Doctor Mew

Doctor Who... cats? by ~TardisCat on deviantART

I know! I know! Not another Doc Who post. I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist. It is rare to find a work of art where two great nerd obsessions come together in such a perfect and beautiful way. So for those of you who love both cats and that renegade Time Lord from Gallifrey - here is your dream come true.

Thank you TardisCat. Thank you.

More Who Nerdiness

I am currently on Christmas break from teaching and am spending my first week off doing preety much nothing but stuff I enjoy. I've been watching tv, reading non-school related material, and making stuff. I'm currently working on a new album cover for my band, a Franeknstein's monster statue for Rhonda, and today I worked on two pieces of Doctor Who related fan art. The first is a watercolor of all 10 Doctors that will take me a while. The other is a little pop art inspired banner I threw together for fun.

Re-TARDIS

I've been a Doctor Who since the mid-80s when KERA in Dallas began airing the Tom Baker episodes on Saturday nights. They eventually aired the the 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th Doctors, but did not air the early 60s episodes, at least through the early 90s. Despite my huge fandom of DW, I've only seen a handful of early episodes over the years via video, although I did read every single Target novelization while still in high school.

Anyway, my plan is to slog through every single DW episode from "An Unearthly Chld" through the end of the Sylvest McCoy era via the magic of Netflix. I was watching the first disc of the Early Years set (includes the first 3 serials) and stumbled upon a series of skits that aired in 199 on the BBC in conjunction with "Doctor Who Night" (am I dreaming?). They were created by some of the guys responsible for Little Brittain, and are quite funny. The skit below is probably the best, and probably my favorite Doctor Who parody period.

The Pitch of Fear

Doctor Uke

The Doctor Who theme play on ukelele. The two great tastes that taste great together.

The one to watch.

This is pretty darn cool. iTunes along with the makers of the upcoming Watchmen movie have just published the first chapter of an animated webcomic of the Alan Moore classic graphic novel. While I still have my doubts after seeing the new preview for the 2009 film version made by the guy who brought us 300, I'm quite excited by this animated version.

Ten out of Ten Doctors...

A comix artist named Rich has created a surprisingly good Doctor Who fan comic featuring all ten Doctors. The art and the story are both very good, and are in some ways more entertaining than the last season of DW.

Holy Belief System!

The fine folks over at adherents.com have a page dedicated to the religious affiliations of hundreds of superheroes and supervillans. Every geek worth his slightly flabby salt knows Kitty Pryde is Jewish, but I must admit that I did not know that Green Arrow was a practicing Buddhist!

Centaur-fold

I really need to post more often. I am trying to finish my Master's Thesis and blah, blah, blah.

Here's a lovely Centaur t-shirt I give to you as a peace offering for my being absent for so long. Go here for more geeky, mythological, fantasy t-shirt needs.

Pop and Locke

Most of you who know me know that I have an irrational love for the television program LOST. Even though the third season has been somewhat in shambles thematically and in plotting, I still watch diligently.

Anyway, here's one of the nerdiest things I've ever posted in my entire internet existence. Not only does the fact that it is a LOST tribute picture make me a mouth breathing fanboy who is barely able to control his bodily functions in public due to the intense mental acumen required to project himself in a state of constant immersion into his sad little fantasy world, but it is also based on the lamest of warmed over word-play. Ladies and gentlen - I give you my sad little life.

Centaur of Attention

Kyron is a man who dresses as a centaur. He is available for parties.

link

Medieval Knievel

I study medieval art. I especially love Insular art, otherwise known as art of the British isles. I look at Hiberno-Saxon Manuscripts, which means stuff that's a mix between English and Irish. Specifically I'm interested in things from Northumbria.

It's difficult enough sometimes trying to explain to the average Jane or Joe what it is exactly that Art Historians do. Most of the time people think I'm a painter, and I usually leave it at that. Most Art History people I know have this problem, and in the end it's not that big of a deal. People generally understand that I am in someway involved with some kind of academic pursuit, and that's fine. On the other hand, as a Medievalist I get asked all the time if I go to Renaissance Faires or if I am a member of SCA. Sometimes people even ask me if I dress up in tights and play with swords. The answer to these questions is always a firm no, except for the tights part, but that's a long and very private story and ultimately has nothing to do with Medievalism.

I always want to ask these people if they think that people who study art of Rome walk around in togas. Look, I know that because of things like the SCA that people assume that all Medievalists are re-creationists, but this is simply not true, although admittedly there are some. I do understand where people get the impression; just do a search for "medieval" on youtube, and you'll se what I mean. To set the record straight, however, most medievalists tend to leave the chainmail off.

The only other kind of historical scholarship I can think of right now that also has an entire culture of people who dress and act from that period on a mass scale are American War buffs. I wonder if Ken Burn's ever gets asked if he dresses like General Lee? This isn't to say that there aren't other re-creationist groups out there, it's just that the Civil War and the Middle Ages seem to be the two biggies.

I guess my point is that next time you are at a party with a Medievalist, don't assume that he or she has a sword in the trunk of their car, or that they make leather cups, or that they play D&D. While most of us are fairly geeky, we don't necessarily dress the part.