Browsing for TV show and film clothes or with other words: I cosplay

Well, as already everybody knows I'm of course also a weird fangirl and this includes (when it comes to me personally) also the wonderful world of Cosplay. I've started with this about a year ago with my first Fem-lock photos I just did out of fun because I was still a bit nervous. Over the time I became more and more confident and now I even have a Cosplay page on Facebook!  https://www.facebook.com/johannaholmescosplay?ref_type=bookmark

I love doing this though I always have huge respect when I see those people who really do this professionally, do everything themselves and go to competitions etc. The first time I've done something like this was in March to the Book Con in Leipzig and I just put on my Sherlock outfit without really believing someone would recognise me. But it was unbelievable! Though it were just three or four people it was so awesome that people recognised my outfit and called me Sherlock! You have to imagine for the first time doing this in public this was fantastic! Actually I already have everything I need for the complete outfit except the right coat. Recently I'm using my normal coat I wear in winter which of course works but does not look like the real thing. I've discovered on our German Amazon website Sherlock's coat the only problem: damned expensive! But I had the idea that I could maybe ask my parents to get me this as a present for my 18th birthday in February ;-) But at least it looks awesome ^_^

And I also want to cosplay Doctor Who some day of course! I love all the New Who Doctors (I'm still in the first Series of Classic Who but I've seen the TV Movie ^_^) and they are all awesome to cosplay but of course I want to be my favourite Doctor who is Christopher's alias the ninth Doctor. I've found for this also a great page which helps with tips and ideas for every Doctor outfit so you know what you need: http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2013/07/quick-cosplay-guide-to-the-doctors-of-doctor-who/
The ninth Doctor's outfit is actually easily done I just have to get the right leather jacket and there comes the problem again: money. (Btw: Did you notice that the jacket or the coat is most of the time the most expensive part of the Doctor's outfit? The BBC loves its jackets and coats ^_^) My parents also don't actually know that I cosplay and they don't really know about Doctor Who so I would feel a bit weird when I go to them and ask "Would you buy me a man's leather jacket that costs about 155 Euros so I can look like a time-travelling alien from TV?" Yeah, probably not the best sentence to start with this topic. But at least I've found the right jacket after one hour searching around and it looks like the Doctor's don't you think?

Has anyone of you seen "Nan's Christmas Carol" from the Catherine Tate show in which David Tennant plays the ghost of Christmas present? (If not do it after you've read this: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xyjboe_catherine-tate-nan-s-christmas-carol-full-episode_fun) Apart from the fact that the whole thing is freaking brilliant I absolutely adore the look of David Tennant's character!

I'm so in love with this outfit especially with the jacket! The same day that I have seen this I immediately looked around everywhere to find this black-red Army-style jacket and I can tell you that it's really not easy! It's even more difficult for me because I have to find some German page where I can buy it and pay in Euros. But I'm not giving up and I have already found some jackets that do look a bit like the one of the ghost but the problem is that they may look similar but miss certain important details. If someone finds a jacket like this on the internet and informs me I'm gonna love this person!

Well, who said that Cosplay is always easy? Well, actually it is always you just don't have to take it too seriously and remember that it is about being your hero and giving him and homage ^_^

Happy Birthday Benedict Cumberbatch!!!

Today is the day! The 38th birthday of the man himself: Happy Birthday Benedict Cumberbatch!!!!!
I hope he has a wonderful day and can have some rest with his friends and his family today. He has done so many things in the last few years, entertained us and made us laugh. He is such a wonderful guy and gives us so many wonderful chances to say a brilliant man doing some brilliant acting! And of course I have a little present for the our Benny-boy ^_^ : I made a Fem Sherlock Cosplay video, specially for this day and hope that you and maybe also Benedict will enjoy it ^_^

Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r6XPLNCNPA

19th of July is coming closer...!

Well, we all know that Benedict Cumberbatch's birthday is on Saturday and of course I want to do something for this incredible man on his special day.

Because I love to cosplay I thought of the idea to do a (Fem) Sherlock Cosplay video in which it's the detective's birthday! I've finished the script just a few minutes ago and of course want to share the result with you. You can find the script on my fan fiction blog:   http://johannaholmes.blogspot.de/2014/07/birthday-preparations.html

And if you want to know what the characters are going to look like when I cosplay: take a look at my Cosplay page https://www.facebook.com/johannaholmescosplay?ref_type=bookmark

So looking forward to do this and with a bit of luck Benedict might see the video on YouTube too...

Doctor Who has to be real!

I just stumbled across a very interesting little article that, once again, shows me that the world of Doctor Who might not be as far away as we think. The article explains that basically the Sonic Screwdriver, the Angels and the Doctor himself are/can be real.

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2012/04/real_life_doctor_who.php

Some days ago I saw a picture of Mt. Rushmore where one of the heads looks light the eight Doctor. Seriously though, I mean: who tells us that the Doctor's adventures, he himself and his planet aren't real?

I really like to believe that the Doctor and the species of the Time Lords is real since we don't know what else is out there. There are still so many things to discover and maybe we had the idea to create the world of Doctor Who because something in us told us about those adventures because deep inside we feel like the Doctor's stories are true. Every time at night when I like out of the window and I see a blinking light in the sky flying around I smile because I often think that this could be the Doctor in his TARDIS. Call me crazy or strange who doesn't want time travelling and a funny, clever alien to be real?

All this sounds weird, I know and you also need probably a lot of fantasy and faith to believe in this kind of stuff. But somehow it gives me hope and again brings some magic in our lives. Just imagine that it is not completely impossible that one day you walk around and suddenly you hear the sound of engines and the TARDIS materialising in a side street. And then I think the Doctor will be happy to see that we know him, know what he has always done and that we love him and are always ready to go with him.

In Memory of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

It have been now 84 years since the genius Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has died. Two years ago I saw a picture which explained the idea of writing 221B on your wrist on today's date. I liked it and since then I've done it and today we remember Doyle again. I know, in the very end Doyle himself didn't like his creation and stories about Sherlock Holmes but still: people all over the world were inspired by this character and not just by him. Doyle also wrote other interesting things like the adventures of Professor Challenger or beautiful poems. I'm glad that even today I can still read his brilliant stories and get inspired by them. Thank you Arthur for being such a brilliant author! You will always be remembered!

Matt Smith being a homosexual and a clone

We all have our first times seeing our most beloved actors. And often we start to associate them with the first film or TV show we see them in. Benedict, Martin and Andrew with "Sherlock" and Christopher, David and Matt with "Doctor Who". But some day we start to wonder what they are like in other projects so we look up their filmography. After doing this for all the aforementioned actors except Matt I've also finally found the curiosity to look up his works and I found two very interesting movies.

So, the first movie in which I saw Matt Smith for the first time is called "Christopher and his kind". It's based upon a autobiography of the same name by Christopher Isherwood. Basically it's about Christopher (played by Matt) who moves from his home in England to Berlin in the year 1931. There he meets his old friend who takes him to a special places that relatively early makes clear that Christopher is a young, book-writing homosexual. The film now shows Christopher's life in Berlin where me meets other British people and falls in love with other men. As it can't be prevented in such a story you also see men kissing and having sex but one has to say that they don't overdo it in the movie with showing love scenes. And who doesn't want to see Matt without his clothes? ^_^ Okay there was the fangirl speaking. - Christopher meets a man called Heinz with whom he really seems to be in love. He wants to be part of his life and always stands by his side. You can see that Christopher cares for him because at the time the Nazis and Hitler take over in Germany Christopher recognises they have to leave because their sexuality will not be accepted. So of they go in a future which is never quite clear.
The story itself is a very interesting one especially if you think about the fact that the life of Christopher Isherwood has really happened. I find the topic itself very fascinating and since I'm also German it was interesting to see how the gay community was in the thirties. Another great part for me in this movie is the fact that you get Matt Smith speaking German what for me was obviously great fun to watch. Though I have to say, since I know it's difficult to speak German if you're a native English speaker, his German was quite well to understand. There were only a few sentences which were funny to listen to but he did a good job with his German parts. But then you also have to say that the Germans English in the movie is also not always the best, especially when some of them try to pronounce Christopher's last name ^_^ One has to say that you will not get thrilling action or big discussions but I personally think the movie doesn't need that. I have to say that maybe some people who will watch the movie are just sitting through until the end because Matt Smith is in it but if you're open for an interesting and well-staged biography you will get a good story. The characters are written brilliantly and you find yourself clinging on to them and thinking about their situations in such a difficult time. And every actor and actress did a great job even if they just had a small part. Matt Smith, as nearly always, gives a great portrait of his character in this movie. He doesn't play Christopher as a stereotype gay man, he plays him naturally, emotionally and also very seriously if needed. You get a very good portrait of Christopher Isherwood because Matt Smith gives him a honest and believable character and you don't get the feeling that Matt has any problems with the role of Christopher.

The second movie I saw today has the name "Womb" or "Clone" (it has been changed for special DVD stuff). It focuses on the story of Rebecca and Tommy. They have been best friends when they were young but then Rebecca had to go to Japan to live with her mother. The two don't see each other for twelve years. Rebecca comes back to their old home and finds Tommy who still likes her very much. Rebecca and Tommy restart their relationship and are again spending much time with each other. One day they are taking a trip to Wellness Centre because Tommy's activist group is panning something there. They stop for a second because Rebecca needs to pee. Tommy gets out of the car as well but gets hit by car and dies still lying on the street. Rebecca and Tommy's parents are having their saddest days ever but Rebecca doesn't want to accept Tommy's death. She explains his parents the possibility of bringing Tommy back if they take his DNA from his dead body and let her have a baby, a new Tommy. The mother objects but the father gives in and Rebecca gives birth to a second Tommy whom she raises as her son. And so a sometimes difficult life begins for Rebecca and Tommy. Especially after some years when Tommy is older and near the age "Tommy 1" died and has a girlfriend the relationship and understanding between him and Rebecca becomes more difficult with every day.
This movie follows a brilliant and fascinating idea because you see yourself also confronted with the rules of society. Rebecca, played by Eva Green, is played brilliantly and you feel yourself put into her character. The movie manages it to portray this difficult and rather unusual scenario in a very emotional and serious way that you really want to know how Rebecca is going to handle the relationship with Tommy. You will catch yourself hoping that even though Tommy is Rebecca's son that the two of them could just be together as Rebecca remembers it but at the same time you fell sorry for Tommy because for so many years he doesn't know who he really is and has a, maybe for him, unexplainable close relationship with his mother. Matt Smith plays Tommy in a astonishing honest and emotional way. This role shows again how brilliantly Matt can play a characters who is actually a happy man but then over time has his dark and very serious even furious times. Especially in the discussions and conversations with the character of Rebecca Matt manages it to make the audience put into his situation. While watching this movie you always feel very attached to the two main characters because both Eva Green and Matt Smith play them very, very well and emotionally.

Both movies are definitely worth a watch through my personal favourite of the two is "Womb". You get brilliant acting of Matt Smith in both stories though he plays two very different characters. And you will notice again that the personality of Matt himself never gets lost in the movies because there are always the little moments where you have this young man with a bright smile behaving sometimes somehow childish and full of happiness. Matt Smith is a great actor and I hope that after his brilliant acting in "Doctor Who" he will get more new roles so he can finally expand his talent more and give us many awesome portraits of interesting people.

"Christopher and his kind": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hjidIaTYiE
"Womb": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r_kkK9yCqY

Doctor Who Series 6: completed!

I have finally finished the sixth series of Doctor Who!!! When I started watching Doctor Who I just came as far as series 5 because that were the DVD's my friend had and which I borrowed from her. That was two years ago. And a few months ago I decided to re-watch all episodes and finally going further and so I have now reached series 6 and I'm about to start with series 7. Because I want to be up-to-date when Peter Capaldi comes on August the 23rd!


I have to say that this was a pretty interesting series though I also have to say that I liked series 5 a bit more. What I noticed is that all the problems the Doctor, Amy and Rory faced were very often concentrated on themselves. There were enemies who did something but most of the time one of the three became the problem (sort of). You had a Doppelganger Doctor, you also had old Amy from the future saving her younger self or Amy becoming a wooden doll. It were quite some interesting and thrilling adventures and I have to admit I have never cried that often while watching Doctor Who as in this series. Especially when it came out that Amy was not real and her baby was not as well. Loved that episodes!

What of course was also in the focus of the sixth series was the whole story about River Song alias Melody Pond. Already the fact that she is the daughter of Amy and Rory is a little bit weird but an interesting idea if you think about it more closely. Well, but I had to go through all the River parts of this series again to make clear that I've now really understood what happened to little Melody Pond. She was taken away from her parents, has Time Lord parts in her, so regenerates into River and was apparently trained to kill the Doctor. Unfortunately we did not see much from River's story, many parts we just get told. Okay the following now is a bit paradox compared with the stuff before: I personally have to admit that there was a bit too much River for me but then I also have to say that I'm not the biggest fan of her. (Jap, sorry guys!) I would like her more if we knew and saw more of her. She is always flirty with the Doctor like they have known for a very long time and she is always like "Yeah, he's my boyfriend, I can flirt with him, make funny comments..." etc. And I was not satisfied with the last episode as usually because she marries the Doctor. I just did not feel comfortable with that because she always just appears out of nowhere, is like the Doctor's weird/secret girlfriend and is allowed to flirt with him and everything without the fact that we know that much about her. And it was a bit disappointing for me that in the end she marries the Doctor to save the world. No, sorry, but I've seen better Doctor Who finales than this one.

The relationship between Amy and Rory also finally got more in the focus especially Rory's part in the relationship and in the adventures was shown better and much more of it. It was always very emotional when it came to problems or hard decisions in their relationship and it was well worked into the adventures around them. I never felt pushed into the relationship story of them. Their relationship went through really hard times, very often they did not even remember each other or they got separated or had tiny doubts but it got never boring to see how they find each other again and how strong their love is. I also loved it to see, after we had Amy in the fifth series, how Rory now was doing in the TARDIS. he is finally a part of the adventures and it was good to see more of him. You also got now more of the serious Rory, also the lovely husband and a caring father.

Apart from the (once again) interesting adventures we also got again some really great acting of Matt, Karen and Arthur. They all did a fantastic job not just in their leading roles. Sometimes there were also copies or Doppelganger of the characters and they played them excellently as well. And also the guest stars were doing an awesome job.



My result with this series is the following: it were again wonderful adventures around the Doctor and his companions to watch. As we are already used this it got sometimes a little bit complicated but if you pay attention you will be able to catch up with everything. Some little points like explanations or characters structures had sometimes tiny difficulties which can be overseen. It was a good series to watch, I would say that series 5 was maybe a little bit better but this series definitely shows us again what Doctor Who is about: a weird alien in a blue box who travels with his friends.