*Am still bouncing*

Ohhhh, yes! Yes, sir, thank-you-very-much-indeed.

Know the moment I liked best? It was just a small thing. When Stoker looked out of the hospital window at the moonscape, and the real Earth, suspended in the sky, was reflected in the window above and to the left of him, while a small globe was standing on the window-sill below and to the right, with his unbelieving face staring outwards in between. Those are the moments which tell you you're watching a well-crafted, well-thought-out piece of television, and not some half-assed piece of rubbish.

Edit: ( This moment, to be precise )

Thanks, YouTube.

I look forward immensely to the rest of the series. And if I'm not careful, I could well find myself nursing a serious Ten crush by the end of it...

I was glad to have the pleasure of the company of nigelmouse and big_daz for Who - I always feel a new series should be started with fellow enthusiasts. We also enjoyed an episode of Fry & Laurie, Gosford Park (after Nigel had headed subculture-wards for bleepy music), and a quite impressive quantity of beer and bikkies. A fine evening all round.

7. Gosford Park (2001), dir. Robert Altman

IMDb page here. Watched at home with big_daz.

My third watching for this, I think. I'd been a bit confused about the plot the first time around, due to missing the first fifteen minutes, and not having a clue who everyone was. Not that seeing them would necessarily have helped all that much. Like the West Wing, it avoids exposition, and simply presents naturalistic dialogues, in an almost docu-drama type fashion. It's up to you to pick up who's who as you go along.

Anyway, having seen it a second time too, I pretty much had most people figured out this time, although had forgotten some names. So I was able to watch in full knowledge of how the plot would pan out, and the hidden secrets of all the characters. Which is a nice position to be in, as there's a lot of very charged scenes early on if you know what's going to happen later, and what's already been going on before the film begins. Mind you, big_daz, who was seeing it for the first time, didn't seem to be at any disadvantage. He was going 'ooh' and 'aha' at all the right moments, and basically had the whole thing figured out from about half-way through the film. Well done that man!

It's a very bleak film in many ways - especially in contrast to the episode of Jeeves & Wooster I watched while eating my lunch earlier today. Has left me feeling rather sad - but luckily Doctor Who exuberance is still bubbling up under there, so I think I'll live.