Hallo meine Lieben,

Dear readers,

It's the last day of the year and I'm spending a few hours of it on a train surrounded by a bunch of  drinking and chatting but surprisingly un-annoying young boys on their way to spend New Year’s Eve in the big city. Since they’re not pestering me or screaming rude stuff and seem very excited about their big adventure, I wish them a wonderful night while being glad I’ll be spending it more quietly and surrounded by far less people at a friend’s. We’ll have good food, good drinks, good fun, play board games and watch the fireworks from the rooftop. In the meantime, I decided to fill in the same questionnaire as I did last year to see whether anything has changed (more or less, I changed a few points). Want to answer some of the questions too?

Heute ist der letzte Tag des Jahres und zwei Stunden davon verbringe ich im Zug neben einer Gruppe biertrinkender, quatschender aber überraschenderweise nicht lästiger junger Burschen, die offenbar Silvester in der Großstadt verbringen wollen. Nachdem sie mich in Ruhe lassen und nicht ordinär rumschreien, wünsche ich ihnen viel Spaß und einen guten Rutsch, bin aber gleichzeitig froh, dass ich meinen Silvesterabend in wesentlich kleinerer und ruhigerer Runde mit Freunden verbringen kann. Gut essen und trinken, Brettspiele spielen und von der Dachterrasse aus die Feuerwerke bewundern. Bis es so weit ist, füll ich hier mal den Fragebogen von letztem Jahr aus (mit ein paar kleinen Änderungen). Vielleicht habt ihr ja auch Lust, ein paar der Fragen zu beantworten?

Vorherrschendes Gefühl für 2014? Vorfreude – wie letztes Jahr, und das hat sich gelohnt.

Predominant feeling when thinking of 2014? Anticipation – like last year, and 2013 was definitely worth it.

2013 zum ersten Mal getan? Auf einem mehrtägigen Festival gewesen aber nachts heimgefahren. Weil ich alt bin und lieber nicht um 8h morgens verkatert in einem aufgeheizten Zelt aufwache, bei dem jemand in der Nacht die Hälfte der Heringe gestohlen oder Bier verschüttet hat, nur um dann in die überfüllten Gemeinschaftsduschen zu gehen und schlechten Kaffee zu trinken. Minus: Coolnesspunkte. Plus: Ausgeschlafen gemütlich am frühen Nachmittag am Festival aufkreuzen.

What did you do for the first time in 2013? Visited a 3-day music festival but went home to sleep, because I’m obviously getting old and prefer not to wake up at 8pm in the stale and overheated air of a tent that the sun turned into a hothouse and someone ripped out a few of the hooks or spilled beer on it during the night, only to be faced with the decision of whether not showering is grosser than showering in the communal showers and then have bad coffee while waiting for the hangover to pass and the first bands to start playing. Minus: Street cred. Plus: Got to the festival in the early afternoon, freshly showered and after a good night’s sleep and breakfast.

2013 nach langer Zeit wieder getan? Spontan verreist (nach England!).

What did you do for the first time in ages in 2013? Went on a spontaneous trip (to England).

2013 leider gar nicht getan? Geschnorchelt.

What did you unfortunately not do in 2013? Go snorkeling.

Wort des Jahres? Strandbad

Word of the year? Moffaaaat! (Kidding. Kinda.) 

Stadt des Jahres/City of the year? London.

Alkoholexzesse? Nicht viele, aber mehr als 2012.

Excessive drinking? A few times, not a lot but more than in 2012.

Haare länger oder kürzer? Kürzer.

Longer or shorter hair? Shorter.

Mehr ausgegeben oder weniger als 2012? Ungefähr gleich. Vor allem für Nagellack...

Did you spend more or less than in 2012? About the same. A good part of it on nail polish...

Höchste Handyrechnung/Highest phone bill? € 25.

Krankenhausbesuche? Nein!

Hospital visits? No!

Verliebt? Ja!

In love? Yes!

Am meisten angerufen / Most called person? Schwesterherz / sis.

Die schönste Zeit verbracht mit? Freunden, Schwester & Nichte.

Nicest time spent with? Friends, sister & niece.

Die meiste Zeit verbracht mit? Freunden.

Most time spent with? My friends.

Song des Jahres/Song of the year? Do it with a rock star (Amanda Palmer).

Platte des Jahres/Album of the year? Theatre is Evil - Amanda Palmer (closely followed by Delta Machine - Depeche Mode)

Buch des Jahres/Book of the year? The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Neil Gaiman).

TV-Serie des Jahres/TV show of the year? Doctor Who.

Film des Jahres/Movie of the year? The World’s End.

Teuerster Gegenstand, der im Jahr 2013 gekauft wurde? Gelten Konzertkarten/Flugtickets? Sonst wahrscheinlich die (vorbestellte) Sherlock-Sammlerbox (die Ende Jänner kommt!)

Most expensive item bought in 2013? Do concert or plane tickets count? Otherwise probably the pre-order of the BBC Sherlock Collector’s Box (yay, end of January!)

Erkenntnis des Jahres? Es geht bergauf.

What did you learn from 2013? It really does get better.

Schönstes Ereignis/Favourite event? Meeting Neil Gaiman.

2013 war mit einem Wort? Fantastisch!

2013 in one word? Fantastic!

Einen guten Rutsch und ein rundum tolles neues Jahr 2014!

Have a very happy new year!

Captain Spacenails

Base ILNP Birefringence (H), fireworks Perfect Holographic (various colours)

Recycled birthday cupcake

 Dear readers past, present and future,

About a year ago I was sick in bed for several weeks. Feeling too crummy to do anything but spend time on the Internet, I discovered the world of nail blogs - via a comment on a book blog, incidentally, which seems appropriate given how nicely these two interests of mine mix. At the time, I had 3 polishes to my name. Then I won a blog contest and had 4. And then I decided I wanted to put more than one polish on my nails at a time and show that to the world, so I started this blog.

Liebe LeserInnen und solche, die es noch werden wollen,
ein Jahr ist es jetzt her, dass ich dieses Blog startete. Ich war letzten Dezember mehrere Wochen krank und verbrachte viel zu viel Zeit im Internet. Über eines der Buchblogs, die ich lese, kam ich zufällig auf einen Nagellackblog. Eins führte zum anderen und plötzlich las ich jede Menge Beauty- und Nagellackblogs (obwohl ich damals nur 3 besaß). Und dann gewann ich einen vierten Nagellack und hatte plötzlich das Bedürfnis, mehr als nur einen Lack auf einmal zu tragen und das der Welt zu zeigen. 

December: My first nail picture & stuff about me 

At the time, I called it The Nail Newbie, because that's what I was. I don't feel like one anymore, so my blog has a different name now that represents who I am and what I do on this blog much better. I've learned a lot about nail art in the last year, I've started showing my geeky side in earnest and bought a lot of polish (cough cough). Want to jump in the TARDIS with me and revisit a few steps of my journey? 

Ich war damals wirklich ein komplettes Newbie in der Welt des Nagellacks, daher auch der Blogname. Inzwischen habe ich einen neuen Namen, der mein neues „Blog-Ich“ besser trifft. Im letzten Jahr habe ich sehr viel über Nail Art gelernt, meine Nerd-Interessen immer mehr in den Mittelpunkt gerückt und (hust) sehr viel Nagellack gekauft. Zeitmaschine an: über den Post verteilt findet ihr Bilder aus dem letzten Jahr.

My embarrassing first nail art & casting show snark

 

I hope you enjoy this look at the past year! If you didn't, you probably really won't enjoy the rest of my blog either, but you're welcome to hang around anyway. But if you like what you see and perhaps even clicked on a few of the links to other posts, maybe you'll consider coming back sometime.

Here's the thing: While I'm happy about every person who reads my blog, I don't feel the need to increase my follower numbers on any given platform, since they're rarely an accurate measure of actual readers. So I will not ask you to follow me and there will be no extra points for following me. I'd hate it if you saw following me as a chore or an obligation. However, if you find my blog interesting and think you might want to return, you are more than welcome to bookmark this blog or follow or me in any way you like.

February: Super bowl & Zombie Valentine video

Ich hoffe, euch gefällt mein kleiner Jahresrückblick und ich habe – falls ihr mein Blog nicht ohnehin schon kanntet – euer Interesse geweckt. Vielleicht lest ihr ja auch den einen oder anderen verlinkten Post. Ich freue mich über neue LeserInnen, aber tatsächliche LeserInnen sind mir wichtiger als Follower-Zahlen und ich will hier niemanden dazu „zwingen“, mir zu folgen – falls ihr also an der Auslosung teilnehmen wollt, aber euch denkt, dass ihr mein Blog in Zukunft eher nicht lesen wollt, ist das auch in Ordnung, es gibt keine Extra-Lose für's Folgen. Wenn es euch hier aber gefällt oder ihr einfach neugierig seid, was ich ab Februar über die nächste GNTM-Staffel zu lästern haben werde, freue ich mich natürlich sehr!

March: Doctor Who & Pi Day 

Following the proud tradition first established by Astrid Lindgren in Pippi Longstocking in 1945, where the birthday girl gives gifts to her guests, Tommi and Annika, and since spread to the world of blogging, I have gifts for you. Please make sure you read the rules carefully.

Ihr wisst ja, wie das bei Pippi Langstrumpf ist: An ihrem Geburtstag bekommen ihre Gäste, Tommi und Annika, Geschenke. Diese sympathische Tradition setzt sich in der Welt der Blog-Geburtstage fort, deshalb gibt’s für euch was zu gewinnen! Lest euch bitte alles genau durch.

April: Indie music & GNTM reviews

What I would like from you:

Leave a comment on this post telling me about your favourite fandom, or - if you're not the fangirl/boy type - favourite book, TV show or movie. It doesn't have to be an essay, but I'd like to see more than just a word or two. Make an effort to write a couple of whole sentences that aren't just "thanks for the giveaway". Any additional remarks (such as your opinion of the blog, constructive criticism, your opinion of the Doctor Who Christmas Special or the new Sherlock Season (spoiler-free, please) or the worst gift you got for the holidays) are welcome as well.


Was müsst ihr tun?

Hinterlasst mir einen Kommentar, in dem ihr mir von eurem liebsten Fandom erzählt – oder, falls ihr euch nicht als „Fangirl“ oder „Fanboy“ versteht, welches Buch, welche Fernsehsendung, welcher Film, Comic oder Schauspieler euch besonders gut gefällt. Es muss kein Aufsatz sein, aber ich wünsch mir einen Kommentar mit zumindest ein paar vollständigen Sätzen, die über „Super Gewinnspiel“ oder „Danke für die Auslosung“ hinausgehen. Wer mehr schreiben will – konstruktive Blog-Kritik, was ihr vom neuen Doctor oder der neuen Sherlock-Staffel haltet (ohne Spoiler bitte!) oder euer unpassendstes Weihnachtsgeschenk), darf das gerne!

May: Star Trek & Unboxing posts

  

Make sure I can contact you somehow. If your e-mail address is visible in your Blogger profile, you don't need to add it here. If you do put your address in your comment, PLEASE DON'T PUT IT THERE IN PLAINTEXT. Instead, do something like boldly_polish (at) yahoo [dot] com. That's my address, by the way, where you can send your email address (with commenter name) if you'd rather not post it here for all to see.

Hinterlasst mir eine Kontaktmöglichkeit! Falls eure Adresse nicht im Blogger-Profil steht, schreibt sie z.B. in den Kommentar, aber BITTE NICHT AUSGESCHRIEBEN, sondern z.B. als boldly_polish (klammeraffe) yahoo (punkt) com. Ihr könnt eure Mailadresse auch an diese Adresse schicken (samt Namen, mit dem ihr kommentiert habt), falls ihr sie hier nicht öffentlich hinschreiben wollt.

June: LGBT Pride & holo addiction

I reserve the right to delete and disqualify inappropriate comments. Anyone trying to cheat by posting multiple times will be disqualified completely.
If you win and are under 18, I will need your parents' permission for you to give me your postal address (if required for your prize of choice).
This giveaway will run until the end of 21 January 2014 (23:59 CET - that's GMT+1) to give you all plenty of time. I will contact the winner by e-mail and they will have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise I'll draw another winner.
The giveaway is open internationally, but some prizes are limited to certain regions.
Once I send you the prize, it is out of my hands and I cannot accept any responsibility or liability for its safe delivery nor warranty for the items. All  prizes are paid for by me and are not sponsored in any way. Prizes cannot be redeemed for cash.

July: 31 day challenge, many of my favourite manis were created that month

Ich behalte mir vor, unangebrachte Kommentare zu löschen und vom Gewinn auszuschließen. Bei Mehrfachteilnahme wird die Person disqualifiziert. 

Bei Personen unter 18 benötige ich im Gewinnfall eine schriftliche Zustimmung der Eltern zur Übermittlung eurer Wohnadresse an mich. 
Die Teilnahme ist bis 21. Jänner 2014 um 23:59 (MEZ) möglich, damit wir alle erst mal den Weihnachtstrubel überstehen können. Die GewinnerIn wird von mir per Mail kontaktiert und hat dann 72 Stunden, um zu antworten, sonst wird neu ausgelost.

Die Auslosung ist international, allerdings gibt es einigen Gewinnen regionale Einschränkungen.

Nach dem Versand des Gewinns kann ich keine Verantwortung für die Lieferung übernehmen. Alle Preise wurden/werden von mir bezahlt und sind in keiner Weise gesponsert. Keine Barauszahlung und keine Gewähr.

August: New Doctor and Sherlock & blog redesign

"So hey, wall of text," I hear you thinking, "what about those prizes"? And you know, I did consider making a separate short and sweet giveaway post, but you know what? I'm celebrating a year of blogging, so I'd like people to see what I did during that year and what this blog is about. Thanks for looking at my pictures and reading the post!

There will be one winner who can choose one of the following options (subject to geographical restrictions):

a. For the readers: I love to read and I know many of you do to. I will order books up to a value of €15 from The Book Depository as long as you live in a country where they deliver free of charge (check here).

b. For the lovers of beauty products and surprises:  A package of beauty products. This package contains an assortment of unused products that I've purchased myself, either directly or through subscription boxes. I'll also throw in a few extras that aren't on the photo. If you're sensitive to scents, you will get nail polish and/or chocolate instead of them.
This is the prize with the limitations: Due to ridiculous shipping costs, I can only ship this to EU countries. If you live elsewhere, I will send you a smaller package that contains some of these items (eyeshadows, small perfume samples) and some extra surprises. (Though if you really want it and are willing to cover the difference in shipping, I'll be happy to send it anywhere the Austrian post delivers.)

The Body Shop Cranberry Joy soap & shower gel, Oh my GOSH #24, Lancaster 365 Dark Spot Corrector, Burt's Bees Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Cream, Inglot eye shadow matte square 327, s-he eyeshadow quattro 152, Perfume/EdT samples eau de sisley 1 & 3, Idole de Lubin, Lalique L'Amour, Annick Goutal Eau d'Hadrian, Thierry Mugler Alien, Roberto Cavalli Nero Assoluto

Nach dem vielen Gelaber fragt ihr euch wahrscheinlich schon, was ihr gewinnen könnt. Ich hab mir überlegt, einen ganz kurzen und knappen Giveaway-Post zu schreiben, aber nachdem es mein Blog-Geburtstag ist, wollte ich auf einen Rückblick auf mein erstes Blog-Jahr nicht verzichten und mich auch eventuellen neuen LeserInnen gleich vorstellen. Danke für's Lesen und Bilderbetrachten!

Close-up of eyeshadows (unswatched, only opened for photo)

Es wird eine/n GewinnerIn geben, die/der zwischen zwei Preisen wählen kann:

a) Für die Leseratten und Nicht-so-auf-Beauty-Kram-Steher: Bücher im Wert von bis zu 15 € von The Book Depository (ihr wählt aus, ich bestelle, solange ihr in einem dieser Länder wohnt).


b) Für die Beautysüchtigen und Überraschungsliebenden: Ein Paket mit Beautykram (alles neu und ungebraucht, nur an ein paar der Parfums hab ich geschnuppert - alles selbst gekauft bzw. aus selbst gekauften Beautyboxen). Dazu gibt's noch ein paar kleine Überraschungen. Wer keine Düfte mag, bekommt stattdessen Schokolade und/oder Nagellack.
Bei diesem Preis gibt es folgende Versandbeschränkung: In Nicht-EU-Länder schicke ich eine kleinere Variante des Pakets (Parfumproben, Lidschatten, ein paar kleine Extras), es sei denn, die/der GewinnerIn möchte die Versandkostendifferenz übernehmen.

November: After a 2-month break, I rise (like Cthulhu)

I know it's a bit of a risk running a nail art contest on a small blog, but since I love them, I thought I'd give it a try. So here's a second way for you to win:

Do some nail art of one of your or my favourite fandoms. Either post it on your blog, twitter, pinterest or instagram account and link it in a second comment on this post or send me your photo (or collage) by email to boldly_polish (at) yahoo (dot) com. In all cases, I will require a second photo of that mani with you holding a piece of paper that says "to boldly polish". If you send it by mail, I would also like to ask your permission for me to post it on my blog (with credit). If you post it elsewhere, I'd be grateful if I could post it here as well (with credit and link back to your post), but I can also just link to it if you prefer.

Everyone who submits nail art that fits the criteria gets 5 extra entries in the drawing AND if there are 3 entries or more, I will select my favourite for an extra polish-related prize (a package with polishes or a gift card, depending on your location and preferences).

December: More fangirling & Frankenstein

Zusätzliche Gewinnchance: Nageldesign-Contests sind auf kleinen Blogs eine schwierige Sache, aber da ich sie selbst so liebe, versuche ich es trotzdem.

Macht ein Nageldesign zu einem eurer (oder meiner) Lieblings-Fandoms. Postet ein Foto (oder eine Fotocollage) auf eurem Blog oder auf Twitter, Instagram oder Pinterest und schreibt einen zweiten Kommentar zu diesem Post, in dem ihr es verlinkt. Wenn ihr wollt, könnt ihr es mir stattdessen (oder zusätzlich) per Mail an boldly_polish (klammeraffe) yahoo (punkt) com schicken. Als Beweis, dass ihr es selbst und für diesen Contest gemacht habt, benötige ich ein zweites Foto, auf dem ihr in der Hand mit dem Nageldesign einen Zettel haltet, auf dem „to boldly polish“ steht. Bitte sagt mir auch, ob ihr damit einverstanden seid, dass ich euer Design auf meinem Blog poste (natürlich mit eurem Namen/Nickname und einem Link zu eurem Blog bzw. Twitter/Instagram/Pinterest-Account) oder ob es euch lieber ist, wenn ich es hier nur verlinke.

Alle Nageldesigns, die den Kriterien entsprechen, bekommen 5 Extralose für die obige Auslosung. Sollte es 3 oder mehr Einsendungen geben, werde ich zusätzlich meinen Liebling auswählen und euch entweder ein Nagellack-Paket oder einen Nagellack-Gutschein (abhängig von eurem Wohnort und euren Präferenzen) schicken.

Teaser: Smaug is watching you

So, whatcha think? Wanna play? Wanna see if I stick around for another year? That goal sounds a bit scary to me now, so I'll just take it one day at a time. Look out for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug nail art & review fangirling soon!

Also, was meint ihr? Seid ihr dabei? Wollt ihr herausfinden, ob ich noch ein zweites Jahr Bloggen schaffe? Ich finde das Ziel etwas zu beängstigend, deshalb werd ich's langsam angehen. Demnächst gibt's aber auf jeden Fall ein Der Hobbit: Smaugs Einöde-Nageldesign samt Filmreview Fangirling!

Captain Spacenails out

Unrelated picture, but this is how I felt. (Street art in London.)

 
Here's something new - a theatre review. Granted, I'm no theatre critic, I just saw a play and want to tell you what I thought of it. But I promise you this is an actual review of the play, not pure fangirling.

As I mentioned yesterday, I went to see a screening of the 2011 Frankenstein play last night (directed by Danny Boyle). It was version 2, with Benedict Cumberbatch as Victor Frankenstein and Jonny Lee Miller as The Creature.

My worries concerning the audience turned out to be unfounded - while it was overwhelmingly young and female, and while a quick "survey" conducted by the theatre's presenter before the screening as to "Team Cumberbatch" and "Team Miller" showed that they were, indeed, the main reasons for many of us being there (including myself), everyone was on their best behaviour during the actual screening. Especially during the first 15 minutes or so, where the Creature wakes up and discovers his body and the world, you could have heard a pin drop.

Sure, when Frankenstein bellowed something like "My mind is brilliant!" or the Creature told him it was a logical being or said "I cannot stand inconsistency!", it was hard not to laugh. But that's alright and probably only surprised the few older couples who had presumably just come to see a British National Theatre play and knew nothing of the actors' other roles. Anyway, there are other funny moments in it that have nothing to do with external references. Like Cumberbatch-Frankenstein's expression, which I can only describe as a "WTF face" (as we theatre critics say), when the "monster" quotes Milton at him.

The stage set is simple and evocative at once, the lighting is spectacular, and the music works without being overpowering. One of the things that impressed me about the set was the use of that translucent, vellum-like material throughout the play to very different effects. As the womb or egg from which the Creature emerges, in the house and the boat and again in Frankenstein's laboratory. In this trailer you can see it pulsing before the Creature emerges from it. In terms of direction, the scene in which the Creature first sees people other than his creator is shocking and overwhelming, filled with noise and light and steam - it's as if you see it through the Creature's eyes.

Jonny Lee Miller is simply amazing as the Creature, from beginning to end. I feel it is the stronger character in the play, and it certainly dominates the first part, but as we turn to Frankenstein and his research, Benedict Cumberbatch really shines as the amoral scientist for whom everything is justified in the name of science and progress. That part - a genius with little regard for morality, doing things for science! - sounds like it might carry Sherlockian overtones, but there's nothing of Sherlock in Benedict's Frankenstein. This is a very different character, both on paper and on stage, and it is not only because Frankenstein pours all his emotions and passions into his work where Sherlock remains cold and analytical.

While the main reason I went to see this play were definitely the leading actors, I think I would have been just as impressed if I hadn't know them beforehand. They are truly brilliant at what they do. I wasn't as impressed by the rest of the cast and was in fact quite disappointed by Mr Frankenstein (Victor's father), played by George Harris. His acting was wooden and his lines sounded too obviously rehearsed. Most of the other characters were a bit exaggerated, but it seemed intentional (not only by the actors but the director) and wasn't as jarring as Harris' performance. However, the supporting roles - with the exception of the (convincing) blind, old De Lacey - are rather marginal in the play, which may be a reason for their seeming unimpressiveness and, at the same time, mean that a mediocre performance of one of them didn't detract too much from the overall enjoyment of the play. The true magic here is in seeing the Creature and Victor interact.

The message of the play sounds trite when you put it on paper, and it's not like we didn't all know what it was going to be: The true monster here is not the Creature. But it is hard to see it as cliché when the play drives home so brutally the point that monsters aren't born, they're made.

The play impressed me so much that I will be going to see version 1 - with Cumberbatch as the Creature and Miller as Frankenstein - in January. It will be interesting to see how it is with reversed roles. I find it hard to imagine a Creature better than Miller's, but what I've heard above all is that they both play the characters very differently, so it might not be better but instead different and still as good. We'll see.

There will still be some screenings of the play during the next months in various locations - check here to see if there's one near you. Go and see it if you can, even if you're not a fan of the actors, but note that it should come with a trigger warning. If you need details on that, feel free to contact me.

Have you seen this play? How do you feel about the theatre? Do you prefer classic or modern plays?

Captain Spacenails

Last night I dreamed my favourite university professor from way back, an intelligent and feisty silver-haired lady who could give Helen Mirren a run for her money, spoilered Sherlock S3 for me. I was in class and she came in late, complaining what a waste of time it had been, she'd been on set to shoot her scene with Andrew Scott and he just hadn't turned up. Then she went on to tell how that was part of the How to Beat an Irishman storyline in the new season, which was all about Moriarty not being dead after all. I nearly started to cry and yelled "omg spoilers!" at the top of my lungs in the lecture hall. Then a bit later I actually dreamed part of that Moriarty story and it was really good. But I was still upset I'd been spoilered.

On that note, universe: please no more spoilers. I'm not looking at the released photos, series promo or setlock, especially after I was warned one of them could be considered a spoiler. There's also a new interactive trailer out that's apparently the bee's knees, and I'm a bit scared of it. Well, I already read the disgustingly detailed synopsis of the first episode on the BBC site by accident, so I know a bit of what's going to happen, but I'm not sure I'm ready to deal with the implications of an interactive trailer for that episode after the intense feels and the stories my mind started cooking up last time.

I was going to post about my anticipation, but any research I do or gif I look for will inevitably get me spoilered, so I'll just leave it at this. Have a great weekend! I, for one, will be watching Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller in Frankenstein (otherwise known as That Play With The Two Sherlocks Switching Roles And Getting Naked, Except On The Days They Recorded It, Which I Can Understand and Appreciate Because The Theatre's Going To Be Full Of Screaming, Fainting Girls Already, Don't Need To Add To That, It's A Theatre Play Not A One Direction Concert Ferchrissakes).

Captain Spacenails

The polish is LynBDesigns Let's Start With the Riding Crop, contrast nail in Eloquent Dust and Quoth the Raven (also LynBDesigns). Look at it sparkle in the sunlight like a vampire!

Seriously, guys, I'm not kidding about the spoilers. I know the 50th anniversary was a few weeks ago, which in Internet time is ancient history (I just didn't have time to edit the photos earlier, I need to stop doing that...), so you've probably already seen the spoilers in a million gifs and screenshots on tumblr and pinterest, but in case you've been purposely avoiding them, fair warning: This post contains ALL THE SPOILERS and plenty of speculation. For The Day of the Doctor, for characters, and for episodes past and future (I always get those mixed up). If you don't want spoilers (or fangirling, for that matter), you'd better just click on the photos or move on to the previous, mostly spoiler-free, post.

Right, now that I've got that out of the way, what about that episode? Did you like it, all those things coming together at last? We learned why exactly Queen Elizabeth wanted the Doctor's head off in The Shakespeare Code. (Well, we did know he was intimately enough involved with her that the nickname "The Virgin Queen" wasn't appropriate anymore and there was that whole eloping in a glade thing - that sexy bastard, always with the royalty... like partying with Marie Antoinette wasn't enough.) Unsurprisingly, though, it was his usual bad timing. He does leave an awful lot of girls waiting, doesn't he?

I liked how sassy Queen Bess was, taking over Zygon command like that. Not to mention the "how many Doctors do you need to open a door" episode. And the Doctor threatening a bunny was hilarious - though I'd be hard put to pick the funniest scene in that episode. Or the saddest. I cried several times, and it was always because of Ten. "Did you say Bad Wolf?" was just as heart-wrenching as "I don't want to go".

Not bringing Rose back as herself was a good call. It would have gotten very complicated and messed things up real bad for Metacrisis Doctor. Bad Wolf, however... oh yes. "I take the words. I scatter them ... in time, and space." Very Clara, now that I think of it.

Digital Nails Bad Wolf: I love this. It looks just like her eyes after looking into the heart of the TARDIS.

I love that the War Doctor explains the 16-year (in Earth years) gap in Doctor Who history, sliding in neatly between Eight and Nine. It explains the darkness of Nine and the sadness of Ten.

Nomenclature, though. That's a bit of a problem, innit? While this makes Peter Capaldi the thirteenth Doctor, he'll still be Twelve to me. Because Matt Smith will stay Eleven and I can't just go and call Ten Eleven just because it's chronologically correct. It's not like the Doctor is too impressed by chronology, after all. I guess that makes John Hurt the Doctor 8.5 (or 8.1 if you want to leave some room for new episodes in that gap - I don't think they actually showed Eccleston's face when Hurt regenerated). Neil Gaiman, once again, says it best.

Now, I don't want you to think I'm complaining about the episode, because it was fantastic and I loved it. But because everything is so well thought out in the Whoniverse and Moffat does such a brilliant job tying all the loose ends together, my mind, which tends to overthink these things at the best of times, goes into overdrive and starts thinking too much about ifs and whens.

Because, you see, I have a small issue with the story. Well, not so much with the storyline itself, but with Eleven's desire to find Gallifrey. I re-watched The End of Time on Sunday, and the return of the Time Lords as explained there should also work with this new setup. Time locked or time frozen, I'm not sure that makes much of a difference (except that they wouldn't come with an army of Daleks). But when they return in that episode, he's all Gah, bad idea, no party! "That's how I choose to remember them. The Time Lords of old. But then they went to war, an endless war, and it changed them. Right to the core. You've seen my enemies, Wilf; the Time Lords are more dangerous than any of them." And he's right, and the Time Lords decide to bring about the ultimate sanction, the end of time.

So where does he get off thinking they'll be better this time? That they'll have changed in any way? They are, after all, time-frozen. So maybe they won't bring with them the Nightmare Child and the Horde of Travesties, and therefore won't feel the urge to destroy all of space and time, but why would their characters have suddenly returned to their pre-war status? And more importantly, why would the Doctor believe they had? Did he forget, or choose to forget, like he forgot the number of children? Is he just so blinded by the joy of not having destroyed Gallifrey after all that he doesn't think about the implications? (Right, and that's me done obsessing over this problem. I'm confident Moffat will come up with a beautiful solution. The answer is probably wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey, which is what I love about the non-linear concept of time in Doctor Who.)

Contrast nail in LynBDesigns Snog Box & writing in ILNP Bottle Service

Back to my usual speculations. You know that woman in The End of Time? Missed it the first time round, but that glance between her and the Doctor definitely means something. His mother, his wife, his daughter (Susan's mother)? Background info seems to point toward her being his mother, but I got more of a wife vibe."I was lost long ago," she tells Wilfred.

Next up: Sherlock lives! It's been months since I last ranted about Watson's moustache, you know I can't let all new the announcements and trailers go uncommented.

Captain Fangirl

The only thing missing is an owl.*

I know, great title. But it's true. There's quite a few trends out there that just don't seem to die, and I either hated them in the first place (animal prints, I'm looking at you!) or I'm just so over them. I know a lot of people will disagree with me (these being trends, after all), but I feel like ranting. Ranting means I may use four-letter words and other expletives. I don't believe in using asterisks to pretend people don't know what word I'm using. Nothing extreme, but you've been warned.
 
- Animal prints. They weren't sexy in the 1980s and they aren't sexy now. Combining them with hot pink or teal doesn't make them any better, but possibly worse.

Speaking of things from the 1980s. What is this shit? For decades, pretty much everyone agreed the 1980s were a complete fashion disaster. And then a couple of years back they started bringing all the worst parts of them back. Leggings without a skirt or dress. Shoulder pads. Bright blue eyeshadow with pink lips. Crazy black and white patterns made up of geometrical (and possibly some non-Euclidian) shapes. This year I've been seeing those boxy tees and sweaters that are wider than they are long. Next thing you know we'll see everyone wearing scary big 80s hair so hard from all the hairspray you can use it to scratch someone's car. I'm not okay with this.

- Moustaches. I never particularly liked this trend, though I do admit the first time I saw a necklace with a stache you could lift to your face I chuckled. That was about 4 years ago though. Let it go, people. Fine, if you want to raise prostate cancer awareness via staches, I guess that's okay, but do we raise breast cancer awareness by printing scary 80s hair on stuff? Weird. But okay, it's for a good cause, so I'll let it pass.
But let's face it. Very few people look good wearing a moustache. This baby is one of them. The other one is my Dad. And he only gets away with it because he's worn it my entire life and wouldn't look like my Dad if he shaved it off.
Anyone else? Nope. This list of "inspiring" Hollywood staches? Creepy as fuck. 50 best movie moustaches? Only if by "best" you mean "ideally suited to making me scrunch my nose in disgust". Even hot guys look considerably less hot with a stache.
Though I can sort of get behind this guy and his friends at the World Beard Championships, because most of them have a beard to balance that weird thing under their nose and even in the moustache category I'm pretty sure they don't expect to be considered hot by anyone but moustache fans.

- Owl puns. Owlright, whoooo said they were a hoot? Owl thank you to make owl of these go away for owlways owlready. This sums up my feelings perfectly: No more bad owl puns (not that there are any good ones). (A close second: Sew. It's sew annoying!)

Have any trends you hate?

Captain Rantypants

*Photo credit: Roger Higgins, World Telegram staff photographer. Source: Library of Congress (cph.3c14985) via Wikimedia Commons. This image is in the public domain.

Hello, dear readers, on one of the best days of this year!
Are you as excited as I am? Anxious to see what will happen when Ten and Eleven meet? Will time and space implode in an overload of sexy? And how exactly does it play out when they compare their... screwdrivers*? (No really, that link is safe. They're actually comparing screwdrivers. Promise. Around 39'' and 49''. That's seconds, not inches. Have you ever looked at one and thought "Ooh, this could be a little more sonic?" Screwdriver, that is.)

Or are you completely confused as to what is going on and wondering how a day of a doctor can be a good thing when we've been taught to eat apples to keep them away (much like garlic and vampires)? This is why I don't eat apples. Can't risk it. Imagine you heard that whooshing sound in your bedroom and ran in to see the TARDIS starting to materialise... the Doctor pokes his head out the door, then makes a face: "Ugh, apples! Quick, I need to get out of here!". He slams the door and the TARDIS fades, never to return.

Sorry, vitamins, I know you mean well, but you don't beat all of time and space and a 900-year old Time Lord to show them to me.

Oh right, you were confused as to what was going on. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

Well, since you've obviously been living under a rock or at least away from all social media, I feel it is my duty to inform you of the fact that the show Doctor Who is 50 years old today. That's pretty darn impressive, don't you think? Well I do, and fortunately the BBC and several million people agree, and so we will all gather around our TV screens and in movie theatres around the world tonight to watch the special episode, The Day of the Doctor.
And if Doctor Who has taught us anything, it is that the power of so many minds focusing on the Doctor at exactly the same moment can save us all**. So just in case you're being held prisoner somewhere, Doctor, hold on. Just a few more hours.
 

P.S. I was going to show you my Doctor Who mani, but I spent all day cuddling my BFF's beautiful baby so I don't have time to mess around with photos and will add them tomorrow.

Edited on 24 Nov: Added the pictures - a minimalist mani using as many Doctor Who-themed polishes as possible without going overboard. LynBDesigns Time and Relative Dimension in Space on the four fingers, thumb is LynBDesigns Snog Box topped with a layer of Lucky 13 Lacquers Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey, Doctor Who logo in LynBDesigns Slim and a Little Bit Foxy, highlighted with Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey. Clear top coat. Cheesy sparkle effect courtesy of my camera special effects.

The episode was fantastic and shall be discussed at a later date. Right now I have to re-watch a certain episode*** to see how that fits with the new canon.

Footnotes:
*Preview for Day of the Doctor, may contain spoilers, depending on your knowledge of Doctor Who.
**Massive spoilers for a previous series of Doctor Who.
*** Implied spoiler for Day of the Doctor, spoilers for a previous series of Doctor Who.

 This week...

...I was sick in bed and remembered why I blog
...I ate cookies for breakfast and didn't feel bad
...I read The Sherlockian and was glad it's not true
...I was moved by a beautiful tribute to Lou Reed
...I fell in love with Amanda Palmer (again)

Next week...

...I will watch the Doctor face his darkest day
...I will write a long overdue paper
...I will ignore the holiday lights in the street
...I will see if it starts to snow
...I will meet my friend's newly born baby.

Softening the bad things: A very special polish by Lucky 13 lacquers and a very important thing to remember when life gets you down.

I'm not having a very good day. I'm frustrated, depressed and bored, a combination that usually leads to bad decisions, like eating so much chocolate I get sick, ranting on the Internet or summoning Great Old Ones.

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

Sorry about that, world. Enjoy your final moments of freedom with some nail art.

Best,
Captain Summoner

inspired by this amazing work of art

The light green background looked so yellow I tried grey & white instead. Nah. Bring on the sickly green of R'lyeh.

Summoning the bad things

Dear readers,

Today I read a wonderful post about blogging. Andrea at The Bookish Babe wrote about her blogging-related doubts and problems, about the self-imposed pressure and the stress of numbers. It struck a chord with me, because many of the things she mentioned affect me as well and were the reason I stopped blogging for the last few months.

Strangely, a post that might have made me question my blogging half a year ago now inspired me and helped me get back to what's essential: to blog for my own enjoyment. 

If editing pictures is stressful, I won't strive for the perfect picture. 

If posting every Friday (or otherwise regularly) is a weight on my shoulder, I won't. 

If participating in challenges becomes a chore, I'll only participate when I feel like it. 

If outdoing my previous nail art every time takes the enjoyment out of doing my nails, I'll be happy to post simple one-polish manis. 

If I just want to write and don't have a picture to go with it, I'll just go ahead and post it anyway instead of letting it languish in the Drafts folder for months. 

And if writing the same post in two languages feels like work, I'll just use whichever language comes naturally.

After reading Andrea's post I started to browse my blog and thought "hey, this blog isn't so bad. I should do more of this." So I wrote this post. Who knows when I will write the next one. I won't sweat it.

  

This post does have pictures though. One of the things I've been doing the last few months (besides working way too much) is home improvement. I painted a few bits of furniture, hence the wonderfully unedited, unwatermarked real-life splatter mani you see here :)

I also noticed a very misleading typo on my About page. It said "So here you have it: Geekdom, polish and general nerdery. Except fangirling." Wow, that couldn't have been more wrong. That's expect. My apologies to anyone who wasn't expecting the massive fangirling in my fandom-related posts.

Remember kids, spellcheck can only get you so far! 

Captain paintynails out

Hi guys!

Have you missed me? I'm not sure what's going on - is this the post-summer slump already or is it because I said I'd post several times a week, but I haven't really felt like blogging lately. I've been rather busy but I think it's more than that. I had to cut my nails really short and now I'm trying to slowly grow healthy nails and lay off the polish for a while, but even my little nubbins keep breaking. 

I've got enough photos in store to last me a while, but at the moment selecting and editing photos is what seems to annoy me most. I love the nail art bit and I like the writing, it's the in between that seems tedious to me. Which is annoying, because I've got an FFFF post all written up but lacking pictures... Well, we'll see how things go, I hope you'll bear with me while I figure that out.

But enough of that! Here's some nail art I made two weeks ago for the Tri-Polish Challenge so I figured I could at least post in on the last day. The colours for August are green, red and yellow, and the ones I picked reminded me of rasta colours, so here's a tribute to Bob Marley.

The colours I picked were my super cheapo b.pretty yellow and "lime" green and the red Boulevard de Beauté. I sponged them onto the nails, then used LynBDesigns Quoth the Raven for the king of reggae.

I hope you like it - and go check out everyone else's pics in the linky below!

Capt. Lazypants out