Future World Problems

Roscott, Inc, one of the bazillion web comics I follow, has recently been debuting #futureworldproblems.  Check out the comic, quite a few of them are funny, but I had to share this one when I saw it.  This particular comic is a guest comic by Bill Ellis, writer of yet another webcomic called All New Issues.

Doctor Who Christmas Special Teaser

Woooooooo!!!!  Need I say more?

I Know What I Want for Christmas!

If the Doctor can save Christmas again this year, this is what I want.  It's a model of the inside of the TARDIS for the 11th Doctor season.  It's a little expensive, at $67.99, and I can't find any dimensions.  The description says that it's "in perfect scale with the 5-inch Doctor Who figures" so I'm guessing it's pretty big.  You can do the math.  


The website also has a bunch of figurines, all of the Doctors, a few monsters, even Torchwood figurines.  It's a dangerous website for your wallet.


[Entertainment Earth]

Dr Who Lego

If only these really existed. I'd buy them all. Now we just need Torchwood Lego and we can have crossovers. 

[Roflrazzi]

The Game is Afoot: Doctor Who Writer Gives Us Sherlock Holmes

'ello Children!  How's everyone feeling today?  Us poor Americans finally got to see the season finale of Doctor Who this last weekend.  No, not me, heavens no.  I have a tellyvision box, remember?  I have no idea why BBC America aired it a month behind.  Or why they cut Top Gear.  But I digress....

Steven Moffat, one of the Doctor Who writers, just premiered the new series Sherlock Holmes.  It. Was. FABULOUS!  It's set in present time London, Sherlock lives at 221B Baker St, and his "arch nemesis" has already made an appearance, as it were.  Sherlock  definitely reminds me of the Doctor, but it's not the same character. (Socially awkward man that can read between the lines and therefore seems insane to any normal person? Check.)  Watson reminds me of Hugh Laurie's House, but that just because he has a cane and a general disdain for others. You can't trademark that, can you?

I also like the way they share some information with the viewers.  It's strange to describe; for example, the local police are releasing a press statement about some "strange occurrences," to be spoiler free.   The police say that the cases are "unrelated," and suddenly every press agent in the room gets a text message that says "Wrong!" When they look at their phones, a little white text pops up that "shows" you what it says.  This continues throughout the episode, and I imagine throughout the series.  Later, Sherlock is investigated "something" (trying to be spoiler free!) and when he notices something -- "wet," "dry," "clean," "dirty"--the same little white text pops up.  I like it.  It shares his inner clockwork without spoiling it with forced monologues or conversation that "leads in" to a point. (I can tell when they're setting up a joke or punch line; it's annoying to me.) 

It's very witty, and I love the back and forth between the characters.  The episode itself, not including commercials or interruptions,  is almost an hour and a half.  The show is brilliant, cunning, and takes the edge off the Doctor Who withdrawals. 

Because what I really needed was another addiction. 

Wedding 6/26/2010

As I promised!  Here are some of my favorite pictures from my wedding.  The weather turned out beautiful (the weekend before it rained and the weekend after it was 95 degrees!).  I owe so much to my maid of honor and the best man; none of this would have happened without their help.  Be sure to leave comments!

(And for you Doctor Who fans, the wedding TOTALLY helped stop the end of the world/time.  My theory is that we LIVED that day.  Where were you the week before? The week after? A few months?  You don't really remember.  But that day, the day that was supposed to end the world, we knew exactly where we were.  Every minute was counted. It was more real than any normal week--hell, even a month--of daytime jobs. And all that power, all that energy, helped stave off the end of time. Just sayin'.)

This beautiful lady is my maid of honor.  She's the one that made me look good!

 

Cake, bouquet, and some of our mad scientist devices

Why yes, those are steampunk sonic screwdrivers

I was so happy with our party's outfits!

The kiss.  Hubby made me wings that moved (but not steam powered)

Partners in crime

 It was my wedding so I get to do what I want and I wanted a bouncy castle!

Om nom nom. 

This was my grandfather's pocket watch.

Those are the vows I'm holding.

Miss me yet?

I just looked up my analytics and saw that I had major hits yesterday!  Do you  all miss me that much?  Then again, I am one of the few Americans that knows what happens on the season finale of Doctor Who (actual numbers may vary).  Though I suppose my time machine technology isn't too rare.

But that's what your here for, right?  Not too spoiler-ific clues about the upcoming episodes?  Let's see, they just aired the episode about the upstairs floor, right?  That was a painful episode, just to watch the two of them being so awkward around each other.  I'm quite a direct person myself.  I call it honest.  Others call it blunt.  In fact, one of my favorite moments during my wedding was after I said something a bit rude about another person, and my maid of honor turned to me and said, "No, tell us how you REALLY feel."

Anyway, so there's only TWO episodes left. And no one's so daft as to not realize it's going to be a cliff hanger, right?  So they find the Pandorica.  What's in it?  What's it there for? And Amy....what's up with her?  We all have caught that there's something unique--even the Doctor began to say that there was a reason he picked her up; but then someone so rudely interrupted before we could learn more.  So many questions, not enough answers.

Did everyone like the Vincent Van Gofffffffff episode?  My brother in law didn't like it, but it did present one of the funniest moments in this season, to me at least.  I loved it when they were waiting at the church, and after all day past, Doctor made some snide remark--I can't find the quote so I'll just guess: "So this is how time normally goes.  In order. One right after the other.  How utterly boring."  (If someone sends me the quote I'll update it).

And in the final episode, you'll need to keep your time travelling timelines straight.  It's quite difficult.  And they totally cheat.  But then again, what's the point of being a Time Lord if you don't cheat here and there?

I'm looking forward to next season.  According to Wikipedia, Matt Smith and Karen Gillian stay on. Also, Neil Gaiman has written one of the episodes.  I'm sure I'll have to leave the nightlight on afterwards.


By the way, when I have all the pictures, I'll upload them from the steampunk wedding.  Here's a teaser for now.  You can kind of see my wings (alas, not steam powered, but still moves.)

On Hiatus Until July

Okay, so really I've been on hiatus for awhile already.  Forgive me for that.  I've been really busy recently; when I started this blog, I worked a different position in the same company which left me with a "little" extra time (read: all the damn time).  Since then my company has seen my vast potential and has increased my workload to match.  I'm still trying to decide if that was smart or dumb (I got a raise, so I lean towards smart).

Also, more importantly, I'm getting married on June 26 this year. The same as Amy Pond's in Doctor Who, by pure coincidence (but are there ever REALLY coincidences when it comes to the Doctor?!!)


So unless the Doctor blows up this space/time continuum, I'll be very busy in the next few weeks.  Check back after the 26th, when I'll be posting wedding pictures.  And it's not a normal wedding (heavens no!) but a Steampunk theme.  Here are a few teasers of our projects for the wedding.

I forget if we gave this one a name

Atomic Ray Obliviator, Goggles, & a steampunk Sonic Screwdriver

Here are a couple of our death rays we've made.

Prototype for my wings, front view. 

This was a nerf gun, until the mad scientist that's about to be my husband got a hold of it. He also modded it so it shoots faster.  I have a sawed off nerf shot gun too that's yet to be painted.




 I'm going to have metal, steampunk wings that open and close.  That in itself should show you that this wedding is going to be just a little different.

Prototype wings, back view

This is our cake stand.  It's made out of plumbing pipes and painted to match the theme.  The arms are adjustable.

This picture makes a great desktop background.

This is the top of our project drawer in our house.  Mad Scientist made the light box too; there's a dimmer switch on the bottom of the box.  You can see it if you squint reeeeal hard.  I actually prefer this to our  normal lamps.  Also in the picture are two sonic screwdrivers and containers with special mad scientist liquid.

Pandorica - Leaked Dr Who Clues?

THE CRACK CANNOT BE SEALED. HESHOULD KNOW THE PANDORICA WILL STILL OPEN. WHAT WILL COME FROM WHEN SILENCE FALLS?


So was the message from TwistedSanto on twitter.  S/he picked up my twitter after the first Angel episode.  The account looks like a viral marketing started for this season of Doctor Who.

What is Pandorica? It sounds like it's the other side of Amy's spooky crack in the wall.  And I suppose all hell will break lose when we go thee. What's that? You don't think we'll see the other side?  How else is the Doctor going to save the universe again?

So if my calculations are correct, the episode should be airing either rigt now or in the next hour.  I'm out of town for the day,and the TARDIS tely doesn't travel spatially.

No spoilers, but if someone wants to confirm or deny my meanderings, leave me a comment.

James May Day, the Invention of Lying, & Doctor Who

I decided, some time last year, that I was going to celebrate James May Day.  I completely convinced myself that on May 1st, we would honour James May's contributions to the world.  I had complete intentions of having my friends over for tea, smoking old fashioned tobacco pipes and cigars, and generally talking out our ass about queen and country.

Next year will be better, I promise.  My wedding is June 26th this year (more on that later) and I had wedding plans this weekend. There has to be a first time for everything, right? So for the First Annual James May Day, we tasted cakes, smoked some "English Walnut" tobacco (the best idea we had for what James' would smoke) and watched the Invention of Lying. All and all, it was a good day.

The Invention of Lying wasn't what I thought it was going to be.  Not only could people not tell a lie, they could only say the literal truth.  In the first scene, Ricky Gervais' character is told by his date that she was masturbating upstairs before he showed up, and that upon seeing him, she expressed her doubt and disappointment.  So we're talking about that kind of "truth."

The problem I had was that I didn't know where he was going with the plot line. At the end, I was satisfied with the story, but I kind of felt lost about what the movie was trying to say about the ability to tell a lie. It was a good movie, I just can't say that it was great.

Finally, the second half of the Angels from Doctor Who!  Sorry to all those who didn't get to hear his speech last time.  That was awful.  They do that shit over here too -- adverts have gotten so bad, we're lucky that a half an hour program has more than 20 minutes of air time. 

I digress. (Some extra cock-baggery left over from James May Day.) The episode played out as much as we all would guess. Maybe I just like seeing the Doctor get INTO trouble, more than him getting out of it.  The plot does thicken, so we say, and we're left with another mystery for another day.

This doesn't ruin the plot of the story, but I must tell you this.  Remember Amy Pond's wedding that she's running from? And remember when I promised earlier that I was going to mention more about my wedding?  Amy Ponds wedding is the same day as my own.  BOOOOWEEEEEOOOOOO!!!!!

Doctor Who Knew?

I've found enough tidbits about the Doctor that I felt like sharing with everyone.  With the new season underway and my continuous rubbing the noses of my American friends, a lot of interesting stuff about the Doctor is floating around the interwebs.

First, I came across a poll from my favorite time wasting website.  (Don't judge me.)  Here's a screen shot of the poll's standing.  Don't get me wrong; Matt Smith is not only looking good as the Doctor, I get the feeling that Matt Smith is going to be a GREAT Doctor.  It's just that you never forget your first Doctor!

On fire? Are you sure?

Next, I nabbed this from your own BBC Doctor Who page: Doctor Who video game!  Yaaaa!  Even better news?  FOR FREE!  Whoooooooooo!! No console wars, no marketing extravaganza.

 Being a gamer myself, I am  a little wary based on the looks and description.  They call it an adventure game, which is always a crap shoot.  Is it going to be a wildly fun ride on the TARDIS? Or is it going to be point and click frustration trying to find out what whatsit is supposed to go to who's whosit.

Hmmm, I wonder who might be in it.

Adventure games can be very frustrating; I remember one "adventure" game where I was stuck for hours because there was a tiny crack in the floor that was hardly visible.  But I haven't been disappointed by the Doctor Who franchise, and it's free, so I'll give it some leeway.  Hell, I'll give it a lot of leeway, because I'm just that nice.



                          

I also spotted this fine TARDIS today. 

No home is complete without the TARDIS cookie jar! This geeky website is trouble enough on my wallet, even when it's not Doctor Who related.  I REALLY hope it's bigger on the inside.  Though I'm quite convinced that it's an elaborate plan for the Doctor to steal all our cookies. Then again, if that were true, I imagine a closet in the TARDIS filled with stale pastries and fruit cakes from Christmas. A thousand Christmases.  Shudder.

The exDoctor Tennant has his Hamlet show coming up on April 28th.

Why yes, I did take this picture straight from his page.  How can you tell?

  If I understand his website correctly, it's being aired in the States by PBS, a public broadcasting station.  They mention that it's "available on DVD in the UK" which I think is a polite way of saying tough luck.

Beast Below & Winston Churchill

Now, as most of you should know, my husband-to-be has created a time machine.  Just for me.  But since it's a prototype, the only thing we can get are Doctor Who episodes.  The theory bases itself on the fact that the Doctor has created such an impact on the space-time continuum, we can tap directly into his adventures.  And that's TOTALLY how I get episodes weeks ahead of other Americans.  Official statement.

So I've seen the second and third episodes of the season.  The second episode, The Beast Below, airs on BBC America this Saturday.  The UK (and my time traveling television) has already seen the third episode, but I won't mention the title due to spoilers (but you might have a clue if you follow my twitter). 

I'm still impressed with Matt Smith.  He's not the same Doctor that David Tennant was, but even in the canon he isn't supposed to be -- he's supposed to be "new" each time.

Right now, I'm more interested in Karen Gillian's character, Amy/Amelia.  They dropped a medium sized bomb about her, referring to an event from the recent canon. I'll be vague for two reasons: one, I don't want to spoil it, and two, I'm not exactly sure which incident they are referring to.  Look, it's a show about traveling through time in which you can't do things twice but he did that one time with Rose and than there was a point where 2 years was rewound, but some people remember it but there's also this alternate universe floating that I left around here somewhere.

In conclusion: wibbly  wobbly timey wimey.

UPDATED: Eleventh Hour (No spoilers)

I just finished watching the new Doctor Who.  I'm so spoiled; I don't think it's going to air it for another week in the States.   Like I could wait that long.

No spoilers, but I like Matt Smith as the Doctor, and I definitely like the attitude coming from Karen Gillan.

When I saw Matt Smith (and forgive me for saying this) I had this strange feeling that he was going to be the "emo" Doctor. There was a picture that gave me this feeling, but of course I can't find it now. 

 No, wait, found it.

Matt Smith just looked so...sad?  Depressed? Uninteresting?  And the Doctor has been through a lot, so a reflective Doctor -- questioning his purpose and reflecting on how everyone he ever cares about DIES for the last 900 years -- didn't seem that far fetched.  Also, I'm American, so the habit of writers taking an amazing show and then destroying the very essence of it in order to make money is common, nay,  practically required over here.  

Here's my problem with Karen Gillan: she's funny, sassy, on Doctor Who, and younger.  So yeah, my problem is that I'm jealous.  It's the mean way of saying she's awesome and I look forward to the two of them. 

Bonus content: Read this quick (spoiler free) story about Neil Gaiman's experience watching the new Doctor Who titled "How to Mortify Your Daughter".  If you don't know who Neil Gaiman is, go buy his books, right now.  

Quick, Doctor Who outro!  Boooweeeoooo!!!!

The 10 People of Britain

I'm quite convinced that there's only 10 people in Britain.  Every time someone tells me about a show, even though I've only been watching telly for about a year, there's at least one person I know.  Case in point: my sister in law put on some movie about Oscar Wilde ( I came in late and was throughly confused) and who's in it? Stephen Fry.

Anway, one of my favorite 10 British people has to be Gordon Ramsay. Okay, I'm no foodie, and I can barely boil water myself.  But Ramsay, especially on the F Word, makes food look soooo good.  I thought watching his show was going to make me feel horrid, refering to special ingredients and secret techniques, and feel embarassed at my own ignorance.  Instead I watch and say, I think I can make that!  Well, some of the time at least.  I just watched the episode with Graham Norton (another of the 10 people); they were talking about peaches and creams and other innuendos.                                                      

Speaking of funny gay presenter, I laugh at how many gay people are on telly.  It's not that there isn't gay people on our programs, but the character's main focus is about being gay.  Gay people on British telly are gay just because they are gay.  That doesn't make sense, does it?  Anyway, I just like to see people just get to be themselves.

I'm also amazed at the difference between British editing and American editing techniques.  I didn't notice it until I started switching between BBC America Top Gear to the DVDs.  The BBCA (new acronym, I called it) took more episodes and butchered out whole segments from the rest of the season.  But once we watched it from the DVDs, we realized that they were actually cut out  good parts.  You know, when the trio were being funny British men. It seems like BBCA thinks that the only thing Americans will watch are explosions (don't get me wrong, I love me  some good 'sploding) but I much prefer the more cinematic vignettes.

Anyway, everyone ready for the holiday season?  What's Christmas like in Britain?  The only idea I have is based off of Dr. Who, and you know how that goes!

Comic Relief

A must see for anyone who misses the Doctor until the next bonus episode comes out in November. Catherine Tate and David Tennant get together for comedic short for something called the Red Nose Day, which is a British charity that helps raise money with the help of comedians. I'll be honest, I don't quite understand it, I think it's one of those things you really have to be British to understand.

But the point is, check out the link below for BBC's Youtube page. The sketch is only about 6 minutes long -- Catherine Tate plays an unruly high school student and David Tennant is the new English teacher. Who's Scottish. Which means he can't teach English, amiright? Well use of six minutes. Copy and paste this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxB1gB6K-2A or use the Comic Relief link on the left side of the page.

Speaking of David Tennant (okay, yes, I could just write "David." But could you refer to the Doctor that way? I can't.) Speaking of David Tennant, he is currently working on the movie Hamlet, which is why I think he left the show. As far as I can tell, every Scottish boys' dream is to play Hamlet (according to an interview on Top Gear.) Or maybe he said that it was every boy's dream to be the Doctor? I guess I'll have to watch the episode again.

Also, Catherine Tate has her own show called, big surprise, The Catherine Tate Show. It's another sketch comedy that plays on Friday evening on BBC America. I love Catherine Tate's "in your face" type of attitude, and she's plays a great unruly British brat. Love it, love it, love it!

And while your spending your Friday evenings with BBC America (which I think has an HD channel, but I don't get it, so it doesn't count) tune in for the Graham Norton Show. (This is what I love about British people -- it's like everyone knows everyone.) However, it's a talk show, not a sketch show, but I would still call it comedy. He's over-the-top gay and says what he wants. I've only caught clips of episodes, but I definitely need to watch more!

Hope I've filled everyone's Friday nights! All of these shows (in my area, with my cable programming) is on rather early -- as soon as I get home from work, I turn on the telly and for about three hours it's British humor almost non-stop. But since it's on early, it doesn't interfere with Friday night shenanigans. So I can watch their comedies while cooking or cleaning, and still have a night to party. Now only if they had Saturday morning cartoons....

Happy Emergency Services Day!

Today, being 09/09/09, is Emergency Services Day in the UK.  Their emergency hotline number is 999, instead of 911 for us Yankees.  Other than the Queen thanking the coastguard, and fellow blogger at cakewrecks.blogspot.com with some interesting cakes, there's really nothing special.  But check out those cakes!

I recently started watching Torchwood, finally.  It's a spin-off of Doctor Who, so I was afraid it was going to be awful.  But other than having a few insights to one liners ("That hand is worthless to anyone but me!") Torchwood is definitely it's own show; instead of the cheery, "save the day" feeling you get from Doctor Who, its a much darker, more realistic show.  Realistic in the sense that feelings get hurt, situations don't go as planned, people die (oh yes, do people die).  There's still a lot of wibbly wobbly spacey wacey type stuff (including a secret underground compound), but so far it has been nowhere near as fantastical as Doctor Who.  And the sex!  My goodness!  Sure, it's not real sex, but as an American (and a liberal one, in my opinion) I was quite surprised to see simulated (stimulated?) sex, repeatedly, in almost every episode.  Not that I mind, I'm an adult, but someone could have told me! (Maybe I would have tuned in sooner!)

I have failed to mention the Mighty Boosh, which can actually been seen on American television through Cartoon Network (check local listings blah blah blah).  It's a comedy show, about ...uhhh....there's these guys, and they uh, and one of them is a magician? A fortuneteller?  Okay, seriously, I have no idea what the show is about. Even trying to read the Wikipedia page to pretend I know something did me no good.  My friend showed it to me one night, at 2 in the morning, after drinking since 7 that night.  Since then, he's talked non-stop about how great it is.  I swear I'll watch it, promise! If you're going to watch it, I suggest getting the DVD; Cartoon Network edits it so it'll fit in the time slot.  Stupid American commercials.

Check out link to Dr. Who Cakes

I just found a link to some great Dr. Who cakes, including a few tardis' (tardi?), a standing cyberman, and a gingerbread K-9. Just wanted to share with everyone.

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2009/08/sunday-sweets-doctor-who.html

Mandatory Viewing, or The Only Things on BBC America

No promises that I'm going to update every day, or even in any promised order. I want to beef up the blog for now, so in the future my posts might come a little more sporadic.

First of all, you must see Doctor Who. The show is about a Time Lord who travels through time and space and across the universe to save people/the universe/say witty things. When I say "Doctor Who," I'm referring to the new series that was restarted in 2005. Christopher Eccleston started as the 9th Doctor in 2005, but only stayed on for 13 episodes. He was succeeded by David Tennant, the 10th Doctor, who just recently stepped down. Some of my favorite episodes includes a generation of people trapped in a futuristic enclosed highway (for flying cars, of course); statues with malicious intent; ANY Christmas episode; World War I zombies; when they meet Madame d'Pompadour; and when they meet William Shakespeare. It's not all fun and games though. Early on the series explores the ramifications of changing the past. The writers pay attention to the space/time continuum "rules," but they keep them loose enough so it doesn't ruin the fun.

Next up, Top Gear is the funniest show about cars. At first I only watched it because my husband wanted to, but the more I watched the funnier it was. I have no idea how James May, Richard Hammond, and Jeremy Clarkson convinces the BBC to give them money. At times it seems like they do nothing but bicker with each other and argue with anyone that doesn't agree, but if you look closely, you'll see that...uh....a lifelong friendship....on screen magic....okay, all they do is bicker and argue. But it's hilarious. The show never ceases to pull amazing races and stunts. In one of the latest episodes they raced the fastest recorded car in the world against a super-special fighter jet (I forget the details, just read: awesome). The car had to race ONE mile, turn around, and then race back to the start/finish, while the fighter jet had to go one mile UP, in the air, and then come back down and cross the start/finish. Another season Clarkson raced across Japan, trying to beat May and Hammond on the Japanese Bullet Train. This is not your average train. It's pretty much the same formula over and over. One of the hosts races against crazy triple black diamond skiers/Olympic Luge team/another absolutely ridiculous thing. They also have guests on the show, called the Star in a Reasonable Priced Car, so expect to see the only other 10 people in Britain on the show.

Finally, for comedy, check out Little Britain. It's a sketch comedy show that features Matt Lucas and David Williams dressing up, acting silly, and generally making a mockery of everyone and everything. You can feel the Monty Python influence, but the sketches and characters are original. However, we watched this on DVD, and noticed that watching episodes back to back saps it of some of its humor. Try spacing it out if you haven't caught this show yet.

One more thing. Dear BBC America, please broadcast in HD, plzkthxbai.

Welcome to the first posting of The Queen's Forgotten Children!

Welcome to the first posting of "The Queen's Forgotten Children!" Da da da dum! Okay, it's hard to be serious when I know the only people reading this (for now!) are people I already know and have heard my rants already. It's like being given the key to the city, except there's only a 100 people in the town and everyone remembers when you ran around naked when you were three.

For those of you that haven't been subject to my drunken questions after a night on the town, with equally drunken answers scribbled on soiled napkins, I've created this blog specifically to talk about British television. I've fallen in love with them in a very short amount of time, like, well, every other girl in the world who gets a bit "soft" around a man with an accent. (Did that sound British? At times I find I don't know if I sound British, normal American, or my usual crazy language).

Homework time! See where it says "children?" That's my way of making all of you help me write this blog. :) I want everyone to send me an email about their favorite British show, and why they like it. It doesn't have to be a long article, but please something more than "Monty Python." (If your answer *is* Monty Python, please tell me your favorite sketch or movie.)

This week in news (that I've
just made up.):

David Tennant's popularity has gone down for leaving Doctor Who, but really I can't stay mad at him. Lily Allen's popularity is up, due to some backing in America, though I like her better when she's fat.

Being Human is a great series to watch if you love the paranormal and think Stephanie Meyer's should go shoot herself. It's a show about (stick with me through this) a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost all live in the same "flat." I know it sounds like an episode of Friend's, but I promise it's an engaging show. You'll thank me after the first half of the first episode.

Warehouse 13, though not British, is another interesting paranormal series to look into. You know at the end of Indiana Jones, they say it's being taken care of by "top men," and there's that iconic scene with the warehouse full of god-knows-what? The show's kinda like that, about people having to take care of all the paranormal, wibbly wobbly timey-wimey stuff.