Hilary Booth... of course!

Reposting from my other journal: TCM has started Watch TCM online service and iOS/Android apps. You have a choice between watching the East/West coast feeds or whatever's available on their Demand titles. Comicsworthreading also gives a recap of the program. It's dependent on your cable service participating, unfortunately.

It seems like only yesterday I was joining the Internet in freaking out over Matt Smith's casting. The age, the hair, then "Ooh, what is he doing with his hands?" and "Wow he talks fast" and then the evitable "But.. but... I liked him!" Smith hasn't quite worn the tread off the tires the way Tennant did for me. I watched end of "End of Time" before the Big Announcement on BBC America and I swear it was a special form of torture. (I may have giggled inappropriately at Anneke Wills referring to 8 as the "prettiest Doctor". No argument from me, Polly.)

The new Doctor casting pleases me greatly. (Also I saw the rumor earlier and I said "Oh. Oh yes." Not least because I just finished watching BBC's The Hour and he was one of my favorite characters. I'm glad to see an older Doctor, but I'm curious which direction they'll go. Ornery and crotchety or serious and edgy? Or neither? Matt Smith's first promo pic screamed Twilight gothy and he turned out quite madcap. I can't wait!

I am debating whether to indulge in Big Finish's sale/discount on the early releases. There's even a special "Early Years" subscription option that's really tempting if I can figure out which chunk I'd want -- the ones in between Storm Warning and Chimes of Midnight are the current option, but oof, there are some I really haven't liked.

Wonder Woman!: The Untold Story of American Superheroines: Documentary on Wonder Woman that just aired on PBS' "Independent Lens". Some of it is on Wonder Woman's history and others are more on feminism and how women are portrayed.

For the BBC Sherlock fans, Diane Duane wrote up a lengthy tumblr post on Dr. Watson's CV and what it tells us (or doesn't)

When the weather turns to spring (if ever so briefly) and the boys start playing the national pasttime again. So my default icon is a curly W for my Nationals. Our home opener was a delight. Bryce Harper can hit as many home runs as he likes. If this season is remotely like last year I will be pleased...

The good news is I didn't lose power at all. The bad news is there was water damage near my living room windows. The apartment building people are still trying to determine what caused the leaks – windows, a/c, upstairs/outside. I know it could have been worse. At least I’m safe and sound. But I'm a total wreck. I slept very badly last night. I'm somehow maintaining my patience with my coworkers, especially my teleworking/business as usual now types that think their emergency is mine.

I'll update as I can.

EDIT: The maintenance types came by with a high powered wetvac/etc to clean up the carpet. They pulled out the bookshelves and didn't see any damage thankfully. They only have limited fans though and many people were having issues today. All I can say is I hope it doesn't rain again anytime soon.

EDIT2: And we have our own heavy duty fan. I feel like I have a prolonged train whistle in my apartment.

I went to see Nathan Gunn at the Kennedy Center over the weekend and wrote it up on my blog over here. I do wish I knew a little more about opera to appreciate some of the pieces. Metro was being a pain that weekend, which made travel difficult.

I'm through with both of my book challenges. I had challenged myself to read 30 books on Goodreads, I'm at 37 right now with three months to go. I also joined the TBR challenge and scaled Pike's Peak, which meant reading 12 books that I owned prior to the beginning of this year. I'm hoping to keep going, but I doubt I'll reach the next summit, which is Mt Vancouver and 25 books!

So yes, I haven't been updating here as much as I used to. I'd like to blame my health, the weather, and possibly my job, but truth is, I haven't been updating much elsewhere either, other than twitter and occasionally other LJ. I nattered a bit on ballet again, blame CW and other odd sources. I think it's taken the place of LJ for my instant reactions for things, so I sometimes forget people won't see it. I have dabbled back into needlework and I'm hoping to finish the Celtic Mystery SAL/Book of Ink Circles before the Olympics start, so I can focus on new and different projects. LJ may force me to reevaluate how I store my needlework progress photos though. The Scrapbook upgrade basically made it next to useless, since I can't rename folders or move pictures to their right location.

Doctor Who has left me a little depressed lately with the passing of Caroline John aka Elizabeth Shaw. She had a brief run as the Doctor's companion/assistant, but I loved her anyway for her combination of style and smarts.

lost_spook posted a lovely collection of Liz Shaw tribute with fanfiction recs and icons.

dw_straybunnies is hosting Liz Shaw prompt month, leaving me pondering ideas. I still need to finish that one crossover with her and Harriet Jones. Bless SJA for giving me the out on the book canon I wanted to pretend never happened. I would like to listen to the Big Finish Companion Chronicles, although I had an iffy reaction to "Blue Tooth".

Dining alone is always an adventure of some kind. They'll stuff you in some back corner near the kitchen or some odd alcove. They'll forget about you occasionally, as has happened at breakfast. There's no one to talk to, so I usually remember to have a notebook on hand... except when I forget a pen of any kind. Oops.

PF Changs is if nothing else unique in its issues. I only usually order one thing: crispy honey chicken. ( Wherein I have way too sensitive a palette )

Hello everybody. Isn't it a fine day? *growls* All right, enough of my Tracy Lord impersonation...

I am home! Yes, I traveled down to Florida for the holidays. It was warm for the first day and then the cold front showed up with vengeance, just as everyone else in the Northeast was buried in snow. I'm glad I prepared for a variety of weather possibilities. DC seems to have completely missed that boat, which is pretty typical for this area. I'm just glad I didn't have to fly a day earlier or later. As it was, we were delayed an hour and a half in Melbourne because they didn't have a de-icer. That cut squarely into my layover time Atlanta, so I had to make a mad dash for the Hartsfield former cylon train and hope I could get to my terminal in time -- no mean feat. At least I'm home safely. I'm slowly trying to catch up on LJ/etc. I had very little proper computer access over the holidays; I mostly made do with my phone, which is fine for twitter, but not great for anything else.

This was a quiet Christmas for my family. We're still in doctors and recovery mode to a degree. I'm a little depressed to see my father -- so vibrant and intelligent and barely able to move or concentrate for long periods.

Discovered my parents adore Top Gear (not surprising given my father's love of cars) and HGTV and several antique/pawn shop related shows. Ironically one show we found on HGTV was on this year's White House Christmas decorations -- would have loved to see that *before* I went on the tour so I'd know the significance or notice particular things.

Still need to find time to watch the Doctor Who special. I have stayed surprisingly unspoiled.

So Netflix had a perverse sense of humor/timing. For my last batch of 3-dvds-a-day, they sent me a hodge podge of material. I'd actually seen "Next Avengers" already, but the featurettes were amusing if only to see how many young teen groups no longer existed. And to realize how many of that crowd is still working with Marvel in their movies and animation. I had the first dvd of season two of "West Wing" since I've gone on a rewatch binge again. Since my dvds dropped down to one on the 15th, I had to quickly pack first season and then slam right into the second. I still react the same to most of the episodes. It's funny what parts are more dated than others. "What Kind of Day has it Been?" is weird for me because of the Columbia references and having the Newseum in Rosslyn, where it's not located anymore. In some ways, Washington stays very much the same and in other ways time marches on.

I was supposed to get three dvds, but Netflix couldn't get me "Avengers 62" immediately so they sent me wait for it, yes the next one on the list. So suddenly I had to pare down 4 dvds to 1. The next one on the list was the "My Name is Modesty" movie in my attempt see all the versions of Modesty Blaise. I've written about the god-awful 60s spy version over here. I've also "ahemmed" the failed TV pilot with Ann Turkel. "My Name is Modesty" covers her earlier career with the Network and a version of her history. I did like the conceit that that may or may not have been the truth with Modesty pulling a Scheherazade stringing the villain along with her stories. It was closer to the comics/novels, but still missing the mark on several fronts. The story was basically split between the current storyline and the flashbacks. I really missed Willie Garvin's presence. Alexandra Staden was a tall slim Modesty, but she almost seemed too slight for my tastes. She reminded me of someone I can't put a finger on who though. Seeing the New Amsterdam lead actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as a villain was certainly odd. I haven't watched the extras, but I'll try to look at them in my copious free time.

"Avengers 62" is early Cathy Gale/fill-in episodes. Those are fairly slow going so far.