I'm Out of Practice With Blog Post Titles

A couple of my brothers have been obsessed with remote control flyers, and while I've enjoyed their truly dramatic crash-and-burn-and-spend-hours-tracking-down-a-rogue-piece-of-spy-worthy-equipment-lost-in-a-snowy-cow-pasture (true story) tales, I haven't really understood the appeal. And then today I got a Doctor Who TARDIS Copter. It's a completely ridiculous miniature TARDIS with pseudo-helicopter blades on top, it flies by remote control, and it makes me stupid-happy.

I am IN.

That is not my hand, and the TARDIS Copter is actually smaller than it looks here. Hee.

 I'm not a very good driver yet, it's a lot like a big blue mosquito with a five-minute lifespan, and I know for sure I'll be needing a lot of AAA batteries. It's entirely possible there will soon be video.

For some reason, this seemed like the perfect way to return to blogging after 14 months (!!!) and welcome 2015. There will undoubtedly be a 2014 recap coming soon (it was a crazy year) but for now I've got at least another couple of minutes before my new toy needs a recharge. Allons-y and Geronimo!

Cheers!

Bow Ties Are Cool

Frazz comic found here

Happy Birthday

It's someone's birthday... and this is an unashamed fangirly tribute to that someone.



Would you trust this man to lead you through time and space? Oh, ME TOO.

























 

Doctor Who specs in a library YES PLZ













  









Hamlet played by David Tenannt and Yorik played by Tchaikowsky





 



  








David Tennant, Doctor Who, and a kitten. And no,
it's not MY birthday until January.







I just... have no words.

 And now back to your regularly scheduled program ('... to YOUUUUUU!!!').

*

Ch-ch-ch-change It

Frazz comic found here

Nothing To See Here. Just Pop-Culture Icons, That's All...

I think I'll be having the theme music from 'Doctor Who' running through my head for a very long time. It's a brilliant show, seriously - and I mean that in the sense of 'awesome' as well as 'very, very smart'. It doesn't pander to the audience, it explains things that need to be explained cleverly and concisely, it's completely fun and totally INSANE. Good times. I started watching the re-broadcast of Season 5 (not completely accurate, since it's been running since 1963, but was 'rebooted' in 2005) with Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and I was hooked. The second half of Season 6 has just started (and the first half was a doozy). I keep hearing about how David Tennant (Seasons 2-4, Tenth Doctor) was 'the best', and 'THE Doctor' and what have you, so I decided to check it out - I'm glad I did, because there are inside jokes and self-referential moments all over the place and it's (have I mentioned this?) SO. MUCH. FUN.

Christopher Eccleston starred as the Ninth Doctor in 'Season 1', the re-boot (FYI, he's an alum of my drama school in London!*) and when he pulled out he was replaced by David Tennant. Eccleston was charming and zany, and a wonderful introduction to the world of Doctor Who. Tennant, as I have mentioned before, is a fantastically brilliant actor and compulsively watchable (which is saying something - have you ever really LOOKED at the guy? He's emo-skinny, with bulgy eyes and not really enough chin, - plus he usually looks like his head is about to explode - and yet he is mesmerizingly attractive ((in the 'charismatic' sense, which spills over into the 'total hottie' sense)).) and he has been paired up with some fantastic women. My impression is that Billie Piper (just lovely with Eccleston and riveting with Tennant) is not actually that great an actress - but man, does she COMMIT. She completely believes in the world that she's creating, and that brings the audience right in with her!

The blue Police box is the TARDIS, the
time-traveling spaceship. You can Google
what the letters stand for.

The writing is creative and crazy and still logical (usually), care is taken to remember what has gone before (most of the time), and it's a real treat to see actors and actresses from other shows and movies that have done a stint on Doctor Who (definitely a quintessential British institution). I'm on to Season 3, and just had a terrific trip to visit Shakespeare in 1599. (And much of the time I was boggling over the fact that they filmed it in the current Globe Theatre, built to replicate the original Globe, with Shakespeare onstage in the 'past' and David Tennant onstage in a space where he had performed with the RSC in the - relative - present playing the part of someone who traveled into the 'past'... Layers of time-traveling, all IN MY HEAD. I think I've been watching too much Doctor Who.)

Not representative of Matt Smith
as the Doctor, but a good picture.
Hmmmm.

Anyway, good times. Watch it. (And I can't say that I like David Tennant better - Matt Smith was my first Doctor, I developed a little crush on Christopher Eccleston, and I adore all three for their respective portrayals of The Doctor. All different, all fantastic!)

* * * * *

In other news, I was going to talk about taking pictures, trying to do schoolwork in spite of Doctor Who, and Breast Cancer awareness, but I think I'll save those for other posts. I'll just finish up by letting (all two of) you (who read this) know that I'm cutting off all my hair a week from Monday - not quite shaving my head, but something in the 'long buzz' category. I had wanted it to be a big surprise, but then I felt badly about that, and then I thought I might try to use the occasion to raise some money for cancer research (I'll still try, if I can get organized) (also, I don't have cancer or anything, some friends suggested I 'use the moment', as it were), and it's not like my parents or siblings (other than my sister) read this anyway. So - heads up! Pictures soon! Watch out for falling turtles!




ETA: I take it back. David Tennant may be a little bit skinny and geeky, but he is actually quite attractive on his own merit (especially when he does NOT look like his head is about to explode). Fantastic 'normal person' smile. I've spent a little too much time Googling pictures and watching YouTube videos in order to come to this new conclusion, and will now be turning in my stalker card. Thank you.



*Along with Judi Dench, Lawrence Olivier, Carrie Fisher, Jennifer Ehle, the Redgraves, and Ben Browder (Farscape!) among many, many others...

SUCCESS

I GOT THE AUTOGRAPHS.

And I did it after sitting through a bizarre French magic show/circus/puppetry experiment/performance art piece (probably for children). Plus, I didn't lose a limb OR break a nail! (It was close. I won't lie. Those fan mobs are NUTS.)

Finally, something AWESOME I can check off my list. I love days that include progress.

Stuff

I'm not sure how much more evidence I can take.

Seriously, though, the Angel Gabriel with the accordion was my favorite.

I just saw a funny, beautifully acted, incredibly well-crafted show that had been devised by marvelously talented, creative performers, and... nothing. I just didn't get it. I got the jokes, appreciated the clever twists, marveled at the ingenious staging, and I have no idea why they were doing what they were doing. I understood the basic story. I can't see why they produced it the way they did. I can't get my head around even possible interpretations for some of the movement patterns and music. Other people on my course saw the same show and loved it ("best bit of theatre I've seen in London!" "worth every penny!" etc...) but I didn't. I enjoyed it. Because I could make no real sense out of it, however, I did not love it.

I still have no desire to make experimental theatre, and it looks like that's not changing anytime soon.

* * * * *

This week, it's 6:40. No joke.

* * * * *

Walking down the street just now, I saw a well-dressed middle-aged Asian man coming up the (ugh, fine!) footpath with his coral-orange Polo shirt pulled out of his slacks and folded up around his pecs so that his stomach was bare. Just strolling up the street in dress shoes in Hampstead (not Soho!) sunning his midsection. People are so weird.

* * * * *

I AM excited about charting out a way to do Sophocles' Antigone with only three actors (since that's all the Greeks would have used, plus the Chorus). Apparently, when I say I'm more interested in 'traditional' theatre, I mean HARDCORE 'tradtional' theatre.

* * * * *

I, too, am looking for sense in the
BBC's programming. No luck.

I'm going to go build a website, apply for another MA program, prepare to teach a new song to the Primary, give myself a pedicure, and (soonishly) watch Doctor Who. Yep, it's Saturday!

Celebrity Stand-by

Reason #48 Why I Don't Understand the English*:

The week before last, Doctor Who was on (on Saturday! Whaaa?) at 6:15. (Weird, but OK.)

Last week, Doctor Who was on at 6:30.

This week, Doctor Who will be broadcast at 6:45.

Now, I get that Brits don't interject nearly as many commercials. so you generally don't get a full hour of any given TV show. That leads to 10-12-minute "fillers", as represented in the past by, say, "Doctor Who Confidential" that, as far as I could tell, was broadcast just after the episode to round it out to an hour. All right. So WHY CAN'T THEY BUILD A CONSISTENT TV SCHEDULE? What in the world could possibly be the rationale behind bouncing a show all over the place? (Sometimes you'll find Doctor Who being broadcast on Fridays, sometimes Mondays. Who knows? IT ALL MAKES NO SENSE.) Are the TV stations (I'm looking at you, BBC) trying to a) get people to stay and watch more TV by changing up the times unexpectedly, so that they always have to be at home on their couches so they don't miss their shows, b) stimulate the population's social lives by juggling the programming schedule so that people can arrange other activities at different times and still not miss their favorites, or c) thumb their noses at the public and act out because they're so bitter that the Interwebs and DVR's are robbing them of any real control of their audience's viewing practices?

WON'T SOMEONE STOP THE MADNESS?!?   *Ahem.*

* * * * *

Dear Networks:

Please set a schedule and stick to it for, like, two weeks. Just to see if it works. And think about how much less time you could be spending on your "creative programming" if you already knew when shows were going to be happening the following week! You could catch a (live) cricket match! Or go celebrity-stalk the Beckhams! Or have an extra 4 or 5 dozen cups of tea! You should try it.

Thanks,
Me

* * * * *

Speaking of celebrity stalking, today I was at a relatively prominent London theatre to see one of my course-mates in a performance that was part of an experimental-theatre festival, and after picking up our tickets and moving outside another course-mate asked if the girl in line behind us, the tall one, was the chick from Doctor Who. Y'know, the red-haired one? Honestly,I thought I was way too old and blasé to be impressed by the appearance of, at best, a minor celebrity - and yet, I immediately went giddy and oh-so-casually strolled back into the building to figure out if it was really her.

I could totally be friends with that girl -
I, too, have the "why is the weird kid
staring at me?" look down pat!

And IT WAS. It was really KAREN GILLAN FROM DOCTOR WHO standing at the desk with all her hair tucked up in a hat (but I totally recognized her profile!), tall and skinny and super-pretty and I sound like I have a girl-crush, don't I? I went back out to confirm to my group that it was really her and I didn't say "Hi" or ask for a picture or anything and I really want to go back in and talk to her but that would be obnoxious and intrusive and I can't believe I was standing 6 feet away and by the time I decided that I would ask for a photo or an autograph but everybody would have to come in with me she was gone.

It's probably just as well - it might have taken me a few minutes to convince her I was a harmless American student, and not a crazy American tourist. I try to contain it, but sometimes the crazy gets away from me. (True story: My fangirly squee to my course-mates was "I wish I had my 'Doctor Who Experience' program with me so that she could sign it!" To their credit, the eye-rolling was pretty minimal.)

My first near-brush with (OK, regular) celebrity! About time, London! (Now where, pray tell, is Richard Armitage? He can't be spending ALL his time in New Zealand!)



* Just over a week ago we were informed that not all British people define themselves as "British"; most don't, in fact. They are Scottish, or Welsh, or ENGLISH, thankyouverymuch. (Irish are always and completely Irish. Period.)

The (Fake) Pandorica Opens

If you understand the post title reference, you are as big a geek as I am (if not bigger) and I love you for it. If not, read on and you'll probably have forgotten all about it by the time you get to the end.

* * * * *

So initially, this year's blog goal was to write one more post each month than the one before it. April, for various reasons (mainly that my brain pretty much shut down over my term break) has not seen much commitment to that goal. Anytime now, knowing as I do that in order to improve one's skills as a writer one must write regularly - say, EVERY DAY - I'll go for another round of "30 in 30" (posts in days) and reset my goal. In the meantime, I'll try to act like this actually is some sort of journal and jot some things down.

(Note: what IS this blog, anyway? Obviously it's not actually a journal, since I don't write here all that regularly, or record much in the way of daily minutiae or much of a range of experiences - much like Facebook status updates, I really don't like reporting on depressing or seriously upsetting phases/incidents/mood swings ((no, really, I don't. Go back and check. I have the occasional rant happening, but even when serious it's written with a hefty stab at humorous effect)). I try not to gripe, especially not about people, because I have a near-pathological fear of hurting someone's feelings.

So it's not truly about my life, other than the fact that the things I do manage to write about are things that happen to me, usually isolated events... I need to go and look back through my archives. At one point I had several "features" going on and a certain format to my blog posts that I kind of miss. Sorry. Just thinking out loud. Or "out loud", rather.)

If I am going to be more journal-oriented, I definitely need to write here more often. At various jobs I've had whenever people would ask me how my weekend was, it would always take me a minute or two to remember just what happened over the weekend - no matter how exciting or how boring the weekend had been, by Monday it was always OVER. Kind of like my stance on embarrassing moments - I know I've had them, and that I continue to have them, but a) I don't get embarrassed about much of anything anymore (a theatre life can do that to a person) and b) within a day or less I don't think about the incident anyway. I think that may make it a little tougher to have an interesting blog - people seem to LOVE reading about embarrassing things that have happened to other people. Hmmm, there's an idea...

* * * * *

ANYWAY, for most of April I was "on holiday" back in the States, and I LOVED it. It was really amazing waiting in the Customs line at the Dallas airport and bemusedly feeling the difference between the US and the UK. I had a terrific time visiting with family members - it's so nice to realize that you really have missed them. I spent a couple of class periods teaching a dear friend's high school drama class (I love giving feedback on classwork, and I am pretty darn good at it. Score!). I got to work for a few days at my old job at Hale Theatre, which was very fun, and though I had planned to be very helpful to the tax preparers (my dad and my brother) and their assistants (Mom and sis-in-law) I really actually just stayed out of their way and occasionally provided treats.  I spent a lot of time shopping, and brought back a second suitcase full of supplies to prove it. The best times were spent hanging out with my good friend Sara and my new BFFMallorie - I think before a week was up we felt like we'd known each other forever. Then Stephanie came up from Vegas for the weekend... SO. MUCH. FUN. Anyone who doesn't know smart, funny, silly, awesome girls like these three has not LIVED.

All of this means that I didn't get to any of the work I needed to be doing to for school - one research session, yes, but nothing on the papers, presentations, or other projects I ought to have been doing. That's been the focus of this week, which makes a nice balance to The Wedding hoopla that has inundated the town.

You know what I'm talking about, right?

These flags (and T-shirts, and mugs, and tea tins, and...) are EVERYWHERE. (I even brought Sara a commemorative tea towel for her birthday, just because... well, you know. Best white elephant present ever.) No, I won't be getting up at 3 AM to go stake out a place on the procession route. You can watch the whole wedding on TV, for pete's sake - and since Friday (the Wedding) and the following Monday (post-wedding-reception-wannabe hangover recovery?) are both Bank Holidays, there won't be much else to do but follow along and write school papers.

So that's going on - I've been writing, watching movies (Prince of Egypt always surprises me with how good it sort of is, and the Will and Kate Love Story TV Movie was not as surprising as it should have been with how terrible it was), staying up late and loving it (I don't know why it's been so fun lately - maybe I just needed to stop beating myself up about it?), and then - today:

I went to the Doctor Who Experience.

(Theme song here - I am determined to download a ringtone ASAP.)

It was a blast. I've really only been a fan since Season 5 (which is only counting from the 9th Doctor, Christopher Eccleston, then three seasons with David Tennant - whom I haven't really seen but people swear is the BEST DOCTOR EVER - and on to the current, 11th, Doctor, Matt Smith, who I like just fine, thank you very much. First episode of Season 6 aired a few days ago) but I have thoroughly enjoyed it - and I was very pleased that a large chunk of the exhibit/"Experience" has to do with the current Doctor. There are some displays from episodes in Season 5, and then you basically walk into an "extra" episode of the show. You go into the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimenion in Space - it's the coolest time machine ever, and it looks like a British 1950's police box), a Dalek (evil robots) ship, the massive spaceship that houses all of Britain in the future (seriously), and the ancient chamber that holds the second Pandorica (because they made another one, just in case, and didn't even change the color. As the Doctor says, "BO-RING"). Except it's not boring, it's totally fun, and 3D, and Matt Smith is great, and the whole thing is beautifully designed.

And then there's an exhibition that has displays of objects and monsters from the entire history of the show, outfits of all ten Doctors and several of the Companions, behind-the-scenes stuff, and a gift shop. Yes, I have the program, a limited-edition poster of Cybermen marching on London, a lanyard, and my own Sonic Screwdriver. For reals (as they say) my inner (and outer) geek is so, so happy.

This may be as close to the 11th Doctor as I'll get. I'll take it.

Churchill's underground war room. With Dalek.

The 9th and 10th Doctor's TARDIS control room. (Erm, it kinda blows up.)

y  

A Dalek that's color-coordinated with my hair!

* * * * *

And, on the way home, I saw a graffiti artist at work. He's probably getting paid for this, but still - interesting.