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!

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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

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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.

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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.

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 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.

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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

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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

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