The Written Podcast: Where's My Luggage?

I was going to make this article part 16 of my New York trip, and yes, the topic I’m going to write about is still a part of that holiday as I was still at Heathrow at the time and haven’t gone home yet. That was my original intention, to write about everything that happened from the moment I left my front door to stepping back through, as one big series, but as I was writing these articles, I wondered if what happened at Heathrow airport needed to be included within the series, but instead just be written about as normal articles. My holiday started when I got on the coach at Ipswich, and ended when I got off the plane at Heathrow, because from that point forward, it didn’t feel like a holiday, but instead just another day with different stuff happening.

I was tired and uncomfortable from trying to sleep for hours, and all I wanted to do was get home so I can have the pleasure of collapsing on the sofa. But first, I needed to go and collect my luggage from the conveyor belts. I didn’t write about collecting my luggage at the beginning of the holiday, because nothing extraordinary happened. By the time I got through customs, the bags had already come out from behind the rubber curtain and lifted off the conveyor belt by the staff so they wouldn’t keep going round and round, allowing me to go and find my suitcase and then walk out of the airport with it. I didn’t have to wait for my suitcase unlike what I had to do back here in England.

Due to being an English citizen, there wasn’t much fuss when it came to checking my passport - it was merely but a quick glance to determine that I looked like my picture and handed it back to me so I can continue on my way. Due to the speedy process, I was by the conveyor belts before the suitcases had started coming through.

Side note: Have you ever had to walk what felt like miles right after sitting still for 7 and a half hours? That’s what I had to do, and my legs were stiff, my knee was aching, and I genuinely felt like I couldn’t be bothered to walk the distance, but the thought of walking in through my front door and sitting on my sofa carried me forward.

Have you ever waited for something? Of course you have, so let’s pad out the question with more detail. Have you ever acknowledged that time goes incredibly slowly when you’re waiting for something to happen? They say water doesn’t boil if you stand and wait for it to, which basically means if you’re waiting for it to boil, you’ll be surprised just how long it takes because all the other times before you were keeping yourself occupied with something, creating the illusion that time is going quicker and before you know it the water has boiled over the rim of the pot and spilling onto the hobs of the cooker. Change a pot full of water to a conveyor belt at an airport and you’ll be forced to acknowledge just how long it takes for them to process everyone’s suitcases so they can come out through the rubber curtain. The entire plane gathered around waiting for the suitcases to come out, and some of these people were rather desperate considering they’ve got connections to make - connections that were rearranged due to the plane being late. The last thing they wanted to do was miss their connection a second time, and from how long it’s taking for everyone’s luggage to appear, a few people were getting agitated and nervous.

Eventually, one by one, suitcases started to appear. People collected their belongings and disappeared. A conveyor belt goes at a steady pace so it’s easy for people to spot theirs and pick it up without hassle. Because I was keeping an eagle eye out for my suitcase, each one which came out I unintentionally took note of and logged them in my memory.

But, even though my memory was still functioning decently enough to remember suitcases, I was still incredibly tired and exhausted, and all I wanted to do was get home. The two mixed: tiredness infected my memory, which meant when the same suitcases started to reappear and mine hadn’t surfaced yet, I was beginning to get nervous. The more suitcases I saw reappear, the more nervous I became and started thinking the worst: that they had lost my suitcase. It does happen, but you never think it’ll happen to you. One by one, people collected their suitcases, even the ones which have gone round three times were plucked from the belt and disappeared, leaving me, one of the first people to arrive, waiting and waiting and waiting, growing increasingly paranoid that something terrible happened to my suitcase.

And then it appeared. It wasn’t the case of it had gone round once before, or it took me a while to acknowledge that it was mine, I knew immediately and picked it up like I was stealing someone else’s and walked briskly towards the National Express desk where I knew I had to let them know I’ve missed my pre-booked coach and needed to arrange another. That’s another entire article in of itself, and will be next week.

But it’s crazy how tiredness and make you nervous. Seeing the same suitcases go round the conveyor belt three times, each time becoming increasingly adamant that they’ve lost mine; looking back at it as I write this article, I genuinely couldn’t bring myself to believe anything else. I checked in at JFK airport very early - probably one of the first people to check in for my particular flight so logically my suitcase would be among the first to be boarded on the plane and therefore be put at the back, which would then mean it would be among the last to be unpacked from the plane and placed on the conveyor belt for me to pick up my end… but due to being tired and irritable, I saw only paranoia and nervousness; all that logic went out the window.

But, I retrieved my suitcase, I was one step closer to sitting on that sofa.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

Doctor Who: Series 12 – Episode 5 – Fugitive of the Judoon

I have never known any other show which actively sets out to (almost) rewrite its entire lore so frequently. Doctor Who’s latest episode from series 12, episode 5, “Fugitive of the Judoon” saw 2 incredible surprises. 1 in the form of Captain Jack Harkness returning, and an entirely new incarnation of the Doctor being introduced. That episode had 3 levels of awe, starting off swiftly with the reintroduction of the Judoon, last seen in the form of a quick cameo, the series 5’s penultimate episode, “The Pandorica Opens”. Their last episode where they made a main performance and helped with the story was way back in Russell T Davis’ era, during the series 4 2-part finale, where the Doctor and Donna Nobel visit them in the hopes of solving the mystery of the disappearing planets.

Their return wasn’t a safeguarded secret. It was known they would appear in this episode way back when the series was still being filmed, and there was a slight buzz in the air. Chris’ strategy during series 11 was to have an all new cast of monsters, but it seems this series he’s exploring the past (something this episode does heavily). The almighty surprise return of Captain Jack Harkness, on the other hand, was an eye-opener. No one saw it coming. That’s exactly how things should have been years ago.

For years, trailers have spoilt as much as they could in the hopes of getting people to watch it, only now realising that the best way to get and keep people watching is to give them a true surprise. Sure, Captain Jack Harkness’ return was only in the form of an extended cameo meant to keep the three companions busy and dump a load of foreshadow to the audience, so he never got the chance to met the Doctor in her present form, but none of that really mattered. What really mattered was that Captain Jack Harkness had made a return, we didn’t know anything about it until that episode, and John Barrowman absolutely nailed the performance like he always does.

But the final level of awe, the surprise that knocked the episode out of the park and into the stratosphere, was the introduction of a completely new incarnation of the Doctor, supposedly from her past, except the 13^th Doctor have no memories of this incarnation. I copied the same reaction I gave when John Hurt was introduced as a past incarnation: “What. The. Heck. Just. Happened?” We are getting another storyline that changes the lore of the show once more. Can Doctor Who get away with that? No one has messed with the history and lore of the show more so than Stephan Moffatt has, and now it’s Chris Chibnall’s turn.

Jo Martin plays the previously unknown incarnation. We, the audience, are introduced to her through the form of Ruth Clayton, a human in every sense of the word. Until we discover that she was the Doctor all along, and for reasons which were explained, she changed herself from Time Lord to human in an attempt to hide herself from those who were seeking her. For the amount of screen time Jo Martin’s Doctor received during this episode, it had everything you’d ever need between a classic meeting of two incarnations of the Doctor, just to prove that they are indeed the same person. My mind was blown from watching that episode. They pulled this complete redesign of the show’s lore out of nowhere, which again, has happened numerous times before throughout the 50+ years it has been on our TVs.

The beauty of Doctor Who is the ability to naturally alter and change and twist things up as many times as any writer wants and make it fit naturally. The longer the show continues to remain on our screens, the more universe shattering events such as these are going to happen, and so long as the writers can justify why, I see nothing wrong with that. Much the same as the show introducing Jo Martin’s Doctor, the show once introduced the act of regeneration, which was seen as an awesome moment. John Hurt’s Doctor was seen as a shattering moment. This is just one moment that follows all the other big moments before it, and of course they’ll be plenty more to come.

Jodie Whittaker’s performance in Fugitive of the Judoon was phenomenal. Her best work yet. And even though we knew nothing of her until now, Jo Martin’s performance was just as spectacular, bouncing off Jodie’s Doctor as if she had always been the Doctor. Series 12 has certainly made up for the bumpy start that was series 11.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

Mum's Monday: The Goes Wrong Show - The Lodge

The introduction to this show is a really clever “Play on words”. As the program starts the estate agent is very realistic; being well scripted. The first thing to go wrong is when the baby balloon pops, the script goes on.

The kitchen doorknob comes off, again the script must carry on as normal. This is well acted despite clearly having gone wrong.

Now the doll hasn’t disappeared so we see Set-Staff we are not meant to see; cues being missed would be classed as something going wrong.

Now we see a cast member fall through a door off the edge of the set when a door is opened. This part to me is not a definition of “Something” going wrong. This seems to have been done too deliberately. I do believe they could have come up with some other idea in line with something malfunctioning rather than what looks like a forced scene.

The program quickly gets back on track when the stair lift malfunctions, and this happens more than once, it goes wrong just enough, to not go over the top, but to make the most of having it on set.

The cast member attempting to leave the set and laughing is a bit over the top, although what has gone wrong is the stage direction to leave the stage in the script wasn’t carried out as it would normally do in any other show that does go right. For the sake of the title “Goes wrong show” what happened should have occurred, it just too much and not all that funny to me.

The script is written to explain every little detail and the electrics are malfunctioning. I am not sure about the scene that was done off the stage in what looks like a broom cupboard, is a bit strange and I would say unnecessary.

Something else that goes wrong is when the window is broken, again the script carries on with the storm coming/has arrived with the storm water.

Another few things to go wrong is when the painting falls off the wall and clothing caught so the balloon is not where it is supposed to be.

I can see the reason for “The Bat” it is and was amusing to watch but also a bit of a clever cliché.

The balloon joke carries on. it is in the same concept of having the stair lift but can be used more often and not being done too much but giving the program more depth.

The special effects are very well done whether they go right or go wrong. You can see that they have been well thought out to go the way the program calls for.

The broken gun comes under “Goes wrong” and is done really well, the program is back on track as to the title.

Now we see doors that are not locked, and it is still not possible to open the kitchen door, the script however, must go on as written. It is clever of the actors to act out the scenes.

Again, the special effects with the two wives is so well done that it almost goes right, until it looks like they realise it is going right and it quickly changes to go wrong. I know it must have been scripted that way, but this is all again well-acted out.  

When the two husbands die, they do go a bit over the top and this is acknowledged between the pair of them. It is amusing to watch, it is like a competition, of who can die by making the most fuss.

Now the door is locked, yet the script has to go on but with a little adlib and delay so is she ‘Safe?’ the script must go on as scripted.

Some things do go wrong, some look like they are done deliberate. If they wanted to do a “Goes wrong show” it seems not right to make some of it look deliberate, although it is a good concept to the story.

The Written Podcast: New York (Part 15) - Coming Home

Have you ever tried to sleep on a plane? There are two types of people; those who can fall asleep immediately, allowing them to sleep anywhere at any time, and then you have those who struggle to sleep in any condition. Give me a dark room with no noise I’ll happily close my eyes and drift off to sleep at a steady pace, but put me on a plane then it becomes a different story altogether. 

On the plane ride to New York, I need not any sleep. Sure, I woke up at midnight and had already been awake for 9 hours before my flight took off, but I was remained awake throughout the flight. I kept myself comfortable and entertained throughout, only having to get up out of my chair to let the woman beside me go to the toilet. It was a pleasant experience. 

The plane ride back, however, wasn’t so nice. It should have taken off at 11PM, but it didn’t leave the runway until 2AM in the morning. I’m normally in bed by 10 – 10:30PM most nights, so come 11PM, I was shattered and ready to close my eyes. With the looming stress from the possibility of a very long delay hanging over my head, I grew even more shattered. By the time the plane took off at 2AM Friday morning, I was the most mentally exhausted I’ve been in a long while. My eyes were hurting from tiredness, and my vision was slowly fazing in and out. I needed my sleep and I needed it immediately. 

Unfortunately, I found myself in the group of people who cannot sleep on planes. The chair on the plane coming was comfortable because I didn’t need to sleep. The chair on the plane going home was uncomfortable because I needed to sleep. I could not find a suitable position to properly relax. I close my eyes and the strange awareness of trying to fall asleep kept me awake. The noise of the plane itself was loud, my chair just didn’t go back far enough to accommodate my increasingly aching back as I was in a constant state of flux with my positions. I’m surprised the people either side of me didn’t have a go at me for moving so much, but then again, they were fortunate enough to drop into a deep sleep. I was the only person in my row who just didn’t get a wink throughout the flight. 

Hour after hour went by and I tried my hardest, but nothing worked. I was stuck on a plane for 7 and a half hours, exhausted, being kept awake by my own inability to sleep, and then breakfast was being served. I watched as the trollies were pushed down the isles towards the first class where the stewardesses would work their way up the plane, serving everyone breakfast with a refreshing drink. Confused, I checked how long we had before landing at Heathrow and discovered there was only 3 hours remaining. I must have jumped forward a few hours because there is no way I had been struggling for 4 hours already. I must have dozed off. My brain must have gotten so tired it just shut down. That explains why my back and legs and neck were aching, because I had slept at an awkward position due to my brain just shutting down. I don’t feel any better than I did before dropping unconscious. I could’ve argued I felt worse, but hey, breakfast was being served. There was only 3 hours remaining. Time to watch something. 

The food was genuinely nice, though. I wasn’t particularly hungry, but I wasn’t going to turn it down. As I write this article a couple months after my holiday, I can remember may details, but I cannot remember what I had to eat on the plane ride home. My inability to sleep and what happened when landing overshadowed breakfast by a wide margin. Nearing Heathrow, we were given the usual orders of putting our seats upright and keeping our seatbelts on at all times until given permission to unbuckle them once fully landed and at our terminal, I was eager to get out of the plane and get back on the coach which would take me to Ipswich where my dad would pick me up and take me home.  

It was foggy and windy. As we descended into Heathrow, the entire plane got tossed around with high turbulence. Looking out of the window, due to the fog, none of us could see a thing. The weather conditions outside was incredibly tricky, our pilot had his work cut out for him. Any pilot would have gone through a training simulator where they would have had to land a plane in much worse conditions than this just to say they can, meaning landing this plane would be a piece of cake... 

Not entirely. We were shaken around a bit, but we touched down on the runway. But before I could sigh with relief, the engine kicked into high gear again and we found ourselves taking off again. Due to the difficult weather conditions, we had landed too far along the runway to give us enough room to slow down safely, giving the pilot no choice but to try again. We climbed once more, until we levelled out at 4,000 feet, where we circled back around and went for round two. 

It was even bumper this time round, which didn’t give me much hope considering what happened last time. I had strong visions of doing this a third time, but amazingly the pilot managed to land the plane perfectly, at the right point on the runway so we were able to slow down safely and then we collectively sighed a sigh of relief. We had made it. We were late and the stewardesses did apologise for being so and announced that the company had been working around the clock alongside the airport to arrange new connecting flights to those who’ve got further to travel. For me, all I missed was the coach taking me back to Ipswich. I’m sure National Express would be sympathetic towards me for being late and help me out... right? 

Thanks for reading 

Antony Hudson 

(TonyHadNouns)

TV Show of the Week: Crisis on Infinite Earths (Semi Spoiler Free Review)

This may be the biggest crossover even in TV history. If it isn’t, I sincerely want to know what’s bigger, because Crisis on Infinite Earths pulled out all the stops during these five-part episodes.

When Arrow started, Mark Guggenheim’s words were that there weren’t going to be any superpowers in the show. Arrow was going to be a nitty gritty, dark comic book adaptation for TV, almost synonymous to that of Batman. Yeah, those words haven’t aged well. The Flash had its backdoor pilot during Arrow’s season 2, and was successfully picked up, introducing the Arrowverse with meta-humans. Arrow’s and The Flash’s first crossover was simple – two episodes, one each. As the years went on and Legends of Tomorrow had begun airing, the crossovers started getting bigger and bigger. Supergirl wasn’t originally going to be apart of the Arrowverse, but it wasn’t long before crossovers started happening with that show to. From what started as a vision of a realistic superhero show, came a multiverse filled with meta-humans and time travelling people from the future, it’s been one heck of a ride to watch develop.

Crisis on Infinite Earths was teased way back in The Flash’s pilot, and at first stated it’ll happen in 2024, which fans quickly calculated would be the show’s seventh season, when Grant Gustin’s contract was scheduled to run out. It would be a fitting end for the character to go out during the crisis, as did his comic book counterpart did. Even those plans didn’t stay together as it was brought forward to 2019 – a move which was explained in the show as meddling with time, something Barry has done many a times before.

When the crisis finally happened, I was in awe with what they pulled together. 5 shows, Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, and the newly constructed show Batwoman, all coming together for one cataclysmic event. But it wasn’t just the characters from the five shows they brought together, in keeping with the name, Crisis on Infinite Earths, they had to incorporate infinite earths, and they done their very best to capture the scale of the multiverse and who’s living inside. There were some very big cameos, most were already announced, but a couple were truly unexpected and blew everyone’s mind to pieces. They successfully canonised pretty much ever DC property Warner Bros. have within the Arrowverse, mostly via archived footage, but it was the truly unexpected cameos that have original scenes, and they actually interacting the Arrowverse cast members.

I was lost for words whilst watching that five-part event. From something that wasn’t intended to be, gradually built to become one of the biggest TV events of 2019, and as stated, the biggest crossover even in TV history (it surely must be).

The final episode saw Earth 1, which housed Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow, fuse together with Supergirl’s Earth and Black Lightning’s Earth (another show, that, much like Supergirl, wasn’t intended to be apart of the Arrowverse, but during this crisis became an integral member in saving the multiverse. Moving forward all the shows are now on Earth Prime. This undoubtedly opens for a lot more and possibly easier cameos and crossovers in the future.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

Mum's Monday: Dial M for Middlesbrough

What a start and an interesting macabre game of swing ball, a dodgy curry makes for some amusing and creepy scenes. Shady Creek Caravan Park has some extra visitors. It seems ‘Shady’ is the right name for the place and its characters, a clever reference. Oh dear, the message and oh dear again, even worse, the grammar is wrong.

It is genius the apparatus used on the roller-skating rink. This is ‘Dial M’ Not Dial A for accident. It is good to see ‘Cling Film’ comes in very handy. Staying safe on the skating rink is not the only plan Terry (Johnny Vegas) comes up with. An investigation does however, seem the best logic, until the police can get to them.

Chad (John Macmillan) is an amusing/interesting character. It all turns sinister, not. This program has all been done really well, the mix of the characters odd to sensible, sinister to weird and scenes that are logical and others that are not so or not at all logical.

The plot thickens. Bad cop and smiling good cop is really funny to watch. What is also a surprise to watch is the request before Penny (Ambreen Razia) and her husband are murdered. Sadly, I can see the appeal from what happens/is said previously.

I like the idea of teamwork to find the killer, but before any of that it gets really serious and yes stalking is serious.

This is definitely not a cooking program, yet the biggest shock comes next. It is actually a tragically sad moment. Now one tiny switch for WIFI, one large fire but amazingly one miracle saves the day.

An interesting, clever yet ‘Shady’ program.

One of things that appealed to me to watch this program was the fact that I have been to Middlesbrough and have travelled across the river on the ‘Transporter bridge’. I went across as a foot passenger/pedestrian. There is a small charge for the return trip I made. There is also a visitor centre, the address of this and the bridge is Ferry Road, Middlesbrough, Postcode TS2 1PL. At the time of writing this blog post, December 2019, the bridge is sadly closed for repairs/maintenance but opening times and additional information can be looked up by going onto the Middlesbrough.gov.uk website.

The Written Podcast: New York (Part 14) - A 3 Hour Delay

My Flight was not due to take off until 11PM at night, meaning, after waking up at 6AM, I would have been awake for 17 hours. I do struggle to get any sleep whilst travelling, so I estimated to be awake for (including the 7-and-a-half hour plane ride and the time difference between America and England) 30 hours without any decent sleep. I was fully expecting this to be a hard day. When I say I struggle to get to sleep, I mean I have difficulty getting any proper sleep. I can still rest my eyes, it’s just that I’ll still be aware of my surroundings and where I am which would prevent me from going under.

The taxi trip to JFK Airport was so much smoother than the one going to the hotel. He didn’t swerve in and out of traffic willi-nilly, he didn’t follow any ambulances down the hard shoulder as if it was the natural thing to do; this driver stuck to the road at all times and within his lane, only changing when needing to overtake or generally because it was the fastest moving lane at the time. We got into a decent conversation, talking about my holiday and what I got up to, how long he’s been living in New York City, and he told me the time he visited England. He said England, specifically London, was a busy place. He mentioned that the underground network in England is so much cleaner and organised than the subway system in New York. I never used the subway system during my holiday, but I was surprised to hear him say that, not because I think our underground system is dirty and smelly - far front it - I was expecting him to say that New York’s subway system is much better than that of ours, but instead it was the other way round. When I eventually get around to returning to New York, I’ll make an effort to pop down to the subway system to form an opinion for myself.

Leaving New York was atmospheric within the Taxi. Driving over the bridge, officially leaving Manhattan, knowing it’ll be awhile before I stepped foot back inside the Big Apple - even though it was only for four days, it generally felt like an end of an era. I great moment in my life has come to an end. When I’m back in England, I can already sense it being the beginning of a new chapter, with New York being the intelude between the two.

JFK Airport was amazing. Considering I’ve only seen the section of the airport that’s designed to get you out of the place as quickly as possible, via customs, I knew nothing about the airport, so after going through the usual standard security checks by getting your bags X-rayed and your entire body scanned for metal, the airport in general was huge. Shops literally everywhere… the same four shops repeated everywhere, to be precise, with the odd different shop here and there just to spice things up a bit. And it was incredibly expensive. Really expensive. $16 for a standard sandwich and a drink. Never have I ever seen prices for two items that high, and the sandwich wasn’t exactly big, with filling that barely touched the sides, the drink was just 250ml. I needed something to eat and drink, so I had to spend the money, thinking the whole time about how the airport knows we passengers have no choice but to pay those prices or go hungry. Go to Mcdonalds and spent the same amount of money, however, and see what you get - I wouldn’t be able to finish it all.

Throughout my time at the airport, I’m checking the board, waiting for the gate number to appear. At 8PM, it does: 37. Where was gate 37? About halfway to England. I walked for ages in a straight line, passing shop after shop until eventually getting to my gate number. By the time I reached it and sat down I was glad I only had to go to the gate 37, because my feet were already beginning to hurt.

10PM came and everyone stood up. They woman over the tannoy called out each individual section to make for an easier and smoother boarding process (apparently). At this point, I, and everyone else, just wanted to get on the plane and back to England. They completed the boarding process, everyone had put their carry on bags in the overhead compartments, taken off their coats, settled themselves in their seats, and generally made themselves comfortable with the blankets. Some were already browsing through the selection of films available. And then, we heard the dreaded announcement. That one announcement no one ever wants to hear when on a plane. It has been delayed, we must deboard. The entire plane, collectively, audibly and loudly groaned with annoyance.

I’ve seen news reports on TV about planes being delayed. Seeing so many people sitting around the airport, not knowing what the heck to do whilst they waited for the go ahead to go home. Whilst the news only report on the extreme cases of delays, such as a couple weeks, I did have those images flash before my eyes as I walked back through the corridor and into the airport terminal once more.

The woman kept us up to date with what was happening. Apparently something was worn and it needed to be replaced and once it was replaced it needed to be tested before flight… the problem was, I was extremely tired come this point and all I wanted to do was go home. I paid no attention to hardly anything the woman said except for the parts when she mentioned how long the delay will last for, how successful they are in fixing the plane, and how incredibly sorry (not sorry) they were with keeping us all waiting unncessarily, inevitably causing a good chunk of people to miss their connecting flight in England.

3 hours we waited for. Granted, 3 hours is hardly any time compared to those who’ve waited days and weeks before reboarding, I understand that, but now I’ve experienced that side of the coin. Of all the times I’ve travelled via plane, I was lucky enough not to have any delays. It so happens that the one time I travel on my own, there’s a delay. Go figure.

When you’re waiting for any amount of time, not doing much, it always feels longer than it actually is. 3 hours felt incredibly long. 3 hours of basically doing nothing, but eventually they announced we had the all clear and we could reboard the plane. Everyone was just too tired and bored to show any enthusiasm at this point, so just got up, formed an orderly queue and re-took their seats on the plane, mirroring exactly what they did 3 hours ago. It was only when the plane actually took off did the atmosphere in the cabin relaxed, because up until that moment we simultaneously felt as if something else could potentially go wrong. We were up in the air; I was heading home.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

Film of the Week: Christmas Time

Disclaimer: I had this film scheduled to be released on Christmas Day, but I never got round to watching the actual film until January, but I was so intrigued about the film’s story, when things started to calm down a little, I stole myself away to watch Christmas Time, a film where a two estranged brothers  are convinced to spend Christmas at a cabin in the woods, but one of them believes he’s a time traveller.

There’re two factors that got sparked my curiosity when coming across this film on Amazon Prime Video, James “Murr” Murray is part of the cast, one of the four members of Impractical Jokers, and that time travel is part of the story. Being a massive fan of time travel in fiction, I had to see Christmas Time.

What I wasn’t expecting, as there was no notation on Amazon Prime Video, was it being an independent film funded by Kickstarter, a company designed to help creators bring their ideas into the real world with the help of their fans. It definitely has that look of it being an independent film, but the level of professionalism and passion the cast and crew has evidently put into making this film the best it can be, allows for an entertaining hour and a half.

Also, with it being an independent film, there are no special effects, no paradoxes, and no actual act of travelling through time, just an allusion to said time travel, but that makes the film so much better. It’s told from the perspective of the husband a wife team, Maclain and Clare Bernard (played by, Maclain Nelson and Clare Niederpruem) who just wants to have a good Christmas, but the husband doesn’t want his weird brother, Jake Bernard (played by Jake Van Wagoner) ruining it with his beliefs that he can time travel, so we don’t see anything on screen, creating a decent mystery. The story is simple but extremely effective in keeping me gripped through to the very end. Overall, the film creates a feel-good atmosphere that’s about a family coming together to have a warm, simple, and the most Christmassy Christmas as possible, all of which I felt, too, even whilst watching it in the middle of January.

James’ inclusion wasn’t much, but he had an important role in being a therapist. The way his role was written had strong notions towards Impractical Jokers. In the show he does crack up and hesitate whereas he doesn’t in the film, but if they had included in an episode of the show and he was able to keep a straight face and the other three give him the lines he says in this film, I doubt anyone would spot any differences between the two.

I couldn’t find how much money this film had raised on Kickstarter, but it was clear whilst watching this that they made every penny count. Also, being a project they had an opportunity to make and were so passionate when doing so, you could clearly see they were having so much fun throughout, elevating the feelings of Christmassy even higher.

This feel-good film wouldn’t make you feel embarrassed or guilty watching this even in the middle of July, because if you’re looking to be comforted and warmed up, then I do recommend this film to you. And if anyone thinks it is weird watching this film in the middle of Summer, make sure they watch it also, so they, too, will understand.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

Mum's Monday: Our Canadian Trip Through the Rockies

Back in 2009 I booked a surprise birthday trip for my husband, a dream trip on a train across the Canadian Rockies. I was planning to go Easter in 2010 to sync up with school holidays but the trip wasn’t available on the dates we wanted. (if we had gone Easter 2010, we may have been caught up in the Iceland volcanic eruption). I ended up booking the trip for the end of August 2009.

Back at home we used to get a magazine through the door from a company have a subscription with, I used to look through it just to see if there was anything that interested me, and one day there was. It said basically that the film New Moon had been filmed in locations around Vancouver and one of the stars of the film visited a Bar in the city and a bit in it said, “If you are in Vancouver this summer come and have a drink”. This made me sit up because normally when I have read something like this it is either a place I have never heard of or some obscure place I would have no intention of visiting, so there was just one thing to do, look up the Bar and so our trip began like this…

We first flew from Gatwick to Manchester then on to Calgary Alberta Canada. Calgary has the famous Calgary tower, so having only one night there and wanting to do some sightseeing and needing an evening meal, I took the risk booking the table at the tower; if we had any delays with our travel from England to America, we would’ve missed our reservation. It was a lovely meal, although we were tired. Calgary is also famous for its 1988 winter Olympics where the Jamaican Bob Sleigh team and Eddie the Eagle Edwards took part. Now made famous by the films Cool Runnings (1993) (John Candy) and Eddie the Eagle (2015) (Taron Egerton).

After spending the night in Calgary, we caught a coach that would take us to Banff amid the Canadian National park. Some places can be described as beautiful, and some as quaint. I would describe Banff as “Boldly beautiful”. It sits amongst towering mountains that are spectacular to see. After spending the night in our hotel which was again big in bold décor but beautiful, we got a taxi to the train station the catch the Rocky Mountaineer train.

We travelled through the mountains making our way to or next overnight stop, sadly, before we got to a place called Kamloops, we see some Forest Fires. The planes were flying overhead having collected water from a nearby lake we passed and then we see it being dropped on the fires in the hope of putting them out. One of the sad things we witnessed was someone hosing down their home that was right beside the railway track we were on with the fires up in the mountains behind. I even thought that as we see all this nearing the end of the day, once we arrived at our hotel, we would see a red glow in the sky, but we were a bit further away than I first thought and didn’t see anything.

After our non-eventful night in Kamloops, it was back on the coach and back on the train on our continuing journey to our final stop for three nights in Vancouver. All we see this time was the amazing scenery. Once in Vancouver, my first impression was it looked a bit like London (the capital of the United Kingdom) but as we were in the region of British Columbia it wasn’t necessarily a surprise after all. During our visit to Vancouver we went to Granville Island, we see and heard the steam clock, we see where they were getting ready for the 2010 winter Olympics, and we went to Stanley Park where some Raccoons gave me a shock as they just came running out of the undergrowth towards.

Now I have the book and film called New Moon, the second of the Twilight trilogy starring Robert Pattinson. I was originally going to do a blog review of the film or book of said New Moon but as I hadn’t seen all the films or read all the books, to do just one of the three wouldn’t be right.  During our Canadian trip through the Rockies, I made sure to visit the bar and have a drink, at the Bar where one of the stars of New Moon also visited. Before catching our flight home after an extraordinary trip.

So, there you have it, the one and only time where an article has come to life for me. I suppose there is just one thing left to say because I realise for some people what I have described in the article can happen all the time and it is nothing out of the ordinary for them, so if you happen to be in Vancouver this summer, Granville Island, the steam clock and Stanley Park, amongst other things, are all well worth a visit, look them up and see for yourself.

The Written Podcast: New York (Part 13) – “Is That Alcohol?”

Today was the day I say goodbye to New York City. Alas, I won’t be returning for quite some time. New York was amazing. The thrill of feeling you’re in another country, the adrenaline rush from being overwhelmed, the enthusiasm generated from the things that people who live there just take for granted. Seeing the sights, eating the food, being scared by a taxi driver; all a part of an experience I’ll never forget.

I’ve walked around cities on my own, most common one is London. It’s crowded, it’s congested with traffic, and there’s plenty of shops. The first time I navigated around London by myself, I was nervous. Figuring out how to circumnavigate the underground network by myself was certainly the toughest part about London. Experienced visitors or workers could go from one end to the other with their eyes closed, but for someone like me, it takes a couple of minutes to work out that the station in front of me is indeed the one I need, but the train pulling into it won’t stop where I need to go, due to it pulling a right when inside the tunnels. But generally, walking around London is easy. If you keep yourself to yourself, no one even notices you’re there.

It’s exactly the same in New York. Keep yourself to yourself, no one will bother you… I’m adding three dots in the middle of this sentence to signify the first half works only 99% of the time. I was keeping myself to myself, but I was disturbed, by a Police Officer of all people. Before I explain what happened, basically nothing happened. He misunderstood what I had in my hand… I’ve just made things even more vague, haven’t I?

This story starts when I discovered a sweet shop that sat next door to Bloomindales. With it pelting down with rain, my head was down most of the time, so I didn’t notice it was there. Before heading outside, I decided to have a look on Google Maps to see what I could do since I had completed my list of things, I wanted to do this holiday – the majority of which I did on Tuesday. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of the sweet shop, but it sparked my interest. A sweet shop in America, that’s something I absolutely must investigate, so that’s what I did.

It wasn’t raining today, allowing my navigating skills to rebuild itself back to full strength, and I went straight to Bloomindales without hassle, subsequently to the sweet shop on the corner, and it looked packed, and for good reason; it was humongous, which meant they had every sweet known to mankind. I’m 25 years old, but I was like a kid in a candy store. I was grinning from ear to ear, looking at every product they had, not having a clue what to pick up first. An assistant did offer me a basket at first, but I declined, thinking I wasn’t going to purchase that much, but I was completely and utterly wrong. It did not take me long before my hands were full and the same assistant came over and offered me a basket again, this time with a chuckle of acknowledgement to her being right the first time, to which I accepted and placed all my items inside. Now I have a basket to load up, that’s what I did.

Jelly Beans are famous for coming in every flavour under the sun. From the nice to the disgusting, they make the lot, and this sweet shop stocked the lot as well. I stayed clear of the disgusting flavours, such as dirt and skunks spray, among many others, and favoured the pleasant ones, such as blueberry muffin, chocolate brownies, citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons and limes, and a can of beer flavoured Jelly Beans which I brought for my dad. Skipping to the end, I spent $66. That may be a lot, but this was my last day in New York and I had more money left over than I thought I would, so I dedicated my last day to a spending spree.

I also made sure to pay one last visit to Times Square. End my holiday where it started, essentially. Among my items were the Harry Potter collection, including but not limited to the Butterbeer the characters drink when visiting Hogsmeade. This of course was the non-alcoholic version, implying there is an alcoholic version out there somewhere, but thankfully no in this shop, and since I have never tried it before, I figured that today will be the day.

After purchasing my load of stuff – mainly Jelly Beans – I headed back to Times Square where I found a place to sit down and take in the majesty of the place one last time, whilst cracking open the bottle of butterbeer in the process. I do recommend that drink. It’s basically a butterscotch drink, which I should have guessed to be honest considering I am a fan of the books. I liked the drink to the point I was struggling to savour it. I wanted to drink that whole bottle in one session, but I made sure to take gaps between sips. Butterbeer looks like beer. The clues in the name. It’s illegal to drink alcohol on the street in America. If you’re caught you can get heavily fined. A Police officer spotted me drinking my butterbeer and understandably misunderstood it to be actual beer and so came over to question me about it.

“Excuse me, Sir,” the Police Officer said, “is that alcohol?” He was quite firm because from his perspective I could be someone who likes a morning drink on the street corner. I almost slammed the bottle in his face to prove that it wasn’t, and upon taking one look at it, relaxed and stated that everything’s OK, and simply walked away as if nothing happened. It was the oddest experience I’ve ever had. Of all the people I’ve interacted with over this holiday – and there haven’t been that many, just retail assistance and taxi drivers, a Police Officer was no one I was either expecting or hoping to speak to. That moment alone, I would never forget, let alone the entire holiday itself.

When he realised what it was I was drinking, he let me be, but, in a nutshell, that Police Officer was preparing himself to fine me, and search me for further alcohol on my person.

He suddenly appeared out of nowhere, so of course it was hair raising. I immediately felt the potential gravity of the situation as I took another sip of Butter Beer. That filled my quota for Times Square. I wasn’t going to top that experience and so I left soon after that and readied myself to leave New York City.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

TV Show of the Week: Doctor Who – Season 12 Episode 1 – Spyfall Parts One and Two

For a year I have been eagerly awaiting the return of Doctor Who, and I, along with many people, were hoping series 12 would be better than series 11. Last series had its good moments, but unfortunately it wasn’t one of the bests. But now we’ve moved on to series 12, and what an episode it was.

I didn’t want to write this article until I had seen the second part, because it’s unfair to judge the first episode as it is only half of the final story.

I’m going to be direct and state I (have/had) mixed feelings about the first part, and by that I’m torn between the two far ends of the scale. I’m not sure if I should be as excited as can be that the Master has returned and we get to see Jodie’s Doctor on screen with the renegade Time Lord, or disappointed that there was so much build up with amazing originality that revealing The Master being the brains behind it all is too soon after saying goodbye to Missy in “The Doctor Falls”, the last finale with Peter Capaldi’s Doctor.

The questions we were left with were plentiful. The biggest question for me wasn’t how the TARDIS crew were going to get out of the terrible situation, but how did the Master go from Missy to Sacha’s Dhawan’s Master? Series 10’s storyline was about The Doctor trying to redeem Missy. Make her a good person so they can be the friends they once were back when they were children. In “The Doctor Falls”, we see Missy complete her arc. It was a powerful moment when Missy chose to go back and stand and fight with the Doctor instead of against, only to be shot in the back by her past-self. John Simm’s Master adamantly objected to Missy’s actions. He’d rather see himself be killed by his own hands than stand with the Doctor. That moment was made even more poignant when we will always know the Doctor would never know Missy decided to come back. We left Missy dead on a spaceship. Missy’s arc was complete.

It was only inevitable that we would see the Master back once again, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so soon. None of us were. It was an incredible surprise. As stated above, I did have mixed feelings about the first part because the Master is back to his insane-self once more. Whilst most of us would prefer series 10 to be written out of continuity, it’s not as easy as that considering it revolves around the two most important characters in the entire show, but this two-part storyline certainly does exactly that. During the second part there’s no mention of Missy’s storyline in series 10, or indeed Missy.

The Doctor and the Master had a conversation atop of the Eiffel Tower, they talked about two main things: what the Master had planned and that Gallifrey has been destroyed. Chris Chibnall set up the perfect scene for the Doctor to bring up her attempt at redeeming the Master. From the Doctor’s perspective, Missy walked away. From our perspective, Missy attempted to walk back. It’s a strong case of dramatic irony, where we know more than the Doctor. At least mention it instead of leaving us bathing in the irony made by the continuously strengthening question of how the heck did the Master survive when we clearly saw Missy die because her regeneration was disabled from being blasted in the back from the laser screwdriver at full power? It was a missed opportunity for an emotional scene.

What I did enjoy about the episode was what references were included in the episode, including but not limited to the four drum beats that plagued John Simm’s Master throughout his time on the show. The sound of a Time Lord’s hearts beat. The other big reference goes back to classic Who, when the Doctor and Master connected telepathically. I also thoroughly enjoyed how Jodie's Doctor really shined during the second part. I was able to see that she was definitely the Doctor during this episode, from the joyous, bubbly enthusiasm to the crushing realism of what her past means to her. When she explained to her companions just who exactly she was, it was then I was convinced she was the Doctor. It's a shame it only took an entire series for that moment to happen.

But the biggest part about the entire episode was right at the end, when we discover that it was the Master that destroyed Gallifrey because of the lies he uncovered. So, Moffatt spent practically his entire tenure on the show bringing back Gallifrey, ultimately doing so in the 50^th anniversary, allowing the Doctor to feel free from his guilt of destroying his home world to end the Time War, because he saved the world instead of destroying it. Chris Chibnall comes along and destroys it once more. The Doctor, once again, becomes the last of her kind, except this time, it’s for real.

Chris had better have a damn good explanation as to why he did that. The Master set up this explanation by stating the founders are not who the Doctor believes them to be, but instead are liars. And the timeless child that was very briefly mentioned way back during series 11’s second episode.

So, what are my final thoughts on the two-part story. A little too all over the place, but the acting was superb from both Jodie and Sacha. I loved the references, but Chris missed the opportunity for a potentially powerful moment between the Doctor and the Master, discussing his redemption arc. And if we Gallifrey doesn’t come back then what the heck was “The Day of the Doctor” all about anyway?

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)