Cool stuff from the Internet, and the "30 Days" of TV meme finally comes to an end

[tardis_stowaway]

Last night I discovered American Science & Surplus, which sells everything from laboratory beakers to brass sextants to military surplus "oxygen warning switches" to a package of 101 assorted springs.  There's not really anything there that I need, but there are zillions of things that appeal to the part of me that loves new laboratory gear, school supplies, and random weird stuff.  It's all so cheap, you find yourself thinking, "it only costs $3 for 20 five ml glass ampules!  I'm sure there's some use for them!" Plus, the descriptions are often quite entertaining (ex: Like a narcissistic fashion model, but much more useful. You get 10 feet of 3/8" wide, light-green hook-and-loop ribbon. Wouldn't our life be easier if we could say the word that rhymes with Welcro? Yes, it would.)   I'm putting together a steampunk outfit for DragonCon, and there's a bunch of stuff that looks like costume materials. 

I have a vid rec!  "You'll Be Bright" by diarmi is marvelous celebration of the female companions of New Who.  It's energetic and full of the wonder of exploration. Rose, Martha, Donna, and Amy all get plenty of love.  Here's the LJ entry for feedback or download, and here's the youtube version:

I think I'll finally finish off the blasted TV meme now.

Time Unit 30:  Saddest character death

Due to indecision, I'm going to nominate one death from the Whedonverse and a set of deaths from the Whoniverse.  Among the many, many sad deaths to choose from in the works of Joss Whedon, I think the worst of the lot may be Tara's death in BtVS.  Not only did I really love her as a character, but her death broke Willow and caused her to turn to the dark side.  Tara was killed just as  she and Willow were getting back together and things were looking hopeful for them, and then a stray bullet fired by a human killed her off.  I cried more at Buffy's death in "The Gift," but we knew she was going to be back.

From the universe of Who and its spinoffs, I think I have to go with the one-two punch of Ianto and Steven in Torchwood:  Children of Earth.  Just a few episodes (plus a hiatus) after the deaths of Tosh and Owen, the characters and the audience were still raw.  The death of our emo tea boy made me weep.  (And then it caused certain elements in fandom to turn a bit crazy, but that's another story.)  I hadn't been expecting them to kill off another member of the main team, and it was really rough.  Although Steven was a character we didn't know well, who in retrospect was pretty much introduced in order to die, his death was perhaps even more emotionally devastating to me because of what it meant for Jack.  My heart broke not only because a child died, but because Jack had to kill his own young grandson while his daughter wept and pleaded, and he's going to have to live with that forever.  :(

Urgh, that was depressing.  What we need now are some pictures of weird-looking animals.  There are plenty to be found on the Ugly Endangered Things blog, which highlights the plight and the coolness of endangered species that lack the charisma of giant pandas.  Some of the most recent entries are kind of stretching the definition of ugly, but the archives feature some real doozies, like the Ohio lamprey.

Comments

[mysticalchild_isis]

I loved Tara, so her death was ridiculously upsetting.

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

Tara was wonderful. "Ridiculously upsetting" is very much the right description. :(

[candrabindu.livejournal.com]

Wait, what happened to days 28 and 29? I'm trying and failing to find them in your previous posts, although I'm more than wiling to accept the possibility that I just overlooked them.

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

Wow, you're paying a lot of attention for a largely pointless meme. :)

I had friends-locked that entry, since it talks about early experiences in fandom that I don't necessarily want to share with the internet at large, and now that I check it appears I accidentally put it on a filter that hadn't been updated in forever and didn't include some people it should have, such as you. Oops. It should now be visible here.

[candrabindu.livejournal.com]

What can I say, I'm a largely pointless person. :) And I've been enjoying reading your TV meme posts, especially since I've recently (within the past year) gotten into Doctor Who and the Buffyverse myself. Not sure why it took me so long to catch on to this awesomeness, but better late than never, right?

Also, I think I may be in love with that American Science & Surplus site. As you say, there's nothing there that I really need, per se, but who wouldn't want to buy ballpoint pens by the pound?

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm just glad someone besides myself was entertained by the TV meme. I'm happy you've joined the Doctor Who and Buffy party, arriving fashionably late.

That catalog is addictive. I keep going back and finding more cool things. Police line tape! USB microscope! If I ever go for a career as an independent mad scientist, that's where I'm starting.

[kaesa.livejournal.com]

American Science and Surplus is WONDERFUL. Their brick-and-mortar store is actually even more fun -- they have all the product descriptions, and it's a good place to wander around for a while for last-minute "I need a Halloween costume!" inspiration that doesn't require traipsing through aisles and aisles of sexy [occupation] costumes.

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

I would LOVE to go to one of their brick-and-mortar stores. That sounds really cool! Now if only they'll open one in California...

[kaesa.livejournal.com]

Yeah, looks like Chicago and Milwaukee gets them all to themselves. Still, if you're in the area for a while, with nerdy friends, and the touristy things don't appeal, the store's worth a look.

[reverendjmg.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to remember the Doctor's relationships with his male companions, and it seems to me that they were largely antagonistic. Ian tried to domineer over One, Turlough's loyalty to Five was shaky, Adric kept arguing with Four...Jamie got along with Two pretty well, besides the whole not-staying-put-when-the-Doctor-says thing that all the companions do.

But it's worth remembering that the Doctor had antagonistic relationships with many of his female companions as well, notably Tegan, and Romana I.

Does K-9 count as a male companion?