morwen

A new species of Solanum (Solanaceae) from South Africa related to the cultivated eggplant got published today (paper by doseybat and her former boss). It is the first electronically published plant species description and the first to be published in English. More significantly, it is the first scientific paper that I'm in the acknowledgements of. (I counted the stellate hairs and assigned a tentative seperation into groups).

Google Maps has got a new tileset since I last noticed. Obvious defects in areas I am familiar with.

1. London omitted at Z5 in favour of Reading
2. placenames in London that appear at Z11 disappear at Z12. The placenames on Z12 are a strange set, mostly the larger parks ("Hackney Marsh", "Victoria Park", but no Hackney, for example), but also "Harringay Ladder", which is a name I've never seen on a map before, and particularly oddly "The London Wetland Centre (The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust)".
3. There's a "Dodgy Park" that has appeared just west of East Ferry Road on the Isle of Dogs, which seems to be some sort of nickname
4. Walthamstow Village is captioned "Upper Walthamstow", entirely the wrong place
5. the part of Wardour Street south of Shaftesbury Avenue is still labelled "Whitcomb Street", five years on and counting.
6. Knightsbridge label applied to an area west of Exhibition Road

Problems in new render:

1. railways render weird when bunched together at Z13 particularly and closer, e.g. around Stonebridge Park or the approaches to Kings Cross St Pancras.

But hey, at least

1. the M25 is no longer labelled as an "Autoroute britannique", and
2. and it doesn't think the A329 through Reading is a motorway any more

I don't know what exactly is going on here, but from the outside it appears Google Maps has been generally getting poorer with time. Absurdly poorer. I can only assume they don't test with London. Or possibly at all.

All went through nicely last Thursday. Since then I have

*had replacement carpets fitted upstairs. old carpets being picked up soon.
*had a fridge-freezer, a bedframe, and a dining table delivered
*started assembling the dining table
*got a washing machine on order
*arranged for a car for moving boxes on this Sunday morning and the Sunday after (help with box wrangling would be welcome)
*arranged professional movers for furniture on the 6th
*ordered a telephone line, to be connected on the 9th

I need to:

*sort out bills, council tax, contents insurance
*buy curtains for upstairs
*get more quotes for work on fascia & soffit

Also, it would be good to:
*get fusebox replaced with something modern, put kitchen on separate ring, some more sockets in kitchen
*lighting fixtures need properly attaching to ceiling, rather than just dangling from wires
*doors are hung slightly too low for the carpet

So, I made a nice little art deco cinema in Minecraft:

Went to see Ghostbusters at the newly-opened Hackney Picturehouse with khalinche and timeplease. I had forgotten how good a comedy the film is: 10/10.

The cinema just opened on Friday, in what was the old Ocean. I joined as a founder member, and consequently my name is on some artwork in the ceiling in the booking area. I went along last Sunday for the open day, and it seems pretty good. Screen 1 is epically big, and I look forward to seeing the big popcorn films there. Ghostbusters tonight was in screen 2, which is a rather smaller scale but still a very big screen for the size of the auditorium. Screens 3 and 4 I recall being rather smaller. I'm sure I will become more familiar with these in time. And, best of all, it's five minutes' walk from the Pembury. It'll be so nice to be able to meet there in advance of the movie, or adjourn there after the film for a drink and a chat about the cinematography.

It was a digital print of Ghostbusters, which is being re-released, apparently. I'm no revisionist, but am slightly disappointed that more work was not done. Most of the effects were fine (if dated), but the new clean copy meant three particularly dodgy composites became really obvious. And more's the pity, they could have been done with the material at hand, by me, even. Two of these were bleed throughs, and in another, the side of a building was flickering between perspectives oddly. I think it's a shame to tout something as "digitally remastered" and to make howlers like that more visible.

House-purchasing continues, slowly. I have had various pieces of paper sent to me, which I have been signing, sometimes getting witnessed, and sending back. These include in the last few days the mortgage deed, the Agreement and the land registry deed thingy. Other pieces of paper have also been sent to me, including one bearing the news that there is a restrictive covenant on the land that prohibits me from opening a pub or otherwise selling alcohol (or rather beers, wines and spirits) on it. So mead and cider should be fine, then?

I need to give 2 months notice on my flat (and the appropriate day is the 7th of the month), and I don't think I'm in a position to do it yet this week. Should be able to do it for next month, giving me a vacation date of January 6th.

So, it's 1990, it's October, and season 27 of Doctor Who starts. The first without John Nathan-Turner for ten years, although Andrew Cartmel remains as script editor. I don't have any memory of watching this at the time. Looking at dates, it was about the same time BBC2 started showing TNG, which I started following instead...

( Doctor Who: Season 27: Thin Ice )

One nit: the Doctor's explanation for why the October revolution is celebrated in November is wrong. Who can tell me the correct answer, from the top of their heads?

Another good one. It continues Ace's development, here having her ( spoiler )

Only real weakness in the staging is the fight sequences, which, again, don't really convince. (I'm sure the actual fight choreography isn't worse than it is in a lot of TV these days, but modern TV tends to disguise it by a] sound effects, and b] cutting very rapidly)

I have got to 1989's first story, Battlefield. It is an absolute delight. Smartly-written, full of one-liners, and fairly well shot. It gives us a bit more development of the companion, Ace - we knew she blew up the art room at school - we now get to find out how - and a character for her to form a bond with. It also features the last appearance of the Brigadier in Doctor Who, who is given a fitting send-off, I think. I defended his involvement in Mawdryn Undead, but this is better for him as a character. And the ideas, which weren't too mysterious and unexplained, but also wasn't spoonfed... The monster is slightly bad but isn't outright terrible (I think it could work in another context, but it isn't quite right given the staging of the rest of it).

Did I mention I like this story? I think this (at least the special edition of it) is one that I could show to non-fans who like good television and not be at all ashamed of. Something I could not say very often so far about 1980s Doctor Who.

My very slow Doctor Who marathon continues with Silver Nemesis, from season 25.

( in which I am fairly scathing and spoilery )