My Inner Editor

My inner editor annoyed me last week.  Usually I don't mind it when she adds a tweak here, or changes a word there; it flows better.   And it means I submit fairly clean copy, which always makes someone else's job easier.

Last week I had the pressure of deadlines.  The deadline for my magazine articles was last Wednesday; I had three left on the Monday.  You can imagine how it felt then when my inner editor
decided to be her usual helpful self, forcing me to go back and keep changing a line of text here, or a word there.   "Leave me alone, and let me get to work," I grumbled.  "Shut-up, I'm on a deadline here.  You'll get your chance to play," I told her.   It took me the better part of a day to write this one article because of her.

The inner editor got  her chance to play on the weekend.  Besides working on magazine stuff this month I've been taking a Short-story writing workshop at the library.  For class last week we had to have copies of two short stories we'd written to hand around to everyone.  We were assigned six to read, and critique at home for this week.   This made everyone happy; my inner editor because she got to pick apart someone else's writing for a change, and it made me happy because at last she was off my back.

This process is going to be interesting.  I tried to give balanced criticism; started off with the positive; things I liked about the story.  Then I gave at least 2 suggestions to everyone on where to improve.   I also corrected  grammar, spelling, and word  choice.  The manuscripts were covered in blue ink of my pen by the time I was done.

This will be a test for me.  How will I react to being picked apart in semi-public atmosphere? Were people as fair with me as I tried to be with them? I'd like to think so, but we'll see.  I'm open to the idea some people hated my writing; didn't get the story I was trying to tell.  The thought makes me uneasy, but it is  possible. 

My Saturday with Space: April 20, 2013

This week's episode found Doctor Who and Clara in 1974 at a haunted castle with a former W.W. II spy- Alec Palmer (Dougray Scott)  and an empathic psychic Emma Grayling (Jessica Raine).  "Help me," the ghost cried.  The Doctor gleefully took to ghost hunting sneaking off with Clara to catch sight of her.  The ghost however turned out to be a time traveller trapped in a pocket universe; Doctor Who and the TARDIS to the rescue! 

The Doctor continuously tried to push Palmer and Emma together.   "Blood calls to blood," he says explaining the connection between Emma and the time traveller a woman who ends up being revealed as the couple's multiple great granddaughter.   "Am I a ghost to you?" Clara asks the Doctor.  "You are the only mystery worth solving," he answers her.  Maybe there's a familial relationship between the Doctor and Clara? She's his great... etc. granddaughter.  It would explain the "twice dead" idea, and the fact he always seems to find her.  The Doctor as a father... hilarious.

Orphan Black was sinister.  It put Sarah/Beth firmly in a killer's sights this as she and her partner raced to solve a murder.   The killer; a religious zealot was sent to kill the orphans viewing them as abominations.  It took another turn as the innocent Beth was accused of killed turned out to be attached to the killer. 

The episode put Sarah's relationship with her daughter Kira in jeopardy as she missed another chance at spending time with her daughter.  However, Alison stepped in, complete with a fake British accent.  Kira saw right through it saying right out, but Mrs. "S" didn't. 

This show continues to puzzle me, and I have no theories yet as to who might be involved.  But I love it that way, and it makes me want tune in every week and unravel  the mystery.

My Saturday with Space: April 13

 

I found last week's episode of Dr. Who boring.  Clara and the Doctor trapped on a Russian sub in the middle of the cold war; trying to stop a martian ice warrior from detonating a nuclear missile.  This is after one of the Russian sailors shot him of course, so the warrior had a good reason to be ticked off. 

The storyline sounds exciting, but I just wasn't feeling it.  I don't know if it was the lack of characters- there are always a few more colourful characters on this show than just the Doctor and his companion.  Or the fact they were confined to the "one space" and "one time," but it was a real yawn for me.  I'll give them this one, after all they can't all be as exciting.  And it probably added something to the season's overall story- there was a tie in with the Christmas special in the ice warrior.  That Christmas special is going to play a lot more into this season than they usually do.

Meanwhile Orphan Black took a few more turns but at the same time the pace slowed down a lot as they developed the characters.  Sarah continued settling into "Beth's" life, and continued developing a relationship with her partner.  Alison taught Sarah/Beth how to shoot a gun, and laid down some ground rules with regards to her family. 

The funny part was Felix and the kids.  Felix had to babysit Alison's kids while she went with Sarah to the gun range.  By the time they got home he had them  playing around cross-dressing.  Alison was not impressed.  The episode ended with Beth/ Sarah chasing a suspect who eventually is revealed to be yet another clone with potentially some kind of powers maybe? You'd have to quickly heal from those scratches.

Kitchen Diaries: The Clean-Out

Everyone has a space that gathers stuff; old toys- old jars, stuffed animals, suitcases.  Things that gather dust, or we think have disappeared.  Ours is a crawl space on the same level as our freezer, and as part of prepping for our kitchen renovations we cleaned it all out.

We found a little of everything; toys I played with when I was a kid, a plastic fisher price clock, with numbered pieces Disney puzzles I've done a million times.   Dolls I played dress-up with; I had one I called baby- and I remember playing with one of my cousins when we were young and she'd say the rhyme: "Mama had a baby and her head popped off".  And then she popped it off; I bawled my eyes out I was so upset.  There was even a plastic  tea set, and mega blocks.

We found boxes upon boxes of old jars. I think my mother kept every jar since we moved in here in 1987.  She opened one that was a "Hershey's chocolate sauce," and I could still smell the chocolate; it's probably at least 15 years old.  It makes you wonder how much sugar, and preservatives are in that stuff.   Most of the jars were thrown out.

The toys, and dolls are a different story.  A lot of them went to Salvation Army, and I had such a weird reaction.  The more adult part of my was able to say "when I have kids, I can get new toys.  Why shouldn't someone else be able to fun with these?" But I was reluctant part with a lot of it. 

I changed my mind so many times about the mega-blocks and the tea set. "But they're mine," I thought.  "What if I have kids?" I thought.  It was the pull of them; so many happy memories having tea with the tea set.  It was the realization that life was easier as a kid.  And boy does Fisher Price make durable toys. The mega-blocks, and tea set were joined by the light brite and given to charity. 

And we now have a crawl space that looks more like we're moving out instead of having renovations done.  A good thing too; our cabinets, and counter tops have arrived this week filling our garage.  The contractor is probably coming to start our downstairs bathroom soon.

Saturdays with Space: April 6

 

In  Doctor Who we followed Clara on her first adventure with the Doctor to the rings of Akhaten.  She met what we took to be a six-year old girl named Mary who was known as "The Queen of Years complete with her people's myths and legends.  Mary's role was to sing a song that would put a God back to sleep- instead it ended up awakening the God.   She was transported to the temple, and kept there.  Cue the rescue: "We do not walk away," the Doctor told Clara.  They managed to get to the Temple, and rescue the girl from having her soul eaten.  The Doctor had Clara back home in time for dinner.

The mystery behind Clara's identity continues unfolding.  "You can't be real," The Doctor said in the opening moments of the episode.  At this point my theory is that she's The Doctor and River Song's daughter.  What other person could die twice in two different times and still live? The way she looked at the world so full of awe, and curiosity very similar to Matt Smith's version of the Doctor.  Or maybe she could in some alternate universe be The Doctor in some sense?; Maybe at some point she absorbs bits of the Doctor's essence? What's your theory? 

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Orphan Black slowed down a lot over last week's episode.  I guess the sense was 'we've established the characters, and premise now let's play it out a little bit.  It started just moments after the shooting that ended the previous week's episode.  Sarah/Beth desperately called someone wanting to know what to do with the body. Why she didn't burn it/ drown it; get rid of it in some way that would erase any sign she'd touched it? Anyway.  This episode centred around a suitcase at the dead woman's hotel; Sarah had to get the case and take it to suburban soccer mom clone.




I get the sense Sarah hates soccer moms.  She was desperate to know more about how this was even possible that three (including Katia) other women looked like her that existed. "I just want some answers," she said at least once during the episode  Sarah also was desperate for her daughter to know she was still alive, a fact that didn't seem to surprise the mysterious Mrs. S very much.  Could she be involved as someone who was in on the cloning operation? At this point I don't think she's a "bad guy," but I could be proven wrong.

The Perfect Movie: Casablanca

For some people it's action, for others comedy.  Still other people love action, or being frightened out of their minds.  For me though the perfect movie has to be Casablanca; the classic romance between Ilsa, and Rick set against a backdrop of World War II.

I watched it again last night; I hadn't seen it in a while.  It's been almost 70 years since that movie was made; you'd think the lines would be corny, that the story would be stale.  You'd be wrong.  I found myself laughing at the Renaud's quips, mouthing Rick's many one liners: "Here's looking at you kid," "Play it Sam," "Louis this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."   I sang along with "As Time Goes By," found myself stirred by the Marseilluese.

I don't know why I love it so much.  The romance doesn't turn out the way the audience wants it to- Rick ends up tricking Ilse into going with Victor Laszlow.  But even there he did it for love; that he loved this woman enough to send her to safety even if it meant he'd never see her again.  Rick alone is enough to make me love this movie; I can't imagine anyone but Humphrey Bogart in the role.  The best part about the character is he can be anything the audience wants him to be the character is so mysterious. 

The way it ends you could pretend he and Renaud went off together, or you could pretend Rick managed to get back to America.  You could even imagine that he eventually found Ilsa.  And where those unanswered questions usually bother me in a movie, I'm okay with it here.

World War II, was an exciting time full of romance, and desperation. Casablanca manages to capture something of the spirit of those times.  So while it isn't maybe the most thrilling, or the funniest it is in my opinion the perfect movie.

As Time Goes  By

Laptop Rant

I love my laptop.  It's a Dell Inspiron, red top with a 17 inch screen, running on Windows 7 (which coincidentally I love as well). It forms my life line in many ways.  I find myself catching up on my TV shows on it, playing games on it, blogging (obviously) on it.  It's usually on in the area of 12 hours a day.

I've been finding lately it, has a lifespan.  The screen a while ago started to turn some unusual colours in rainbow patterns.  I took a picture of what it's doing went to Best Buy and visited the geek squad.  They tell me my screen's starting to go; that the cable inside has started to jar loose somehow.  Lucky for me, I have the monitor to an old desktop so I hook it up, and have had no problem using it ever since.  The lifespan of a screen they told me is about three years.

Fast forward to yesterday.  The power light on the front of my laptop is blinking a couple times orange, then back to white- it's as if it's trying to transmit Morse code or something.  "this isn't normal" I think to myself, so it's back to Best Buy again to the geek squad to see what's wrong.  Guy at Best Buy takes it out of the bag looks at it, and says it's fine, it's just the hard-drive.  I say  "even when it's off?" Best buy guy says yes.  And he tells me I "might" get another year out of it if I'm lucky, but a motherboard can go at any time.   I walked away irritated, and still am.

I get that technology advances quickly; that a laptop bought four years ago is likely out-of-date in within a year, two tops.  But on the flip side; I spent around $1100 bucks on this thing- hard earned, long-time saved money.  I don't think it's too much to ask that  I get four, or even gasp five  years out of it. Technology advances, yes and we all should keep up. 

I love Dell products.  My parents bought a Dell desktop that lasted them for 7 years; it was a good quality product. Given that I've had a great experience with my Inspiron, I see myself staying loyal to the brand. I just want them to start building better products, because I want value for money.  I don't think that's asking too much, do you?

My Saturday with Space

Saturday Night I spent watching Space.  They showed the second half season Premiere of Doctor Who and premiered a new show: Orphan Black. The Doctor was up to his old tricks; searching for the answer to the "twice dead girl," in a monastery in 1207 he gets a call from Clara trying to figure out what happened to her Internet connection.  The premise for this one was really interesting; a computer virus swept the world, and when people clicked the link they would be uploaded.  This reminded me of a few earlier episodes where the Doctor, and Rose spent time on this space station where people pretty much lived in reality shows. From the first episode it has a clear overarching storyline this season, if you were watching there were a couple of ties to the Christmas episode.
Quote from the night: "3 hours ago you knew nothing about computers, and now you just made a joke about twitter."  The Doctor to Clara.  

Orphan Black I found kind of jarring.  I tuned in thinking; great another British Sci-fi series.  I'll give it a try.  Little did I know it opened with a scene that ends on top of a very familiar train platform at Union Station- one that I've crossed a few times as well on my way out of the station, and the train that hit a main character looked just like a GO Train. And that's just the start.  In one part of the episode, the character Sarah pulls out Canadian $20 bills, and an Ontario drivers license from the dead girl's wallet.  More scenery- the glass tower condos towering over Downtown Toronto; alleyways that look suspiciously like  the ones Rick Mercer delivers his famous rants in.  Added to that the two main characters Felix and Sarah both have British accents (both incidentally are Canadian actors).

Maybe the 'jarring' feeling is on purpose.  Maybe it, is meant so the audience get a feeling for these two characters who have fallen into a situation they have absolutely no idea what to do in.  I'm going to give this another couple of episodes because I'm a sucker for a good mystery.  

Doctor Who airs Saturdays at 8pm on Space, and Orphan Black airs at 9pm.  Catch up on both right now by visiting Space