469 pages (including footnotes),lots of nights of late night reading and i have finally finished `The further adventures of Sherlock Holmes` The Whitechapel Horrors by Edward B. Hanna.
Let me start by saying this was an excellent! read. I was clinging onto every word and couldnt wait to get started on the next chapter...However...
SPOILERS BELOW! if you havent read the book.
Although Holmes knows the identity of the Whitechapel killer he refuses to name him and leaves the reader hanging!. Now some people will claim that this is very clever of the author, leaving the reader to decide for themselves and leaving the ending open....I dont agree.
Investing time into a long spanning adventure such as this you want a payoff at the end and it just feels as though the author couldnt be bothered to commit to a suspect . The one person you want to solve a mystery and explain its outcome to you is Sherlock Holmes. The one person the reader wants to catch the villian and give him good old fashioned British justice is Sherlock Holmes. You dont get that with this novel.
Holmes and Edward B Hanna basically says to the reader "We know who the killer is ner-ner" While sticking 2 fingers up and running away. Its all well and good saying ` well the author leaves it up to the reader to decide` however that is very lazy. What if all books ended this way? What if A Christmas Carol ended with Scrooge being shown his grave by the ghost of xmas yet to come?.
Im pretty sure i know Who Sherlock Holmes and Edward B. Hanna wanted the reader to think the Ripper was....but im not telling.....so ner!
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Thursday, 24 February 2011
`Through the desert on a horse with no name`
We all know that feeling. You have a song randomly pop into your head , you dont know why and you dont know how it got there. Today my randomly annoying, brain fart of a choice was `Horse with no name` by America. For the life of me i cannot understand why this song has popped into my head, never been a fan of the group and to be honest ive never really liked the song....yet after a quick trip to iTunes (other music download sites are available) i now have now listened to this song 4 times! and thats not counting the amount of times the same lyrics were going through my head before i downloaded it!.
After this haunting melody had finally been exorcised from my mind i managed to get a bit of work done. This blissfull Thursday afternoons solitude was soon inturrupted however by the clanking of metal ladders on the outside of my window, quickly followed by a knock on the door. It was the head window cleaner (is there a such thing?...do they have ranks?) politely reminding me that i owed him 5 english pounds. He got 2.50 out of me for now, i should really be charging them for the garden ornement they broke some time ago...still i wont do it so may as well pay them to do it i guess.
What a pant-wettingly exciting life i lead
After this haunting melody had finally been exorcised from my mind i managed to get a bit of work done. This blissfull Thursday afternoons solitude was soon inturrupted however by the clanking of metal ladders on the outside of my window, quickly followed by a knock on the door. It was the head window cleaner (is there a such thing?...do they have ranks?) politely reminding me that i owed him 5 english pounds. He got 2.50 out of me for now, i should really be charging them for the garden ornement they broke some time ago...still i wont do it so may as well pay them to do it i guess.
What a pant-wettingly exciting life i lead
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
"Im pretty sure thats Cromer"
It is a sad day for Doctor Who fans, one of our greatest childhood heroes has passed away.
Nicholas Courtney 1929 - 2011.
Nicholas Courtney wasnt just known for his role in Doctor Who`s history, he was a well worked actor. However it was his portrayal as the all action Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart that we all know and love. It is also this role that he played that is closest to my heart.
When i was a kid watching Doctor Who was a treat, and watching Jon Pertwee`s era was the biggest treat of all. The UNIT years of Doctor Who felt comfortable and the characters felt genuine...The Brigadier even more so. For a time in my childhood i believed there really was a Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart...thats how good he was! :). Nicholas Courtney played the character of the Brigadier so well that Doctor Who fans took him to their hearts.
When the `UNIT family` came to an end and Jon Pertwee Regenerated in to Tom Baker, you really did get the feeling that things were changing and it was time to say goodbye to The Brigadier and the cosey UNIT family. There were one or 2 stories where the Brigadier returned and he always added something to the story.
A year or more ago i had the pleasure of meeting Nicholas Courtney at a very small convention in South Shields Tyne&Wear. Apart from Nic Courtney also attending the convention was Colin Baker and Terry Molloy, all were on fine form....however i couldnt get away from the fact how frail Courtney looked. Regardless of this frailty Courtney still made time to talk to people and was happy to do so, it was brilliant to see the warmth fans and children had for him. I met Nic Courtney briefly but it was worth it to talk to this great man, he was about to give a talk to a group of fans on a small stage but i wasnt able to stay and watch this unfortuneately :(.
Somewhere in UNIT HQ a voice can heard echoing in the corridors, if you listen carefully you may hear it..."Sgt Benton!!".
Im signing off now, going to dig out my copies of Spearhead from space and Inferno. Two of the finest UNIT stories in my opinion and enjoy one of the greatest Doctor Who chracters of all time
The Brigadier
Wonderful chap...always
RIP Nicholas Courtney
Nicholas Courtney 1929 - 2011.
Nicholas Courtney wasnt just known for his role in Doctor Who`s history, he was a well worked actor. However it was his portrayal as the all action Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart that we all know and love. It is also this role that he played that is closest to my heart.
When i was a kid watching Doctor Who was a treat, and watching Jon Pertwee`s era was the biggest treat of all. The UNIT years of Doctor Who felt comfortable and the characters felt genuine...The Brigadier even more so. For a time in my childhood i believed there really was a Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart...thats how good he was! :). Nicholas Courtney played the character of the Brigadier so well that Doctor Who fans took him to their hearts.
When the `UNIT family` came to an end and Jon Pertwee Regenerated in to Tom Baker, you really did get the feeling that things were changing and it was time to say goodbye to The Brigadier and the cosey UNIT family. There were one or 2 stories where the Brigadier returned and he always added something to the story.
A year or more ago i had the pleasure of meeting Nicholas Courtney at a very small convention in South Shields Tyne&Wear. Apart from Nic Courtney also attending the convention was Colin Baker and Terry Molloy, all were on fine form....however i couldnt get away from the fact how frail Courtney looked. Regardless of this frailty Courtney still made time to talk to people and was happy to do so, it was brilliant to see the warmth fans and children had for him. I met Nic Courtney briefly but it was worth it to talk to this great man, he was about to give a talk to a group of fans on a small stage but i wasnt able to stay and watch this unfortuneately :(.
Somewhere in UNIT HQ a voice can heard echoing in the corridors, if you listen carefully you may hear it..."Sgt Benton!!".
Im signing off now, going to dig out my copies of Spearhead from space and Inferno. Two of the finest UNIT stories in my opinion and enjoy one of the greatest Doctor Who chracters of all time
The Brigadier
Wonderful chap...always
RIP Nicholas Courtney
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Once upon a time...
Well it seems i must be bored,mad or run out of things to do on the internet because ive started a blog. I must have spent years reading other peoples blogs not even thinking about starting my own, so here we are.
I remember the very day i first got the internet, a Wednesday it was. BT was the ISP and i thought it was the most magical thing since the Breville sandwich toaster. Fast-forward over 10 years and i finally came to the realization that BT and AOL were providing the shittiest service, thank god for sky broadband!
ANYWAY! What is this blog going to be about?....well as some people have pointed out in the past im not really that interesting. However i will do my best to add some interesting stories and my often Victor Meldrew-like view on life. Some of you who may know me personally know that i like a good moan now and again. Wether it be about ignorant bastards in supermarkets or the crap we get on TV these days i`ll proberly write about it here.
Most of you may know me from the Doctor Who community too and i will of course disscuss all things `Who` here from time to time. From props and model building to custom work and the show itself I`ll no doubt talk about it. Doctor Who has been a huge part of my life ( my dad to thank for that) and will no doubt continue to do so. Thanks to some very fine friends i have learnt a lot about the TV series and its history. I have a huge interest in the props and visual FX from not just Doctor Who but other TV shows and movies and if i have any stories to tell about them then i shall :).
So...thats your lot for the moment...give me a chance i have to find something to write about!
Bye for now
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