Mark Twain said...

"Faith is believing something you know ain't so."

Twain was a very clever man and a great writer, but he was wrong, and I think this statement has caused endless misunderstandings. That is not what faith is. I don't have any faith, but even I know that.

Because if that was all faith was, I could do it easily.

Hindsight

Watching Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide, and everyone saying that Christopher Eccleston was "exactly what the show needed." The truth, of course, is that he was what the show got. There is no proof in the world that another actor could not have done as well or better in the part. I'm not sure that, with the budget and the effects and the TARDIS and the Daleks, we might not just as easily be saying now that Random Guy Pulled Off The Street was "exactly what the show needed."

Saying that is like saying that the purpose of the universe was to give rise to us, because it did and we're here and that proves it. It's pure hindsight.

I'm glad Colin Baker had the guts to say what he did about the successive romantic entanglements aboard the TARDIS, though. Basic common sense.

Meme

lil_shepherd bestowed upon me the letter N for the purposes of this meme. Let's see...

Something I love: Nyronds. I can't help it; they're my creation, and I love them. They go through hell doing what they do and get no useful profit from it. They live very much in the journey, if not actually in the moment. They never go to the loo and they all speak British English like any decent self-respecting space alien ought to do, and they constantly battle against that unregenerate side of their nature that keeps trying to turn their stories into Carry On films. And they don't die, and they never complain about that. (About many things, but not about that.) What's not to love?

Something I hate: noise. Whether it's a crying baby, a road drill or a hundred people all talking at once, it makes it impossible for me to think. I recognise that these things are natural, normal and probably something else beginning with N, so I try to absent myself unobtrusively and would never make a fuss about it.

Somewhere I've been: Newbury was the site of the first ever British filk convention. aunty_marion drove me there and back, and I had an amazing time and barely noticed the guest of honour boasting about the gun she'd smuggled through British customs.

Somewhere I'd like to go: Norway. Just to see what it's like. Preferably when there's snow.

Someone I know: Nigel, who was my best friend at school, who built the first synthesiser I ever played, who is now wildly successful and with whom I am now almost constantly at odds due to political differences, which is kind of sad.

Best film: Night of the Demon. A classic horror, thoroughly British and much better than almost any description of it I've ever seen.

If you would like me to give you a letter, let me know in a comment.