Friday, May 05, 2006
Mixed morning
Apparently here in Solihull we now have a BNP councillor. Which rather confirms my opinion of Solihull. Admittedly it is in north Solihull, an area more akin to the more deprived areas of Birmingham than the leafy suburb bits of Solihull, but even so.
I've just spent a couple of days hanging around the House of Commons, and more particularly the entrance to the Chamber, so I have been in close proximity to virtually every MP I'm likely to recognise (except Mr Blair of course, who avoids the place like the plague.) Fun, if somewhat stressful- played a rather more active part in our democratic process than I had anticipated. Still reckon being an MP would be a rather nice job- being a Minister considerably less so.
As a contrast I spent yesterday invigilating SATs exams at Son's school. I don't really approve of SATs but I don't do anything much for the school and I had the day free. Another lot next Wed- modern foreign language orals that time. The advantage to not being a teacher is that you can sidestep the rules- I had a classroom full of special needs 14 year olds doing a paper on Shakespeare (they weren't impressed with this concept and I have to admit that I wasn't either) and half were due to finish some time before the rest. The approved behaviour is to sit facing the front with arms folded for however long the exam is meant to last. I ended up suggesting to one pupil that he might like a piece of paper to write on (he was trying to write on his stomach at the time) and ended up handing out paper galore. For easily distractable teens they were all quite happy with their piece of paper for the rest of the exam time- who needs technology?
Got today off too, although Son may be back after his last exam- he's not too well.
Why was Keith Richards in a palm tree? Still not got to the bottom of this one.
Doctor Who- Russell blows the mind again. I wonder whether the BBC had any idea what he would do with it when they entrusted the poor Doctor to his care? Still trying to decide whether it's one huge retcon or not, and if so whether it matters. The Doctor- Love Rat is a great idea.
It was pretty clear from about halfway through the first series that the problem was going to be with keeping the two leads apart. The conventional method in these situations is to have a confrontational relationship with the sexual tension underneath allowed out occasionally. The hints of that at the beginning moved on to something else, which was welcome- the last thing we needed was another Mulder and Scully. But if you allow your characters to get close and you want to keep a dynamic relationship you either have to get rid of one of them, bring someone else in, or otherwise create problems between them (pick any example you like from Joss). It clearly wasn't going to be enough to bring Mickey on board while the other two were so enamoured, but give Rose a valid reason to doubt the entire basis of the relationship and we're up and running again. I like the idea that the Doctor hasn't changed- just our view of him. Rose really is just another assistant- all the other assistants (or some of them at least) were in the same situation.
Was anyone else struck with the Highlander contrast?
Stephen Moffat (writer) in next week's Radio Times; "I think that his asexual nature was perhaps read into the series by its more asexual fans,"
Ouch.
My birthday in 3 days. I shall be older.
I've just spent a couple of days hanging around the House of Commons, and more particularly the entrance to the Chamber, so I have been in close proximity to virtually every MP I'm likely to recognise (except Mr Blair of course, who avoids the place like the plague.) Fun, if somewhat stressful- played a rather more active part in our democratic process than I had anticipated. Still reckon being an MP would be a rather nice job- being a Minister considerably less so.
As a contrast I spent yesterday invigilating SATs exams at Son's school. I don't really approve of SATs but I don't do anything much for the school and I had the day free. Another lot next Wed- modern foreign language orals that time. The advantage to not being a teacher is that you can sidestep the rules- I had a classroom full of special needs 14 year olds doing a paper on Shakespeare (they weren't impressed with this concept and I have to admit that I wasn't either) and half were due to finish some time before the rest. The approved behaviour is to sit facing the front with arms folded for however long the exam is meant to last. I ended up suggesting to one pupil that he might like a piece of paper to write on (he was trying to write on his stomach at the time) and ended up handing out paper galore. For easily distractable teens they were all quite happy with their piece of paper for the rest of the exam time- who needs technology?
Got today off too, although Son may be back after his last exam- he's not too well.
Why was Keith Richards in a palm tree? Still not got to the bottom of this one.
Doctor Who- Russell blows the mind again. I wonder whether the BBC had any idea what he would do with it when they entrusted the poor Doctor to his care? Still trying to decide whether it's one huge retcon or not, and if so whether it matters. The Doctor- Love Rat is a great idea.
It was pretty clear from about halfway through the first series that the problem was going to be with keeping the two leads apart. The conventional method in these situations is to have a confrontational relationship with the sexual tension underneath allowed out occasionally. The hints of that at the beginning moved on to something else, which was welcome- the last thing we needed was another Mulder and Scully. But if you allow your characters to get close and you want to keep a dynamic relationship you either have to get rid of one of them, bring someone else in, or otherwise create problems between them (pick any example you like from Joss). It clearly wasn't going to be enough to bring Mickey on board while the other two were so enamoured, but give Rose a valid reason to doubt the entire basis of the relationship and we're up and running again. I like the idea that the Doctor hasn't changed- just our view of him. Rose really is just another assistant- all the other assistants (or some of them at least) were in the same situation.
Was anyone else struck with the Highlander contrast?
Stephen Moffat (writer) in next week's Radio Times; "I think that his asexual nature was perhaps read into the series by its more asexual fans,"
Ouch.
My birthday in 3 days. I shall be older.
# posted by Louise H @ 7:52 am 
