May The Force Be With You.

 By Geeky Gem

You may think from the title of this blog that this might be about Star Wars. However this is not about Star Wars but about 4 Geeks that came together to start a blog.

 

 

15 months ago Hmsbeefnuts and myself came together and decided it was time we hit the internet with of own brand of fun and geekness. Along the way bloggers have joined us, Kirkie Chick with her fabulous take on gaming for girls and her weekly top 10. Caelrona joined us and she brought a mix of anime and manga all the way from America. We even had guest blogs from Ammzzy who told about Wolf Grit by Anne Rice and few choice other things.

We’ve had a lot of fun, from KirkieChick, Ammzzy and Myself spending the weekend at the SFX Weekender to my trip to Hogwarts. You’ve enjoyed Hmsbeefnuts own brand of blogging and had some great stuff from across the sea with Caelrona. I am guessing by now that you may know where I am going with this. So I guess I better get to it.

With the increasing lack of time that myself and Hmsbeefnuts seem to have lately we can now longer give All Geek To Me the time it should have. So it is with a heavy heart that we have decided to close All Geek To Me down. It’s a very sad time as after 15 months and 90,000 views we have to go. Which is a shame we have worked very hard on the blogs you have all come to read and we thank you all very much if you have ever read, commented or liked anything we have done.

I hope you have enjoyed all we have had for you to view here at All Geek To Me.

But for the last time this is good-bye from us and thank you.

Hmsbeefunts, Geeky Gem, Kirkie Chick and Caelrona.

 

Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary – Dead Poets Society

 

My Days Off: Movies

By Geeky Gem

I feel the natural conclusion to these blogs is to tell you about some movies I have watched on my days off in recent weeks. Now I havent been to the cinema since The Hobbit came out shocking I know, I will fix that. So most of the movies I will talk about here will be ones I have seen on DVD or Blu-Ray at home.

Total Recall (2012)

Now I am a fan of the original Total Recall so I was a bit unsure of this movie. When you sit down to watch and you have seen the other one the one thing you have to keep in mind is that this is not a remake but a re-working og of Philip K. Dick’s book. We’ll remember it for you wholesale, is the book this movie is based on and I have to admit I liked it a lot. It’s a great action movie and perfect if you like that genre.

Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil

I found this little gem on Netflix and only started to watch it as I love Alan Tudyk. Its comedy horror where Tucker and Dale go into th words to do up their cabin so that they can spend summers their fishing and what not. However things do not go as planned when some teenagers show up and think that Tucker and Dale are there to kill them. It’s a funny little movie and worth a watch.

Skyfall

Did you really think I wasnt going to buy this on Blu-Ray when it came out. It was brilliant on the big screen and loses nothing coming from your smaller screen a brilliant end to the trilogy. Fantastic acting and an awesome story is what makes Skyfall one of my favourite all time Bond movies.

The A-Team

I love this movie as it based on one of favourite shows as a kid, as you can tell by now I love a good action movie. There is nothing wrong with this, yes at first i was a bit like really your making an A-Team movie please don’t ruin this. They didn’t but it didn’t make a lot of money hence no sign of a sequel. If you havent seen it check it out.

Harry Potter

These movies are my default if I fancy nothing else. So you will find I watch these at lest a few times a year. I wont tell you how much I love them as you should know from other blogs I have done.

There we have it just some of the movies I have watched on my days off.

Wednesday Whimsy; Caelrona at the Renaissance Faire

By: Caelrona

Hiya All! I can’t believe it is already Wednesday again! Well, I don’t know about ya’ll but I was busy this weekend. As some of you may know, I live in the United States; specifically I live in Arizona. Once a year our uh, fair(?) state has a Renaissance Festival. This Renaissance Faire is huge, sprawling and packed with many shows and fun things to do (and tons of way to spend so much money. So. Much. Money.) My friends and I decided a while ago to attend, and last weekend was dedicated to the Renaissance Faire. We spent both Saturday and Sunday from, sunup to sundown, walking about in medieval dress. Our feet hurt, our ribs hurt (cinchers and corsets are bloody painful!), hell even our scalps hurt. But we had tons of fun, and I thought that I’d share that with you as best I could through a blog. I mean, what is geekier than a Renaissance Festival?!

Jousting

One of the main things we spent nearly all of Saturday keeping track of was the jousting tournament. There were three different jousting events, all tied into one another, spread throughout the day which basically meant a crap tan of walking for us as we’d see one, then walk about the other shops and shows until the next joust and have to walk all the way back. There were four knights jousting, whose sections could be sat in to cheer for. We ended up in the section for the rider in amethyst. Unfortunately, we picked the loser of the tournament to cheer for, which was a letdown, but he was a good sport and spent the remaining time in the arena talking to everyone in his section of the stands and letting kids pet his horse.

The Tortuga Twins

My friends saw two of their shows; whilst I was only able to see one. During the first I was getting my hair braided at one of the stalls. However, the show I did get to see was hilarious. It also was apparently their only rated R show. It was definitely adult humor; several families got up and left within the first few moments (although why they were there that long I can’t imagine; they loudly proclaimed several times that it was an R rated show.) Several random audience members were accosted, embarrassed and mildly molested during the show. Well, I say mildly, but…

Zilch the TorySteller

Zilch the TorySteller is.. oh, I don’t even know how to describe him. He’s hilarious. From his website; ‘My name is Terry Foy, although you might know me better as Zilch the Storyteller. Er, ah, Torysteller. The stories I tell have a bit of a twist to them. I spalk in toonerisms. Ah, I talk in spoonerisms. Citching one’s swonsonants fack and borth Worning your Turds around. It’s serfectly pimple. You just have to tink thaster than you falk.’ Yeah. Try reading that a couple times and see if you get the idea. He talks that way the entire time, telling various ‘TairyFales’ like ‘Rindercella and the Stoo Tugly Epsisters,’ ‘Rittle Led Hiding Rood,’ and Spilliam Wakshear’s ‘Jomeo and Ruliet.’ Also, if that weren’t enough to catch your attention he goes off on random tangents to tell awesomely nerdy jokes and small stories. Like the time he had a group of Klingons and a group of Storm Troopers having a little inter-genre mixer at one of his shows, and one of the Storm Troopers was wearing a kilt! Or when he had a front row of Doctor’s from Doctor Who, and they kept getting excited and squeaking; ‘We’re in chronological order!’ This man was so funny, we could hardly breathe most of his show.

Tartanic

I’ve saved the best for last. Now you might be wondering; what is Tartanic? The simple answer; Tartanic is a band. They are the most interesting band I’ve ever come across, and one showing had me hooked; I am now a fan for life. The long answer? Dressed in kilts and sunglasses, Tartanic gives its audiences a barrage of sound from not one but two Highland Bagpipes, and three percussionists. Imagine one dancer, six drums, six drones, 18 notes, fast fingers, high comedy, flying bagpipes, taste-defying stunts and scorching hot music played at over 120 beats per minute with driving speed and high-volume, all brought to you by five men without pants. Yeah, they are pretty damn awesome. Little ol’ me with my pirate’s heart of gold even shelled out 15 clams to buy their latest album. That’s right; they are so amazing they got me to PAY for music. We saw 3 of their shows between the two days we spent there; mainly because I kept dragging my friends to them. What can I say? I love me some men in kilts with bagpipes and big drums.

 

So there you have it! That is how I spent my weekend; running around a huge dusty portal back in time and getting accosted by various people who thought I worked for the faire. Honestly, just because a girl is wearing period clothing doesn’t mean she’s going to sell you a corset people. But anyway, I had an amazing time, spent way too much money and walked so much I still hurt from it; it was fantastic!

Until next time,

Caelrona – signing off! ❤

Geeky Gem’s Day At Hogwarts

By Geeky Gem

As I had been a very good girl in 2012 for Christmas Santa* gave me two tickets to The Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour in Watford. Now Santa being Santa picked a date in February so I had to wait  very long time to go on this adventure with my boyfriend. Bless him he drove us all the way from Cardiff to Watford it’s not that far to be fair. Anyway he got us there safe and sound and then the fun began.

As you can tell I took this photo outside of the studio, I wont post to many as I don’t want to spoil all the wonderful things you get to see once you enter sound stage J and sound stage K. See what they did there. Any once inside you are greeted by a lovely waiting area. Which some lovely pictures hanging on the wall of the cast, and  few things hanging from the ceiling like this little unknown car.

You also get to see the Ford Anglian again later in the tour, you can sit in it then along with a few other items in the back lot tour which you can sit in and walk across which is all good fun. There is so much to see I spent two hours looking at everything I could see. If you take the audio tour which is narrated by Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) the tour can take you up to 3 hours, which to me really is worth the entrance fee. You even get to go and buy a cup of Butterbeer from a stall in the back lot part of the tour and it is amazing.

There are loads of things to see, you get to walking in the same foot steps as the cast of the movies and that to me really brought out the geek in me. Walking in the Great Hall was mind-blowing and I wont post a photo of that as you really have to see it for your self.  However I will treat you to a photo of me outside  Dumbledore’s office.

As you can see I am wearing my home-made Hufflepuff jumper, I would later fix this is in the shop by buying a real one. Your just get to see so much and find out how thins works and interact with sets which is a lot of fun. BlitsEvo’s favourite part was the creature workshop. Where you get to see Goblin masks and many other things. One thing in there is this –

This my friends, in case you don’t know is Fawkes the Phoenix from the movies and he beautiful, I had no words when I saw Fawkes he is one of the many things to see inside the creature workshop. Now the tour ends with Hogwarts Castle model which BlitzEvo took 20 pictures of for me as we walked around the whole thing. I really want to post a picture of that for you but it really is something you have to see up close.

 There you folks that is all I can bring you from the tour, if you have only ever seen the movies then you will enjoy this just as much as some one who has read the books and seen the movies.

*Santa = My Parents

Spot Light on Stand-Up: Rhod Gilbert

By Geeky Gem

A few months ago Hmsbeefnuts did some blogs on his favourite comedians, now as I am not one to be left out I thought I would do one on a gentleman I have had the pleasure of seeing live.

Mr Rhod Gilbert is a Welsh comedian from Carmarthen, he didn’t take up comedy until 2002, after taking a comedy workshop course. Of course within 18 months, Rhod had already won several different talent competitions which lead to him being for the Perrier Newcomer award for his first solo show in 2005 at Edinburgh Fringe entitled 1984.

He has since gone on to perform live shows called Knocking on Heaven’s Door in 2006,  Who’s eaten Gilbert’s Grape in 2007, The Award Winning Mince Pie in 2008 and 2009, The Cat That Looked Like Nicholas Lyndhurst in 2009 and 2010 moving on to his latest show The Man with Flaming Battenberg Tattoo. Besides doing stand up Rhod has also got his own radio show on BBC Cymru along with a television show called Ask Rhod.

However the show I have loved him the most is called Rhod Gilbert: Work Experience where he travels around Wales trying out different jobs sometimes with straight face sometimes with out. If you havent seen it you must its is really good.

Anyway last year I went to see him do stand up here in Cardiff on his Man with the Flaming Battenberg Tattoo tour.

I have to say it was the funniest 3 hours of my life last year, at one point he hadn’t even noticed he was meant to take a break and had been on stage for well and 1 hour and 45 minutes. His brand of dead pan comedy is brilliant and I can’t stop laughing when he tells some of the jokes. The duvet from the mince-pie show still makes laugh. if you have never seen Rhod live or in fact any of his shows you ave to give them a go. He sometimes appears on Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow. I am going to leave with just a small clip of Rhod in action.

This clip is about him buying bedding, taken from the comedy roadshow but it does also appear in the mince-pie tour.

Thursday Thoughts: The Hobbit

By Geeky Gem

Now I know there have been a lot of blogs about this movie already and they are all over the web and that’s a good thing as it means people had thought’s about it. It’s not like me to sit down and tell you about a movie I have just seen, in fact many of y blogs are about movie’s I want to see or have seen. However on Tuesday evening my boyfriend came home and said I got  you this, handing me a ticket to the movie I have been waiting for all year. Yes folks that’s right The Hobbit.

We sat down to a 2D showing of the movie, I was little bit more excited than a 29-year-old should be but I didn’t care. However this always makes my boyfriend giggle. Anyway the adverts and trailers rolled on and An Unexpected Journey began. I have tired to read this book a few times, in high school it was our book for one ear but we neer finished it the second time I was up to chapter seven and lost my book. Dont panic I just brought a new one and as soon as I finish Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire I will be all over it. Anyway, the movie began and the screen fell silent, 2 hours and 48 minutes later we emerged from what I can only describe as nearly 3 hours of awesomeness.

The story for those of you who may not know is about a young Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who one day has a visit from an old family friend Gandalf the Grey Wizard (Ian McKellen). Who informs Bilbo that he wants him to join him on an adventure. Soon after 13 dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) arrive at Bilbo’s home at Bag End in the hope that Bilbo will join them. At first Bilbo say’s no and asks them all to leave, after a good nights sleep he joins them on thier quest to reclaim thier home from the dragon Smaug.

One of my favourite parts from the book is kept in the movie and that was the scene with the trolls, I was so happy when I saw this bit as it happens just as I pictured it when I read the chapter in the book. The Hobbit is a little lighter than The Lord of the Rings and has a bit more humor in it. Which makes for a great story, Peter Jackson just takes you back to the land of Middle Earth as if you are sitting down with an old friend. That had been away for a while and had a really good story to tell. Being back in Middle Earth is every thing it should be. My other favourite part is Riddles in the Dark, where Bilbo first meets Gollum.

Andy Serkis again brings Gollum to life and he does it so well, in this one however I felt sorry for Gollum, his love for the ring has driven him made but there is an innocence about him in this one that only Serkis could bring. Serkis even took on the added role in this movie as the second unit director which is great for him. There are so many great actors in the is movie as well that I just can’t name them all. If you havent seen and like the Lord of the Rings then The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey will fill you it joy. If you have already seen, then go again I know I will be.

If you do enjoy it it’s a only a year’s wait to part two in this trilogy, which is called The Desolation of Smaug. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, i going back to my Hobbit hole now where its safe and nothing ever happens.

Wednesday Whimsy

By: Caelrona

Hiya all! Caelrona here with another dose of Wednesday Whimsy. This week I actually have some stuff to write about for all of you. It isn’t geeky per-se (although I am making fun of people) but it’s pretty funny, so it should count as whimsical =) I’m not going to talk about geeky goings-ons in my life, because it is just as eventless and boring as it was last week – but about things going on here in my home country of America. Now you might be asking yourself, what could be so interesting in America that I would write a blog post about it? Sports? Nope, not interested in the world of sports even if it is Football season here (For those of you who are not familiar with American Football, it is sort of like Rugby for pussies wearing Kevlar armor with a bunch of rules and regulations that take away all the blood – I mean fun.) Politics maybe? Excuse my language, but hell no. What then, could be so interesting? Stupidity. If there is one thing Americans excel at, it is making absolute fools of themselves, usually over the most amazingly silly things. Most recently it has been over food, which I thought was kind of funny. As a geek I have my favorite gamer snacks, and I’m sure you do too. But I certainly am not going to rage or pay out the nose to get them. Anyway it’s always fun to laugh at stupidity together, so I thought I’d share it with you so that you can laugh at it with me.

 Hostess is going out of business. The maker of spongy, sugary, sinfully delicious and fattening snack cakes and pastries is closing. If you don’t know who Hostess is, I’ll wait while you go google it. Try searching the words Twinkie, Zebra Cakes, Snowballs, Ho-Hos, DingDongs and Zingers. Or you could check out the movie Zombieland. One of the main themes in the movie is Tallahassee trying to get his hands on a Twinkie. But why is this big news? Why is this even news at all?! I have no idea, but it is making headlines all across America. I guess people love their snack cakes a little more than I do. Whatever the reasons, people have been going nuts ever since the headlines were posted. Stores have been ransacked of anything with a Hostess label and people have begun posting boxes of the pastries and cakes online (try an ebay search, I dare you) for ridiculous prices. Even worse? People are buying them! When I looked them up on ebay, someone was selling 5 boxes for $80. That is ridiculous profit, because those boxes only cost like $2 at the store. Perhaps the absolute worst thing? People are buying them. Just for shits and giggles I watched that very same auction end – someone bought them. For $80 freakin’ dollars! That’s the price of two used video games right there, or a new one plus a little spare cash. Maybe it’s the geek in me – or it might be because I’ve never been overly fond of Twinkies – but personally I’d rather have the money than the snack cakes.

 

Among other stupid American news is yet another case of what I can only describe as ‘Holy shit, my country is filled with fuckin’ idiots.’ A very popular (overpriced, douchbaggy, ‘cool’, hipster, with mediocre drinks) coffee house franchise has been running out of one of their seasonal drinks very regularly and very quickly, much to the intense displeasure (*cough* profanity screaming anger *cough*) of their customers. It has gotten so bad that it made the national news headlines. Starbucks did so much promotion on the Pumpkin Spice Latte drink (which, I’ll admit is fairly tasty) that they can’t keep their stores stocked with the stuff to make it. They’ve been selling out the same day they get the stuff in – even the powdered instant stuff they sell which normally ends up in the discount bin after New Years has been flying off their shelves – and yet again onto ebay listings. I don’t know what it is, but when people can’t get their junk food (or drink) craving, they will spend crazy amounts of money on that stuff. Tins of the powdered instant stuff are selling on ebay for $20 a pop, when they can be bought at the stores for only $7. Not only that but people are listing recipes on how to make same-tasting Pumpkin Spice Lattes at home. Holy Toledo, people are actually paying for a recipe! The only possible explanation for all of this crap?

 

I guess it could just be that people are insane. Or stupid; whichever.

 

  Anyway, on a different note of insanity it is November now. I don’t know what that means for other countries, but in America this means two things; Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Nothing really too geeky there, but some fun is to be had anyway. Thanksgiving is all well and good I guess, but I’m most excited about Black Friday. Not because I’m going to be going shopping – but because I’m going to watch the madness on television. Every year it gets better and better. Riots, beatings and all sorts of crazy things go down. According to statistics about 20 people die every year on Black Friday trying to shop. This shit is insane. What should be just a fairly busy shopping day turns into the most wickedly awesome fights and riots ever. Seriously, this is one day of the year that the news is guaranteed to be worth watching. Fights start on Black Friday that put professional pit fighters to shame.

Well, anyway that is what is going on here in America. People are being stupid, and someone somewhere is going to die trying to buy some pajamas. Ahh stupidity – it’s always entertaining! Anyway, I’ve got some more madness to watch so I’ll talk to you next week!

Until next time;

Caelrona – signing off! ❤

MONDAY MUSINGS

By @hmsbeefnuts

Hello. Welcome to another Monday full of my musings. This blog is a bit of a weird one to write, but it has to be done. I know that this isn’t really a blog about Geeky Gems, Caelrona, Kirkiechick or my life, but if you will permit me, this one will start off as more of a personal kind of blog, but fear not, I’ll try to fit in some sort of geekery later on. I shall be taking a bit of a back seat around All Geek To Me Towers over the forseeable future. It’s been a bit of a crazy year for us here at All Geek To Me. We started this blog after a former attempt failed to mature into anything. Geeky Gem and I decided that we should try again, and we worked hard and came up with All Geek To Me. Since January, we have built up views and day by day, week by week and month by month, we have grown our views and site visits. I am very proud to say that as of the time of writing we have had 58,000 views, a number that we scarcely dreamed was possible.

11 months and 273 blogs later, we have built All Geek To Me into something we are all immensely proud of. Now I know it’s just a blog, but we appreciate every view, every comment, every like and follow. I still remember my first like for a blog, the excitement was palpable, and it still is a thrill to know that anyone read a blog I wrote, and actually took the time to comment, or like, so thank you to anyone who has ever done so. It is then, with great regret that I have to reduce my time here at All Geek To Me, however, I do have a good excuse. Recently I have kind of fallen head over heels in love with the most beautiful, amazing woman I have ever seen. She has an adorable 4 year old son, and we have been seeing a whole lot of each other. I don’t want to reduce this to dangerous levels of soppyness, but at the moment, I could not be happier. The social situation has not been kind to my time however, and I simply do not have time to write as much as I used too, and although I don’t really want to give up writing blogs, something has to give. I will still be here once a week to tap out a blog on my trusty keyboard, but the rest of the time I will be in work, or with my two favourite people on Earth (sorry, soppyness leaked in).

So with that done and dusted, time for some geekyness. November is a crazy time for video games, and although I have no time to play them, my geek soul would not let my wallet pass up the chance to part with some cash. Forza Horizon, WWE 13, Assassins Creed III, Black Ops 2 and Halo 4, have all been released and purchased by me in the last couple of weeks. I must be insane, as I have hardly touched any of them. What I will say though is that I have given up on multi-player. I have let my Xbox Live membership lapse, I have no interest in Black Ops multi-player or Halo for that matter, from now on, I’m strictly a one player kind of guy. What I will say is that Halo 4 is absolutely beautiful to look at, and a lot of fun to play, and I have had fun with all the games so far, just not had a whole lot of time to play them yet.

Movie wise, I haven’t really had time to watch anything in recent weeks, but The Hobbit looms large on the horizon, and I can not wait. In the world of books, I can confirm that I have finally finished A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow, and have started Blood and Gold. That has taken me almost a year to read, but I finally knuckled down and did it, and what can I say? It’s fantastic, truly one of the greatest fantasy masterpieces ever written. I know I’m late to the party on this one, but bear with me, I’ll get to A Dance With Dragons in good time.

TV is a bit of a sore subject at the moment. I have been enjoying Dexter, The Office, Parks and Recreation and WWE Raw. I have also been forced into watching The X Factor. Dear God what a horrible, horrible show, but sometimes, you have to do these things, and at least it is almost over, it is right? Please say it is…

So that’s it for this week. I hope you enjoy the other blogs that Geeky Gem, Kirkie Chick and Caelrona are bringing you over the next 7 days, I know I will be. I’ll see you next week with something a bit more substantial geek wise.

Wednesday Whimsy

By Caelrona

Hiya all! Caelrona here.. but wait, it is Wednesday! For those of you who skipped the last Wednesday post, the short of it is that HMS has given up his Wednesday slot and passed the torch, so to say, on to me. That’s right; from now on I’ll be handling the Wednesday posts, and although I can’t be promising it’ll always be whimsical I shall do my best! HMS did a lovely little intro for me last week, which I encourage you to read if you’ve not done so already. As HMS has done, and dear GeekyGems did the week before last, I shall attempt to tell you about random geeky goings-ons from ‘round my way. Not entirely certain I’ll be any good at that sort of thing, and I will probably end up blathering on until you’re quite ready to swat me but we shall give it a go! Anyway, on to the post!

Recently I’ve found myself with an awful lot of time on my hands. Since I’m more or less am done with my PS3 for a while (I had some sort of skin reaction to the controller. What? My PS1 never did that! Different plastic maybe?) I’ve moved on to random computer games. I’m on hiatus from World of Warcraft, even though I seriously am wanting to play with the new Pandaren race (So much) and I managed to burn myself out on Sims, even with the new Supernatural EP and all my mods. What does that leave me? Don’t laugh, but it’s left me Minecraft and Maplestory. Not really a combination most people would consider, but I’ve been splitting some of my free time betwixt the two and have been thoroughly enjoying myself. Want cutesy adorable gameplay? Maplestory it is! Want to fight zombies and have my wits scared out of me by the creepers (and damn them anyway, stupid hissing noise!)? Minecraft it is!

But alas, even those cannot fill all my spare time – indeed, I’ve played neither for nearly a week thanks to a combination of unpleasant circumstances. For one, I lost my internet connection for a good while, which is why you’ve not seen me posting here at All Geek To Me. I shall spare you the boring details of attempting to restore settings to a nearly 10 year old router and get it to working. That nightmare was enough to put three very tech-savvy people into fits of rage that only geeks can manage in the face of uncooperative technology. Finally, I broke down and got a new router, which after a small hiccough, has been performing admirably well. The second setback is that I’ve been physically unable to play videogames – or, in fact, type particularly well. I’ve sprained my left hand rather badly and after three weeks of putting it aside I’ve been forced to visit a doctor about it, who wrapped it up quite well and set me to resting it. I feel like I’ve grown a flipper in place of a hand, and I’m sure you can see how this is quite the disadvantage for someone who wishes to type or play video games. I must admit, I’ve removed my bandages just to type up this post because typing one handed is incredibly bothersome.

Aside from all that, there are quite a few things I can do even with a bandaged flipper for a hand. Once such thing just happens to be one of my other favorite past times – reading. Among other books, I re-read the Harry Potter series this past weekend, and I must say; dearie me but it has been too long. I should really take a weekend to read them more often. Of course that sort of made it all the better. I couldn’t remember exact details; only my love – or hate – for certain characters and a general remembrance of the plot line. Thusly events were fresh and new for me when they happened, causing all the same (perhaps worse?) emotions and wrenching feelings that reading through the very first time brought to me. Of course not much has changed – I still find myself agreeing with James and Sirius that Snivellus – apologies, Professor Snape – was a despicable, whiny, pansy-assed, mean-spirited git who should’ve grown a pair of balls. I also still find myself mourning the loss of most of the characters you’d expect – Sirius, Dumbledore, Fred, Remus, Tonks and the like.

Luckily for my poor strained eyes there is something else besides reading that doesn’t require the usage of two good hands. That would be watching television. Not something I do very often, admittedly, but when I do I make it count. Recently I’ve been watching the new season of Walking Dead, which is quite excellent. Mostly I love how Lori is getting treated like dirt because I never particularly liked that skinny little cheater anyway. Every single episode something happens and I hope she’ll get bitten, but does it happen? Of course not. However, I have to say I’m super excited about the possibility of a zombie baby – Holy cow wouldn’t it be amazing if it ate its way out of her stomach?! – but I have a strong feeling that the series won’t be going that direction. Not only because it would be wonderfully morbid, but also because the graphic novel doesn’t go there. Although it certainly wouldn’t be the first diversion the TV series took. Carl is turning into a disrespectful little pervert, but I suppose that is what happens when you go through puberty during the zombie apocalypse with Lori for a mother. I’m also enjoying the way Carol’s character has developed – the weak simpering crazy lady from the comics is much improved in the television version.

Ah, but it pains me to write this (no, seriously =P ) this post must be coming to a close now. Hopefully by this time next week I’ll have my bandages off for good and regained full usage of my poor hand.

Until next time;

Caelrona – signing off! ❤

Autumn of Terror: Who Was Jack the Ripper?

By @hmsbeefnuts

Last time I blogged about Jack the Ripper, we looked at his reign of terror, during the Autumn of 1888. Now his crimes were appalling, but the mystery of who he was still draws in people to this day. It’s time then to look into some of the likely, ridiculous and interesting suspects, that have been suggested over the years by various police officers, ripperologists, and so-called experts. Nothing excites those interested in Jack the Ripper like a new suspect and theory, so over the years, there have been many brought forward, and many rejected, so without further ado, lets name some suspects shall we?

Francis Tumblety

Tumblety was a homosexual quack doctor, who was said to have a deep hatred for women, and a collection of uteri, that he delighted in showing people. He was in Whitechapel at the time of the murders, although he was an American. He led a very interesting life, being arrested for his complicity with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, although he was released with no charge. I at one time spent a summer with a friend trying to write a TV show about Jack the Ripper, and Tumblety was our choice for the Ripper. He may not have been the murderer, but he was mentioned by police at the time, and he certainly is a fascinating character.

Sir William Gull

Part of the Masonic/Royal conspiracy theory that was popular for a time with certain people, and the killer in the Johnny Depp movie From Hell, Gull was the Doctor of Queen Victoria. There is not a lot of evidence that he was involved, but people love a conspiracy, and a conspiracy involving Royalty is even better.

H. H. Holmes

Another American, and a confirmed serial killer. In 1893 at the Chicago Worlds Fair, Holmes opened a hotel, one specifically designed to feed his lust for murdering women. It is claimed he may have killed more than 200 victims, although he only confessed to 27, and only 4 of those were confirmed. He is a Jack the Ripper suspect based on a hand writing experts opinion that letter Holmes wrote whilst in prison, are identical to those supposedly written by Jack the Ripper.

James Maybrick

More than a few years ago now, a diary was said to have been found that was supposedly written by Jack the Ripper himself. The diary was that of James Maybrick. I have read the published diary, and it is a good read, if you like that sort of thing, but it has been proven that the original diary is a forgery.

The Duke of Clarence

Supposedly driven mad by syphilis, mad enough to walk the streets of Whitechapel murdering prostitutes, Prince Albert Victor is the most important suspect ever named as the Ripper. Of course, it is certain that he didn’t do it, but he is also linked to the Royal Conspiracy theory with William Gull. Some people just want to blame the great and good, or not so good, depending on your point of view.

Others

Of course, there have been hundreds of suspects brought forward throughout the years. Even famous names, such as Lewis Carrol, artist Walter Sickett, and popular Victorian actor Richard Mansfield, who was thought a suspect because of his terrifying portrayal of Jekyll and Hyde, which was a popular stage show at the time. Also Dr Bernado, the famous benefactor of children’s homes was also thought to be a suspect, but there is no evidence to suggest that any of these men were responsible, and in some cases, it would have been impossible. It seems if you were a famous name who frequented London at the time of the Ripper killings, then you can become a suspect, well it will certainly sell books. Could the Ripper have been a woman? Jill the Ripper has been suggested over the years, from a crazed midwife, to a woman driven mad by the fact she could not have children, she took it out on the lowest orders of society.

Who really knows? Well we will never know for certain, unless some faultless evidence comes to light, but really, it is the mystery that keeps people interested in the Jack the Ripper case, no one really wants to know for sure, suggesting suspects is far too interesting.