Collecting Celebrity Hugs

Hi Everyone,


So, now we have Connor in our lives this won't happen as often, but over the last few years I have been quite the collector of celebrity hugs.

What the hell am I going on about?

Well, on my first visit to San Diego Comic Con in 2013, I was hugged by John Barrowman (Dr. Who, Torchwood) and Manu Bennett (Arrow, Hobbit films, Spartacus).

When we returned in 2014, we also stopped by LA and went to two shows at the Hollywood Improv. So my list of huggers got WAY bigger. In 2014 we also went to a con on the Gold Coast (Australia) and I went to one in Sydney.

2015 was our final San Diego trip, since Connor was about to enter our lives, the last hug opportunity for a while.


So, I've been constructing this post for a few days and I think I'll need to break this up into a few entries as I'm planning on posting all the photos. Too many to mention!

So,

SAN DIEGO COMIC CON 2013 - Popping our Comic Con cherry

ok, wow. If you've never been to SDCC, you need to. If you have any shred of geek flowing through your veins, this place is paradise. A sweaty, smelly, brightly coloured paradise. So photos of my hugs...here we go.

John Barrowman
I got greedy and wanted to see him twice so we lined up for an autograph and scored an "over the shoulder" hug, then I got the professional shot done a few hours later. What was awesome was that he initiated the hug *squee*. Called me sweetheart too! Bless his gorgeous heart!

Manu Bennett
This was totally by chance. We had gone to the Season 2 preview panel of Arrow and were shocked that not only did we get in just before it started (seriously, where the hell was everyone?) but that Manu wasn't on the panel. We knew he was about to be Deathstroke in this upcoming season, but he wasn't featured. So as we were leaving the panel, we stopped by his booth to say hi, grab an autograph and a selfie, for course. Oh my god, if he isn't the nicest guy we've met at a con. He recognised our accents immediately and asked where we were from (specifically, not just Australia). Stunned, he told us he used to play football as a teenager just one town over, and that his sister currently lives in the same town as us! Small freakin world.
We had a chat for a good 10-15 minutes while people behind us got a bit shirty (sorry). We told him our thoughts about him not being on the panel and it turns out he actually wasn't invited :(
He said he really appreciated our support after we told him how we were so happy to see some Australian/New Zealand representation in US television, especially where they are allowed to keep a genuine accent. Not all of us sound like Steve Irwin. 
 
Ok, that's part one of what's sure to be a couple of posts. 
Feel free to comment and let us know you're reading, and let us know what you'd like to see us post about.

Until next time,

Jamie xo

The Clangers - Dominant enslaving race or inter-dimensional pets?

A cute little show about about 5 little moon mice who enjoy all things musical and discovering new things. An innocent harmless little show from the BBC, or is it?

Now, before I start, I've only experienced the new Clangers show not the one from the 70's, and yes ..... this is another children's show I've put way too much thought into.

The Clangers live on a desolate little moon with a variety of other creatures whose entire reason for existing is to assist in the up-keeping of the Clangers lifestyle.

  
The most obvious of this class system is the soup dragon. It lives in the soup wells of their little planet and and serves the Clangers all of their food. It's clear and present slavery if ever I've seen it. I checked the wiki before writing this to find out if there was a daddy soup dragon to explain where the baby soup dragon came from - it's much worse than I thought - the baby soup dragon was brought in when the original soup dragon became broody and stopped giving the Clangers soup.

Replace him !!!

So when one slave stops preforming, Tiny Clanger proves that the soup dragon could be replaced anytime they want, and now that the soup dragon is back to work it has the responsibility of raising it's future replacement.
It doesn't stop with the soup dragons either, the robot chicken is both their alarm clock and delivery service, the Skymoos are just used as transportation, the list goes on. At the centre of it all is the Clangers, innocent looking, but there must be something threatening about them to have enslaved the other creatures of their world.                                        -OR ARE THEY JUST PETS?-

My other thought of their existence gets a little wibbly wobbly trippy

What if the Clangers are just inter-dimensional pets, like gold fish or hamsters? Think about it - they never go far beyond their little moon - maybe that's the extent of their little universe (or tank). The robot chicken my be just another creature in the tank (like when you have a bristle nose or algae eater fish in a fish tank with the other fish to keep the tank clean),
In this theory the soup dragons wouldn't be the slave race they appear to be, they feed the Clangers, they are the pet owners, and a responsible pet owner feeds their pets.

Maybe the soup wells below the planet aren't a cave but a doorway to the "real world" outside the tank.


Or maybe the soup dragons aren't completely sentient beings themselves, a race with the ability to keep pets in small pocket dimensions may not have bodies that interact with the 3 dimensional world in a way we understand, so the soup dragons may be just a way to feed their pets like a hand inside the tank (or a puppet).  


So the little Clangers might either be enslaving conquerors, or mindless inter-dimensional goldfish, I'm not sure which idea makes the show more fun to watch. Or the other option of just sitting down with bub, removing your brain and just enjoying the show for what it is ..... fun.


                                                            MAT