Red

Oooh, do you have any club recommendations if I pop over to London?

I got a package! It was filled with nice stuff: Some Cthulhu breath mints (diappointingly not squid-flavored), a Cthulhu christmas book, and a shaving alum (which I've never seen or heard of before, but which I'm looking forward to trying).

Awesome stuff, Secret poetic santa!

I mostly liked the last two seasons, so Moffat can stay as far as I'm concerned. But I feel really done with River Song.

OK, so apparently the Russians are now producing superhero movies. Set in an alternate-reality USSR. With a werebear with a gatling gun. Anyone interested yet?

Did I mention the werebear with a gatling gun?

It was OK, but a bit confusing. But if I understood it correct, this whole thing happens (in her timeline) just before she goes to the library?

Her slowness in grasping who he was strained credulity to the breaking point, I must say. That part was pretty poorly written. But mostly, what I have a hard time getting is WHY BRING HER BACK? Is it patently impossible for them to think of new characters for the series?

Cheers to Santa's little Ade then!

Sure, they could as easily have used the Goblin King, the Godfather, or Dracula, but I'm with Ade - using relatively (up to twenty years old) examples makes it easier for the readers to read. The Mary Sue isn't an academic journal.

So far I'm really liking the Deadpool PR.

I'm sure there were attractive and charismatic manipulative shits in fiction before Hannibal Lektor and the shower of people out of Game Of Thrones.

But this is wrongthink that denies the eternal now and insists that there may once have been a history, is it not? How loathsome of me to suggest such things...

Umm, I'm really not sure what you're getting at here?

I wonder whether my Secret Santa victim received his/her gift yet.

And merry christmas to all of us!

I got my Secret Santa gift, it's a very nice bunch of comics and a CD I haven't checked out yet. Thanks, whoever you are!

I found this article to be quite good.

The trope of the attractive, eloquent manipulator isn’t exactly new. Some might argue it’s what makes a villain compelling; how can someone so evil appear so incredibly charming? Think Hannibal Lecter. Think Tom Riddle (prior to his unfortunate facial disfigurement). Think literally ever member of the Lannister family. Then, of course, there’s the serial rapist trope, which is deployed at the drop of a hat as lazy writer shorthand to tell the audience just how unspeakably evil this person is. Rape is typically used as a plot device in crime shows with disposable bad guys (I’m looking at you, Law & Order: SVU), and usually occurs in clichéd scenarios that perpetuate myths about both rapists and rape victims. The stranger in a dark alleyway. The perverted shut-in. The serial killer who targets sex workers.

 

Much has been written about Jessica Jones as social commentary on rape and rape culture, and I don’t disagree, but I think the show has illuminated a much more complex and insidious form of abuse—one that gets little, if any, traction in mainstream media. Yes, Kilgrave is a rapist, but his sexual abuse is not of the kind we often see represented on television; he abuses in the context of relationships that seem, to the outside observer, consensual, and it is this—his psychological abuse of his victims, his absolute and total control and manipulation of them, his dominance over their agency and their free will—that make him so utterly terrifying.

Truth. One of the best.

What kind of buildup are you talking about?

 

Oh you know.

 

The 50th Anniversary special.

 

First story of the season talking about the hybrid.

 

The fact of Rassillon not actually being defeated at the end of The End of Time.

I think this meant a lot more to you than to me. I think we read the overarching story very differently. To me, Gallifrey wasn't the point, the point was the Doctor's evolution as a character. The last two episodes of the season were all about him. And I liked the way they did it.

What kind of buildup are you talking about?

It's also the complete and utter divorce from reality that bugs me.

You're not one for sugarcoating, are you?

On another note, this is some really really dark stuff.

Ever since his son’s death, Pozner had been dealing with the hoaxers. It was his habit to regularly post photos of Noah, a happy boy with soft blue eyes and a wide smile, on his Google Plus page. He would put up pictures of Noah hugging his twin sister, or playing on the beach, or showing off the tooth he lost less than two weeks before he was murdered. The hoaxers would see these images and offer comments: “Where’s Noah going to die next?” read one. Another commenter, seemingly believing that Pozner had been recruited to help perpetuate the myth of the shooting, asked, “How much do you get paid?”

Looks OK. I'm hopeful, anyway.

the angry ageing white guys who resent the fact that their birthright entitlements are being eroded by everybody else

...are in a minority. So no, I don't think he'll win the election if he's nominated.

If Trump gets the nomination - which may well happen - it will mean two things:

1) The US will actually have an outspoken fascist as a presidential candidate for a major party

2) The next president will be a Democrat.

IMHO no. 2 doesn't really make up for no. 1.

I like the mushroom a lot.

That's what she said.

I declare a love for these holiday gifts.

That season finale retroactively fixed the AWFUL ending Clara got. However much I've been annoyed at her as a character, the way it looked when she died seemed very off. But I think they pulled this off pretty well actually. Capaldi's acting has a HUGE part of the credit for that (he's just getting better and better), but the last two scripts have been pretty solid too, as has the directing. This may be my favorite Moffat-season so far.