So this is going to be one of those periodical Stargate related entries that most of you RL friends can't give a toss about. But I have things to say, so...

Atlantis has been cancelled. Well, not so much cancelled as discontinued in the television serial format. There's going to be a two hour movie to round things off, a la Ark of Truth. While this makes me a little sad, it's no where near as soul-crushingly despair-inducing as the ending of SG1 as a series. I think that had a lot to do with the fact that I grew up with SG1, whereas Atlantis came a lot later and was just a TV show, not some sort of emotional crutch as I grew up. Seriously, when I was eight, the SG1 team were my imaginary friends. Yes, this is very sad. But all you people were off pretending to be power rangers, so really, we all have things to be ashamed of.

Of course, I finally watched the episode that was broadcast in the US on Friday night, The Shrine. Ten minutes in (well, more like nine minutes and fourty five seconds) I was in tears. As soon as Jeannie walked into that room, I was gone. And I was gone again when John and Rodney were on the pier. And I pretty much lost it again when Jennifer was watching Rodney's declaration at the end. I am a shameless fangirl, and I was soooo hoping they'd introduce this ship as canon. They do, and then there's going to be no more after series five and the two hour TV movie.

And I've just seen the premise of Stargate: Universe, the third (though if you count the animated (and shit) series Stargate: Infinity from years back, technically fourth) show in the franchise.

Boy, do you think someone watched a lot of Star Trek: Voyager during the desperate search for a new show?

This makes me very sad. I really hope they don't go ruin it with what is a blatant Voyager rip-off. I hope that it is different enough, with only enough of the franchise backstory to keep it up, and they don't try and wedge the replicators into that too. Though, I have to say, there always had to be a reason for the nine locks on the gate, when only seven get you around this galaxy, and eight between galaxies. I hope that they don't rely on established characters to kick it off (although, I think they can only include Daniel and Jack in any pilot due to rights relating to the film...).



Maybe if they can entice Navi Rawat away from Numb3rs, they could make a go of Thoughtcrimes as a series. I'd so watch that.

But lets face it, I'm going to watch Stargate: Universe when it airs, ~2010.

Olympics aside, these are my favourite news items of today:

Laurence Fishburne is set to join CSI in the wake of William Petersen's departure. How immense will that be?! Trivia: He is married to Firefly/Serenity's Gina Torres.

Jude Law, Colin Farrell and Johnny Depp donated their fees for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus to Heath Ledger's daughter Matilda. I think this is just... amazing. Sweet and wonderful and so very thoughtful. It's just a shame that Heath Ledger didn't update his will - you never know what's going to happen, and you can't just assume that it'll go to your nearest and dearest.

Gluttony, not laziness, is to blame for rise in obesity. ...I sort of feel like this isn't news. Surely it's pretty obvious that over-eating is going to make you fat?

Parents can now act as agents for university admissions on behalf of their children. And this is just ridiculous. It's all very well taking a parent to an open day (I did that 'cos I needed the cheap transport. I took them both - or rather they took me - to Cardiff, and Manchester, and my dad took me to Nottingham) but it's another thing taking them into an interview with you! It's hard enough for some people to break away and not do what your parents want and do what you want without them having more control over your application!



In other news, father is still in Vietnam. He did have a flight booked for today, Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City (intending to continue via Hong Kong and London), but they need him to stick around for a few more days. We're looking at Friday now; his attendance at a family BBQ on Saturday is in jeopardy.

D'you not think Julian Rhind-Tutt looks a lot like Toby Stephens, Damien Lewis and Mr. Capstick? And vice versa to all?

Such a faff.

I get up early for the Olympics, and decide to walk up the doctors at half eight instead of trying to phone an appointment in. I get there, and the first is at ten o'clock. I go home and have breakfast.

I go back at ten: The nurse can't give me my depo because she has no confirmation that I got it twelve weeks ago. In fact, she only has my last depo at home which was last September or something. She could get sued if she gives it to me without that, if I'm pregnant and the foetus is damaged, and because I left my mobile at home, I had to go back and get the Uni Heath Centre number and phone it back to her. I get it, I really do, but it's still just such unnecessary effort.

So hopefully the Uni Health Centre will tell her I'm due it today, and she'll be able to squeeze me in another appointment this afternoon.

*sigh*

I've been badmouthing the Olympics for weeks, because I thought I needed a daily fix of Doctors.

And yet, I've got embarrassingly obsessed with it, to the point where I'm getting up earlier tomorrow morning to watch BBC Olympic Breakfast. I got more into the Badminton than I'd expected, as I did with Murray's singles match (and doesn't that make me a bit of a hypocrite, what with my enduring hatred of Wimbledon?).

It also helps my time conversion, because my dad's in Vietnam at the moment which is the same time difference.

Is anyone else in love with that Holby City trailer?!

I'm shamefully addicted, it's true.

However, I've just read something very, very disturbing. MTV are re-making Rocky Horror.

WTF?!

from SCIFI.com:

MTV Remaking Rocky Horror

MTV will remake the 1975 SF cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Variety reported.

Lou Adler, executive producer of the original film, is partnering with BermanBraun and Fox Television Studios on the new rendition.

The two-hour remake will use the original screenplay by Jim Sharman and Richard O'Brien, but may also include music not featured in the original.

Helmer and casting decisions have yet to be announced.

Timetable for the start of production hasn't been established yet, but the partners aim to move forward quickly once the final elements are in place.

The original Rocky Horror, starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick and Meat Loaf, has grossed $140 million in domestic box office over the years, primarily from the wallets of youthful audience members who have shown up for midnight screenings over the past three decades.

For those of you that haven't been anticipating this for months now, you should all follow this link to Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

He is a genius, and somehow Nathan Fillion has made me hate him despite him being gorgeous. Captain Tightpants himself. I suppose that's why they call it 'acting'. Neil Patrick Harris is rather fantastic too. He looks a little like Marc Warren, actually. Felicia Day has a lower voice than I was expecting; for some reason I thought she'd be a sop, but she's definitely not.

Anyway. Watch. Now. Have your heart broken in three acts. You'll be left wanting more, I can assure you.

(I have used my only Joss-related icon. It is also a Felicia Day related icon, obviously, and Nathan Fillion related, because Joss likes to use the same actors all over the place. And that was not a complaint.)

We're postponing the movie day, 'cos lots of you aren't able to make it.

You're all crap, with your jobs and lives. Psht.

;)

xx

Hey guys. If you didn't get the Facebook message and you are knocking around South Tyneside, I'm having a classic gathering for a movie day tomorrow.

From eleven at my house.

Definitely on the list is Batman Begins, 'cos I need to see that before The Dark Knight comes out!

Bring your own snacks, and if you feel like offering your DVD up for viewing, come with a good argument and some appropriate blackmail/bribary material.

Movie Day / My house / from 11am

Got that?

Just watched Stargate: Continuum. I love this franchise, you know. It was a bit heartbreaking to see Don S. Davis on screen though, knowing it was one of the last projects we worked on before he died at the weekend.

Anyway: ( Spoilers )

T'was a good good film, and hopefully (crosses everything) there'll be more movies - theatrical release or not.

I hope the DVD extras are great - they weren't worth it on Ark of Truth. I'd like to actually send some money towards the franchise this time!

The first episode of series five of Stargate Atlantis was leaked to the internet. I just watched it and was much impressed.

Although, not with the turn of events at the end. But I'm a Sam Carter fangirl and have been since I was seven, so I guess you should expect no less.

But, it does set up the timeline, relating the films Ark of Truth and Continuum to Sam's tenure as Atlantis leader, so that's good. Everyone knows where they are now.

Oh noes! Without Ba'al clones, what will we do? Who will we turn to for diabolical plot twists with sexy accents?! I suppose we can just delude ourselves that they missed one.

Waterstones and Borders are going to suck my bank account dry this summer. I spent £30 on Saturday in Borders in Team Valley on Tess Gerritsen's Gravity, Richard Matheson's I am Legend and the Collected Short Stories of Arthur C. Clarke.

I read Gravity yesterday and I just finished I am Legend in two hours.

I can only hope that the Arthur C. Clarke stories take aaaaages to read, and I'll get a job before buying more books.

Or, you know, you could donate to the Keep Natalie Entertained and Literate fund with your books?



In other news, wasn't Doctor Who IMMENSE?! I don't think my heart has ever pounded so hard than in those last few minutes, working up to Donna's revelation to the Doctor. And it just reinforces my belief that David Tennant is one of the most beautiful and talented actors ever.

Schtolen from neonkommando:

You know how sometimes people on your friend's list post about stuff going on in their life, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when are they working THERE? Since when are they dating HIM/HER? since when???" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ashamed to ask for clarification because it seems like info you *should* already know? It happens to all of us sometimes.

Please copy mine below, erase my answers putting yours in their place then post it in your journal!

1. First Name: Natalie

2. Age: 19.

3. Location: I'm currently sitting in my room in Durham, which I give up tomorrow to move back home (Jarrow, UK) before moving back to Durham some time after the first of July and before October.

4. Occupation: Having not been successful with my job interview the other day (it seems) I am a lowly unemployed student still.

5. Partner?: Nope.

6. Kids: Again with the 'no'. I've been ordered not to give my mother grandkids until she's fifty. At which point I shall be 27. So I could maybe live with that.

7. Brothers/Sisters: A brother, James. He's sixteen and is actually an alright person. I'm quite proud of him, though I never tell him 'cos I'd never live it down. He's a good kid.

8. Pets: Two cats called Belle and Sebastian. They were NOT named for the group, though we were aware of Belle and Sebastian the group when we named them. We were suggesting lots of names (Bacon and Egg, Sapphire and Steel, Tikka and Masala (which are the names of my uncle and aunt's Persians)) and my Dad suggested Belle and Sebastian. I like to think they're named after the Disney princess and crab-who-looks-like-a-lobster.

9. List the 3-5 biggest things going on in your life: I'm preparing to move out properly, into my own flat and everything. Well, I say "my", but it's mine and Alice's flat. My first year at uni has just finished, and I passed all my modules (my best mark in my Cell module, which is comforting). I'm fairly comfortable with the direction my life is taking, and now I just need to sort out the flat and my industrial placement - most of the cell and molecular organisations take applications until October, so I need to jump on that pretty soon, really.

10. School: Durham University, I'm part of St. Mary's College.

11. Parents: My mum's a social worker, and my dad used to be in the Navy - he now does more or less exactly the same thing as a service engineer, he just works on a variety of ships and rigs, and we get less notice of his excursions.

12. Who are some of your closest friends? Louise and Steph, and I suppose Alice would be my closest uni friend.

13. What are you looking forward to in the next year? My flat, Xmas, turning 20.

I passed my first year ( by a few percent, but I still passed) and the job interview went well. Haven't heard anything yet, but I know I did damn well in there so I'm happy.

Off to the pub.

Got a job interview late tomorrow afternoon, so even though I was going to stick my last week of uni out until Friday, I'm having a night at home anyway. Ah well.

Louise and I are headed for the cinema on Friday night if anyone fancies tagging along?

Also, some petitions with the government:

to reduce fuel duty to bring fuel prices back to an acceptable level

to let the Red Arrows fly at the 2012 Olympics

to change education policy to require schools/colleges/other institutions to educate students about bone marrow donation

Further to my post about Doctor Who, I just watched BSG S04E10. The mid-season finale. OMG.

( SPOILERS )

I'm getting quite nervous about Doctor Who. Two weeks ago, I had a moment of weakness and went spoiler-searching. Well, I found an account of what was going to happen in the last episode, which was.... credible. Well, when I say credible, I mean that I could definintely see it happening. And checking IMDb for some casting... I think it may have been true.

Oh noes.

If it is, I'm going to by crying like a baby. Possibly more than I was when I watched Parting of the Ways, way back when, and that was serious sobbing.

EDIT: Yep, looks to be true. It's going to be gooooood. Heartbreaking, but good.

Excuse the total science geek-out here, but they've actually photographed ovulation, here. You can see the oocyte leaving the follicle! It's ... wow!

I will leave to watch Mrs. Doubtfire upstairs with peoples.

# if you had to participate in one olympic event what would it be and why?
Probably... is the javelin a single olympic event? Yeah... probably the javelin. I always enjoyed doing the javelin at school, except the horror stories of people getting javelin's stuck through their necks - not pleasant.

# what is the one song you always sing along to?
At the moment, whenever Duffy's Warwick Avenue comes on, I have to turn my radio up and sing along obscenely loud. I love that song. But I'm always singing. Lou once called me a human jukebox.

# do you wear a seatbelt in the car?
Of course.

# car, suv or truck and why?
Car as the others are too big for me right now. I'm not used to being in control of something so big; I can't even drive my parents' car. I drove on Xmas Day and hated it.

# are you a good/bad drive? explain
I'm a good driver with some bad habits. Like not putting my handbrake on if I'm stopped at the lights - I'll just sit with my feet on the clutch and brake. I sometimes drive with one hand on the wheel and one had on the gear shift, something my dad does too, but when he does it, it drives me up the wall. (Yep, total hypocrite, me.) I cross my hands all the time which they teach you not to do, and I drive by the motto "If you're going to speed, do it in the right gear". There's no point doing 30 in a 20 zone, staying in second to try and pretend. Save your petrol, drive in a higher gear. There's also a hill by the police station in Jarrow as you head from Primrose towards Morrisons and the Tyne Tunnel, and I know every time that I should go down into second after the speed bump part way up, but I never do, I just try and push poor Penny in third. And I hate being in first gear, but that's a separate issue.

Ah, I have been quite neglecting my blogging duties!

Okay, so like Lily and Patrick, I am job-hunting. Though, not as wittily as Lily and her rather impressive reasons for wanting to work in the Aquatic Centre!

Other than that, I've been doing pretty much sod all.

Well, that's a bit of a lie.

I have to find somewhere to take my industrial placement after next year, and have been pretty much narrowing down the possibilties based on how close to home they are. I'm not as brave as you home-fleeing adventurers. There's a couple of places on Teeside and around Tyne and Wear so I might put some more research into that.

I'm also tryng to sort out mine and Alice's flat, which we're supposed to move into on 1st July. Eeeeexcept the contract we signed with the landlord in Feb was sold to another landlord... who didn't realise the property was going to be let. So... it's exactly the same as it was. No fridge, no beds, no desks, no chairs, no sofa, and a dusty bathroom.

So that's interesting. Of course, now they're aware of the problem and so they have three weeks to get it ready. Oh noes!

And now I'm just lounging at home for no other reason than that I can. And the food is considerably better, as is the range of entertainment. I was going to go back today, after visiting the flat, but with little going on around college, I may as well stay for the next episode of Doctor Who my family's company.

That, and Wednesday was SFX day.

I'm stuffing my face with far more food and junk than is healthy, it turns out I drink more when at home than I do when at college (which is certainly weird) and my bed in college is strangely more comfortable than my one at home...

In other news, my brother is sitting his GCSEs and has done no revision for any of his exams (which he did come to regret yesterday after a horrible chemistry exam). My mum is off work and has been for six weeks, but we keep laughing at her. Really, you would too. I was at the hospital on Tuesday (the reason for this visit home initially) and I am happily cancer-free. My freaky freckle is perfectly harmless. Just weird-looking.

And my dad is... my dad.

=D

This concludes the update Lily demanded.
xx