Tamino

[Er.. I only found out after posting this that fonts.. don't actually make that much difference on the actual

blog
post. It looks terrible in the editor window though.]

Ah, what kind of example am I se–WHAT IS UP WITH THIS FONT PLEASE?!? ARGH, do I have to change EVERYTHING around here?! Wait, is this thing still on? Aw dammit.

Anyway, that looks better. I, uh, think this is what it should have been. Okay, now we can begin.

Ah what kind of example—…Oh, oh, now this is just great, isn’t it? I press enter and all the.. *sigh* Wow, this sucks. *grumbles* Testing testing testing…

Right, working now? …Oh, for God’s sake. I give up. I’ll just post in this font, annoying though it is. For some reason fonts appear to be defaulting to this, and revert when I press enter. Strange.

OKAY, NOW WE BEGIN:

Ah, what kind of examp– OH, OH, WHAT THE HELL? YOU WANT TO WORK NOW?!? YOU’RE GIVING ME THE RIGHT FONT AGAIN RANDOMLY?!? OH, WOW, THIS IS JUST GREAT. JUST WHEN I GET USED TO THE OTHER FONT, AS WELL?!?

*sigh* I can’t work under these conditions. And it just changed back as well. *cries*

Alright, I give up now, for real. Whatever the hell font it wants, I’ll use.

Ah, what kind of example am I setting by not following my New Year’s Resolution? It states quite clearly there that I must continue blogging. Hrm, well dang. It’s been a hectic few months, anyway, so I’ve not had much chance. For starters, I’ve been attempting to set up a proper

blog
at tamino.co.uk again - my Perplex City in-game
blog
. But that’s not had much success yet - partly because I can’t find a theme that I like, and partly because Perplex City has been delayed until June. *sigh*

I am, though, a straight A student. In all 5 mock exams that took place a few weeks ago, I got all A’s. This scares me, given the rather terrible results that I got last year on my AS exams. And the results of the January module exams (Bloody hell, that was ages ago, have I really not updated for that long?) have been returned to me:

Physics - 90/90 - 100% - A
Further Maths [Mechanics] - 95/100 - 95% - A

So naturally I’m pretty pleased with these results. I’m predicted an A in every subject. *squee*. That is… provided I get this coursework finished. It’s all due in for next Monday, and I have two things to do - the write up of my Electronics project, and task 3F on Computing. Task 3F, though, shouldn’t take very long. It’s just making and carrying out a test plan for the program I wrote. Simple stuff.

I also have an XBox 360. This has been one of the best purchases I’ve ever made, and I say this from the heart. I love it. I’m really getting into console FPS’s as well. This time last month, I abhorred them. But now, I’m working through 3 - Prey, Gears of War, and Farcry - and am loving them. The controls seem a lot more natural than I first thought.

But, I’m kinda going off track. This was only meant to be a really really short post. I’ve posted this because my

blog
has been bumped. And one of my resolutions was to write reviews of Doctor Who episodes. And I need somewhere to do that. And the series has started again.

However, looking at this, it may be more effort than it’s worth.

Blog
.
com
does have a rather hard to use editor, and dashboard. I’ll see if I can sort out this whole fonts thing and get the panel page bookmarked.

I leave with a quote, spoken by a truly great human..oid.

“I’m back. And I’m bad. Obviously within certain preset parameters.” ~ Kryten

Goals for 2007:

1) Complete this ****ing Learn Japanese book and tapes that have been on my desk for years.
2) …Actually pass my exams. And I mean pass, not like last year’s “passes”.
3) Write. Participate in NaNo 07 and WIN.
4) Write more. Fanfics and stuff are fun, I need to do more of them. My aim is about 5-10 fanfics for the year.
5) Read 50 books this year. So far I’ve read… none. >.>;

So, 50 books. And 5 fanfics. S’gonna be fun. I’ve started on my first fanfic. Doctor Who [of course].

As for 50 books.. I don’t even know 50 books. Gah, darn this challenge. Well, I guess I’ll start on Terry Pratchett.

Book 1: Mort

Also, it just hit me today, as I was looking through my Computing coursework folder. I’ve actually FINISHED task 2. All I have to do is the last 2 parts of task 3, and.. that’s it. Of course, I’ll probably redo Task 1, because I think I’ve done crap on it. But yeah.

*yawn* I’m tired. No physics tomorrow. I can take it easy, finish task 3..

Yeah, I’m bored. In fact, I’m going to bed. Wake me up when September ends.

Ack, exams. Big exams. In 6 and 8 days. [Wednesday and Friday of next week].

Well, I’m going back to school today. Electronics and Mechanics. So I reckon I’ll be spending most of Mechanics being revised at, and most of Electronics being ahead of everyone else. C’est la vie. I love Thursdays.

Also, yes. I have exams next week, thanks for asking. Mechanics [Wed] and Physics [Fri].

Mechanics is all about dynamics, SUVAT equations, projectiles, vectors…
Physics is all about dynamics, SUVAT equations, projectiles, vectors… conservation of energy, deformation of solids, and spring extensions.

So I figure that if I just revise for Mechanics, I’ll get it all right. Yeah, that’s about right.

Anyway, I spent the whole night looking at universities online, determined to not go to Bolton university [On the advice of my great uncle], in order to be “independant” and “live on my own” without being in the same town as Grandma. …Yeah. You know how they say where there’s a will there’s a way? Well I willed to not go to Bolton, but clearly the universe hates me. The only good course I can find is in Bolton University. *sigh*

http://www.bolton.ac.uk/courses/course_display.asp?single=bsc_cgsd&mode=single&template=university

Well, I suppose if I get accomodation near the university, I can.. pretend it’s a new town. Yeah. *nods* That’s what I’ll do.

Also, is it wrong to worry and be scared about something that’s over 1.7 years away?

That’s all. I leave you with a drabble, based on challenge #147 of the DW100 drabble community [A drabble is a short 100 word story] which is “Ice and Snow”.

“Right! Earth, here we are then!” the Doctor said, excitedly, to Rose. “Ice age! One step out there like that and you’ll freeze to death, go get changed!”

Rose ran off to the wardrobe room, while the Doctor looked outside through the scanner screen. Glaciers everywhere, a completely white scene. A scene that no human alive had ever seen. Rose ran back in, dressed in a snow jacket. She smiled at the Doctor, and then ran to open the doors, to see the icy scene she had been promised. The doors were opened, and…

…A perfectly healthy green field.

“…Ah…”

Ugh, it’s that time again. New years resolutions. And I’m going to make them - not because I intend to stick to them or have my life be controlled by them, but so that, next year, I’ll have something to look back on and laugh and go “HHAHAHA, DID I REALLY INTEND TO DO *THAT*?!?!”

So, here goes.

1) I will blog more. Much of 2006 was taken up by my blogging unsuccessfully. I think that, in 2006 alone, I must have started and failed with about 4-5 seperate blogs. So, I shall not let this blog die.

2) I will review Doctor Who. I have felt that, over the course of the last two years, my skill of reviewing something has really improved. I’m looking more at character development, and emotions, than my previously childish “Ooh, pretty effects! :o” that I was at this point two years ago. So I’m going to review my Doctor Who episodes [2006 season]. I’m definetely getting better - instead of the old short “..Yeah, didn’t like this episode” posts, I’ve found myself elaborating on it. I’m trying to find exactly what the *reason* I didn’t like it was, and stuff. Yeah.

3) I’m going to start my novel. My *proper* novel. My novel about Tamino, that I’ve had in my head for the last 5-6 years. I’m *going* to write this, and it’s *going* to be good.

4) I will complete Operation Californication. I have so far completed around 40% of Operation Californication, but I *AM* going to finish it, and I’m going to try and finish it as soon as possible. I really need to stick at something once I’ve started it.

5) I will use square brackets instead of round ones. ['nuff said.]

6) I will complete this frigging annoying puzzle book that’s been on my desk since September 2005. It’s so annoying now. Seriously. And I will order 2006’s puzzle book, and I will finish that before 2008. Promise.

7) If I start something, I will finish it. This is the resolution that I’m not in any way going to keep, it’s just in to taunt me.

I will do well on my exams this year. I have to put this in, frankly. I’m probably going to stick to this one, though.

Um.. I’m sure there’s more. But I can’t think of them right now. 5 hours until I can go to sleep!

Right, here goes. My review of 2006!

Hm, I’m tempted to rate this year highly because of, of course, Tennant!Doctor. However, I think a scene-by-scene commentary is required before I leave my final rating.

Yes, I can’t wait for next year! Huzzah!

Ugh, FINALLY.  Blog.com’s been borked for me for the past week.  >.<

 Anyway, I’m back now.  I don’t know for how long.

 So!  It’s been CHRISTMAS!  Yaay!

 I got:

     - Celebrations
     - Celebrations
     - Malteasers
     - Doctor Who 2006 season Box Set
     - Doctor Who 2006 season limited edition Box Set
     - Doctor Who 2007 calendar
     - Guitar case, for the transporting of my guitar to school so I can [hopefully] get lessons again
     - £20
     - £40
     - Some little metal puzzles where you have to seperate the two things from each other
     - A new phone [Nokia 6230i]
     - Broken Sword 4: The Angel Of Death [PC game]
     - The Book Of General Ignorance [Stephen Fry]
     - Wireless headphones [Plantronics Pulsar 590a] [A present from me to me]
     - Lots of boxes of POCKY! [Another present from me to me]

Hoorah for christmas.

Also, the big Christmas event, The Runaway Bride, was shown.  I’m in mixed opinion about it at the moment, I’ll review it when I’ve seen it a few [53926] more times.   And Torchwood on Christmas Eve, of course.

As for the last few days, nothing much has happened.  I’ve been on MapleStory a lot, been doing my Computing coursework, and generally wallowing in the sad despair of someone that’s not got a Wii. 

I’m writing a review of last years Doctor Who christmas special, The Christmas Invasion.  I’m going to go through my Doctor Who 2006 season box set and write extra long reviews about them, because I can, and I’m bored.  Seriously, I’ve written about 1000 words on the first TWO minutes.  Which.. is amazing.  I think I need a shorter episode, *collapses*.

Also, some important things I’m looking forward to:

    - Torchwood episodes 12 and 13 [New years day]
    - The Sarah Jane Adventures pilot episode [New years day]
    - Free gifts on MapleStory! [New years day]
    - Going back to school [Less so than the others] [Thursday]

So yes, that’s it for today. I was hoping I’d have more to talk about.

Oh, yes, and this Computing coursework is killing my brain.  I have to dumb my coding down SO much.  Because, so far, I have coded [COMPLETELY automatically, as I -ALWAYS- code them] a menu system, and error catchers EVERYWHERE.  But NO, the coursework says not to DO those.  So I raelly REALLY have to dumb my brain down to do this coursework.

Ugh.

 -Mindez

Yay, review time!

 This post contains spoilers about Doctor Who S01E02, starring William Hartnell, and stuff.

 CUT for spoilers.

I thought this episode was awesome.  The first episode with daleks.  Thals and Dals, or something.  Though my one critique was that it was too long and drawn out.

I think they had at least 20 minutes worth of filler (Most of the episode of Ian and the Thals coming through the jungle, if I remember correctly), and the 7 episodes could have been compacted down to 6 easily, with no significant loss.  7 episode was a bit too much to hold my attention span, and I got fed up after about the 5th-6th-ish.

The Daleks were wonderful as always.

Oh, and Hartnell was awesome.  *nods*

And now, I have the following to say:

Well, that was awesome.  Much better than I thought originally.  I think it’s a case of paying more attention, my attention was mostly elsewhere on the first watch.

I originally stated that there was at least a full episodes worth of filler, but now on rewatching I see that everything that happened was totally necessary to keep the viewer interested.  I originally though “..What’s the point of the jumping-over-cliff scene”, and “What’s the point of the swamp scene”, but yes.  I now realise that they were totally required, for character development, and stuff.

Or, to put it another way, I’d be complaining a lot more if it had just been: 

Ian: Right!  Lets go thwack those Daleks, eh?  Lets go over the mountains!
*cut*
Ian: Right!  We’re here, now–Ooh look, neutron bomb!

So despite it probably being ‘filler’, I now realise that they ARE needed, not only as a transition between the two scenes, but also as Thal/Ian/Barbara character development.

The Daleks were.. not as Dalek-y as we have come to know them as.  But then, they always seem to suddenly lose the will to shoot whenever the Doctor walks in front of them, so that’s not a problem.  I’m just wondering.. why they didn’t kill Ian when they shot him?  He wasn’t required, surely the Daleks realised that they would only need one or two of them for whatever they needed them for.  But yes, this is nitpicking.

I felt there was also that underlying Dalek-rationalisation in their actions, as well.  

Doctor: That’s sheer murder!
Daleks: NO.  IT IS EX-TER-MIN-A-TION.”

Showing that the Daleks *know* what they’re doing, and they know that, in their belief, it is NOT wrong.  It is NOT murder, is it purification, extermination.  Murder, but murder that they have justified and rationalised.  The Dalek logic, at it’s best.

Brilliance.

I’ll give it 9/10.

 

Wow, I feel like my reviewing skills are getting much better!

Wow at the number of comments I received yesterday. I’m sure it was a fluke, rather than people ACTUALLY liking me, but still. THANKS TO YOU ALL!

Hoorah.

Today, I watched “An Unearthly Child”, the first ever Doctor Who story. (*cough* http://vids.tamino.co.uk/eps/001.php *cough*).

Anyway, apart from doing that (And watching Doctor Who for almost 2 hours straight), I’ve not done much today. Oh, except I did my Computing homework yesterday, and when I say “did my Computing homework”, I mean “did every single Computing homework for the next 3 months”. In the space of an hour and a half. And it was surprisingly fun. I love algorithms.

Still, that’s going to cause me a lot of boredom over the next three months. Only 3 days (Or 6 lessons) left until the end of school for the year! 2 Computing, 1 Further Maths, 2 Electronics, and 1 Physics.

Also, one of my Electronics/Physics teachers sucks. I’m not going to mention Mr Meacham’s name here, but he really sucks. Our electronics lesson is going to go on for the full time on Tuesday, even though EVERY SINGLE other class finishes at 3:30 on Tuesday. But nooo, he’s MAKING us stay in until 4:30. Agh. I hate him. And he always -ALWAYS- marks my homework wrong. And then when I point this out, just says “..I can’t be bothered with this now.” and “Why do you do this to me?” - Well, maybe I have to do it to you BECAUSE YOU MARK MY HOMEWORK WRONG.

*sighs*

Anyway, I could rant on all day about Mr. Meacham whom I shall not name. And I don’t actually hold it against him for making us stay in on Tuesday, but I -DO- hold it against him for having taught us exactly the same thing every single lesson since the beginning of term, and marking my homework wrong. (I have him for one Electronics and one Physics a week. My other Electronics/Physics teacher is awesome, though.)

The Hogfather is on TV tomorrow. I can’t wait to watch it. Also Torchwood episode 10. Also Codex. Also Lost.

Wow, that’s a lot of things on TV tomorrow. and my Sky+ can only record Torchwood, because anything recorded on Channel 4 or Sky One (Or the Sci-Fi Channel, but there’s nothing good on that tomorrow) completely borks up, and keeps skipping, doesn’t play audio, etc. It’s terrible.

Comments plx.

-Mindez