I’ll get it uploaded somewhere, and then edit the page. Thanks for pointing it out!

I consider DRM of any kind unacceptable (See my views on Steam) and, back when I first saw the name in Humble Bundle 2, I dismissed Desura for its closed-source nature, lack of Linux support, and the faulty assumption that it must have Steam-like DRM but, aside from that, I generally agree with you.

Since they open-sourced the client, I’ve been keeping a close eye on the development process and, if you’ve got the time, I’m curious what you think about the mockups I’ve made as a proposed rework for the Desura icon menu you mentioned as being hard to discover.

I’m not sure if the resume-after-closing, play time tracking, and categories system have been filed as feature requests in the GitHub tracker yet but, if not, I agree that they should be added and I’ll get them added to the list when I can spare the time to do it well. (Possibly including proposed design details, since UI/UX design is sort of my specialty.)

I’ve also noticed that the ads are getting more intrusive (some of them run for 60 seconds + with no option to skip them), it seems harder and harder every week to find the content you want without having to drum your fingers on the desk in frustration while you wait for an ad to finish; the same ad that you’ve seen four or five times in the previous thirty minutes. I’m starting to hate the products I see advertised, simply because they wont get out of my face.

I understand that a site needs ad revenue to stay afloat if they offer free content, but it seems like they’re exploiting the content in this case, to make as much money as possible without any regard for the user’s experience.

Bad idea.

A fascinating, provocative, even convincing analysis of the story (which for me felt mostly contrived, over spectacular, and mis-prioritized). Certainly it’s a narrative collapse on a more mundane level, being set in an anachronism stew after the death of the universe (as per season finale these days), but I fear you have failed to consider the true extradiegetic. Moffat is not going to break the show permanently with postmodernism. If nothing else he’s not brave enough, it’s not that Doctor Who couldn’t survive, it can survive anything. It survived the tacit admission of all these things in The Mind Robber, simply that I doubt that Steven Moffat would really wish to alienate the audience he’s been cultivating (mostly parents and children, with the in between age range being a tertiary concern) with so bold a move. Effectively we’re in a bind, narrative laws say that the only effective consequence of a prophecy is it’s fulfillment (a least partially), yet the prophecy would break the show, and be audience inappropriate. Moffat knows the sort of fire he’s playing with, but i don’t think he plans on doing anything interesting with it. Judging by past trends he’ll cop out in some fashion, most likely by keeping the answer from the audience (boring but sound), or killing the 11th Doctor so as to negate the prophecy (unsatisfying, but the sort of tricky technicality he loves, and it involved his love of killing off Matt Smith), I have essentially lost faith that he is capable of chewing as much as he bites off.

My instructions here are for bittorrent end-users, i.e. users downloading existing torrent files that are already being seeded elsewhere.

I discovered Desura today, I also have been seeing the redeem Desura keys on my Humble Bundles and thought the same as you. I found it incredibly simple to load and redeem my keys, all worked with a problem (I’m using PCLinuxOS and also use Mandriva). I won’t be waiting for a native Linux port of Steam anymore, (not that I thought it would really happen) my money is going to Desura (and Humble bundles).

How this first seeding step is performed in transmission?
Thanks

It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Doctor saw the Tesselecta-version die, thought it was his actual self, and thus put the Tesselecta there in the first place. It has nothing to do with *believing* something happened.

Saturday is going to be great but I don’t seem to have taken much from this episode because I’ve been too focused on the next.

So, can’t wait till Saturday and your next episode review.

I’m sure it will be good, I’m just on that post-companion sadness, I suppose, lol. It’ll be cool to see some old friends again (Craig from The Lodger, at the very least). Just sad to see them leave, if even for an episode. Sort of a prelude to next seasons’ final goodbye.

And, I suppose you are right. It just makes me nervous when any show builds up a central storyline for a season and then sort of shoves it off for any long stretch of time, but now that I think about it (post-your comment) I see you’re right.

“I would argue that I’m taking exactly the right amount of Feminist stance.”

Lol, fair enough I guess. Two sides of the same coin and all that.

I think I’ll avoid an ultra-feminist take on the Doctor. If I questioned your level, which I apologize and retract part of, I don’t think I could read one that you yourself claim as MORE critical.

Cheers. Can’t wait for the next episode and the subsequent review.

No worries, I appreciate the comments; it lets me know there’s at least one person actually reading!

As for next week’s episode, I have more hope for it than that. Gareth Roberts write a tremendously good episode in series 5, and I think that if anyone can make an interesting Cybermen story it’s him. Also, it’s important to remember that Doctor Who isn’t traditionally defined by its story arcs – indeed, ongoing story arcs as a concept that tie each production season together are new to the new series, and this season has had a LOT more episodes that tie directly to the ongoing story than any other series (I mean, showing a random crack in reality during each episode in series 5 is just a teaser; it doesn’t make that episode inherently connected to the ongoing arc. So, this is nothing out of the ordinary, really. Series 5 had 4 episodes in a row with nothing more than token nods to the ongoing continuity (Vampires of Venice – Vincent and the Doctor. If you want to count Rory’s erasure in Cold Blood, then we have to count the companion departure in The God Complex too).

Actually, I had already speculated that all the fuss fans are making about finding River is overblown – as I said in someone else’s blog comments last week, that ship has sailed. River has already grown up (as Amy and Rory’s friend), and if my timeline for Dr. Song’s life is accurate, there’s not really anywhere for ‘Amy and Rory have happy parent time’ to really slot into place.

I also loved this episode, despite the one crucially bad line of dialogue and its other minor flaws. And speaking of that crucially bad line of dialogue…

“Too strong a Feminist stance”. Interesting phrase. I would argue that I’m taking exactly the right amount of Feminist stance. It is simply the consequence of applying critical reasoning to the world around me, rather than unquestioningly accepting it as given. Nothing is created in a vacuum, and the dialogue and situations in a television program are very much influenced by the society they are created in. More importantly, the television show isn’t broadcast in a vacuum either, and the situations and dialogue presented can have real ramifications for our culture. Art reflects, reinforces, and influences culture, and so I feel more than justified in critiquing the implications of a narrative within a broader cultural context.

So, no, I don’t think my rant is a reach at all. Because that surname shift happened in a show produced within the confines of Western culture, and in that culture I’ve seen the narrative of women as de facto property (but not actual property, no, because we are So Enlightened and Sexism Is A Thing Of The Past, right?) played out again and again. It’s easy to miss that narrative when you don’t have to live in the shadow of the expectations created by that narrative. Which is a fairly succinct (if somewhat incomplete) definition of Male Privilege (and that link is certainly recommended reading!)

It’s also worth noting that at no point did I think ‘that out-dated chauvinist!’. Rather, I thought “That is a disappointing way to subvert the narrative of strong women, and Amy in particular, and to reinforce the very current, modern cultural trend toward the objectification of women.” Actually, to be fair, I didn’t think that when I heard the line. No, I thought “Wait, what the fuck was that shit? After the Doctor explicitly quipped about Mr. Pond, we’re going to drop a line like that?”. But I digress.

The upshot of this? Feminist thought (and Social Justice-oriented thinking in general) is a natural consequence of the way I think about the world, and I consider it important to analyze cultural artifacts from that perspective, because they are placed in a particularly powerful position for spreading and strengthening social memes. So the Feminist commentary isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

Also, all things considered my analysis of Doctor Who from a Feminist perspective is comparatively mild. See here for a much more critical analysis. (for the record, I don’t agree with all the points she makes there, but I don’t disagree with all of them either)

I mean, a rant about the changing of surname as a form of transferring possession of the woman is a bit of a reach in the context of the show and the line. Almost as if you’re mining every sentence for some kind of sexism and controversy.

I caught that line immediately but the very last thing on my mind was “look at that Doctor, trying to transfer ownership of Amy! That out dated chauvinist!”… No… I thought “this is it. The beginning of the end…” which made me realize that I’d made a giant mistake as a Who fan… I became emotionally involved in the well-being of the companions for the first time and forgot that they, like the actors that play the Doctor, and impermanent.

Of course, if rumours are true we’ll have Doctor/Amy/Rory episodes well into next season but the last 10 minutes or so of the episode sort of hit me in the gut, as a fan, who had forgotten not to become disillusioned to the truth of the companions.

Overall, I loved this episode. I, like most others, fell into the “this is just another monster who feeds on fear” mindset and the next thing I knew my preconceived notions were thrown out the window.

I liked that they actually made reference to River and sort of, if my interpretation is anywhere close, explained how Amy and Rory go along with all of the Doctor’s side quests without smacking him upside the head and yelling “Daughter! Now!”. It’s a weak explanation and probably my version of your over-analysis but I was left feeling okay about what had seemed like, as you put it, the tale of the forgotten daughter.

I am however not optimistic about next weeks episode. I’ve never felt a show has had so many filler episodes in a row before. It just seems like, with the major storyline of the season, there hasn’t been much beyond an episode or two and a line or two in others that plays into the overriding theme of the season. The death of the Doctor. And, while I know the season finale will likely cover it I can’t help but wonder if they intend to answer all the questions before seasons end or string them through next season.

Sorry… Don’t many friends of the show so when I get going… I really get going…

I’d like to point out that it’s not like he chose the young, hot Amy over the older, “less attractive” version (not that I agree she’s less attractive at 59, just sticking with your statement).

Also, it seems to me that the reason it’s made Rory’s decision is because young Amy would choose herself and presumably visa versa. Neither would want to die, neither could be on the TARDIS while the other was. Rory is, ultimately, the only one left to make the decision. It wasn’t like they could invite old Amy in to have a debate with young Amy…

That’s my take, anyways.

Moving on to something you pointed out. How Amy seemed to accept the betrayal too easily after the discussion with the Doctor. I agree that there has to be something at play there that will come back to be important later.

I had the same feeling, though for different reason, in Flesh and Stone when the Doctor rushes off and then seemingly turns back to talk to Amy as she sits eyes closed and fidgeting. The feeling that something more is at play, because it seemed out of place, and it wouldn’t be the last time we saw of this moment.

I suspect that conversation will come back at some point. Something the Doctor will recall sometime down the road or will come back up down the road.

I won’t spend a lot of time in this post because it’s weeks old but I believe this to be a very thoughtful post with a lot of compelling evidence to back it.

Kudos.

Now to join a more recent conversation and give my opinions!

In fact, the only time she agreed to risk unravelling time and space was when she agreed to help pull young Amy into their timestream, which was a decidedly unselfish action.