I've Moved...

Don't forget I've moved location and am no longer here...

I can now be found on my (not so) new website. Here's the link: www.matt-holden.com

New Website!

The Blog is dead long live the blog!

I now have a new website!

As a result this blog will no longer be updated. If you want to follow what I'm up to visit www.matt-holden.com

Enjoy!

New Website Coming Soon!

Title says it all really, I'm in the process of sorting out an actual website!

As a result this blog will no longer be updated :( 

I'm going to copy across all my posts to the new site, but with the exception of the post saying the website is live there will be no new posts on this blog...

Too Small for Superman?

Here we are again with another random(ish) blog post!

Recently I declared that I planned to do a Clark Kent costume, my reasoning I’m a massive fan of Superman but I’m not built big enough to pull it off…

This then lead on to one of probably the most talked about things in the world of costuming/cosplay: Does it matter?

It’s always been the big question: just because I’m not 6’6 and built like a tank does this mean I should be put off from doing a character?

Birmingham Memorabilia/Expo: SBOC and the Jiffers do Birmingham!

After failing horribly to have my poets day, Jemma and I eventually get to the Birmingham Airport Travelodge for 9pm. 

Captains and the Doc

After checking in we head to the lift and up to the room, we share the lift with two girls who are also at the hotel for the event (whose names I later learn are Milly and Danielle). During the lift ride Danielle made a great comment “have you ever been told you look like the lovechild of Clark Kent and David Tennant?”, my reply “weellllll…”.

Wales 2013, Part 4 – Stone Angels and Good Wizards

So here we are on the final page of this particular Wales trip, as it was our last day the plan was to make it a busy one!

At 9am we arrive at Southerndown beach, it you watch Doctor Who you should know this place, it’s most well known for being Bad Wolf Bay, it’s also been a location in a number of other episodes, basically if the production team needs a beach they go here! 

When we arrived the tide was quite a way in, as a result the iconic sand beach was underwater, however the stone parts the ‘Time of Angles’ and ‘Dinosaurs on a Spaceship’ were still accessible so Amy and I had a wander over the rocks, I decided that I wanted to get as close to the water as possible, this almost resulted in me getting very wet and also an impromptu Capt. Jack Sparrow impression…

Wales 2013, Part 3 – Is There A Dalek On That Sign?

Ah, Monday we meet again! But this time it’s a holiday Monday!! Woohoo!

Today’s plan was quite simple, wander around Cardiff Bay and visit the new Doctor Who Experience!, I’ve been twice previously when it was in London but, as yet, hadn’t managed to visit the new one in Cardiff.

Cardiff Bay first of all, I’ve been to the Bay a number of times, but I always love to go back as it’s just such a nice place to visit. Amy had never been to the Bay (or the UK for that matter) so I went into tour guide mode and pointed out the various locations that had been used for filming, which is most of the bay!

Wales 2013, Part 2 – ‘Who’ Ya Gonna Call?

It’s Sunday morning and it’s too early, however I’m up and working to once again get my hair to defy gravity for a few hours, so having offered up the correct prayers to the hair gods I’m good to go. Once again Kate was being difficult (she and I will be having words soon…)

Having found the event location and parked up, it was time to spend the day at Cardiff International Comic Expo.

Wales 2013, Part 1 – Here We Are Again…

Everyone knows that Wales is the spiritual home of Doctor Who, so when my friend Amy came to the UK to visit then a pilgrimage was definitely on the cards!

It’s Saturday March 2nd and having picked up Amy from the airport at a horribly early hour it was time to head from London over to where the Welsh come from…

I do have one major issue with driving to South Wales. That issue is the how much it costs to go over the bridge!! £6.20, how much??!! £6.20 really!!

Dining With The Doctor: My Review of the Unofficial Whovian Cookbook…

I confess, this is new ground for me, I’ve not done many reviews before I’m also not renown for my culinary skills so giving my thoughts on a Doctor Who cookbook is a little out of my comfort zone!.

However, let it never be said that I’m not up for new challenges! As a result when Chris-Rachael Oseland sent me a copy of ‘Dining With The Doctor: The Unofficial Whovian Cookbook’ it was time to don the ‘kiss the cook’ apron and give it a whirl!

The book itself is a colossal 183 pages (in the pdf version I have) and contains a recipe linked to each episode of Doctor Who since it’s return in 2005 all the way up to the 2011 Christmas Special: The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe.

What Makes A Great Facebook Page?

Facebook pages, not the most riveting of topics but one that does need discussion on occasion, I’ve been running my page for two and a half years now so I wanted to share my thoughts on what I think makes a good page, if you run a page yourself this post may be worth a read…

New Year’s Resolutions!

Normally I avoid New Year’s Resolutions like the plague, and if I ever do make any I never make them public, but hey, there’s a first time for everything!

Here goes:

• To thine own self be true!
• Be less attached to my iPhone!
• Be more open with people (that’ll be easier said than done!)
• Keep clear of drama!
• Finish projects that I start!
• Get back to the Gym!

I was just going to put, Be Batman, but I need to secure the funding first!

Short but sweet I know but I think I can keep to these! (Well hopefully…)

The Costume Cupboard – Sao Til, The Blue Guy...

Recently I had an idea (dangerous I know), I decided I wanted to try my hand at doing a new outfit, not just any outfit, I wanted to bring back Sao Til!

The Sao Til reference picture :)

For those that don’t know Sao Til was the brainchild of my good friend Tim and was the winning entry in John Barrowman’s Tonight’s the Night ‘Search for an Alien Superstar Competition’ in 2009.

So with the idea in my head I text Laura (Tim’s wife) to share my plan! Her reply ‘have you told Tim yet?’, I hadn’t so between us the secret costume plan was hatched, the objective to see the look on Tim’s face when Sao Til made an appearance.

Originally I was looking at November Memorabilia to get the costume completed by, this would give me loads of time. To help me with the costume Laura sent me an email detailing all the bits I would need, the toughest part was going to definitely be the arm.

The List / Freebie Five...

What seems like a lifetime ago now my friends and I were talking about our ‘lists’.

For those thinking, ‘Matt, what are you on about’, the concept of the list was made famous by the Friends episode: ‘The One with Frank Jr.’ Where you and your partner both list five celebrities that you can have your wicked way with should the opportunity arise and the other person can’t get mad. My version is slightly different I opt for 'the run away with if they asked me' option.

While recording episode two of Journeys in Fandom we end up going a bit (lot!) off topic and get onto the subject of lists, when you hear it it’ll make sense! (It'll also put this blog post in context!)

Ten Plus? – Redux

Yesterdays post got some interesting reactions. Some thought it was deep thinking, others a goodbye and others just weren’t sure what to make of it...

Me :)

Well... Don’t panic! I’m not going anywhere (see you can breathe again now). What it was is me looking back over what I’ve done and how much of an influence the man in the pin stripe suit has had.

What I want to do now is move forward from this point, what that does mean is expanding what I do, which will probably result in Ten taking a bit of a back seat for a little while, after all I can’t be me if I’m standing behind a Ten shaped shield.

Allons-y!!

Ten Plus?

How I'm best known. The Doctor

Recently I’ve been putting together a bucket list and it’s got me thinking (dangerous I know). My main thought is what do I want to be known for...

I’ve mentioned before that the Facebook page first launched back in 2010 I envisaged only ever getting a few likes, almost two and a half years later the page has over three thousand three hundred which is totally mad, I’m just me after all!

Back when I first started all I ever did was a few pictures and hang out at events, which while being good fun had a danger of becoming very ‘samey’ within a short space of time. As a result, in October 2010 I did my first event write up which added to what I do...

We Have A Podcast Now, Podcasts Are Cool...

If you follow my Facebook Page or Twitter account you'll probably have noticed that I've launched a new project with with my good friend Tim, we have a Podcast called 'Journeys in Fandom'!

No Matt! Don't make me use the paper!

Episode 1 was released on Sunday (October 7th), with the following synopsis:

"In the first ever episode Tim and Matt introduce themselves and explain just what is Journeys in Fandom. In the main feature of this episode the guys discuss and give a review of the first half of series 7 of Doctor Who. But there is still time for Tim to try an describe wargaming and fail, Matt to insult an entire country and the guys to come up with the best review sound bite for a Doctor Who episode ever."

A Pen, A Piece Of Paper And A Bucket...

You’ve all heard of a bucket list right? You know, a list of things you want to do before you’re no longer able to...

Well, recently I was thinking, perhaps I should write one for myself? 100 personal objectives to achieve, but the question is what?

So this is my question, which 100 things should I aim to achieve?

Should I Have A Cosplay Page?

Recently I’ve noticed loads of new pages popping up for cosplayers, now before I go any further I can already hear you all shouting ‘Matt, you hypocrite, you have a cosplay page yourself’, yes, yes I do, but give me a moment...

Anyway cosplay pages, I have no objection, in fact if people want to have one I’d actively encourage it, however... before you run to Facebook to set up your page stop and think for a moment, why am I setting one up?

Good ol' Facebook

Reasons to have a page:

• You want to have a public profile that anyone can see – This is why I ended up with a page, I didn’t actually set my page up, it was done by my girlfriend at the time following on from an off the cuff comment of ‘I keep getting friend requests, I should have a fan page!’. Anyway, my plan way to have a profile that I could share all my Doctor Who related things on without it taking over my profile, not all my friends have the same interests as me so I’d feel bad spamming them with one topic, plus it also meant that I could keep my private profile, well, private, I’m not interested in how many friends I have on FB, I’d rather have 10 that are my best mates than have 1,000 that I don’t know because let’s face it who really wants to look at my random photo’s from years back?

Lords of Time – Tea, So How Should It Be Made...

Yes, this is a blog post about how to correctly make a cup of tea!

How to make tea?!?

Over the course of the Lords of Time weekend a large amount of tea was consumed, especially by me, now the age old question is, how should it be made? Milk first (the correct way!) or milk in second?

This debate raged most of the weekend, the girls from the DT Forum, DavidTennant.com and I locked in stalemate as to who was correct, only one man could sort this, I am of course referring to Mr David Tennant.

During the DT guest talk, the question was asked, so how should tea be made? We all expected a quick reply, what we got was probably the most detailed description of how to make tea I’ve ever heard!