vivdunstan

As I say on my profile page I mainly use this blog to keep track of dosage changes and symptom patterns/progression in my neurological disease. Those entries are restricted to family only.

I do post more widely though. Many early entries are friends-locked. If you know me, either in person or online, feel free to friend me.

But some entries will be on more open access, especially those I link to from Twitter.

Generally Benny audios are fairly family friendly. But there are some where they're absolutely not suitable for younger listeners. Scenes of torture (portrayed through audio) sometimes happen. And then there's this one, where the population of the Braxiatel Collection are overcome by an orgy of lust. Which is handled on audio much as you might expect. Though that aspect could have been far worse! They're also pushing the comedy factor in this story, with the pair ups happening. I first heard this audio many years ago, but it works better slotted into the ongoing continuity of the series. And it's surprising how enjoyable I found this story to be, given the content. It does make me want to read more of the Benny books and short stories though. In particular the short story collection Something Changed could have been helpful here. I do have it in print, though have barely managed to read any print for prolonged periods for a couple of decades now ...

But yes, surprisingly enjoyable, pretty disposable, and absolutely not essential. But an original take on the premise. And I was amused.

Going to put these in a firm spoiler cut. Only read these when/if you have seen the episode.

( spoilers )

Got me some art supplies in (the pencil case is full of a good range of grades of graphite pencils etc.). I used to love drawing as a teenager. Especially in O'Grade Art and Design, when being sent out into Wilton Lodge Park on our own to draw the landscape and wildlife was just the best thing ever! I'd like to return to drawing, though I won't be able to get out much. Considered using my iPad, but for me, I think, analogue would be better. Wish me luck!

Was just pondering this. If I focus on a decade at a time, pulling out my absolute favourites, it would go:

1960s - Jamie (to be fair I haven't seen/heard all of this era of Who)
1970s - Sarah Jane and Romana I
1980s - Peri and Ace
1990s - nope, going to pass!
2000s - Rose and Donna
2010s - Amy and Clara
2020s - Ruby

And if I narrow those down to a top 3 favourite list:

1st - Sarah Jane
2nd - Romana I
3rd - Clara

Interesting that my favourite pre-dates my time watching as a Who fan. I only started watching as a youngster with Season 16 in 1978. I'd then see Sarah Jane Smith in K9 and Company, and "The Five Doctors". Then watched loads of her old stories before she returned to Doctor Who and got her own spinoff series.

Romana I was my first ever Who companion as a viewer. Great starting point!

And although Clara has her flaws, and annoys a lot of people, I really like her. There's a very "classic" feel to her, both as written and acted. So she definitely earns her place on my list.

Finally getting around to contacting ScotlandsPeople to ask if they could fix their code so it doesn't report "1 records found" in search results rather than "1 record found". That's really poor programming, as hammered into computer science students in my 1st year class 35 years ago at St Andrews!

Belatedly finishing listening to this first boxset, pairing the Eleventh Doctor (played by Jacob Dudman) with companion Valarie (played by Safiyya Ingar). This pair's stories slot in between TV's "The Snowmen" and "The Bells of St John", with the Doctor looking for Clara, but ends up travelling for a while with future cyberneticist Valarie, who also has super human strength, being part cyborg.

This pairing is great, and I'm looking forward to listening to the rest of their stories. The Eleventh Doctor feels written true to form. And yes, well acted, and sounding close enough. Valarie is a confident and brave companion, much better written than many of Steven Moffat's female companions. It's also a surprisingly emotive series of stories, really moving at times.

On the downside these audio boxsets are extremely expensive from Big Finish, even in download only form. I picked up a lower cost CD bundle before one of the boxsets went out of print on CD. You do get 3 stories in each of these boxes, and there are 4 boxes for the Eleventh Doctor and Valarie arc. So there's a lot of storytelling. And it's very imaginative and well done. But it's still a hefty investment. At least on CD there is something that can be sold on after, or in our case donated to charity for them to make a bit of money. But I would thoroughly recommend them as superb examples of Doctor Who audios.

Very sad to see Pocket is closing down. I've used it for 7 years, to save things I want to read later. At the moment I suspect I'm likely to revert to Instapaper, who I left after their service stopped working for a while in the EU/UK due to GDPR. But musing options. Martin also relies on Pocket on a daily basis.

Wow. And crikey.

I’m probably not going to post more detailed or spoilery thoughts. But basically I enjoyed that a lot.

Absolutely brilliant Capercaillie gig tonight in Perth. Huge thanks to all the band, celebrating 40 years together. Karen Matheson’s voice was sublime as always. But I loved how their strength as an instrumental Scottish folk group was also highlighted. Normally accordionist me is glued to Donald Shaw’s virtuoso playing. Thanks muchly from an old timer for playing Calum’s Road! But tonight I was most wowed by Charlie McKerron‘s fiddle playing. I’m a very long lapsed fiddler too, and his playing was epic. Absolutely brilliant treat. All the best for the remaining concerts.

It was a really big step for us to go to this, since the start of Covid, and how much iller I’ve got neurologically in recent years. But it went brilliantly, and we’re so very grateful to have been able to go. Both of us have loved Capercaillie’s music since 1989/90. We last saw them in concert in Edinburgh in 1997 or 1998. Seeing them again was special.