Commentary, TV

The One About the Security Drones

Doctor Who: Revolution of The Daleks Airdate: 01/01/21

Pic from the BBC

These ‘Holiday’ specials have come to carry a lot of weight. It’s a bridge between the previous season and the one meant to come, so the pieces on the board need to be cleared and reset. But it also has to be a somewhat stand alone story for holiday viewers to pop into. Not to mention the continuing shifting pattern of television consumption, or 2020 being so freaking weird and sad and strange and sad.

So, in a way the production team couldn’t have completely known or planned when this was filmed in 2019, It comes very close to capturing 2020’s mood. And a bit too on the nose, in some respects.

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Commentary, From Somewhere, Keeping Up Apperances

The New Normal

image from is it canceled yet? Yes, that’s really a website. It’s funny and you should visit.

OR The same normal with added anxiety…

Sigh. Oh, where to begin. 

A lot has happened in two months. It’s been difficult for most people to find footing and just be able to think straight. Or even, in some case, to simply get by.  Trying to think of something uselessly funny or odd in pop culture to write about in the hopes of maybe lightening your mood has been difficult to say the least. The struggle for tone- some level of acknowledgement what we’re all going though, and gently finding a way to chuckle at the anxiety bubbling underneath. 

I’ve also been struggling to avoid anything approaching earnestly saccharine. Because let’s be honest here, my optimism level cap is ridiculously low in the best of times- it’s not going to work any miracles now. 

Everything feels weird. Everything feels awkward. Oh look, another virus task force briefing.  And then, one from every state. Delightful. And now back to Kelly Clarkson. Stay safe- fear everyone and everything!

It’s just not easy to pick up where I originally wanted to go with this thing. That seems more inconsequential and stupid than it usually is. 

Wait- did CNN really just do a stay home segment with GWAR?  

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Books, These Modern Headaches

Avoiding Spoilers in Audiobooks with the Mac OS Catalina Books Update

Meet your Audiobook nemesis.

Recently I purchased a Humble Bundle which included digital copies of some audiobooks and audio plays. Once I downloaded them from the point of purchase, I dropped the files onto the external hard drive I keep most of my digital media on. From there, I planned to simply drop the files into my desktop’s audio player app and go about my precious post day job time. 

The Books desktop app, however, had other designs on that time.

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Musings about Pop Culture