Today I can’t even remember for certain whether that coat was Ted Baker or Ralph Lauren. Ah, my affections are so fickle. Still, I have all of the store-exclusive Alien Armies cards and you don’t, so who is best? Yes thats right, it is me.

Today’s shopping:

• Dunlop Green Flash trainers (Navy)
• Lego Indiana Jones 2 (Wii)
• Alien Armies cards (got my Rose exclusive card, and the packs also included a Foil 9th Doctor, amongst others. Nice!)
• Radio Times (Doctor Who Christmas special preview)
• Indiana Jones “with Horse” and “Temple Trap” deluxe action figures
• Doctor Who SV7 and D84 figures (one for customs and one for army building)

Nice day, all round. This evening will mostly involve pasta and meatballs, Terminator 2 – Judgement Day on DVD, and hopefully lots of chatting to Michelle online. An all-round good Saturday, I think.

Regards,

Marwood.

Today I am in lust with a Ted Baker Jacket which I saw in town. £240. I was after something a bit longer but its just so… Damn, it almost gets me horny. I don’t see how I can resist.

Anyway.

I’m sat here watching Survival, which is as bloody brilliant as always, and I find myself wondering what the neighbours make of me. They moved in to the flat below me back in the Summer while my four-episode-minimum-per-day marathon was in full swing, and consequently they must have heard the Doctor Who theme tune at least eight times a day, every day, for about four months straight. For the love of Dawkins, they think I’m a complete lunatic, don’t they?!

Anyway.

I successfully scraped my way through Birthright yesterday, and have made a start on a re-read of Iceberg. I actually began my “all the New Adventures in order, from the start” marathon about nine years ago, but in all that time I have somehow only managed to get to book 18. Still, I’ve read dozens upon dozens of EDAs, PDAs, MAs, Telos Novellas and New Series novels in that time too, not to mention the dozens of “real” novels that I read every year, and the near-endless amount of time I devote to tv, cinema, comics, toys and the internet. So maybe I’m not doing too badly.

Bought my chocolate advent calendar today! In the (bewildering) absence of a Doctor Who one this year, I went with Clone Wars. It now sits next to my Lego Pirates advent calendar in eager anticipation of Tuesday. Roll on the Christmas spirit, hurrah!

Regards,

Marwood.

I can’t believe I haven’t touched this blog in six months. What a twat.

Life is…not what I’d like it to be. I’m working on it.

The Waters of Mars was… crap, sorry. Really badly misjudged, bizarrely paced, and that robot was an absolute embarrassment.

Birthright is… the first DW book I’ve read since April, and one that very nearly killed my interest in reading dead last year. I’m struggling through it today so that I can move on to other things. The prose is ghastly.

Rush are… AWESOME!

Wuthering Heights is… just wonderful. Thanks Michelle (and Kate Bush) for inspiring me to read it.

Facebook is… taking over my life. And I don’t even have any friends. I just play games on it all day. I’ve opened three separate facebook accounts just to help myself out in Mafia Wars. What a fucking embarrassment.

My Marathon was… an absolute delight. Genuinely wonderful stuff with a lot of (mostly very pleasant) suprises along the way. I now appreciate so many of the regulars’ performances so much more. I love Hartnell, Troughton and Pertwee more than I ever did in the past (though I never disliked them to begin with). I have so much admiration for Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant, who just shine so much and do great work with some very poor material. Revisiting Sylvester McCoy’s stories in order for the first time since my childhood was magical and melancholy. Donna Noble broke my heart all over again. Some stories have shot right up my personal appreciation chart, while others have plummeted. The biggest shock overall was how long it took me to warm to Pertwee (pretty much around The Three Doctors), and how much I completely and utterly loved him by the time he left (I genuinely cried my eyes out during the final episode of Planet of the Spiders…again, what a twat I am).

Anyway, onwards…

Regards,

Marwood.

I’ve put most of my Big Finish CDs and Target novelisations up for sale today. Partly because I want to make some big changes in my life as quickly as possible, partly because I’m not getting much use out of them at the moment, and partly because I’m in one of my occasional “material possessions rot the soul” grooves. I only wrote the ad at 8.10am and I’ve already had offers for the full set of CDs, essentially putting about £250 in my pocket in the space of two and a half hours. Not bad really. Its almost a whore’s wage.

My last day of Hartnell. Awww. I’ve really grown to love his Doctor. Midway through The Smugglers now, and then I’ll do The Tenth Planet this afternoon, probably. I think I might cry.

Nine days until the London trip. Eek.

Regards,

Marwood.

Oops, got a bit lax with the blog again. I’ll try and do a few updates over the weekend.

Heading down to London in a week and a half. Really excited, for obvious reasons.

Journal For Plague Lovers is just amazing. A brilliant, brilliant rock record.

Marathon is going fine, nearly at the end of Hartnell’s run. It has become a little more difficult to maintain the pace since I hit the big stretch of mostly-missing episodes. I’ll be very happy when the last CD ejects from the stereo. I also wish I’d been able to do it over a greater length of time, because compressing it in to six months means some companions come and go in the blink of an eye. Ah well.

Regards,

Marwood.

Today was like a break in a storm really.

Got paid for a job, walked a dog, spoke a little with someone wonderful, went into town and straight away I found Return of the King in the same jacket as I own the first two volumes in, and for all of £2. Been searching for that for years! Then picked up a Doctor Who novel for 49p, and a few nice little bits and bobs. Came home, listened to the Manics.

Blissfull day really.

Regards,

Marwood.

At home – miserable, awkward, painful.

In my heart – Joyous. I’m almost happy. Or at least, there is promise of 48 hours of happiness. And more beyond, I’d hope.

In my body - Best weights and walking of the week. This is good. Chocolate Cake and Ice Cream. This is bad. Probably all evens out.

Sundays are weird.

Regards,

Marwood.

THE SENSORITES:

Its an oddity. Hartnell is brilliant, taking centre stage for the first time and an active role in the story, and shines throughout. The Sensorites themselves are wonderful and diverse characters, a far cry from the generic ‘Monster Of The Week’ that we’ll get later. There’s some genuinely unnerving stuff about people losing their minds. But there’s also an awful lot of very silly, ill-conceived and poorly-realised moments, embarrassingly straightforward detective work, and a woeful understanding of basic physics. Susan is undoubtedly one of the best things about the story. Its the calmer, remote, undeniably alien Susan of 100,000BC/The Daleks rather than the shrieking, hysterical, incompetent basket case she’s become in other stories. Its far-and-away Carole Ann Ford’s best performance since the first two serials.

THE REIGN OF TERROR:

A hugely fun little romp through one of the uglier periods of European history. The comedy is a little unexpected and jars a little with some of the grim events being depicted, but it is nevertheless a very welcome change after the uber-seriousness of this season. A fine end to the first year of adventures.

Regards,

Marwood.

I’m in such a great mood right now. Sometimes things just click so well.

Ok, the last few days – not much to report really. My legs are in absolute agony from all the jogging and such. I feel really good otherwise, the weight is just dropping off me and I’m toning up. Its all good.

The dog-walking is ace fun, I’m not reading as much as I should, and the Doctor Who marathon is going far better than I might’ve expected.

Wolverine Origins is out this week. YES!

Regards,

Marwood.

THE KEYS OF MARINUS:

Its really a bit of a mess this one. I mean, it really makes no sense. And whilst some of the design work is excellent, there is a lot of really shoddy stuff in there. Susan is becoming supremely annoying. There is a running theme through these episodes of morality, enforcement of law, the inherent tendency towards corruption, and State attempts to control the heart and mind of the populace, but Terry Nation never really goes anywhere with it. And the Voord are really, really shite. Frustrating.

THE AZTECS:

Superb. I wax lyrical about the story so often that I’ve run out of things to say. Just stunning. I love it.

Regards,

Marwood.