Dar in a Bar, and Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

[captainsblog]

Many of you here know the beautiful voice, hands and mind (not necessarily in that order) of Dar Williams. We haven't seen her in years, and after a couple of chances this week she's off to Alaska, but I wanted to let a couple of you know of those chances, which are much closer to you than to us.

From the Dar List:

2012 TOUR DATES:

September 13 - Hudson, NY - Club Helsinki - Tickets

September 14 - South Burlington, VT - Higher Ground - w/ Jill Sobule - Tickets

September 15 - Somerville, MA - Somerville Theatre - w/ Jill Sobule - Tickets

Those last two are especially cool since Jill is also all kinds of awesome (we've never seen her in concert). The Somerville one is even more so, because of the opportunity she's offering before it for a kickass cause:

This Saturday, September 15th Dar is doing a special meet & greet before her Somerville, MA show to benefit Wide Horizons for Children.  Register here. 

    All adoption agencies are not created equal! Wide Horizons helped us through every step of our adoption, and better yet, they are known for their big hearts and for their excellence in providing on-site medical and material support to orphans around the world. - Dar

And finally, if none of those work, you can maybe find her on your radio (although, sadly, none of our local NPR Mafia carries this show, or anything like it):

Save the date -- Dar's June NPR Mountainstage performance will be aired on Friday, September 21. Airtimes vary by station, a complete list of which can be found here.

The Albany affiliated NPR stations have it Monday at 9; in Syracuse, something called WAER does it Saturday at 5, and Rochester's WRUR is next Sunday at 4 and the following Tuesday at 6. Most of those stream, fortunately for us.

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As for the

Or, as it was officially titled, "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship."

Better than the premiere, I thought. Certainly interesting bringing over two full-series HP actors to go beyond their relatively limited film chops. It was fun seeing the dynamic between Rory and his Dad, while at the same time getting to see Amy being strong and independent without depending on anyone else.

And yet there's still a bit of worry about the series jumping the pterodactyl. Those five alone (Pond One, Pond Two, Father of Pond, Not Filch, and, of course Eleven) were truly the centre of the story, and the extra eye candy of Nefi and Crocosaurus Dundee didn't add much more to the proceedings than that.

And next week's? Is this a deliberate effort to gin up the US audience by setting so much of the series here? It just struck me as a lot of deja vu back to the desert bits they did last series.  I don't know if I should study up on Silurians and other ancient Who races or just watch "Spectre of the Gun" before next Saturday night.

Finally, is it me, or are the commercials getting longer and more annoying?