Category Archives: MY Writing
My various thoughts/rants depending on the mood I was in when I wrote them!
How to survive Droughtlander – Learn Gaelic!
A language that makes even learning Russian seem easy, it’s a great way to concentrate your mind and gives you yet another excuse (if one is needed) to watch Outlander again! I’m a linguist. I enjoy learning languages. One of my favourite past times as a schoolchild was to spend my evenings learning German grammar. […]
Continue readingMY Comic Life – Outlanderish Sex, Pastries, Instagram, Queen Mum & Scotland
Stand up comedy can lead you into weird situations. Most recently, one of the weirdest has to be watching an explicit sex scene in Outlander with Jen Brister in the latter’s kitchen in preparation for our Droughtlander podcast. (We were reviewing the episode OK). To be fair, as I’ve watched that episode 30-40 times already […]
Continue readingHow to survive Droughtlander – Outlander vs Dragonfly in Amber
If you’re an Outlander geek like me (and chances are if you’re reading this you are) you can have hours of fun clocking up the differences between the novel and the TV series, trying to figure out why they did what they did and what the hell you think about it. As a rule, screen […]
Continue readingHow to survive Droughtlander: Watch Something Else
(and Treat Yourself to Some Great British Drama in the Process) One of the easiest ways to wean yourself away from watching Outlander on a constant loop for the next few months is to check out some other great TV programmes that might take your mind of Outlander – at least for a while! Poldark […]
Continue readingMY Comic Life – Mugger Destroying Mothers, Proud Scottish Fathers, Delusion & Outlander
In comedy you tend to exaggerate for comedic effect. However, when it comes to my parents, if anything, I underplay it. If I saw my father and mother depicted on TV, I’d roll my eyes and think it a terrible, clichéd portrayal of a pair of Scots. I then would have to do a double […]
Continue readingOutlander Season Two – A Romance for Grown Ups
It only really hit home just how obsessed I’d become with Outlander when I found myself re-watching the DVD extras from the first season at 4 in the morning, sampling the delights of the featurette: The Making of the Kilt. This was despite having been bored stiff watching it the first time round. It was […]
Continue readingFilm Review: Pride
With the NHS currently under attack and junior doctors forced to go on strike, I thought I’d take a look at Pride, a recent British film set during the crushing of the miners’ strike and which examines the importance of unions and solidarity even with the most unlikely of partners! Pride joins a select group […]
Continue readingBook Review: A Spool of Blue Thread – Anne Tyler
I read A Spool of Blue Thread at someone else’s suggestion. I had no idea what the book was about. Moreover, as an inveterate reader of German literature, I’d never heard of the author, Anne Tyler. I picked up the book, thinking to myself this is so not the type of book I would read. […]
Continue readingBook Review: Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
Forget the Hollywood image of the monster with bolts in his neck, Frankenstein, written by the then 18 year old Mary Shelley, is an intriguing read as well as a morality tale, still as relevant for today, if not more so. Within Shelley’s tale of Victor Frankenstein who creates a being that turns into a […]
Continue readingForeign Book Review: Short Stories – Nikolai Gogol
Fancy some surreal satire? Then Gogol might just be for you. Often when you think of 19th century Russian literature you think of worthy tomes which you suspect might be rather heavy going. However the short stories of Gogol are a delight, of manageable size and definitely worth a read! As someone who has a […]
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