The Ripper on the Enterprise Pursued by Holmes

Ever since I was quite young I’ve been obsessed with three things, Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek and Jack the Ripper – bizarrely you can link them together as the original series did a Jack the Ripper episode (‘Wolf in the Fold’) and there’s also a TNG comic called ‘Embrace the Wolf’ that features Data as Sherlock Holmes and the entity Redjac from TOS ‘Wolf in the Fold’.

Other things that link Star Trek & Holmes include:

- Nicholas Meyer (he wrote several Holmes pastiches, including ‘The Seven Percent Solution’).
- In ‘the Undiscovered Country’ Spock says “An ancestor of mine maintained that if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains – however improbable – must be the truth.” his ancestor is either Arthur Conan Doyle or since we’re in a fictional universe a relation of Sherlock Holmes (Holmes never married).
- TNG episodes ‘Elementary, my dear Data’ and ‘Ship in a Bottle’

On Saturday I went to the ‘Jack the Ripper and the East End‘ exhibit at the Museum in the Docklands with a friend, this is a stand out exhibit in the way it looks at the conditions of the time, the social structure (with a lot of stuff about Charles Booth’s poverty map), culture and media involvement in the story. Not only that but it talks about eleven possible Ripper murders rather than the traditional five.

I don’t believe that of the five traditionally mentioned victims that two of them were murdered by Jack the Ripper, I think that Elizabeth Stride had her throat cut by a client or a street gang trying to rob her and Mary Kelly doesn’t fit the pattern (far too much mutilation and she was indoors).

I do think however that the ‘Whitehall Mystery‘ and the unknown woman found in Pinchin Street was a victim – the autopsy showed that her abdominal region was mutilated in a very, very similar way to the other victims. Her head and legs were severed in a manner that was similar to remains discovered in the Thames, Battersea Park and on the Chlesea Embankmant.

My list of victims would be:
31st August 1888 – Mary Ann Nichols
8th September 1888 – Annie Chapman
30th September 1888 – Catherine Eddowes
3rd October 1888 – ‘Whitehall Mystery’
June 1889 – Elizabeth Jackson
10th September 1889 – Pinchin Street Murder

As for who did it… well, there are many ‘famous’ suspects (including a very stupid royal conspiracy one when Prince Albert wasn’t in the country at the time and William Gull was overweight and had recently had a stroke…) but I think it’s far more likely to be some annomous soldier. Several of the victims were seen talking to soldiers before they were found dead and the police did consider the fact he could have been a soldier. If it wasn’t a soldier then my three ‘favourite suspets are (in order):

1. Dr T Neill Cream
2. Aaron Kosminski
3. Walter Sickert

The exhibition is brilliant and is great fuel for the imagination, it closes on the 2nd November so there’s not that much time left to go see it.

Game Addiction

I’m sure I’m not the only one to find that certain games take over your life and don’t let it go until you (a) completed it on ever possible difficulty setting (b) completed every little side quest and unlocked everything (c) remove it from your computer/console to prevent you ever going near it again (or for a reasonable level of time).

I think I’m somewhat fortunate in that MMORPG’s aren’t really my thing otherwise things might get rather ugly. Although that might be broken by ‘Star Trek Online’, before then though I need to move into a bigger flat so I can build myself an awesome desktop computer that will run it.

The first game this happened to for me was ‘Simon the Sorcerer’ when I was about 9/10yrs old, it was also a time when my dad was home on leave (he’s a systems engineer in the Navy… incidentally, Lt. Barclay is a systems engineer on the Enterprise) and trying to take an active interest in what his kids were doing – it failed as he soon got very bored.

A little while later I’d completed the game and moved on to a game that my uncle recommended called ‘Civilisation II’ (he even bought the ‘Ultimate’ edition for Christmas, it included the massive strategy guide, scenario’s & guide as well as a giant wall poster of the achievements tree) this one my mum (she’s a programmer) took an interest in and we spent hours together playing it. I own ‘Civilisation III’ but I don’t think I love it as much as the second one, I also have ‘Alpha Centuri’ which is fun but not as good. My mum had to do something about this game as part of her Computer Sciences degree she did whilst I was in my last few years of secondary school, not quite sure what the project was about but playing computer games with your mum is fun.

I have vivid memories of playing ‘Theme Hospital’ so much that every time I closed my eyes I saw doctors with little dollar signs above their heads! When I got my first laptop (in ‘04, a rather shit refurbsed thing) I bought the game as part of one of those 3 for £10 deals… many nights staying up trying to get to that last level!

Other games that took over my life were ‘Star Trek 25th Anniversary’ (actually this still has control of my life, it’s a permanent fixture on my hard drive!), ‘Fallout 1 & 2′, ‘Starfleet Academy’ (there’s still a level I was never able to get past and sadly I no longer have the game), ‘Ripper’ (it was one of those real-actor games, starting Christopher Walken… I thought it was ace) and ‘The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Rose Tattoo’.

Currently, ‘Black’ (a FPS for the PS2… ooh, abbreviation fun) has control, each level takes between 50 – 90 minutes to complete and it’s driving me up the wall! I will defeat the game! It’s made more frustrating by the fact I’ve had to lower the difficulty setting – I like to play a lot of my games on ‘Hard’, it gives you a nice challenge and I find it’s more fun and you definitely learn strategy (ammo’ conservation and the use of cover are lessons everyone should learn in FPS’s) but this game I’m really struggling with… so it’s down to ‘Normal’ and I don’t think I’m going to be able to complete this one on ‘Hard’.

I’ve played the game so much in the last few hours that my left arm is killing me, I’m a little worried I’ve pulled the ligaments (they’re weak from a previous non-gaming related injury). That wouldn’t look good when I go back to work on Monday, “sorry guys, I can’t lift the battery for the Genie. I pulled the ligaments in my arm playing a video game.”

Ricky Gervais passed on Star Trek Role – the Teapot sighs with relief

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly he talked about being picky about the projects he takes, he revealed that JJ Abrams approached him about a role in the new Star Trek film – for once Ricky Gervais did something that I agree with, he turned down the role. He didn’t reveal what role he was approached for but TrekMovie have speculated that it was Scotty, which went to another comedian (Simon Pegg).

Thank heavens for that. Ricky Gervais is someone I cannot stand and believe that he’s very much in danger of his head disappearing up his own arse, from what I’ve seen of his acting (okay, I’ve only seen him in ‘Starburst’) it’s been mediorce at best. Interesting quote from Gervais:

“I”m not trying to be a film star. I don’t care  if I never do another
film again. I can create my own material and I’ve got to remember that.
As exciting as it is to be a film star, it means nothing to me.”

I have a hard time believing this, I think he’s trying to get noticed in films for his acting rather than being cast as a cameo comedy character (doing an Eddie Izzard). I’d believe him more if he had created ‘The Office’ and ‘Extras’ and cast someone else in the roles that have made him a household name, saying that it means nothing to him to be a star (okay yes he said ‘film star’) just makes him sound arrogant.

Of course, I’m biased as I don’t find him funny nor did I think ‘The Office’ was the most original comedy written (it’s like a strange cross between ‘Drop the Dead Donkey’ and ‘Operation: Good Guys’), ‘Extras’ had it’s moments but wasn’t particularly special.

I just watched the trailer for his first staring role in a film ‘Ghost Town’. The premise is that Ricky Gervais’s character (I believe he’s a dentist) can’t stand people, he goes off to hospital to have a routine procedure done and dies briefly during the ‘op, when he comes back he can see the dead and interact with them and because of this the ghosts with unresolved issues want him to do jobs for him so they can move on.

Is this screaming ‘Dead Like Me’, ‘Pushing Daisies’, ‘The Ghost Whipserer’ and ‘The Frightners’ to anyone else?

Speed Test

I’m not entirely sure this is true, I rarely do much typing these days unless it’s writing boring blog posts, replying to IM’s/emails or writing stories/reviews. However I am quite pleased with the result

79 words

Speed test

Almost made it…

Your result for Reincarnation Placement Exam…

Deep Space Explorer

56% Intrigue, 93% Civilization, 56% Humanity, 55% Urbanization.

Hmm… You’re a tough one to place. Your answers indicate that you like technology and education. You enjoy intrigue, adventure and chaos. You’re fine with hard work and civilization. This all bodes well for an interesting, adventurous life.

What makes it difficult, however, is that you don’t seem to be much of a ‘people person.’If you were more of a people person, we would have commissioned you aboard the Starship Enterprise. But since you don’t care much for the complications of dealing with your fellow man… we have another deep-space mission, more tailored for your tastes… a way for you to enjoy the benefits of high-tech civilization without having to put up with civilization itself. Let’s set you up to pursue the solo career of a deep space explorer. You can go ahead and hibernate through the boring parts of your mission, and not worry so much about being a few decades out of touch with your fellows by the time you get home. In fact, you pretty much don’t have to deal with people at all, but you can still enjoy a high-flying adventure of a life. Far, far away from the madding crowd, you get to play with your scientific instruments, serve your glorious civilization, and do interesting things with strange discoveries in exotic places.

The career might work out all right. Look what it did for Charlton Heston.

Take Reincarnation Placement Exam at HelloQuizzy

Replicator Technology Needed

There are many times during my every day existence that I wish that there really were things like Replicators, not for feed-the-world-wipe-out-world-hunger reasons (although those are good reasons to want one) but for entirely selfish reasons.

I work hours that are described in my job description as ‘unsocial’, basically I start work at 5pm Mon – Wed and finish at around 11pm, Thurs I do 10am to 11pm and Fri – Sat is 12noon to 11pm. I pretty much start work as other people are coming home from work, and I only get one day off a week. A lot of the time my lunch consists of a sandwich or if I’m feeling adventerous I have beans on toast or something (cooking is not my strong point), dinner however is often a microwave meal either from Tescos (and from there it usually tastes like cardboard) or if I have the money from Marks & Spencers (where it tastes a bit more real)… sometimes I get a great baked potato from ‘Dinner Jackets’ in Covent Garden but really, you can’t have a baked potato everyday! Often by the time I get home I’m peckish and too tired too cook anything that’s remotely considered ‘food’, right this second I’m cooking a piece of chicken because if I don’t cook it today it’ll go off and that’s a waste of food… I was going to cook some pasta with it but I’m tired and want my chicken to be just ready so I can make a sandwich with it.

What I need is a Replicator. Then I can have something different, tasty or whatnot every day without having a limited selection. It would also be great on Sunday’s, really my cooking skills are limited – I can do a few set meals but usually require the help of a sauce packet or jar, I own a few cook books (including a Star Trek one) and ironically got a ‘B’ at GCSE Food Technology (which btw, has very little to do with actual cooking). Perhaps to improve I should cook more but having one day to do it is a bit… naff.

So, come on science boffins! Stop playing around with particle accelerators and make a Replicator… although after typing that I have a feeling the two are connected in some strange complicated way. The Starfleet Technicial Manual makes it all sound so simple.

I’m a shark, hear me roar!

I’m Steph and
I’m a Hammerhead Shark.

WWF: Wave Forward Fish Game . I’m quite pleased that I’m a shark, I would have loved to be a Great White but my inner fish is probably not that hardcore enough.

‘The Dark Ages’, not what I thought it was.

Massive disclaimer, my history knowledge is mostly around the area of the Industrial Revolution and the social impacts of WW2 on the British… I just happen to be reading an awesome popular history book called ‘An Utterly Impartial History of Britain or 2000 years of Upper Class Idiots in Charge‘ by John O’Farrell which made me realise that I was wrong in my thought that the ‘Dark Ages’ was referred to as such because of religion preventing progress when it’s not really that at all.

Until recently I had believed ‘Dark Ages’ was applied in the sense that it was a time of Evangelical Christian uprising, science being forbidden and superstition running amok etc… when actually the term ‘Dark Ages’ is applied because there was so little written down during the period because the Angelo-Saxons turned up and decided to replace the population of Britain. Unlike the previous invasions where you could argue the structure of Britain had been changed for the better with the introduction of literacy and the like, the Angelo-Saxons just wanted the land and weren’t interested in the people living there. The Angelo Saxons were illiterate so by wiping out the majority of the people who were literature very little was recorded.  It became the ‘Dark Ages’ since we don’t really know what went on. There was a state of constant warfare that stunted cultural development, altered the geographical demographic of the country and limited building construction. The term ‘Dark Ages’ stopped being applied to the Early Middle Ages around the 19th century when scholars really started to look into this period and now the term ‘Dark Ages’ is hardly used… when used it’s a neutral term to describe the lack of development.

The term ‘Dark Ages’ is usually attributed to a 14th century scholar called Petrach who took the piss out of the Christian writers take on ‘light vs dark’ metaphor (they considered the era of the Roman Empire as ‘dark’ because of the lack of Christianity) by saying ‘”amidst the errors there shone forth men of genius, no less keen were their eyes, although they were surrounded by darkness and dense gloom.”‘ Petrach was an Italian and believed in the greatness of the Roman Empire, to him the fall of Rome and the loss of the cultural
developments and artistic developments that took place at the time signalled a ‘dark age’.

The idea that history repeats itself is fascinating since it does seem to do so, like in this situation. At the time of Petrach little joke towards Christian clichés, the Humanists were arguing that history was shown by the development and progression culture, ideas, literature and art whereas the Christians saw history unfolding in the way that St Augustine outlined in his ’Six Ages of the World’ – now we’re having the debate that the development of humanity and progression is through science rather than religion (the evolution vs. creationism argument).

I love history

All Hail Abandonware!

Legally this is a grey area, technically it is still owned by a copyright holder but as the game is no longer being sold or supported by the copyright holder the law tends to ignore the abandonware sites that are up on the Internet.

I’m a gamer, I love nothing better than settling back and getting absorbed into a wonderful game – usually an excellent FPS, RPG, strategy or simulation. I’ve never really done online gaming as WoW or any of the other major online games really appeal to me and I’ve heard a lot of them don’t really have a n00b friendly atmosphere going on. I imagine it’s like anything else – anominity + the Internet = arseholes.

As I’m not really in a position to get stuck into some of the current greats I’ve been revisiting my back catalogue, starting of course with my all time favourite games ‘Theme Hospital’, ‘Simon the Sorcerer’ and ‘Fallout’ – some of these run a little funny on Vista and I had a right time getting ‘Simon the Sorcerer’ to install! But overall, I was happy and got to play. There are two other of my all time favourite games that I’ve not been able to play for a long time though, ‘Ripper’ (one of those interactive live action games, believe it rocks) and ‘The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Rose Tattoo’, it’s a little sad when I want to play these favourites but can’t but I’ve found a way to fill the void they have left in my life.

For my 13th birthday (I think it was that one) I got given a box-set of Star Trek games (‘Star Trek: 25th Annivsary’, ‘Star Trek: TNG’, ‘Star Trek: Generations’, ‘Starfleet Academy’) most of these I enjoyed (‘Generations’ sucked) and I was particularly taken with the ‘25th Anniversay’ game and ‘Starfleet Academy’ – I can’t find ‘Starfleet Academy’ to play but I did find ‘25th Anniversay’ (possibly the greatest Star Trek game ever) on Abandonia, along with it’s sequel ‘Judgement Rites’ (which I’d never heard of).

Not only was I able to return to my Trek gaming routes, but I found the first ‘Lost Files…’ game, along with ‘Constructor’ (I was slightly addicted to this), ‘Castles’, ‘Dune’, ‘Dune II’ and several other games I had played when young (or already knew about). I plan to dedicate some more time to explore some past masters that I missed growing up or didn’t really get too much of chance to play – who needs the fancy graphics of today when you’ve got the great storylines and gameplay of yesteryear?

Incidentally – Oddword has been re-released! My brother had ‘Oddysee’ and ‘Exodus’ on his PS2 and I was a massive fan of Abe and his adventures, I had no idea they’d ever been released on the PC though! (Nor that there were more games). I had a bit of an issue with Steam (nothing compared to the hassle I had with the EA Games Downloader, least said about that the better) but I think I need to try again, particularly if little gems like Abe are going to be released on there.

One day when I finally have a place of my own I want to build myself a brilliant gaming computer, create myself a little cubbly hole where I can just go get lost in other words. Since I’d own the flat I could decorate it like I want… maybe a nice Star Trek theme (but I’d definitly not do what that bloke did by turning his entire flat into the bridge of Voyager) in the furnishings… possibly Star Trek cross with Sherlock Holmes – does that count as a ‘cyberpunk’?

Sometimes it just has to be done…

There’s something inherently relaxing about dressing up in a Star Trek uniform (I have a TNG jump suit, a VGR shirt and just won a TOS shirt on ebay) at around midnight on a Saturday. It’s something that I’ve always, always, always wanted to do (not necessarily at midnight on a Saturday) but haven’t had the funds to the ability to avoid my parents somewhat despairing looks. Now I live on my own and happen to be many, many miles away from my parents (and recently had a promotion at work) so I CAN INDULGE!

I’ve never taken part in any sort of cosplay and I think I’ve missed the boat with the Star Trek conventions taking place in the UK but I know there are a few general science fiction conventions going on around the UK over the end of this year and next year. I think I’d rather go to a dedicated Star Trek convention so I can geek out with a fandom I know fairly well, I am a fan of general science fiction but I’m very much a n00b in that area, I am a fan of Isaac Asimov but haven’t read the entire ‘Foundation’ series (read all his robot stories and am a huge fan of his Elijah Bailey/R. Daneel stories) and my other sci-fi readings are on the slim side (trying to rectify that!)… I hated ‘Firefly’ and only recently got into ‘Battlestar Galactica’ – that’s the mainstream sci-fi dealt with, my knowledge of obscure (usually ’70s) sci-fi you could fit on the back of a very small postage stamp. No, I think I’d be out of my depth at a general science fiction convention, I now have to hope that with the new Trek film coming out in May next year that there will be a resurgence in the British Star Trek scene (maybe we can be the new home for ‘Star Trek: the Experience’).

For now, I can be a complete dork and spend my evenings pretending I’m on a Starship*

*(Disclaimer: I have never done this)