• Re: What Did You Watch? 2026-06-23 (Tuesday)

    From anim8rfsk@anim8rfsk@cox.net to rec.arts.tv on Thu Jun 25 23:29:17 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
    On 6/25/2026 8:43 PM, anim8rfsk wrote:
    Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
    On 6/25/2026 9:55 AM, anim8rfsk wrote:
    The True Melissa <thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:
    Verily, in article <111jcos$3qs32$1@dont-email.me>, did
    arthur@alum.calberkeley.org deliver unto us this message:

    On 6/24/2026 7:01 PM, anim8rfsk wrote:
    The True Melissa <thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:
    Verily, in article <UBI20260623@dont-email.me>, did weberm@polaris.net >>>>>>>> deliver unto us this message:
    What did you watch?


    I started to watch Never Change!, a movie in which thirtysomethings are
    compelled to do two more weeks of high school.

    How do you compel thirty-somethings to do two more weeks of high school? >>>>>
    The movie didn't try very hard. It was just announced on the news that >>>>> their class had never attended enough days, so they had to go back or >>>>> their diplomas would be revoked.

    You know, I don’t think that one time in almost 50 years. I’ve been >>>> required to prove I had a high school or college diploma. I don’t even know
    where they are or how I could or if I even got them.

    And how would they possibly revoke them? Send a telegram to everybody
    everywhere?



    Later this year, I start my epic Doctor Who marathon. :-)

    How epic? Are you starting with "An Unearthly Child" and watching the >>>>> whole thing?


    I have a blu-ray box set of new Who from Christopher Eccleston's 9th
    doctor through Jodie Whittaker's 13th Doctor. Watching those episodes
    was my primary motivation, but I also have lots of old Who too.

    I put together the list a while back. I'll start with the two 60s
    movies,

    Those are fun

    then the first episode on the list is The Green Death (1973).
    That is probably the earliest Who I have in my collection. But I did
    make a note to myself to check the availability of some earlier episodes >>> that I don't own.

    I also recently upgraded a lot of the DVDs to blu-ray. So I'll be
    watching select episodes old Who working my way up to the box set then I >>> will *try* to watch all of the New Who.

    I will also sync up and watch my blu-rays of "Torchwood," which I

    I was surprised Torchwood showed up in Eccleston.

    Captain Jack showed up with Eccleston. Actually, I think that might
    have been the first good episode of the season. It was rough going for
    a while, then it suddenly got really good.

    I need to see if that’s
    available anywhere.

    What
    haven't watched in about 15 years. And a lot of the new Who I haven't
    watched since around the time of the original airing.

    I put the list together a long time ago. I was looking at all the box
    sets I had sitting around, many still in the shrink wrap, and started to >>> set dates to watch them. Before I watch Who, I have Battlestar
    Galactica on the list, and later "Farscape," "SeaQuest" (stop laughing,
    some of the episodes were good)

    I enjoy some of it, but I’m hard-pressed to think of any that were good


    Good is a relative term. I'm pretty sure several are entertaining. Or
    um, watchable? Look, I paid money for the set. I'm *gonna* watch at
    least a few episodes! LOL

    I powered through the series fairly recently. There are some cute girls on
    it. And I love me some Roy Schneider. I know that’s not his name, but that’s all AutoCorrect will let me say. But it seriously augers in with the pilot and Shelley Hack and one of the worst directors alive. And then gets
    lost in Amiga graphics. Great music though.



    , "The X-Files" and "Freaks and Geeks"



    In random order?



    I actually spent time figuring out a chronological watch order with
    original air dates.

    I’m struggling to get through the Clara episodes on the Amazon. It’s a real
    mess.



    Yeah, it's easy enough to make a list and set a date. It's another
    things when 15 minuets into a random episode from the 70s I start
    getting bored. But I think every episode has at least 1 sometimes
    multiple commentary tracks. Worst case scenario, I pop in a disc, turn
    on the commentary track and background noise it. But a lot of those episodes I know I haven't watched in 20 or 30 years and just want to see them again.


    --
    The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.
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  • From anim8rfsk@anim8rfsk@cox.net to rec.arts.tv on Thu Jun 25 23:29:18 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
    Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

    . . .

    I will also sync up and watch my blu-rays of "Torchwood," which I
    haven't watched in about 15 years.

    Torchwood was maddening. It was often entertaining, but RTD was shoving
    his personal sexual politics so hard into what we got on screen that he deliberately angered the audience. The sexual retconning of Jack was
    absurd. Introduced on Doctor Who, they pushed hard that he was was a stereotype hero character with irresistable sexual appeal to women. But
    no, he was bisexual, as if an audience rejecting gay characters would
    not reject a bisexual. On Torchwood, he got retconned as gay.

    I still despise that scene in the first season finale, which was
    otherwise entertaining, during his wedding reception dance. He rejected
    a dance with Gwen. They'd know each other a year and she's celebrating
    his wedding. Why would he refuse a dance?

    Now, he's mysogynistic.

    Then there was an episode in series 2 in which he became a Christ-like figure, dying repeatedly trapped for centuries, running out of air, then finally released and he's not a completely mad blubbering idiot.

    If I ever rewatched, it would probably be Series 3 Children of Earth
    because Peter Capaldi was so good.

    If you ever want a Peter Capaldi marathon, track down what he's best
    known for prior to Doctor Who. He was Malcolm Tucker on The Thick of It,
    an absolutely nasty political comedy twisting the knife as only British humour can. There was a post-series theatrical film, In the Loop, an
    American remake no one at all watched. Veep on HBO is the same style of
    humor created by the same writer.


    I liked him as the villain in the three mosquitoes.
    --
    The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.
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  • From The True Melissa@thetruemelissa@gmail.com to rec.arts.tv on Fri Jun 26 07:21:00 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    Verily, in article <111kvpm$9ce8$1@dont-email.me>, did ahk@chinet.com
    deliver unto us this message:

    Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

    . . .

    I will also sync up and watch my blu-rays of "Torchwood," which I
    haven't watched in about 15 years.

    Torchwood was maddening. It was often entertaining, but RTD was shoving
    his personal sexual politics so hard into what we got on screen that he deliberately angered the audience. The sexual retconning of Jack was
    absurd. Introduced on Doctor Who, they pushed hard that he was was a stereotype hero character with irresistable sexual appeal to women. But
    no, he was bisexual, as if an audience rejecting gay characters would
    not reject a bisexual. On Torchwood, he got retconned as gay.

    RTD said his image of the character was that Jack would sleep with
    anyone and was pretty much banging his way through time and space. I
    thought he was smarmy and off-putting from his first appearance.

    He was still officially pansexual on Torchwood, wasn't he? He was in a relationship with Ianto, but he was never labeled gay, not that I
    recall.


    I still despise that scene in the first season finale, which was
    otherwise entertaining, during his wedding reception dance. He rejected
    a dance with Gwen. They'd know each other a year and she's celebrating
    his wedding. Why would he refuse a dance?

    Now, he's mysogynistic.

    Then there was an episode in series 2 in which he became a Christ-like figure, dying repeatedly trapped for centuries, running out of air, then finally released and he's not a completely mad blubbering idiot.

    My head canon says that Jack can't go insane. His brain keeps healing.
    He was forced to experience every moment of that confinement.

    Such an experience really should have changed him... but perhaps he
    heals fron any change. Perhaps immortality and invulnerability lead to permanent arrested development.

    It would be nice if adult shows considered adult ideas like that.
    Instead, "adult" shows sex everything up and expect us to call it entertainment.
    --
    The True Melissa - Canal Winchester - Ohio
    United States of America - North America - Earth
    Solar System - Milky Way - Local Group
    Virgo Cluster - Laniakea Supercluster - Cosmos
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Adam H. Kerman@ahk@chinet.com to rec.arts.tv on Sat Jun 27 00:33:04 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    The True Melissa <thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:
    did ahk@chinet.com deliver unto us this message:
    Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

    . . .

    I will also sync up and watch my blu-rays of "Torchwood," which I >>>haven't watched in about 15 years.

    Torchwood was maddening. It was often entertaining, but RTD was shoving
    his personal sexual politics so hard into what we got on screen that he >>deliberately angered the audience. The sexual retconning of Jack was >>absurd. Introduced on Doctor Who, they pushed hard that he was was a >>stereotype hero character with irresistable sexual appeal to women. But
    no, he was bisexual, as if an audience rejecting gay characters would
    not reject a bisexual. On Torchwood, he got retconned as gay.

    RTD said his image of the character was that Jack would sleep with
    anyone and was pretty much banging his way through time and space. I
    thought he was smarmy and off-putting from his first appearance.

    You are correct. The way he was described in dialogue didn't exactly
    match what we got on screen. Rose flirted with him, not much in the way
    of flirting back.

    He was still officially pansexual on Torchwood, wasn't he? He was in a >relationship with Ianto, but he was never labeled gay, not that I
    recall.

    Eh. He had no romantic interations with women at all. RTD wanted a gay
    lead character. Ianto was an interesting character, Gareth David-Lloyd
    was a decent actor, and actually Welsh!

    I agree with the rest of what you wrote and that you made good points.

    . . .
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  • From The Horny Goat@lcraver@home.ca to rec.arts.tv on Mon Jul 6 01:15:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On Thu, 25 Jun 2026 09:55:27 -0700, anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net>
    wrote:

    You know, I don’t think that one time in almost 50 years. I’ve been >required to prove I had a high school or college diploma. I don’t even know >where they are or how I could or if I even got them.

    I have no idea where my high school or undergraduate diplomas are or
    if I still have them - but my masters diploma is on the wall about 4'
    from my monitor (it's about 20% bigger than my computer monitor and
    one year my wife splurged on the super snazzy diploma frame and gave
    me a heck of a surprise when I saw it hung on the wall above my
    computer some years ago. I've got a similar diploma from an
    international sports organization - but that's as a referee not a
    player - and another framed letter from our mayor which they sent me
    when they heard about that award)

    On the other hand I've attended my 50 year high school reunion and
    they didn't throw me out ...
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  • From anim8rfsk@anim8rfsk@cox.net to rec.arts.tv on Mon Jul 6 09:49:50 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca> wrote:
    On Thu, 25 Jun 2026 09:55:27 -0700, anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net>
    wrote:

    You know, I don’t think that one time in almost 50 years. I’ve been
    required to prove I had a high school or college diploma. I don’t even know
    where they are or how I could or if I even got them.

    I have no idea where my high school or undergraduate diplomas are or
    if I still have them - but my masters diploma is on the wall about 4'
    from my monitor (it's about 20% bigger than my computer monitor and
    one year my wife splurged on the super snazzy diploma frame and gave
    me a heck of a surprise when I saw it hung on the wall above my
    computer some years ago. I've got a similar diploma from an
    international sports organization - but that's as a referee not a
    player - and another framed letter from our mayor which they sent me
    when they heard about that award)

    On the other hand I've attended my 50 year high school reunion and
    they didn't throw me out ...


    I recall my grade school graduation and we all marched up on stage to get handed our diplomas and the librarian was standing behind the curtain and
    said that I didn’t get a diploma because I had unpaid library fines. So I
    got the folder, but it was empty. It turned out there were no unpaid
    library fines. The guy was just a worthless lying sack of pig shit. I have
    no idea what his problem with me was. I have no idea if they ever sent it
    to Mom or not.
    --
    The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From BTR1701@atropos@mac.com to rec.arts.tv on Mon Jul 6 17:41:50 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On Jul 6, 2026 at 9:49:50 AM PDT, "anim8rfsk" <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:

    The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca> wrote:
    On Thu, 25 Jun 2026 09:55:27 -0700, anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net>
    wrote:

    You know, I don’t think that one time in almost 50 years. I’ve been
    required to prove I had a high school or college diploma. I don’t even
    know
    where they are or how I could or if I even got them.

    I have no idea where my high school or undergraduate diplomas are or
    if I still have them - but my masters diploma is on the wall about 4'
    from my monitor (it's about 20% bigger than my computer monitor and
    one year my wife splurged on the super snazzy diploma frame and gave
    me a heck of a surprise when I saw it hung on the wall above my
    computer some years ago. I've got a similar diploma from an
    international sports organization - but that's as a referee not a
    player - and another framed letter from our mayor which they sent me
    when they heard about that award)

    On the other hand I've attended my 50 year high school reunion and
    they didn't throw me out ...


    I recall my grade school graduation and we all marched up on stage to get handed our diplomas and the librarian was standing behind the curtain and said that I didn’t get a diploma because I had unpaid library fines. So I got the folder, but it was empty. It turned out there were no unpaid
    library fines. The guy was just a worthless lying sack of pig shit. I have
    no idea what his problem with me was. I have no idea if they ever sent it
    to Mom or not.

    They probably took it out to the desert and lit it on fire along with your mother's ballot.


    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From anim8rfsk@anim8rfsk@cox.net to rec.arts.tv on Mon Jul 6 14:24:56 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:
    On Jul 6, 2026 at 9:49:50 AM PDT, "anim8rfsk" <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:

    The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca> wrote:
    On Thu, 25 Jun 2026 09:55:27 -0700, anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net>
    wrote:

    You know, I don’t think that one time in almost 50 years. I’ve been
    required to prove I had a high school or college diploma. I don’t even
    know
    where they are or how I could or if I even got them.

    I have no idea where my high school or undergraduate diplomas are or
    if I still have them - but my masters diploma is on the wall about 4'
    from my monitor (it's about 20% bigger than my computer monitor and
    one year my wife splurged on the super snazzy diploma frame and gave
    me a heck of a surprise when I saw it hung on the wall above my
    computer some years ago. I've got a similar diploma from an
    international sports organization - but that's as a referee not a
    player - and another framed letter from our mayor which they sent me
    when they heard about that award)

    On the other hand I've attended my 50 year high school reunion and
    they didn't throw me out ...


    I recall my grade school graduation and we all marched up on stage to get
    handed our diplomas and the librarian was standing behind the curtain and
    said that I didn’t get a diploma because I had unpaid library fines. So I >> got the folder, but it was empty. It turned out there were no unpaid
    library fines. The guy was just a worthless lying sack of pig shit. I have >> no idea what his problem with me was. I have no idea if they ever sent it
    to Mom or not.

    They probably took it out to the desert and lit it on fire along with your mother's ballot.

    That’s what they should’ve done with the librarian
    --
    The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2