…not to mention somewhat of a saboteur. You just won’t play certain disks correctly, will you? Oh, you’ll play Scarlet Street, Justice League Unlimited, and random Peter Davison serials of Doctor Who…with Tegan as a companion. What the fuck is up with that?

For Christ’s sake, Tegan? Tegan?

You’ve turned traitor on me.

I gave you the benefit of the doubt and popped in a Tom Baker disk, just to see if it was he with whom you had the problem. Apparently, you like him just fine…and Romana II, as well. You probably like everyone but you-know-who and Harry Sullivan.

Why just within the last two days have you decided to adopt this dislike…and only on the tele-laptop? Is it because I really need more screen caps for the Fashionista Fever! project? Or are you still punishing me on some level for Tammy?

Even with a fresh install of an updated version, you’re still acting out.

Don’t get me wrong, friend VLC. I love you. I really do. You’re a great little program and you (normally) work like a dream. The Mac and you haven’t had a row. What did Windows XP do to make you hate you-know-who and Harry Sullivan so much? How can anyone hate you-know-who, even you, you inanimate thing, you who are nothing more than a pile of 1s and 0s?

I’m going to try tricking you, oh, yes I am. I’ve tried once by copying a file from the disk to the tele-laptop hard drive, thinking maybe you would like that more. You didn’t, so my next plan of attack is to reburn the same file onto a new disk on a Mac and then see what happens when I pop it into the tele-top.

…or something very close to it is lurking in the manga section of a local chain bookstore where I spent a few hours last night. I was looking for the second part of Strawberry Panic and since I didn’t see any SP at all, I turned and wandered over to the other side of the shelf and found the Azumanga Daioh! omnibus. I nearly fell out because I was so stoked to find it, and even more so because I totally wasn’t expecting a large, almost 700-page book to stare me in the face and twist my arm to buy it. But buy it I did and then, most predictably, started reading it last night when I got home after a very, very late dinner with friends

I also found an absolutely mesmerizing book about movies in the 1930s, but because I couldn’t find a price on it, I returned it to its place on the shelf. I’ve got so many books about film and its history that it didn’t seem I needed another book. But now, looking at the book’s entry at Amazon, I’m sorry I didn’t plunk down the $40 for it. Well, at least I can get it through Amazon when I can justify spending that much on a book, not to mention another book in the same series, about movies in the 1920s and then one not from the series about the silents.

Even if I didn’t read a single word in the book (and by extension, I’m sure the same would hold true for the companion book about the 1920s, and probably the other one, too) and just pored over the pictures, it would be totally worth the price. But throw in actually reading the commentaries and such and I’d probably get more out of it than I paid.

If I’m not careful, I’ll have to buy another bookcase, even though I have absolutely nowhere to put one more…

Okay, so I’m two episodes into “The Stones of Blood” and there was something really bugging me about the woman playing Professor Emelia Rumford…I mean really bugging me. Honor Blackman kept popping into my head, although they are absolutely worlds apart from each other, but I couldn’t figure out why.

After a bit of wiki research, I found the following information:

Beatrix Lehmann (1 July 1903, Bourne End, Buckinghamshire - 31 July 1979, London) was a British actress, theatre director and author.

Lehmannn trained at RADA and made her stage debut as Peggy in a 1924 production The Way of the World at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. As well as her extensive theatrical career she appeared in films, on television, and wrote short stories and two novels including Rumour of Heaven first published in 1934 (ISBN 014016166X).

In 1946 Lehmann became director and producer of the Arts Council Midland Theatre Company.

In 1978 she gave a memorable performance in the Doctor Who serial The Stones of Blood as Professor Emilia Rumford. She also played Susan Calvin in two episodes of British science fiction series Out of the Unknown. In 1979 she played Mrs Pleasant in a film version of The Cat and The Canary. Other roles include parts in Z-Cars, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, War and Peace, Love for Lydia, Staircase, and Crime and Punishment.

She came from a family of notable achievers: she was a daughter of humourist Rudolph Chambers Lehmann, and her great-uncle was the Henri Lehmann the artist. Her brother was writer John Lehmann and her sister was novelist Rosamond Lehmann.

There are 12 portraits of Lehmann in the British National Portrait Gallery Collection.

It hit me like a ton of bricks: In 1979 she played Mrs Pleasant in a film version of The Cat and The Canary. Well, of course that’s why Honor Blackman was popping into my head; they both were in the movie. I won’t even touch the bit about Honor Blackman’s connections to Wilfred Hyde-White, who was also in the 1979 movie…at least not now.

And then a bit more wiki research lead me to this bit of fun:

Director Darrol Blake originally offered the role of Vivien to Honor Blackman, who declined the part as she felt Beatrix Lehmann had all the best material. Blake then asked Maria Aitken, who wasn’t interested. Susan Engel was finally hired for the part. Blackman would later appear in the Sixth Doctor serial Terror of the Vervoids (1986).

Ohh, this type of trivia is one of favorite things in the world!!

I swear to the gods in Valhalla that I’m going to post stuff about my trip. Soon. But until then, I leave you with this clip from YouTube, full of Sarah! Jane! goodness (there’s no other kind of S!J! !!) and an adorable outfit (and another pair of striped sox…I <3 striped sox), not to mention something nasty in the plastic box she's carrying...

The Hand of Fear (1976)

Still working on getting these images out of my SCS Post folder.

I can’t come up with a better title for this post, which will have nothing to do with party crashing in the least. I’ve just been listening to The B-52s almost exclusively for days. For the most part, everything else just makes me want to crawl out of my skin or simply desire no audio stimulation at all. Yes, even I need a break from KaTe every once in a while, although this last run was probably one of the longest on record.

At any rate, I’ve been thinking about wonderfully timed unemployment situation and comparing it to the last one back in 2004. If 2008 will be known as the Summer of My Cybertent, 2004 should be called the Summer of My Wanna-Be Subversive-tent.

I’ve even created a mix CD in honor of this summer, although it’s technically not summer just yet. I don’t think I’ve ever done that, created a CD to memorialize the music I played over and over in a given season. Nope. I can guarantee I’ve never done this. But it’s a good mix and hopefully the sister will be of a mind to listen to it at least once while I’m visiting. The track listing has been uploaded to artofthemix.com.

No, it hasn’t. AOTM has been down for two days and instead of waiting for them to get their act together, I proudly present The Summer of My Cybertent 2008:

Games People Play - The Alan Parsons Project

Give Him A Great Big Kiss (remix) - The Shangri-las

Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair) - Sheena Easton

Deadbeat Club - The B-52s

Eye In The Sky - The Alan Parsons Project

It’s Too Late - Bob Mould

Want You - The Bangles

Modern Girl - Sheena Easton

Out In The Streets - The Shangri-Las

You Want Alchemy - KaTe Bush

Loch Lomond - The Real McKenzies

Don’t Answer Me - The Alan Parsons Project

Leader of the pack (remix) - The Shangri-Las

Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In (The Flesh Failures) - The Fifth Dimension

Eyes Wide Open - The B52s

As I was listing the songs, I realized making a mix CD without at least one KaTe song seems an impossibility for me. There’s obviously little, if any rhyme or reason for any particular song’s inclusion (if you discount the whole KaTe factor), except it’s a snapshot of the bands/singers I’ve been playing over and over. I’ve even left behind Pink Striped Sox and A Sonic Lipstick in favor of this for listening in the 40-ouncer. That mix CD is a story unto itself; I don’t even know what version I’m up to.

If you’d like a copy of either - or both, let me know and I’ll get one to you.

Hey, don’t forget I’m making my debut on the new-fangled radio these crazy kids have today.

What? You say you can listen to radio from around the world on your computer? Oh, stop it. When I was your age, computers took up an entire rooms, if not building floors!

And none of the computer handlers looked like this and therefore inspired dangerously intense mouth-breathing:

1600 PDT today, here.

If you can’t tune due to prior commitments (e.g. washing and setting your hair, changing the oil in your car, ridding the remote control of that nastiness it attracts around the buttons), you can always download the program for listening on your terms.

Be seeing you.

With nothing witty to add.

if charlie parker was a gunslinger, there’d be a whole lot of dead copycats

lol manuscripts: everything could use a little lol, especially the renaissance

Pulled from the bowels of my hard drive.

Old Apple Computer Co. logo,
complete with Sir Isaac Newton

Screen cap from “Moonlight Lady,” which I enjoyed to a point,
although the only thing I really understood was the sex.

I’m not sure what the hell this has to do with communism,
but I found it when I was image googling “communism, communist manifesto,” etc., etc.

The very talented and always lovely Honor Blackman.
I still can’t believe I actually spoke to her and stood this close, peering over her shoulder.

Seriously, do you think he ever tripped over this damn thing?
A scarf like that could come in very handy for a little kink about the TARDIS, you know.