Malin

Ghost Light is a great story to show someone...if you don't want them to ever watch any Doctor Who ever again. If someone had showed me Ghost Light as a first Doctor Who story, I would have been seriously put off the show, and would have been extremely reluctant to watch any more episodes.

The Curse of Fenric, on the other hand, was the second Doctor Who story I ever saw, in my first year of university. That, and Spearhead from Space worked quite well as an introduction.

Lovely picture of both of you, Inca.

Good luck with the job, Kate.

So when do we get an upadated naked Mark sings the hits unplugged? :wink:

Oh, Lou. Do you really not know better than that after all these years?

Mark not only made me take this photograph, but insisted that I be the one to share the horror. It's thumbnailed, for your own sanity - click for the full-size version if you really, really have to.

Everyone else: you have Lou to blame for this, not me. Also, I'm getting more used to the new hair now, but it's still a bit weird.

Shawn, I find that the best way to view pretty much any e-book file on a computer is with Calibre - which is a free program. You can also use it to convert from most common formats to other common e-reader formats. I use it with my Sony Reader for all my e-books, no matter what format I may get them in.

As a Mac User, Adobe Digital Editions is rubbish. Until I get my new Reader authorized on a PC (which I don't have access to at the moment), ADE won't even register it on the Mac.

I saw The A-Team with Pål and a couple of my friends last month. We all really enjoyed it, and while it's by no means a smart or challenging film, and the action scenes got a bit preposterous at times, I thought it was lots of fun. I just don't post that often on the forum anymore.

Going to see Inception tomorrow, for the second time. Will post my thoughts about it once I've seen how it stands up to repeat viewing.

American Gods is probably Gaiman's best novel for grown-ups, but his best novels are clearly Coraline and The Graveyard Book, both written for younger readers. If I have time, I may re-read American Gods this summer. Haven't read it in years.

Savage Love is really good. I keep forgetting to read it for ages, and then have several months' worth of columns to catch up on. Not that that's ever a problem.

Mosquito bites. I have one the size of a ping pong ball on my thigh, and it itches intensely. At least Mark killed the little blighter that bit me.

Best of luck with the move. It's a shame that your girlfriend's parents can't be supportive. My friend Dorothy is dating a lovely Korean girl, whose parents are currently not speaking to either of them, which obviously upsets both of them a lot. I hope Whitney's parents will come round, and that your move goes smoothly.

Where in upstate New York are you moving?

No, I was crying well before that. I started getting teary-eyed when

"I wear a fez now, fezzes are cool" is possibly my favourite line of the season.

That was excellent, and I finally cried, for the first time this season.

Having finally completed the huge amounts of correction work that's kept me busy for weeks, and completed all the grading before the summer holidays, I went to the cinema with some friends and saw The Prince of Persia. It was pretty much everything I had hoped for, mindless, not very taxing entertainment. I thought the script was really awful in places, there were some really clunky exchanges of dialogue on occasion, but the action sequences were good, and my friend Erica and I very much enjoyed the Death Ninjas, as we dubbed them. The ending made very little sense, considering what had been set up about the dagger and the Sands of Time earlier in the movie, but I suspect one is not meant to think to hard on such matters.

It was no Pirates of the Carribean (the first one, NOT the sequels, which are almost in my so bad they were never made category), but it was rather fun, and thankfully, Jake Gyllenhaal was a lot more convincing and his accent a lot less annoying than the trailers had led me to believe. And yes, Avaunt, the Princess really was lovely.

Congratulations, Kate!

It's based on Philip K Dick short story, isn't it?

As far as I've heard, it is.

I really liked it, although unlike Mark, I have yet to cry at an episode this season. We shall see if it gets me when I re-watch it today. It could have been a lot better if they'd skipped the awful indie song, but all in all, it was good, and also - Bill Nighy! Richard Curtis may write for Doctor Who whenever he has the opportunity. Chibnall - not so much.

That was well rubbish.

And the worst part is, that it's impossible to care. Not since the bit in The Eleventh Hour, when the Doctor leaves little Amelia, have I been even vaguely emotionally involved this season. The season has not made me so much as tear up once, while during all the other seasons I had been crying at least once by now.

The only emotional involvement I felt was a deep resentment towards stupid Ambrose (who names a girl Ambrose anyway?). I don't think there's been a character whose horrible painful death I have wanted more since the dreadful and infinitely punch-worthy Lady Christina in Planet of the Dead.

Mark kept nagging me to read Hitman for the longest time, and I kept being reluctant, because I really did not think it sounded very interesting, or even vaguely my thing. And if he hadn't kept telling me that it got better, I would probably have stopped after the first few issues, and I would have missed out on one of the best comics I've read. He was totally right about me loving it (apart from that SAS story - Garth Ennis clearly finds the armed forces more fascinating than I do - seriously, it was bobbins). It made me laugh, it made me cry (a LOT), it changed my life.

Wow, Akhira, did it work? I've had glasses since I was 9 years old, and can't use contacts. I must admit I've wondered about the surgery. But it's really expensive, and I'm worried about something going wrong.

The catch is that I don't get to work with my very awesome colleagues any more, and that I have to disappoint many of my pupils, who seem to really actually like me as a teacher. I hope that I manage to keep in touch with my co-workers via Facebook, cause they're lovely people, and everyone has been very happy for me, while sad that I will be leaving in June.

I have a new job next year! After two years on temporary contract in the school where I work now, I have been offered a permanent contract at a different school, where I went for an interview on Thursday morning. They offered me the job yesterday, and I am going to accept, even though I would have liked to see "my" kids become tenth-graders.

The new school is much closer to where Mark and I live, it's a 25 minute bus ride instead of a 45-50 minute commute by tram and subway train. I can cycle there without too much trouble, which is nice. And it gives me a substantial pay rise, as they are part of a program trying to recruit new teachers to the east of Oslo, where less people seem interested in working.

Really sorry to hear about your friend, Jessie, but Lou is right. If she really does talk herself into staying with him even after he has been seriously abusive to her, and refuses to listen to you and your advice, then it is better for you to distance yourself from her until she comes to her senses. You don't have to stop being her friend, but you can tell her you think she is making a massive mistake, and you will just have to wait and hope that she breaks up with him sooner rather than later, and then you can be there for her and help her out. But she has to make the decision to end it with him, you can't do it for her. You being very clear in your disapproval may help her eventually making the right choice, though.

The new Daleks are fat, and plasticky-looking and they all talk like the Dalek emperor. Do not want. I also didn't find them particularly menacing, the Khaki Daleks were much cooler. Although what in the world did they need their little pouches for? Daleks have no hands, they need no pockets.

Amy had hardly anything to do this week, still relieved to see there is no romantic feelings between her and the Doctor.

I did like the reveal

, that was a nice touch. I also agree with Mark, ending each episode with a view of the sinister crack is going to get old so very fast. If they insist on the crack being there, they should hide it more in the episodes, so you can have a sort of "Where's Wally?" and there can be some challenge to spotting the crack every week.

Matt Smith is still excellent as the Doctor. Liked him holding the Daleks at bay with a biscuit.

Mark is insisting that I post my list, and after a bit of thinking, these are my choices. For some Doctors, I can only do one choice.

William Hartnell

An Unearthly Child, episode one

I haven't really watched a lot of Doctor the first, but this is really very excellent.

Patrick Troughton

Tomb of the Cybermen

I especially like the bit where the Doctor sits and talks to Victoria about his family.

Jon Pertwee

Invasion of the Dinosaurs

Slightly controversial choice, perhaps, and while it is too long, I really like the naff dinosaur effects, and Sarah Jane is excellent in it.

Inferno

The Brigadier. With an eye-patch and no mustache. 'nuff said.

Tom Baker

The Seeds of Doom

While it's a bit strange to have the Doctor running around with guns and being all action-heroish, I still really like it.

City of Death

I think the first episode drags rather a lot, but the rest is excellent. Very funny, so many quotable lines.

Peter Davison

The Kingmaker

Yes, I know it's a Big Finish audio story, and I don't care. Probably top three of my favourite Who stories ever

The Caves of Androzani

I sort of wanted to pick something different from Mark, but this really is excellent, and besides, it's one of the few ones I've seen with Doctor the fifth

Colin Baker

Jubilee

Again, an audio, because it's awesome, and I haven't seen a single good Colin Baker telly episode

Sylvester McCoy

The Curse of Fenric

This is one of the first Who stories I watched, at first year at Uni, long before I met Mark, and it really made an impression with its creepiness.

Paul McGann

Seasons of Fear

No, I'm not going to choose the movie. The movie is rubbish. Paul McGann has a lovely voice, though, and is one of my favourite Doctors due to his audio stories.

Christopher Eccleston

Father's Day

I really like Pete Tyler's first appearance, and the interplay between the Doctor and Rose.

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances

What's not to love? Plucky girl heroine. Captain Jack! Creepy gas-mask child (and people). The "everybody lives" ending before we got sick of it.

David Tennant

The Girl in the Fireplace

While I don't love it as much now as I did on the first viewing, and really does not stand up to deeper analysis, it both unnerved and moved me to tears when I first saw it. The Doctor on a horse! And Sophia Myles really is lovely.

Human Nature/Family of Blood

This had me literally crying for most of the second episode the first time I saw it. The Doctor and Martha are so good. And Jessica Hynes is wonderful, and the Family are so creepy and it didn't scare the bejeezus out of me like Blink did.

Am now looking forward to more Matt Smith - based on what little we've seen so far, he is not going to disappoint as the Doctor

Volcanic eruptions and the consequent ash canceling air travel over Northern Europe. My best friend was supposed to be here visiting me now, but is instead in her flat in Chicago.