Matt Smith: A Mad Man With A Box

     Firstly, I would like to start by apologizing to you wonderful people, for the considerable gaps between each of my posts. This is either due to school, sheer laziness or because my mind is not allowing me inspiration to write. I will try my very best to shorten the gaps between each post and if I may request, any comments on my posts would be very welcome, so that I do not feel as if I am wasting my time with this blog. 

     Anyway, as most of you will hopefully be aware, not too long ago was the 31st birthday of Matt Smith; the fantastic actor who brought The Eleventh Doctor to life. When first announced that he would be the wonderful David Tenants successor- a number of fans were almost in shock(including myself if I am perfectly honest) because no one had ever heard of Matt before, he had some roles in television beforehand but none to make him generally well known. It was a bit of worry for fans, that he wouldn't have such an outstanding acting ability (being the youngest actor to play The Doctor at 26) and they weren't exactly wrong. The first series, he did show some excellent talent as an actor but it wasn't until the end of series 5 that he truly settled in to the role and grew amazingly well as an actor. At the end of his time as The Doctor, there was news of a number of roles in movies,etc that Matt had accepted and it was great to see that not only is he seen more as an actor now but he hasn't been typecast. 

       Considering the point I made in the first paragraph, I wanted to make a post to keep you going and assure you that I am still alive. It just turned out to be a happy coincidence that Mr Smiths birthday gave me this idea. I wanted to do something particularly special to celebrate Matt's run as The Doctor. A few ideas floated in my mind, but some of them I didn't want to put into action until closer to date of Smith's last episode. So I decided that I give a list of some of my favorite videos on YouTube in tribute of Matt Smiths era as the mad man with a box.  

     Note: I did not create these video and all credit goes to the people who made them.

     

1. A Tribute to the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith)- by Mrlazarus01

     Compared to other videos, this one will be seen as "slow" and for some of you  that may be a bad thing, but that is not quite true. One of my reasons for choosing a video that I think you will see for all of them, is the music. This video particularity, had the most powerful music in my opinion; from the series two episode of Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia. I absolutely adore the music, it just gives me so much feels and the scene that it is used for in that episode just makes the scene so emotional. Another reason for this video reaching the top spot, was the number of memorable quotes put into the video and not with the music from that episode, making the video feel cheap. My favorite quote in the video due to how effectively it is used, is the speech made by The Doctor in the divisive series 7 episode "The Rings of Akhaten." When listening to the speech, and seeing clips of episodes matching what The Doctor is referring to-such as: "I have lost things you will never understand" and we can see the timelord putting on Amy's glasses to read the sad message she left for him in Rivers book. So many feels accompanied this video and the music only intensified the pain that fans such as myself would be suffering. A magnificent video, a wonderful tribute for Matt Smith and well deserving of the top spot. 

2. Doctor Who, Series 5-7 Mega Trailer, 1,000 subscribers video (Matt Smith) - by taridselliot

     Compared to the previous video, I feel this one covered Matt's era as The Eleventh Doctor a little bit better and the music was quite good, however the music combined with the powerful quotes in the other video, made for a more effectively emotional video and it is for that reason mainly that this video isn't at the top of the list. The build up at the start was quite nice, I liked how they began with clips from Matt's first episode "The Eleventh Hour" and Amy's voice could be heard referring to him as her "imaginary friend" and what set them off on their adventures together. It then touches on his other companions, such as Clara and the beginning of The Doctors endeavour to find out who she really is. As well as River Song, where we are given a quote from the first adventure that The Eleventh Doctor meets River and people who have continued to watch the show afterwards will know how significant that quote can be. From then on, the music got more fast paced and more exciting, that's why I quite liked about this video was that it covered a lot of his era at an exciting pace.Another thing that caught my interest, was the way that the Cybermen, Daleks and Weeping Angels all got a special mention in the video and was quite well done. The arcs of The Eleventh Doctor were touched upon quite nicely as well. This is a very excellent video but sadly didn't have that emotional edge to grab my attention. A well deserved second. 

3. Ultimate Doctor Who Era Trailer, Series 5-7, Matt Smith- by tardiselliot 

     Another exciting video by the same YouTuber. Originally, this video had found itself in second place, but just as I was about to write the description of it, I re-watched both the videos and I believed the other was more deserving of the spot. My reason being, is that the video felt better structured and that it covered Smith's era better; the second video does also cover his era quite well but I felt it was a bit jumbled up in a bad way. Also, a few of the quotes or clips were used in the same order as the previous video but I didn't feel they were used as well as the other one. One thing that allowed me to quite enjoy this video, was the use of the guitar; it just felt right and built up the video quite well. I also, like the use of the last scene from "The Name of the Doctor" not only do I absolutely love that scene, but i thought it was placed perfectly within the video. It is quite unusual to hear guitar music quite clearly with Doctor Who (not that it hasn't been done at all) and it worked quite well together. To me, it felt that tardiselliot was trying to get across the dangerous, action-packed adventure that can come with traveling with The Doctor and they certainly did do that. It really did feel like a good trailer to advertise to a non-Whovian ( just the thought of it is horrible) and would surely prove to be very enticing to them.

4. Doctor Who: "The Matt Smith Era"-Ultimate Cinema Trailer-by TheAfroThunder1

     A small conflict took place in my mind as to what position this video deserved?  Quite simply because of the music; with the excellent use of clips from Matt's first episodes at the start of the video combined with the music, gives that "fairy tale" feeling to it. A very popular and well used theme of Series 5. However, I don't feel like this video touched on the best and most important parts of Matt's era as the previous two have. It still proved to be a very pleasing video, the music was quite catchy and enticing. I think what partly let this video down was the time that it was created; only being released the month after Amy and Rory's heartbreaking departure, they didn't have clips from the remainder of Series 7 at their disposal. Granted that this would not allow them to tocuh on Clara, but they could have looked a bit more at River and the arcs of Matt's run. However, one thing that I particularly liked about this one, was the specific scenes that it looked at. For example, the scene between The Doctor and Oswin, not the most significant scene of NewWho or the most powerful, but this was a very excellent scene and very well intensified with the music. A great video and a great shame for the time that it was made in. 

     

 

5. Doctor Who, Series 5-7 Ultimate Trailer, The Pond Era (Matt Smith)- tardiselliot

      The word to describe the music which accompanied this video would certainly be epic. They did take their time to actually get into it, to go at a more faster pace but from around 38 seconds onward, it did feel quite thrilling. What was nice about this one is that it did touch on the main arcs of Matt's era at the beginning but it just wasn't so spectacular to top it's successor, even with it's lack of coverage of the arcs. With this video, I made an exception because it was a pretty good video but it's time of release meant they had no clips of the Clara era as did the previous video. As long as it covered the majority of Matt's run then I would allow it to be a contender. I am really repeating myself a lot when analyzing each of these videos, but nothing else really comes to mind that I should be looking for in the videos. A good video none the less, it had a nice build up and quite entertaining. 

6. Doctor Who, Series 5-7 Mega Trailer, Matt Smith- tardiselliot

     I feel like this video had potential; it contained movie-like trailer music and generally felt quite exciting. One thing that let this video down, was the little to no quotes. The only one that was satisfactory was Doriums speech about "the question that must never be answered". Afterwards, only three more remained and even then they weren't very significant ones, nor could they be heard very well and some of the original music from the scenes could be heard seeping into the video; making it feel cheap.  Again, the music did generally give a sense of it being epic. It did definitely feel like tons of clips were thrown in with no apparent order. As well as the previous one, I made an exception if it didn't cover Clara's ear so far, as long as it covered the majority of  Matt's era. Compared to tardiselliots other videos, this one is disappointing  Although applauds to tardiselliot, for filling four out of the six places.

     I do apologize once again for being quite repetitive when analyzing the selection of videos. Also for how technically late this post is. If there is any videos that you think I have missed out, I do apologies but I have either seen them and not deemed them worthy of reaching the top contenders ( I sound like some kind of God) or I may have just not watched them myself. I didn't make full scale search for the best Matt tribute videos on YouTube, for I already had a few in mind and it would have required to much effort and taken up a lot of my time which should be spent studying for my Prelims. 

      All I hope is that you found some entertainment from watching these videos and this post has made you ponder over your own favorite Matt Smith era videos. 

                                                               

                                                               Geronimo!

                                                                Stephen. 

My Obsession With Quotes

  "Old words are reborn with new faces.” ― Criss Jami

     I don't know either. I was never aware that I had an obsession with quotes until I made this blog. Within this blog, are a a total of 30 quotes from TV shows, Films, famous people, etc. That will answer anyone asking: "what poppycock is he talking about?". However I sincerely hope that none of you chose that particular word.

   At the very beginning of creating my blog, I often looked at the blog of my good friend Rosemary; in search of hints as to how I should display my blog. One particular thing that caught my interest (which should be fairly obvious) is her display of a few quotes within her blog. I decided then that I would do so as well, but I did not foresee what outcome this would bring. 

     I later came to the decision,  that I would not display every single quote that I find of interest (otherwise this blog would be overthrown with quotations) and even later, that I would try my very best not to limit the quotes to ones from Doctor Who. Whatever message they may bring, I agreed that some kind of emotional, inspiring or meaningful message would have to come across that would appeal to myself and most other people. As well as the exception of the odd funny quotation every once in a while. It came across to me, that whenever I searched up quotations to post on my blog that fell into those categories; they never seemed to fail at inspiring me and boosting my self-confidence. 

     This quote at the top matches this post perfectly and the topic of quotations in general. In the sense that, there are words of people decades dead  and they are still inspiring to people living in the modern day. For the words of someone long gone, to still have an inspirational affect on  people, they must either be someone of great significance in History or someone of great wisdom (not always both).  The fact that, the words of someone else can still be used after so long, almost links us to the past and shows two things: that they are not forgotten and/or how the world has been shaped by their words/actions. 

      It is because of this epiphany, that I have decided to create a separate page on my blog for all the quotes that really appeal to me. I have been looking for something to create a third page around, and I have finally found it. Quotations are not just words of the past that appeal to the people of the present, but they are a way in which people can express themselves. They can show us who we are, particular quotes don't just appeal to people for no reason, but because they relate to that person. Whether it is because they refer to something that someone has experienced (i.e bullying) or touch on something they feel strongly about (i.e war). 

      I never realized how significant quotes are, or how important they feel to myself and obviously other people as well. This is something that I was glad to come to realize and I will leave you with this. When you live your everyday lives, aspire to inspire yourself and in that, you will inspire others. If you do so successfully, your words will be remembered not for their significance but for their wisdom. 

                                                            Geronimo!

                                                             Stephen.

   

Doctor Who 50 Years Trailer

     Many Whovains will have had the pleasure to watch the brilliant trailer, celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who, on it's very first release on BBC One earlier tonight. Others will have come across it online very shortly after it's televised release. This purpose of this post, is quite simply for any unfortunate soul who is unaware or been unable to view the wonderful video.

     Fans were aware for some time before it's release, that a special trailer was being produced and what we could take from that was that it would not contain actual footage from the 50th special. Some Die-Hard Wovians who have become overly frustrated with the lack of a 50th trailer containing actual footage of the episode, will of course no have been exactly pleased. I assume, especially not when closer to the date of release, it was made quite clear that the trailer was celebrating "50 years of Doctor Who". At first, I was guilty of growing in anger when the BBC continued to fail and release an actual trailer, but I have come to terms with it. Part of this, may have been due to the several rumors and fake tweets that were created and raised fans hopes that a trailer would be released on a particular date, but were later diminished. 

       Myself, and many others for sure, had anticipated that the celebratory trailer would be of very good quality, seeing as it has been made by professionals who know what they're doing and the insanely huge budget that has been spared to celebrate the iconic Brisitsh TV show. Instead of the end result, proving to be just a mash up of clips made by an amateur video maker. We were definitely not mistaken, when the cleverly crafted video brought us countless references and Matt as the narrator supplied a little speech that only intensified our excitement of the approaching Doctor Who 50th Special. The trailer was exactly what we were promised as we traveled through the shows long history. A particular thing that made the trailer so ingenious, was how they jumbled up different parts of different episodes into one place and made it feel very wilbbly,wobbly, timey, wimey. For example, a fez in a junkyard or Sarah Jane and K9 in front of an number of 60's Daleks, 70's Cybermen and in the background, a Dalek ship above Big Ben in what appears to be an invasion of London. 

      The trailer was such a fantastic achievement of the BBC, at celebrating 50 years in only one minute. A trailer for all the fans, for those who have stayed dedicated to show from the very beginning or for those of us who entered the Whonivers back in 2005. If a short trailer can achieve such a task, then surely an hour and fifteen minute special can do better, can't it? I have no doubt that it will do so but don't forget Who fans, as Mr Moffat has made quite clear, the 50th special is as much as celebrating 50 years as it is creating the next 50 years. I happen to agree with him and can only look forward to what will surely bring a new peak for the show to have achieved. 

Geronimo!

Stephen. 

500 And Counting

     Seeing as I am struggling to write two new posts for my blog and it has been a while since I have posted anything, I thought it would be worthwhile to bring this up. As of today, I have 506 views of my blog. Since the 30th June, in nearly two months, I have reached the hathway mark to a thousand views. I don't know about you, but I think that is a pretty good achievement; there is without a doubt, people with blogs who have gotten that amount of views in an even shorter time because they have something interesting to write about. I would still like to thank everyone who has taken some time out of their busy schedules to read my blog. Even though my good friend Jenny is still my only follower, I will try not to be disheartened and concentrate on the positives. However, if anyone would wish to officially follow my blog, I would be very grateful, as it would assure me further that my efforts to making this blog have not been in vain. None the less, thank you very much for reading my blog, I hope you have found some enjoyment from reading it and that anyone else to read it will do so as well. 

                                            Again, thank you very much. 

                                                       Geronimo!

                                                        Stephen. 

T'was A Weekend of Awesome

      Last weekend was definitely one with an exceeding amount of awesome (I know this is quite overdue but one is often quite busy).  Not only did I have the pleasure of going to my first Scottish Nerdfighter gathering, but on the day after it, I also met up with my friend Lauren, where we discussed   many topics that surprisingly hasn't put us in the loony bin.  Full of hugs, laughter, Nerdiness (a LOT of Nerdiness), deep talks, awesome people, writing, hugs, cool hats, sitting, standing and an unnecessary amount of running.
     In the early weeks of being decreed a "Nerdfighter", my attention was brought to an event page on Facebook declaring, that a Scottish Nerdfighter gathering would take place in Glasgow Green on Saturday 31st August. Not only was I pleased to be given such a grand opportunity to meet lots of awesome people, but rather surprised, considering the fact this was posted very well in advance, in February/March. After a long time of waiting, the gathering was upon me.
     Prior to the gathering, the members of "We are Nerdfighters" going to the gathering, agreed on a place of meeting before we advanced to Glasgow Green. I decided to come fashionably late (in other words, I was just being a lazy ass hole). The day before, I had made the use of Google Maps to refresh my knowledge of the correct path to Glasgow Green, but my friend Sophia had took it upon herself to be the guide and directed us  through a different path. The area itself I recognized, just the way to Glasgow Green from that point, was unknown to myself. Eventually, we reached Glasgow Green, and upon reaching the center part, we glanced at a few people staring at us. Whispering between ourselves, we questioned whether these people were Nerdfighters or just random strangers. We directed the typical Nerdfighter hand sign to clarify if they were one of us, followed by a delighted cheer, we had found more of our kind.
     I found myself, as I'm sure my friends did as well, a little surprised, due to their only being four people already there to greet us. We moved over to a grassy bit beside a nice tree so we could have our bottoms seated. Not long passed before a couple more members appeared, one of them having a Minecraft sword in their possession (which if you didn't know, is awesome). Then the reminder of the group followed subsequently. A few people brought their Ukuleles, which turned out to be very entertaining.
     Later on, a group of us decided to play Duck, Duck, Goose. I was awful, though I am excused as we did play it on a bit of hill, so my feet would go a funny way and hurt. We also made a pile of leaves; my friend Andrew started it, but a few of joined in. We are so mature aren't we? A small conflict occurred between myself and Andrew, unknown to me as to what influenced these actions, Andrew picked up some leaves and threw them at me. Then I retaliated, this went on for a while, before we agreed on a peace treaty. On a number of occasions, my dear beanie hat, was stolen from me by some of the members. There was no real ill intention to this shameful act, just a bit of fun to pass the time, thought I did not overly enjoy it as it required me to run. Then, Robert (the guy with the awesome Minecraft sword) guided most of the group to the St Enoch Center to get food. Not that most of us didn't know our way, he was just given the role of guide.
     Upon arriving at the food court, myself and my friend Sophia were not too keen on purchasing food from any of the fast food shops. Sophia wanted to get some vegetarian food and I generally refuse to eat at McDonald's or Burger King. If given the choice, I would rather starve. So on wards we went to the Tesco, I myself purchased a bottle of diet coke and what proved to be a very tasty bottle of orange juice. Sophia bought a number of items (biscuits, orange juice, cookies, tablet), originally, I thought we were buying food just for ourselves, but then I understood that she wished to buy enough food for a few members of the group.  When returning, we met most of the members on the top floor of the food court, enjoying some humorous conversations and consuming our purchased food products. My friend Chloe, requested that we pick her friend (who she refers to as her brother) at Central Station. Eventually we reached the station, it all went pretty swiftly. As the group exited Central Station, it was brought to my attention that my sister was leaving, so after saying my farewells, I continued on wards with the group. we had to wait for some of the members for they were taking some time. We got into trouble with the police, seeing as we are such rebels, because we were kind of getting in peoples way so we kind of had to leave.
     Anyway, when we finally returned to Glasgow Green, we got up to some entertaining activities. The more younger members, decided to play toilet tig but with our own little Nerdy twist. My friend Rosemary (who sadly was unable to come to the gathering) had thought up the ingenious idea of Sherlock tig. The rules explained that if you were tug, you would stand still and stretch both your arms out and say "elementary my dear Watson" until someone came behind you, repeated the line and caught you as you fell backwards. The worst part of playing this game, was that I was the first to be given the role as tigger, which meant I had to do an unnecessary amount of running which proved how unfit I was. I did do a decent job, but I managed to convince everyone to enroll a second person as the tigger as a considerable number of us were playing. The person chosen, ran sometimes, but generally just refused to run and just walked most of the time. Eventually, we moved on to the typical chain tig. That proved most enjoyable as well as exhausting, and proved to be daunting when the chain reformed, the members no doubt plotting their next evil scheme and finally charging towards the people still remaining. To my great surprise, myself, Sophia and this other cool guy who's name I have forgotten, were the last three and technically the winners. This came as such a shock to us, Sophia continually stated she hadn't run in years and I just question how my unfit body managed to escape them. This literally defied logic, it was some amazing scientific discovery.

     We later moved slightly across Glasgow Green for no real apparent reason. A lot of pictures and hugs were taken, but I didn't want to make this post a gallery of photos so I chose my favorite out of them. All of a sudden, a large group hug started to form and I couldn't deny the opportunity to join in. It was such a bonding moment, it was like the group was a herd and we were trying not to separate. Though, a number of people kept on tripping up as we walked, until we all fell over. I was under so many people, I could barely move. I assumed it would be ok for a few minutes, as I was still able to see. Until one member decided to pile on, right on top of me. I literally could not see a thing and I was terrified in case  my glasses broke. I was literally shouting "someone is on top of me, someone on top of me! I have galsses and someone is on top of me!" I think it was after that that I got the most pictures of myself with another person, i literally just went up to people and said "i don't know your name but I am going to get a picture with you anyway".
     One of the people that I got a picture with was Manus (ha, ha). He is freaking awesome, he is a writer, a singer, a gamer and just generally an awesome guy. I will need to find out where his opinion lies in Doctor Who, but he does have the potential to be my new best friend.  At first, when talking to him and his other friend, I thought I was talking to two seventeen year olds and felt rather awkward but as it turns out, Manus was only 14 and his friend who was considerably taller than me was 15. I was happliy surprised, and when a lot of the members went to Geek Retreat, we just joined in conversation in our natural habitat. It was so much fun that this post can't even explain how much fun it was.
    

    The worst part was saying goodbye, I feel a part of my soul die whenever I have to say goodbye to my Nerdfighter friends. Myself and Sophia, got the same train home, which lead to a nice conversation before I was no longer accompanied by a Nerdfighter. I thought another day with such awesomeness like this would never appear again. but the next day, as you will already know if you remember reading the start of the post, I met my friend Lauren on another day of awesome. I was running a little late, of which Lauren made very clear. Then I decided to steal her hat because it was awesome, but then I gave it back of course, I'm not that cruel. We wondered around town for a bit,looked at some cool hats, we had no idea where we were going, but then we went to the Waterstones and I got a Diet Irn-Bru and a yummy chocolate muffin. We talked non-stop for over four hours; many dirty jokes were made as well as some surprising amount of deep conversations. It was just so much fun, and carried on the awesomeness. Then, we went to meet her parents at Primark before I departed. Despite the post being very late, the weekend still remains to be one of my absolute favorites and I will never, ever forget it. 

                                                      Geronimo!
                                                       Stephen

4th Year Of Secondary School

     Today officially brought me into my 4th year of high school,the first year that I shall be given an end of year exam. How daunting? My first day back after the Summer Holidays was surprisingly entertaining; I found it strangely easy but also enjoyable to get back into a normal routine. After a Summer of boredom, I was relieved to reflourish my friendships and that my day was not spoiled by anyone who has a tendency to irk me. My gratitude was expressed towards the continuity of my favorite teachers, and where a gap was left at the end of my third year, I was given an excellent teacher for Biology. As well as another teacher for Geography and the same teacher for PSE (Personal and Social Education); this teacher in particular did take me for Geography in second year and though I find them to be a good teacher, they are no my first choice. 

     Otherwise, I still have an excellent selection of teachers as I did last year, and I shall try not to decide on which day is my favorite (subject wise) until I have experienced a full week of school. Not a lot of effort was required of me today, which is always a good thing, though my mind was somewhat concentrated on the school blazers. I myself, do not particularly wish to wear a blazer, I do not see anything wrong with the uniform just now and I feel they are just wasting time by trying to enforce an addition to the uniform. 

     At this moment in time, I do find myself a tad befuddled; leading up to the beginning of fourth year, I was unaware whether blazers were compulsory or not? Then I met with my friends whom I walk up to school with, they were all wearing blazers, but this was no surprise as they already dressed like so for some time now. They informed me that it was compulsory and that before the end of third year, a uniform letter was handed out; I was unaware of this as well as hoping that the first point was false. On arriving at my Registration Class, I was disappointed to discover, that after three years of the same registration teacher and two years as a French teacher, I would no longer come to their classroom at 8.55am. Instead, I received a perfectly acceptable new teacher who has just joined the school in the Geography department.  The point still stands though, that it felt like an end of an era, and that I felt closer to the end that I was the beginning. Anyhow, after an hour of registration, sorting out the usual letters handed out at the start of every year, the teacher went through the uniform and we were told that blazers were not compulsery, I advanced to Music later on, where I was informed by my teacher that she had a discussion with the head teacher, and it appears that pupils must acquire a blazer by the end of the month.  Although, the rest of the day, from teachers and pupils, I had gotten the impression that they were not compulsory? Who knows, it is the first day back so everything is still to be completely sorted, so I shall wait a few days until I come across some concrete information on the topic of the blazer. 

     Another thing that didn't make my day a perfect day, was the introduction of the "warning bell"? It is simply a bell that sounds exactly the same as the real bell, and is set off five minutes before the actual bell to inform us it is coming. In the grand scheme, this is understandable for before school begins, as well as break and lunch time. Though I recall, leaving Music for break, then as I walked through the social area with my friend, the bell went off again and we puzzled over whether break had just started or finished? If I am not mistaken, I remember it activated during a class, then when we advanced to the next class, the bell went again; proving that we had left too early for the next class. My scheduling for class is pretty acceptable, the only main problems is that, last two periods on a Monday, I have PE (Physical Education), followed by the dreaded French. As well as the fact that Monday, Tuesday and Friday, begin with the evil antagonist that is Maths. 

     Overall, I had a very enjoyable day and my anxiety is at some level, when looking into the near future and seeing the terrifying exams. Hopefully, I shall have a good year, as last year turned out to be quite successful both socially and educationally. My classes are acceptable so far, so I do hope that the good fortune will continue at least until the end of this week. If you enjoyed reading this, then great, otherwise.... well I don't care, I must sleep now. 

                                                             Geronimo!  

                                                              Stephen

Review: Cloud Atlas

     The film Cloud Atlas is an adapted version of the book, written by British author David Mitchell. Critics describe it as: "one of the bravest and most ambitious pieces of film making for years". As well as "an incredible feat of filmaking". Released in October 2012, with Tom Hanks and Halle Berry leading an all star cast, this review is rather late, but today is the first time I have watched it with a blog. Six timelines, six stories; everything is connected as characters meet from one life to the next. Past, present and future their actions generate consequences. Cloud Atlas combines science fiction, action, mystery, drama and romance together tremendously. 

     Without a doubt, it is my absolute favorite film. The unique idea sells itself. One of the things that especially makes the film so enjoyable, is the similarities between different timelines that makes the viewer realize how ingenious it is. Each timeline being practically a different genre, is to show that the charterers can still be linked across time despite the circumstances. Another thing, is the tremendous monologues for some of the characters; allowing us a brilliant insight into the characters mind and follows with some good character development. Cloud Atlas entails some very creative speeches, some extremely heartwarming but also heartwrenching. Not forgetting the amazing talent of the actors/actresses and the makeup team, with every actor/actress playing more than two character and some looking completely different to each other. Some of them even change race and/or play a character of the opposite sex, giving a believable performance.

       Each timeline had such an enticing storyline, that they each felt like six different films which is the genius of the movie, as they succeed in combining all six of these together to make one epic film. Throughout the film, we see some of the things that connect the characters. .The two most noticeable things, is the comet birth mark on many of the characters and the "Cloud Atlas Sextet". Cloud Atlas is mainly about reincarnation and for people to become better or worse through different life cycles; the birthmark is an indication of a soul passing through another body but the fact it is a comet, also indicates something scientific but mythical about the whole process.  The Cloud Atlas Sextet is a piece of music created by one of the characters, and is used to link together stories. 

      I'd rather not go into full detail as to what each of the timelines entail as that would take some time and you would be very tiered of having to read so much text. Instead, you will just have to take my word for it when I say this is an outstanding film that is an absolute must see. It is quite a complicated film, you may have to watch it a second time to fully understand it but it is well worth it. If i had to rate it, it would for sure be a 10/10. 

                                                        Geronimo!

                                                          Stephen

    

     

Nerdfighter Forever

     Since February of this year, I have been a part of the wonderful group known as "Nerdfighters", created by Vlogbrothers.  The two participants being author John Green and his brother Hank Green. The title Nerdfighter, means Nerds that fight, usually against popular people. As well as fighting to increase awesome and decrease world suck. Nerds whom take pride in being Nerds and instead of being made of cells, organs and stuff, they are made of awesome. Being such a popular group for millions of Nerds, many smaller groups follow under Nerdfighters. The one of which I am a member of is "We are Nerdfighters".        
                  During my time as a Nerdfighter, I have met a great number of amazing people who I hold as my  dearest friends and on my list of favorite people. The number of interests shared between the group is unbelievable, and has given me a large number of people to obsess with over different genres of fiction. Whenever I am in the company of these fantastic people, I have nothing to be sad about. I can honestly say, that within this group of people, I have found a second family. I know myself that other members of the group feel the same way, and that if we were mad enough (check) and had enough money, that we would all live together in a big house so we could be happy forever.

     Although, there is no story without some evil plot twist. Despite the fact that every so often the group has a gathering in Glasgow Central, a large number of members are not situated in the city. Located in other parts of Scotland, most of them living just a bit under an hour away from Glasgow. This proves it to be difficult for us to meet as for some, the train tickets are considerably more expensive that those who already live in Glasgow. So they are unable to sum up the money to buy train tickets for every gathering.
   The group has been able to meet on a regular two week basis on most occasions. Though to my sad regards, around a month ago, a dispute between the members occurred. No one was 100% clear as to what exactly happened, but most members agree it to be "a lack of communication" between the group. After every gathering, members of the group and the number of people at each gathering started to increase, so many people found it inevitable that such a big group would fall out at one point. Ever since then, there has been no official gatherings. Some members have left the group chat on facebook, but not  the actual group itself and two of the members have completely left.

     The majority of the group are still communicating through facebook and the group is slowly rebuilding. We are yet to have another gathering, but I am confident that one is just around the corner and we shall return to the normal schedule. I highly advise any Nerd to join Nerdfighters as I am quite certain that you will make some wonderful new friends as I have. DFTBA (don't forget to be awesome).                                                                  
                    Geronimo!
                     Stephen