Oh Doctor, Doctor...

Are you a fan of the infamous, long running, sci-fi english tv series that makes children hide behind the sofa? I'm talking about Doctor Who!

I do love it. I'm not into it as I was during the first seasons, but I think all the Doctors have their own special things. Maybe I just don't enough feelings for any Doctor or any Companion to say "that was my Doctor, it can never be the same again".

I'm sure you know Doctor Who even if you're not a fan: it has been running for 50 years (literally) and every time they announce a new Doctor it generates more speculations and tweets than the Pope election.
And yes, the reason this show could go on for 50 years is because the main character dies and revives... not in a soap opera kind of way.

The next Doctor was announced a few weeks ago (I'll miss Matt Smith's gummyness!), and I'm quite please with the choice. Peter Capaldi is a good actor and he has a great Doctor face in my opinion. I can't wait to see his Doctor!

Me and a many other Italians are also quite amused by the fact that Capaldi's father is from a small town near Frosinone (and about 120km from Rome, for those of you who are not really familiar with Italy). I don't know if there's an exact reason why, but :')

Why are things creepy

Yesterday's post and the creepy countdown videos in the Pronunciation book Youtube channel, reminded me of another video I watched recently: Why are things creepy?

The video original thumbnail. Creepy? I'd say quite so.

If you're interested in a logic, fast-paced and charming analysis of the topic, I suggest you watch the video (and all the other videos on Vsauce channel for that matter! They're all brilliant). Don't worry, the rest of the video is not as creepy as the thumbnail... most of it, at least.

So what makes things creepy is the fact we can't explain why they (kind of( scare us or what looks odd about them.

There's nothing shiver inducing about a video with a black number on a white screen, but the fact a mysterious someone is telling us that something is going to happen is creepy, because we don't know who, we don't why... we don't get the context of it all. We know it's not a countdown to the end of the world (... right?), and yet we would feel more safe if only we know what was happening exactly.

Creepy things both scare me and fascinate me greatly. Maybe it's their nature.
In the above mentioned video, what caught my eye the most is the singing android. The video is more hilarious than creepy (what's with those random nature shoots?!)... but again, try to watch it all alone in the silence of the night. Believe me, it's not the last thing you want to see before going to sleep.

What fascinates me the most though it's not the android itself, but the person behind it. This person has decided to spend time and money (lots of money, the mechanical parts cost quite a lot) to build this thing. He/she has the the right knowledge to build this thing. Then this person decided to make an artistic (?) video with his android... singing. Why he decided to make it sing in the first place? Is that voice computer generated or just recorded from someone? Last but not least, how this person sleep in the same house of that thing?! (sorry android to call you thing, I'm sure you're going to have a soul too... like, in a couple of years. Don't kill me!)

By the way, I obviously can see the potential of human-like androids in the future, but they're also one of the thoughts that scares me the most. I guess I just watched too many tv series where it didn't end up very well.

(I still want that Cylon toaster gadget by the way)

Battlestar Galactica #02

I must admit it. I felt like the second season was getting a bit boring around episode... 14? 15?
I think it's mainly because of my short attention span; I just can't focus on things for too long lately...

But! Just when I lost all hopes (for my attention span, not for the show itself), I got interested again.
Well it was hard not to, with such a series finale. I was a bit exasperated, because why do these people never learn?! But most of all, why do people still trust Gaius Baltar, for f*@# sake! Sigh.

I'm sure season 3 will have a better commentary than this! XD

Battlestar Galactica #01

BAM! That's how me and this series met: it hit me, like right in the face (before it did the same with my heart).

I can say that now I get why Battlestar Galactica is so loved. It does have all the cool stuff, the CG is amazing without being just too much, I love the ships... but it's not just a "hey, let's kill these toasters and be national heroes!" kind of story, it's ultimately a story about the human nature and how we never stop making mistakes.

But again, what's right and what's wrong? You're never sure of anything (except that I would never entrust Gaius Baltar with my children --or even a cat, for that matter), you always have new questions, you always want to know how they're gonna survive because, help, everyone is going crazy and what the fuck are you thinking, people!! And all this happens... IN SPACE!

Yeah, I definitely love it.

A couple of elements I truly enjoy and like about BSG:

• The Vipers

Fabulous thing in a fabulous space

Sob, they're so cool. They make me want to play Starfox again.



• Kara "Starbuck" Thrace

<333

To be honest, at the beginning I though she was going to be that kind of female character the writers try to make look strong and "like a man" but in the end she's just a dickhead. I'm very happy to say I was completely wrong! She's amazing, she's cool, she's a bit too... ehm, passionate at times, and quite impulsive. But I really like her.

And she makes the best "what the fracking frack even, why do I still try" faces.

Poor girl.

• Lee "Apollo" Adama

Pollo pulling a Blue Steel

Sometimes a bit cocky, sometimes you just want to kick him in the balls, but! When he follows his heart can do good things. Or not so good, but I kind of grew fond of him for some reason.

We started calling him affectionately "Pollo". Literally it means "chicken" in italian, but it doesn't mean he's scared of everything. More something like... exactly what Apollo is. Sometimes foolish, but in a good way. Or at least, that's what he believes u__u.



• Karl "Helo" Agathon (I had to google his real name. Whaaat)

Hopeless and adorable

Such a good-hearted fool. Such a cute giant. Poor guy, really.



That's all for now. See you when I've finished the second season!

Battlestar Galactica

How can you be a sci-fi appreciator and never have watched Battlestar Galactica before? Some of you may ask.

Well, let me explain: I suck even at fandom; I procrastinate even in what I like.
Recently a friend of mine started watching the series though and I suddenly remembered I wanted to do the same for a while.

Now, what I've learned about BSG just by surfing this fabulous place called the internet, is that:

• there is a hot blond chick
• she's with the bad guys
• and she's a droid or something because she's too hot and too naked to be true
• the bad guys are usually uglier droids and they're called Cylons
• they sell lots of Cylons gadgets on the internet (I really want the toaster, do you think I can buy it even if I'm not a True Fan™?)
• they do epic things, because they are IN SPACE!!

The blond chick is a bit too skinny to be my type, but I still found a number of reasons why this series could be of interest for me.

• SPACE!
• battles... IN SPACE!
• the fact it's so famous suggests me it may actually have a deep, intricate plot. (Don't get me wrong, I even watch trashy tv realities sometimes, but I just need something good right now.)
• this plot thing might imply that the story is ultimately about the human soul
• and that not everything is just black or white
• that the ultimate goal is not to just to see who's got it bigger
• Space.
• ... SPACE!

Space is awesome, ok?

I'll report my thoughts season by season. I've already started watching the first one (I skipped the miniseries, I know). From what I've watched until now, I can say if I only had time I'd marathon the whole show.

See you soon, space cowboys! (ah no, that was another story)