I am Ashley Elsdon

someone who's doing some things

Month: November 2013

Making my way through Babylon 5

Posted by on in TV

A number of people recommended Babylon 5 to me and it was always one of those very long series that I never got into when it was originally on air. Either I missed it or was doing something else and by the time I was ready to get into it the first series was over. So, many years later I’ve finally started watching it. So far I’m only onto series two. It isn’t bad so far. I’m not really into the wider story arc or at least it hasn’t taken a real hold so far, but I can see that it has promise.

I can’t say that it’s on the same scale as something like Battlestar Galactica, but that’s probably not a fair comparison really as BSG is much newer and had the benefit of a complete re-imagining.

So I’m going to stick with it and watch the whole arc, and as I do I’ll post a few more thoughts on it as I go through.

So here I am with Android 4.4

Posted by on in Tech

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So I’ve upgraded my little old Nexus and so far I’m not noticing anything amazing with it. No incredible improvements in performance either. So, what’s the big deal then? Did I miss something?

Doctor Who: The Auntie Matter

Posted by on in Books and Audiobooks

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After watching the Day of the Doctor I decided to go back to listening to some old(new) doctor who. I thought I’d listen to the second season of the fourth doctor from big finish. The first episode, the auntie matter, is just awesome. Great fun and a very good way to start off the season again.

No more Pebble for me

Posted by on in Tech

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Whilst I really liked the idea of the Pebble and it was fun, eventually I had to conclude that I really didn’t have a use for it at all sadly. So I’ve found it a better home for now at least.

My app of the week this week is … Tweetbot 3

Posted by on in Tech

I don’t think I could go back to using the standard twitter app anymore. Tweetbot 3 is so much easier to use, especially for multiple accounts, as it actually treats each account differently, or rather, it allows you to treat each account differently. In what way? Well, I use two ‘read it later’ services. One with each of my twitter accounts. Twitter’s own iOS app only allows you to use a single service across multiple accounts, but this doesn’t work for me. Tweetbot 3 allows me the flexibility I need here, and that’s not all.

In tweetbot 3 you can fine tune the interface, with the two buttons at the end of the bar being configurable. Again, this works on a per account basis, which is completely sensible in my view and is exactly what I need.

So overall tweetbot 3 is a massive step in the right direction and unless things with the main twitter app change significantly I won’t be going back.

The Day of the Doctor

Posted by on in TV

Well I watched it, and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting it to be. In fact there were bits I actually quite liked about it. However, my one question overall is about why there’s a new doctor inserted into the chronology, and what does that mean for the overall chronology of doctor who. I suppose it means that overall every doctor after Paul McGann moves up a number, making the new doctor (who I very much approve of) number 13. Isn’t that a problem?

If I remember correctly, in the Keeper of Traken the Master was on his 13th regeneration and couldn’t regenerate after that, although of course he did regenerate but it was at someone else’s expense, Tremas’ expense actually (and of course Tremas is an anagram of Master).

So will the latest doctor be the 13th regeneration? If so, what happens after him? Obviously I’m guessing that the writers will just find a mechanism to get around it. Hopefully not like the master though, I don’t think it’d be very popular for the doctor to subsume another person.

Of course the best thing about it was the return of Gallifrey, or at least its restoration. I always thought that the whole thing with the time lords at the end of Tennant’s doctor was awful and massive mistake not in keeping with how the time lords had been described before. At least now all of that nonsense has been undone.

Anyway, so a not bad effort overall. With a 50th celebration it’s always going to be hard to pull off and this one wasn’t bad at all.

Happy Families Too ..

Posted by on in Listening, Music

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So I’ve been listening to this for about a week and I have to say that it’s great. Whilst all of the tracks are clearly recognisable as the original songs they are of course very different from the original versions, and that’s good. Also Neil’s voice is different too. It’s a great album and I’m looking forward to hearing the remix album coming out next year.

Well done Blancmange.