Monthly Archives: July 2012

TEN Favourite Doctor Who Episodes

Posted in Geeky, Media, The Telly by

“Don’t worry, I’m The Doctor.”

It’s not a secret, I’m a Doctor Who fan. I initially started watching because it was streaming on Netflix and a lot of folks on my twitter feed were talking about it. Originally, it was a little on the corny side (it still is at times) but, I can’t deny that it has gotten under my skin. The show is creative genius and I absolutely love the Doctor! I’ve narrowed down the long list of episodes to my top ten favourites. If you want an idea of the show, watch these. Did I mention that it’s streaming on Netflix1?

Tooth and Claw

The Story: The Doctor and Rose end up meeting Queen Victoria on the Scottish moors. They all take refuge at Torchwood Estate, unaware that it has been taken over by some monks and … wait for it … a werewolf! The monks plan on infecting the queen and creating an “Empire of the Wolf”.

Why I love it:

  • The scene in the library, “You want weapons? We’re in a library! Books! The best weapons in the world! This room’s the greatest arsenal we could have – arm yourselves!”
  • The brave lady of the house who refuses to cower at the threat in her home. The head-strong Queen Victoria. The beginning of Torchwood.
  • “We are not amused.” (»)

The Girl in the Fire Place

The Story: The TARDIS lands on a spaceship that seems abandoned. However, the spaceship seems to be stalking a certain young girl, Reinette, through her fireplace. The girl turns out to be Madame de Pompadour and the aliens – humanoid forms that seem to be made up of gears – want her brain.

Why I love it:

  • Steampunk! The aliens in this episode are reminiscent of clockwork machines.
  • The dresses! The masquerade!
  • Plucky Reinette! (»)

Love & Monsters

The Story: Elton Pope is a fan of the Doctor and this episode is told via his video blog. He met a group of people who had all seen The Doctor and they became quick friends. They are all hanging out, having a great time until Victor Kennedy shows up. Throw in a body sucking alien, some funny chase sequences and you have a memorable episode.

Why I love it:

  • To be honest, I loved this one because the feel of the episode was a bit like Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.
  • “The truth is, the world is so much stranger than that, so much darker and so much madder … and so much better” (»)

Blink

The Story: The Doctor isn’t featured a lot in this one, but what is featured are the Weeping Angels, an alien race that look like stone angel statues that move only when they aren’t being watched. Not a problem, as long as you don’t blink.

Why I love it:

  • I’ll never be able to look at angel statues the same way again.
  • The creation of the instruction video. I love alternate time lines.(»)

Voyage of the Damned

The Story: Imagine if the Titanic was a space ship that took alien creatures to orbit earth and observe our ways?

Why I love it: 

  • Space ship Titanic
  • Loved the companion on this episode, too bad she wasn’t on more! (»)

The Unicorn and The Wasp

The Story: Take the Doctor, Donna Noble (one of my favourite companions), add Agatha Christie, an alien bug and a jewel thief called The Unicorn and you get a fantastic literary episode.

Why I love it:

  • A murder mystery dinner party.
  • “I’m British, I carry on.”
  • “Yeah but think about it. There’s a murder, a mystery, and Agatha Christie.” Enough said! (»)

Silence in the Library

The Story: This is the first of a two-part story. The Doctor gets a distress call to a planet that looks like a giant library. The place seemed desserted and we soon learn that River Song made the call for the Doctor. So much happens in this episode – the shadow monster, meeting River Song, the library’s connected to the imagination of a little girl. A complex intertwining of alternate universes proceeds.

Why I love it:

  • Stay out of the shadows!
  • Giant library with everything ever written inside. (»)

Amy’s Choice

The Story: Amy, the Doctor and Rory are trapped in a two universes where Amy gets to decide which world is real and which is a dream. If they die in the dream they will wake up in the real universe.

Why I love it: 

  • The first episode that really sold me on Amy and Rory being companions of the Doctor.
  • It’s a bit of a tear jerker, and definitely kept me on the edge of my seat. (»)

The Pandorica Opens

The Story: Based on Pandora’s  Box, the Pandorica is believed to hold the  worse prisoners of the universe. This begins a two part story that concludes in The Big Bang – which I particularly loved. This also completes the cracks in the universe arc which I thought was fascinating.

Why I love it:

  • Closure to the cracks in the universe
  • The last centurion! (»)

The Impossible Astronaut

The Story: The Doctor invites his companions to witness his death. It sounds like I’m spoiling it, but to be quite honest this episode made the entire sixth series pretty much amazing. The finale and how it tied into this episode was genius. I’ll leave it at that.

Why I love it: 

  • Sets you up to get your mind blown at the series finale.
  • Makes you want to view the entire series when you reach the finale. (»)

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1 The top ten from the first six series (starting with the ninth doctor)
notes: images taken from bbc.co.uk/doctorwho and screen shots from episodes

Adventures in Asia – But First, Guam

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The first part of my vacation in Asia can be found here. This part (still not in Asia) is all about Guam. 

Oh Guam, with a population of almost 160K1, no wonder you didn’t want us to leave!

First Day in Guam

We arrived in Guam and heard Eve’s name over the loud speaker. Running from our gate to the Manila flight we found that there was only ONE spot left, what did we want to do? Since we didn’t want to separate, we decided to spend the day in Guam and try our luck the next evening. We rented a car and hotel package at the airport, and asked the nice woman at the counter for directions.

Me: How do we get to the hotel?
Her: When you see the Home Depot, make a left.
Me: And how will we know it’s the right road?
Her: There’s only one Home Depot, you can’t miss it.

Yes, not only does Guam have 1/12 the population of Queens, New York, it also has only one Home Depot, one Kmart and one mall with one movie theater2 and they use these landmarks to give you directions.

Flights to Manila ran late night to early morning, so the next morning Eve and I decided to take an auto-tour in our rental around Guam to see the island before trying the airport. We got a map and hit the road in our rental. There aren’t many roads in Guam, but we took a road that lead us around the southern half. It took about three hours, including stopping at some lookout points and beach areas. We manage to find a yummy Jamaican Grill called Yo Mon nearby and spent some time surfing the internet at an Internet Cafe in the Micronesia Mall.

We got to the airport and waited for the flights, again, we didn’t make it on so we came up with a plan, try one more night as stand-by, but buy confirmed tickets for the following night. We rented a car and another room, Guam had us in its clutches for one more day. Continue reading →

FIVE Reasons to Watch Sherlock

Posted in Geeky, Media, The Telly by

1. The Writer: Steven Moffat is a genius. (As was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) Moffat writes the show and does an amazing job! The episodes have elements of the original work but is set in modern day time. A fantastic adaptation.

2. The Actors: Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock, a very good fit. Great actor, and that voice! Martin Freeman as Doctor Watson. They have great on screen chemistry.

3. To the Point: Short series (seasons). There have been two seasons so far, each with three episodes, that cover a number of stories. Each is an hour long, what more could you want?

4. The Setting: Modern day retelling of an already amazing story. If Sherlock Holmes was living in modern day, this show has his number.

5. Filming Location: Set all over London city – especially awesome for people who like London as much as I do. =)

Oh look, 30 years went by in a flash!

Posted in Thoughts by

The 80s, that’s when I was born, thirty years ago. This is the beginning of my thirty-first year on the earth. I am much wiser for it, and I am about to give you unwanted advice because being thirty means I can tell you what to do.

Or not. Due to my overnight wisdom I realize that no matter how old I get I will never know everything. It didn’t take me thirty years to figure that out, I knew it all along, it just took me thirty years to admit it. So, what should I post about for my thirtieth year? Well, I thought about doing one of those “30 things in 30 years”  or, “30 things I did in my 30th year” thing, but to be quite honest, 30 is a big number, and I don’t really want to come up with 30 things and, since we’re being honest, let’s just admit that you probably won’t have read pass the 7th thing if you’ve even gotten this far. And if you have … why are you still here? There’s no prize at the end of this, no secret thing! I promise you this!

I feel as though, many people get scared of getting older, it’s one step closer to death, but that doesn’t frighten me, for that matter, I welcome it with open arms … now this has taked a morbid turn and you’re all planning on giving me the number to your favourite psychiatrist; you know, the one you have on speed dial.

I’m the Doctor

Ok, enough of that … time to get serious.

I couldn’t resist!

A few days ago I received a text from a friend, she told me that thirty isn’t the end of the world and I smiled. I said I was fine, but it made me think of the many people who turn thirty and feel … well … odd. I won’t say that it’s no big deal, to many it IS a big deal and that’s fine, we all experience life differently. There are all these slogans out there to keep you from rolling up into a fetal position and sobbing, my favourite is, “thirty is the new twenty”. To be honest, I use that phrase sometimes, but let me be clear, I use it in a sort of tongue-in-cheek way. I don’t want to repeat my twenties. Sure, we had some fun times, lots of jokes and lots of adventure, but at the end of the day those days are over and thirty feels like a brand new chapter, a brand new page, a brand new day. And, if in all my life, my 20s were my best year, then what a sad life I’ve lived! I don’t want to ever stop and say that my life will be “all downhill from here”. I want the graph of my life to be y=x! I want my line of experiences to keep growing and life to keep me interested.

So, I’m one of those people who is looking forward to finishing my thirtieth year on earth, because I like the newness of the decade that is before me. Sure, my body is reaching is peak and I’m slowing down and I’m closer to the years where things stop working like they use to, and I have to watch my diet, but hey, that’s part of the adventure right?

Give me a second, I’m going to go show some admiration to my eyes, legs, internal organs, and everything else …

I’ve still got legs!

Ok, I’m back.

I’ve had thirty years of life under my belt, life is a gift, may I use it to its fullest!

Laus Deo…

[PS – if you’ve made it this far, I’d like to reveal a project that I’m attempting this year. Of course, now that I’m revealing it, I’ll probably neglect it. I’m writing … or trying to … I will need your criticism, as long as it’s constructive. Just a note, things like “u suk!” is not constructive. Take a look! Not much is up, but, comment away =) Let the dialogue begin, and if dialogue continues it will also encourage me to write more: Visit Ella Wrytes!]

Fall Lineup: Who Made The Finale?

Posted in Media, The Telly by

Last fall I posted a post about my fall shows. Not everything made it to the Finale, and since I just saw the final season finale on hulu, I thought I’d do a recommendation post. Just because1.

Bones2

Bones has always impressed me. It has the perfect balance of drama and investigation. I love the way all the characters work together, they all have great on screen chemistry.

This season Brennan and Booth finally get together. *confetti* But, along with that lovely happening and the beautiful addition of Christine, there is a lot of smart cases and interesting solutions.

One thing I always love about Bones is the killer finales, and this season delivered. Bones is framed for a crime and they leave us in the middle to cross our fingers and hope that the crime is solved in the first episode – or at least the first two or three ones – of the next season. I for one, cannot wait! This one was good … a computer hacker genius, a clue left in spit! Pretty creative stuff.

Parks and Recreation has that dry humor with just enough adorableness that keeps you interested enough to go back for more. Every new episode I found myself wondering if I really wanted to watch and after watching, I always am glad I did. The cast work well together and you can’t help but find each character endearing.

Modern Family 3

Shot in the same documentary style as The Office, Parks and Recreation follows a group of government employees, lead by Leslie Knope, the ultimate overachiever. This season Leslie is running for office and nothing can stop her from winning – or, trying to win.

This season finale wasn’t explosive, but there were quite a few heartwarming moments. I can’t wait to see what Leslie has up her sleeves for next season!

What can I say about Modern Family? It just keeps getting better and better. It’s hard not to love this crazy family.

The big shocker this season was Lilly’s sudden aging, however, that was easily overlooked after a few shows. There were a lot of great episodes this season – Claire’s stop sign wars has her running for councilwoman with hilarious outcome, Haley’s college woes, that “period” episode, visiting Disney (um, can I have those shoes, Gloria?) and Cam and Mitch’s adoption attempts.

One thing Modern Family can guarantee the viewer is a good laugh and this season was not a letdown. They did manage to leave us with that tiny shocker in the finale … oh the fun things that can happen with a new addition.

I had a hard time making it through Community this season, but, I made it! I think my favourite episode this season was Remedial Chaos Theory with the different timelines. I really liked what they did there.

Of course, Community won’t be community without it’s alternate universes and animated episodes, and they did not disappoint. The ending(s?) were great to watch, so much so that I’m going to keep Community on my list of TV shows for next fall. Safe!

Nick and Hank at a Crime Scene4

In the season’s Raising Hope, Jimmy and Sabrina are finally together – eh, it doesn’t matter either way. To be quite honest, Burt, Virginia and Maw Maw are the stars of this show. Their comedic timing, and the funny situations they get into left me chuckling. I’m definitely going to keep this one on my list!

Finally, the fairytale shows! Grimm and Once Upon A Time are both staying on my fall list! What amazing shows! They took completely different takes on the fairytales and they both did an awesome job.

Grimm was investigative, so if you’re a fan of detective shows, Grimm would be a good fit. Nick Burkhardt, a homicide detective starts seeing strange things when his Aunt shows up and informs him that he’s descended from the Grimm brothers, and that the tales they chronicled are based on real incidences. The creatures in Grimm are dark and dangerous and the writers did a great job weaving the creatures into the crimes that Nick and his partner were investigating.

Once is a bit more on the dramatic side. The fairytale characters are under a curse from the Evil Queen. She banished them all to Storybrook – a place in the human world – to destroy Snow White’s happiness. It seems a little extreme, I know… and Emma’s (the heroine, Snow’s daughter) sudden belief in the fairy-tale world was a little unbelievable. The reason I liked watching it, however, was for the fairy tale timeline. I loved what the writers did with the characters, how they gave them pasts and interwove their stories. Chris Colfer’s new book The Wishing Spell, actually reminded me of Once – though, his version is more tamed.

Well, that’s about all the TV shows I had time for. I had to give up on Fringe, it was getting a bit stale and repetitive. Castle also fell into that stale, repetitive cycle, and the drama between the partners wasn’t spectacular. Why can’t they just be partners and that be the end of it?

I also stopped watching The Secret Circle and Pan Am, pretty early on into the show. They both lacked in grasping my attention, though, if Pan Am had more of that spy story line that they were developing, that might have been fun!

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1 It’s my blog and I can do whatever I please.
2 Image via Fox.com
3 Image via Modern Family’s Facebook
4 Image via NBC.com