Doctor Who: The New Companion?

Hi there! After taking a break last weekend to make some guess for the 2016 Oscars, I'm back with another Doctor Who related Sunday post. So what's up with our favoritest show in the whole wide world?

From all reports I've heard, Doctor Who is scheduled to go back in front of the cameras in May. I presume the 2016 Christmas Special might be first up but in the wibbly wobbly timey wimey way of TV production, a few episodes of Series 10 might get knocked out first. Who knows?

If the Doctor Who team is ready to get going on Series 10, either before or after the 2016 Christmas special, one hopes they have a handle on who the new companion is going to be.

Earlier this week, rumors began circulating that the leading contender for role of the Doctor's companion is Rakhee Thakrar, a 32 year old actress best known for her work on the ongoing BBC drama Eastenders. As of this writing, there is no confirmation of this but as is the case with these things, there seems to be a lot of noise in the gossip echo chamber around this person.

If Rakhee Thakrar is cast, there are a few distinctive things about the choice to make note of.

She will be the first "non-white" companion since Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) who was in Series 3 back in 2007 (and returned for guest appearances in 2008). In fact, given the entirety of the series, Rakhee would be only the 2nd "non-white" companion in the history of the program.

She would also be a part of a rarified group, female companions who were cast outside their 20's. Here is the list of other actresses who were older than their 20's when they were cast as companions:

• Jacqueline Hill     (33)     Barbara Wright 
• Jean Marsh          (31)     Sara Kingdom 
• Catherine Tate     (39)     Donna Noble  

There's also the question about how long will Rakhee's character remain a companion.

• As we know, Steven Moffat is stepping down as Executive Producer and Head Writer of Doctor Who at the end of 2017 with Chris Chibnall taking over in 2018.
• As we suspect, Peter Capaldi may elect not to re-up for a fourth series as the Doctor.

 Are we looking at a clean break between Moffat and Chibnall as we had between Davies and Moffat? If so, does that limit Rakhee to only 1 year in the TARDIS? Or perhaps Chibnall may have had some say in her casting, to create a possible bridge when Moffat hands the reins over?

A lot of questions to be answered. And as most appropriate when it comes to Doctor Who, only time will tell.

Thanks for dropping by. I'll be back with another post tomorrow. Until then, remember to be good to one another.

Dave-El the Cheerleader

A few weeks ago when Jeb Bush dropped out of the race for President, I noted an old adage about the importance of never giving up.

"If at first you don't succeed, try and try again. If you're still not succeeding, stop. You're making a damn fool of yourself."

And back before that when I was dealing with my pneumonia, I had this uplifting expression to offer.

"Whatever doesn't kill you.... isn't trying hard enough." 

So I thought I would be your own personal cheerleader and bolster your spirits with some more upbeat and uplifting expressions of joy and confidence.

So let's GO!

Er, OG?  

"Life is a gift. Be sure to get a receipt."

"When life closes a door, God opens a window which is pretty creepy if you're a burglar trying to break into a house."

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Then pour that lemonade into life's eyes. That'll teach life to fuck with you."  

"The glass is not half-empty, it's half full... with poison." 

"The grass is always greener on the other side where they use the best shit for fertilizer."  

"When life gives you lemons, put those lemons in one of those t-shirt cannons they use in sports stadiums and fire those lemons right back into life's nuts!"  

"You can be anybody you want to be if you just set your mind to it... is a saying you can put on a button to add to your TGI Friday's uniform."  

"There is no 'I' in team....but there is 'at me'. Also 'meat'."

"War is never answer...unless the question is 'What is raw spelled backward?'"   

"You are the sunshine of my life... which is why I have skin cancer."  

"Be all you can be! Or be most you can be because let's be realistic here, being 'all' can be is a lot of work. Or you know, maybe just aim for being half of what....Fuck it! Be a bare minimum you can be. Why knock yourself out?"  

"I get knocked down, I get up again! You're never gonna keep me down! I get knocked down... OK, I'm just gonna lie here for awhile."  

"If life gives you lemons, what the hell? Enough with the damn lemons already!"  

Well, I hope that was of some help to bolster your spirits and gets you on your way. 

To the liquor store to stock up on vodka and gin. 

Everyone be good to one another. 

This Campaign, This Damn Pain

Long time readers of this blog know of my... interest in the Presidential campaign of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Well, "interest" may be an insufficient description. "Manic obsession" may be closer to the truth. It's not that I just don't like Ted Cruz personally but I don't like people like him: smug, self-righteous, promoting hate and fear with a callous disregard for facts and reason.

But you might wonder, what about Donald Trump? He's an even more smug, an extremely self-righteous promoter of hate and fear and an even bigger disregarder of truth and reason. Why don't I write about Donald?

Because I don't need to. Trust me, all the news people and the pundits and the late night talk show hosts and innumerable bloggers and so forth and so on have got this asshole covered. Meanwhile, Ted Cruz is over to the side saying the same shit as Donald and getting away with it because he has that thick viscous layer of overt sincerity that makes him seen sane compared to Trump. The only thing that has slowed Cruz down has been Trump vacuuming up the evangelical voters that Cruz figured were in his column. You know, the ones who emphatically believe Jesus should be white and so should the President.

But Cruz is not down yet as Super Tuesday added Texas, Oklahoma and Alaska to Iowa to make up a total of 4 states in the Ted Cruz win column. He's still in this thing and still counting on Trump to either implode or, if Cruz can play his cards right, hitch himself to Trump's star as VP.

Assuming Trump hasn't already promised that to Chris Christie. Oh God, what kind of deal with the devil has Christie made after endorsing Trump last week? Did you see the look on his face Tuesday night after Trump's big wins? 

Is Trump holding Christie hostage? "Oh shit! What have I done?" has never been better articulated without words than Christie's expression that night. 

So Donald Trump continues to gallop along, snatching up wins in state after state, rolling up delegates like so many gold plated knick knacks in a Trump casino. Can anyone stop him? What about you, Marco Rubio?

<insert sound of a roomful of hyenas>

OK, so maybe not so much Marco.

Look, I gotta give it up for Marco who actually tapped into his inner Trump to toss some zingers at Donald's orange spray tan, hair piece and small penis (really!) but man, it's too little, too late. The Trumpites have drank of the orange Kool-Aid and shall not be moved. Meanwhile in Marco Rubio's home state of Florida, Trump has a nearly 20 point lead over Marco in the polls. Maybe if former candidate and former Florida governor Jeb Bush would throw some support Marco's way by endorsing, Rubio might be able to... reduce that gap by about 5 points. 

Yeah, I don't think Trump is worried about Rubio. It really doesn't help Rubio that at 44 years old, he still looks young enough to be the cast member of a Nickelodeon sitcom, perhaps a wacky sidekick known as "Weasel". 

Another guy looking to his home state for a win and a way to hang on in this campaign is John Kasich. The former governor of Ohio is looking for a win in that state's primary to reverse his fortunes even as people in Ohio are on Google trying to find out who John Kasich is. So hold on to that dream, John, hold on to it tight.  

Hey, remember Dr. Ben Carson? 

Someone woke him up Wednesday and he was shocked to learn he's still running for President! "I thought we gave that shit up months ago," he said. "How long have I been asleep?" Apparently since last October. That's some serious sleepwalking there. 

So the Republicans breakdown like this: 

• Loud crazy dude nobody likes yet is incredibly winning a lot 
• Quiet crazy dude disliked by even more people but who is winning a little 
• Man-Boy weasel who isn't winning much and keeps getting carded every time he orders a Fuzzy Navel at Applebee's. 
• Alleged Ohio person who isn't winning at all and may in fact technically not exist
• Sleepy guy who never had a chance at winning except in his several months long dream.  

Hey, what's happening with the Democrats? Hillary Clinton's feeling a bit more chill as she romped through the Democratic Super Tuesday primaries, carrying all but 2 states. 

Bernie Sanders took Oklahoma which has a big affinity for old, cranky Jewish guys with bad hair and his home state of Vermont which is kind of like a mini-version of Canada. 

Bernie hasn't given up yet. He says the revolution is still on even as Hillary sucks on a big cigar while rolling around naked in a pile of delegates and I am truly sorry for putting that image in your head.  

At this point, the delegate math for both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is adding up for both to secure the nominations of their respective parties. For Hillary, it will be a milestone accomplishment for her lifelong dream to be the United States' first female President. And for Donald, it will be a step towards the fulfillment of his lifelong dream to stamp the word TRUMP in giant gold letters over all our national parks and monuments.  

And thus is the state of this Presidential election process, this campaign, this damn pain. 

Everyone, be good to one another.

Dave-El
I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You

Ted Cruz Is A Lying Fuck-Bastard - Part 7

"Cruz is looking more and more like a ferret."
----Mark Evanier, 03/02/2016


____________________________________________________


Greetings, my blog reading friend. I'm Dave-El and I welcome you to my blog, I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You. 

Today is another part of my ongoing series of posts examining the statements of one of the candidates for US President, taking a measured and scholarly review of this particular individual's expressions in speeches, debates and comments to the media and looking deep into the meanings of words and the very concepts of truth itself. I call this series of posts...

 

I have gone on record that I will keep doing this regular series of posts as long as Ted Cruz is running for President. That's not to say Ted can't or won't keep lying when he goes back to being just the Republican Senator from Texas. But my immediate concern is not letting this whiny, self-righteous prig anywhere near the GOP nomination so once that journey is over, I feel I can take a rest. I do, however, reserve the right to revive Ted Cruz Is a Lying Fuck Bastard for any particular egregious deceptions he indulges in from the Senate floor. 

But as for the Presidential race, it all depends on how do things look for Ted ("I was told there would be pudding") Cruz after the events of Super Tuesday.*




*This post is being written in advance of the Super Tuesday primaries.**
**Amended, 3/2/2016: Cruz found lots of pudding in Texas, Oklahoma and Alaska. So...we're still stuck with him. More tomorrow.  

But until the final nail is hammered into the coffin lid of Cruz For President 2016, I'll keeping plugging away at the many lies that are found up and down the Ted Cruz path. 

This one is from last year but dang it's so out there enough that I couldn't help address here in this post.  In June of 2015, Ted Cruz said that “one of the worst things that can happen to a species is to be listed on the Endangered Species Act.” He added that "if it gets listed it’s almost certain to become endangered."


First let's address this bit of malapropism. An animal placed on the endangered species list is in fact and at that time... endangered. It's an odd sequence of events for Ted to conceive of to have a creature declared to be endangered AFTER being put on the list. "No! Don't put little Bunny Foo Foo on the endangered list! Then he will be endangered!" pleads Ted Cruz's inner child. 


There is little evidence to support the idea that the ESA harms species, and none to suggest that it is among “the worst things that can happen to a species.” And there is in fact evidence that listing helps threatened and endangered species recover.

What we have hear is a typical right wing knee jerk reaction against government activity in general and in particular, the "liberal" policies of seeking to preserve animals and species. What we also have here is Ted's tendency to make some sweeping statement as if it's a proven fact without any actual facts to back that up. 

___________________________

God knows I don't want to defend Donald Trump but here's one that Ted told on Donald.    

And for more on this, click here.  

____________________________

And Ted Cruz continues to stand by this old chestnut during the 10th GOP debate.  



Cruz again claimed that the Affordable Care Act has “killed millions of jobs,” as he also said in the seventh debate. But the economy has actually added millions of jobs since the law was enacted, and it has added 2.4 million since January 2015 when the employer mandate went into effect.

This is a talking point that Cruz just keeps going to over and over and over again despite information to the contrary being presented time and time and time again. Of course, facts matter little to Ted Cruz. It's a great line, Ted knows it very well and he knows he plays with the idiots who eat up every negative Obama thing he says. Who cares if it's true as long as it sounds good to the intended audience.

And this is why we say....

TED CRUZ IS A LYING FUCK BASTARD. 

Thank you for coming by the blog today.

Remember to be good to one another and I'll be back with another post tomorrow where I catch up to the aftermath of Super Tuesday and we take stock of what's what on the dystopian Mad Max-esque American Presidential campaign landscape.

Oddball Super Heroes: A Few More From the Legion

Faster than a speeding turtle!
More powerful than a tangerine!
Able to leap modest sized puddles in a single bound!
Look, over by the computer!
It's a nerd!
It's a dufus!
It's DAVE-EL!
Yes, it's Dave-El, strange guy from North Carolina, 
who came to the kitchen with a desire for milk 
and oatmeal raisin cookies far beyond those of mortal men.
Dave-El, who can change the course of conversations,
bend paper in his bare hands,
and who, disguised as David Long, weird guy who works in an office somewhere doing some damn thing,
fights a never-satisfied need to be left alone,
watch TV and lust after Tina Fey.

___________________________________

Hi there! Dave-El here and welcome to I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You, your Bat-signal blog against the Gotham sky that is the internet.

For the last few weeks, I've been writing a series of posts called Oddball Super Heroes. I've focused on characters from DC's Legion of Super Heroes for these initial posts but I've decided that in the coming weeks I want to branch out to other heroes at other publishers. But before I moved on from the Legion, I wanted to share my absolute favorite Oddball Super Hero from the future.

Before I get to this amazing marvel, I want to say that I had not begun to exhaust the variety of characters who have shown up in Legion stories, desperately seeking membership with the galaxy's greatest heroes by demonstrating some of the galaxy's lamest powers. 

For example, there's Antennae Lad (Khfeurb Chee Bez from the planet Grxyor) who has the power to tune into any broadcast from any era. I'm not sure how that power would be helpful to the Legion.

Cosmic Boy: Oh, no! Computo is attacking! Legion, to me! Sun Boy, hit him with a solar flare! Lightning Lad, fry his circuits with an electrical blast! Antennae Lad, locate the 8th episode of the 2nd season of The Nanny!

Antennae Lad: Er, my power mostly works at random?

Cosmic Boy: ARRRGHHH! 

(Killed by Computo without seeing his favorite episode of The Nanny one last time.)

Yes, Antennae Lad's power to pick up broadcasts from any era... only worked at random.

And there was Color Kid (Ulu Vakk from the planet Lupra) who can change the color of objects. Ulu Vakk (which sounds like a vacuum cleaner from Asgard) gained his power after being struck by a ray from another dimension.

You know, there's a guy at the Sherwin-Williams paint store who can also change the color of any object.

In the 1985 Legion of Substitute Heroes one-shot, he was temporarily known as Color Queen after being exposed to Granderian Gender-Reversal Germs by Infectious Lass.

To be honest, Color Kid did save Superboy and Supergirl from Green Kryptonite... by changing it to blue. I'm not sure radiation actually works that way but....okay.

And let's not forget Double-Header (Frenk and Dyvud Retzun from the planet Janus). Try to keep up now: Double-Header has two heads.

Er, that's it.

No, each head doesn't have a unique super power that when combined with the other head forms a super duper power. No, he just has two heads.

And they don't get along either.

Porcupine Pete (Peter Dursin from Earth) has quills he can inaccurately shoot from his body. Yes, the key word in that sentence is "inaccurately".

But to me, there's one denizen of the far flung future that reflects the total absurdity of those hapless youths who sought glory and honor serving with the Legion, no matter how oddball or even just plain stupid their power may be.

Behold, I present to you....

Arm Fall Off Boy!    

Arm Fall Off Boy first appearance in Secret Origins Vol. 2 #46,
(December 1989) as drawn by Curt Swan.

Arm Fall Off Boy (Floyd Belkin) has the distinction of being an applicant at the first Legion tryout, and the first Legion reject.

There is so much to love about this sequence. The most literal super hero name ever, the sound an arm makes when it's detached ("Plorp!"), Floyd's high level of confidence in the awesomeness of his power.

Before I say farewell to the Legion and move on to other Oddball Super Heroes in other times and places, you might be wondering about this guy in the background in panel 1.

No, this is not Rocket Penis Lad. 

Although I can understand, it's kind of hard (ha!) not to think that. No, this is Fortress Lad and he has the power to turn into an impenetrable rocket ship shaped building.




Seriously. Don't mock Rocket P-, er, Fortress Lad.

Or Arm Fall Off Boy will come get you.

_______________________________________

Next week, we meet a super hero who was pretty big in his day. Even though he was published for only a few issues by a short lived publisher. More on that next Wednesday with another edition of Oddball Super Heroes.

Another blog post coming up tomorrow. Until then, remember to be good to one another.  

"HI, TINA!"

Happy Blogiversary

Three years ago, I decided to launch a blog. 

Big deal. Everybody and their mother has a blog. Seriously, there are mothers out there with blogs. 

A Mother's Pain
Derrick didn't call again today. I don't know what to do with that boy. You would think he would take a little time from his job and his wife (the hussy!) and their three kids to give his mother a call, just for a few minutes. I mean, I was in labor with him for three five TWELVE hours days WEEKS! And this is the thanks I get? And Lord knows how much time I have in this world. I have this strange pain up my left side and the doctor doesn't seem to know (or care) what it is! That's ridiculous! Doctors used to know things! I blame Obama!

But I went ahead and started a blog. Yes, I may be one voice among billions but it's still my voice and by God, I may not be heard but I will speak! 

Plus when I'm typing like this from my inner Sanctum Sanctorum here in the heart of my Fortress of Ineptitude, it sounds like I'm doing really important work in here. OK, I know I'm not fooling anybody but again, to me, it sounds important. I bet I could make it more important if I wore a fedora jauntily tipped to the side with a cigarette dangling from my lips. Don't bother me! I gotta get this done before we go to press! 

I recently made a change to the appearance of this blog. For most of the last three years, the banner has been a straightforward recitation of the title as such: 

I'M SO GLAD MY SUFFERING AMUSES YOU

This past weekend, I changed the banner by adding an unusual photo. And look, a mission statement! I've grown up! 

The photo by the way is David Tennant of Doctor Who portraying producer Russell T Davies in a tribute video when both Tennant and Davies were leaving the show. Assuming You Tube is cooperating, you can find that video here. 

This picture is from a particular amusing part of the video where Russell is really stressing out over production problems while apparently trying to smoke half a pack of cigarettes at one time. I've always liked that bit so I have.... borrowed this image for my blog banner until such time as I get bored with it or I get a cease and desist order from Tennant, Davies or the BBC.  

There is another post coming up today, another installment of Oddball Super Heroes in which I conclude my run of looking at heroes from the era of the Legion of Super Heroes. I'll be looking at strange heroes from other publishers in the weeks to come. 

What else is coming up on this blog? Sadly, more of Ted Cruz Is a Lying F**k Bastard but hopefully, not much more after the events of yesterday's primaries.*

*To be honest I'm writing this before Super Tuesday so who knows how this will turn out. Still, wishful thinking and all that if Ted gets drubbed enough to put the brakes on his campaign.**


**Amended, 03/02/2016: No, he didn't.

I'm a bit of a political junkie so look for more posts on that subject but I will try to make it entertaining through humor or, more likely failing that, stupidity. Hey, it's working for Donald! 

Beyond that, I can only promise whatever damn thing pops into my head. Whatever it is, thanks for dropping by. 

And I'm so glad my suffering amuses you.  

"Three years and Dave-El's still writing this blog?!?
How are you not totally bothered by that?!!"

Bullet Points

Hello. I haven't addressed the continuing scourge of gun violence in America of late. It's not taken a break, far from it. During Thursday night's Republican Presidential Debate, news was breaking for a shooting in Kansas that left 3 dead. Oddly enough, the subject of guns did not come up during the debate which seemed to me a lost opportunity to put at least 1 if not all 5 of the candidates on stage at the debate in the awkward position of defending guns in the immediate aftermath of more lives lost to guns.

 

Well, I say awkward. These guys are so far down the rabbit hole when it comes to the gun lobby, they could probably recite their NRA approved talking points over the still warm bullet ridden corpses of the latest shooting. Promoting guns in the face of gun violence? Nah, there's nothing awkward about that for these guys at all.

 

But what is happening out there in America when it comes to gun violence? To answer that, I went to this resource, the Gun Violence Archive. The GVA is a matter of fact accounting of every death in America that was the result of a gun. Homicide or suicide or accident. Criminal or law enforcement. Intended victim or innocent bystander. If a person dies from a bullet, it gets counted.

 

What caught me off guard was the sheer frequency of gun deaths every single day. So far for 2016, we have nearly 2,000 deaths related to gun violence. Approximately 33 people a day on average die as a result of being shot by a gun.

 

I decided to look for the bigger incidents of death by gun violence. So I looked over a 2 week span during February for incidents of gun related deaths involving 3 or more victims.

 

 

• 02/09/2016 Latham, NY           3 dead
• 02/10/2016 Abingdon, MD       3 dead
• 02/12/2016 Kerrville, TX          3 dead
• 02/12/2016 Omaha, NE           3 dead
• 02/13/2016 Louisville, KY        3 dead
• 02/17/2016 Zionsville, IN         3 dead
• 02/18/2016 Salt Lake City, UT 4 dead
• 02/20/2016 Kalamazoo, MI      6 dead
• 02/21/2016 Merrillville, IN        3 dead
• 02/23/2015 Glendale, AZ         5 dead

 

Welcome to the new normal, America.

 

I decided to pick a single day to count the number of the dead from gun violence including single victim shootings. Because I can be quite the cynical  bastard, I picked February 14th. Yes, Valentine's Day, full of love and romance and, in the case of 27 people, death. 27 people in America lost their lives to guns on that one day. 

 

 So what's the point I'm making here? That this is always going on. Sometimes if the crime is brazen enough or enough people die, it makes the news. The Uber driver in Kalamazoo scored well on that metric, killing 6 people even while still picking up riders. We get all, "Oh, what is becoming of our country?"

 

But the greater part of tally of the dead in America doesn't come from the killers who make the news. Most of that tally comes from those who die alone, away from the cameras and the headlines. Away from the mass shootings, those single deaths pile up too rapidly and proclaim the same plaintive and frustrated message: we shouldn't have to live this way.

 

Everyone, be good to one another. I'll be back with TWO posts tomorrow on slightly more fun topics.