Doctor Who

Over the last four months I have watched the all of the new Doctor Who serieses (seri? I don't know what the plural of series is). If you have seen them, then you know how awesome they are. If you haven't, then this is the next thing you need to watch them. I don't mean you should put it on your to-watch list. I mean you should stop watching whatever it is you are watching, even if you are in the middle of another show, and only stopped to read my blog, and watch Doctor Who. Seriously. There won't be a quiz this week on the blog, so you can stop reading and go watch Doctor Who. I won't feel bad you didn't finish my post.

So, you are still reading. That must mean you want more information on where to start. I recommend starting at the beginning (of the new series starting in 2005), although the first few episodes, while good for TV, are not really indicative of the brilliance that will follow. They are entertaining, but you probably won't understand my enthusiasm until you get to The Empty Child, which is the first episode written by Steven Moffat in series 1 (a series is like a season, except British). Whenever you see his name during the opening credits, you are in for a treat. Doctor Who episodes are generally excellent, but Moffat's are a step or two above the rest. They are wonderful blends of science fiction, horror, and humour. But Moffat is not the only brilliant writer, and the characters are so fun that even the less exciting episodes are enjoyable. Series 1 is excellent, but the others are better. The story is better if you watch it in order, so start with series 1.

"What is the show about?" you ask. If you haven't asked that yet, feel free to do so now, for I will tell you, in a spoiler-free manner. The main character is a mysterious time traveller named the Doctor. (When he introduces himself, people sometimes ask "Doctor who?", hence the show's name). He travels around and has adventures in space, on other planets, and on earth in the present, future, and past. He usually has a human companion or two who travel with him. His time machine looks (from the outside) like an old-school British police phone box, due to a malfunction in the time machine's self-disguising mechanism. The show is full of friendship, humour, adventure, and sometimes horror and tragedy. It is extremely well written and the stories are high quality science fiction. The doctor changes bodies sometimes (this happens, coincidentally, whenever an actor decides not to come back for another season). It's like how James Bond is played by many actors, except the show actually explains why he looks different.

If you still aren't convinced that you need to watch the show, then before watching from the beginning, watch one episode from the middle of season 3 called Blink. It stands well on its own so you can follow it once you've read the above paragraph. Watch it in the dark. Then go back and watch series 1.

The Second Post

The moral of the last two weeks is: if a book you have been looking forward to a lot is about to come out, don't start reading a trilogy a week before. I had to put off reading The Way of Kings for another week while I finished the Hunger Games trilogy. It was Terry Brooks's fault, even though he didn't write any of the books I'm talking about. When he came to the University bookstore a couple Tuesdays ago, he said that he had been tempted to not show up so he could stay home and read a new book that came out that day called Mockingjay. There were copies of it all over the bookstore, and they had even had a release party at midnight that day. I decided to see what the fuss was about, forgetting that I had only 7 days before The Way of Kings, and started reading The Hunger Games, which starts the trilogy that Mockingjay concludes. I was partly through book 2, Catching Fire, when The Way of Kings came out and I had a choice: read the new book I had been waiting for while forgetting what was going on in the Hunger Games trilogy, or finish the trilogy and put off the new book a while longer. I decided that the trilogy was good enough to finish properly and so I did. It was quite a trilogy so I'm glad I finished it. It was good enough that I actually enjoyed it even though it was keeping me from The Way of Kings.

The Way of Kings is a 45-hour-long audiobook. That hopefully means it will last through my drive home to Los Angeles in two weeks even if I start reading tomorrow. I am going to a signing next week when Brandon Sanderson comes to Seattle, so I hope no one gives away spoilers. There is nothing worse for someone not finished with a book to have someone ask the author, "How did you come up with the idea for the part at the end when Dumbledore kills Darth Vader's sled, only to find that it's made of people?"

Dr. Who is awesome. Watch it. The Doctor is not only awesome, but he's awesome in a British way. British things just tend to be better. Proof: P.G. Wodehouse, Christopher Nolan, Terry Pratchett, Dr. Who, Radiohead, Muse, the accent, blackcurrant juice, sweets, Wallace and Gromit, etc. The Doctor not only travels through space and time, he does it in a 1950s police box. And does he have a blaster, or a tricorder, or a lightsaber? No, he has a sonic screwdriver. If that doesn't sound awesome, you haven't seen enough Dr. Who.

It has been a month and a half since I first saw Inception, so I have had time to watch it again and cool off from the initial excitement. And I can still confidently say that it is the best movie I have ever seen. I give it a 10 out of 10, and in order to keep things to scale, I have to move the previous 10s (e.g. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Empire Strikes Back) down to about 7. They didn't get worse, but the scale had to change to fit Inception.

I will start reviewing things like books on this blog, mostly so I can get Tor to send me ARCs of books I am impatient to read. But I won't start today. I will leave my many readers with this question: why do people enjoy boring books? I'm referring to bestsellers that I haven't read that are about real people's life experiences or introspective journeys, or fiction about boring characters' life experiences or introspective journeys. Or books about how to invest, etc. Have the people who read these books already exhausted the science fiction and fantasy section, so they are forced to turn to these boring books? That can't be the case, or more of the good books would hit the bestseller lists. What is it that makes people want to read stories about the contemporary real world? We don't need the book, we live here already! A book is like the TARDIS (follow my advice two paragraphs ago if you don't know what that is) and can take you on fantastic journeys and adventures to other worlds, or at least to more interesting times in this one (e.g. medieval Europe). Why read about people going to jobs and doing their taxes or traveling to boring places when you could read about magic or space? I'm being a little facetious in belittling everything outside the realm of speculative fiction, but I'm also genuinely concerned that the reason many people don't read very much is that the books they always see people reading look mind-numbingly boring. Of course, they wouldn't be bestsellers if they looked boring to everyone. And many great books might look boring. There should really be some kind of idiomatic expression about how a cover isn't a great way to judge a book.

Books need rating systems on what content is in them, like movies and video games have. Elitist Book Reviews puts this information in their reviews, which is big help. There are many interesting-looking books that I consider buying but then don't because I don't know if they are going to be a swearing sleazefest or in good taste. I am currently stuck with books EBR reviews and YA novels. Another good way to see what a book is like is to download a sample on your Kindle.

I tried to end this post a couple paragraphs ago, but I failed. Let's try again.