life, liberty and the pursuit of geekiness

Thank goodness the football didn't overrun.

( Spoilers )

I can't believe it's over. ( Spoilers )

Yesterday we did a great deal of cleaning and tidying—the stairs haven't been so clean in months—and also a slight book cull. We have finally convinced the parents that what we need is not fewer books but another bookcase, and they say we can get an Argos one this week. There is not such thing as too many books, only too few bookshelves.

I also sat down and watched the tapes of the ITV Austen adaptations.

Mansfield Park: First mistake was casting Billie Piper as Fanny. Emma Woodhouse, certainly, Elizabeth Bennett, perhaps, Fanny Price, definitely not. Once you have Billie Piper, playing her as shy and delicate becomes difficult. So instead she ran and skipped and giggled all over the place. When sir Thomas said his line about William finding his sister at 18 too little changed from his sister at 10, I remarked, "Yes, she still hasn't learnt to use a hairbrush." I don't think she had her hair (which mysterious didn't match her eyebrows) tidy or a bonnet on her head throughout. Speaking of costuming, could we ever have an Austen adaptation that knows the difference between and evening and a morning dress, or doesn't have the heroine running and even riding without coat or hat? And the Bertram boys seemed to have a bit of difficulty in getting fully dressed before they left their rooms, too. And what on earth was up with that waltz at the end? Fanny and Edmund waltzing, WHAT?

Mansfield Park is a great long book; squashing it down to less than two hours was never going to be satisfying. I could see why they removed Mr Yeats, and thus Julia's elopement, and the trip to Rushworth's house, but I can't see why Fanny's coming-out ball was changed to a picnic, or why she was left alone at Mansfield instead of being sent back to Portsmouth in disgrace. I know that's it's an irresistible temptation to expand on the book's conclusion and how Edmund noticed the giant anvils dropping all round him, but it did make him look even more gormless than when he was in love with Mary.

The Crawfords were pretty good, though, and Maria, and Lady Bertram before she inexplicably woke up and played matchmaker at the end. And Edmund and Fanny managed to have chemistry while still being believable that he was in love with Mary.

Northanger Abbey: As this is the shortest of the books, it suffered the last from the compression, IMO. Catherine was played by an age-appropriate actress, and was very sweet and convincing. Henry was really quite fanciable, too. The one thing I didn't like was having Isabella sleep with Captain Tilney—she had much to good an eye for the main chance to do that. It made her seem a victim, as well, and Captain Tilney much worse than in the book. I hadn't realised those novels that Catherine was reading were quite so dodgy, either.

Persuasion: This is my favourite of the novels, and I don't think that any adaptation could satisfy me. This one was definitely too short, giving me the impression of a mad rush. For instance, Anne's little nephew has his fall while they are dressing for dinner, and Charles and Mary go off before the surgeon is fairly out of the door. The conclusion was a sort of hybrid of the cancelled and final ending of the book (Jane Austen changed it for a reason, you know), and takes place while all the characters seem to be running all over Bath (hatless, of course) only to end up back where they started. I liked Anne, though—and Captain Spooks was most attractive. I thought they did the explaining the backstory—most necessary in Persuasion—pretty well, too. I can't help wishing, though, that it had been twice the length, the Bath part especially.

I was changing my Gmail password to make it more secure, and now it's so secure that no-one can get into it, including me (I can't remember what special characters I put in).

I got an email sent to my secondary email, but I've checked all my other accounts and it didn't come to any of them, and you can't get in to try your security questions for 5 days. I hope I can remember them...

There's one thing about the current series of Doctor Who that's getting a little annoying. The Doctor can visit anywhere, but the time where the companion comes from is always exactly contemporaneous with the air dates, even whenever it screws up things, as with Rose's missing year. I have no doubt that Martha's brother was born in 1986 (goodness, so young!). Aliens of London, the Christmas Invasion and the Cybermen invasion are all in her recent past, even though all those plus an uneventful year have happened since Rose stepped inside the TARDIS in 2005.

I can see why they do it: helps audience identification, plus they don't have to keep straight what order all the alien invasions happened in. But realistically it must be at least 2008. And Torchwood ought to be running parallel to this series, not 2006 as it's dated on some of the props. That's back when Nine was still around!

It's started! Finally!
( Spoilers )
Now I want it to be next Saturday already!

I went for the compromise option. What d'you think? I rather like it :D

(This is the ex-jediowl; I can't do a proper lj tag as it will automatically change to the new name: jediowl, thus. Isn't that nifty?)

Cover art for DH! Can't be bothered linking it; try Leaky if you're the 1.2 people on the internet who haven't yet seen it. I actually like the US version better than the UK; I think the Trio's faces look weird and too old for 17 in the UK one, but I suppose I'll get the children's version because I have for the first six.

It seems to me that my bank is a little crazy. Inside the envelope is a PIN; Outside the envelope is 'For the attention of Account number 12345678'. And the name and address of the account holder, seeing as it's posted to you. That's all you need for a withdrawal slip, and they'll give you £50 with no bank card or ID if you know the number.

It was a beautiful spring day today. Mam and I planted some primroses.

It's nice to see the sun out, but I don't like it in a way because it means time is passing and I still don't have a proper job.

Recruitment Agency #2 has been bought out by an English company. I hope we don't lose our leave like the last time. I must have at least a week by now.

What was the original source of the phrase "The foo is dead; it is an ex-foo"?