TV-series. Dr.Who!

Watching Dr.Who is entering a world of imagination, quick remarks and brilliant stories. I love Christopher Eccleston, I love Matt Smith, but the one I'll talk about in this entry is my dream Scotsman, David Tennant!

I believe I have let it slip that I'm somewhat of a nutter on the whole Dr.Who business. Not the old series, although I have checked them out as well, but the new series, and then in particular the adventures of the tenth doctor.

What can I say about the series that probably changed my life? Well, I can't put my finger on what it is, really, I guess it speaks to my creativity, and that's always a good thing.
SPOILER ALLERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, The Doctor is a time traveller from a planet far away called Gallifrey. He's what is called a Time Lord, he has two hearts and when killed he regenerates and gets a new face. Currently he's on his eleventh regeneration, I've heard a rumor there are only thirteen, but that might be a rumor, can't even remember where I heard it. What's more, he is the only one left of his race. He's alone because he at one point killed his entire race, and his planet to kill the Daleks... This makes him the most dangerous man in the universe, what's more, he's also a thief...he stole his Tardis. Time and Relative Dimension in Space... TARDIS. His vessel, made to change into whatever is convenient, but stuck, presenting a police box from back before I was born...So you might think that the Tardis is small, but using Time Lord technology it is bigger on the inside, another convenient trade.
The Doctor and his Tardis have a relationship many can only dream of, but the Tardis only spoke once... One of my favorite episodes with Matt Smith, but I'll get back to that...

The Doctor seldom travels alone, and my favorite companion is Rose Tyler.
And if the story is presented correctly, and we must assume it is, she's the Doctor's favorite as well, because a version of the Doctor is living in a different universe with Rose, and that's another story I'll get back to, and probably in another entry.

My favorite Christopher Eccleston episodes (series one, the new series)
are The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances, Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways. All of them featuring Captain Jack...no, not Captain Jack Sparrow... although I'm sure the Doctor would get along famously with Sparrow. The Captain I'm talking about is Captain Jack Harkness, an alien (or so it becomes apparent if you watch Torchwood, a spin-off from Doctor Who. I'm not sure of all the details about Jack Harkness, but I do know he goes both ways...oh, and he can't die! I'm a bit confused about the whole Jack Harkness. I saw an episode where he was from an alien planet, but that was, as I said in the Torchwood series. If I'm wrong and have my details mixed up, then I beg your sweet pardon...I, on the other hand, am only human. And as a human I have learned my lesson. Captain Jack starts off as a human from a foreign colony based on an alien planet. He, however, ends up less than human, mysterious and text-book enigmatic...).
I could go in detail about the stories in these episodes, but if you by now are intrigued, then my telling you might destroy the experience.

The first episode I ever saw was called Daleks in Manhattan, and I fell in love with David Tennant right there. I bought the second series, as that is where he first figures and there I fell in love with all the other characters as well, and the story and the colours and the music and well, everything. I watched the episodes over and over again, and I wrote as I watched. Some people use music to help them work, I used, and sometimes still use, Doctor Who when I write. And although the acting some times is way off, and the stories are so far fetched that you really have to be a fan to watch them, the main story and most of the episodes hold high standards on every level.
David Tennant, esteemed Shakespeare actor (check out his Hamlet...), had wanted to be the doctor since he was a child, and he's the living proof that it does help believing in your dreams. He became one of the Doctor incarnations that everybody really really really likes. And I, for one, cried my eyes out when he regenerated. Yeah, Matt Smith is great, but he's not David Tennant.

My favorite Tennant episodes are many, and I probably should list them all, but I'll keep to the point, because I really think you should check it out and make up your own mind. So these are my absolute absolute favorites.
The Girl in the Fireplace.
Army of Ghosts and Doomsday.
The Shakespeare Code...obviously...
42.
Blink.
Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead.
The Stolen Earth and Journey's End.
The End of Time (parts one and two).

And these are only my absolute favorites, so it is quite clear that I'm somewhat of a nutter...And I think it's "Brilliant!"

Christmas list

I've posted an entry where I listed my favorite films for Christmas... This entry will be a bit like that, only I will list the ten favorite things I like to include in my Christmas celebrations, no matter genre... Oh, it's gonna be great...

12.
Snow
The notion of a white Christmas is probably a defining thing for most of us, even the ones living in countires where the sun always shines would relate to the "White Christmas". Now I'm going to bring you along down my memory lane to the most magical of Christmases when talking about snow.

I think I was around 15-16 at the time.
December had been without as much as a single snowflake, and I think we all dreaded Christmas, 10 degrees Celcius and dreary rain, but this was the Christmas we appeared to face.
I have always loved Christmas, like a child I might add, and this Christmas held no surprises or changes in my state of mind, but looking out the window as I awoke (to go downstairs, covered in my duvet, watching Disney), I was happy to announce to the entire house, thus waking them all (at least I chose to remember it that way...to be hounest, I'm sure my brother dragged me out of bed, and not the other way around...but this is my story, and I'm the shero...), that it was finally snowing.
And boy did it snow. Snowflakes the size of Hoth came rambling down to cover the earth, and within a few hours everything became that beautiful winter wonderland from the song. The next morning it started to rain, and by New Year it was all gone, but at least, that magical night we had more snow than on the North Pole, and I'll never forget the view from our living room window!

11.
Decorations
I just love decorating for Christmas. The more shiny red and green orbs I can find, the more sparkling angels and the more nick knack I can dig out the better my Christmas will become... especially the sparkling part... I'm like the crow, it doesn't really matter if it's real or not, as long as it sparkles...

10.
Making stuff
Along with writing stories, singing, painting, ignoring the dull house work, I also make stuff. New for this year are piggy banks... Only they are cylinders, or cartons. I take some plaster and cover them, then I decorate them with paint and glitter and the result is, though obviously home made, quite nice. And as I'm a poor student this year, this will serve as a Christmas card/gift... and I think the receivers, either they like them or not, should like them :-) They can take care of the money one doesn't need at the moment.

9.
Wrapping stuff
Now, when I have made or bought the presents for my loved ones, it's time to wrap them. I have always taken great pride in presentation, and the result is that my mother doesn't only collect the gifts I give, but also the wrapping in which it came. So, sometimes, when I open a closet or a drawer I find the Christmas wrapping from ages ago...but it nice to be appreciated like that... I mean, who doesn't like a nice present?

8.
Watching Travelling Strawberries' "The Julekalender"
Here in Norway we have something called advent calendar, a concept that would be known to most Christian nations...counting down from the first of December till the 24th. Some have a small piece of chocolate every day, some get a small gift every day, and always we have a TV-series having a continuos storyline, often with a theme of Christmas. These TV-series used to be for children only, but then around 1994 they made one for grownups, and this changed everything... Three guys got together and made the most surreal of series, based on a Danish concept from the previous year, and it was a fabulous success. People were going around in the streets quoting the advent series, and I think grownups remembered that joy of waiting for something great. And since then, this has been a tradition... I'm sure you have similar traditions in other countries, but this particular show is a show I like to enjoy during Christmas. I'm not equipped with much patience, so I like to put them on and watch at least half in one go, but hey, it's still magical...

7.
Finding that special present for my family and friends...
I am of the almost holy conviction that it doesn't matter what things cost, but that there is a thought behind the purchase. I love to go searching for things my family and friends, and then take them home to wrap them myself. I never let them gift wrap my presents in the store.
And having brought the presents home to gift wrap them, I decorate them...like I said, maybe while I'm listening to the Christmas album of Sting...

6.
Watching my Christmas films (watch entry on Christmas films)
I have written an entire entry on this subject, and of course I encourage you to check that out, as it has some very neat films in it...

5.
Walking around in a Christmas decorated shopping street or in a shopping mall ( I know that this is what many consider the low part of Christmas, but I really like walking around, taking my time, maybe with an ipod playing good music, and just be creative.).

4.
Getting the Christmas Tree in the forrest, maybe on a very, very cold day.
We drive for like ten minutes and then we reach the woods. Here we can either pay to go into the woods finding our own tree, then cutting it ourselves, or we can buy one that has already been cut... We usually go for the latter. And, no mistake, it could have been raining and have been above zero celcius all week, but when we're in that wood the frost always gets there. Maybe even snow... And we make it a family thing. My parents, my son and I and sometimes my brother... I wouldn't miss it for the world.

3.
Decorating the Christmas Tree, surrounded by family
Since I was a little girl, this part of Christmas has always been magical. And as I love things that sparkle, it's even better. My tree is always covered in (mainly) red and silver, it's such a lovely combination against that green back drop...

2.
Getting together with the extended family at noon Christmas Eve.
My father has a lot of brothers and sisters, and we get together at noon Christmas Eve to eat a rice-based porridge with one almond hidden somewhere. Whoever gets the almond gets the big price, often candy of some sort... I actually got the almond one year... But at the time my brother served the role as the trickster... So he had announced that he had discovered the almond. He had already received the price. And then when I actually found the almond for real, my grandmother didn't believe me...and I almost cried... But my brother told it as it was, but still. The only time I actually found the damn almond, and he almost ruined it for me... But I have high hopes for this year...

1.
Celebrating Christmas Eve with the ones I love, enjoying a good meal, enjoying the good conversation, enjoying the gifts, and enjoying the fact that responsibility in terms of work and studies are paused this evening. The only thing that matters are the people present, and in particular my son.

Feel great while preparing for Christmas. :-)