This is the Greatest and Best Arguement in the World

I'm not a fan of Dr Who, I never have been. I've always considered it to be inferior to most of the shows I watch. This belief of mine fuelled and debate with a friend of mine quite recently on Facebook. I think it's an alright read.

For the privacy of those involved, the name codes featured on the blogs of Rae Charles and Agent M/ Auntie Mina will be used. This argument is between myself (Super Saph) and Agent M/ Auntie Mina.

Super Saph: You were watching Dr Who?

Agent M: Yup

Super Saph: NERD ALERT! NERD ALERT!

Agent M: If you're gonna criticise Dr who, I'm gonna catch a case with you

Super Saph: Bring it!

Agent M: NERD ALERT? There is nothing nerdy about watching Dr who it is a very intellectual program. So u wanna start a war? Don't make me get the Dr's screw driver

Super S: Sorry, I laughed so hard I forgot to breath

Agent M: WHAT? Are you mocking me and Dr who? Buffy does not even measure up to Dr who. Buffy is below there while Dr who is wayyy up there (Context: a previous phone conversation featured me talking about the awesomeness that is Buffy)

Super Saph: You know what? I will watch the highest rated episode of Dr who and then write an ESSAY about why it is not better than the best episode of Buffy

Agent M: Fine, I know you would not write more than 6 words, Dr who is better than Buffy

Agent M's status update: Dr. Who was great ( I got a double bill) [Super Saph] please find it in your heart to STOP hating.

Super Saph: Oh please! How long have you been a Dr Who fan? I really didn't know this

Agent M: Since the middle of last year, but it wasn't as great as it is now, I got really into it the beginning of this year

Super Saph: Nerd! One of us! One of us! Gobble, gobble, one of us!

Agent M: I am not a nerd, NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In response to the status update

Super Saph: I think you should realise that I haven't said one bad thing about Dr Who. All I said saw that it's a nerdy show, that's not an insult, most shows that have developed cult status such as Dr Who, Star Trek, Buffy and Freak and Geeks have done so because of their nerd following, there's nothing wrong with that. On a side note, Dr Who pales in comparison to Star Trek, Star Trek, Buffy and Freaks and Geeks, Battlestar Galactica and most other cult shows - there's my insult

Agent M: It is SOOOO much better than those crappy shows you just mentioned. How can you say that it pales in comparison? At least Dr who has variety he is a time lord who travels through time those crappy ones always do the same thing over and over again. I mean don't the ppl of battle whatever get out of the spaceship for some air gosh. Anyway as I said Dr. Who is of great intelligence and i would love to one day become one of his accomplices (wow i should have written that in my personal statement)

The Bear: Ok sapphire

Agent M: And Saph, watching Dr Who does not make you a nerd. It makes you an interesting person. Watching battle star whatever on the other hand makes you the king or queen of Nerdom (new country)

E.G: Dr. Who is pooo

Agent M: E.G we are no longer friends loooooooooool

Bay Leaf: All the shows u mentioned are crap!! lmao!! Accept it! Write that on ur personal statement Mina lol!

E.G: Awwww mini, I'm sorry but it is the truth it is a boring old granny programme, sept my nanny does not even like it HAHAHAHAH, get in to PRISON BREAK, its on tonight 10.00 on sky one, its the BESTTTT WOOOOO, Love You MiNIE X X XX XX X X X X

Jimi: Dr who is wank, Heroes is the shit

Agent M: E.G prison break is dead now. I mean they are out of prison now so why is it still on? Wasn't the whole concept to get out of prison. We want a new show. Next, and trust me when i say your granny records it and watches it when u guys are not there.
Leanne kiss my arse, even tho your comment made me laugh.
Jimi, Heroes is the shit but dr who is not wank. YOU ARE!

Bay Leaf: The best shows of this century are Heroes and desperate housewives

Agent M: I bet all of you who are condemning Dr. Who would love a ride in his Tardis.

Super Saph: And now for my comeback;
Not one of the television shows I have mentioned does the same thing repeatedly unlike the "alien of the week" series Dr Who. This is something Star Trek used to do back in 1966, it has grown out of this since then. Dr Who however, is older than Star Trek and is yet to learn, what does that say? Back to the "same thing" issue, Battlestar Galactica had a complete change in the structure and subject of the show between the original series and the new one and there is a new theme and various story arcs between each season. Freaks and Geeks did something new with each episode (it's not a Sci-Fi show). Buffy is another show that constantly changed, the same thing never happened repeatedly. And, for the record, the people often get out of their ships in Star Trek and Star Trek: DS9 wasn’t even set on a ship. Watching a TV show, regardless of what it is (except QI of course), does not make you an interesting person. What is interesting is the extent to which you can analyse and find deeper meanings with television shows. You used Battlestar as an example so I'll go with that. Battlestar Galactica is not just about people in space, very few Sci-Fi shows are. Battlestar Galactica hosts a range of philosophical issues and when it boils down to it, it about religion and faith. Mina, the fact that you have taken what I have said so seriously, and have argued so much serves only to prove that you are indeed a nerd, get over it.

Bay Leaf: Sorry Mina, Sapphire kicked ur arse!! Lol

Agent M: You mean Buffy does not always fight vampires? Really Saph?.
Alien of the week. Yeah, because they are always trying to destroy the earth and Dr. who is always trying to save it. And he doesn't even get a thank - you from doing so.
Battlestar Galactica IS a show about ppl or aliens whatever in space. Every time I'm channel surfing they are always in the ship thingy controlling something. Philosophical issues like what: 'The controls are down, we are finally going to die'. Or 'We are heading in to an astroid belt and there's nothing we can do about it'. At least Dr. Who's Tardis locks on to the nearest center of gravity.
Maybe faith, but religion?
Dr. Who is such a good story. It shows how one man just wants to bring peace everywhere by fighting intergalactic forces that are evil. And he saves the Earth so many times.
AND I AM NOT A NERD (I have been called that this and last week due to various reasons and i'd like to say I so am not)

Agent M: Bay Leaf before you make your little comments read the next piece you cow monkey fish

Bay Leaf: she still won but it was close, u were funny though.

Agent M: Kiss my arse Bay Leaf. Ain't no competition anyway. its a matter of opinions

Bay Leaf: Well, sapp had a stronger opinion, Dr Who is 4 kids and grannys who don't know any better lol!

Super Saph: Mina, something is becoming increasingly clear to me and that is that YOU HAVE NEVER WATCHED ANY OF THE TV SHOWS I AM TAKING ABOUT! No Buffy doesn't just fight vampires:
Seasons 1 & 2-vampires and demons
Season 3- the mayor
Season 4- a kinematically redundant, bio-mechanical demonoid
Season 5- a god
Season 6- a witch (also serving as an exploration... Read More of addiction)
Season 7-the source of all evil
You have proved me right, I quote you, "Alien of the week. yeah. because they are always trying to destroy the earth and Dr. who is always trying to save it." This is highly simplistic - every show I mentioned is more complex than this, and the fact you haven't said that the Dr Who has any duality proves me right. Science fiction is not supposed to be simplistic, it always serves more than 1 purpose. Science fiction is an existential metaphor that allows us to tell stories about the human condition. Isaac Asimov once said, "Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinded critics and philosophers of today, but the core of science fiction, its essence, has become crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all." Star Trek was made to confront issues surrounding racism, Battlestar was designed to talk about religion and terrorism, Buffy is technically about the trials an tribulations faced when growing up.
Mina, faith and religion go hand in hand. Battlestar Galactica is essentially about the opposing beliefs of monotheism and polytheism. Battlestar focuses on many issues such as what make us human and whether religion should be trusted or followed. Tell me, does Dr Who have any such issues? Also, there are NO aliens in Battlestar Galactica.
Seriously though Mina, have you watched any of the TV shows you are taking about?

Agent M: So who is Battlestar for? Ppl that don't have friends? Surely not coz saph watches it and she has friends so don't be ignorant, William watches Dr Who, Liradonna too.

Bay Leaf: WILL THIS EVER END??

Super Saph: Never!!!!!!!! This argument is going in my blog

Agent M: I see. But Dr. who does have such issues. like todays episode. A species divided into 2 that started fighting each other. they were created by the same being "the creator" but they still fight and they were trying to get to the temple to get the new world solution (long story) but there are such issues. And Dr Who's daughter even dies because of the beef (yes he did have a daughter).
If there not any aliens then the beings sure do look like aliens or is that star trek (excuse my ignorance).
Saph believe me when i say i have tried. Those half terms back in the day, when there was nothing to do during the day so you watch day time TV, Battlestar, star trek and buffy was on. I don't know if they we on during the same period but i have tried and then i get bored or disinterested (so i used to watch charmed, will and grace and maury instead hehehe)

Agent M: It is not an argument. it's a difference of opinions. Arguments make it sound like beef. we are just trying to say why our shows are great.

Super Saph: Hmmm, your example sounds like an analogy for conflict within mankind. Dr Who may actually have duality, touche. Give me more examples like that and perhaps I shall respect it more.
Really, there are no aliens in Battlestar.
Battlestar isn't daytime TV. It can't come on before the watershed. Can we conclude that you don't know what you're talking about, only joking. Can we conclude that as you have never managed to get through these shows, you're not really in the position to say certain things about them. You can't judge a show you've never watched, believe it or not, I've watched episodes of Dr Who, I wouldn't speak ill of it if I hadn't.
Is this the end of this chapter?

Agent M: Nope.
What is the point of watching the end of something you don't have interest in? If i lose interest in the middle of it there's no point in finishing it because there's gonna be the same outcome. It has to grip me from beginning throughout the middle and then to the end. So whats the point of wasting time when I could watch something else?
Oooo there was a Jane Austin episode. That was good, in fact they are going to show it 2moro again but I'm going to bed now. Because of this i have hardly done any learning (I did some while watching the good dr)

Agent M: Sorry did I say Jane Austin. I meant Agatha Christie!

Super Saph: As I said before, I can tell which episode would be the best for you to watch.
"what is the point of watching the end of something you don't have interest in." I'll answer that with the following "How can you judge something that you haven't seen" - This is what this argument has come down to. You cannot conclude that the shows I have mentioned are bad as you haven't watched them. Can you acknowledge this?

This concludes the argument thus far, jolly good stuff

A Bit of an Update

Hmmm, a few moments ago, it occurred to me that I have a blog, several blogs to be more precise (but not of course, completely precise). So, I had a quick look at my last post which consisted of me saying I had started watching Battlestar Galactica, I expressed some mad Once Upon A Time In America love, some Crash dislike and some Dark Knight indifference. Now, to recap. I have managed to watch every episode of Battlestar Galactica, some more than once, I have the same feelings towards Once Upon a Time in America and Crash and I’m yet to watch The Dark Knight again.

I haven’t written for quite some time, one month and nine days to be exact. What the frak has happened since August 7th?

The IMDB war has ended, but do we care?
Nope, not really

Some of us may remember that around July/ August, there was a bit of a war going on. The Dark Knight fans and The Godfather fans fought a lengthy battle of mice and keyboards all try to get the favourite movie onto the number 1 spot on imdb’s top 250. As you may have noticed from the title, the war is now over. The Dark Knight remained at number one for quite some time but, as some of use predicted, it is number 1 no longer. The Dark Knight has trickled down to number 3, and I believe it will only fall further. However, evidence of the war remains. Initially, the top 3 films were, in order, The Godfather, The Shawshank Redemption and The Godfather: Part II. There’s been a bit of a switcheroo between The Godfather and The Shawshank Redemption, the damage from the war brought The Godfather’s rating down.

The keyboards were at a bit of a disadvantage

Saturday Night Live returns
Political sketches n’ all.

Saturday Night Live has returned from its Summer hiatus with some good stuff…and some not so good stuff. I opened, as we have come to expect, with a sketch about the upcoming election. Amy Poeler appeared as Hillary Cinton and surprisingly, Tina Fey played Alaska Governor and Republican vice-presidential nominee, Sarah Palin. The aesthetic similarities between these two had not occurred to me until I saw the sketch. I believe this calls for a split screen.

Palin, left, Fey, Right. Or am I messing with you?

I strongly suggest checking it out, ‘tis hilarious. That was part of the good stuff, now for the not to good stuff. The first episode back was hosted by American Olympic hero, Michael Phelps, lets just say, he’s not the best actor.

Dr Horrible and that gosh darn sing-along Blog
Is there nothing Joss Whedon can’t do?

A while ago, by a while I mean weeks ago, a web series named Dr Horribles’s Sing-Along Blog was a available to watch for free online. It was fantastic. I wouldn’t say it was the greatest internet creation since gmail but it was great for what it was. It told the fun story of Dr. Horrible, a less than terrifying villain who was trying to get into the Evil League of Evil (run by Bad Horse). All the while being impeded in his efforts by Captain Hammer (played by none other than Firefly’s Nathan Fillion) who had caught the eye of Dr. Horrible’s love interest, Penny. If you’re a fan of Whedon, particularly the humour found in Whedon’s creations, I’d say you’d enjoy it. Oh snap! Yeah…it’s not free online anymore, check if you like it on you tube and if you do, you can buy the episodes and the soundtrack on iTunes….or…go through other channels *cough* torrents *cough*.

Welcome to the Dollhouse
We've got fun 'n' games

Continuing with the Whedon theme, the trailer for Joss Whedon’s new TV series, Dollhouse. Rather actually write about it, like some kind of peasant, here’s the trailer. It looks good to me, but then again, I intentionally watch rubbish.



Trailer Daze
Phrase “borrowed” from the IFC news podcast

Apple trailers has released some goodies since I last wrote. I’m not sure if the Watchmen trailer adventure happened before or after I last wrote, but here’s the story. Empire Online basically said that they had the exclusive new Watchmen trailer and it would only be available at 5am on the site on this day in question. Losers such as myself actually woke up at 5am to watch the trailer and lo and behold, it was available on Apple trailers already. I watched it, downloaded it in HD and went back to sleep. Now…about the trailer. In my sleepiness, it looked like the best trailer I had ever seen. Hooooowever, in my awakened state, it wasn’t too great. The images in the film looked good, but on the whole, not the best trailer I’ve been privy to. Watching the trailer made me even more aware of how unfamiliar I am with the cast, which may turn out to be a good thing as I don’t have them typecast. The thing is, I recognised one of the cast member, and he played a rather interesting character in another film. The film in question was Hard Candy, and he played a paedophile…hopefully I’ll forget once the film comes out of his performance will be so awesome that he’ll make me forget. Watchmen is a comic (trade paperback if you want to be precise) that had a lot of complex story that is generally hard to tell, I can’t help but worry that a lot will be left out. Kevin Smith saw it and said it was great, but he also liked Star Wars episode 3.

Woah, Watchmen got loads of attention. Erm, I think I’ll just do a separate post for trailers. Yeah…

The (not so) Secret Life the American Teenager
How this is still being made, I don’t know, but keep it coming

Have you ever watched something knowing that it was absolutely awful? This is the relationship I have with the ABC “family drama”, The Secret Life of the American Teenager. I was just browsing…a website, and I stumbled upon The Secret Life of the American Teenager. The thing that caught my attention was Molly Ringwald’s name who I have seen since in anything made after, erm, 1986? So, I watched the first episode and what terrible goodness it was. The acting is atrocious, the characters are walking stereotypes and the story is just, blah. However, as it is so bad, I can’t help but watch it. This drama is one of the best comedies I watch at the moment.

Guess what it‘s about

Getting tired…

On a final note, additional things that have happened, of that I have become aware of are:
-Ingmar Bergman is awesome
-The Ice Bar is as cold as you think
-Tropic Thunder was not as funny as I expected
-Caribbean Ice Tea is so very tasty
-Ruby Blue is rubbish
-The Daily Show is the best way to spend 25 minutes

And…

When you want people to arrive at a particular time, tell them to arrive half an hour earlier

Once Upon A Time

Yesterday, I spent much of the day doing filing for my mother. I didn’t accomplish much, all I really did was put the papers I was filing into different piles, by the time I finished doing this I suddenly felt sick and didn’t do anymore. It dawned on me during the course of the day that I still hadn’t finished watching season three of Battlestar Galactica, I blame Virgin Media (never shall I forgive them). So, as I filed and sat on my living room floor thinking about how ill I felt, I started watching Battlestar again. For the life of me I couldn’t remember where I left off so I began from the first episode. I haven’t watched much Sci-Fi recently so it was good to get back to what I had been neglecting.

I lent my laptop to my mother in the evening and suddenly I was without anything to watch. I looked at my DVD shelf and not one thing appealed to me, I need more DVDs. I decided to go through all my recordable DVDs to see what I had recorded over the last few months and hadn’t gotten around to watching. It was then that I stumbled upon Once Upon a Time in America on a disc with My Beautiful Launderette. I’d taken my time to watch it largely due to the length, it’s 4 hours long. Anyway, for some reason I started watching it at 11pm. This is something I don’t usually do because of something I call, “The Godfather Effect”. This basically refers to something that happens to me when I watch films late at night, and it has happened to me most often when watching The Godfather. The Godfather never comes on before 10pm, so whenever I watch a 10pm showing I start to fall asleep by 11ish. I just can’t seem to help it.

Back to Once Upon a Time in America. I started watching it at 11 expecting to fall asleep by 12, this didn’t happen. After 3am I finished watching it and couldn’t believe 4 hours had passed. The story didn’t seem slow or boring, I was engaged throughout the whole film. I’m glad I saw the 4 hour version as apposed to the shorted version as I don’t see how it could be edited down. I’m sure the storyline must suffer quite a lot. All in all, I’d say it was great film, it has easily become one of my favourites. As soon as it finished, I wouldn’t have minded watching it again but that would have meant going to bed after 7 and I usually wake up around 8. I’m thinking of watching it again right now.

A few days ago I was talking to someone about Crash (the Paul Haggis one) and why I have problems with it. As I was explaining this, I decided that I should probably watch Crash again as it had been a while since I saw it. There was strong possibility that I made it worse in my head so my motivation was the unreliable nature of human memory. So, I watched Crash again. My opinion of it is no higher. It’s just so obvious in it’s exploration of problems in society, and human nature, I found it hard to watch. Apparently, loads of people are racist and there are many ways in which racism can be represented. Who knew? What I can commend Crash on is the performances, on the whole they’re very strong, but apart from that, blah.

I can’t believe I written so much but failed the write about the fact that I saw The Dark Knight last Friday. It was a good watch. “ONLY and good watch” said the internet. Damn right, I said only. The thing is, the theatre was packed, I had a really bad seat and when I see certain films with my sister I can’t help but see what her reaction is. So, it wasn’t the best viewing experience. I’m going to see it again this week with my brother, his seat was worse than mine, I’ll comment on it again then.