Tag Archives: star trek

Benedict Cumberbatch and the British Invasion Into My Psyche

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On a clear Friday morning, 7th March, 2014, I started my morning ritual by grabbing my iPad Mini while still in bed, checked my Facebook news feed as usual (don’t judge me – I bet many of you do the same), and almost jumped right out of bed when I read this announcement from Oz Comic-Con:

Oz Comic-Con are very pleased to announce Benedict Cumberbatch is set to join the fun at Oz Comic-Con Adelaide and appear at two exclusive Oz Comic-Con Q&A events in Sydney.

WHAT?! SHERLOCK IS COMING TO MY HOME TOWN??? 

From that point on, there was no turning back or calming down. It took the organisers another two days to announce details for ticket sales. But I was online and ready with my credit card details as soon as the box office opened. However, judging by the fact that there were about 150 other people sitting closer to the stage I guess getting my tickets within a minute of the box office opening was still not good enough. However, we did have excellent seats and I have absolutely no complaints. Anyway, I digress…

Cumberbatch in Sydney

 

There were 33 sleeps from the time I bought tickets to the day I, and my friend Asha, were due to see this very talented actor, and they felt like the longest 33 days ever. I found myself re-watching all three series of BBC’s Sherlock and going back through my “Cumber-collection” of his many other works that range from playing Hugh Laurie’s eldest son in the 2003 comedy series Fortysomething, to his short films (make sure you check out Inseparable) and even his various radio serials for BBC Radio (Cabin Pressure, Rumpole and Neverwhere) and audiobooks (your life will never be the same again after you hear Cumberbatch as Casanova).

Benedict U2 photobombWhile you may have never heard of Benedict Cumberbatch until you saw him photobomb U2 at the Oscars or heard Ellen DeGeneres introduce him as “the man with the best name ever”, once you look at his long list of filmography, you will realise you have probably seen him in a million things before without realising who he was. Ever since the announcement a little while ago that he was set to return to the London stage in autumn of 2015 to play the title role in Hamlet, I bet there’s been a renewed interest in reading the Bard again. Heck, he’s the only reason I paid to see Star Trek: Into Darkness (nothing against Trekkies, I’ve just never been one of them).

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Is Geek The New Chic? Welcome to Comic-Con!

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2011 SDCC TV Guide Covers

From 21st to 24th July, 2011, the world’s largest convention for comic enthusiasts will take place in San Diego.  You may have heard of it – the San Diego Comic Convention – SDCC.  When this convention originated in 1970, it was attended by a few hundred fans of comic books and science fiction – Batman, Superman, The Avengers, Spiderman…you get the idea.  Of course, we cannot forget the Trekkies and the Star Wars fanatics.  You couldn’t consider yourself a true comic enthusiast unless you could speak Klingon.

I don’t pretend to know anything about this event except that over the years, this gathering of “comic geeks” has grown and now includes a galaxy of stars from the small and big screens.  Tickets were so in demand that the online sales service was not able to cope with the surge of orders when they were first released.  The server crashed, although this might say more about the event’s lack of organisation than anything else, but tickets were released again a few months later.  Still, to the fans who desperately wanted to attend, tickets were hard to come by.  Even the process the press has to go through to get their passes seemed ridiculously complicated, but I have been told it is worth the effort.

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