Void

So today I was having a go at writing some stuff - and I wrote this! Hope you enjoy some random ramblings about the Void.

  It's interesting, the blank page.

   It never feels inviting. It feels like a contained sea of nothing. I used to form black swirling and spiky shapes, elegant stretches of lines and forms, creating masterpieces of pen, with symbols threaded throughout. Just drawing, just colouring; giving the impression of darker shades. Like henna on somebody's hand, patterns on a blank sheet of paper.

   But then words were invented and words became sentences – which in my mind, was a mistake. I mean what good have sentences done for anyone? I mean yes, sentences themselves are harmless enough, right up until the moment when they're not. Same as everything really. But what's dangerous about sentences, and the possibility to say anything within them, is that people don't. Sentences create a void, because they are fixed and often simple. Even if they hint, they throw some grey shadows onto the thick black unknowable substance of silence, they can never truly sum up the void. For it is a void. By creating sentences, we created silence – the ability to say and the ability not to say. And it's what is not said that is the most powerful weapon of all.

   Sentences were designed to create some form of reassurance – they provide a definite answer, and if this is not given (it is only one possible option of a thousand million darker ones after all), then another's mind will rummage hands through the thick black sludge of the void.

   The void is opaque and yet for some it is grey. That's because if you separated some of it, swung it into a clear container and held it up to the light to see your options, to look at what you might not say, it would appear lighter. The light would form a shield of hazy particles around it, and you might think it looks grey. When it isn't. It's only opaque, all it can ever be.

   It's hardest for those faced with blank pages. Blank pages instruct sentences, and formless yet forming shapes are beautiful but conduct neither what it said nor what is not said. The sentences instructed by the blank pages (though some of them have lines – praise be to whoever invited lines, at least they encourage some form of terrible creativity) have to be fixed. They can be tweaked but they are fixed. Speech is written through those sentences, sometimes. But it is placed onto sentences commanded, not through them. Speech is clever enough not to be recorded accurately or written down. Even if it is close – speech is a facsimile.

   For you cannot have speech without the silence. It is what is not said that is more, most, powerful, and you can say what is not said, or hint through fixed body language and vague suggestions you're not entirely sure of yourself what is not said, but it is not what is not said. For what is not said contains such a myriad of options – although the word 'myriad' makes it feel far too colourful. So how can anyone pinpoint suggesting what is not said? They may occasionally pinprick success, by saying what is said in such a way it is implied what is not. But this is a rare occurrence.

   We cannot truly know how people think, or what they are truly like, and characters are just as secret. If you have them say everything they are weak, but no one ever says everything.

   No one ever says anything really.

   It is when you sense a sense of someone else's anything that you know someone else's opaque sludge of what is not said has been slightly diminished.

   But for the majority we cannot capture silence. We have never been able to capture the impossible.

by

JR Mortimer

2014

Orphan Black | What To Do Next

[Mild Spoilers - but really you should have watched both series by now.]

After an awesome Series Two of BBC America's Orphan Black - I feel a bit lost. [A side note - if you have no idea what Orphan Black is, I highly recommend you borrow a DVD of Series One, or find it on the internet. You won't regret it. Just don't watch the episodes out of order. Both series are available on Amazon, and Series One is here on Instant Video - so go watch!]

Doctor Who's back in August, but aside from that and the prospect of more box set watching, I'm gonna be a bit stuck. Over the last few days since the finale (which was awesome - that's my comprehensive review of it), I've been researching lots of different aspects of the series. I got into Series One a few weeks before Series Two aired, and I got my friend into Series One once Series Two had already started. We had little, or no, time to wait before another batch of ten episodes. But now me and my friend are both up to date - and so we have a year's wait 'til the next series airs. We have a lot of time to fill. Which is one way is great - I can research the behind the scenes aspects, follow all the Tumblr and Twitter accounts, and I have time to find out more stuff about the series I love.

It's also a bad thing - because the researching isn't going to take a year.

But until the next series is on, here are some things you can explore, use and/or obsess over until the series returns.

THE MUSIC

There's a lot of music in the series and in connection with it, and here are some different links I've found. The first is the Series One Finale Music, which can be found here. There's also, on YouTube, a collection of the music from Series One, an unofficial mini soundtrack, which can be found here. Additionally, you can listen to the heartbreaking version of Cosima's theme from the end of Series Two Episode Eight, which is here. Probably best to listen to that after the Series One Finale Music, for most impact.

And if you need cheering up, I suggest this! This is the Clone Dance Music from the Series Two finale, and can be found here.

There are various other songs featured in the series, including the song in which Sarah becomes Beth in Series One, which can be listened to here. I'm looking for others and will update them soon.

THE CAST

To carry on the music theme, I'll first bring your attention to this. Apparently, Maria Doyle Kennedy (Mrs S) sings! You can find her songs on iTunes here.

I was going to recommend other TV shows and films the cast have been in, but there's a lot of stuff I've never heard of, and a lot of stuff I wouldn't recommend. So in terms of the cast, I would say the best thing you can do is just rewatch the series.

There are a wealth of interviews and behind the scenes things though. They're worth watching if only to realise that Jordan Gavaris, who plays Felix, sounds so unlike Felix. (As a side note, it's worth reiterating how amazing the actors are in this series.) Here's a search of some of the interviews, which includes some trailers as well, and here's some more. It's worth looking for a Comic Con panel last year with Tatiana Maslany, Gavaris and Dylan Bruce as well.

In terms of conventions, Dylan Bruce was at MCM Comic Con in London earlier this year. There's an MCM Comic Con in various other British cities, and also one in London in the Autumn - but guests for that are yet to be announced. I'm hoping for Maslany and Gavaris, and planning a cosplay with my friend. That's either awesome or quite sad, but I'm going for awesome. I've no idea about American conventions, but I guess there's a reasonable chance of the cast/creators appearing at San Diego Comic Con in the Summer.

 THE MERCHANDISE

Unofficial, unfortunately, but still amazing. There are lots of places to get Orphan Black related items, particularly t-shirts.

RedBubble do a great range of t-shirts. Some of them look better than others, but some of them are amazing and adding themselves to the top of my shopping list.

Etsy do a great range of fan made items from a variety of people, which are also great. I should point out that the more you scroll down that search, the less Orphan Black results you get.

There's a series lack of Orphan Black books, unfortunately, but I'll get onto an alternative for that under 'Miscellaneous'.

THE SERIES ITSELF

If you don't own the series, then that's a mistake. Series One is available pretty much worldwide, and the link for the UK can be found here at Amazon (and here if you want BluRay). Series Two is only available in Region 1 so far, and has the most beautiful cover. It can be found here if anyone is actually reading from Region 1.

Tumblr tells me this is 'Alison dancing on things she shouldn't. So there you go.

MISCELLANEOUS

In a bid to cover everything that's left and doesn't really fit in the categories above, I've created this section. A number of things can be listened to/watched etc..

There's fan videos, though the majority about Cophine (Cosima/Delphine), and I've picked this one to link to purely because of the song.

I've also tracked down the song (thanks to YouTube) used in the Series Two trailer for BBC America. It can be listened to here and it's called "Alarmed". (The section used for the trailer starts around 1.15 in.)

There's also fan fiction! Not quite as good as an actual Orphan Black novel, and possibly not the next best thing, but there is a lot of it. Again, the majority are about Cophine, but there's some others threaded throughout if you enjoy reading it. The biggest source is here.

And fan art! DeviantArt is usually the best place to look, and the link is here (again, most of the search is relevant), but often the show's creators and cast on Twitter post fan art, so you can find some there too. (I'm not going to post to their individual Twitter feeds, but aside from the cast it's worth looking for Graham Manson and John Fawcett.)

If you're interested in reading, Ethan Duncan's favourite book can be purchased here! Unfortunately not with the same cover.

I may well add other things as I find them - but for now, enjoy exploring, fellow members of Clone Club! Thank you for reading.

The Best Book Ever Written?

That's got your attention. Now you're here, hello reader, you can stay, and read my review of  a short story that you just have to buy.

But I'm probably quite biased as to why.

The book I'm reviewing is this one, The Ever-So Heroic Adventures of Captain Square Jaw: Square Jaw and the 49-Page Adventure! It's written by Danson Thunderbolt, who is my best friend's dad. Reason one why I'm bias. The book has been written to raise money to buy supplements for my best friend's brother Luke, and you can read about why such supplements are needed (and they really are needed, so from right now I urge you all to buy the book) here. There are 38 different blogs about life with Luke and his dad, and they're all worth a read.

So that's why I'm biased - and I should probably feel obliged to say that the book is amazing. The thing is - I don't need to be obliged to say it. This book IS amazing, genuinely. And it's only 49 pages, so what more could you want? I read it in about two days, and I could've read it in much less time if I was able to sit still and read a book for long enough.

Square Jaw is the creation of Danson Thunderbolt, who is, himself, the creation of my friend's dad. He's a pirate with a, if you could believe it, square jaw, and a manly chest, currently captain of the ship 'The Manly Pose'. It's a children's book I suppose, but I'm eighteen and the humour appeals to me greatly. I read the last chapter in school and was giggling away in the library when everyone else was being quiet. It keeps you laughing up to the last word, literally.

The book is essentially 49 pages (50, including the cover) of wordplay. The normal conventions of reading a book are taken and played on; you think one sentence means something, it in fact means that and something else. It's amazingly difficult to explain - so you should buy the book and find out for yourself.

It would feel strange closely exploring the characters and the plot in a book that has the characters themselves question the presence of a plot. The characters' positions in the novel become part of their character, if that makes any sense, and the lack of depth for some characters is taken as another opportunity for humour. The book keeps up the energy that it starts with, and Chapter One (titled 'The First Chapter') is a constant run of jokes and wordplay that kept me very entertained. The humour might not be to everyone's taste, and if it isn't I suggest you go and find your childhood self again. After all, as a wise and curly haired man once said, "there's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes". The humour is clever and quick, and the unexpected jokes and wordplay happen all the way through.

Plus, despite the fears of the characters, there is a plot! I don't often make it to the very end of books, and I still get quite excited when suddenly the tension and action increase as you near completion. This excitement and tension were definitely present in Square Jaw, and the 'death' scene [not a spoiler] in the last chapter of the book manages to be both hilarious and really quite sinister. Even the surreal resolution (surreal is good, you'd expect nothing less from the story) feels real, and manages to be both intense and funny.

But at the end of the day - the book is an excellent read, and it would be silly to analyse it any further. The money goes to a good cause, and you'll have a great time reading it - so what's not to love?

Unsure if you'd like the book? That 'Sample' button on Kindle can  be incredibly tempting, I know, but don't use it. Just press 'Buy'. It's only £1.02, and 35p of that will go towards the supplements that my friend's brother really needs. So be nice, and buy it. And if you really like it (hooray!) then you can buy the full sequel (that was written first...) here. There was a stage play of that, locally, last year, and it was amazing. It's had great reviews, and they're all correct. The stories really are wonderful. I can remember my friend telling us all in Primary School that his dad had written a book. I thought it was tremendously exciting - and it still is.

(So... any chance of a sequel/second prequel/future short story? I hope so.)

Elementary | Season One

"Can you believe they're making an American Sherlock? They're going to ruin it." A paraphrase of the first words between me and fellow friend/geek Jake on the discovery that Elementary had been commissioned.

Next thing we know, the series has been made, Jake has seen the first few episodes - and he tells me it's awesome. He sees Jonny Lee Miller is great, a female Watson (which me and Jake had thought of for our own fan Sherlock series some months before) worked excellently and the whole series was one I should watch.

Except I can't get the series on my TV. At all.

So - on seeing the DVD in HMV just after Christmas, I bought it! And in just under a month I've worked through the whole of Series One (so for those of you who are miles ahead and need reminding - I know who Moriarty is, but Mycroft hasn't turned up yet).

It is amazing. It is, fundamentally, an American crime series, and so shares many similarities with other American crime series. But it needs wonderful lead characters to make it stand out and feel different - and Elementary has those. Miller is an amazing Sherlock Holmes. He is a real person (you could argue Cumberbatch's portrayal has, unavoidably, become more of a caricature of his own character) and the huge series gives the writers, actors and audience a chance to explore and learn more about him. Admittedly, character growth is fairly limited - as you would probably expect with Holmes. The episodes take place over about ten weeks in all, I imagine. But Sherlock doesn't need to grow. He is challenged enough, and he's always portrayed amazingly by Miller.

Joan Watson is a character who goes through a lot of growth. She changes careers from sober companion to Sherlock companion - and, wisely, that isn't a decision that happens in a moment. It grows, giving a new look on the Holmes/Watson relationship, and allowing both characters and their relationships to be explored. Watson is portrayed fantastically by Lucy Lui, and to see Watson becoming more confident (and also more challenged) is great. She lives a proper life, that is intrinsically linked with Holmes'. She differs completely from Martin Freeman's Watson - which is good. Anyone who expects this to be a conventional Sherlock Holmes series, or anything like Sherlock, is wrong. And that's a good thing.

Captain Gregson and Detective Bell are also great characters - Gregson especially gets some great moments. Punching Sherlock in the stomach is definitely one of them. It's hard to explain M and the Moriarty storyline without giving everything away - and so I'll come back to it under the Spoilers heading later.

Other good things about the series: episodes flow well, referencing previous events, and often showing the impact of stories over a long period of time. Sherlock's deductions aren't always perfect, the episodes always have a twist, however minor, within them, and the characters are written consistently well. The other great moments are that the series references Holmes stories more and more as it goes along. A Milverton blackmail story and references to Thor Bridge were great thrills.

Notable episodes are: the Pilot, Child Predator [a really dark story], Lesser Evils, Dirty Laundry, M., A Giant Gun Filled With Drugs, Possibility Two and Risk Management.

I was slightly disappointed, and this is the only occasion, with the finale. For me, it felt like the revelations could never quite do justice to the story we've been following, and certain scenes ended up falling a bit flat...

SPOILERS FOLLOW

One of the scenes that falls a bit flat is the flashback to when Sherlock and The Woman meet for the first time. Sherlock's interest in her seems misplaced, and since Irene is such an important character, it feels a shame that these scenes were left to slip - and indeed, were shown at all. A mystery would be much better. To reveal Irene is still alive wasn't an overall shock, but it would have worked if the characters and the relationship was handled slightly better over the last two episodes. The revelation of who Moriarty was also a bit unsurprising, but handled well once we knew.

The series did need something more dramatic. After all this time with the Irene story, her return needed to be more punchy (though the revelation that she might be working for Moriarty was great). There needed to be a 'Reichenbach Fall' moment between Irene and Sherlock - although perhaps that wouldn't have been as intimate as the end scene ultimately was. I just expected a bit more excitement.

SPOILERS END

Overall, the series has been amazing. I look forward to eventually seeing Series Two, and Mycroft, and the further development of Holmes and Watson. They have a great pairing, well written and well acted, and it is a joy to watch them drive a series that brings so much more to Sherlock Holmes than perhaps any other series has.