(November 5 – 11)
This week I’ve been thinking a lot about tiny actions, and the way they can change the course of our lives; a little bit like the butterfly effect. For example, randomly picking up a Doctor Who book in my primary school playground sparked a lifelong love of the show. Many years later, writing a letter to a video magazine, to see if I could write for them, proved to be the first step in a life/career path that indirectly led to me emigrating to Australia and starting a career in IT. Go figure.
Alongside those tiny actions are the coincidences: the confluences of unplanned events that steer our lives in seemingly unpredictable directions. You miss out on what you think is your dream job, only to get a job you really like a few months later. One apparent setback becomes the thing that you only realise later had left your life clear for much better things to happen.
How many times in our lives does this happen? We turn left instead of right? We say one thing instead of another, and those are the words that changes someone’s mind? We go out, instead of staying at home, and meet someone amazing?
And if you didn’t make one of those choices, sometimes years back, how different would your life be now?
Watching
Episode 5 of the new series of Doctor Who (“The Tsuranga Conundrum”), and the io9 review sums it up best for me: I’m ready for Doctor Who to stop proving that it’s still Doctor Who. This week we had the alien/base under siege story. This has followed from the obligatory monster story and the (very excellent) historical story. Once again, a perfectly good episode—gorgeous to look at, strong attention to characterisation. I just don’t think it’s going to be an especially memorable one. I’m ready for this season to throw off the restraints and *really* show us what the new production team are capable of. Five down; six to go!
Friday’s horror movie was A Quiet Place, which I’ve been waiting to watch for a long time (indeed, the bluray has been sitting on my shelf for months now). And it was pretty damn good. Very slow–a consequence of the [necessary] lack of dialogue, and the literal slow and measured pace of the characters. However, once it starts (and it starts pretty early on) it doesn’t let up. In fact, I was surprised when it ended.
But, I do love that last scene ….
Reading
Not much.