Trail Review: Spencer Butte

Welcome to a new and (hopefully) recurring series on BookMarks that is exactly what it says on the tin – a review of popular (and easy, due to my amateur status) trails in the Willamette Foothills. Will it be helpful? Hopefully. Fun? Also hopefully. A laugh riot for people who regularly go on trails? Almost certainly.

Doctor Who Series 6 OST

(Oh, this promo pic. What a bad, bad choice. I'm about to praise this album to a ridiculous extent, and you know as well as I do that I love Doctor Who, but what a bad choice. It looks like Doccy's stolen Amy's leg, and River looks like some sort of Ice Queen, and there are thunderbolts everywhere for some reason, and everyone's been sharpened beyond belief. Yuck.)

It’s not exactly a secret that I adore Doctor Who. But though I could go on for hours about the brilliant plotting and cinematography, the amazing acting, and possibly the shapes of the actors’ faces, there’s something else I love about it that I don’t often talk about – the soundtrack, also called an OST (Original SoundTrack).

The composer for Doctor Who has been (since 2005 – the beginning of NuWho) a lovely fellow named Murray Gold. If you’ve ever watched Doctor Who, you probably know his themes, even if you don’t realize it – Eleven’s epic and eccentric theme I Am The Doctor, Nine and Ten’s little tragedy of a theme, even Ten’s dramatic (and overblown for some) regeneration song Vale Decem. Those are the famous ones, but Murray is pretty amazing in almost every track. (A few of my favorite “little pieces”: here, here, and here.) And he’s gotten even better than he was before. Sure, there are definitely some extremely notable ones that just jump out at you, and some that are less amazing on the first listen, but with a lot of listening you can come to appreciate the hidden complexity of each and every one.

Doctor Who: Night Terrors

Today’s villain: flats.

“Night Terrors”, by Mark Gatiss, is a run-of-the-mill romp, right? Silly, positively rubbish villains…

The fact that they were creepy as hell didn’t prevent me from shouting at the screen “Oi, Gatiss! Creepy dolls? Really?”

Check! River Song-less, angst-free, and seemingly random plot concerning alien kids, Doccy as a Social Services man, and a companion detour?

Doctor Who: Now starring Rory Williams, Amy Pond, and – most importantly – Amy Pond’s hair.

Checkity-check! Guy being eaten by his carpet?

No comment.

Big check.

In every respect, it seems that Night Terrors is a silly, throwaway rompity-romp. Not terrible, but certainly not necessary. Right?

“Perfect Stranger” by the Chapters

I write album reviews now. Album reviews are cool.

 The Chapters are an Irish band composed of members Ross McNally, Simon Eustace, Turlough Gunawardhana, Michael Murphy, and Ciaran Fortune whose notable sounds are a heavy use of synthesizer and a rather odd-sounding main vocalist. The band describes its sound as “Rumours era Fleetwood Mac singing at a party hosted by Talking Heads, gatecrashed by The Cars, throw in a bit of Phoenix and a wink to The Band”. The comparisons are pretty apt – they do have about 3/4 of the spirit of Talking Heads and their album has both the monotony and catchiness of Phoenix. However, I don’t like them nearly as much as either.

Are they particularly famous? Well, no. Not in the US, anyway. Their MySpace page seems to paint them as up and coming, but they’ve been up and coming since about 2008. Are they particularly wonderful? Ah, well, uh, no. (But they’re not bad either.) So why are you reviewing this album?

So glad you asked, Omniescent Rhetorical Question-Asking Voice. The band has recently stated on Twitter that their new album is coming out soon-ish. Even though there’s no telling how long that’s supposed to mean, I figure it’s a good time to review their first album, released in 2009.

I found this group because they share a label (3ú) with The Coronas and Mary Black – the latter the singer my parents are obsessed with, the former’s frontman the son of the latter. Clearly, there’s a bit of nepotism going on in this label. That’s all right – it’s a family affair! But the Chapters have no familial relations to the Black/O’Reilly clan. Why include them, eh?

Perhaps because their music is just so fun. The album practically exudes joy, with its bright lyrics, synthesizer aplenty, and fun instrumentation (I think I heard an xylophone back there). The songs are perfectly hummable, poppy, and radio-friendly, with some nice choruses. I can’t exactly describe their lyrics, as I can’t understand half of what they’re saying through the electronica haze. But in the songs I do understand, the lyrics are solid – vibrant descriptions and emotional repeated phrases make for a well-rounded song.

(But they're really not that cool.)

There’s some oddness, too, to make the album stand out from the crowd. Only a bit, but enough to make the album worth a second glance. The lead singer’s voice is less melodic than you’d expect in places and sounds just plain strange enough for me to give him the moniker of “Dave Matthews’ more radio-friendly cousin.” It’s not bad at all for the band, though – in fact, it gives the songs some added depth.

The main problem with this album is that it’s just so hard to listen to the whole thing at once. The songs have a kind of measured monotony: same singing, same instrumentation, same sorts of lyrics. By the end it almost feels like you’re listening to one very long, drawn-out song. Sure, they try to combat that with dark lyrics and minor keys (“Black Room”) and a more acoustic, heart-tugging tone (“Home”) but it doesn’t quite work. They’re not bad songs, but they’re not nearly as good as the songs that are just poppy melodies and catchy choruses, such as “Videotapes” and “Trying To Get Ahead”.

(I did, however, thoroughly enjoy a whole listen-through of the album on a looong flight from Georgia to Oregon… perhaps the songs strike some sort of chord to the bleary-eyed, uncomfortable traveler at what feels like 3 am?)

So go on and have a listen at their MySpace page!  Though it may not change your life, it’ll certainly brighten your mood and might even entice you to buy their album. At the very least, it’ll brighten up your music collection with its technicolor cover.

For those who like this but want a bit more, I would recommend Talking Heads’  “Stop Making Sense” and Phoenix’s “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix”. And, of course, The Chapters’ new album, whenever it comes out.

Isabelle’s rating: 3 and a half stars, or

Doctor Who: Let’s Kill Hitler

(The collective fan reaction to the episode.)

Oh my dear, dear giddy aunt. “Let’s Kill Hitler” is a mad, impossible, brilliant, heartbreaking, hilarious spoiler of an episode. As usual with Moffat, it’s flawed, but show-stopping. Spoilers under the cut – because, after all, “You’ve got a time machine. I’ve got a gun. What the hell! Let’s kill Hitler.”

Only A Time Lord’s Hearts

Oh hi guys, I have a Tumblog here: http://only-a-time-lords-hearts.tumblr.com/

So enjoy!

This Is Why ALICE Is Awesome

To quote her, "Hi there!"

The chatbot named A.L.I.C.E. (Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity) is awesome firstly because you can have a semi-coherent conversation with her (here) and she doesn’t contain inappropriate material (*AHEM*). But she’s also awesome because you can have a semi-coherent conversation with her in character. Sometimes you can even glean interesting observations into the world of your fandom from her. Being the Doctor Who fanatic I am, I chatted with her as the Doctor, and it worked. So well. Have a few examples!

A friendship that would last a lifetime... okay, not really. But it could totally work.

It doesn't work as well when I try the Ninth Doctor's opening line on Alice.

Part One of the Pandorica Speech. Inside their spaceships, the Pandorica Alliance were just saying "Charlie Parker. :)"

Part Two. "Does that make you feel superior?" - a perfect retort to the Doctor.

Part Three of the Pandorica Speech

Part Four. For some reason I don't have "anything to lose"...

Part 5. "Are you very angry?" Another excellent question from Alice.

Gallifrey with A.L.I.C.E.:

Roses:

The Master:

On NOT being a stalker:

And finally, a little quip:

This Is Summer: “Farscape”

Indeedy-do, fellahs, enjoying summer ain’t easy… but someone’s gotta do it. During the past few days, we have watched Farscape, the science fiction show that my parents are way more into than me, David Tennant and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet, and an episode of the interesting Batman spin-offish thing Batman Beyond (well, me at least). We have also eaten sliders of many flavors.

Farscape first, then. The show is basically about an American Arthur Dent fellow named John Crichton who crash-lands during an experimental flight into a living ship named Moya. (Moya and the TARDIS have quite a few similarities, but I’ll talk about that later.)

Crichty and his girlfriend. With guns.

Moya carries a few passengers as well. We have the second main protagonist, Aeryn Sun, who is an ex-Peacekeeper, a semi-corrupt group of authorities who, though they may keep the peace, they sure as hell don’t do it peacefully. Aeryn is initially very cold and unforgiving towards Crichty (read: she often kicks his butt), but later she warms to him (read: becomes his girlfriend). Crichty is forced to choose his priorities. What is more important to him, a way out or a girlfriend?

Also on the ship are D’Argo (or, as I call him, swordy beardy guy… I’ve never been good with names) and his (blue) girlfriend, Zhaan. D’Argo is rather moody, good with his snazzy sword/gun, and has a dark n’ mysterious past.

Zhaan is pretty darn awesome. She’s psychic, is the only one who actually comforts Crichty early on, also has a dark and mysterious past, and has all kinds of special powers, like painting someone’s “soul painting”. She’s a priest, which can get annoying when she starts preaching (example: episode four, in which she tells us that drugs are bad), but she can also kick butt. I think she’s my favorite character so far, but keep in mind I’ve only watched five episodes.

On to Rygel. The puppet. Everyone hates him, and I agree. Well, I love to hate him, and I think that’s intentional. He eats all the ship’s food. He steals an essential part of the ship to use as a jewel on his scepter. He farts helium. He seems to be the one character who will never change, and I suppose it’s nice to have a constant. Even if that constant is one of the the most annoying, bothersome pests in the known galaxy.

Moya and her Pilot bear quite a few similarities to the TARDIS and hers. Moya has a similar interior to the 9th and 10th Doctors’ TARDIS; amber, aquamarine/green, and some black.

Int. Moya...

...Int. TARDIS.

Something I need to do right about now: Fan-fic about Moya and the TARDIS meeting and bragging about their respective pilots. I love them both.

And now, some semi-lucid commentary about each episode, up to “PK Tech Girl.”

Episode 1 (Premiere):

“Whoa, that’s big.” – John Crichton

Evil dude (Crais) has a goatee and a stiff ponytail, so he must be evil! Also, this charming comment from him shows his character well: “I don’t care about casualties!”

Future Doctor Who plotline, inspired by Crichty and Aeryn’s interactions: River Song beats the Doctor the hell up.

On the soundtrack: OMG, it’s Katherine Jenkins!

Seriously, how did Aeryn and Crichty get out with a FORK?

Things that are important to Mr. Crichton: hot chicks, getting back to earth, cool big things.

Things that are not important to Mr. Crichton: “Science”, fellahs with swords, blue bald chicks.

Crais has an evil black fez!

Episode 2 (Exodus From Genesis):

“It’s kinda minty.” – Another brilliant observation from John.

Crichton is Winnie-the-Pooh… but I doubt there’s anyone in the Hundred Acre Wood who beats the crap out of Pooh.

*BONK* *BONK* *BONK* *BONK* Now that’s how you kill a bug.

Crichty – “OMG she’s not beating the crap out of me, something is terribly wrong!”

CLONEY TIME! You know, last time I saw cloney time it didn’t involve the clone and clonee brawling like this. Just a bit of tortured screaming.

The puppet gets an epic speech.

CLONES OF CRICHTY, AND THEY’RE ALL SO STUDMUFFIN-Y!

“You picked the wrong species to screw around with.” – hell yeah, even though he’s totally wrong.

Episode 3 (Back And Back And Back To The Future):

Oh great, says Crichty, it’s the third episode and I’m already a Time Lord.

eww. eww. eww. eww. eww. eww. eww.

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

Stop. Talking. Like. That, Anything That Moves lady. Are you Captain Jack? Seriously, stop.

“What’s wrong with Crichton?” (I’m paraphrasing) “He is Crichton.” – Crowning Moment Of Awesomeness

Oh noes, female Captain Jack is trying to seduce my girlfriend!

IT’S GROUNDHOG DAY! Except executed well and with 100% more puppets.

What was a nightmare for the rest of the crew was merely “dinner” for Rygel.

Episode 4 (Throne For A Loss):

Drugs are bad! No, yeah, but they’re kinda necessary. Also: *preach* *preach* [1 1/2 hours later] Oh, I guess we’re a bit preachy. Sorry about that.

Episode 5 (PK Tech Girl):

PK Tech Girl == Rory’s girlfriend from The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People. I  wonder if she’ll get killed, cloned, or mutated into a giant thingie?

“I try to save a life a day.” What lofty goals you have, Crichty!

Hot Peacekeeper vs. Tepid Peacekeeper… this is a tricky one.

And it’s over!

Both school and Doctor Who. I mean, Season 6A is over. Quite over. Aww, but I’m not sad because I’ll be making videos during the summer. (Currently scheduled for vidding: “The Lady Don’t Mind” by the Talking Heads, (River Song, naturally), “Emelia” by Colin Devlin (Amelia and Amy + Doctor, but decidedly not shippy. Perhaps Rory/Amy shippy, a little bit.), and “There Is A Time”, [sung] by Mary Black (Amy, post “Impossible Astronaut”, reminiscing. Angstily.)

So, a few little artsy Who-y things? Indeed.

UPDATE 6/20/11! Under the cut.

Spoilers!

Graduation

And, yes, that is our entire eighth grade class. I go to a small school.

So, yeah, I just graduated from 8th grade, even though I’m in 7th. Technically. It’s complicated.

But the feat of the night has to be that I GOT THE GUYS TO WEAR BOW TIES! I mean, middle school boys, the most informal people in the universe, right? But they recognised that bow ties are cool. Forever.

Meet Dominic, who is rocking a bowtie. Oh, and me too.

You know, the true wisdom of the 11th Doctor is enigmatic and elusive at first, but now everyone understands… it takes an earthshaking event like this to know that these words are eternally true:

Amy: “Bowtie! Get rid!”

The Doctor: “Bowties. Are. Cool.”

From “The Lodger”. It made an impression on Craig, and it made an impression on these young boys. Oh, it feels good to change people’s lives for the better.

Ohhh, and also, my AWESOME drama teacher wore a fez!!! (My parents bought it for her, it was all very secret… but a total surprise to me.)