I ended up doing a lot of driving over the weekend, visiting people in Belleville and Ottawa and briefly crossing the
border. Driving on long trips is the perfect environment for listening
to Doctor Who audio dramas.
I’d caught up on the regular series with The Whispering Forest.
And I’d made it all the way through the second series of Eighth Doctor
and Lucy stories before I headed home. So I decided to pick up the audio adaptations of the Sixth
Doctor’s missing Season 23.
As I’ve previously alluded, I really like the Sixth
Doctor in audio. I like him on TV too (I like all Doctor Who, really), but I do find myself having to forgive it a bit
here and there. The intent of these Lost Stories audios is to come as close to how the episodes would have appeared on
television as possible. Which is fascinating, but not without drawbacks.
I spent nearly all of Mission to Magnus thinking I would have loved to
have seen this on TV in the Eighties. It features the return of Sil, who’s always wonderfully portrayed
by Nabil Shaban, and
the Ice Warriors, albeit in more of a Seeds-of-Death-destroy-everything mode
than in the more nuanced Peladon stories, but no matter.
[[Kwartzlab]] has been talking about throwing a LAN party for a while now. We’ve got power, a network and drinks, so
it’s ideal. Eric and I got to talking, though, and with the [[Ubuntu]] stuff in
Waterloo centered largely around Kwartzlab it would be extra awesome if it was a free software LAN party. Everything we
play is open source and available through the Ubuntu repositories.
So he went off and tested some games, made a live
CD, set up a meta-package and we played some games.
(Pioneers is awesome, but its reception was a bit disappointing, mainly because only Eric and I had ever played Settlers
before. Generally, I think if you’re going to the trouble of getting people together in a room, you’re better off
playing the boardgame. Over distances, with seasoned Settlers fans, it has much more potential).
We started small, limiting ourselves to Kwartzlab people and a few friends. But our goal is to get other Ubuntu groups
involved, ideally culminating in a cross-country or international Ubuntu LAN party. Which is just awesome.
Quick note to say Ellen and I hope to go to
see Twelfth Night in Waterloo Public Square next week, Wednesday,
July 21 at 7:30 (although they advise showing up a half-hour before the show. Tickets are pay-what-you-can, but you can
access reserved seating for a set price.
Peter Nichol, a.k.a. Dr Chronopolis in The Red Panda Adventures will be
playing Sir Toby Belch. I’m a big fan of The Red Panda (and also his sidekick, The Flying Squirrel).
It’s cheap (or possibly free if you like). You should come too.
Then, on Thursday, we’ll be in Elmira for Taming of the Shrew. The
production features Nick Oddson and Jonathan Dietrich, two of my co-workers, who also happen to be Royal Medieval Faire
regulars.
Oh, and we’re planning on going to Stratford lots too.
Update (2010-07-22 - Pie approximation day!): We went to see Twelfth Night last night and it was lovely, save for the
Harley Davisons which thundered by every five minutes. Seriously guys, obnoxiousness does not make you cool.
Unfortunately, it looks like we’ll miss Taming of the Shrew tonight as the Shrew in question has been tamed
by some sort of horrible stomach flu or something. We may try this weekend…
