My Thoughts on The Return Of Doctor Mysterio

Wait… is Doctor Who good again? 

Well I certainly think it seems to be heading back in the right direction based on the 2016 Christmas Special, The Return of Doctor Mysterio. This episode was a fun romp with moments of creepiness and emotional drama that would not have felt out of place in the David Tennant era of the show. I could write a lot about where Doctor Who has gone wrong recently, what I’d like to see happen and why I even liked it in the first place but for the purpose of this blog post I’m not going to dwell on that.

When I first heard that Doctor Who was doing superheroes I was very worried that it would come across as bitter. After all, in recent years Marvel and DC have just become bigger and bigger as Doctor Who has struggled to retain its fan base. But The Return of Doctor Mysterio wasn’t bitter, it knew the tropes of the genre and it had fun with them but not in a way that seemed resentful or insulting to superhero fans. Also does anyone else think it was intentional that The Ghost’s alter ego was called Grant given the Flash is played by Grant Gustin and both The Flash and The Ghost have super speed and have a quiff?

The monsters – Harmony Shoal - might not be new classics but they served the story well. This whole story had the feel of trying to evoke the spirit of noughties Doctor Who and let’s be honest the Harmony Shoal were very reminiscent of the Slitheen. But is it a bad thing to have a monster that’s like a monster from a fan favourite era of the show when you’re trying to relaunch?

To me it’s often felt like Peter Capaldi has never been allowed to reach his full potential as the Doctor. Sure he’s got to do dramatic stuff but a lot of the scripts have required him to be overly grumpy in a not very Doctorish way. In The Return of Doctor Mysterio he was allowed a sense of humour, there were moments that genuinely made me and my family laugh whilst we were watching. Capaldi always comes across in interviews as an incredibly warm hearted and kind person and that’s a very Doctorish trait but one he’s never really been allowed to express too much in the role. However I felt like The Return of Doctor Mysterio finally allowed us to see that, it remained us that yes the Doctor does love humans and that’s why he saves the Earth so many times.

So is Doctor Who good again? I think that yes it possibly is. I think it feels like the show is returning tonally to the run of mostly amazing episodes from 2005 – 2013. I am tentatively excited and if the trailer at the end of the episode is anything to go by then we should be in for another good season of Doctor Who in 2017!

How is it Christmas Eve already?

Happy Christmas to everyone who’s been reading my blog so far!

But I suspect I’m not the only one here who on Christmas Eve is wondering how it can possibly be December 24^th already!

I know there’s something of a cliché that advent flies by every year but this year it really feels like it’s gone by fast. A lot has happened over the past 24 days, such as finding out where I’m going on my Year Abroad next year (I’ll be in Ontario, Canada!), my university was also quite late in breaking up for Christmas this year (we started a week later), and I’ve written a ton of coursework (seriously in the past month I’ve written about 11,000 words of coursework!)

Obviously I am very excited about Christmas tomorrow, I wouldn’t be writing a blog post about Christmas Eve if I wasn’t! It’s just that every single year the countdown to Christmas takes me by surprise.

(Also I know it’s been a while since I last posted on here, but I promise I am going to try to get better next year!)

A Few Thoughts on Moana (Spoiler Free)

I saw Moana in 3D this afternoon and here’s a few of my (spoiler free) thoughts on the latest Disney movie.

My main reaction upon leaving the cinema was that whilst I had enjoyed the movie - and it is a good movie - I didn’t love it. This the type of movie that’s good but it could have been great. I remember back in early 2014 Disney announced that Moana had jumped forward a year in the schedule (partially as a result of the crazy success of Frozen) I feel that Moana probably would have really benefited from that extra year in production.

To me Moana felt like a strange hybrid of a movie that both wanted to be a Disney Princess movie and a movie that really didn’t want to be a Disney Princess movie. It used a lot of the tropes that we’ve come to expect from the Disney Princess movies – like the way Tangled lovingly used the tropes of the Princess movies – but Moana didn’t own its use of those tropes. Moana also defied a lot of the tropes from the Disney Princess movies – like Brave did – however it never fully went with rejecting the tropes we’ve seen from the Princess movies.

Another problem was that Maui was not a strong enough character to hold the number of scenes he had. I feel this movie needed a character like Olaf from Frozen – someone to provide helpful advice, heart-warming moments, humour and just generally help keep the plot moving. But instead of Olaf we got stuck with Maui.

Also I have to mention the music. What a let-down! The songs just don’t really work – there’s no Let It Go, Almost There, I See The Light, A Whole New World or Colours of the Wind. I found them really forgettable and unneeded. I think Moana would have been a stronger movie if like Brave it had chosen to not include songs. Perhaps without the forced songs it would have felt like the filmmakers knew more what they were doing with the tropes of the Disney Princess movies?

That’s enough of the negative. I’m making it sound like I hated the movie when I really didn’t!

Here’s a list of a few of the thing I really enjoyed about Moana…

• ·         Moana herself is a cool character.
• ·         The visuals are stunning.
• ·         Moana grows as a character throughout the movie. She’s not automatically perfect.
• ·         The scenes in the ‘Realm of Monsters’ is like nothing Disney have ever done before.
• ·         Pua (Moana’s pet pig) is adorable!
• ·         Seriously the animation is incredible.
• ·         Moana did a great job at world building.
• ·         The Kakamora were a really interesting and creative adversary.
• ·         Did I mention that the animation is REALLY good looking!

In conclusion I did enjoy Moana but considering how good Disney have been lately this is a bit of a let-down after Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Frozen, Big Hero 6 and Zootropolis. Moana is a good movie but it really suffers from the bar being set so high by what came before it.

Give Ghostbusters 2016 a Chance

Who ya gonna call? Well I’m going to be calling the 2016 Ghostbusting team.

So it’s probably safe to say that the new Ghostbusters was the most decisive movie of 2016 and today marks the DVD’s UK release. This is my (spoiler free) opinion of why you should give the 2016 Ghostbusters a chance.

It’s actually a genuinely funny movie. I saw it originally in the cinema with my Dad and both of us laughed throughout the movie. Not all the jokes work but they come quick enough that if one misses it doesn’t matter. I was also very pleasantly surprised that it completely avoided making sexist, racist or sizeist jokes at the expense of the cast.

Women in science. We all know women are underrepresented in STEM careers, according to the Guardian in 2014 women made up ‘just 12.8% of the Stem workforce’. Obviously a movie is not going to change this but a successful movie with 3 of its female leads specialising in STEM provides exposure and representation that in the long run may influence a generation of women to pursue STEM.

The original Ghostbusters approve of it. According to repeated social media trolls, one reason why the new Ghostbusters was destroying the legacy of the original movies. I find this ironic given the original cast - from Bill Murray to Sigourney Weaver – cameo in the new movie.

It’s accessible for everyone. I went into the cinema with very little knowledge of the original Ghostbusters movies and I enjoyed it. There’s no need to have an in depth knowledge of what went before but if you are an uber Ghostbusters fan then there’s enough references to the originals to appeal to you.

The hope for a second outing for the new Ghostbusters team now solely rests upon DVD sales, streaming and downloads. I hope enough people pay to watch it that Sony is convinced that a sequel would be profitable.

To Unbox or Not To Unbox?

As a toy collector I am very familiar with that feeling of ‘should I take this out of the box?’ whenever I add something new to my collection. Anyone who knows me probably knows that I collect toys. All sorts of toys, from plushies to action figures to dolls.

The majority of the time my response is yes, I should unbox it - this reaction is probably due to how many times I’ve seen Toy Story 2 over the years! I usually unbox, remove tags and recycle the packaging (unless the packaging could be reused in a project) as soon as I can after buying something.

I know there’s a mentality that toys must always be kept in their box because that way they’re guaranteed to be worth more. That is a valid point however the reason toys from the 60s are worth so much in their packaging is because the packaging was destroyed in most cases. Toys from today are unlikely to gain as much value if they’re kept in their packaging as so many collectors leave them in their packaging that the market will probably become over-saturated. Plus it just seems sad that someone’s whole reason for buying a toy is to resell it later on.

Every so often I’ll come across something that stumps me. I have an unmasked 2015 SDCC Flash figure who I know I should be keeping packaged and I kept him in his packaging for a few months until I just had to remove him! And on the other end of the spectrum I bought an Elsa and Anna twin pack intending to unbox them but more or less as soon as I’d unboxed them I regretted taking the Frozen sisters out of the box.

Dolls I have found to be a particularly confusing group when it comes to if I should keep them boxed or not. Sometimes in the box a doll will be posed in a certain way or have their hair or clothes in a certain way that looks great but the second you take them out of the box that look is ruined. Other times a doll will need to be ripped out of the box as soon as possible because they look a mess in their box and urgently need a little TLC.

Generally I’ve figured out that I collect toys because they make me happy and I enjoy the experience of collecting. Therefore as it’s something that makes me happy I know it also makes me happy to not leave toys boxed up. 

I didn’t get all the Gay Genes but I Got the Fashion One

I’m gay. I grew up in a small northern town. It’s pretty obvious that I encountered a lot of stereotypes and people making assumptions about me because of my sexuality.

 I am aware that there’s certain stereotypes about being a gay man I conform to. I have artistic hobbies, I like to dress well and there’s definitely some songs on my iPod that are considered ‘gay anthems’. I’m not afraid of being gay and I don’t mind who knows it but my interests and hobbies have absolutely nothing to do with my sexuality.

Even before I’d actually figured out that I was gay a lot of my class mates were convinced that they knew my sexuality better than I did. For example the fact that I was good at Textiles was 100% solid evidence that I must be attracted to men. People were telling me this about two years before I even started to figure out for myself that I was gay!

There was also a phase where I listened to songs from Glee a lot – about one/two years before I came out to my classmates. The music I listened to had absolutely nothing to do with my sexuality but apparently that was solid evidence that I must be gay. Though in reality the only relation between Glee and my sexuality was that the character Sebastian Smythe (played by the love of my life Grant Gustin!) was my role model because he was gay, unapologetic about it and yet never let it define him. Side note, representation in the media is so important it would be a lot easier to be a gay teen if there were more characters who were unapologetic about their sexuality and yet never defined by it.

That’s just a couple of examples of the assumptions people made about me but there were loads more. Even if a comment wasn’t said directly to me I still felt a sense of hurt if someone casually used a homophobic slur. I definitely feel like being gay and going through the school system in a small Northern town meant that I had to get a thick shell to let comments just roll off me and had to emotionally mature faster than most of my school mates.

When I did feel comfortable enough to start to come out to my peers the first two people I told were my (then) best friends. One of them claimed that she’d always known however I’ve always doubted that. Just the more that I think about it the way she acted around me changed after I came out as if she assumed that I’d start filling the role of the stereotypical ‘gay best friend’ but that’s just not who I am. The more I’ve thought about it the more I think that she felt betrayed that I hadn’t come out sooner as if being in the closet was a personal attack on her.

Growing up gay for me has not been a completely awful experience. My family have honestly been incredibly supportive and in the eyes of my close family I am still just Alex. So I know I have been luckier than a lot of people but still going through secondary school was really tough for me sometimes.

The Superhero Hang-Out - My Latest Craft Project

The long awaited DC and Marvel crossover, my superhero living room craft project!

So earlier this year I came across a bargain priced doll of Princess Tiana that I couldn't resist buying. This kicked off the start of a collection which has also relaunched my love crafting. Seriously - dolls are great for crafting from making outfits to making rooms. Anyway that's all a story for another post, today I've finished off a new room, a living room for the DC Superhero Girls dolls and the 12" Marvel action figures.

I make rooms like this in a cereal box - I got this idea from watching MyFroggyStuff craft vlogs on YouTube. One of the benefits to making rooms like this is that they can easily be folded up to store away when I want to change displays.

Once I have a basic decorated room it needs to be furnished! I used mini-pallets I found in Tiger and hot glued together to make a coffee table. Using old socks I made two Ottomans - another MyFroggyStuff idea - and used more sock to make cushions. I have quite a lot of socks I either never wear or wear so much that I wear them out so that's an ideal - and inexpensive - craft resource!

I bought these metal chairs from Tiger which are the perfect size for dolls. I then used fabric - in patterns that correspond with the hero's theme - to make blankets to cover the chairs. DC Superhero Girls' Bumblebee naturally got yellow and black strips whilst I chose a floral print for Poison Ivy.

And this is the more or less completed room. From this stage it just needs the dolls and their things to go in it.



So here's the DC Superhero Girls, Poison Ivy and Bumblebee in the completed room. That cacti is actually an eraser that I found in Tiger. I love displaying my collections like this, it's just a lot of fun and makes a display that is interesting to look at.

You’re A Wonder, Wonder Woman!

So I’ve been watching the classic Wonder Woman TV Series starring Lynda Carter. It’s aged surprisingly well and is actually really enjoyable.

The Wonder Woman TV Series is definitely on the fun side of live action superhero stuff. There’s no dark grittiness and if that’s what you look for in superheroes then this just isn’t your thing. I’m no expert on the vast Wonder Woman mythology but from what I gather the TV Series did a good job at portraying Wonder Woman’s WWII origins.

Some parts – like the special effects – have aged like you’d expect. Though that said there’s something very endearing about the effects for things like the Invisible Plane. The stories will sometimes stretch credulity – seriously how does no one figure out that Diana Prince is Wonder Woman! – but they are entertaining, often madcap and fun to watch.

One of the real strengths of the series is Lynda Carter. I’d say her role is probably one of the most iconic portrayals of a superhero ever. And there’s good reason for that. Lynda Carter does a good job at capturing both Wonder Woman and her alter ego Diana Prince and making the two different enough but both compelling. Somehow Lynda Carter managed to make it look convincing when she’s fighting the bad guys whilst her theme song plays (seriously the play the theme song over all the fight scenes!) But Lynda Carter also did a good job at conveying Wonder Woman’s empathy - which I feel is an important trait of the character but something the more warrior focused depictions of the character forget about.

On the part of both the writers and Lynda Carter I like that the ‘warrior princess from another civilisation’ trope is not over played. Yes Wonder Woman is curious about things and doesn’t always get our ways or our slang – as she should be given she arrives from Paradise Island straight to 1940s America, it would obviously take her time to adapt. But it is never shown in a way that could have so easily infantilised the character.

Also in terms of representation of women in a male dominated genre it’s actually held up pretty well. Sure Wonder Woman’s outfit is far from practical for fighting crime in and Steve Trevor does sometimes make very cringey remarks about women. But female solidarity is a key theme in multiple episodes. Diana Prince has a strong friendship with Etta Candy, generally there’s at least one Bechdel Test passing conversation between them per episode. Multiple times Wonder Women is underestimated because of her gender which leads to the downfall of the villain of the week. Speaking of the villains of the week – there’s a pretty even split between male and female villains. Whilst the attitudes shown towards women is a product of its time there’s also enough that as a feminist viewer in 2016 I don’t feel guilty about enjoying the series.

I hope the (long awaited) Wonder Woman movie that is (finally) released next year manages to capture the spirit of the original series. From the look of the trailers I think it might.

Why Tiana is the best Disney Princess

Tiana is my favourite Disney Princess and she should be featured more often. So I’ve mentioned I like Disney movies - I’m on the committee of the Disney Society at uni! And I have a lot of opinions about Disney stuff. Opinions like the fact that Tiana is the best Disney Princess and I just wanted to do a post sharing my reasons.

‘Fairy tales can come true, you gotta make 'em happen it all depends on you.’ Tiana has such an admirable attitude to life that I find genuinely inspiring. Yes it’s great to have dreams but you have to be prepared to work to get them. That’s such a great moral for a Disney Princess to be teaching kids but it’s also something that inspires me.

And her dream isn’t love, it’s running her own successful business - which is part of why I think she deserve more appreciation. Unlike other Disney Princesses Tiana is not content to wait for something to happen, she knows that a good relationship and marriage isn’t all there is to life.

Disney didn’t cheat with her ending. It would have been so easy for her to just happily marry Naveen and that was the end of the film but Disney didn’t do that. Sure she marries him but then Tiana goes off with him to open her restaurant. Tiana gets what she wants and what she worked hard for as well as getting married.

The Princess and the Frog does everything a Disney Princess movie should. With the Princess movies there’s a certain set of expectations that other Disney movies – like say Zootropolis – don’t have. In a Princess movie I’m expecting adventure, romance, fun songs, a cool villain and a gorgeously animated setting. For me Princess and the Frog is the only one of the princess movies that delivers all of that and delivers it at a high standard. I could easily fill a blog post with reasons that I enjoy The Princess and the Frog!

Tiana is a well realised black character. I apologise if I say something wrong here –bear in mind that I am a white man writing this. But in my opinion Disney did a great job at depicting a black character with Tiana. Her race never defines her but there are moments in the movie that acknowledge the prejudice and racism a woman of colour would have had to deal with in 1920s America. Her character and costume designs avoided using stereotypical ‘black attributes’ that Disney could have so easily used and left Tiana as a caricature. Yes she is ‘the black princess’ and that is a part of who Tiana is but it’s not something that defines her.

I think most importantly though Tiana is driven. There are many great aspects to her but I think her drive and motivation are - for me – what makes her such a compelling and interesting character.

So That’s What Having Friends Is Like!

Last year at uni I really struggled to find my feet. I know there’s this myth that once you arrive at uni everything is immediately wonderful and you have hundreds of friends but for me it just was not like that.

The first Monday of the first semester of my first year was awful. I remember going back to my flat that afternoon curling up on my bed feeling like I just wanted to give it all up there and then. But I didn’t and now I’m so glad that I didn’t. Most people get lucky with their flatmates in first year and find someone that instantly becomes their best friend. I really didn’t get that lucky. I was in a flat of four last year and when tensions quickly start to rise between you, it’s not good! And to make things even worse my ‘best friends’ from Sixth Form were either ignoring me or just sending me three word texts.

So yeah, I really didn’t get off to a good start in terms of friends last year.

However this year I do have friends! I’ve been socialising and talking to and hang out with my friends so much over the past week or so. Basically first year is weird and kinda sucks at times but second year is a lot more fun.

Last year I may have struggled to find my feet but this year I’ve hit the ground running!

Finally Starting A Blog

So after literally everyone who knows me telling me that I should I write a blog I have finally given in and decided that it is finally time for me to start a blog.

Why 'Doing It On My Terms'? Well I'm a gay student who doesn't really enjoy drinking. For a me a good Saturday is going out shopping at 9 AM, watching a movie in the afternoon (probably either a Disney movie or a superhero movie), making something nice for dinner (probably from either a Mary Berry or Nigella Lawson recipe) and then being in bed by 10 PM. Really not standard student life!

I'm perfectly comfortable these days with being a bit different or a bit weird but I do find that sometimes in order to be happy I have to be an individual and do things on my terms.

As I use this blog I hope to share the things I do - the things that maybe are not standard for a male student - as well as sharing my thoughts and opinions on the things that I enjoy.