I spent yesterday revising the new short story. A long session on-screen, then I printed out the draft and went at it in hardcopy. As I’ve alluded to previously, I think, these two types of editing are quite different for me. I’ll key in the changes today and make another read-through on-screen, then I plan to submit it and move on to something else.
Yesterday afternoon I watched Runaway Bride, the 2006 Doctor Who Christmas special, provided by a kind person with overseas connections. It’s mostly a light bit of fun, as was last year’s Christmas eppie, but that doesn’t prevent it from being dark and menacing at the same time. The robo-Santas from last year are back again, which was disappointing for its lack of originality, and the evil alien is too shrill for my tastes, but it was an entertaining romp. The eponymous bride is on the shrill side herself, but she makes for good fun. She’s no Rose, but she wasn’t meant to be, though the Doctor is clearly still suffering Rose’s loss. The bride, Donna, makes an astute observation toward the end, saying the Doctor needs a companion to keep him from going too far sometimes, which he acknowledges with a stunned look of realization.
Episode revelation: the Doctor’s pockets are far bigger on the inside.
Last night we went to see Notes on a Scandal, starring Judi Densch, Cate Blanchett and Bill Nighy. We knew absolutely nothing about the movie except who was in it, which was enough for us. It’s a tale of loneliness and fatal attractions, exceptionally well dramatized. The Philip Glass score was intrusive at times, and there was one plot point that didn’t sit well with me (a diary page in the trash can), but other than that we enjoyed it.
Densch’s character, the self-proclaimed battleaxe who can silence her students with a glare, looks like she’s been dragged around the block by the cat several times, but she pulls it off with aplomb. Nighy is the dishraggy character he has perfected in the past, so it’s a great pleasure to see him grow a spine near the end when he has a shouting match with Blanchett. You can’t help coming away from the film feeling bad for Babs, as she never seems able to get what she needs out of life. Maybe she should have tried running a personal ad instead of her oft-tried and oft-failed approach.
