Degrees of Doctor Who

Ever sat down to watch a movie or perhaps your favorite new show only to do a comical spit take when you realize you know that characters face?

Just the other day, for instance, I happened to catch a few minutes of  a 1959 film; The Mouse That Roared in time to catch a glimpse of the legendary William Hartnell as Will Buckley. It's such good fun, but let's not make it so hard to play the game. Let's start with the big targets of genre film, shall we?

I've mentioned Tolkien's world previous in The Hobbit review. Sylvester McCoy- best known for playing The Seventh Doctor- here plays Radagast the Brown to kooky perfection. I truly hope we see more of his performance, either in the remaining films or on the home releases special features. Fingers crossed, aye? Check off Middle-Earth, then.

I've only touched upon the Alien universe very briefly when discussing artificial life. This next person is all too human. Alien 3 gives us Golic- a convict turned convert- who is very much out of touch with reality, played by the inimitable Paul McGann, aka The Eighth Doctor. His role is unfortunately cut rather short in the theatrical release, but an entire sub-plot revolving around his character unfolds in the so-called 'Assembly Cut' of the film available in the box sets. Aliens, check.

Christopher Eccelston aka The Ninth Doctor has had a commendable career on the big screen as well as the small. Some people may remember him as the baddie from Gone in Sixty Seconds, or as that guy from 28 Days Later, or even McCullen from the GI Joe flick. Heck, if you watched Heroes, you will remember him. Adding yet another notch in his genre belt, however is the up-coming Marvel film follow up, Thor: The Dark World. Marvel? Big ol' check.


I'm a big Harry Potter fan. I'm a big Doctor Who fan. So, it was both surprising and with much glee that I watched David Tennant-who played the creepy and loyal Death Eater Barty Crouch Jr- cast as none other than The Tenth Doctor. Stange then, isnt it, that in his run on Doctor Who he mentions reading the Potter series and crying through 'book 7'. How does that work, then? The Wizarding World of Harry Potter? Yes, ma'am.
 

Any more? Give it a go, you might find more than you bargained for.

Until Matt Smith is cast in the new Star Wars films, I remain

frogoat

The Casual Vacancy Review

Good girl gone bad-

Take three-

Action.

No clouds in my storms...

Let it rain, I hydroplane into fame

Comin' down with the Dow Jones...

I've just finished reading JK Rowling's 'The Casual Vacancy'. I cried. Not ashamed to admit it. This book shook me to my core. It was like reading the inner-most thoughts of my friends, neighbors and fellow small-town residents. It's a simple concept, really: one man dies, leaving a small town without a Parish Councillor. But it's so much more than that. It's about class systems and abuse and the terrible things we do to one another.

I read intently as the little town of Pagford played like a day-in-the-life of all those people in the world, with their little hang ups, their damages, and their pain. I didn't identify with a single character. No, not one. I saw buried within these works of fiction parts of myself. I couldn't stop thinking as I plowed on through this novel, I am everyone of them and none of them. JK doesn't just write silly characters and great jokes, she writes human beings. Real, broken, human's who have all found their own manner of dealing with the world around them. 

If there was a message in all this, it wasn't wasted on me. Trouble is, I didn't feel like a message was being shoved down my throat....no, it crept up on me, like a lurking, horrible realization. These people aren't evil, just people, and if it takes something akin to the events of this book to make the little minds of this world we live in to stir from their self imposed slumber, then consider me terrified.

Pick this up. It's about all of us.

Until I stop having feels, I remain

frogoat

p.s. I realize it's neither a comic nor my usual spiel. Just check it out, you won't regret it.

Catch Up

I'm a little late. Sorry, it's been a wild sort of week or more. Supanova was fun, fun, fun. Tom Felton was a nice chap, Felicia Day was a delightful woman and both Billy West and John De Maggio are some of the funniest human beings you will ever meet. I bought some nice trades (or 'graphic novels' if you prefer) including two Tom and Ron Thor trades (one of which covers part of the Eric Masterson run) as well as The Complete Ben Reilly Epic Vol 1. I bought an Australian made trade collection of The Soldier Legacy (http://pm-comic.blogspot.com.au/ for anyone interested) and got a couple wall scrolls, one of John Romita Jr's Spidey and the other features everyone's favorite time traveling purple haired half-Saiya-jin sword-wielder, Trunks.

Cosplaying was a blast for my friend ( Super Saiya-jin Goku) and myself (Harry Potter) but the best part of any Con is seeing everyone's incredible efforts. Hat's off to you all! On a downer note, I didn't find a single Spider-Girl trade, digest, poster, figure, or even mention. I was hoping to find a better copy of the second digest at the very least, but alas, it was not to be. Still, a brilliant weekend made even more entertaining by watching my other good friend refereeing five (count 'em, five) Wrestling Matches live throughout the weekend.

All in all, a good time had by all!

Until I cosplay as Sailor Moon, I remain

frogoat

Geek Generation

I love Doctor Who.

Have you noticed recently how much love people are heaping onto geeky pursuits? Right now (and for the past decade, to my mind) has been the best ever time to be a geek or a nerd. Whether you love Star Trek, read comics, play video games, enjoy card or tabletop games, read science fiction or fantasy novels or just enjoyed Buffy the Vampire Slayer growing up, your probably finding a whole lot more acceptance and respect in the wider community. And isn't it wonderful? Culturally, nerds and geeks have been stigmatized and minimized in the eyes of others, in film and in social circles. We were the kids with the glasses and knitted vest sucking on a Ventolin inhaler at the first sign of a *gasp* girl! How times have changed. We love our Kirk's, ours Spider-man's, our Buffy's, our Harry Potter's, our Ripley's, our Mario's, our Master Chiefs, our Chandra Nalaars, our D20's and our Skynets, our Data's, our Battlestar's, our Na'vi, our Ponies. We love our geekiness and we show it with pride. There is a whole generation of young people who will grow up proudly decreeing there love and enjoyment of all things geeky without fear of being ridiculed. And that makes me happy.

Until D & D leads to sewer-based accommodation, I remain

frogoat