A couple of videos wot were shown at Connotations.

Kermit sings Hurt. (This just killed my childhood.)

William Shatner sings dramatically recites Rocket Man. (This just killed me. Several times over.)

Teh Connotations Duck of Slashy Fangrrl Doom

At Connotations, in the registration pack, along with the conzine and the schedule and the impossible (but my team won it somehow) quiz, we were each given one* of these:



It, erm, squeaks when you squeeze it.

David.

*I managed to end up with four. Although one of them lost its squeak possibly due to overuse.

Hotel rec

As I was a bit late booking for Connotations, I ended up not in the Park Hotel, but in a hotel down the road in Whitley Bay, which I'd found after a quick Yellow Pages search for hotels in the area and then sending a few emails round. Always a risk going for a hotel pretty much sight unseen (I mean, I'd seen the website, but that was it). Sometimes I've ended up in places that are, to be frank, grotty dives (the one Sarah and I stayed at in Stockton for Dimensions three years back, say no more).

However, this one was an absolute joy - a pleasant building, well decorated, a friendly welcome, helpful staff, good service, good value for money, and just generally, in every way possible, it helped to make the weekend an enjoyable one. So, can I just say, if ever you're looking for somewhere to stay in the Whitley Bay area, The Northumbria Hotel would be a really good place to stay.

( For what it's worth, three pics of the room I was in. )

I'm already thinking in terms of the area in general, and the hotel in particular, as being a possible place for Sarah and I to go for the "a few days getting away from it all" break we're going to need after the wedding (this isn't the honeymoon per se, just a necessary break).

But anyway, yes, I really can't recommend the hotel highly enough.

Oh, and a pic I took of the view out at Whitley Bay:



Doesn't quite do it justice, but really, lovely.

Oh, and on the subject of which, this store is just next to the station in Whitley Bay and has possibly the worst pun of a name ever. Although "The Goodbarber" (with a logo based on that for The Godfather) runs it a very close second...

David.

List number one.

List of progs/films/books to explore now that I'm back from Connotations - either pimped at the Pimp session, or more casually, or just mentioned in a way that got me interested.

• The State Within. I think it was fides who was discussing this and showing us some screenshots. I've always thought it sounded a fairly interesting programme and I'm not sure why I didn't watch it at the time, so, heh, one to watch.
  
• Traveler. Because it's got the guy who plays Bryce Larkin in Chuck in it, and he's cute. And it sounds interesting.
  
• Charlie Jade. Been meaning to check it out since SFX gave away the first ep on a free DVD a year or two back. At one of the panels, one of the attendees was praising it to the hilt.
  
• The Lair. Gay vampires in a nightclub. What's not to like?
  
• Stargate Atlantis. Just because it's so hugely popular (at least among the Connotations attendees) that I really think I'll understand some of the conversatons a lot better if I'm at least familiar with it.
  
• Dante's Cove. Well, having won a fifth share in a boxed set of the DVDs, it would seem daft not to check it out.
  
• A Touch of Frost. On a non-Connotations related note, I still haven't quite got over visiting my gran a few years back and her watching this on the telly and saying "I don't suppose you'll like it." W, T, and indeed F??? Anyway, definitely in the "fandoms I so didn't expect to see represented at Connotations" category (along with Chas/Morph, frankly...), there was a lovely little fanvid showing that actually it does have a rather slashy potential to it. (Anyone got a link to that anywhere? I'd love to see it again...)
  
• The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne. Seems rather deliciously crack-tastic and, on the whole, right up my street.
  
• Primeval. Some eps were playing when I arrived on the Friday, and quite frankly, in a similar way to SGA, I feel I'll be missing out if I don't.
  
• Skins. I've seen bits of it already, but not really been greatly bothered. However, at the pimp session Fuchsia was pointing out that it's really rather slashy on a Tony/Sid axis. Think I may check it out. On the bright side, 'tis available for free on 4oD. On the less bright side, that's a fat lot of good as I've got a Mac.
  
• The Middleman. Pimped by fides at the pimp session. Sounds joyously geeky. Saw bit of some episodes that had been showing earlier, and sort of half fell in love with it then.
  
• Shelter. Pimped at the pimp session. Two hot surfer dudes make out. What's not to like? (Shallow? Moi?)
  
• Twilight. Okay, it was mainly mentioned in the "why do people still publish crap novels" panel, which is hardly a recommendation. And okay, it appears to have some iffy gender politics, and Edward's a stalker and the age difference between him and Bella makes it really rather ultra iffy, but I've been curious about this series for a while now and I'm still rather keen to check it out. However, I'll try to keep my critical faculties turned on, though...
  

Things I might not check out, on the other hand:

• Noah's Arc. Saw a couple of episodes at the post-con wind-down, and, erm, the acting was just dire, and it seemed to be pandering to as many gay stereotypes as is humanly possible. Horrible.
  
• Queer as Folk (US). Have been meaning to check it out for a while, but have been talked out of it by Moth, on the grounds that it's rubbish, which has saved me time and money. Will, however, be giving the UK series a re-watch in the not-too-distant, because I've not see it in yonks and frankly, it still rocks.
  

May be checking out some of the bad fanfic, some of which was sort of kind of but not quite "so bad it's risibly funny". And sometimes, y'know, I just need a laugh. And to feel superior.

List number two.

Doctor Who serials/episodes to watch in research for a fanvid:

Terror of the Autons
The Mind of Evil
The Claws of Axos
Colony in Space
The Daemons
The Sea Devils
The Time Monster
Frontier in Space
The Deadly Assassin
Keeper of Traken
Logopolis
Castrovalva
Time-Flight
King's Demons
The Five Doctors
Planet of Fire
Mark of the Rani
Trial of a Time Lord eps 13 & 14
Survival
1996 TV Movie
Utopia
The Sound of Drums
Last of the Time Lords

There is a link between those serials and/or episodes, honestly. Can you guess what it is..? *g*

Although I might try to get round to finish the two single-story fanvids I've had on the boil for the last three years first.

Now, the reason for taking today off work was...well, technically a holiday, but I'll be all disappointed and angry with myself if I don't get at least a bit of housework done. So off I jolly well go.

What I've been up to lately

• 17:50 Am on coach back from Connotations. Am stuck on M1 which is closed 'cos of accident. Am *really* wishing I'd come by train now... #

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Happy Bunny Cute but Psycho.

I want one of these.

Well, probably two - one for Sarah (who will, I suspect, agree with the "psycho" bit but not the "cute" bit) and one for me (because I tend to be the other way round).

*g*

Unwell girlfriend

huntingospray is an ill bunny at the moment. :o( She seems to have come down with the dreaded workplace lurgy that has already affected her colleagues. She's lost her voice, pretty much (I gave her a call earlier and she wasn't able to say much). Hugs & prayers for her would, of course, be appreciated.

I'm in two minds about what to do tomorrow. I took the time off work primarily to go to London for the signing that's taking place at Waterstone's Piccadilly - Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook signing The Writer's Tale. But OTOH, it's not going to be a particularly cheap day (RRP for the book is £30:00 - no idea what Waterstone's are charging - and the return/Travelcard to London is over £16:00 these days), and it's not a book I'm desperately fussed about, and I've already met them both and have their scribbles on books, and *meh*.

In really exciting news, my sister's new baby will be born...any day now. So we're all in a state of readiness. It's my mum's birthday next Friday, so we could be having a double celebration.