dbskyler | December already?

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December already?

I am once again doing the WIP challenge at

writethisfanfic this month, and the good news is I forced myself to work on the story last night. The bad news is, I took out more words than I put in, so I am starting off with a negative word count. Hopefully I'll be making up for that by this weekend. Which reminds me, we don't know the December

fic_rush weekend yet, do we? I think I'm going to need it again to pull me out of this hole I keep putting myself into.

Not doing Yuletide, but I did hang up a stocking at

fandom_stocking. It seems like a fun community, although it does feel a little awkward to advertise my stocking -- like I'm shilling for gifts or something. However, since there are umpteen gazillion stockings, I will go ahead and point mine out for any of you who are so inclined as to stop by: my stocking is here.

I've been going through the extras on the S5 boxset, and so far I am disappointed by the commentaries and the video diaries. Although it was slightly amusing to see the in-vision commentary for Time of Angels and notice the amazing amount of awkwardness between Steven Moffat and Karen Gillan. Can we please get David Tennant back in there, just for a commentary or two? Or Colin Baker? I bet he'd have some great things to say. So would Peter Davison. In fact, I think I'm going to have to go re-rent Arc of Infinity to remind myself of what a good commentary sounds like.

Hope everyone's December is going well so far, and to those of you who celebrate, happy Hanukkah!

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They're not silent, and they do have some interesting things to say, but it's not fun. It's informative without being entertaining, if you get my meaning. First off, I think it was a mistake to do it as an in-vision, because the video highlights the complete lack of chemistry between Gillan and Moffat. They're very clearly work colleagues, not friends, and Karen is obviously The Employee and Moffat is obviously The Big Boss and it's awkward to watch them together. Karen actually seems ill at ease, like she's afraid to say the wrong thing, and Moffat doesn't look like he's having a good time either even though he does most of the talking (by far). In terms of what they say, well, most of it is blather -- that's the case for most commentaries, of course -- with a few interesting facts and opinions here and there. But my attention kept wandering off, and I'd just as soon have had those few interesting facts and opinions written down as liner notes with the DVD. It's definitely not something I would bother listening to again.

Mini fic_rush this weekend? Ooooh, that's an interesting idea. What are you thinking?

Yikes :( That does indeed sound awkward! I don't get it- isn't anyone watching these things before including them in the DVD? Couldn't anyone say "erm, no, we need to have another version of that/ someone else/ this episode can exist without commentaries, this is terrible"?... eep.

I'm thinking of... turning your post into mini!fic_rush! :) We can definitely re-create the blather ;) And it generally is good to report somewhere on your progress. Or I can spare your journal and we can spam mine. :D

I've seen/heard enough bad commentaries now that I feel pretty confident in saying the answer is no, no one is watching these things and saying "Um, maybe we ought to do this one over." I think it's partly a time/budget constraint, partly a feeling that it's not important if the commentaries aren't good (they're considered trivial extras, and as long as there's something, that's "good enough"), and for this particular commentary, probably also the case that no one had the guts to tell Moffat that he sucked. I don't tend to like RTD's commentaries either, but a least he seems to be having a good time.

Hmm, I feel like doing a post now on what makes a good commentary. This wasn't an awful commentary -- I've seen those too -- but it wasn't good.

Journal spam, yay! You and I are in totally different time zones, but you stay up so incredibly late, it might actually work. Or we can just talk to ourselves, then answer each other back when we're awake and around?

It's such a shame, really - I don't have time for it anymore, but I used to really try to listen to the commentaries when I got the DVDs. In fact, when I got one of my DW DVDs and realised not all episodes had commentaries I went "WHAAAAAAAT NO!!!!"

It might! Well, I can't promise to be around for too long, seeing as you have a tendency of going to sleep when I wake up, but hey! I've just had dinner so I'm all fed and prepared for 5-6 hours of typing! :D

I shall start with this: SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM! :D

Okay, I'll make a new spam post and you can fill it! Although I can't start now -- it's 10 am, and I have work I have to do today. Although I am currently on LJ and not working, but I do have things I ought to do or else I will just have to do them over the weekend.

Lol, I made one too! :O I shall differ to the greatness of your post, though. Especially as you have a bigger flist! :D

I don't think the bigger flist factors into it -- do you really think anyone is going to be coming by except for you, me and maybe

thisbluespirit?

Okay, I just checked the other post and four people already! Never mind!

(Of course, tonight when I am ready to write, no one else will be around because you'll all be asleep, LOL.)

Force Curu to stay and keep you company. Or drag Clocket. Yes. Besides, being +2 GMT, when I wake up I'd be all alone! At best, if I wake up before 10, we'd get to meet ;)

(also, work is for the weak. You should clai, a Hanukah holiday or... something...;) )

Work is for the weak, yes, and unfortunately I am very weak. I work from home, and I get to set my own hours (aside from meetings), which means I can play around on LJ guilt-free as I don't bill that time, but on the other hand I find myself constantly playing around on LJ instead of working, and then the work is still there to be done. I need to find a way for the work to do itself while I am playing. It's related to finding a way for my fic to write itself while I am playing. No luck so far, though, rats.

As for declaring a Hanukkah holiday, ha, no one here who isn't Jewish even realizes it's Hanukkah already. I fully expect the grocery stores to wheel out a little display in about two weeks with candles, latke mix and five boxes of matzoh, then wonder why no one is buying anything.

What? You mean Hanukah *isn't* Christmas for Jews?... 0_0 and meh, we don't get Hanukah holiday either. :( The closest we got was buying a bunch of posh sufganyot at work yesterday. For shame!

Also, complete sympathies on the work-from-home front... I was just like that last year, too. I'll nag some of the programmers at the office and see if they can whip out a fic-writing software for you... :D

Of course Chanukah (just felt like varying the spelling *g*) is Christmas for Jews. They're at the same time, right? Except of course when they're not. And they don't have the same traditions or celebrate the same thing. But other than that, they're exactly alike!

Yum, sufganyot. I'll have to try to lay my hands on some before the week is up.

Thanks for looking into fic-writing software! I bet there'd be quite a market for it. Now how about work-doing software?

...where was it... I think Studio 60? They had a joke about people developing script-writing software. The network boss threatening the main writer of the show, etc. :)

Work-doing software... on the one hand, I totally need such a thing! On the other, I'm a bit afraid that would be the day Skynet wins.

These were really weird sufganyot, mind! Look, look! You'll have to forgive me it's in Hebrew, their English website doesn't seem to have these pictures. They were good, and not too oily, which is one thing I hate about sufganyot, but weird...

As for spelling, "pshaw!" is all I have to say :D Shouldn't it be khanucca or something anyway? :D (boy that looks bad).

OMG, those are chocolate-covered! I've only seen the powdered sugar ones here, and they didn't have anything extra on top. Do they all have jelly inside, or are there different fillings?

Different fillings! The chocolate covered had chocolate fillings! There was also some with er.... my dictionary says dulce de leche. Caramel-y stuff. And pistachio, vanilla, cream... it's like Berty Botts ever-flavour bean, but tasty and with loads of chocolate :) They also do the classic jam and sugar ones, but I think we're all bored to death with them, really... ;) Except for my boss! He got a classic one.

That's quite weird - you'd expect them to be a fun combination. I've got Press Gang DVds (as you may have realised...) and S2 came with about 4 commentaries with Steven Moffat and Julia Sawalha and they're very entertaining together .

If it was up to me, I would vote for optional commentaries with Peter and Janet on anything at all. Bonus for Colin Baker joining them at any point, of course. Colin, Peter, Janet and David would probably blow up the DVD boxset, but it'd be interesting... :-)

No, they weren't a fun combination at all. But I suspect that if you put the two of them together 20 years from now, in a situation where they're just kicking back and relaxing and being nostalgic, it would've gone a lot better.

I agree, Colin, Peter, Janet and David together on a commentary would be amazing! I'd also throw in Phil Collinson and Nick Briggs because I also usually really enjoy listening to them, especially when they're paired with each other or with David.

I found a few Press Gang episodes on YouTube and watched them -- all your fault, by the way *g* -- and I was very impressed! The show is far more adult that I was expecting, even though I had had some sense of that from your wonderful ficlets. Now that I have a way to play region 2 DVDs, I am seriously considering buying Press Gang so I can see the whole thing.

Dream commentary teams. eh? :lol: Actually, you could also have the red dwarf cast on pretty much anything you liked, too. Just to go completely away from any relevant actors or anything...

And the last part of your comment made me smile so widely you wouldn't believe. You'll get what I meant now when I said it's so hard to recommend, because it is old and strange, but not cheesy, and sometimes v funny, and surreal and sometimes also very dark. :-D And, of course, why I wanted to grow up to be Lynda Day, even if that really wouldn't have been a good idea.

ETA: Was going to ask which ones you saw, but think there is only Monday Tuesday, Shouldn't I Be Taller? and Going Back to Jasper Street and Bad News on YouTube. Which is a really bizarre mix, but I'm happy for Jasper Street to be there for the Kenny and Lynda background - even if it's a bit slower in places than some others.

Edited 2010-12-03 20:13 (UTC)

I was surprised by how not cheesy it was. I mean, it was made in the '80s! But it's really good.

Yes, I saw those episodes, and also The Rest of My Life. The very first one I saw happened to be Monday/Tuesday, so you can imagine how completely blown away I was. I was expecting a cute little '80s-era comedy, and instead I got that episode.

I have to go back and re-read your ficlets now that I know more about the characters and what they look like!

Well, I think it was made (or shown) 1989-1992/3 ish, so mainly the 90s! Maybe that's less cheesy? Over here, when it was first shown it became a sensation - because while it was never watched by really big audiences (& it was only ever repeated once as far as I'm aware), it got watched by something crazy like 80% of its target (teen) audience, which I don't think ever happened before or since. And it was all from an idea by Bill Moffat, who let the producer have it, but asked if his son could write the show. So she shrugged, and said he could send a script if he wanted... and Steven Moffat got his big break, and wrote every episode. :-) Don't know what happened to him, mind, but it made Julia Sawalha a star...

I kind of watched the show all out of order, and never actually saw S1 and 2 till I bought the DVDs a couple years ago, so that was interesting. (There were some novelisations, which I read to pieces!) I don't think Monday-Tuesday pulls off the shift in tone as well as some later episodes but it does hit quite hard (and I love the device of repeating 'Tuesday's cancelled') - what an ep to start with! You will find if you do watch more that there are some S1 eps that do have an edge of kid reporters investigate, but only here and there, and only in S1.

Shouldn't I Be Taller I liked much better the second time I saw it. I was bothered by some things, including Kenny's lack of reaction to what happens to Lynda the first time - but I now know the reason, which is they filmed the S1 midseason two-parter last; it under-ran so Steven Moffat took Julia Sawalha and Lee Ross's rl friendship and used it, and until that point, Kenny and Lynda weren't long-time best friends, which explains a few odd things in S1.

And I really like The Rest of My Life. (I have become a much bigger fan of S2 since rewatching - my first sight of it on DVD was a bit of a shock, because S3-5 obviously had a bit more spent on production values! :Lol: But the writing across that season as a whole is gorgeous, especially the two part finale.)

And going back to the commentaries, since I mentioned them, you should know if you were thinking of obtaining those DVds that for some reason there are only about 4 episodes with commentaries, on the S2 DVD.

And that was a scary long post, sorry; but I fully hope you get to see more somehow, if only because everyone should get to see Colin as a pink rabbit. :-D

It was mostly made in the '90s? Then why does Lynda's hair look like that? And why is everyone dressed like it's the mid-'80s?

Oh well, maybe I just fail at decade identification. Anyway, it was still far more serious and adult than I was expecting. It reminds me of SJA, actually -- it's obviously targeted to a young audience, but like that show it doesn't talk down to its audience, and it's genuinely good.

My one big complaint with the show is Spike's accent. Yes, I'm being boring again and complaining about a fake American accent, but it's kind of up there with Peri's accent in how grating it is. I keep wanting to say "No, no, don't do that. Don't."

I was wondering which series I should buy, if I decide to take the plunge. (Or which one I should start off with, anyway.) I don't think I can afford to buy more than one DVD for now. Would you recommend S2? Or one of the others?

We looked like that in the 90s! :-) I had scrunchies and baggy t-shirts and culottes something like some of Lynda's. And that's Julia Sawalha's hair - it curls like that naturally.

:lol: Oh, dear - poor Dexter Fletcher! They were all cast and everything, and the producer (who was American), decided it would be great if Spike was also American... so he had to attempt the accent at the last minute. He gets marginally better as he goes along, but it was a bit random to say the least. (There are some sly jokes about it along the way, to help you!) He went off to America in rl after this, and learned to do the accent properly, but too late for Press Gang.

Hmm. I don't know - It does help to watch them in order, especially with S1 and 2. I would kind of suggest 1 and 2, but that's not helpful, I realise. I like S3 a lot, and the show does change a bit at that point, so you could go for that. On the other hand, there are only 6 episodes per season in the last three series, so if you want quantity, you need S1 or 2 (they have 12 eps each). ETA: Actually, go for S1 - you get all the setting up at the start, David Collings as the head (and he doesn't appear again till S5), Adrian Edmonson doing a guest spot, and Colin as a pink rabbit.

Edited 2010-12-04 19:58 (UTC)

Maybe I'm misremembering, but those look a lot more like clothes we used to wear in the '80s than the '90s. Of course, it could also be geographic differences? Anyway, from the opening scene I was immediately thinking we were in the mid to late '80s. I guess if it started in '89, though, I was only a few years off!

Poor Dexter indeed. His American accent is better than David Tennant's, if that's any consolation. ; )

Yeah, I was thinking that after I posted. I can think of US shows I'd seen years ago that I'd assumed were really old, and it turned out, they were pretty much contemporary with when I was watching them. I think things cross the Atlantic much sooner these days than they used to. An dthe first bits were 1989, so it was still the 1980s!

It is, I think! :lol: (And Colin never believes Spike's from America anyway... He thinks he's from Birmingham.)

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