Links And A Magical Consulting Detective.

So... it's been a while... I apologise for that, for some reason things got busy and when I did have the time for blogging, I had no inspiration. Current story of my life - 'I have time to write, yet I have no ideas/doubt my ideas... well damn, guess I'll just read all day.'
Anyway, I've decided to combine three blog posts into one, because I have time, and because I want to. My blog, my rules!
First things first, on Sunday, I finally bit the bullet and started uploading original fiction to Wattpad. I've been debating this for months, but have decided that it's a good idea to start uploading, because what have I got to lose? I've got ideas in my head, a novel series world to build, and the perfect place to start posting some short stories to hopefully gain some interest in my writing. So, I wrote my first 'worldbuilding' short story to my original novel series, and will hopefully continue to do so whenever I get the chance. If you want to check it out, the link is here. I've possibly not done everything I should have with posting it, but hey, I'm new, I'll work it out eventually. If anyone has some tips on how to use Wattpad though, please do drop me a message - I'm useless with new websites!
Another thing I've recently posted is my new vlog, this time about 'Beating Writers Block' which is a bit appropriate considering how blocked I've been lately. So I figured I'd make a vlog to a) lift my own block and b) help others with it too. I hope some of the tips in there help you guys out!
Finally on the links front, I've also set up an account on PeoplePerHour, where anybody can hire me (for a small fee) to proofread their work/write 'about me' pages, or anything like that. So if there's anything you need proofing, or written, come hire me.
Now that business is attended to, let's talk Magic Mike XXL and Mr Holmes. Two very different films, and two films I thoroughly enjoyed for completely different reasons.
I watched both yesterday back to back in the cinema with my best friend, because we love a bit of Sherlock Holmes (even though I'm die hard BBC and she's Elementary... I won't go into that, I'd be here forever) and we loved the first Magic Mike. So we thought, why not? Let's have a cinema day! And that's how we found ourselves in the cinema for six hours to watch two films of completely different genre.
I'll start first with Mr Holmes, because we saw that one first. To say that I wasn't expecting what I saw is an understatement. In my head, I expected Ian McKellin's version of Mr Holmes to be well, like my Sherlock Holmes, brash, bold, beautifully flawed. But instead, what we see is an old man, a very ill old man, trying to figure out one last case with the help of his housekeeper's son. At 93, Sherlock Holmes hasn't solved a case in thirty years, after one fateful case, yet he can't remember why it was his last case, just that it was. John wrote it down of course, as he did with all of their cases, but the ending to this particular one doesn't feel right to Mr Holmes. So he tries to remember and write it down himself, in between tending to his bees and recalling his trip to Japan for a Prickly Ash plant.
I won't tell you why he wants that particular tree, or what happens in the case, but I will say this. Mr Holmes is an incredibly sad film if you're a die hard Sherlock Holmes fan who loves the character. If you're like me, and have enough time on your hands to analyse whichever source material you love most (for me it's BBC all the way), coming to the conclusion that Sherlock Holmes is an incredibly lonely man, then this film was be just a tad bit devastating, and then some. The writers have admittedly messed with canon a lot, leading to only mentions and shots of John from the neck down, a two minute scene with Mycroft and a Mrs Hudson who never speaks. All of which makes Sherlock the centre of this film, instead of it being Sherlock-and-ensemble cast. In that sense, it was a new take on the original canon, yet at the same time, I want to condemn the writers for doing that, as I know in canon John retires with Sherlock in Sussex, Mrs Hudson does talk and while Mycroft is more in the shadows, he's still there, instead of leaving his poor brother to fend for himself in this big, dark world.
Yet, despite this, I did enjoy the film greatly. Having only seen modern BBC Sherlock and Robert Downey Jnr's versions (don't sue me Sherlockian purists) until the long awaited Victorian Christmas Special comes out, it was great to see this great character as Arthur Conan Doyle intended, just quite a few years older, and without his usual team behind him. Ian McKellin did not disappoint as Sherlock Holmes either, something I never doubted he would for a second. There was not one minute of Gandalf The Grey or Magneto reflected in his performance, I almost completely forgot he was also those characters. Ian really was Sherlock Holmes, and dare I say it, more believable than Robert Downey Jnr. Maybe because he was English and subtle in his deductions, maybe because I wasn't expecting him to turn into Iron Man at any given moment, either way, I thoroughly enjoyed Ian's performance as Sherlock Holmes.
So, while the film is incredibly sad for people who believe Sherlock Holmes to be a very isolated character in their own canon, and also had me begging to see a little bit of Sherlock's interactions with John Watson, I did enjoy it. Little Roger was a joy to watch, and the way they treat Sherlock's illness is heartbreaking and beautifully written. The little tie-ins to the canon are perfect (seeing Phil Davis - the killer in BBC's A Study In Pink was a lovely little touch to the BBC's most famous production of the stories) and the film did just enough to make it stand out against the masses of other adaptions. Well done Mr Holmes!
Magic Mike on the other hand, was a whole different ballgame. Whole different genre, whole different universe to Mr Holmes. Obviously set in the present, Magic Mike XXL focuses back on ex-stripper Mike, taking one last trip to Myrtle Beach with his old stripper gang to take part in the stripper convention. The entire crew have decided to pack in stripping and get normal jobs, and so have decided to go out on a high together, having one last dance together before they say goodbye to dancing and hello to the 9-5 grind (no pun intended).
Again, I won't give away too much, but the plot surprised me again, as the first one did too. When I walked in to both Magic Mike films, I was expecting a whole lot of hot naked men, lots of dancing and not much plot (not that I was complaining) but instead I got hot men with depth and differing personalities, a bit of stripping and a real plot line. This is not about a group of men who don't want anything but to strip for their entire lives, this is a group of men who love stripping, but want real jobs, real girlfriends, and to follow their passions.
What surprised me even more, was just how respectful this film was to women. I really was not expecting this film to be so respectful to women, instead I was expecting us females to be used as basically props to hold up every male character. And while there aren't that many, given big parts, there are a few who jump in and out, all of whom aren't treated like props. They have thoughts and feelings, are witty and have desires. A group of middle aged women are not treated as throw-away women who are 'past their prime' they're treated with respect by Mike and his friends. They are told repeatedly that they deserve love and respect, that they deserve to be romanced and taken to cloud 9 by their man. Another female character does not back down to Mike once, instead puts him through his paces, and when she MCs for him and his team, she never stops telling the girls around them that they are queens and goddesses, that they are beautiful and deserve the attention these strippers are given them.
Hell, even the girls in the dances at the end aren't all stick thin models either. At least two plus sized women are given huge amounts of attention by our strippers, WOC were given huge amounts of attention, so many body types were included. I never expected that, it's subtle, but it's there, and I loved that about Magic Mike XXL.
The actual story line of the film is a good one too, the dialogue is witty again, and gives each character their own depth and personality. They're all given an opportunity to explore what they want their act to be, what they're going to do after their weekend of fun is over. It's bittersweet to watch, and more compelling than I thought. I expected pretty faces and no personality, I got pretty faces and personalities to match.
So while I wanted a tad bit more stripping (a girl does have needs) what I got was a film about beautiful men with real personalities, diverse amounts of women, and a whole lot of laughs. The Twilight and Matrix send ups were a fantastic surprise, Matt Bomer singing had me nearly falling out of my chair in surprise, and the end stripping scene more than made up for the lack throughout the rest of the film.
If you made me choose between Magic Mike XXL and Mr Holmes, I physically couldn't do it, I loved both equally for entirely different reasons. Mr Holmes was poignant and intriguing, Magic Mike was funny and a whole lot more inclusive than first thought. I'd recommend seeing both films, though just maybe not back to back, it's a culture shock to see both within the same day!

The Liebster Award

I'm horribly late doing this, but Cameron didn't tell me he'd tagged me in this until yesterday!
Thanks to him for tagging me in this, and here we go:

1. What’s your favourite movie/tv series?

• Are you sure you're ready for this answer? Currently I'm loving How To Get Away With Murder and Agents Of SHIELD, but my main ones have to be BBC Sherlock, Marvel, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer! 

1. Do you love reading? If yes, what is your favourite book?

• Hell yes! I'm always reading! Well currently I'm loving All I Know Now by Carrie Hope Fletcher, but the book I'm REALLY loving is Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell 

1. How would you describe yourself in 5 words?

• Writer, Vlogger, fangirl, tired and... nerdy 

1. Who’s your favourite band/artist?

• MCFLY! I adore McFly and McBusted! They got me into writing and I adore their music! 

1. If you could have 3 wishes, what would they be?

• To make a success book, to be able to own my own house, and to help people with their writing through my channel! 

1. If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

• Ohhhh, superspeed I think! It would save me a tonne of money in travel costs, and help me to not be late all the time!

1. What’s your all-time favourite food?

• Toad in the hole (I'm eating some now) or Chinese chicken balls, I could live on either! 

1. Where’s your favourite place to shop?

• Anywhere that sells geeky things, like redbubble, amazon, geektown, anywhere like that!

1. What’s your favourite colour?

• Black!

1. What is your future plan?

• See above wishes, with added moving in with my best friend and making our super awesome house! :)

1. Who do you admire most?

• Joss Whedon for writing, McFly for general life strength, Carrie Hope Fletcher for general life strength again, Benedict Cumberbatch for again life strength, the list goes on!

Sherlock Is Back!

Warning! Spoilers ahead!
Okay, I think i'm calm enough to write a review of the long awaited third season of BBC Sherlock, kicking off with 'The Empty Hearse.' To say the least, I was excited for this, I've been a very passionate Sherlock fan since the first episode aired, and I've been waited for this since Sherlock fell to his 'death' two years ago. So yes, I was excited, getting to the point where I was literally warning everyone I knew for weeks that if they dared disturb me during this, I was going to be biting their heads off. I was almost unplugging the phone, to make sure nothing disturbed my enjoyment of this episode, which in hindsight, was a good idea, seeing as the phone rang half way through.
But anyway, back to the review of The Empty Hearse. The episode started where The Riechenbach Fall left off, with Sherlock on the roof of St Bart's, talking to John on the roof, before he jumped. Then, we saw how he did it, using a bungee cord and Moriarty's body disguised as his own to fool John into thinking he's actually dead, when in fact he's bounced back up through the window and KISSED Molly Hooper (lucky, lucky woman) before walking off into obscurity. So then it turns out that this is just a theory by Anderson, who's lost his job due to his obsession with how Sherlock survived the fall. Lestrade turns him down and tells him he's feeling guilty for being involved in Sherlock's death, but Anderson is insistent, Sherlock is alive, he believes in Sherlock Holmes! Lestrade remains suspicious and tells him Sherlock is dead, he fell to his death and there is nothing bringing him back.
We then see John standing at Sherlock's grave, holding hands with a mystery woman, before seeing Mrs Hudson, he hasn't been round very often, it's been too hard for him to come over, because he isn't over Sherlock's death. Mrs Hudson believes him and John announces that he's met someone, and he's planning on marrying them. Mrs Hudson takes this as John has moved onto another man, leading to a very funny 'I'm not gay!' conversation, though Mrs Hudson still believes that John and Sherlock were a couple. (Bless that woman, I believe they're a couple too.)
And then another person is introduced, someone is running through the woods, in tatty clothes and long, messy hair, there's a helicopter chasing them, as well as people on the ground! Eventually, the figures falls and gets surrounded, and we then see this strange man being tortured by a Serbian man. The tortured man's face is not shown, but it's clearly Sherlock, as he starts deducing things about his torturer, making him run off to see his wife in the act of cheating on him. There's been another man sitting in the shadows, who comes over, telling the tortured man in chains that there's a terrorist plot in London, and his little brother needs to come back to London. Finally there's a shot of the tortured man's bowed head, it's Sherlock, and he smiles!
Obviously Sherlock is straight back to London and as he talks to Mycroft, he has a moment of looking like Khan with his sleeked back hair, and we start to see the 'new' him. He's definitely more bulked up, and a bit more human as he talks about popping out of a cake to surprise John, though he's still Sherlock underneath, with his lack of understanding of John moving on with his life. We also see more of this new nature when he goes to tell John he's alive, and this is really where Mark Gattiss out does himself with his research into what the fans wanted with a hilariously funny attempt to surprise John, involving a ridiculous French accent and a drawn on moustache, ending with a 'long story short, not dead.'
Martin Freeman is amazing with his reaction to Sherlock being alive, he doesn't faint like he does in the book, but instead reacts violently three times, leaving Sherlock with a bust lip and a bloody nose. Mary is also an instant hit with me, as she is a bit cheeky, and instantly likes Sherlock, and is clearly good for John too. I immediately warmed to her, before the episode aired, I was unsure of her and whether she would come between John and Sherlock (I ship those two a ridiculous amount) but she proves within minutes of her first appearance that if anything, she'll push them together more, and maybe provide some sanity between the two with their hectic lives.
Now I won't give anymore away, you'll have to watch the episode yourselves, but it is brilliant TV, and well worth the wait. Season three is shaping up to be different to the first two seasons, Sherlock is very different, he's more human for sure, and now up for a laugh. Mary is taking up a bit more of John's time, but other than that, the show is essentially the same. Sherlock and John, solving crimes in 221b, Sherlock is still a (lovable) smart arse, John still sasses him, Mrs Hudson is still not their house keeper and Mycroft still sticks his nose in, but this feels more homely, big things have changed, but the show is essentially the same. Though it's slightly worrying over whether Sherlock is back on drugs again, seeing as he is so much more human, and having auditory hallucinations. And we have a new nemesis in our midst, but where would the series be without it?
But in all in all, the episode is well worth the wait, it's funny and sweet, and heart warming in places. I can not wait for more from the series, and as they said in the seven minute preview from Christmas; The Game Is Back On!