Everyone Needs Random Rambling Update Posts

You know I actually have a few half way/nearly finished blog posts I really should get done and post. Not to mention I need to sort out my lists and get tags more organised. The one I mentioned inspired by something Gwen says in the Australian Torchwood promo is kinda thinky, I guess all the thinking from college had to go somewhere, and I've decided to wait till after Children of Earth to do that one.
Speaking of which I can't wait for tomorrow night. It's a while since I've been this excited for a tv show. While I'm still sad it's just one week of Torchwood that we've been waiting far too long for I'm just dying for something new. I know we had the radio plays this week (which were good in some ways but I had to internally do some hand waving and ignoring) but CoE is being made out to be something truly epic and I am unspoiled so I have no real idea what's going to happen. Hope I don't have my hopes up to high.

I am still unemployed which isn't unexpected given the lack of jobs out there. I'll be finishing off my post grad application today, just 2/3 sections left. We'll see how that goes. I don't have the highest hopes as I think they want people with more experience but I do have back up plans so it's all cooley.
Oh I forgot I didn't mention it here but I got the results of my final exams. I'm finishing up my degree with a 2.1. That is 3 years of work finished. In all honesty I don't think I'll really realise I'm done till it's September and I'm graduating instead of picking modules for the year. There is the option of rejecting the degree and retaking up to 15 credits during the August repeats in order to get a higher mark. It's tempting with English as I didn't do too well in one or two exams but I don't think it's worth the effort and the stress. I'm content with my results and History is what I want to continue with and it's the one I did best in. Not to mention graduation would be late in October instead of the proper graduation.

I actually came runner up in something. Over on Twitter writer James Moran, if you're on Twitter I encourage you to follow him here, (with phrasing like that no wonder Aoife thinks everyone on Twitter are stalkers) has been running a caption competition with the above picture (that's him on the Torchwood Hub set) and I was one of the three runners up. He was kind enough the decide to give the 3 of us a prize as well. I now have to pick a name I want in something he's going to write.

As this was long and rambling I'm finishing up with a funny, but sadly true, little sketch about gender targeting advertising.
EDIT: The clip plays automatically which can be annoying and I don't know how to stop that so I'm linking instead. Linky

Florence and the Machine

I have to recommend Florence and the Machine.
At the moment she's probably most famous for Cosmic Love, otherwise known as that song from the O2 ad.

But I've been listening to that and 2 other songs (only non-live I could find) non stop. [Actual official videos have embedding disabled:(]
Dog Days

Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) (Start ever so slightly cut off)


I can't wait for the album 'Lungs' to come out on 6th July.

Silly Girl

Guess what people, according to the LA Times the only reason girls could possibly be interested in those awfully geeky things like conventions is so we can fawn over hot Hollywood stars. I guess I'd best go through my blog and twitter and delete anything remotely geeky cause how could a silly little girl like me ever be interested in anything like shows, books, movies, storylines, characters, relationships, development, a big portion of the TV I watch, my sheer enjoyment of something as a whole, etc when there are guys to be drooled over. Of course I need the LA Times amazing guide for girls attending Comic Con complete with pictures to help us know which panels will have the things we girls enjoy most cause apparently there's more going on than 'Twilight'. I didn't even know girls liked/attended/knew about that major summer event that tends to be all over the internet and every fandom is involved in.
*rolls eyes*
Yeah I'm somewhat annoyed, along with a good portion of other people. The geeky/nerdy stereotype is getting old. God, the summaries beside the slides are insulting. Yes there are some good things listed, but the reasons given are just so ... I can't even go into them individually or this post may never end. I mean god forbid a girl like me spend most of her TV watching time watching sci-fi and other not quite normal/main stream shows and, shock horror, may not care how attractive or unattractive an actor is but more about the character as an individual.
I love Comic Con. Heck someone asked if I wanted to go last year but I do not have those kinds of funds. I would probably give an arm to be able to attend it and it's not for the 'hot' guys but for the shows I love and enjoy. Like a lot of other people I will spend the week of Comic Con looking for reports, videos and podcasts not so I can ogle some guy but so I can hear the fans/actors/writers/directors/producers etc talk about something they enjoy.

Now excuse me while I be geeky and post the latest Torchwood trailer and be all happy that we finally have an air week of between the 4 and 10 of July and the radio plays the week before and that I am largely spoiler free. I'd actually like to do a longer post about something that Gwen says in this trailer that put an idea in my head but I think I'd like to do it as part of a longer post. So for now enjoy.

The Hunt for Gollum

The Hunt for Gollum is the story of Aragon tracking down Gollum before The Lord of the Rings. It’s one of those movies which is made for fans by fans and cost under £3,000 to make.

It’s not the best movie ever made but for something made so cheaply this is great. Watching the making of it's clear a lot of time and dedication went into this.
I particularly loved how they got around the problem of Gollum. Let’s face it he’s a pretty expensive character to bring to life and I really like how they got round that by showing him from a distance and in the sack. The actual close up of him at the end was really well done as well. The fight scene was also great.
It makes me disappointed that The Hobbit movies are, last time I heard, just going to be the book split in two. I really would have loved to see the in-between period, especially this part of the story, played out in a longer film.

I’d also recommend checking out this concept trailer for their next project. It looks like one of those plague/zombie/zombie plague moves and really scary.

Project Residue concept trailer
by HuntForGollum

The second Torchwood trailer, I’m not including those 10 second nothing ones, was released last Friday and doesn’t it look amazing. As I’ve said before I’m spoiler free (bar 1 or 2 tiny things I accidently read) so I live for stuff like this.

My main concern is when it’s finally going to air. I mean series 2 began airing in January last year. Well over a year later and we don’t even have a proper date yet despite the fact it’s been finished for ages, we got the first trailer back in February. Ever since then we’ve been hearing later and later dates. It seemed like June was going to be pretty definite for a while there especially with that special screening of the first ep happening in 2 weeks. But America and Australia both say July and the BBC remains tight lipped. Most of the new trailers and pictures we’ve gotten have been from BBCA and magazine interviews. If anything it’s frustrating and really not helping the fans. We’ve already had to deal with the fact we’re only getting one story told over a week of episodes, the least they can do is give us a date. There’s also 3 radio plays that are meant to bridge the gap between series but yet again we don’t know an air date. *sigh* It makes you wonder if the BBC have already decided not to have a series 4 and are doing their best to make series 3 unsuccessful. Then again I’m in sci-fi withdrawal these days (no Who, no Torchwood, no Stargate) so maybe I’m just being pessimistic.
Still here’s a great clip from John Barrowman’s Tonight’s The Night.


EDIT: It now appears that BBCA have confirmed an air date of July 20th. Apparently the week of Comic Con. That could either go terribly or amazingly given how many fans would probably be at Comic Con. I really hope the BBC show it earlier than that.

Back from the Dead

Or my final semester in college is over as it’s also known. I have not blogged for the past few months as college was just too busy with one thing after another, although I have kept my twitter going as you can see up in the corner. However, results pending, as of 4.30 on 27 May I completed the final exam of my three year degree in History and English. I’m all grown up.
Scary, I know.

Now that college is finished and I have a most likely jobless summer ahead (I’m all for optimism but realistically of the few jobs out there who’s going to hire me with only one proper job 2 years ago) I hope to be back to blogging. I have much to catch up on in the year of Reading Dangerously challenge review wise, not to mention I read different books to those I listed. Have to update and sort out lists. I also plan on watching a few shows that fall under the ‘I always meant to watch that’ category along with the new series of Torchwood whenever the BBC decide to grace us with its presence so expect some tv related blogs. I may also go back over something’s from the past few months like post grad decisions, and general bits and pieces. Elections are also coming up this week which should be fun.

Right now however I am happily enjoying the sun we have at the moment by sitting indoors in that shade. It’s bank holiday Monday so everywhere will be packed, especially the parks and beaches so there’s not really anywhere to go. There’s a tweet-up like game of rounders in the park in a bit but like I said park will be packed and the heat is a bit much for me to do anything too active. Besides only trouser like things I own are jeans and I doubt skirts are appropriate for sports. After sun burn yesterday (not bad just the first time in ages) I have no motivation to sit out the back. Still should get use to it as it’s to last a few more days and it is suppose to be a hot summer.

I leave you with Imelda May ‘Johnny Got a Boom Boom’ as I’m listening to her album at the mo.

Enjoy the sun, or shade.

Watchmen Advanced Screening.

Thanks to the wondeful movies.ie (great site who also do loads of competitions on the website and their twitter) I won tickets to an advanced screening of Watchmen this week. Darren originally gave me a loan of the graphic novel, I was amazed and fell in love. I've been following info about the movie for ages and even though the apparent ending change has me somewhat worried I still can't wait to see it. Needless to say I was delighted to win the tickets in a movies.ie twitter competition. They are officially my favourite people.
I leave thee with the trailer which now makes me even more excited.


(proper blogging to recommence when I don't have long history documents to read every week)

Torchwood Series 3 Trailer

I know, I know. I say I'm going to try ad make this blog better and then college starts back and that all falls apart. I don't have time for a proper post right now but I just want to share this:

Explosions, intrigue and secrecy, weird kids, Jack in normal clothes, guns, kissing, omg that body, and of the course that old staple, running.
You know, I wasn't sure what to make of this the first time I watched it but its growing on me. It seems slightly more action a la 24 and political thrillers as opposed to sci-fi but I suppose they are trying to attract a larger audience both in the UK and America, as shown by the simultaneous premiere of the trailer and the fact there are plans to air the episodes on the same day in both countries. Watching the trailer and reading people's reactions to it I'm definitely more intrigued, especially with some of the things I missed.
Mainly I'm just delighted to have some new Torchwood/Whoniverse. I hate spoilers and avoid them so I'm beyond happy to have something to think, fangirl, speculate and flail about again. I just hope we don't have to wait as long as has been rumoured.

'The Passion of New Eve' by Angela Carter

The Passion of New Eve is one of the many stories by Angela Carter. It is set in a dystopian future America. In the novel we follow Evelyn, an English professor who comes to New York and the ... unique turn his life takes.

I'm not exactly sure what I can say about The Passion of New Eve without giving the story away but isn't exactly a run of the mill novel and probably not something for the faint hearted (there is sexual assault and mutilation) but it is an interesting read. The characters and the relatioships between them are complex, even a character such as Leilah who may initially seem blank and possibly 2-D serves an important purpose for displaying ideas.Carter investigates women, the body, gender identity and the connection between them while also satirising forms of femininism such as extreme femininism and the creation of a seperate female mythology. I read this novel as part of a class on post-modernism and I'm not quite sure how I would have taken it if I'd read it without that class or previous knowledge of feminism and gender theory. Definitely would have considered it odd. But it does raise interesting points about gender, which I've always enjoyed. So if you're looking for a different kind of book than the usual fair or want a book which intelligently investigates gender ideology I'd recommend The Passion of New Eve.

Year of Reading Dangerously 2009

I have decided to take part in the Year of Reading Dangerously challenge again this year. Last year I didn't get the last 3 months read as I was busy with college reading. However as we're icking our own list this year I'm going to incorporate books from my English course, along with the two novels I didn't get read last year and a mix of the suggestion list and some books I've owned for a while. So without further ado my Year of Reading Dangerously list:

January: The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter
February: In The Castle of My Skin by George Lamming
March: An Irish Studies book (Books for course haven't been decided yet)
April: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales by Robert Louis Stevenson
May: The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot
June: Persopolis by Marjane Satrapi
July: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
August: Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
September: The Human Stain by Philip Roth
October: Contact by Carl Sagan
November: Translations by Brian Friel
December: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

I tried to pick different types of books so I hope it's a good list. The list will be over on the right for the year and the March book will be added in the next week or so when I get the book list. I've already read The Passion of New Eve earlier this month for an exam so the review should be up later. Looking forward to the books and everyone elses reviews.