The name of the Doctor...my own personal theory.

WARNING: If you have not seen the latest episode of Doctor Who ('The Name of the Doctor') and are planning on doing so, then please read NO further as this will reveal certain spoilers. If you have found this page from my Tumblr post, this is your last chance to turn back before you find out things about the episode and the future of the show. Don't care about finding out stuff or have seen the episode in question? Good, let's continue. Scroll down to find out.

 

.

..

...

....

.....

......

.......

........

.........

..........

.........

........

.......

......

.....

....

...

..

.

 

For this to be as clear as possible I will be using the actor's names of the Doctor to avoid confusion.

 

My theory is this:

 

When Doctor Who returned in 2005, Christopher Eccleston mentioned he was the last of the Timelords. The general accepted reason behind this was that The Time War occurred in between his eighth and ninth regenerations and the act of wiping out the Daleks also caused the destruction of every other Timelord and Gallifrey itself. It was also when he regenerated from Paul McGann to Eccleston.

 

HOWEVER, he picked the name 'The Doctor' so he could use his powers to save people. That was his promise, just as the Hippocratic Oath is a medical doctor's promise to prolong the life of every patient he treats, eight? And John Hurt is his 'broken promise'. Hurt said at the end of the episode that he 'did it in the name of peace', even if it wasn't 'in the name of the Doctor' as Smith protested.

 

My guess is that Paul McGann knew how to win the Time War, but his promise would prevent this from happening. So, he forced a regeneration into his darker side - represented by Hurt - which cared more about peace than saving lives, and THEN the Time War was won, the universe saved at the expense of Gallifrey. With that done, Hurt regenerated into Eccleston and vowed never to return to his darker side again.

 

I know this makes Smith the 12th Doctor and not the 11th, but that seems to be a minor error in the long run now.

 

I hope this make sense to you. Any queries or counterarguments, please feel free to comment below or inbox me on my Tumblr account. Thanks for reading.

 

Happy New Year!

Yeah, it's been a while, hasn't it?

So, things to mention: I am now into my third and final year of university, which is very scary, and at the time of writing I'm five months away from finishing all lessons and exams and seven months from graduating. And I'm scared, very scared. I know it's got to happen and it WILL happen, but I don't like how quickly time is going.

I'm still working for ELM and PlanetMosh as well, although working in a call centre is taking its toll on me and I wish to leave as soon as possible, but not until I have another job lined up. I DID have a job interview for River Island this Christmas just gone, but didn't get it which was a real shame, but I'm still plugging away at it and hopefully I will have a new one soon :)

Acting is thin on the ground aside from within my own course, however I DO have a nice little role in a play called 'Punk Rock' for one of my modules. Ooh, this is the same module that I got to go to the zoo with as well, which was rather wonderful. In fact, I went back 2 weeks later with a friend of mine! I also successfully ran a workshop with the Drama Society AND got my first directing piece performed at our Armistice showcase, which was very wonderful and great to see; my cast put on stellar run.

Talking of acting, I have decided not to go to Drama School in September - I'm taking 2-3 years out to do some outside performing and raise the money to pay for a Masters in Acting, which will most likely take me to London. But I need to pay 5 figures upfront and I just cannot afford that right now.

There really isn't much else of note that I can think of straight away, although I DO have a Tumblr now - http://man-on-the-edge.tumblr.com is me.

Hope to speak to you soon!

Laters xx

Building from the ground up.

It's been quite a while since my last blog post - a good six weeks or so, where lots and lots has happened. So let's fill you all in!

Firstly, my holiday was wonderful - a week in France where there was hardly a cloud in the sky and temperatures hit 40 degrees at some points. My room was double and en-suite, there was free WiFi - so plenty of networking happened - and because the guy who owned the place was English, there was even a TV with Sky Plus attached to it, meaning I could watch the Olympics and not have to worry about having no idea what was going on. And wow, weren't the Olympics great? I really feel we did the country proud, not just with our Opening and Closing Ceremonies but at how well our athletes performed and really stepped up to the mark. It was a great time to be British and I couldn't be any prouder to be so.

And after that came Soul Survivor, and that was utterly fantastic as well. Our entire youth group was blessed over the whole week and God really showed himself to us. For me personally, he put me through absolute agony, but the result is that I have been stripped of all the negativity that had plagued me for the last year or so. Literally, it's all gone. I feel happier in myself, I have a lot more confidence in myself - heck, I even feel handsome. It's utterly unreal as to what he has done, and it's something I'm never going to forget, because he broke the chains that were holding me back and replaced them with his love and peace. That's what the title of this post is all about - I am now building from the ground up again, building for a brighter and happier future.

That future will soon become my third year at uni, which given that I feel great is set to be an absolute blinder. I have got lots going on, but not so much that I will be able to have a great time and get really stuck into things. I have seen my timetable for this year and it means I can easily fit a job around it, I am playing 6-a-side football for the first semester at least with my mates and I'm sure there will be lots more to come. It's all very exciting!

Right now, I'm still commuting a lot, but I should have all the work finished by tomorrow, at which point I start my church's festival! This is also shaping up to be great - I'm involved in so many different things there and have even got free 'camping' as I'm doing overnight security in one of the tents. Yesiree, it's all looking up, for a change. I'm still single, but I know that there is somebody out there and I'm not troubled in the slightest by other relationships any more: I know that my wonderful woman is just around the corner from me and when she appears, I'll know it and things can be built up again.

Exciting times ahead, as you can see. And because I am now back blogging, I will endeavour to inform you of everything that goes on in my final year. After all, I wouldn't be living up to my title of 'From Fresher to Graduate and beyond...' otherwise, would I?

Laters xx

Life is one big yo-yo

No, literally, I mean that.

This whole month is so hectic I just HAD to write a blog post on it. How is it like a yo-yo? Well, I'm commuting from home to Bristol and back more than anything currently. In the last two weeks I've been travelling on a train more than I think I've ever been. Essentialy, I'm doing work for my dad during the day, commuting to Bristol for my evening shifts and then commuting back. I don't mind it at all, I've always liked train journeys. However, standing on a platform at 10 in the evening with nothing bu a vanilla milkshake to keep you going is not the most pleasant an interesting expeience. Nevertheless, it's putting money in my back pocket, and with a holiday coming up I should start saving.

Oh yeah, and THEN I have Soul Survivor, literally the day after my holiday. Words cannot describe how excited I am to be going back. It's my first time there in three years and I'm really looking forward to it. For all of you who don't know, Soul Survivor is a Christian festival in Shepton Mallet in Somerset. Every year, 8-12,000 people turn up for a week with a lot of tents, set them up in a field (well, the Bath and West Showground) and worship God. There are morning and evening worships in the biggest tent in Europe, and throughout the day there are various seminars, activities etc to get involved in, all around the teachings of Jesus. In the evening after worship there's live music, time to chill out etc - it's an absolutely fantastic week which also sees maybe 500-1000 people become Christians over a single week. And this goes on for three - Weeks A, B and C. Even if you're not a man or woman of faith, I would recommend you go along just to see what it's like. You may even surprise yourself ;)

After that, I have my church festival at Gorsley and then it's back into my third year at uni. Despite the fact I only have a year, I'm going to make the most of it and try to have an absolute blast in the process. For now though, I should probably be getting on with some work haha. One final thing though - congratulations to Spain for winning Euro 2012, even if you DID leave me £10 out of pocket.

Laters xx

I hate jobs.

You wait ages for one, and then all of a sudden two of them come along at once.

Oh yes, THIS blogger is back in employment!

So, what are you doing, I hear you ask? Well, the first one is at a place called ELM Legal Services, about 15 minutes away from my house in Bristol. It's a job in a call centre, but it's nothing like sales work - I ring people up and ask them if they have a will in place. If they say no, I ask if they would like to receive a letter of information through the post about our services. If they say yes, I confirm their details and hang up. Easy peasy. And it pays well and will fit very nicely in and around my studies when I go back to uni in September. Perfect.

The second one is a little more 'cooler' - I'm also working for Planet Mosh, a metal webzine, reviewing albums and the like. It's pretty cool, I have two reviews up so far with more to come as time goes on - you can find the one for Kids Can't Fly here and my Whitechapel review here. I recommend both of them to you highly. My next one will be up in over the weekend, I should imagine. I'll also be able to cover gigs and stuff too, I am so happy I'm working for them: a lot of experience and help on my Creative Writing front, for sure.

What else has been going on in the past month? Well, I performed in the Creative Writing Showcase, which saw me play a very gay director from New York, which was a lot of fun. I've got immensly jealous of everyone who went to Download Festival, I've recorded a radio play for the Drama Soc (which, with a bit of re-recording and editing will be aired on UWE Radio, yay!), I've booked myself in to attend Soul Survivor this year for the first time since 2009, and as I type this I'm sat at home having done a few shifts in Gloucester this week at the Cathedral Coffee Shop and done some work for my dad. Phew! A lot goes on in a month. Oh, and I've had my heartbeat pushed into hyperdrive by England at Euro 2012, which is a standard nowadays.

Iron Maiden kick off their new tour tonight in Charlotte, NC. It's based around 'Seventh Son of a Seventh Son', which is my favourite album by them EVER. The setlist won't be posted on here for the benefit of spoilers and the like, but it's going to be an utterly wonderful tour - even if they'll most likely play Download, which annoys me. Oh yeah, and to all the people who fucked off home without seeing ANY bands at Download 2012 due to the weather, and then complained about everything - shame on you. It's your own fault for spending £200 on a festival and not dealing with the rain. You all need a good healthy dose of Man the Fuck Up. Yes the festival could have been better organised, but you should have been prepared as well.

Anyway, rant over, I'm going to stay up and wait for Maiden's setlist. I will be back in touch soon.

Laters xx

More things about this week.

Look at this!

This is my Reader Review of Skindred in Bristol last month printed for all Metal Hammer readers to enjoy for the next month! I apologise for the average quality, the camera on my phone appears to have taken one too many knocks to bring it in focus properly. Proper chuffed it got printed, they're a magazine I'd love to work for in the future, haven't missed an issue for four years straight. I hope that my minor in Creative Writing will give me a good footing should I apply to work there. Of course I want to be an actor, and I probably always will, but should a career on stage and screen not work out then I'd be very interested in music journalism. It's little things like this that will be very useful in the future when it comes to showing what I've done in the past.

On an entirely different note, I have really got myself into Back to the Future in recent weeks. Not just film-wise: I genuinely believe I was born in the wrong era. Living in the 50s or the 80s would have been so much greater, as far as I'm concerned. I hasten to add that this would be AMERICA in the 50s or 80s. Don't get me wrong - I love where I am now, it's amazing to be able to contact the entire world with the tap of a screen and the push of a button, the ablility to watch live sport on the TV in 3D and have 1000 channels at your fingertips. But life back then seems so much SIMPLER. And cooler. Plus, I appear to be developing an attraction for females in 50s-style outfits. The woman who plays Lorraine in the film is simply smoking wwhen she's playing her teenage self.

That said, I know that it's from a film and would have been given the 'Hollywood treatment' that coats everything with so much sugar even the foulest piece of shit can taste sweet. I imagine young adults experienced the exact same problems we do now, and living conditions probably weren't as they are portrayed. But I'd love to go back and spend a week or two there, see how I get on.

Talking of the past, I have really got back into my old PS2 games. My PS2 itself is cream crackered, it only plays PS1 games for a start. So it was a welcome relief when my housemate's boyfriend set his PS3 up in my room. I have been playing Dark Cloud, Simpsons: Hit and Run and Robot Wars: Arenas of Destruction for hours at a time. It's been so much fun revisiting my past in the smallest of ways, even if I've found things about it as frustrating as before.

And today? Well I had another rehearsal for the Creative Writing Showcase I'm a part of, and then yet another spontaneous student barbecue. I'm loving the time I'm spending with friends, out in the back garden with smokes, drinks, food and laughs. It's absolutely wonderful and I am looking forward to more of them.

Right, I'd best start winding down this evening.

Laters xx

The Twenties: Chapter One

So, I have now been 20 for eight days. Or twenTEEN, as I was informed the other day. I apologise for not updating sooner, this week has been taken up by drinking and partying. Let's begin on the past week.

Monday saw me at my friend's house party - she turned 21 on the same day as me, so I spent the night there. It was all going well until I bought vodka...I remember very little now of the night in question - only photographic evidence reminds me that I was there.

Tuesday saw me recover, and much needed too!

On Wednesday I went for a meal with the cast of Titanic to ZaZa Bazaar's, an all-you-can-eat joint on the Waterfront. A very enjoyable time was had, I must remember to go back again. After a small time spent outside watching an exceptional travelling brass band. This was then followed by pre-drinks in Lloyds (again on the Waterfront) before some of us headed on down to OMG, a gay club on Park Street, with free entry and drink from 99p. And despite me catching three people in the face with my elbow and not getting home until 4am, I once more had a brilliant night.

Thursday was about recovering again, as the following three days were hectic.

Friday started by heading to Clifton Downs for more time with the Titanoraks and listening to the most beautiful voice message ever from one very drunk Paul Bailey on Wednesday night. Then it was down to St. Matts for the Summer Last Orders - which included a large football match on the sunken lawn - and THEN onto the Bierkeller for their Phuct Video Games night, which I admit would have been better if more people had turned up.

Saturday saw the annual Drama Ball, which was a lovely event on Campus again. I had a bit of a moment due to severe loneliness but on the whole it was really good.

And then we come to Sunday. From midday St. Matt's held a Fun Day on the sports pitch which included a barbecue, gladiator poles, a bouncy castle and sumo suits. After living over two decades on this planet I FINALLY learnt how to do a forward roll/roly poly, whatever you want to call it, so that was something of an achievement, but again it was just great to chill out and have a lot of fun with my friends. That evening saw a Summer Ball, which I went to, then went home and got changed and then returned because I felt horrifically overdressed. That evening, a few of us hit Mbargo's in town and I rolled into bed a very happy bunny.

So, that ended my first week of being a 20-something. And now I have to look forward to the Creative Writing Showcase on Wedensday and Thursday where I aam playing a world class director. It's gonna be amazing, you should all come down and watch it. Half 7, St. Matt's campus, Room M1. It's gonna be great.

Talking of the showcase, I'm off for a rehearsal now and I'll be abck later with a bit more of an update on life.

Laters xx