*clears throat, taps microphone*
Erm… hello?
I don’t know if anybody is still out there reading this blog but if you’re there… hello!
Funny to think that there was once a time when posting opinions on the internet still felt a little bit niche, a little bit special. Back in the early pioneering days of blogging, we were special. Or at least, we felt like we were (and isn’t that all that matters?). Nowadays, everyone’s at it. Let’s not forget that before Elon ruined twitter, twitter ruined everything else.
Blogging in 2023 feels almost old fashioned. Who has time to read anything lasting more than a couple of sentences, for crying out loud?! And for that matter, who has the time to write anything of length. Nobody whose opinion is worth reading, I’ll warrant.
This blog had its roots in writing about our creative endeavours, about Doctor Who, and about politics. Well, to tackle those things in reverse: back in the day, when politics was still an enjoyable enough topic to make for a decent musical theatre spectacle, I used to get quite a kick out of immersing myself in whatever was being discussed on The Today Programme. But these days, for reasons I needn’t spell out, immersing myself in anything political for any length of time makes me feel like I need an instant shower. Besides which, it’s hard to see the value of adding my voice to the millions shouting into the void (even though, make no mistake, I still have some strong opinions).
I also have some strong opinions about Doctor Who, though increasingly these are either restricted to the classic Doctor Who of my childhood or voiced only in pubs to people I know. Again, commentary on ‘NuWho’ feels like a mostly shouty void, and I’ve no desire either to add banal positivity or unnecessary negativity to a market that is pretty crowded on both fronts (surprise: there are things about Doctor Who over the last ten years that I have loved and things that I have hated, and a lot in between!). C’mon everyone – it’s basically meant to be there for fun, isn’t it?
That said… I do have some things to say about Doctor Who that might, possibly, be of value. Having been writing the odd perspective on Doctor Who fiction, or occasionally engaging with Toby Hadoke’s brilliant (and positively inclined) podcasts, I find that it is a programme with a whole real-world universe to explore, a huge part of which is the way in which people engage with it personally. Perhaps that sounds wanky, but all it really means is that I have stories to tell about Doctor Who which are really stories about me, and ultimately that seems a much more interesting thing to write about that whether I think the Timeless Child is better than the Cartmel Masterplan or why I don’t think the Master dancing to pop music is going to age particularly well. And what better year to delve into my relationship with Doctor Who than the 60th anniversary?
Assuming I find the time.
But… y’know… if you’re still watching this space, do continue to watch it.
In the meantime, why don’t I take this opportunity to write about my creative endeavours? That, I can do, and I can do it right away.
Having dabbled with some improvised storytelling over lockdown, I also found myself dabbling quite excessively with more prosaic short-form storytelling, the fruits of which can now be enjoyed on a brand new podcast: NEUROTIC LITERATURE. Because if blogging is old hat, then what could be more bang up to date than podcasting? Haha, yes, totally ahead of the curve, me – I thought I’d get in there before everyone has a podcast.
So here it is: a series of short yarns, often quirky slash funny, sometimes dark, occasionally downright disturbing – just the thing for your jogging/gardening/cooking/bath time, if not always the thing when there are children in the room. Please have a listen, subscribe, rate, review…
…and maybe see you back here soon.
Talk To Rex 