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AUGH I have a stomachache and I think eating a bagel that had sat in the fridge for a month for breakfast was a REALLY BAD IDEA but I still have Who thoughts. AND OMG YOU GUYS I ALSO HAVE THIS. A SONIC SCREWDRIVER ~~FLASHLIGHT~~ TORCH. I can totally justify the purchase, too, because I do need a small flashlight I can easily carry around for when I get home at night and there are no lights on. Sadly, it does not make noises, but it looks wicked cool and the little blue LED light is bright enough to be useful.

There is, however, no excuse for the excellent black coffee mug with the silver TARDIS on. I needed another coffee mug like I need a hole in the head. However, I feel that the five-dollar pair of jeans I found makes up for it.

Incidentally, if you want a sonic screwdriver torch and you are near a Newbury Comics, go there to get it because it's a buck and a half cheaper and you'll (obviously) save on shipping. And don't shine it into your eyes. I can barely see the keyboard. I am so unaccustomed to having my geek needs catered to that I was prowling the store looking for the flashlight to be hidden in amongst random other toys, because Newbury Comics does lots of random toys. So I'm inching my way down the only aisle I hadn't checked yet, scrutinizing the wall and noting that all the toys are conveniently grouped by fandom because Newbury understands these things, and I get to the end, turn my head, and find that half the wall there is covered in Doctor Who merchandise. The packaging all involved a lot of orange, too, so it's not like it was subtle. If I hadn't been looking so carefully I would have found it a lot faster, and how often can you say that?

Anyway. I said Who thoughts, right?

I liked this one much better than last week. Less silliness and more seriousness, giving us a more balanced episode (mostly), and I think Donna and I are going to get along okay.

I remember way back when I first saw "The Runaway Bride" and was all set to just hate on Donna unreservedly, she said something that kind of derailed the hate train. She made the Doctor promise that he wouldn't be alone. That got me hard because it was the one thing I had wanted Rose to say to him in "Doomsday" and she never did. I was reminded of that a little, though sort of in reverse, when the Doctor emphasized that he wanted to go back and save Gallifrey, but he couldn't. It struck me as a singularly Donna moment because it's the deepest we've seen the Doctor get into and acknowledge his grief and guilt, at least verbally - he never got anywhere near there with Rose or Martha. Donna's being in a different place in her life than either of them gives her a different perspective on the Doctor, which allows them to connect on an entirely new level. I think she already sees him more clearly than Rose or Martha ever really did, and he's responding to that. It's looking like Donna is going to be very good for the Doctor. She doesn't get stars in her eyes quite so easily.

A few random bullet thoughts:

* The second consecutive mention of the Shadow Proclamation. It's come up before, but this series is the first time there's been any real context for it. I find this worth noting. No mention of bees, though.

* So, wait. If you speak Latin in ancient Rome with the TARDIS translating for you, it comes out as - Welsh? I sincerely love how that makes no sense. A funny little bit of throwaway absurdity.

* The Doctor didn't set his watch for volcano day! I kept hoping Jack would show up, even though it wouldn't have meshed with the plot even the tiniest bit and also if he does make an appearance this series it's unlikely to be in the first half of it. It would have been great! Pre-Doctor Jack, SO pre-Doctor that when the Doctor says, "Jack?" he looks around and goes, "Who?" And see, he's still there because whatever fuckery the Whatsits are pulling in the mountain is playing havoc with his wristband, so he can't get out! So the Doctor grabs him and hauls him into the TARDIS and goes, "You can't die yet. You've got too much to do. Also, you're going to want to forget this ever happened. Trust me. Where shall I drop you off?"

I could only dwell on the angst for so long before I had to invent a bit of fluff while I watched everyone run around everywhere.

* Oh, Doctor. Your life sucks. You just get to kill EVERYONE.

* Also, nice intro to travelling in the TARDIS for poor Donna. I'm going to assume that wherever the Doctor took her next was someplace quiet and serene with absolutely NO mass deaths scheduled for at least the next millennium.

* I really liked the discussion of the nature of time and how events look to a Time Lord. This is an issue I've pondered a bit myself - it only seems logical that there is a very good reason indeed why Time Lords don't abuse their powers. (You know, as a general rule. You can tell they don't because the universe hasn't exploded into infinite paradoxes.) This lines up nicely with my reasoning - it's not that they don't, and it's not that they are physically unable. It's that they can't. It's that fucking with how time is supposed to go is repugnant to a Time Lord in a way that goes to the very deepest and most primeval levels. It ties in to how the Doctor reacted to Jack, and reinforces how very insane the Master must have been, to be able to ignore this in order to do what he did. It makes a lot of sense and Tennant really sold it in terms of showing how profound a burden it can be, especially now that the Doctor has to carry it alone.

* Oh my. I've just had a thought involving volcanoes and computers and The Sarah Jane Adventures that I should really post separately if I want to get into it. But I don't want to, so I'll just say: volcanoes and computers. Another potential running theme, if mentions on two different shows count. It hasn't exactly cropped up before, unless you count the "Torchwood" foreshadowing in series two, but that doesn't necessarily mean it can't. It's probably a bit of a reach, but what the hell.

* I am tired. No more thoughts. Looking forward to next week even though I've already completely blanked on the previews. I always do.

Oh, and by the way, the comments now contain spoilers for the Torchwood finale and implied casting spoilers for series four.

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Pfft. Doesn't count. It was a helpful way of putting off finishing up homework for a class that I found to be cancelled when I arrived, though.

Clearly this AU is magic and gets you out of doing things that are annoying! YOU MUST KEEP WRITING IT!

But then I put it off some more with one of my own AUs already in progress! I already gave this one to you and it would be terribly rude to take it back. And no returns without a receipt. Which you didn't get. :D

... I have been thwarted with manners. Holy Shit! They didn't warn me about this ... they said "watch out for the Southerners", they said nothing about people from Maine!

The blessing and curse of being a Mainer is that when people think Maine, they think lobsters and blueberries. They don't realize that we have honed our stealth attacks through decades of having to be polite to tourists so they will continue to give us their money.

A Southerner would have just said, "Oh, bless your heart!", safe in the knowledge that you don't know that you were more or less just told to go fuck yourself. Stealth manners can be employed in many different ways. :D

I don't, I think cult murders and lots and lots of woods, but that's what happens when your entire education on a place comes from a series of supernatural murder mystery trash novels. ;)

you don't know that you were more or less just told to go fuck yourself

Heh, I know enough Southerners (lesseenow ... Louisiana, South Carolina, Georgia, Missouri ...) to know when I'm being bitch-slapped with an iced tea. Sadly Devon is not really known for its quick wit.

Woods, yes. In many places. Lots of woods. Not as much as there used to be thanks to development and clear cutting, but your basic metric fuckton of trees in plenty of areas. Cult murders, not so much. What is this series you speak of?

Ha, you probably know more Southerners than I do. I tend to end up acquainted with people from Michigan, for some reason.

John Connolly's "Bird" novels (http://www.johnconnollybooks.com/novels.php). Great swathes of description. He seems rather in love with the state.

Most of the Southerners I know I seem to know because of one specific fandom. 'Tis most strange.

*clicks idly through the site* OMG I LIVE IN PORTLAND. How did I not know about these books? Maine doesn't get very many books set here. Well, at least not very many books that aren't written by Stephen King. Totally hitting the library tomorrow.

Hurrah, another one bites the dust! I confess I mostly read the books for Angel and Louis but the loving and detailed descriptions of the countryside do paint quite a vivid picture. :D

(Is it really lame that I'm kind of impressed that you live in Portland and thus will GET all the references he makes?)

Not as lame as the fact that I scoff at his list of eateries because most of them are a bit pricier than they need to be. (But I do walk past the Katahdin almost every day on my way home from classes!) Mentioning Bintliff's was on the money, though; I don't think I've ever been, but it's definitely one of those places where everyone knows what you're talking about when you mention it. Ditto Norm's. And not even mentioning Fore Play (it's a sports bar) on his list of bars! For shame. It's a freaking Portland institution. You ever come to Portland, you find me, I'll show you where to eat for a reasonable price and find a good place to drink.

I look forward to seeing what he puts in his books. I grew up in the area, but I've only lived in the city for about three and a half years, so some of it might be a little before my time.

I'll be interested to see what you make of them, I confess - to see if I'm right in thinking he Really Does His Research.

Ohhh, make me not make the knee-jerk "someone mentioned cost of living" And I'm From London answer ... *struggles*

I see your suppression of knee-jerk "my cost of living, let me show you it," and raise you a "I'm a broke college student, EVERYWHERE is too expensive right now." ;)

I picked up The Killing Kind this morning, as it was the earliest of his novels I could find on the shelf, and you are correct. This guy Does His Motherfucking Research. The only stuff I've found that seems made up are the state/city officials and companies that play a bigger role in the story, and the reasons for that are pretty obvious. In the smaller details, the locations and product name brands and street intersections, he is scrupulously accurate. The part toward the beginning where Parker makes a stop at the Portland Public Market? Every single purchase he makes inside is from a company that really did make its home in the Market circa 2000. (Sadly, the Market itself shut down a couple years ago, but all the really good stores had other locations or relocated to a building just up the hill.) The area where he's wandering around and he sees the woman and the little boy happens to be one of my favorite parts of town, and it is also described perfectly. It's really cool to be able to map everything out in my head in the Portland scenes. Quite a change from the usual vague visuals my brain serves up when I read.

On the other hand, though, all the name dropping is really distracting. I'm fifty pages in and I don't know yet if the story has my interest because I keep thinking, "OKAY. You've been to Portland. Many times. I GET IT. I don't need the name brand EVERY TIME." I'm waiting for the bit where Parker is drinking a Moxie soda with his Jordan's Red Hot Dog and some Cape Cod potato chips. That meal would be about as regional as he could get.

Aww, see, I had an answer but now I'm just laughing. I have no idea if the story will grip you, but keep at it for Angel/Louis and their terrible banter.

I will. I do like the occasional murder mystery, and this does at least seem to be off to a promising start. Plus, I just about crawled out of my skin over the spiders-inna-car murder OH JESUS FUCK and I really need to know how THAT came about.

I was *warned* about that scene by the woman who leant me the first four books. Fortunately I'm quite a long way from being an arachnaphobe but yea gods it still made me itch something fierce.

I'm not arachnophobic per se, but anything insectlike with an excessive leg count does freak me out. It's about the only thing that can turn me into a squealing girly girl. Snakes? No problem. Rodents? Love 'em. Spiders or freaky bugs? AUGH MAKE IT GO AWAY. So, yeah, I was sitting at the bus stop, reading that and squirming and maybe flailing just a tiny bit. It's rare for a book to unnerve me like that; I'm a wuss about horror movies, but I can handle a graphic scene in a book without flinching. Every once in a great while, though . . . yeeeeeee.

Ah, as a committed (ish) memember of

entomology I'm okay with pretty much all things that creep, crawl and skitter, providing they don't actually do it on me without my permission. :) I used to have a deal going with the (frankly fucking enormous) spiders that bred down the back of my chest of drawers at home: don't walk on me, don't get in my bed while I'm in it, and get out of my clothes before I want to put them on, and I won't squash you. But they BROKE THE DEAL. So I ended up with a special shoe that I kept especially for splatting five-inch-wide house spiders. :D

I occasionally find daddy longlegs in the bathtub. Fortunately, this tends to be when I am too tired to do anything but sleepily mash them in toilet paper and go about my shower business.

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