Another lengthy comment response to one of TAB's posts that became an entry of its own, though this one is significantly shorter:

I disagree with this post -- it's not actual geeks that people regard as being sexy. It's just the look, which arguably has more to do with the rise of emo culture among teens and geekish metrosexual styles among adults than professional success in IT fields (et cetera).

Artists and eccentric actors and offbeat comedians have sex appeal, sure, but these guys aren't true geeks. Note that the truest form of geekery is hardly creative, because the geeks are generally too busy worshipping at the altar of something else to make their own contributions. It's possible to be geek-y without being a geek (and nerd-y without being a nerd, et cetera).

By the way, speaking of geeks and their interest in comic books, I saw something at Best Buy today that I thought was rather neat -- all of the issues of the Ultimate X-Men comic on a single CD-ROM for $10. Given that most of the people who buy comics probably don't even actually read them and that the people most interested in reading them probably wouldn't even want to buy them, the Internet has made it far too easy for folks to simply download titles every month, but releases like this may prove an effective alternative. True, people generally don't want to pay for what they can get for free, but $10 for 70+ issues is a damn good deal -- and one that comic fans could enjoy without feeling like they were cheating an industry that they love. Hell, if I were into the Ultimate X-Men comic (I am totally not), I'd have picked it up without hesitation. Well, there might be some hesitation -- the files are apparently in PDF format, and I generally hate Acrobat. The CDisplay Comic Reader is a much more pleasant program to work with.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

I'd intended to write about the 2006 series of Doctor Who a while ago -- apparently since early July, given the creation date of the above image! -- but the Dalek madness took hold of me and I'm just now getting around to it in response to yesterday's review from TAB. I began writing the following remarks as a comment on his post, but then figured I might as well use the above image and post them here.

I agree with TAB that Series 2 was better than Series 1, but only because its somewhat lighter tone and Eccleston's slightly more emotive portrayal didn't make the Doctor seem so much like an asshole when people started dying. Even though the words themselves rang sort of hollow, the way David Tennant solemnly intoned, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," upon encountering human corpses at least shows that his Doctor acknowledges the deaths of others, whereas Chris Eccleston actively and recklessly contributed to their demise and then bounced around all giddy like on more than one occasion. (By contrast, he was visibly upset when a hotwired pig was killed.) It's hard to say who was the better Doctor, since it's almost like comparing two different characters. I found Tennant's Doctor to be more appealing, but again that probably has more to do with the tone of the Series 2 episodes than either actor's skill in the role. Eccleston is probably the better actor overall, though.

In retrospect, however, it's kind of odd that I like Series 2 better, seeing as how it had some exceedingly stupid episodes. In fact, looking over the list, I only really liked about half of the thirteen eps: "School Reunion", "The Girl in the Fireplace" (my favorite of the season; almost reminded me of the Douglas Adams serials of old), the "Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel" two-parter, and the two-part "Army of Ghosts/Doomsday" finale. The other eps were mostly just bland, but then there were a few with outright terrible shark-jumping plotlines. (more...)

Just thought I'd post about it over here too -- I posted three new pieces tonight on Scary-Crayon. There's the fourth segment of my batshit insane 2004 NaNoWriMo novel, The Absolute Strangest Christmas Story Ever Told, Dusty Plastic HELL: Hot Flash #86, and (gasp!) a review of the La Tasca Spanish Tapas Bar & Restaurant in Baltimore, MD. I despise the official culinary critiques found in print media -- to say nothing of the dreadfully dull restaurant reviews (or reviews of anything, really) that litter the blogosphere -- so this one is different. Hopefully it's also interesting and/or insightful and/or thought-provoking. It might even be a little creepy. Which I guess would make sense, considering who wrote it.

Later, then.

So I got a letter in the mail today from my bank, which, at this time, is unable to approve my request for a credit card. I like that: "Unfortunately, at this time, we are unable to approve your request." As if it's out of their hands and they really would like to, but Hurricane Katrina wrecked their facilities and they're still rebuilding and those gosh-darned red kerchief-wearing bandits with their polished six-shooters keep emptying their vaults and they just don't have any credit to give to people who aren't super rich even though those people have had accounts with their bank since fucking 1999.

Oh, and apparently I'm supposed to be paying quarterly taxes, so I have to send a hefty check to the government tomorrow because I've neglected to pay for the first two quarters. I fucking hate my bank and finances and this country and the fact that I need to build credit to do anything yet can't build credit because my own fucking bank won't even give me a card and my head is throbbing and I feel very, very ill but not so ill that I wouldn't slam my fist down hard on that glowing red button and blow this fucking planet into microscopic smithereens. I'm highly upset right now.

In case anyone missed it, I posted A Random Lunch #11 on Scary-Crayon on Monday. Looks delicious, doesn't it? Like hot vomit on cooling asphalt.