audio-visual asplosion

[pontisbright]

I have watched many many things. This is justifiable through the need to sit quite still in a chair with some poo on my hair for several hours yesterday, neatly encased in a most attractive cling-film head-condom. (OK, so I only had to do that for about 3 hours, but still, a wide range of viewing materials pre-henna, mid-henna, and post-henna when one is wondering how it will turn out is perfectly legitimate. For those interested, I succeeded in only dyeing my hair and not various other portions of my anatomy, nor indeed my bathroom, and am now more pleasingly red than before - which counts as a triumph, I feel.)

So, the viewage:


Death of a Ghost is very yay. Lots of wintry London (overcoats!), Lugg being gloriously stroppy about not getting to have any fun, a character called Tom Daker which sounds rather too much like Tom Baker and causes inadvertent amusement, and drunken Albert. 'My biscuit is soggy', he says, and kisses the sphinxes at Cleopatra's Needle. Hurrah.


The Aztecs is successfully converting me to that nice old First Doctor. (I have only seen The Keys of Marinus before, and he's on holiday for most of it.) Him and Cameca are lovely, as is the scene where Ian tells him he's a randy old bastard. (I may have made up my own dialogue for that bit.) Barbara actually is a Goddess, as we all know, so that's all jolly good, and she pwns due to having Actual Knowledge of Aztec civilization, which makes her a Very Excellent Companion and much cleverer than the Doctor really. Speaking of which...


Destiny of the Daleks close on the heels of City of Death has confirmed it: I am now officially Gay for Romana II. I appreciate I am a bit late to this party, but I got distracted by that episode of The Professionals where she shagged Doyle and then turned out to be evil (obviously). And how did I not know that the pink outfit is a replica of his? I am a fool. She is the Doctor we are allowed to be, I think: Tom exudes so much Tomness that we are always observing him, never really in his head, but we can be a Time Lady who is clever and funny and has wonderful boots but also gets pinned to a wall by scary Daleks and has a bit of a cry. Oh, and the bit when she is in the tube? EEP. I was proper scared. Anyway, I have not seen anything else with her in yet, meaning I have lots of happy hours of loveliness and outfits still to come.

(Cross-dressing companions are good, aren't they? I would've liked Rose more if she'd done drag. Maybe Martha will oblige.)


OK, this definitely had nothing to do with hair as I actually had to go out of the house to an actual cinema. The Notorious Bettie Page is a wee flim which is, er, ok. Gretchen Mol has a fantastic pair of norks, it must be said (although not quite the Bettie bum'n'hips combo), but the screenplay's a bit flat. And they sort of footle around the pornography issue, pointedly showing you the hilarious 'naughty' movies where girls covered practically head-to-toe in unattractive underwear playfully pretend to slap each other on the arse (tee hee, fancy! people thought this sort of thing was for deviants!), but then casually throwing in a few shots of girls tied up in full-on scary rape scenarios (uh-oh, some of these shots still look massively dodgy even by modern standards, especially in the context of a film about a woman who was serially abused...er...look! here are some nice outfits!).

To be fair, that is largely the same footling I myself do on the subject of porn. And the outfits were very pretty. 50s Americana so wins over the Sea of Brownness and Rationing of Blighty.

Now exhausted. Shall collapse in front of telly to recover...

Comments

[gingerelanor.livejournal.com]

1. I loved The Aztecs. It's brilliant. I like the pure historical ones, without any sci fi. Wouldn't want ONLY those, but I do like them.

2. Henna! Where did you get henna? Was it powder? I used to use it, years ago, til I ran out of suppliers. :(

[bibliophile1887.livejournal.com]

I have been watching so much of the first Doctor lately, and been completely swept away by him, that he has actually replaced Fivey as my second favorite. Oh, fivey is still a close third, and it was a good fight. But the first Doctor won. Bill Hartnell was just awesome.

May I recommend "The Romans" next for your viewing pleasure. It's fab. Totally Fab.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

I would like Hartnell more if I didn't worry that he was about to die on screen whenever they make him do anything strenuous. Like climb stairs. I do like how malevolent he is.

But for me with him it's all about the companions. Ian and Babs are great. And I find it really interesting to see how differently the role of the companions was imagined in the first series as opposed to later.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

I got distracted by that episode of The Professionals where she shagged Doyle and then turned out to be evil (obviously)

*chooses to ignore the whole bit involving "that episode of the Professionals" and assume this happened to self*

[wishfulaces.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness! I still have not been able to watch those bits in "Death..." because I couldn't bear to see Albert drunk and making an ass out of himself. I am so, so lame. But you make it sound amusing, so maybe I'll be able to watch the huge embarrassment of it all?

Cross-dressing companions are good, aren't they?

Oh, they're brilliant, and more of them should do it. Same for the Doctor; he hasn't cross-dressed since...when, Jon? Tennant could *totally* get away with it, he's already had a woman wandering around in his body.

And loads of people keep saying how brilliant "Aztecs" is & I've got it on DVD right there and I still haven't watched it. I am a horrible fan.

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

Destiny! That aired right after I was born, so that's my, er, Who-roscope or something. And and and the DouglasAdamsness! TOM WHIPPING OUT OOLON COLUPHID WHEN TRAPPED UNDER A ROCK! Pure win.

Henna in Lush must cost fuckloads? I always buy mine from Asian shops in the UK.

[taleya.livejournal.com]

I seriously think Romana is the one reason why TBaker lasted as long as he did. What a breath of fresh air. Instead of the "what's that Doctor" taking his shit companions, we had someone who was just a little bit superior to him, and spun his shit right back at him faster than he was used to. It was glorious, he was wrong footed so much of the time. She was the ultimate femine equal.

[frightened.livejournal.com]

Random comment without a great deal of relevance: I totally accidentally bought (well, I meant to buy the book, but I didn't realise it was That Book) the slashiest 8th Doctor novel yesterday - The Book of the Still. And I've decided this is all your fault, for no particular reason. Possibly because you seem like a figurehead of squeeful DW slashiness. Anyway. This comment makes me look like a stalker or something, I swear.

Henna? You're brave. I henna my hands, and occasionally my feet (it's really difficult though, on account of legs being much longer than arms), but I've been too scared to do my hair. Possibly because if I accidentally dye my forehead I can generally scrub it off, but henna stains for a long time. And it's so gloopy. Though I do love the smell.

[fantasyprone.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, the Aztecs is one of my all-time old-skool favourites - even though I'm not keen on First Doctor as a rule. Ian was my first favourite companion, back when I started watching (in year 9) and him using the vulcan nerve pinch then clinched it. XD

the scene where Ian tells him he's a randy old bastard. (I may have made up my own dialogue for that bit.)
Did you? I thought that was the original =o