Written by Phil Gladwin
Directed by Charles Martin
Starring: Elisabeth Sladen, Yasmine Paige, Tommy Knight, Daniel Anthony, voice of Alexander Armstrong.
Guest Stars: Paul Kasey, Chook Sibtain, Sarah Haynes, Pamela Merrick, Sonny Muslim, James Bellamy, Nadiyah Davis, Chrissie Furness, voices of Silas Carson, Tina Greatex
I managed to solve the problem with the latest version of Ubuntu Linux, 7.10 (Gusty Gibbon). I had forgotten to uninstall the Envy software package, that downloads and installs the correct driver for my nVidia Geforce video card. I am lucky that when I first installed Ubuntu, I had created two seperate 80Gb partitions on my 160Gb harddrive, so all I had to do was install 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) onto the empty partition, upgrade again to 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) and then copy the contents of my ~/home directory over to the other partition. All this could have been avoided, if I had followed the instructions, and it is not a mistake I will be repeating in April next year when version 8.04 (Hardy Heron) is released.
(Why, I hear you ask would I need to remember to uninstall Envy in six months or even at all, when 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) has a driver for nVidia cards shipped with it. Well, because if I want to play Guild Wars, which is picky and will only work with the official nVidia drivers. Hence the need for the Envy software package.)
So, what do I think of 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon). So many good things have been added to theis latest version, however, the most important change for me is getting the screen effects and eye candy of Compiz Fusion to work. It is only a minor thing, as there real practical benefits to having windows fade out after they are closed, have transparent title bars if they don’t have the input focus, or wobble as they move, however, it is fun to watch, and it makes life a little less humdrum.
The upgrade from Ubuntu Linux 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) to 7.10 (Gutsy Gibon) via the Upgrade Manager appeared to go without a hitch. Appeared being the opperative word. When I rebooted my PC, I was informed that it could not initalise the HAL and my Internet connection does not work. So, I am now wondering if there is a way of reverting back to Feisty, so that I can get everything working properly and do the upgrade again?
Twenty years ago, I was a student living in the halls of residence of Coventry Polytechnic. I remember the night of the great storm of 1987 because I was staying up late writing a Politics essay that had to be handed in the following morning. I had seen Michael Fish’s infamous weather forecast poo-pooing the idea that there was a hurricane on the way, and marvelled at the gullibility of the silly woman who had phoned the BBC. Of course, as I was writing the essay on my very primitive word-processor, I could not help but hear the wind howling louder than usual through Priory Hall’s hideous 1970’s architecture. Through the window I could see the effect of the wind on the sixty foot tall solid concrete lamp posts in the Pool Meadows Bus Station. These lamp posts, which must have been at least four foot thick at their base, were not completely rigid, there was some room for maneuver in the normal wind, but that night they were bending over at alarming angles, like narrow saplings without any support. I realised that maybe there might have been something in the hurricane warning after all. So I turned on the television and watched with mounting horror the news reports about the great hurricane.
The thing is, it just does not seem like twenty years have passed. The young woman interviewed on the BBC news yesterday, who was born on the night of the storm is now at the same stage in her life that I was back then. No wonder I was feeling a bit maudlin yesterday.
The image above appeared on the humourous Doctor Who “Motivational Posters” thread on the Outpost Gallifrey Forum and was produced by forum user The Crayola of Doodah. However, it nails one of the basic truths about Doctor Who and its fan base ever since it organised itself into an active fandom, that whoever is incharge of the series whilst it is currently in production will be hated by a vocal minority of the fans. However, a few years after they leave the job, their work will be re-evaluated and seen as a classic of the series. For instance, back when the Doctor Who Appreciation Society was shiny and new, Phillip Hinchliffe received an inordinate amount of flack for breaking up the cosy UNIT family that was the signiture of the former producer Barry Letts; however, The Deadly Assissin one of the stories he produced is now seen as the pinnicle of the series achievement, despite coming botom of the series survay back in 1976. Likewise, Graham Williams who replaced Hinchcliffe was detested by the fans for removing the Gothic horror from the series and replacing it with too much slapstick comedy, but today, you would be hard pressed to find anyone has a bad word to say about the story City of Death.
Russell T. Davies is an enormous fan of Doctor Who so he knew all about this vocal minority when he was given the job of bringing the series back. I cannot help but think that Love & Monsters the source of the picture in the “Motivational Poster” was a message to the minority telling them that he knew exactly who they were and that he did not give a stuff what they thought because they would be changing their minds in ten years time.
There is little doubt in my mind that one of the greatest taste sensations is a bacon and pineapple jam sandwich. However, I am not just talking about any old pineapple jam, it has to be Hartley’s Best Pineapple Jam. And therein lies the heart of the problem. For Hartley’s Best Pineapple Jam is as rare as hen’s teeth. The photo to the right is the jar I bought tonight. I took this image to record for posterity that this fabled fruit conserve does actually exist, it is not just a legend, a myth talked about in hushed tones to avoid the scorn of the unbelievers. I have no idea why this particular variety of jam is so hard to come by. I mean, it is not as if there are not enough pineapples being grown in Hawaii. So, whilst it is here I will enjoy it, because I doubt I will see another jar of this wonderous elixir anywhere for at least another twelve months.
1. Plot:
Jamie Sommers is the manager of a bar somewhere in California. She has dropped out of college to raise her younger sister after the death of her mother. Needless to say, her teenage sister is taking it badly and is acting like a brat. What is more, she is just discovered that she is pregnant.
On the plus side, Will, Jamie’s successful lecturer boyfriend is overjoyed at the news and he asks her to marry him. On the minus side, as they are driving home, an 18 wheel truck smashes into their car, and Jamie is seriously injured. On the plus side, Will works for an ultra secret organisation that has developed cybernetic enhancements to the human body, and he uses his position in the organisation to rebuild Jamie. On the minus side, his boss is not happy the $50million of his equipment has been used on a complete stranger, and he would quite happily kill her. On the plus side, Jamie is stronger, faster, better at just about everything. On the minus side, she is having the screaming abdabs.
Will helps Jamie escape from the organisation before they have a chance to reverse his life saving operations. The organisation however has its own problems. First, there is a very good possibility that the bionic implants will drive you round the bend. The first person they tried to enhance, Sarah Corvus, who they all thought was dead is still alive and a screaming nut-job and was responsible for Will and Jamie’s accident. Second, Will’s father, the inventor of the bionic equipment has been thrown into a ultra-secure government prison for some unnamed crime, and somebody has just succeeded in springing him from gaol.
2. Thoughts:
Something about this pilot episode irritated on at a very basic level. It is so bitty and disjointed. I suspect that this was originally going to be a 90 minute feature length episode, and then just before filming the network decided that it had to be a standard 42 minute episode, and that either it was far too late to do a rewrite on the script or it was all filmed and so bits were jettisoned left, right and centre in the editing suite. Ideas are introduced, and instead of developing slowly reach a crescendo with alarming pace. I hoping that the episode was all filmed and that DVD box set will have a version of the pilot episode with all the missing bits restored, so that it flows properly.
It also did not help that large chunks were re-filmed because the focus group who saw the original version of this episode did not like the fact that as well as being bolshy, the teenage sister was short fat and deaf. So a new sister was drafted in who is a bland babe. The interesting character dynamic that would have resulted from the sister having no hearing whilst Jamie hides the fact that she has super-augmented hearing that would change her sister’s life has been been jettisoned in-favour of an identikit teenage rebel.
Final fault, and it is a minor one is Michelle Ryan’s US accent, which was very variable. It seems to be a general rule that people from the US cannot do UK accents to save their lives whilst people from the UK have no problems with US accents. Ms Ryan appears to be the exception that proves the rule as her accent was as fake as the accent she used in EastEnders.
Despite these faults, I enjoyed the episode, and this series definitely has potential. Katie Sackhof steals the show as the evil bionic Sarah Corvus, and Mark Sheppard is always good, even if he is underused in this episode. I really want to know who is behind the Bionic Enhancement program, who is trying to derail it and exactly what nice-guy Will’s father did to deserve being thrown in such a deep dark hole? There is definitely enough happening to keep me watching.
3. Stars:
3.25 out of five
Written by Gareth Roberts
Directed by Alice Troughton
Starring:Elisabeth Sladen, Yasmine Paige, Tommy Knight, Daniel Anthony, Joseph Milson, Juliet Cowan, Alexander Armstrong.
Guest Stars:Phylida Law, Beth Goddard, Doreen Mantle
1. Plot:
Part 1
Clyde’s grandmother has a friend living in the Lavender Lawns Retirement Home, who claims to have been the latest person to see the ghost of a nun late at night. This story fascinates Sarah Jane and she goes with Clyde and Luke to investigate. Whilst at the home, Mrs Nelson-Stanley gives Luke a talisman, and asks him to hide it from “Them”. Back at the attic, Mr. Smith identifies it as an alien artifact.
Whilst Sarah Jane and Maria are back at the home trying to find out more about the artifact, Sister Helena, a nun from Saint Agnes Abbey arrives at 13, Bannerman Road. She is searching for the artifact, and Luke lets slip that he has it. He is kidnapped by three nuns taken to the Abbey. (more…)
It really makes me laugh, all the people in the Labour Party who were talking up the possibility of a snap General Election in November, and all the people in the Conservative Party who are bemoaning the fact that it is not going to happen. There are two very good reasons why a November Election was never going to happen.
This is Gordon Brown we are talking about, the man who almost worships prudence and revels in being a safe pair of hands. Anybody who has watched him in action for ten years as Chancellor of the Exchequer should know that he doesn’t do the spontaneous, he plans for everything. There was more chance of the sky turning pink than of Gordon Brown doing anything rash, snap or unexpected.
Voters do not like going to the Poll in the dark half of the year. They would have punished any Prime Minister who dragged them out on a cold, wet and dark November Thursday to cast their vote. The sudden pick-up in the Tory’s opinion poll ratings had nothing to do with their Inheritance Tax plans and everything to do with the fact that the year is on the wane.
The Tories can bleat as much as they like about the need for a new mandate, they conveniently forget that before 1932 when the office of Prime Minister was first officially recognised, the holder of the post changed hands regularly under Conservative administrations without there being a General Election.
It seem unlikely to me that there will be a General Election now until at least May 2009.
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