parents and her background doesn’t say anything about who she is, or who she is in relation to him. We still haven’t been told if they are married or whatnot… it’s all speculation.

The characters in this episode were fantastic, including the guest cast. I keep tossing back and forth between liking Amy’s positive attitude and hating that she seemed to be so calm about them taking her baby. Maybe if we’d seen that she had fought back after Melody was first born, like a fading black eye or something, then we could see that she knows she can’t fight to get her daughter back so all she can do is wait. She has so much trust in Rory and the Doctor that she knew they would find her, but she’s still a mother and they are still taking her baby away. Yea, still tossing. I really liked Rory’s tears when he saw his family together for the first time, I think that was a great touch especially after seeing him so different to his usual self for the beginning of the ep.

I liked the mix of locations in this episode, from the Victorian era streets to the Cybermen ship. Kudos to the set department.

As for the plot, I don’t know if I’d say that this is the highest the Doctor has ever been and the furthest he has ever fallen. I’d say he fell pretty far in Waters of Mars, and he was pretty far gone in Runaway Bride. There wasn’t really a lot of time spent on him and his desperation at losing Melody. I was really hoping we’d see him get really angry at River and maybe even lash out at her like he did at Amy in Almost People.

I like how this episode ended even though I am annoyed it’s gonna take a while before we see the next one. Hopefully we’ll see more of Matt’s range in the next bit.

What do you all think of the Melody/River twist? Did you see it coming or were you completely shocked? Did you like kick ass Rory or do you prefer him sugar and spice? Let me know your opinions on those plus anything else.

Kathy

Themes: Amy Pond, Amy, Doctor, Doctor Who, eye patch lady, Matt Smith, Pregnant, pregnancy, River Song, Rory, TARDIS, baby, Melody Pond, Stephan Moffat, Sontarans, Judoon, Siluran, roman, Centurion, Arthur Darvill, Karen Gillan

Everything I Learnt About Life I Learnt From TV:

Part Four: A Good Person

I’m sure I’m like most people in that I just want to be a good person. This is something universal amongst everyone no matter what the religions are; being good. But how to we be ‘good’? What constitutes a good act when there are so many shades of grey in the world? As usual, I turn to TV for guidance and found two examples of men doing good even when they didn’t want to.

One of my favourite scenes in all of Firefly is at the end of the episode The Train Job. Mal and the gang are hired to steal something from a train and they are away scot free when they learn that the items they are stealing is not gold or jewels but much needed medicine. They decide to give it to the original recipients and this exchange takes place:

Sheriff

You were truthful back in town. These are tough times. If a man can get a job, he might not look too close at what that job is. But a man learns all the details of a situation like ours, well, then he has a choice.

Mal

(looking angry and upset)

I don't believe he does.

Mal is angry and upset at the end because he doesn't think that a man has a choice in this situation: of course the medicine has to go to those who need it. This is one of my favourite scenes because Mal knows that he couldn't have taken the medicine from the needy because he is a good man and he hates himself for it. He hates that he is a good man who does these things for other people.

This is similar to the scene at the end of End of Time, Tennant’s last episode of Doctor Who. Deadly radiation (as opposed to the non-deadly kind… who am I?) is being contained by a dead mans switch: one person has to be in a secure room at all times. Things have gone to the south and when letting the original monitor out, Wilf has gotten himself stuck in the booth. Radiation is about to leak in  and he needs someone to get in the other room and let him out.

The Doctor

OK, right, then, I will. Because you just had to go in there, didn't you? You had to go and get stuck, oh yes! Because that's who you are, Wilfred! You were always this. Waiting for me all this time!

Wilf

Oh, really, just leave me. I'm an old man, Doctor, I've had my time.

The Doctor

Well, exactly, look at you? Not remotely important. But me... I could do so much more! So much more! But this is what I get, my reward. And it's not fair! Oh... lived too long.

I know a lot of people were really annoyed but this scene, how far the Doctor has fallen that he is yelling at the person who needs help, but I liked it because it showed more about the Doctor than we’ve ever seen before. Like Mal in the Firefly episode, the Doctor knows that he has to save Wilf because he wouldn’t be a good man if he didn’t, but right now he hates that he is a good person.

In both of these scenarios, these good men have come to a point in their lives when they know what’s right and what’s wrong and it pains them when the right thing hurts them. But these good men will do whatever the right thing is, to the detriment of themselves.

And yes, sometimes good men get pissed off. Sometimes they get annoyed that they have to get themselves or their friends into dangerous situations because the outcome will be good overall but, not for them. For Mal and the crew on Serenity it meant loosing a lot of money, for the Doctor it meant a lot of pain and essentially death.

So what do you think constitutes a good person? What did you think about these scenes? Let me know what you think in the comments.

Kathy

Themes: Doctor Who, Firefly, The Doctor's Wife,  Mal, good person, hero, Wilf, End of Time, Train Job

RIP Damian Leeding

Picture taken without permission from http://butterflyloom.blogspot.com/2011/06/thankyou-damian-leeding.html

I don’t normally talk about current event type things in my blog, normally I hide the fact that I don’t really know anything much about the world behind vague pop culture references and hope that people find me interesting. But today was the funeral for Damian Leeding, a Gold Coast police officer who lost his life in the line of duty not too long ago. He died in the process of stopping the 81^st armed robbery on the Gold Coast this year. Eighty-one hold ups, in around 150 days. That’s one hold up approximately every two weeks. Once every two weeks somebody armed with a knife or gun walked into a shop and demanded that the person behind the counter give them money.

Detective Senior Constable Leeding leaves behind a young wife and child. He had a family, friends, and colleagues. He was a real man whose life will be missed.

Hundreds of people joined his family and friends at the funeral, including members of the FBI.

It’s touching to see so many people mourn for this man. I never met him, and yet I feel his loss. He’s on the front page of every newspaper, the blue and white striped badge is being warn by everyone who could get their hands on one, everyone is urged to wear blue on Friday in respect to him and other police officers. Why do we care so much? Why is it that now we are losing off roads for his funeral yet we haven’t done it for the Australian soldiers who have died in Afghanistan?

Because we feel guilty.

We have known for quite a while that the Coast was in need of a special task force to deal with these robberies. Every time we saw it on the news or read about them online we bitched to our friends or posted on FaceBook. The Gold Coast Bulletin has been writing that we need one, we know that we have been heard by the media; and yet, when the politicians did nothing we let it slide. If there was a petition I never heard about it. No one called for a march on the council, and no one started a FaceBook group. We knew we needed to do something to stop these robberies but we didn’t do it.

I feel ashamed by this. One of my best friends works in a cafe in a mall, the other in a supermarket on the side of the highway. Every time that they went to work at night I was scared for them. I worried that someone would bring a gun or a knife and terrorise them, giving them lasting nightmares. I knew that this was a possibility, and I did nothing.

This post isn’t about making people feel guilty, it’s about acknowledgement and prevention. Eighty-one armed robberies in such a short period of time is too much for any place to take, and we took it.

Finally, the Queensland government has decided that we need a special task force. It’s too late for the Leeding family and the 81 plus robbery victims and their families, but it’s a start and it’s enough for now.

If you think that your council should be doing more to help your area, whether it’s to stop crime or anything else then please speak up. Don’t let it be too late. Let the Gold Coast be your example.

Rest in peace Damian. We won’t forget you. 

TV time: Doctor Who, The Almost People

I"m not gonna lie, this blog is gonna be quite short because most of the exciting stuff happened at the very end of the episode.

I did like this one, it was written quite well. Two doctors was pretty awesome, and Matt Smith really showed his acting chops on this one. I did love the scene where he attacks Amy, especially when you find out that that was the 'real' Doctor.

But the ending, though, oh my that was good. I love how the flesh melts, and it was quite odd seeing Amy 'die' the same way, not to mention the Doctor even if it was just the back of his head. I love the question of how long Amy was a ganger. Doctor said it was for a long time and it appears that way because of the pregnancy, but could it have been before the America episodes? I mean, okay yes it could have been, but would the ganger have the same reaction to the Silence? Amy was controlling it but she would have been quite far away, so could the Silence effect her like that?

No mention of plastic Rory, but he was still very awesome. Hopefully he will have more awesome moments next week while he and Doctor are looking for Amy. Personally, I hope they don't find her too soon, so Rory and the Doctor an get more time together. I love their relationship and I really want to see more of it.

So what did ya'll think? For how long do you think we've been following ganger Amy? Did you like two Doctors (they are better than one) or did you find it on the nose especially with the similarity between the scene with the two ten's last year and two elevens this year -- both of them behind a large desk bobbing up and down fixing things? Do you think they will find Amy next week? Answer in the comments.

Kathy

Themes: Amy, Doctor, Doctor Who, eye patch lady, Matt Smith, pregnany, Rory, TARDIS, plastic people

So what's going on with you?

By nkzs at http://www.sxc.hu/profile/nkzs

As well as creating a website, writing an essay, and proofing a research essay for this last semester at university, I also have to spend these next couple of days taking everything off of my laptop because it has to be sent back to Lenovo *sad face*. The left hand hinge has been coming loose for a little bit and now it's finally crapped out enough to make me really, really worried. Worried to the point that I've moved my uni stuff off of it and over to my friends lap top because I'm scared the screen is going to actually break off. I had to get the serial number off of the base and it looks really, really bad ya'll.
So that's what's going on with me. This doesn't mean that blogs will be interrupted, because I still have Internet access in like.... a bunch of different places so I can still upload things even without Lenny the laptop.
What's going on with you? Put it in the comments. Also, did you like the random lemon up there? Nice
Kathy