Way back in November, I bought a new microphone for my birthday. Specifically, a Blue Snowball. Due to an illness, I wasn't able to use it for a few weeks. However, I got a chance to try it out recently and I love it. It not only looks cool but it makes my voice sound awesome. (Which is a feat since I usually hate my voice.) I can't wait to hear the final versions of the songs I recorded. (I have to hand my parts off to someone else who mixes my parts with everyone else's parts and the background music. It can take awhile.) If it sounds decent, maybe I'll share the file here!
Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol
We join Amy (Karen Gillian) and Rory (Arthur Darvill), the Doctor's companions from the previous season, on their honeymoon. Unfortunately, the passenger ship they are on is about to crash into a planet covered in strange clouds that screws up their controls. Of course, Amy calls the Doctor (Matt Smith) to save them. He can't use the TARDIS to save them so he lands on a building that seems to control the clouds. Sadly, he finds a bitter old man, Kazran Sardick (Michael Gambon), unwilling to help anyone.
This is where the Christmas Carol story begins. The Doctor goes back in time to Sardick's childhood to figure out where the man went wrong in life. He finds a boy who has had his curiosity and love stomped out by a demanding father. Luckily, the Doctor steps in to help foster the boy's curiosity about the fish that swim in the strange clouds. But where there are fish, there are predators too. After dodging a shark attack (and losing half of his sonic screwdriver in the process), young Sardick is crushed to find that the shark is dying. Unless they can get it back to the clouds, it won't survive. The only way to save the shark is to use an "icebox", a life support chamber that Sardick's father uses to control people, to transport it.
Young Sardick chooses the chamber of a young woman, Abigail Pettigrew (Katharine Jenkins), because she loves the fish. Just after releasing her, the shark attacks again. It is Abigail's singing that soothes the shark into submission. Once they save the shark, the boy decides that this has been a grand adventure. As Abigail returns to her chamber, young Sardick promises that the Doctor will return every year to celebrate Christmas Eve with them.
Years pass and the Doctor makes good on the promise. Every Christmas Eve, they release Abigail and travel around time with her. On the seventh year, Abigail confesses to a now teenaged Sardick that she was terminally ill when she was locked in the chamber. She only has one more day to live. Devestated, the lovestruck Sardick locks her back in the chamber without telling the Doctor about her condition. Realizing that life isn't fair, he still continues on the path to becoming a bitter old man.
Amy appears as a hologram to old Sardick in order to show him how to passengers of the doomed ship are coping. Since they know that singing can have an effect on the clouds, all of the passengers attempt to sing carols to stop the ship from crashing. The sound of the singing begins to break through to Sardick, but he just waves it away stubbornly.
As a last resort, the Doctor appears again telling old Sardick that he has shown him the past and the present. Now it is time for the future. He brings the boy to see what a crotchety old man he has become. This has a monumental effect on old Sardick, who vow to use his machine to save the ship. However, the Doctor has changed Sardick so much that the machine no longer recognizes him. Their only option is to use Abigail's voice to control the clouds again.
Knowing that this will be her final day, old Sardick opens her chamber one last time. She sings into the sonic screwdriver and the clouds stabilize, saving the ship and her 4000 passengers. Amy and Rory reunite with the Doctor, while Sardick and Abigail spend their last moments riding around the clouds in a shark-drawn carriage.
I usually like the Christmas specials. The Runaway Bride being the one episode I hated. This time around, I absolutely loved the episode. The interaction between the Doctor and the various incarnations of Sardick were wonderful. My favorite parts were when teenaged Sardick asked the Doctor for love advice. While I enjoyed CChristopher Eccleson and David Tennant as their respective Doctor, I really enjoy Matt Smith's version. He has the ability to be completely fun-loving yet deadly serious at the same time. If you haven't watched Doctor Who recently, this may be the one to latch onto.
New Year, New Look!
Welcome to 2011! The Geek is starting the new year with a new wintry look. It's almost too bad that I'll have to change it when winter ends! I do have quite a few reviews to post. I'm planning on starting those either this afternoon or tomorrow, depending on how busy I get. Please let me know if any of the new things aren't working for you. I'll do my best to fix any problems as soon as possible.
Let's get this new year started!
End of the Year!
Our holiday hiatus is almost over. I hope everyone is having a good time. Here are some things to look forward to from The Geek Within: * More movie reviews (my husband has a RedBox addiction!) * Jdorama reviews will resume finally! * football trophies (OK, not really....) * TV show reviews (I'm planning on going back to the 'per episode' format instead of the 'overall' format)
With the TV show reviews resuming, I'm planning on changing the look of TGW a bit. Since there will be spoilers, I'm going to try to keep them behind a cut. That way you don't have to read them if you don't want to.
I'll see you again in the new year!!
White Christmas?
Looking at the weather forecast, we may possibly have a white Christmas here. Of course, this is the Philadelphia area. There is about the same chance that it will turn to rain instead. Better have my rain boots ready, just in case. Either way, I hope that the weather stays fairly nice. We have a little bit of driving to do on Christmas Day and I don't want it to be treacherous. The website will probably be going on a bit of a hiatus until the holidays are over. I get too wrapped up in everything to remember to post.
Happy Holidays!
Tron: Legacy 3D
Yesterday, my husband, my daughter and I went to see Tron: Legacy 3D. My daughter doesn't particularly enjoy 3D movies, but we had no choice since it wasn't available in 2D anywhere near us. Twenty years ago, Kevin Flynn disappeared. He left behind a 7-year old son, Sam, and a major computer software/video game company, ENCOM. Today, Sam has grown into a man disappointed by what his father's company has become, yet he is not ready to take the reigns as the major stockholder. When Kevin's friend, Alan, gets a page from this missing man, Sam goes to his father's old arcade to find out what is going on. Little does he know that his father has been trapped inside a computer program, The Grid, this entire time. With help from a program named Quorra, Sam tries to rescue his father from CLU, the program currently running The Grid.
Like many people my age, I have a fondness for the original Tron. When I heard they were making a sequel, I had my doubts. However, I was determined to not make a decision before seeing the movie. Graphically, the movie is beautiful. The reality scenes are in 2D while the scenes inside The Grid are 3D. I think that made the differences between the two worlds easier to understand. Unfortunately, I found most of the movie boring. (I actually almost fell asleep three times.) The Daft Punk soundtrack is awesome, but the storyline is bland. Absolutely everything is spelled out for the viewer. Even the 'twists' were easily predicted. Perhaps it would have been better with a few more fights. Instead, the movie is almost entirely a game of cat-and-mouse. In short, pretty but dull.
New Year = New Stuff
I know this blog has gotten pretty stagnant lately. After the new year, I'm planning on doing a bit of revamping. I'm going to get back to talking about each episode of the television shows I watch. It's been years since I've done that and I think it will help breathe some life back into this place. I'd also like to talk more about 'equipment' like htc desire reviews and such. Though I don't get a lot of electronic toys like that....so I don't know how well that would work out. And, of course, I'm hoping to find the time to throw back some more jdoramas. Unfortunately, the holiday season is extremely busy for me. With any luck, I'll be able to kick out the Rookies movie soon. I just have to plan some time for it.
Goodbye Kitty
This weekend was a bit emotional. One of our cats, Therin (named after Lews Therin Telamon from the Wheel of Time series of books), passed away. While he wasn't ancient for a cat, he was about 13 years old and he had a heart condition. Unfortunately, taking him to the vet would always set his condition off so it was difficult to get any real readings from the ecg machines. Anyway, he had been sick for the past few months. He took a turn for the worse on Thursday. He pretty much stopped eating since nothing would stay down and his breathing was erratic. Of course, we spent a lot of time snuggling with him and trying to feed him via syringe. Sometime Saturday night, he passed into the next world. He will be missed.
RIP Therin.
Almost finished!
My husband and I are almost finished our Christmas shopping. (Granted, I still don't know what to get him. Maybe I'll look at the Brother printers or scanners. More computer crap is a good thing, right?) All that is left is my sister and her boyfriend. We have some ideas but I'm not sure how well either of them will work out. With any luck, I can finish that up tomorrow and I will be done! Well...except for the wrapping. Blah.
Help!
I need suggestions for Christmas presents for my geeky husband. I am so clueless this year that I was even looking at metal detectors on sale. So sad. Here's a bit about him:
He's a gamer. He plays World of Warcraft. (Yes, he already got the new expansion thingy.) We have a Wii, a PS3, and an Xbox 360 with Kinect. Um...he listens to audiobooks on his phone. He likes campy horror movies/shows.
I am so lost! If you have any suggestions, email them to me: thegeekwithin@gmail.com Thank you!