The Doctor’s New Clothes
I am a massive fan of Doctor Who, have been since I was a kid (though I spent quite a lot of my childhood in the wildness years and actually started watching Doctor Who when it restarted in 2005 and then went back and watched all of Classic Who that I could get my geeky little hands on) and the announcement of Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor was one of the most exciting things that has ever happened to me. A woman, playing one of my all time heroes?! Amazing!
The Town of Light: A Different Look into Mental Health in Horror
I have always had a morbid fascination with horror games, but am too much of a scaredy-cat to play many of them – Resident Evil and Bioshock are the exceptions to rule and even those I have to play with my housemate so not to cry. When I was told I could have a go on The Town of Light, a European horror game by Wired Productions, I couldn’t help but say yes. Maybe this would be a horror that I could play and enjoy without having to beg someone else to sit in the room with me! I was over the moon to give it a go and find out about it.
An Examination of Horror (Or Why Am I Fascinated by Something so Scary!)
I'll precis this by telling you that I cannot watch horror movies of any sort. They trigger a very unpleasant reaction in my that can be anything from throwing up (yeah, nice) to going into a full on state of shock (one time at 2am when my housemate was so scared for me he nearly called an ambulance) followed by days of bone chilling anxiety, and I am not exaggerating this. This reaction is often referred to as psychosomatic shock, literally the brain perceiving danger where there is none in reality and putting the body into a state of shock. It's horrible. So, obviously I do not watch horror movies, and yet I am fascinated by horror as a genre. Maybe this is because I cannot interact with it, and so it is a morbid curiosity but I think it is something more.
He's Behind You! Oh No He Isn't! (Or The Loss of the Boy's Role in Pantomime)
I hope you are well and enjoying getting into the festive spirit, I know I am. Currently sitting by my log burner under a lovely blanket feeling all cosy, though this may be mostly because my heating is a bit hit and miss BUT let's just assume that's for that lovely Christmas-y narrative. I'm looking forward to all the wonderful things that Christmas brings, not least the favourite yuletide tradition of pantomime!
Are We Sitting Comfortably? The Tradition of the Christmas Ghost Story
Ah, what would Christmas be without ghost stories. Ghost stories? Isn't that Halloween? No, no, no my dear friends, except yes sort of but I'm doing this for effect so just roll with it. No, Christmas is the best and most perfect time for stories that make your skin crawl, your hair stand on end and that chill to run all the way up your spine. The dead of winter, just after the longest day, when the darkness is at its deepest, you gather around the hearth and listen as the mystery of what lies out there in the dark unfolds in the flickering flames before you.
We Need To Talk About Ellie (Or Esports, Gaming Culture and Bad Behaviour)
I had a piece lined up to be my first post of 2019, it was all about fashion and it was super fun, but something has happened in the world of gaming that I feel really needs to be talked about. Sorry everyone, the fun has to wait, because someone did a big old screw up in video games, especially in the ESports, Overwatch League.
Cosplay is Not Consent is Not Enough
For anyone who is not hugely active in Cosplay Twitter you may not have seen, but a cosplayer's car was deliberately set on fire by another con attendee, which cause a massive fire by the convention hotel car park in the early hours of Sunday morning. Seven vehicles were destroyed, along with everything in them, but thankfully no one was hurt. What has come to light is that the man who set the fire was stalking the cosplayer and had been actively doing so for months, being well known the the cosplayer, her husband and her friends as a stalker. On her GoFundMe, to help cover the fire damage costs, the cosplayer in question called this man an "obsessed stalker".