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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-07-16 20:48
Subject: about the Torchwood wibble...
Security: Public

Real Life has rather gotten in the way of writing coherent comments on either Children of Earth or the next item on my "work my way through the first boxset" commentary. I've actually watched "They Keep Killing Suzie both in standard mode and in commentary mode, but can't hold onto my thoughts on it long to write something along the lines of previous episode commentary. Normal wibble service will be resumed when both the literal and the metaphorical headaches go away.

(I do not normally get non-migraine headaches unless I'm actually sick, damn it. Getting seriously unamused by this now.)

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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-07-16 17:42
Subject: Coming to you live from Mission Control forty years ago...
Security: Public
Tags:apollo 11

Gacked from James Nicoll:

Nasa are replaying the audio link from the Apollo 11 mission at exactly the same time on the same dates as forty years ago.

I'm old enough to have been parked in front of the tv by my parents forty years ago come Monday, but not old enough to remember seeing the moon landing. Old enough to have the dream, to have it still. I'm sitting here, listening to what is objectively a very boring tracking report and radio traffic, with a large lump in my throat.

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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-07-12 20:59
Subject: My ergonomic desk set-up
Security: Public
Tags:writing

[info - personal]desperance asked in a comment to a previous post if I'd describe my ergonomic set-up. It got a bit long for a comment, and I thought other people might be interested. However, it's a bit long, so it's under a cut.

Read more... )

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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-07-12 11:53
Subject: Torchwood series 1 boxset -- Special features disc 3
Security: Public
Tags:dvd review, special features, torchwood

Last year I started going through the Torchwood boxset (there was only one boxset at the time), and doing "my thorts" posts as I worked my way through each episode/disc. That stopped when I got the day job, but since I have a small mountain range of ironing to do today, I'm looking for something to watch while I do it. Hence resumption where I left off, with the special features on disc 3. (If you're reading this on the Dreamwidth journal, you'll need to go over to LJ and pick up the torchwood tag to see previous installments.)


Torchwood: Sex, Violence, Blood and Gore

Declassified that does what it says on the tin. Focus on eps 6, 7, 8. In amongst the tittering about "aren't we post-watershed!!!" there's some serious discussion about the production choices made.


Torchwood The Team and Their Troubles

Ianto and Evan
Short feature discussing the way Countrycide sees Ianto out of the Hub and acting as a full member of the field team for the first time. Some nice stuff in this one, worth watching.

Toshiko and Mary
Short feature looking at Toshiko as a character, and how the special effects team created Mary's alien form. Remarkably little "we're so post-watershed" silliness, and a nice piece for those who like background material.

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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-07-11 21:47
Subject: computer's working, I'm not
Security: Public
Tags:torchwood

The ergonomic workstation is now set up, so I can work properly on the computer without worrying about doing in my tendons again. Alas, it is migraine weekend, so I'm still not in a fit state to give a coherent version of my thoughts on Torchwood: Children of Earth. Am contemplating whether to pre-order the DVD set now or wait until the price drops in a few months -- it's not as if I've got around to watching anything but the extras, the greenhouse scene (er, several times) and Ianto's story in Fragments on the series 2 boxset yet.

(I didn't cross-post my LJ posts to DW this week, mostly because I really, *really* didn't want to risk that which should be under cut-tags not being under them.)

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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-07-11 10:10
Subject: and this is why I don't write in open canons
Security: Public
Tags:torchwood

One of the items in the WnotIP list is a Ianto story inspired by watching Fragments for about the third or fourth time in one week, along with some like-minded friends who were only too happy to watch it again so that one member of the party could catch up on Fragments and Exit Wounds.

Ep 4 wouldn't have hurt it a bit. But it just got thoroughly jossed by the word "Debenhams".

I may write it anyway. I can see ways to to work around the jossing...

ETA: Actually, I've just had an evil little inspiration for a post-series 3 coda...

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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-07-10 22:04
Subject: grumpy
Security: Public
Tags:torchwood

Not exactly the usual RTD "brilliant and then goes all to pieces in the last half hour", but even so, there was far too much piling on the manpain just for the sake of manpain. I have said more than once that Torchwood is essentially a bunch of Who fanboys and girls writing fanfic and conning the BBC into paying to put it on screen. Sometimes this is a good thing, and sometimes it is not. What they did with the five night mini-series format was absolutely bloody brilliant as a whole, but That Scene last night felt suspiciously like someone had a lovely idea for A Really Clever Thing To Do, and then failed to do the necessary work to make it feel like an organic part of the story it was grafted into. I've got a migraine, so I'm going to have to leave it until tomorrow to rant in detail about spoilers for S1 and S3 ).

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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-07-09 23:42
Subject: Just realised part of why I'm bugged by part of the new Torchwood series
Security: Public

Something's been bugging me since the first night, but I've only just consciously pinned down why.

great big spoilers, for more than one series )

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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-07-09 22:30
Subject: Hmm...
Security: Public
Tags:spoilers, torchwood

Liked most of it.

Johnson is definitely growing on me.

['ware spoilers in comments]

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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-07-07 22:17
Subject: Torchwood -- Day 2
Security: Public
Tags:torchwood

Squeeeeee!!!!!

That is all.

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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-07-06 20:57
Subject: T(orchwood) minus two minutes
Security: Public
Tags:torchwood

new tv series of Torchwood very, very shortly. Just finished listening to the third radio play, liked.

Am wondering how much of last season's parallels to B7 was a deliberate act, and if there's going to be any more of that...

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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-07-05 18:33
Subject: Freecycling in Greater Manchester
Security: Public

We've just returned with a lorryload (literally) of the stuff which was left in storage in family attics while we were in California. Some of this is stuff which has since been replaced. I will put up in a list later, but in the meantime, if anyone is short of kitchen oddments or the like, there may be some for anyone who is willing to come to south Manchester and take them away.

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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-07-01 08:02
Subject: Torchwood radio play today
Security: Public
Tags:torchwood

A reminder that the series of three daily Torchwood radio plays on BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Play slot starts today. Torchwood -- Asylum is broadcast at 14:15 and will be available as a podcast for 7 days.

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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-06-29 22:24
Subject: still not writing
Security: Public
Tags:torchwood, writing

Still failing to get on with the next book, in spite of knowing perfectly well what the plot is and having done a large chunk of research for it *last* *year*. It involves lots of May-December nookie. And angst. And comfort nookie for the angst. I would enjoy writing this so much. Unfortunately, what my life contains at the moment is Day Job and Unpacking After The Move.

A more cheerful reason for failing to get on with my hot gay romance novel is that later this week I shall have hot gay romance tv series. Or at least radio series, as this week it's the radio plays for Torchwood's new season, followed by the five-parter tv mini-series all next week. Pretty boys kissing on primetime tv. Nom nom nom. Shallow, me?

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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-06-24 07:48
Subject: Essay rec: the components of reader response to a book
Security: Public
Tags:meta, reviews

Janet at the romance blog Dear Author has posted an excellent essay discussing the three main strands that go into a reader's reactions to a book (correctness, style and taste), noting that only one of these is objective, and considering how that can lead to misunderstandings in online discussions.

The subject is something I've often seen discussed in fanfic circles, which has a whole critical vocabulary to indicate stories/books which have a high score on one aspect but a low score on another. But this is one of the best single-post discussions of the subject that I can remember seeing, and while it's written from a romance reader's perspective, it does not rely on prior knowledge of any particular fiction genre or fandom in-group knowledge. The comment thread has some good discussion as well. If you're interested in meta, you may well find this an interesting read regardless of your preferred genre.

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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-06-18 22:10
Subject: moved
Security: Public

We are now more or less moved into the new house. More or less, because there's still one load of boxes to fetch, and a very large quantity of things to be unpacked and put into the furniture I spent my week off assembling. No, I did not get any writing done.

Much thanks to [info]kalypso_v, who deserves a few more dinners by way of thanks for the assistance in shifting worldly belongings around the village.

We have had broadband in the new place for the last couple of weeks, but I have still not set up my ergonomic workstation, which along with the OMGTired means fairly limited computer time for a few days yet. Bear this in mind if you're trying to get hold of me. (If you have the landline number -- it's changed, as this was the only way to have broadband available at both ends during the overlap period).

I am looking forward to unpacking various boxes and being reunited with some books I have not seen for two years.

Ah. We appear to have a working tv...

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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-06-15 22:39
Subject: RIP: Minotaur
Security: Public
Tags:obituary

Like many other slash writers, I found Minotaur's Sex Tips For Slash Writers site of enormous help in my writing. The site was Minotaur's way of giving something back to the slash community -- and he was a very generous man. If you read slash fanfic, if you read m/m romance, you've probably benefited from his work.

And now he's gone. [info - personal]esprix reports his death from a heart attack yesterday.

I met him at BASCon a few years ago. I'm glad I had a chance to thank him in person for his enormous contribution to our community. Rest in peace, Minotaur.

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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-06-10 22:11
Subject: For the to buy list
Security: Public
Tags:to buy

Yesterday I was thinking that it's time to buy a good hopper-fed scanner, with the aim of digitising a bunch of stuff so that I can dispose of the hard copies. [info]autopope was singing the praises of one a while back, but I couldn't remember what model. Since he's just mentioned it again, I wish to make a note where I can find it. The Fujitsu ScanSnap is not cheap, but may well be worth it and is at least a deductible business expense. (No, that does not make it free. It just means I can knock some percentage of its price of my tax bill.)

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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-06-10 16:10
Subject: oh, *damn*
Security: Public

One of the things I wanted to do this summer was go and visit some of my old colleagues where I worked before I moved to the US. I've seen some of them on trips back, but I haven't seen any of them since I moved back permanently to the UK. In particular, I wanted to see one close friend, not least because he had been hit with a degenerative disease and he's one of the ones I hadn't been able to catch up with on previous visits.

I've just received a card from his wife to let me know that it's finally beaten him. :-(

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Jules Jones
Date: 2009-06-10 13:47
Subject: Best pen review ever
Security: Public
Tags:pen porn

I occasionally read pen porn, i.e. geeky reviews of pens I know in my heart I'm never going to buy, but I can still fantasise about. Having lost a bookmark for a blog, I was trying to Google it, and found a link to the best pen review ever. The Amazon reviewers have been having a little... fun... with the "Bic Crystal Ballpoint Pen, Medium Point, Black" review section. :-)

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