Author: Dr Implausible

“Wild Blue Yonder” quick take

Had the time to sit down for a watch of the second Dr. Who special episode for 2023, with David Tennant as the 14th Doctor. Found this one much more enjoyable than the first one, as the episode was focused on just the two characters (The Doctor and the Companion), in a spaceship at the edge of the universe.

So there was a lot less of the additional references and information that went into the first episode. Or at least I think there was; as the old Rumsfeld Matrix went, the episode could have been filled with unknown knowns. As a novice viewer, how could I know.

There was some fun stuff there with the idea of “slowness” that I want to get into; there’s at least a couple places where it’s been mentioned in sci-fi that I can recall, and the overall themes of knowning, not knowing, and unthinking thought carried through as well.

I’ll bring up the connections in the next recap episode, which should be out later this week. Until then.

With a little help from friends

Two episodes of the Implausipod came out this past week:

(Though not necessarily in that order.)

The first one was stuck in a bit of a research and timing feedback loop, which is fine, it happens, but it kind of through off the order, and the urge and/or need to get the following episodes out meant it kept getting pushed back. (There was life reasons for some delays as well, which I won’t get into on the web.)

But I’m so happy to see both of them released this week, mostly because I was joined (figuratively or literally) by some friends on these episodes, and it made both experiences super fun, and I hope that came across in the audio.

Mr. Calvin Becker, a long time friend and amazing musician provided the music that formed the interludes for episode 16, and I’m so thrilled he was able to jump in. He’s made another significant contribution to the show which I think will show up in Episode 20 or 21, which should be available in about a week or so. You can check out his work at calvinbecker.com

And in episode 19, Dr. Aiden Buckland joined in to provide some amazing insight to the background of the Who-niverse that I, as a total noob, was completely unaware of. I’ve known Aiden in a professional, academic content for over 15 years, and have had many discussions in the past, and it was wonderful for him to be able to join in here too. You can reach him at doctoraidenwho@gmail.com

Again, thanks to both these amazing friends for joining in and making the podcast that much better as we dive deeper into this journey. I hope they can join us again soon.

Hilarious in hindsight

Sometimes going through old9er) books can be quite revealing. Looking through Jenkins, Ford and Green (2013/2018) Spreadable Media, from the paperback version there was this gem of a quote:

The popularity of Twitter, for instance, was driven by how efficiently the site facilities [sic] the types of resource sharing, conversation, and coordination that communities have long engaged in. The site’s early success owes little to official brand presence; big-name entertainment properties, companies, and celebrities began flocking to the microblogging platform only after its success was considered buzzworthy

(p.30)

In light of the events of November 29th and 30th, 2023, this is revelatory, and somewhat amusing as well.

The Star Beast

Finally watched a Dr Who episode. Seriously, hadn’t seen more than a clip or three before. Full thoughts will come in episode 19 of the Implausipod.

An odd episode: it felt like a speedrun through the required story beats to link everything together, and a lot of the rest was elided. So I’m not sure it was a representative story of the franchise; we got equal parts “very special episode” and “fanservice”, and while I was able to make some external connections early (and by the midpoint too), by the end it was all internally referential, and the titular Star Beast was a very thin foil for the rest of the internal narrative that the showrunner wanted to hang over the episode.

As a new viewer, I’m not entirely convinced to stick around. Let’s see how the next one goes…

Month of posting

After the monthly WordPress Meet-up group (which I highly recommend if one is in your area; well worth it!), one of the members issued a challenge to post daily for a month.

Part of this was to get into the habit of doing it, of getting it done, and partly to learn more about WordPress through the repeated exposure to it.

So I said, sure, I’ll join you.

And as with anything, even if the best time to start was 5 years ago, the second best time to start is right now. There’s no sense in waiting to make a positive change, to put something off until New Years or whatever.

So let’s get started. 30 days of posting, starting right now.

…

(This one counts, right? Right?)

Alright, see you tomorrow or sooner.