Today's Sitting/Reclining Tennants come from Ms Rullsenberg again, who seems ever more intent to get the Sitting Tennant title two years in a row. They're from the Doctor Who episode Midnight and from Hamlet and feature him in a reclining position – I'm sure that there'll be much debate as to whether their degree of sittingness is entirely valid – and with his mouth open.
That means the scoreboard for the picture competition now stands as follows:
- Rullsenberg: 8
- Jaradel: 3
- Rosby: 2.5
Witty captions-wise, for topicality, Marie chose to get ill again, which is the kind of dedication to Sitting Tennnant that needs to be rewarded; a whole lot of people picked up on the strangely compelling blonde lift back on a certain popular meme I could mention; and a few people picked up on my disappearing Internet connection (it's already back today, apparently, but I'm not at home to test it). Wittiest caption for picture 1 (although it spreads a bit onto other pictures) was Marie's; picture 2's Ghost-related caption from Ms Rullsenberg entertained me the most; while Persephone was top of the picture 3 captioners.
- Marie: 24.5
- Toby: 19.5
- Jane Henry: 18.5
- Persephone: 15.5
- Rullsenberg: 13
- Rev/Views, Jaradel: 10
- Scott, Electric Dragon: 3
- Aaron: 2
As always, captions and new submissions for the gallery, please. Remember, you can submit as many (witty) captions as you like for each and every picture, with topical captions (and pictures of David Tennant in current productions) getting extra marks. The wittiest caption for each picture will get double points. And there's a bonus point for using Gary Numan lyrics appropriately.
Got a picture of David Tennant sitting, lying down or in some indeterminate state in between? Then leave a link to it below and if it's judged suitable, it will appear in the “Sitting Tennant” gallery. You can also enter the witting and amusing captions league table by commenting on existing photos in the gallery.
Related entries
- February 27, 2009: Today's Sitting Tennants (from Rullsenberg, Sister Chastity and Jaradel): Butetown, Look Back in Anger and one of his parties
Today's Sitting Tennants are from Rullsenberg, Jaradel and Sister Chastity and are from David Tennant's video diary, Look Back in Anger and one of his parties
February 20, 2009 | Reply
Pic 1
I know Ed Bennett really wanted to go to the What's On Stage Awards, but did he REALLY have to kick me in the back --- AGAIN?!
Pic 2
Apologies, nothing decent or repeatable comes to mind. Sorry about the drool folks...
February 20, 2009 | Reply
Picture One:
The Doctor found it ironic that when he threw a tantrum upon learning the TARDIS put him on board Oceanic 815, the stewardess gave him a time-out.....
Picture Two:
David Tennant sings "Puttin' On The Ritz" as "Young Frankenstein", despite being laid up after surgery.
or
Picture Two:
"Marie, stop holding me down; I can't catch my breath!"
February 20, 2009 | Reply
BTW for external verification of the comment for Pic 1:
http://blogs.whatsonstage.com/2009/02/16/whos-it-won-the-whatsies/
Moi? competitive?
You have to understand just how few times in my life I have won ANYTHING...
February 20, 2009 | Reply
1: [sings] "Oh what a feeling! When we're dancing on the ceiling!"
2: "Darling, I just had the strangest dream that the ceiling swapped places with the floor. That's the last time I nap during dinner."
February 20, 2009 | Reply
Nope, Rullsenberg should not be given credit for pictures of David Tennant lying down. It defeats the whole integrity of the contest. I am withholding my captions in protest.
February 20, 2009 | Reply
"I am withholding my captions in protest."
Well, at least you're not on dirty protest.
February 20, 2009 | Reply
Dirty protest? What's that? Refusing to change my underwear? That would only be punishing my innocent family...
February 20, 2009 | Reply
"Dirty protest? What's that?"
Dirty Protest
February 20, 2009 | Reply
Good lord. I'd heard of the hunger strikes, of course, and particularly remember the death of Bobby Sands which occurred shortly before I visited relatives in the UK in 1981. The Wikipedia article seems to leave us hanging, though. What was the final outcome of the Dirty Protest, or is it still going on?
February 21, 2009 | Reply
Courtesy of Snow Patrol; both captions are lyrics from "Ways & Means":
Picture 1:
Doctor, make it better instantly
You're the only one who can
I've been waiting here my whole damn life
And I've forgotten what I wanted
Maybe I can do it
if I put my back into it
I can leave you if I wanted
but there's nowhere else that I can go...
Picture 2:
Maybe I won't suffer
if I find a way to love her
I'd be lying to myself
but there is no way out that I can see
If I lied you'd know it instantly
so I just had to look away
All the honesty I've ever lost
I can't begin to even curse...
February 22, 2009 | Reply
"Nope, Rullsenberg should not be given credit for pictures of David Tennant lying down. It defeats the whole integrity of the contest. I am withholding my captions in protest."
But you make such great comments!
*sigh*
Also, Persephone, I'm confused: does this mean you don't LIKE pictures of David reclining (shurely shome mishtake?), or that you don't like that I'M finding pictures of David reclining...?
Anyway, for peace and harmony amongst the commentators I'm perfectly happy to resist the lure of the reclining Tennant in future submissions (let's see how long that lasts for all of us...), though I do believe that Rob's word is final (for he is the power here unless there's been a takeover I don't know about*). And last I heard, as long as the bottom of the Tennant was in contact with a floor or seat of some sort, it was in... Of course, Rob may have changed his mind since then.
Forgive me Persephone, pretty please? Surely the prettiness of a reclining Tennant is enough?
* though frankly since the hilarious programming comment of 'I did it for the Blondes', some powersharing arrangement wouldn't seem entirely unfair on your contribution to this site...
February 22, 2009 | Reply
"Anyway, for peace and harmony amongst the commentators I'm perfectly happy to resist the lure of the reclining Tennant in future submissions (let's see how long that lasts for all of us...), though I do believe that Rob's word is final (for he is the power here unless there's been a takeover I don't know about*)."
There has been no takeover. However, Sitting Tennant is mostly by the people, for the people, so if the people saying that lounging or louche Tennants are not allowed, so be it.
"And last I heard, as long as the bottom of the Tennant was in contact with a floor or seat of some sort, it was in... Of course, Rob may have changed his mind since then."
The current official position on Tennant pictures is that his backside has to be in contact with a load-bearing surface for it to be valid. Currently, there is no minimum angle for his back to be at relative to the surface.
"though frankly since the hilarious programming comment of 'I did it for the Blondes', some powersharing arrangement wouldn't seem entirely unfair on your contribution to this site..."
Oh really. Do tell.
February 22, 2009 | Reply
Sun 22 Feb: Most amusing web search of the day: "NORMAL DAVID TENNANT IS SO NAKED". What does it mean?
Since I have no idea how to directly comment on one of your 'Aside' posts, I thought I would state this here:
It was NOT me, okay...
February 22, 2009 | Reply
Rob/Persephone: I'm not trying to raise a coup d'etat! honest! Against either of you!
(sneaks away chastened...)
February 23, 2009 | Reply
"Sitting Tennant is mostly by the people, for the people, so if the people saying that lounging or louche Tennants are not allowed, so be it."
No no no! This person wants lounging or louche Tennants! Propped up by a few pillows in bed, for example... Perhaps an 'evicted' section for photos that do not qualify?
February 23, 2009 | Reply
Pic 1 Help. I'm having a dirty protest in response to a threatened coup d'etat on the Sitting Tennant feature. No one told me it would be like this... yeuch.
Pic 2 Oh, really? People care that much whether I'm sitting or lying down?
February 23, 2009 | Reply
Alternatively...
Pic 1. I KNEW I shouldn't have gone in the Blondes Lift. I never learn.
Pic 2 Well at least the rubgby marital perspective motivational speaker is back to sort out all the carnage...
February 23, 2009 | Reply
I wish to make it clear that at no point will David Tennant be appearing in "Rob and The Great Blonde Elevator". He will get no golden ticket. The ever-lasting gobstopper will not be his. He's stuck in the Ninth Circle of Hell that is Persephone's "blonde-free" elevator. And that is that.
February 23, 2009 | Reply
Thank you, Rob, for the laugh of the morning
February 23, 2009 | Reply
"Thank you, Rob, for the laugh of the morning"
I live to please.
February 23, 2009 | Reply
He's stuck in the Ninth Circle of Hell that is Persephone's "blonde-free" elevator.
I can only begin to imagine how Persephone will respond!! I can imagine the glee from here!
February 23, 2009 | Reply
Hunh? Don't look at me; I'm withholding my captions, remember? I bear Rullsenberg no ill will; I'm merely respecting the rules without the slightest intention of taking over anyone's blog. I have enough to contend with, trying to keep up with NaBloPoMo.
That's Ninth Circle of Hades to you, Buckley. And if I have the pleasant and gentlemanly company of David Tennant, how bad can it be? Unless he starts going on about Vervoids; now those were real Dick Heads...
February 23, 2009 | Reply
As far as I was aware, Hades didn't have circles, just lots of rivers, orchards, meadows, Tartarus and a few islands. Is this some sort of rebranding of Hell or some kind of redecoration of Hades? Do they have plate tectonics in the underworld?
Still, for some people Elysium would be populated with David Tennant, I guess. Except if he were listing the episode titles for The Sensorites, of course.
February 23, 2009 | Reply
Just so. Come join us...
February 23, 2009 | Reply
Sorry. Helen of Troy was blonde. If I can just convince Achilles that listening to David Tennant recite episode titles to Hartnell stories is more interesting than paradise with Helen, there'll be another passenger on the elevator.
February 23, 2009 | Reply
Sorry, Buckley, I need proof that Helen of Troy was blond.
February 23, 2009 | Reply
"Sorry, Buckley, I need proof that Helen of Troy was blond."
Sappho: "… [for when] I look at you face to face, [not even] Hermione [seems to be] like you, and to compare you to golden-haired Helen [is not unseemly]
February 23, 2009 | Reply
February 23, 2009 | Reply
That's from 400BC, which is 200 to 300 years after Sappho. Euripedes, from roughly the same time as that vase painting, describes her hair as 'golden', too.
And from The Odyssey:
"So spake he, and anon came the golden-throned Dawn. And
Menelaus, of the loud war cry, drew nigh to them, new risen
from his bed, by fair-haired Helen"
Homer, whether as an individual or an amalgam or individuals, lived around c800BC, which gives him even greater precedence, but his works are almost certainly oral traditions dating back to the late bronze age and soon after Troy itself – there are tracts in The Iliad where the meter doesn't match the rest of the poem unless it's rewritten and resounded in Linear B.
It's still arguable that golden might mean red-blonde or even red, since that was a common usage (indeed, golden-haired Achilles' nickname was pyrrhus, meaning red-haired).
But she was the hottest woman in the world and so had to be blonde. Common sense that.
February 24, 2009 | Reply
Well, of course we have to go with Homer, who, being so ancient, would know far more about the physical details of mythological character than Euripedes or even Sappho. (Although it seems to me that Helen, being a myth, should sort of stand outside of time --- like a Time Lord?)
I'll leave you to the tender mercies of your regular contributors, most of whom (I believe) are non-blonds and therefore, not hot. We are however, extremely cool....
February 24, 2009 | Reply
"Well, of course we have to go with Homer, who, being so ancient, would know far more about the physical details of mythological character than Euripedes or even Sappho."
Assuming she is mythical (although see Graves for definitions of what constitutes 'true myth'). I'd recommend Bettany Hughes' "Helen of Troy" for discussions on whether Helen might have been an actual bronze age queen or not. As mentioned, the Linear B tracts in the Iliad are the usual kinds of endless lists of things that Linear B writings describe, and they seem to give fairly accurate numberings for potential war parties of the day, for example.
"Although it seems to me that Helen, being a myth, should sort of stand outside of time --- like a Time Lord?"
There's a reason most authors choose not to describe what she looks like.
"I'll leave you to the tender mercies of your regular contributors, most of whom (I believe) are non-blonds and therefore, not hot. We are however, extremely cool....""
And could be even cooler with just a bottle of Garnier hair colour.
[Ducks].
February 24, 2009 | Reply
Oi Rob, seeing as I'm a non blond whose just facing the ghastly thought I might have to reach for that bottle of Garnier for entirely other reasons I'd watch what I say if I were you. We non blonds are very fierce and Amazon like, aren't we girls?
On the blond/brunette thing, I knew there was a reason I always preferred Maggie Tulliver to boring old Lucy Deane. Being blonde can mean your lover runs away with your cousin. But being brunette means no one forgives you... Maybe I'd better go for that bottle of hair dye after all...
February 24, 2009 | Reply
"We non blonds are very fierce and Amazon like, aren't we girls?"
You cut off your right breasts to improve your archery?
"On the blond/brunette thing, I knew there was a reason I always preferred Maggie Tulliver to boring old Lucy Deane. Being blonde can mean your lover runs away with your cousin. But being brunette means no one forgives you... Maybe I'd better go for that bottle of hair dye after all..."
The more you think about it, the more sense it makes, huh?
February 24, 2009 | Reply
Ok, maybe I wouldn't go THAT far, Rob... but I like the idea of Amazons R Us.
Maggie Tulliver was still heaps more intersting then Lucy even if she did come to a sticky end.
Does it boil down to boring, blonde, dull and alive, or interesting, brunette, no one fancies you and you die... Hmm...
February 24, 2009 | Reply
And could be even cooler with just a bottle of Garnier hair colour. [Ducks]."
Ow, I'm cut to the quick! Never mind the bottle of dye; I'm off to drown myself in the river Floss...
February 24, 2009 | Reply
"Does it boil down to boring, blonde, dull and alive, or interesting, brunette, no one fancies you and you die... Hmm..."
Ah, that's why blondeness is not enough - fun and feisty* blondes are the way forward.
*©2009 Ali Larter
February 26, 2009 | Reply
"Maggie Tulliver was still heaps more intersting then Lucy even if she did come to a sticky end. Does it boil down to boring, blonde, dull and alive, or interesting, brunette, no one fancies you and you die..."
If you read more George Eliot you get to explore her blonde / brunette hangups in a number of different ways. Try Daniel Deronda: Blonde: shallow, made to marry evil man until she learns the error of her ways. Brunette: virtuous, unmemorable, cops off with Daniel Deronda at the end. Or Middlemarch: Blonde: vapid, spendthrift, destroys men's lives. Brunette: highly intelligent, deeply principled, gets to shag Rufus Sewell in TV adaptation.
I'll stay brunette, thanks. Especially as David Tennant is not allowed in the blonde lift.
February 26, 2009 | Reply
Just as an aside to David Tennant/Mill on the Floss fans: There is an entire radio dramatization of Mill on the Floss, featuring David Tennant as Philip Wakem. I think I recognised his voice in some smaller parts as well. If you have an hour or so to listen, it's quite well done.