Party time again!

[wiseheart]

Hi folks! *waves*

Time is flying by, isn't it? It's that time of a year again - I'm getting older. In this case, I'm turning 55 on October 9, which used to be an important thing, back under the old regime. Women could retire at the age of 55 back then. So I've decided to ignore all that fantastic headway we've supposedly made towards democracy in the last two decades and enter my virtual retirement, blithley overlooking the fact that I'll have to work another 7 or 8 or only God knows how many years.

So, let's party! Last years virtual birthday party yielded 742 comments on 6 pages, which won't be easy to top, but we're good, aren't we? WE CAN DO IT! So, let's give it a try! In the recent years, it has always been great fun, so let's have fun again!

You're all cordially invited to help yourself to a slice of virtual Dobos Cake recipe - it's my absolute favourite, although I never managed to get it as good as my Garnny used to.

Cheers!

Note: The party will be closed on October 9, at midnight, sharp. Join us and have fun!

Comments

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

yes - loads of fun!

[artemis10002000]

Yeah, quite a few of them would be too high-maintenance for real life anyway! Especially the sexy villains and semi-villains!

I'll raise you another robot. I don't know if he's virile, but he's sure strong!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oooh, more coffee! You've got the loveliest coffee icons!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I don't like either Ivanova or Lockley, but both telepath women were great. And I loved Dr Lilian Hobbs who had to keep the fort while Franklin was trying to find himself.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

And I give you Sir Leon, the fire-proof, who survived the dragon's attack!

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

I liked Ivanova from the start and have come to like Lockley more and more with watching Crusade - although I still haven''t got around to re-watching s5 of b5 fully. Dr Hobbs is very good and it is very sad that she doesn't get more development in the show.

Trying to think of interesting female characters is others shows is hard!
Stargate feels like there should be some, but really fails on it - loads of the characters *could* have been strong but the show shies away from it and turns them into caricatures or doesn't allow them to show their skills.

Non sci-fi shows seem to do a bit better - I've been rewatching JAG (as far as I've got s8 - although I now have dvds of s9 to watch soon :D ) and it has loads of good female characters.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

They are very good coffee icons! :)

I really need to find a tea one as well at some point.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I like Sam Carter in SG-1 - IMO, Amanda Tapping does a good job to make the character interesting, despite the screenwriters' incompetence. I liked Dr. Fraiser, too. And the first Dr. Weir, the one played by Jessica Steen, was very promising. We won't even mention Atlantis in this context, though.

My main problem with both Ivanova and Lochley was the unbearably wooden acting, most of the time. I used to watch JAG occasionally, but the male lead annoyed the hell out of me, and honestly, I liked the little blonde in Season 1 a lot better than Mac. The casting wasn't very fortunate, either. If that woman was supposed to be a Marine, then I'm a ballerina in the Boshoy Theatre in Moscow.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Sam annoys me - but that is because I hate the trope of the scientist who can do anything in any sort of science despite whatever is said about their specialism... and it is a trope that Stargate uses all the time. Dr Fraiser is good, but doesn't really get any character development or plots. Dr Weir - I agree she is good to start with, but the further along the show goes, the worse she gets as a character.

I'm very bad at judging acting.

I'm not surprised that you don't like him :)
I just ignore the casting - it is the typical thing that every female character (especially the more they are in a show) has to be good looking or better. (Even most character that are referred to within shows as ugly or whatever are far above average) /end bit of rant - I suspect that I've ranted at you about this before :)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Heretic! *g*

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

:P

I'm one of these who fall in the middle - tea and coffee are both wonderful - so is chocolate :)

The Hobbit film

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

I was wondering if you had heard any of the news about this, and what you think they will screw up (or change) this time? :)

Re: The Hobbit film

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I'm not happy about all the additional stuff they supposedly cram into the film. As we've recently discussed with ithilwen, "The Hobbit" is a perfectly rounded adventure, focusing on Bilbo and the Dwarves, and doesn't need anything in addition.

Other than that, I only saw pictures of the Dwarves. Most of them are old and ugly, although Richard Armitage looks impressive as Thorin. Fíli and Kíli, although expressly described to have yellow beards, both of them, are dark-haired and blond, respectively (although at least young and hot). And Balin doesn't look suitably older than the rest, although he should.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Me, I must be very sick to even consider drinking tea - but I'm with you on the chocolate.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

I too really enjoyed meeting you and having a face -- and a voice! -- to match to your writings.

Part of me is really looking forward to doing some 'proper' teaching, and another very large part of me is terrified: the lecture course I am doing is brand new, so I get to decide what the students should be taught, beyond a cursory naming of four different materials characterisation techniques to cover. This also means that there aren't any notes from previous years to check to see what I should be lecturing on, which is both a blessing -- I like the opportunity to really make this my course -- and a curse -- I have to make work out everything about how to present the course materials to the students myself. And let's not even get started on how inadequately prepared I feel for imparting knowledge to impressionable young minds! On top of this I am also expected to keep up research, so busy, busy, busy.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

And if the actress happens to be plain or downright ugly, all male characters fall in love with the character anyway, and all female charcters are awed/jealous/envious/watever. Like in the case of Rose or Gwen, because honestly, who in their right mind would fall for such dumb bitches when they could have Martha or Donna or Tosh - or even Detective Swanson, who was made of awesome?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, no worries about teaching! It's only terrifying in the first couple of decades - then you become immune against the horrors. ;) Voice of experience speaking here - although I still seem to be in those first couple of decades...

Re: The Hobbit film

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

I'm not happy about all the additional stuff they supposedly cram into the film. As we've recently discussed with [info]ithilwen, "The Hobbit" is a perfectly rounded adventure, focusing on Bilbo and the Dwarves, and doesn't need anything in addition.
I don't think I was in that discussion, but I agree with the conclusion you've stated. It keeps bemusing me to hear casting spoilers for characters that aren't in the book and which they must be going to add a lot to make fit into the story (Galadriel, Saruman, etc) and I worry that they are going to be focusing on big battle scenes like the last two Lord of the Rings films.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

Good luck! :)
Thank you! I feel luck is very much needed, along with some hard work on my part. The department doesn't completely leave me on my own to work out how to do this teaching malarkey -- thankfully! -- so I have a meeting with my academic mentor on Tuesday, which he initiated to work out what help I need from him. I am hoping to have my first set of lecture slides ready by the meeting to show to him to get some feed-back on them. The students get to 'score' their lecturers and this is take seriously by the university. However, this is only done once the course is over, so it doesn't give room for improving during the course.

I am hoping to be able to pop in now and then, thinking I might consider it a reward for getting jobs like writing sets of lecture notes done. :-) They do tell us we should try and encourage our students by giving them carrots, so I should be practising that, right? ;-)

Re: The Hobbit film

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

No, you weren't in that discussion - Ithilwen and I talked about it when she was here last week. But yeah, I think the Battle of Five Armies will fill 90 per cent of the film, and the Dwarves will be bumbling idiots.

I'm not looking forward to see that horrible movie!Elrond again! And I live in fear about what will happen to poor Thranduil... if he'll be in the film at all.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I'll have to ask Merlin to conjure up another virtual cake then...

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

So you are saying that by the time I retire I might be getting towards not quaking in my boots at the thought of doing my job? *grin* Except of course, with the way they keep planning to increase the retirement age in this country I might never make it there...

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Very true!

Although the actress playing Rose is supposed to be very good looking...

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a lot of work, but like you have a lot of support - and if they take teaching that seriously it should mean that they think you are ready to deal with it. :)


I am hoping to be able to pop in now and then, thinking I might consider it a reward for getting jobs like writing sets of lecture notes done. :-) They do tell us we should try and encourage our students by giving them carrots, so I should be practising that, right? ;-)
Sounds like a very good plan. :)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

It's the same problem over here... :( But you can always join me in virtual retirement, as soon as you hit 55.