Delightfully Useless

I just thought I'd randomly mention that (having discovered the 24/7 computer lab with super-fast wireless access on my campus, yay college) I am starting a Stargate SG-1 Watch-Through of EPIC. I'd do reaction posts, except the sum total of my original thoughts about COTG part 1 - i.e. the thoughts that aren't "oh Jack, oh Sam, oh Daniel, Hammond in a hat!" - are that Kawalsky is pretty darn cute (too bad ( spoilers! )) and Teal'c looks silly in serpent guard armor. Probably everybody looks silly in serpent guard armor.

Oh, and Apophis really does look oddly like President Obama. I wasn't watching 'Gate during the election lead-up, so I missed out on most of the Apophis-vs-Janet politics-related hilarity on one of my forums then... (fora? flora? foraminifera? lol)

Also Apophis wears silver lame under his armor instead of the Jaffa's knitted longjohns. This can be interpreted to support my fanon that Jaffa knit their own armor-liner-whatever-those-are in their spare time.

(Yes, I am slightly cracked-out right now. All my homework is caught up, and there is ALL OF STARGATE SG-1 on Hulu. :DDDD Got algebra class in a bit, though. Hurrah, more homework! *g*)

Well, first things first - a very happy Easter to everyone on my flist that celebrates it! (And even if you don't celebrate Easter, I hope you have a happy day anyway. We can all use one, ya think?)

Next: for the first time in my life, I am watching a TV show that's still on the air, and even better than that... I'm getting to watch it before it comes out on DVD! *happy*

The show in question, of course, is Doctor Who. I have "magically acquired" the new series premiere, thanks to the wonderful eponymous_rose, and so there is a very squeeful long spoileriffic reaction post under the cut.

( The cut is here... )

I've always found The Wind in the Willows a rather overdone book - flowery, verbose, and exaggerated - the kind of thing I read when I'm in a mood for overblown angst on small matters. However, the 1973 Caedmon abridged audiobook, randomly discovered last night at my local library on cassette tape, has done a good deal to change my mind.

Okay, it's still flowery and overdone. But now, it's read by David McCallum. Flowery prose is transmuted into absolute lyrical beauty, mock-heroic exaggeration poker-faced (poker-voiced?) into comic genius, and the extremely well-done abridgement - perhaps one-tenth the length of the original - takes care of the rest.  The only missing bit I really, really wish they'd left in was the Water Rat's rhapsody on "messing about in boats".

The narration is done, as nearly as I can tell, in DMc's natural accent. Each of the characters has a distinctive voice, mostly in different English accents - all wonderfully well done, of course. Mole sounds slightly West Midlands, Rat very Oxford/military (haven't seen Colditz, but I wouldn't be surprised to find this is Simon's voice). Badger just sounds like Badger to me. Toad seems to have a speech impediment which somehow vastly enhances his Toad-ness. The Gaoler's Daughter is impressively feminine-sounding without going falsetto at all - you should hear "her" giggle! - the Chief Weasel has definitely been taking lessons from Colonel Nexor, and Otter is my very favorite. Even though he only has one scene... it's done in JRR Tolkien's accent! ::dies of the awesome::

It's David's acting skill, though, that really makes the show. I'd totally forgotten how much the Wild Wood freaked me as a child; listening to this tape, in the dark, freaked me just as much. Mole finding his house again nearly made me cry, and both of Toad's songs (a cappella and perfectly on key, grumble grumble) had me laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.

I haven't yet checked to see if this recording is available on CD, or used on Amazon, but if it is I definitely recommend y'all snap it up. It'll be money well spent.