gordon_r_d sent me Presents...

[capri0mni]

Alas, I did not think of exchanging presents, this year... the idea completely slipped my mind (besides, I had no idea of anything he might want) until the very last minute.* I shall have to get him back for this. Oh, yes.

What he sent were a couple of DVDs from The Troughton Years ("The Mind Robber" and "The Invasion"). At first, I was a bit worried, because I've lost the owner's manual for the computer's DVD program, and that manual has the license code to activate legal ownership, and personalize settings. When I brought up the help menu for customer support, last year, it told me to call the number printed in the owener's manual... *headdesk*.

But, luckily, these disks played just fine, without any needed fiddling. And I must say:

1. The. More. I. See. Of Troughton. The More. I. LOVE.
   
   
2. And Black and White Sci-Fi Pwns Everything.
   
   Really. Futuristic dystopias and surrealistic, mind-bending, dreamscapes work best in black and white. Dystopias, because you can't really get the brooding shadows and grim, gritty atmosphere when you can see folks in the background wearing pink striped ties and purple socks. And dreamscapes work best in black and white because, even if we really do dream in color, the colors are more muted than when we're awake.



3. And I'm having fun with the extras on the DVDs, too (But, tell me, please: What does that episode of Basil Brush have to do with "The Mind Robber?" -- "Web of Fear," I'd understand, but)...

*(The whole Yuletide thing just whooshed over my head like the punchline to a very obscure joke, this year)

Comments

[scarfman]

I don't know how old your computer is, or what's your platform of choice, but what with Windows Media Player most of them these days come being able to play DVDs. If you're keeping a checklist of reasons for upgrading, waiting for it to reach critical mass, here's one to add (especially if you acquire any DVDs that won't play without the program manual).

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

I bought this computer last year, just before the new machines with Vista came out; it runs on XP.

To be fair, the "CD" I was trying to play last year, was another one of random fun stuff that Gordon did up for me, on a DVD-rom disk... so the fact that it's home made may have something to do with it. I could play such discs on the computer I had before this one. But that computer is in my closet, right now.

What really annoys me though is that the customer support number is not online, somewhere-- only in the manual. That's not very supportive.