Malin

It's sad that I'm now surprised when there's an episode where I don't hate Amy. That's what Moffat has done. I really enjoyed her in this episode, epecially the "Don't tell Rory I said he was his queen, I'll never hear the end of it." She's aware that she's bossy and overbearing, and seems genuinely apologetic about it. Also: "I'm easily worth two men.", then showing, not telling us how capable and cool she is.

Rory's still a nurse, good at his job and proud of it. I love him, like always. Some really nice stuff with his Dad too, the most moving bit in absolutely ages was the bit with his thermos of tea.

Good villain, if a bit seedy.

All in all, this was a pleasant surprise. An extra scene or two to fill in the blanks about Rydell and "Neffi" would've been nice, though.

Thank you all for remembering my birthday! Feel so bad for not checking in on the forum more often now. I've pretty much descended into Lurker-dom again, only very occasionally checking in here. You are all lovely, wonderful people, and I shall make an effort to become more regular on the forum again.

Just popping into the thread to recommend Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein to everyone. It's set during the Second World War, and is about a female pilot and her best friend, a spy, being shot down over Germany. It's one of the best books I've read this year. That, and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Read that one too.

Good luck with the wedding, Meaner. Hope you have a lovely day. Nice to see you back, however briefly.

Well I haven't read the books, but I had a very good time. Jennifer Lawrence was lovely, the violence was well handled, who thing was fraught with tension. Just done well.

 

Glad to hear that it works for someone who hasn't read the books. I saw it with two friends who have read the book, and the boyfriend of one of my friends who hasn't. He spent a lot of the movie confused, asking questions of his girlfriend (who as a result liked it less, as she felt all these things should've been explained better). I think he was probably not paying attention enough, because while I thought some things could have been explored in greater detail, I can see why they chose not to, to avoid an overlong film. I thought it worked really well, especially considering the whole book is from Katniss' perspective, and we miss out on pretty much all her thoughts about what's going on in the movie. Jennifer Lawrence is excellently cast, and while I would have preferred a bit less blurry camera movement and cross editing, I can see why they had to do that to get the film down to a certificate where the target audience for the books can actually go see the film.

I caught Headhunters when it was in the cinema here last year. I liked it, although it was well wierd having Jamie Lannister speak in Danish. :wink:

So, Avaunt, thank you for tipping me off about Deathless, which I'm currently working my way through at quite some speed. It's wonderful. I don't know if I'd get more out of it if I knew more about Russian history and mythology, or if it's good that I know just a bit, so I don't get annoyed at the liberties I'm sure the author is taking with her source material.

I also need to tell everyone I've ever met, pretty much (and that obviously includes all the forumites, because while I haven't met most of you, we socialize in a sense) to read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. To quote Bernard Black on Black Books: "It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry, it'll change your life." The book had me laughing out loud on public transport, and highlighting especially brilliant lines of dialogue and writing throughout the book, and it also completely gutted me to the point where I was sobbing loudly and in a most unattractive manner on the sofa as I was getting towards the end of it. It's about teenagers with cancer, but it's not a book about cancer, if you understand the distinction. That the teenagers in the book happen to have cancer is just a thing that brings them together, and makes the rest of the plot happen. It's the best book I've read in absolutely ages, and everyone should do themselves a favour and read it - even though it's pretty much guaranteed to make you cry.

OH MY GOODNESS !

 

I have just read 30 pages of the most fabulous book. My duty to my electric friends made me put it down and come tell you. I has a lovely book, my lovely book, let me show it you.

 

What to call it other than a modern fairy tale, I wouldn't know. The images, the verve, the imagination! and most especially, the sense of connection to our communal past. It is purely aimed at my sensibilities, deadly accurate if its shot was meant to make me nostalgic for the sense of joy and wonder I felt as a kid, reading myth, legend and fairy tales.

 

 

Deathless, by Catherynne Valente.

 

Every bit as wonderful and joyful and original as Gaimans' Stardust, so far as I have got. It would be worth reading if only for the opening tale of marriges unsought. " Be careful of what someone else wishes for! ".

 

Now, good bye, I have a book to devour.

This sounds great, I will see if I can get hold of a copy. Also, I love the term "electric friends".

We need more single nerds!. Maybe we should advertise?.

Mark was a fan of Doctor Who before we met, but he wasn't really the crazy obsessive he is today. That's all developed during our relationship.

Also, he didn't even read comics when I met him. I've created a monster.

Dave, your little girl is absolutely adorable, in all the photos. The one where she's "flexing" is particularly cute.

Congratulations, you must be so happy.

So yes, Mark showed me [The War Games/i] and has been pestering me for several days to post what I thought about it. I really. really liked it, and if it had been about an episode and a half shorter, it would probably be one of my top three favourite classic series episodes. So many great cliffhangers, and I do see why Mark rates Patrick Troughton so highly. It helps that he didn't play his stupid recorder or do his "batty old aunt" schtick at any point in it, I hate that stuff. I was disappointed that Lady Jennifer seems to get pretty much forgotten towards the end, and think that she and Carstairs would have made a wonderful companion team. They were both ace. Some great stuff, and surprisingly little that dragged or bored me over the course of ten whole episodes. i could have done without some of the more outrageous accents, though, especially when the sound quality was poor in places.

I already congratulated you on Facebook, but it's not the same as the forum. Best wishes to you both, Matt. I hope you had a great wedding day!

Today was cinema day in Oslo, when all the movies are half price. As per usual, this means I try to watch at least four movies, something I've successfully done for the last three years now.

I saw Hodejegerne (The Headhunters), a Norwegian action movie about a recruitment specialist who finances his very expensive life style by stealing art. When he steals the wrong painting, things start going really badly for him. It was fun, although it was very strange to see Jaime Lannister (Nicolas Coster-Waldau) speaking Danish throughout the whole thing. :wink:

Second movie of the day was Tintin, which my friend and I saw in 2D, mainly cause I try to boycott 3D whenever I can, and it gives me a headache. The opening credits were great, the rest of the film was fun enough, but considering all the talent involved, it should have been a lot more special. I don't really like the motion capture animation, it's a bit creepy, and all in all, I doubt I would've gone to see the film if it was full price.

Third movie was Contagion, which was perfectly fine, but didn't really excite me. A very big and talented cast, and

, which is always good. It's all about how fast disease can spread, and it's well important to remember to wash your hands a lot.

Finished my cinema day with [Drive/i], which I think is the best film I've seen (and possibly will see) this year. Such an excellent film, with slowly building tension and a sense of creeping unease running through the first half of the movie, and then it just gets more and more unpleasant and bad things keep happening. Ryan Gosling really is as amazing and talented an actor as everyone says he is, and can express so many things without saying a word. The rest of the cast are also great, and I'm so glad I got a chance to see this, even though the violent bits were unpleasant enough that my friend and I had to watch some scenes through our partially closed fingers to block out the worst.

I'm really sorry to hear that, Pål. It sucks.

Since no one else seems to be posting about the finale, I will be the first. That's unusual.

I will have to rewatch it again tomorrow, but upon first viewing I really did enjoy that, more than I was expecting to, frankly. There are still lots of things about the season as a whole that don't make a lick of sense, but I think Steven Moffatt tied it all up quite nicely, with lots of shiny set pieces and a fun romp. I didn't get me to cry like the Doctor with sleeping Amelia before he's about to be wiped out of existence, but it also didn't make me put Moffatt to the head of my hate list (which killing Rory even a little bit would have ensured, even if he'd ended up being alive again eventually, I'm sure), and the resolution to the mystery of how the Doctor could die at a fixed point in time was rather clever, and not one I'd seen coming. I had thought they were going a different way with it.

It does look like River's going to be a semi-permanent fixture of the show for as long as Moffatt is in charge, though, but after this week's episode, I'm less bothered than I've been for a long time. So after one viewing, my take is that I like it. The friend I was watching it with (who's also been well sceptical about the missing baby plot arc this season) was really impressed, and it was nice to have someone else to see it with, what with Mark being home with his parents.

The older Amy was disturbingly well done, I'm almost wondering if they got a different actress who looked a lot like Karen Gillan to play her, just like they have her little cousin play young Amelia. I'm having a hard time deciding if The Girl Who Waited or The Doctor's Wife is my favourite episode so far this season, but so far, Gaiman's ep is still winning. It was just so nice to see some of Amy's immense potential realized, and to get some acknowledgement that yes, she does actually love Rory as much as he clearly loves her. A very good episode, indeed.

Oh, how I detest and hate that book.

Why?

I can't explain it without spoiling the whole book, and film. So unless you're planning never to read the book or watch the film, you don't want me to tell you. Lots of other people love the book AND film, I just couldn't get over one central event and the ending of the story. It felt like a cheat, and like I'd wasted my time with the whole thing.

Yay, Google Bot is back!

Hanna was indeed a cracking little film. I was glad to see Saoirse Ronan in something that wasn't the loathsome little creature she played in Atonement. Not that she didn't do an excellent job, it's just she had the misfortune of playing one of the most despicable people I've come across in literature. Oh, how I detest and hate that book.

As birthday presents go (I get to consider it a present, it aired on my birthday), that was a bit of a let down. I'm running the various scenes through in my head, and I think Mark's right, there just wasn't anything of substance in there at all. I liked the concept of [ Spoiler : the shape-changing robot manned by tiny people ], but all in all, on a first viewing, the episode was a definite disappointment. Although, I'm loving Rory more and more. Shame about Amy and [ Spoiler : River ]

Hello, BHG. Welcome to the forum. I'm Mark's wife, and at the moment, I'm not very active with posting on the forum, but I do lurk and read quite a few of the threads. The regular posters are a very nice bunch of people.

Pulp.

Saw them headlining the Øya-festival in Oslo this evening, and they were awesome. A great time was had by all.

Haven't really been checking the forum for a few weeks, but wanted to step in and be the last in a long line to congratulate Dave. Hope all goes well with the pregnancy.

Those are very nice looking dogs, Pooka. Nice big idiot grin on Ursa. So happy looking.

Mark is right, and by the end of the evening, he was not the only one to have taken his shirt off. Being a lady, I'd pretty much removed as much clothing as was possible as well. I wasn't really going to stand around a concert venue in just my bra, surrounded by 17 000 people, most of them drunken men.