17 Dec 2012

Flickr highlights - 2012

Here's a (relatively) small selection of some of my most popular and best things I've put up this year - some Doctor Who related, some of where I live and other places. For more photos, here's a link to my page on Flickr.

TARDIS (of Mars) Summer Breeze Cyber Love An Awful Lot of Running sunday afternoon Autumn/Winter The Empress Hunting Bath in Miniature II Walk Across a Summer Meadow Tunnel of Love Lost at Sea Roman Baths Dalek Patrol Comic Book of the Daleks! Blue Sky Thinking Abandoned Hospital 1 Prisoner Zero Bath Cityscape Evening View Maximum Extermination! Musn't Linger Sunrise 2 "I am usually referred to as the Master..." Bennett Sunset The Dalek Invasion of Earth (colourised) Ben and Polly (comparison) pastel Now Loading “Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who would want to live in an institution?” Hooded Men Stars Asylum of the Daleks! sunday afternoon 2 pulteney street noir

15 Dec 2012

The War of the Worlds - The New Generation: review


Back in 1978, a musical was released, a strange, electronic, cutting edge musical of one of the first science fiction novels - War of the Worlds. Odd choice - but thanks to a resurgance in apocalyptic fiction, victoriana, electronic music, recent film adaptations, new reissues and stage productions, or simply because it's bloody brilliant... it's still very much going strong. But what's this? A remake?


It's a bit of an odd listen, especially for someone who's listened to the original a lot. It's not a remix - it's far more sympathetic than that, and hardly deviates from the original tracklisting, album length, songs or story. Because the original album has been remastered over the years, and slavishly recreated and rehearsed for the stage show - in order to sound exactly like what fans expect - you won't be surprised to know there's hardly any major changes in this new recording. Instead, there's dozens of new bells and whistles to back up the main tune, modern dancey eye-catching (ear-catching?) effects, echoes and whooshes. And, naturally, a new cast.


Two processes are going through my mind, simultaneously, when I listen to it. The first, is recalling the seemingly perfect, gospel text of the original edition. The second, is a sort of distancing effect, because the extra drumbeats and new synths modernise it and give the whole thing quite a different sound. I also thought it sounded more like a soundtrack to an adventure than before - as if we're just not seeing the visuals that no doubt flash up on large screens on stage; certainly they are conjured by your brain as you listen to it. Whether this was down to the performances, the depth of adding the new instruments, or simply me getting really into it, I'm not sure.

I've no problems with the new musical effects - there's some quite cool gimmicks (I loved the modern underwater bit), extra flourishes that might have been missed out on first recording, so let's look at the cast. Liam Neeson has a terrific voice for the Narrator figure, which helps carry the whole thing along as marvellously as Richard Burton did, and in a similar tone.
Of the singers, Gary Barlow does a good stab at a Justin Haywood impression - but, should he? The version of Forever Autumn is still very good, but is it a bit too faithful? And, dare I say it, is there a whiff of Autotune about his vocals? With Joss Stone, I have the opposite reaction - she's too different. Her voice is good, but it's oversung - there's the annoying habit of adding in far more notes than should be required, giving it a ridiculously overdone feeling to one of the better songs on the original album.
Alex Clare and Maverick Sabre (great name, up there with Lex Shrapnel) don't quite shrug off the original performances, but are well chosen certainly. I was impressed, though, with Ricky Wilson's Artilleryman - not just in singing capability (even if the vocals are a bit overlayered), but in acting. A very natural tone, and makes Brave New World one of the highlights of this.

So, overall - it's different, and certainly interesting, but notably faithful to the original. The cast are, on the whole, great, the new instruments sympathetic, and I'm sure this nuanced version will sell bucketloads for the shiny new up-to-date stage show. And they haven't messed about with Dead London too much, so that made me happy.

It certainly proves this musical has a lot of life left in it. I think this second album will date as the first - something that oozes quality, but is definitely of its time. Whether a third album comes out in years to come, remixed to oblivion, or ground to a pulp under folky cover versions, who knows?

7 Dec 2012

Do you want to do a Maths Degree?

Well, do you? Here are five criteria from me that, ultimately, might help the decision process:

1: Do you like mathematics?

Or rather, do you really like mathematics? And I don't strictly mean if you're good at it or not. Probably, you won't realise if you enjoy maths or not, until about halfway through the degree. Because there's nothing like ten weeks of solid problems to stimulate or shut down the mental processes.

2: Do you like learning?

You'd better. So far, maths lessons for you will have been, ultimately, building on what you did the previous module, or term, or year of study - with the odd exception, such as when you first discovered trigonometry, or calculus, or anything else that would send a normal person running and screaming. But then you find yourself at university, and the first lecture chucks everything you knew out the window. In my first few weeks, I was eagerly clinging on to the bits of differentiation and integration that I recognised amidst the sea of greek letters and set theory. Don't worry - it becomes much easier with time. But you will have to learn a lot of bizarre new things, and fast.

3: Are you terribly precise?

I'm presuming so, as you've got this far. I'm not talking about handwriting - some students I've seen have appalling handwriting, especially in maths. Rather, in copying down symbols and words and phrases from the board. One thing you can't do is just copy down any old rubbish, and copying down blindly means you can't always get the gist either. Mathematics requires precision, almost to the point of pedantry, when it comes to notation. Count your brackets! Swot up on Greek letters! Learn some logic!

4: Are you good at exams?

Compared to other university courses, mathematics particularly seems like a breeze. You won't have a report to hand in every week. There's no compulsory books to read up on. No essays, really. In fact, during the term time, you'll only have one or two pieces of coursework to hand in, three if you're very unlucky.

But then you come to the exams. The exams - which, by the way, are worth about 95% of your grade for this term - requiring you to basically do fifteen questions in ten hours. All crammed into about two weeks. Let's face it, if you're better at coursework than in examinations, I'd probably advise a different subject.

Of course, during the weeks leading up to the exam, you have lectures, you have problem sheets, you have a mounting pile of work that you really should do if you want to pass the exam. So whilst it's by no means a breeze, it does mean you can work at your own pace. Or rather, you can skip a few weeks of work, nobody will notice, until you have to stay up all night before the exam.

5: Do you know what you want to do afterwards?

The choice is simple. Do you want to be an engineer or something practical? Do an engineering course. Or something with computing? Step forward Computer Sciences. Most jobs have a course attached to them - aeronautics, finance, law, even media, ultimately... Mathematics? Well, most of it is theoretical. So, tough luck. But the good news is, maths degrees fit into every kind of job. (Actually - I'll get back to you on that one...) The sort of degree that tells people you've got the brains to do really complicated stuff. Because at the end of the day, it's not the really complex processes you learn in the final year... but learning the way of thinking that you need in order to implement them.

Unless you're one of these people who wants to go on to do a PHD in the subject. Shortly followed by a trip to an asylum, I presume. (joking, joking...)

So... that's my personal advice to any wannabee maths graduates. Oh, and also - it's a great subject - highly engrossing, entertaining, challenging, baffling and rewarding, if you want it to be.

30 Nov 2012

Akhnaton - a play by Agatha Christie

As you might expect from the striking front cover and title, this is something a bit different. In fact, I'd probably never read it if it wasn't for Agatha-Christie-devouring completeness.

It's a historical play (so not a murder mystery) set in Ancient Egypt. It's never been properly performed however (though she must have liked it to want it published), and has 'little commercial value', apparently. Which I read as code for being 'utterly boring'.

But whilst it's not boring, it is a bit dry. You don't need too much background knowledge when reading it - entry level Egyptology will suffice' - but the play concerns the reign of the pharoah Akhnaton (whose wife Neferiti was probably more famous, as was his successor Tutankhamun), and his subsequent downfall. The play wobbles between historical background and research (names of gods, practices, lineage and castes, especially apparent in long speeches) with typical human drama and emotion (idle talk between townsfolk, many of the characters' conversations). It's melodramatic, and more highbrow than your usual fare.

But altogether, it hangs together quite nicely. For its big scale and subject matter (there's many sets and costumes, and always talk of far off rebellion) it wrings every bit of human drama out of the royal court, with the mad king (which felt a bit Shakespearean, but it works), his right-hand-man, and plots against him by priests and saboteurs. He was the king who shook off using multiple religious gods, instead reverting to one, represented by the sun. Agatha paints him as young, artistic and peace loving, ambitious but weak and misguided, and ultimately very very mad. So that's fairly hard to warm to, when your main character goes off on one at the end of the scene.

Whilst it's nowhere near the usual Agatha Christie in subject matter (despite her referring to history and archaeology many times), somehow in places characters end up talking very much like Agatha Christie characters, circa 1937 when it was written (seriously, the discussions about the nature of art could come straight from Five Little Pigs or The Hollow).

Its main feat is creating an actual readable (or performable) play out of such a sparse, yet rich, strain of history. It's worth noting that, as it was written in 1937, much of the historical 'accuracy' has been disproved by now, or even by 1973 when the book was published. It was only written fifteen years after Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun's tomb. However, given the historically dry subject matter, to experts and non-experts alike, her later Ancient Egyptian murder mystery Death Comes As The End is probably a safer, more mainstream choice.

26 Nov 2012

Merlin - a retrospective



In a land of myth and a time of magic, the destiny of a great kingdom rests on the shoulders of a young boy/man... his name, Merlin!

Today's news - Merlin's been axed. Well, that's not strictly true. It's the announcement that this series will be the last, and that the creators are ending the show properly. And it's definitely the right time to do it.

The creators have had a plan, and they've stuck to it. Unlike most shows, which could run and run and run, albeit with a change in cast, you have to admire the ambition of this one. The principal, what, five cast members have been there since the first episode - Tony Head naturally dropped out, he had to eventually. Because whilst this series isn't defined by the Arthurian myths and legends that's inspired it (they're a bit of a contradictory bag anyway, and Merlin being the same age as Arthur is a big change anyway), it's a series that sticks to the overall legend that we know.

Right from the start, Merlin is given a destiny - to help Camelot become great and Arthur become king. And whilst the series premise hasn't changed too much since then - there's still monsters and plots and keeping magic secret - one of the most appealing things is how much the show delivers. We've seen Arthur become king, and more controversially, Gwen (a humble serving girl) becoming queen. The knights of the round table have been gradually formed together, bolstering the supporting cast, and a Dragon has been freed (the wonderful John Hurt imprinting himself onto a new audience), and another born. Morgana's turned evil and we've even seen an artificially aged Merlin, the one we know of legend. How's this going to tie itself up? You just know that the creators have something big and special planned for this last ever adventure.

Old Merlin. Who really has to be seen to be believed - he's hilarious
But the series itself has changed. This series has seen a 'darker' tone (well, they've been saying that every year!) and a later timeslot - and we've had spooky hauntings and ghosts, alongside epic quests and fiendish villians - perhaps more so than usual. Even if the encompassing legend could sustain itself for another 13 episodes, the timeslot would be approaching post-watershed at this rate! It's a far cry from the first series, where the scariest things were griffins or powerful sorcerers - but it has a feel of its own, sowing seeds like Lancelot and Mordred and Morgana, but mainly in the cosy world of Camelot and the young cast.

First shown in 2008, you probably wouldn't think the series would have run for five years solid (even Doctor Who had to have a break). Whilst I suppose its predecessor Robin Hood was filmed in Hungary (and that only lasted 3 seasons, just - similarly going a bit darker towards the end), a series carefully filmed in both France and Wales seems ambitious. Add to that there being sixty five episodes of Merlin, the series still going as strong as ever (the ratings are as high and steady as ever), it is a tribute to the inventiveness of the crew and the chemistry of the regular cast that it's lasted this far.

Of course, before I get lost in the rhetoric, there's been a few bumps along the way. Whilst in recent times the show has changed its status quo, things became slightly predictable when, every episode, Arthur completely fails to notice Merlin has saved the day. Or that certain characters barely get a line in some weeks. Or the slightly warped geography of Camelot's lands, which take half an episode to traverse. And how many times has Morgana come back from the brink with an even more ludicrous plan (and hairdo)?

You'd think she would have smartened herself up before trying to kill the king, honestly.
 You can look at the series either as a serious drama, or simply as forty five minutes of adventure on Saturdays - and if you do the latter, you'll find it far more enjoyable. You might even laugh at some of the deliberately comedy episodes ('filler' or not) - I particularly like Sarah Parish's outlandish troll two-parter, but it left some viewers a little disheartened, to say the least. There's plenty of 'epics' though - battles and wars and storming of the castle have become the norm for series openers and finales, often spearheaded by Morgana and her ally of the season - some notable guest stars, including Emilia Fox, and also Tom Ellis with long hair - go figure. (I must say, the finales and two parters do merge into one in my memory - but they're always epic).

Each week, if you paid attention online, you'll typically find people (the fan appeal of Merlin is getting broader and broader by the series) claiming the latest episode to be the best yet, or utterly cliché, or silly, or too scary, or any number of opinions - just like Doctor Who, in fact! Despite this, it's still a shame that the series will actually end - this Christmas! But you know that they'll go out their way to end the show on a high (no pressure, folks!)

So farewell, soon, to the show that gave us myths and legends; ghost stories and love stories; topless knights and Puzzlewood; the most phenomenal lead actor with the best English accent to come out of Northern Ireland; and not one scene of Richard Wilson saying 'I don't believe it!'. (Quick - recommission it, for that alone!)

25 Nov 2012

The Novels of Agatha Christie

About four years ago, I decided to read some Agatha Christie. I'm not entirely sure why - I'd not seen any on the telly, so it was probably because of Doctor Who. I started with the perennial 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd', and then 'Death on the Nile', and before I knew it I had made a pledge to consume the entire back catalogue, through the help of my local libraries. All eighty or so books!

So in this post, I'm going to guide you through the highlights and highpoints - mostly the classics you might have heard of, but they're classics for good reason. This is probably a list of some of the best things she's written - unlike Sherlock Holmes, say, her novels are far better than the short stories.

The novels broadly divide themselves into three categories - the ones starring Poirot, the Miss Marple mysteries - her two most prolific detectives - and the 'other' category, of which there are many. Not all of these are murder mysteries - there's also some brilliant thrillers, as well as delving into the romantic and supernatural,

A word of advice if you're picking books off the shelf - broadly speaking, 'vintage' Christie tends to be stories written around 1930 (her early twenties work take a while to hit their peak) to 1950 (in the novels of the late 60s and into the 70s, written in the last years of her life, the standard of writing and plotting has noticeably slipped). And if you remember the TV (or film) adaptations beforehand then, in most cases, don't bother reading! Honestly, you'll enjoy them far, far more if you don't know what's going to happen next.

The Hercule Poirot novels

In my opinion, the best of the bunch - I prefer Poirot stories to Marple, if only because they contain some of her most ingenious set-ups. Poirot was the first detective she came up with - and, together with friend and narrator Captain Hastings - is basically Sherlock Holmes... but Belgian! Whilst early stories deal with many Holmesian ideas - Inspector Japp takes on the beleagured police role, there's a wife for Hastings, even an Irene Adler figure - he soon grows out of his trappings into something much greater. So - which are my favourites?

The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Her first novel, written as a bet, and designed to be surprising and unsolvable, yet all the clues are before us. You could do a lot worse than this, a fine country house mystery. (Poirot returns to the house of Styles in his last (chronologically) story, 'Curtain'. But that's a whole other novel.)

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Controversial, ingenious, and probably not the best choice for a first dip into Christie - although it is one of her very best. I'll say no more!

Murder on the Orient Express
Infamous, especially the ending - but if, like me, you don't know who did it, it's a perfect chance to dip into Poirot's most famous adventure. There's lots of atmosphere created by the isolated setting of the train, and the investigation is methodical and ever intriguing...

The ABC Murders
Another downright classic, probably my absolute favourite Poirot - if only because it's such a different style to the others. A serial killer is working his way up and down the country, and through the alphabet, going from Andover to Bexhill, to Churston... thrilling and satisfying!

Cards on the Table
A slightly contrived, but enjoyable murder here - four criminals playing bridge, and any one of them could have killed the man in the corner whilst they played... With a very narrow list of suspects, and hardly any evidence, this takes a more psychological approach, but is handled very well indeed. And of course, I must mention one of Agatha's most delightful creations: Mrs Ariadne Oliver, a writer of murder mysteries who provides a comedic counterpoint to Poirot on many later occasions.

Death on the Nile
Solid - that's the word I'd use. Whilst most of the books on this list are utterly ingenious, this one ties everything up rather most succinctly than most, and provides clues and suspects galore, which is probably why it's so popular. On a gloriously exotic and expensive river cruise in Egypt, passions come to a head, and a wealthy heiress is murdered...

Hercule Poirot's Christmas
You might not expect anything from that title - but don't be fooled. This is a bloody and fiendish locked room mystery, involving - naturally, for the time of year - a family who hate each other! This theme of bickering relatives is done many a time, but never as good as this one.

The Hollow
A later one, this - but it's on the list because it's very well written. At a weekend in a country house, a doctor is found shot in the swimming pool... Poirot has to sort through tangled relationships and a wealth of baffling evidence to catch the murderer...

Taken at the Flood
Another late one, which took me by surprise - and I've tried to come up with a range here. Whilst many themes are common, this one is set in the shadow of the Blitz and the War (something rarely acknowledged in these books, especially during the War itself, rightfully), and it has a thrilling solution. A young girl has found herself a widow and, much to the anger of the rest of the family, inheritor of a large fortune. But when a man arrives claiming that her marriage was invalid, things come to a head...

Also of note - because I'm restricting myself to only a few! - Five Little Pigs, Lord Edgware Dies, Peril at End House, Three Act Tragedy, etc, etc...

The Miss Marple novels

There's less of these ones, but she's still very popular. Whereas Hercule Poirot is a bossy private detective, Miss Marple is the opposite: a village spinster, with an equal eye on human nature! Perhaps it's this charming side of her character, and the stories themselves, that have made these so popular.


Murder at the Vicarage
This one's the first Marple, and probably the most famous. What I love about it is the characters. Whilst the murder and solution itself isn't one of Christie's best, the story is a real treat, as is the humour and liveliness of St Mary Mead. (And also, like so many others, the TV movie has a fab cast!)

A Murder is Announced
Probably the most enjoyable Marple there is. Not only have you got the village life that made the above so wonderful (also the setting for quite a few of these - not enough of them, I say), but also a gripping whodunit. When an advert in the local newspaper says a murder will take place at a local house, everybody is puzzled... until the hour comes, and a body appears! Very well written.

A Pocket Full of Rye
With this one, I saw it on the telly first, which made the book rather a chore. Which was a shame - as it's rather fine. Christie bases a few stories around nursery rhymes, but this one's rather more blatant (and therefore, surreal!) as there's suspicious murders involving a businessman, his wife and the maid...

Also of note: The Body in the Library, The Moving Finger, The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side.

The rest

It feels a bit wrong to sideline everything else into one category - here you have other returning characters, as well as stories with no detectives in them at all. Exotic thrillers, psychological dramas, crazy politics and spies...

And Then There Were None
The pinnacle. And her best selling novel, with good reason. The plot - ten people are invited to an abandoned island, but each of them has a secret past. When the island becomes cut off, and people start getting murdered, it is evident that one of them must be a homicidal maniac... A very suspenseful, utterly gripping story, the basis for which has been used many times since. And it's not as contrived as I've made it sound, honest.

The Secret Adversary
This book deserves a mention, as it's the best out of the five that star Tommy and Tuppence, a pair of young investigators who get imbroiled into a political mystery. Uniquely, they age the same rate as the books - unlike Miss Marple, who's a pensioner for about fifty years, they grow old together, whilst still having adventures naturally! In this one, they're up against an international spy ring in a pretty barmy, but well written and lively thriller.

Towards Zero
Probably the only 'proper' murder mystery on this last list. It could take pride of place in any Poirot or Marple collection, but instead features Superintendant Battle (who features in a few books, including Avengers style crossover Cards on the Table) - and he's not in it too much. A tennis player turns up to a seaside party, and where both his wife and ex-wife are staying. And then their host is murdered...
 

Death Comes as the End
Agatha wrote some odd books in her time (I particularly like the bonkers conspiracy thriller Destination Unknown, and there's also the baffling James Bond style The Big Four) but this one shows real flair. Whilst a few books are set around archeological sites, and in far eastern places, this goes one further... it's a murder mystery set in ancient Egypt! It works far better than you think, and contains all the usual charactering and intrigue.

Endless Night
A very late book, but very well written. It's told through the first person of a young man who falls in love, but dark events follow...

Also of note: Crooked House, Ordeal by Innocence.

So that's that - a quick guide to the best of the best of Agatha Christie. Of course, by this list I'm not saying the rest of the books are bad (well, not all of them, at least!). I'd advise any new readers to check them out, though. I know I've read eighty-odd, but I love her work to bits.

Coming soon: a (much briefer) guide to her short stories.