Saturday 10 July 2010

Absolute Certainty

This blog post will expand on a video by Pat Condell which I’m very fond of called Absolute Certainty – the ways in which religious people offer absolute certainty through their belief systems, and how it is neither true nor a clear minded way to go about your life. In this article, I want to take a few moments to clear up the difference between what people know and what people believe. Some people may not see the difference between the two, but with a few moments of thinking on the matter it becomes clear that there is a separation.

I felt it necessary to write this blog after debating with Christians on the internet about the origins of the universe, their creationist theories and their view on the afterlife (among several other things). What upset me was the way they talked as if they had no doubt in what they were saying, they used scripture as fact, and in my opinion, this is more than silly. As I debated with them, I made a point to clearly express my agnostic standpoint on the physical and spiritual aspect to the world we live in, I would never claim to know how this amazing universe began or whether my beliefs are fact. Personally, I think that anyone who thinks they know the answers to these questions (from both a religious or scientific stand point) is both an idiot and a closed minded fool. Thus, as previously stated, I always make it clear that I am agnostic and open to absolutely any possibility, including the barbaric God of the Bible – and I’m not ashamed or embarrassed to admit that; whereas they’re open to absolutely nothing, and accuse me of being “pretty sick” for even considering the idea of humans having a common ancestor with apes. Similarly, they say they know that when we die, the theory of God’s judgement over man for his sin is the way things will unfold. It’s not “I believe it will happen”, it’s “I know it will happen, and you’ll be sorry when it comes true.” However, as you haven’t died and neither have I, you can’t guarantee anything of the sort, just as you can’t guarantee Muslims or Jews are wrong, or for that matter the flying spaghetti monster.

So, the difference between knowing and believing is the inability to deny fact on a basis of demonstrable theory through practise. To this end, knowing automatically includes believing because it goes beyond it. For example, I know that gravity is a real force. I believe that if I picked up a penny and dropped it, gravity would take hold and it will fall to the ground. I can put this into practise by doing so and every time I drop the penny it hits the floor, therefore I know gravity exists.

However, what is written in the scripture is not fact. To read that God made the universe in seven days and believe it is fine, to believe that God will judge all men at the end of their lives is fine, to believe that judgement day will come and this entire existence will no longer exist is fine, to believe I am a sinner and I will burn in eternal fire for not obeying your God is fine (if somewhat offensive) – but to say you “know it is true” isn’t fine at all. The basis for this is that you can’t put the creationist theory into action. You can’t say “okay, God made the world in seven days, let’s test that in a lab” or “let’s try that scenario in action” because it’s a theory that works on superstition and, for want of a better word, magic. However, you can use science to rectify this, by picking holes in the God theory with scientific practise, such as carbon dating and fossils which automatically disprove the idea of the world being 6,000 years old. I’m not here to disprove religion though; that would be a stupid idea. I just want to point out that nobody, not even the smartest scientist, knows source of man and his surroundings without a doubt – even Richard Dawkins (evolution expert) happily answers the theory of a God existing, he just doesn’t believe it’s likely based on what we’ve learnt and continue to learn – in the same respect that I (and a lot of other atheists) do.

So, there you go, feel free to believe what you wish – I’d never seek to quash the right of freedom of choice in such a belief, but don’t claim to know anything when it comes to the source and expiration of man’s existence, because you haven’t experienced either.

Thanks for reading, below you can find the original video by Pat regarding this subject. Enjoy!

Tuesday 29 June 2010

The Ultimate Who Review: Series 5

Why Moffat’s reinvention of Britain’s greatest TV show is the best it’s ever been…

Okay I’ll be the first to admit it, when Matt Smith’s Doctor burst on to our screens on new year’s day in the crashing TARDIS, I was more than apprehensive about his ability to take on the reigns of such an iconic character, especially after everyone’s love an devotion to Tennant’s brilliant portrayal of our favourite Time Lord. Even after three episodes (as you may have seen in one of my previous posts) I remained unconvinced that letting RTD and Tennant leave was a good idea. It’s true, this series had a slightly rocky start, but there have been so many brilliant episodes and since the disappointing narrative of ‘Victory of the Daleks’ the show has just gone from strength to strength. I never could have imagined that after my great love for David Tennant’s Doctor that I would be so impressed and so fond of our new 11th regeneration.

Matt Smith’s Doctor reverts himself back to the attitude of older Doctors like Pertwee’s third incarnation – fiery in temper, head strong, traditional fondness of peculiar dress, animated and exciting to a level where we can’t predict any moves he makes. It’s thanks to Matt’s performance and personal adaption of the character that we see older traditions of Doctor Who colliding with new ones; which is particularly interesting as he’s the youngest actor to play our time travelling hero. Each Doctor seems to have something about him that follows his character through everything he does, a central theme that can sum up his journey through seasons. Eccleston's was his loss of Gallifrey, the haunting of the Time War, the fact he was ‘born in battle and bloodshed’ as Tennant put it. Tennant’s Doctor expanded on this theme but in the end it was all about Rose and it was all about love. Our Tenth Doctor was so unlucky in love on so many levels that we felt for him so much, and after his first season he never got the chance to fulfil that yearning for love – all the way up to his regeneration, which is why we felt so bad to see our lonely Doctor go without giving his full potential; “so much more” as he said. However, Matt Smith’s Doctor has completely dropped that theme, maybe Moffat isn’t such a fan of it, as we never see the Eleventh Doctor even try anything with Amy, despite her numerous attempts to get past his suspenders and into his pants. In stead, he remains clear headed in his intentions and it is only River Song who we see him taking a real fondness to at the very end of the season.

Speaking of other characters, the companions of this series were brilliant. Amy is not only attractive but funny, sparky and flamboyant – she takes the  idea of the Doctor’s sidekick to a whole new level. Though the fiery red head is seen as the Doctor’s companion in this series, but Rory’s character appears in so many episodes that he can be karen_gillan_01_1024seen as one too, and his true importance shines through right to the end, which was really nice to see; even though his character is by no means easy to stomach at the best of times. The return of River Song was a welcoming flashback to season 4 and keeps us connected to earlier events…or future events in her view I guess. Either way, her performances get stronger and stronger – which is reassuring for her future performances.

It’s important to recognise that not only did the characters change completely when we saw Tennant go (the entire reasoning behind ‘The End of Time’ was simply to say goodbye to all those RTD characters, which is what made it a bit disappointing) but the entire way the show is created has changed too. From a production point of view, the show looks so much more real, the filming style is grittier and more dramatic – with a slower frame rate that gives it that cinematic feel. It was always my opinion that, despite how much I loved the Eccleston and Tennant years, they remained very cartoony. Davies had managed to reignite that camp and silly look of classic Doctor Who with the rubber suits and bad puppetry, which in effect kept it very British and very much within its own theme, but Moffat has taken those sparks of subtle CGI use in earlier seasons and vamped them up to their full potential – meaning a very small use of rubber masks. In fact, the only classical use of this is in The Pandorica Opens, where we’re reunited with the Judoon, Sontarans and many other villains of previous years, but this is for about 5 minutes, compared to the amazing CGI display of their warships above Stonehenge just moments before. Yes, it seems very clear, that Moffat is striving to bring a whole new kind of visual performance to the show, and good on him. Some classic Who fans would argue that this is taking away the true essence of what Doctor Who is, and I can see where they are coming from, but as audiences evolve and technology moves forward, it’s a shame to admit that we can’t stay in 1976 forever. Even the new Silurians had a much more dignified feel to them, which I’m sure we can all appreciate.


Episode Rating Run Down
 

Episode Name                             Reno Rating (/10)

The Eleventh Hour                       10

The Beast Below                         7

Victory of the Daleks                   5.5

The Time of Angels                     7.5

Flesh and Stone                          8

Vampires of Venice                     7

Amy’s Choice                              7.5

The Hungry Earth                        7

Cold Blood                                  8.5

Vincent and the Doctor              8.5

The Lodger                                 7.5

The Pandorica Opens               10

The Big Bang                             9

 

Cracks in the Universe and Silence Will Fall

The cracks in time were a brilliant and intriguing story arc this year, they imposed a constant visual reminder of the impending mysterious finale, instead of relying solely on hearsay and other characters, much like Bad Wolf in the first of the new series, though less subtle than the hints of Harold Saxon in series 3. On top of this, the idea of silence falling  (said or mentioned by many characters) was combined to give us an even more outstanding question about what was going to happen. We all knew from the start that there was going to be an explosion in the future that would threaten all of time and space – the Doctor said it himself – but I don’t think any of us could have expected what we were given in the end. The 2 part finale was brilliant, bold, exciting, intense and so utterly confusing that I’m still trying to get my head around it 4 days on. The inclusion of every major foe from the last 5 seasons was a great idea and something I think Who fans have been waiting for for a long time.

Questions remain as to who said “Silence Will Fall” in the TARDIS late into The Pandorica Opens (as well as who actually caused the cracks and made the TARDIS land/explode on that date). The truth is, we still don’t know and we probably won’t know until the end of season 6 – if not later. RTD always did us a favour by wrapping everything up into a nice little bundle and sealing it off for us, resolved and done with – whereas Moffat has clearly left the questions unanswered and even cut off the Doctor’s urgency to find out who said it when they introduced the beginning of the Christmas special for later this year; no doubt we’ll get some clues then too. There are many theories floating around the web, including the reintroduction of the Valeyard from the fifth Doctor’s time or even the most powerful Time Lord of them all; Omega (who I’m personally hoping for). Either way, it’s unconventional and very refreshing to have a faceless villain in a finale – one who doesn’t bathe in everyone knowing who he is, instead he sits back and lets chaos happen. I’m looking forward to finding out who he/it is – bring on next July!

 

In the end this series was better than any other because it removed the cartoony feel of earlier seasons and made it REAL. It was so much more real, so much more believable (if there is such a thing when talking about a time travelling alien) and it was so much more entertaining. The only thing missing from this season was a real involvement with people. For some reason, Moffat decided to keep heavily populated areas out of this season, whereas RTD saw his Doctor landing in London and Cardiff regularly, as well as world wide invasions by Sontarans and Daleks, humanity enslaved by the Master and Cybermen trying to delete absolutely everything with international reactions as they happened – but we don’t see any of that this time, it’s very localised and very closed off, which is a bit of a shame in my opinion.

Tuesday 22 June 2010

My first astral projection experience

Hello everyone, sorry for not posting a Phobia Friday video last week! I was away without a computer so I wasn’t able to upload anything. However, while I was back I experienced something amazing and refreshing. In case you hadn’t noticed or I haven’t told you, I recently took up Buddhism – I’ll be happy to go into this later but at the moment I’ll skip that and tell you about my first ever experience of astral projection.

On Saturday (the day before I came back to Stoke) I wasn’t feeling 100% so I decided to meditate for a while in my room. I was laying on my bed with my elbows down and my forearms raised to about a 45 degree angle. As I closed my eyes I played my thunderstorm meditation mp3 on my headphones and just sunk into my experience a little. As I sank more and more, I became aware of two separate mind states – one was the awareness of my conscious physical location and in particular where my hands were, as they were the only things that weren’t flat against the bed. From a visual perspective (though my eyes were shut) I knew that focusing on my hands I was looking in their respective directions, so my left eye looked left and my right eye looked right. When doing this, my hands would stay completely still. Then, my eyes would focus to the centre and my mind would clear, this is when my hands would begin to move and I could consciously feel them moving. After a few seconds of moving my eyes would leave the centre again and they’d stop moving. This process happened quite a few times until I was completely exempt of my physical situation. It’s a little hard to explain what happened next, in some respects I knew where I was but at the same time I couldn’t feel my physical body at all. A few minutes later I realised that under these waves of consciousness and focus I’d been receiving questions when my eyes were centred on this invisible column in the middle of my mind. I knew the questions had been there the whole time, I couldn’t tell you what the questions were or what my answers were, because there were no words. Soon after this, I met the woman who was asking me this questions – an old lady (about 60) from Thailand. I don’t know how I know she was from Thailand, but I do. She stood behind a market stall which was up against a grey wall. From behind the market stall she handed me a china vase with some bright flowers in it. Without speaking I said I couldn’t take them, but she insisted. Again, there were no physical words here, I can’t speak Thai and I highly doubt she speaks English. The only way I can explain it is communication with our minds. I thanked her for the questions and for the flowers, she smiled at me and it all just faded away. At that point I knew what was happening, I told myself I wanted to wake up so I could put it on Facebook and tell everyone about it – but I physically couldn’t do it, there was no control over me coming back to opening my eyes. At the moment of telling myself that I wanted to wake up I know I was looking at a cliff face, it looked like the grand canyon, I have no idea what the connection is there but it was very clear, I can still picture it now.

So the sceptics will say “you were asleep” – maybe, but it didn’t feel like sleep, never before have I slept and known of my physical situation, never have I been asleep and wanted to wake up, I am always fooled by my dreams into thinking they’re real. On top of this, the whole process only lasted about 9 or 10 minutes, as I woke up with several minutes left on the thunderstorm mp3 (which is only 16 minutes long). I didn’t feel drowsy or sleepy when I came back around, I felt very normal and refreshed.

I can’t tell you if she was real. I can’t tell you if she was a living person connecting with me or a spirit. I can’t tell you if I was asleep or if this was all my imagination. All I can tell you is I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life, I had no fear and no discomfort, just peace. A friend of mine online was very supportive and offered more information on the subject, as well as telling me the Thai lady was probably real. On top of this, she told me to see the meaning behind the offer of flowers – probably renewal and new life. It’s nice to know there are others out there supporting me and hoping for this new life who I’ve never even met. I can only hope to have another experience like it again soon :)

Reno

Friday 11 June 2010

Phobia Fridays!

Hello everyone, I just want to do a quick catch up of the last 2 weeks. I decided that, despite having no video camera, I would still start raising the game of my video blog channel on YouTube by starting a new video series (among other regular uploads) called Phobia Fridays. I’ve already uploaded the first 2 videos, you can find them below. I’ve taken Phobia Friday beyond YouTube though and made it a twitter hash tag – so keep an eye out for it and get involved!!

Episode 1 is an introduction to how you should approach phobias and how you should look at them from a logical view point.

It’s important to remember that there is no external source affecting your decisions and mental state. No matter what you think or feel or experience, you make your phobia what it is. If you like, you can treat your phobia like a child, it’s always there but its a matter of whether you will let it act out or not! As I say in the video, anything you can turn on, you can turn off as well.

Episode 2 was posted yesterday, it’s all about the law of attraction. You might not agree with the theory, but I felt it was right to explain my theory of it and how I feel it affects everything we do.

The law of attraction is a real thing, and I strongly advise you to check out 'The Secret’ in book form or on DVD (I’ve got both!) – it’s a riveting read and even if you don’t believe it, the theory is so encouraging and uplifting!

Thanks for watching and reading, new post coming soon about my current favourite topic – religion!!

Reno :)

Thursday 22 April 2010

Album of the Month: April

Dragonforce – Inhuman Rampage

Though this album may have been out for several years, I feel it is time for me to give it the journalistic  coverage it deserves. Inhuman Rampage is, without exception, amazing. From it’s inception of Through the Fire and the Flames (yes, many of us are sick of hearing this track from the repeated times we tried to play it on Guitar Hero III) right through to the softer ending with the outro track Trail of Broken Hearts. The outrageous speed and complexity that Dragonforce have achieved acclaim for with TTFTF is not a one off, and remains a prominent factor of the album and lingers all the way through to the second-to-last track The Flame of Youth (track 8). inhuman_special

This album is by no means easy to digest without time to understand how power metal works, and admittedly it may just be a bit too manic for some listeners. However, with the ability to keep up with the 100 metre dash that this album is (in both speed and adrenaline) then you’re in for one hell of a ride. Once experienced, the talent of the members in Dragonforce (whether you like their personalities or not) can not be denied. I’ve heard many objections to metal that doesn’t contain ballsy gruff voices and how unappreciated high pitched male voices can be in this overall genre as well. However, ZP Theart (who has since departed the band) doesn’t hog the musical light; which in honesty would be difficult as every track on the CD stretches beyond 5 minutes, most surpassing the 7 and a half minute mark with Cry for Eternity reaching an impressive 8 minutes and 13 seconds before it’s climactic close, leaving plenty of space for intense displays of instrumental mastery and progressive stages that lead to extensive guitar solos.

Unfortunately, this is where the album falls down a little, as sometimes it feels as if the tracks have a lack of direction and seem to just stem off into a world of their own just for the sake of it. Many first time listeners may get completely lost as to what is going on and the very samey sound of each track may leave some asking “is this the same song?” – however the fact that the same sound throughout gives the recording an all-in-one-go hell ride of metal and excitement, you don’t really need to know which track you’re still on. The best way to approach this album is to just sit back and listen through; soaking up the obvious time and effort put into it.

On a personal note…
Another thing to be proud of is the fact that Dragonforce are British. I’ve only seen the kinds of music that they are producing from the mainland European stage, and admittedly some members of Dragonforce stem from further afield than here, but they are nevertheless known as a British band and that makes me a proud man and will remain a fan of them for the rest of my life. Inhuman Rampage is an album that never gets old for me and always puts a huge smile on my face, a definite desert island disc!


Reno Rating: 9/10
Best track: Cry for Eternity

Check out the Dragonforce back catalogue at Amazon.co.uk

 

 

Sunday 18 April 2010

The Who Review - S5E03

Victory of the Daleks? Not really.

Okay so, the Daleks are back. Despite being wiped out entirely under the will of Kaan and somehow avoiding the dalekanium reverse thingy majiggy that the half Doctor put into action (not that it really makes any sense). Oh well, the point is the they’re back, they’re making tea and they’re now all new. To an extent, when looking back over the episode, it made a lot sense to 'evolve’ the look of the Daleks as it were, because a lot of effort has been made to reinvent the new Moffat era of the Who and thus leaving the Tennant/RTD look behind continues this theme – and we can enjoy a whole new exciting look to the galaxy’s biggest villains from now on… the problem is it’s not very exciting at all. Okay, the voices are kinda cool and the idea of colour co-ordinating the daleks into a new functional colour system, but there are a lot of rumours that this is just a marketing ploy just to sell more merchandise.

juicier 

Unfortunately, the new designs look tacky and they’re way too fat!! What’s with this random fat arse stuck on the back? They look hunch back! Admittedly in the picture above they look far more menacing because of their size over the older versions on the right. Still, not hugely impressed.

Amy Pond, whether this should be the case or not, is far more interesting than the Doctor in this episode, just as she has been throughout the series so far. She’s interesting, silly, ditzy and indirectly more intelligent than the Doctor in achieving desired results. Still, that last point is always the objective of the companions, so there’s an inevitability for you. Without going into too much detail, I’m still not feeling Matt’s version of the Doctor. Every person who has taken on the role of our cunning Time Lord has had his own style, but Smith is yet to stand out. Admittedly, we thought Tennant was a bit like this at first, but he only took an episode or 2 to get into the swing of things – we’re now 3 episodes in and he’s still nothing special.

For the sake of balance here’s some of the best bits of the show; The visuals were fantastic! Churchill may not have looked especially convincing, but he was played well enough and we could believe it was his character if we detached reality from fiction for the sake of enjoying Saturday night telly. The war rooms were very realistic, cinematography, lighting, continuity, makeup and costume were all perfect. The space battle was amazing, some of the best CGI I’ve ever seen in a British TV series. Another great part was the ending of the episode, seeing these cracks in the walls as a recurring theme is something we’re used to, which will obviously lead up to the end of the series and it’ll all make sense then, on top of the fact that Amy doesn’t remember the planets in the sky; what the hell is the deal with that?! Either way, this episode wasn’t enough to stop me watching in the future (I don’t think anything would) - so faith still remains there for me.

The problems with this episode were as follows; the story arc, even if the Daleks return later on, was just too short! When I watched the trailer for this episode, I saw it as a definite 2-parter; I mean it had to be! It was the return of the Doctor’s biggest enemy after what we thought was their end. Because of the fact they were only given the one 45 minute episode for their return, it seemed very rushed and all of the plot developments (which were potentially gripping and enthralling) just seemed rushed and almost too easy. If they’d spaced it out over 2 episodes we could have had the brand new Daleks coming out of their chamber (which also made no sense) at the end of part 1 and then the massive battle part in the second part. Shame. Cant argue that the battle wasn’t good, but again it was rushed and too easy to end.

One last thing, the title of this episode was Victory of the Daleks, okay, but why? In what way was it a victory? They killed about 2 people and then ran away. Admittedly they managed to reinvent themselves and escape, but that’s possibly the smallest form of victory they could have achieved. This = fail. Would have been better to call it “Cowardice of the Daleks”.

So to round up, the visuals were great but the story was just too short. It was rushed and lacked substance. Emotional involvement? Yeah it was there, but not deep enough. Character development? Not really. Endearing end? Yes yes yes!! Oh, and yeah, still dissapointed with Matt’s Doctor – just not filling Tennant’s boots yet.

Reno Rating: 5/10

Wednesday 14 April 2010

General life update – April 14th

Wow, so there’s a few things I want to update you guys with; and most of them are moans – apologies in advance. I’m currently at my Mum’s house, taking a break from the bullshit that is Stoke-on-Trent and it has to be said that once again, I’m disgusted by the quality of the travel conditions I put up with on the way to Kettering was ridiculous. Sitting on the floor in the food carriage wasn’t what I had imagined when paying £35 for my ticket. I can understand trains being busy, but this isn’t the first time it’s happened – which frustrates me – but what really takes the biscuit is the fact the train had 4 normal carriages and 3 first class carriages. As the train pulled in to Derby I watched the first 3 carriages pass me and saw that almost all the seats were empty. Now I can appreciate that some people want to pay £70 for the sake of a slightly bigger chair and a free cup of tea, but there are a lot more of us who want to sit in regular class and therefore East Midlands trains should get their carriage priorities right, thanks.

So moving on to a more positive note – I’m voting Lib Dem. After debating my choices and having had support for the Tories due to the endless watching of Prime Minister’s Questions for the last 5 or 6 years, I’ve suddenly had a turn for the underdogs. I could sit here and try to justify what I know about politics and what in particular I prefer about the Lib Dems, but there’s no need for me to be self righteous – I wouldn’t want to sway your opinion, it’s your choice who to vote for, but do your research, choose the party who represents you best. I’ve found over the last few weeks that the Tories and Labour just get  buried in their own squabbles and attempting to look more aggressive at each other without facing real issues.

I will say this though, if your vote is more about numbers than policy; a lot of people think that a vote for Lib Dem is a wasted vote, as there’s no chance they’ll get into power. It reminds me a lot of the old Revolver days during uni, where nobody wanted to go because “no-one goes” – this is an automatic defeatist cycle, which is stupid. A lot of people have faith in their own beliefs, well have faith in turning the tide. Remember that RATM campaign I was sooo fond of? Well the mac-daddy of that campaign Jon Morter has launched this…

Pretty cool huh? Click the picture and sign up for the awesome cause!! :D

There’s one last thing I want to moan about – when people have a completely lack of regard for knowledge and manners, on top of spelling ability and grammar. When I saw the comment below on the Lib Dem Facebook group I was literally outraged.

wtfmate 

You may not like the fact that Prime Ministers Questions is broadcast on TV (oh no, 30 mins of BBC 2 broadcasting lost once a week!) but having a total disregard for the importance of politics or even being able to spell and construct cognitive sentences makes this person an utter moron. People who use the word ‘yous’ automatically get written off as morons in my mind, but within the context I found it, I had to make special recognition of it.

Done for today, thanks for reading!! Don’t forget to press the BECOME A FAN button over there >>>

Reno :)

Welcome back to the end of the start…

So I fell a bit behind with my blog posts, but I’ll try to rectify that once more. Cre8 Radio, which some of you may have heard me on, was absolutely amazing. It’s funny how everything went, but in the end I had a regular slot for myself and the second week was just amazing. The whole experience was awesome, eye opening, mind expanding and of course humbling. It was great to hear from regular Stokies as well as being joined by international regulars and newbies. Thank you very much for joining me during the 2 weeks and all your input. Below is a screen grab of my listeners who held on to the end of Thursday’s show, amazing to see you all, thanks for being involved.

Life goes on though, and just as Cre8 Radio goes off air, One Media Radio returns. Catch me back on the internet airwaves after little hiatus this week – I’ll be on air this Monday coming (19th) with a nice re-branding of Reno Explains it All. Stay tuned for updates, and remember you can always join the Facebook group for my show and blog here :)

Catch y’all soon
Reno

Sunday 28 February 2010

Reno’s Moans: Fame Nation

Welcome, one and all, to Reno Explains it All! I am here once again to sample you with servings from the bucket of thought liquids which leak out from the crack in my skull

This week I’m moaning about celebrities. Okay, so there are two kinds of celebs – there are good ones and bad ones, which is a pretty obvious way of classifying them, so let me break it down for you. We’ll start on the positives and go for the celebrities I like.

So what is the good kind of celebrity? Well, those who don’t seek fame through their chosen profession such as actors and musicians who pursue what they do to make a use of their talents for the sake of providing the public with some form of art.

And this is where pride fits in to this rolling theme, is it selfish for these indirect celebrities to seek a job such as a lead part in a sitcom or a movie for the sake of furthering their career (and thus, pride in their own work)? Or would it be better to be someone who set out their life from their early years simply to get into movies and become someone famous? Well when you consider the kinds of TV that comes out every year, there’s no real need for that anymore – if you want to seek your fame in one instance or another, you can jump on a crappy TV show like X Factor or Britains Got Talent or American Idol or World’s Sluttiest Idiot and take a shortcut past all that hard work that really talented people do in building a portfolio and climb the ladder through their work. A large portion of the people who’ll whore themselves out on Britain’s Top Moron are looking for fame, they won’t say “I want to behello_181421t on X Factor because I want to be a singer” – they’d say “I want to be famous”. Those are the kinds of idiots who make a killing by selling every piece of their lives off, like its a fucking charity auction!

What is one step worse than these people? The magazines who publish stories about them every day.  And you know what’s a step worse than them? You. The people who go out there and PAY your hard earned money on magazines which publish not only direct articles from the tools who love to have cameras follow them around, but also slanderous and lie filled articles which rip apart the people who are in the lime light without even having a say in it.

 

diana-wearing-spencer-tiara-fromtribute-to-the-peoples-princess

How would YOU feel if a pap took a picture of you while you were trying to have some private time away on holiday? Or following you around on motorbikes while you try to go and buy some clothes? Or, I dunno, being endlessly chased when you try and leave a party?

One thing that really upsets me is when one of those highly talented people who didn’t need input from the scum ridden magazines which slur about celebrities sells out and lets the lowest form of publication (yes I put Hello! magazine below a bondage porn mag) by letting them pay a million quid for an exclusive story about the strategic methods they shaved their balls when they were 24. It’s funny, because if these magazines weren’t in demand then they’d shut down after a while due to a lack of funds, which means there are hundreds of thousands of sheep going out there and buying this shit and it sickens me. What kind of culture have we come to where people take pleasure in reading about how someone’s life is falling apart? Who the fuck are YOU to judge THEM? Hey, I might not like some of the people who are in the limelight, but I sure as hell respect their rights to privacy. Is your life really THAT dull that you need to pay for a mostly fabricated story (always submitted by ‘a friend’) just to cushion the absence of anything substantial in your pathetic existence? Get a life. And for those people who go out and try to flash their lives for the sake of being in these publications, well, you are the epitome of human garbage.

And I’m done!
Tune in to this week’s Reno Explains it All radio show here on Monday at 2pm (UK Time)
Reno




Wednesday 24 February 2010

Get more twitter followers for free!

Hey guys, here’s your mid-week post that is detached from current topics I’m talking about. I want to tell you about an AWESOME and FREE way of getting a lot of twitter followers over a short amount of time. Up until last week I had just over 100 followers and that’s from over a year of tweeting. Now, a week later, I have 615 followers and the number goes up on a constant basis, in fact an email just came up on my screen saying I have another follower. So, what is this magical way of getting your name out there on Twitter? It’s simple; Twiends.

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The system is pretty simple, it works on a system of credits whereby you earn credits when you follow twiends1other people on the system and lose credits when people follow you. When your credits reach zero you stop being listed on the follow page and have to either follow some more people (which is an easy and automatic system unless you’re picky) or you can pay an upfront fee for a larger amount of credits without needing to follow anyone! The system is great, and although you end up following a lot of people, you really can grow your online community online in a quick and easy way without paying a dime. 500 new followers in a week? That’s a no brainer.

hellomate Of course, there is an argument that these new followers are just following you for the sake of achieving the same thing as you – numbers on a list, which is true, it does happen, but it’s not all doom and gloom! If you’re looking at trying to spread your product/brand/presence online then you don’t need to know all your followers, because you’re doing it on a purely on a basis of spreading the word and I know that at least some of my new followers will have found their way to reading this page simply because I posted it on twitter, so go figure. On the other side of this argument is the fact that I have made some genuine new friends through this system who I tweet with every day, and anyone who you really can’t stand can just be unfollowed, nothing to argue about there! It’s also reignited my love for online content, which is where this re-branding and more regular posting has come from :D

So check out http://twiends.com/ and start getting more followers today!!

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Reno

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Monday 22 February 2010

Pride and Prejudice

Hello world! So, to carry on from this week’s radio show (thanks for tuning in if you caught it), I’m discussing two feature subjects this week. The first is Pride and the second is Celebrities. Let’s start with the deadliest sin; pride. So what is it? Well, the free dictionary describes pride as;

1. A sense of one's own proper dignity or value; self-respect.
2. Pleasure or satisfaction taken in an achievement, possession, or association.
3. Arrogant or disdainful conduct or treatment; haughtiness.
4. A cause or source of pleasure or satisfaction; the best of a group or class
5. An excessively high opinion of oneself; conceit.

And Wikipedia notes;

In almost every list Pride (Latin, superbia), or hubris, is considered the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins, and indeed the ultimate source from which the others arise. It is identified as a desire to be more important or attractive than others, failing to acknowledge the good work of others, and excessive love of self.

But taking the religious point of view and seeing pride as something negative, is it so negative for my parents to be proud of my achievements? Or is it negative for me to be proud of my friends accomplishing their goals, or is it bad for gays and lesbians to have a whole month dedicated to pride in their sexuality?

god-hates-fagsActually, let’s scratch that last one, because some religious nutjobs would have a lot to say about it… but those idiots would have us believe that EVERYTHING is wrong, and I don’t want to stick on religion again – I’ve done it before and I just wanted to use it for the basis of the negative argument. Of course, there is a whole other side to the negative argument of pride, because too much pride can lead to so many things. For example, the inability to swallow one’s pride can lead to arguments, mistrust, lies and the general notion to go fucking things up on a daily basis, I know this because I’ve done it myself. I live a life based on pride and when I know my situation is one worth fighting for, I will often argue to the death before admitting defeat. And what does that achieve? Usually heated situations between people and/or you making a tit of yourself. jerk-pic1

The other instance of pride becoming arrogant when you take the positive notion of having pride in your appearance and just become a jerk. Arrogance is one of the most ridiculous, moronic and petty things man can do, but unless you’re mother Teresa or some other figure above the rest of us shmucks in normal human life, you’ve done it. As have I. I guess what we’re learning is that attributes of humanity in both a physical nature and mental too are things that we can’t avoid, there’s probably a whole chapter on this written by Darwin – I don’t know. Still, we can take solace in the fact that we’re not all doomed and we’re not all jerks all of the time. Shame some people have to ruin the party for the rest of us, aye?

Have your say on this subject with this week’s poll!

Is pride a good thing?
Yes
No
Sometimes
ugg boots

Reno’s moans this week is about celebrities – who are they? What are they? WHY are they? Stay tuned for my post later this week with full info on the subject!!

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Reno

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Sunday 21 February 2010

No More Fiction!

Welcome to the new home of my brain.

I realised that my fiction posts deserve their own place online and Reno Explains it All isn’t the place for them. I’m going to be setting up a new blog soon for the Doctor Who stuff so keep your eyes peeled for it, but for now I’m going to take the advice of my fans and keep this blog just for opinions and lifestyle updates.

Don’t forget tomorrow’s radio show – the launch of me explaining it all on the airwaves, I can’t wait!! You can tune in over at One Media Radio at 2pm (UK time) for the best music, entertainment and chat!

We’ve had very odd weather lately, we had a blizzard overnight and then all the snow melted in the same day! Nice of winter to throw us a final flurry before it sods off for another 9 or 10 months – I’m sick of it now, BRING ON SUMMER!!

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Anyway I’m late for a meeting with a man about a cat.
See you on the airwaves tomorrow!!
Reno

Tuesday 9 February 2010

Doctor Who – Time Rupture

Introduction

Hey everyone, I realised earlier that I haven’t blogged in ages and my posts always seem much more popular when they’re of the Doctor Who nature, so here is the first chapter of my second story Time Rupture for you to all enjoy. Stay tuned over the following weeks as I post more and more parts of the story! It is set in series 4 of the TV show and is in between the episodes of Midnight and Turn Left. Here is an opening video for context, there will also be one at the end of the story too, as it was with the last story. Enjoy!!

 

Prologue

 

Chapter 1 – Home

“Doctor…” Donna said timidly as she paced around the TARDIS console “can we go back to Earth?”

The Doctor looked up from what he was doing and analysed her a little “Of course” a little shocked that she felt she even had to ask

“I just miss Gramps” she smiled

“Okay” he smiled, pressing the large clear button that launched the ship’s time vortex manipulation and they were off on their way back to 2008. The engines were particularly noisy for such a normal trip and the Doctor peered up at the glowing blue tower as they groaned and churned their way through time and space. He grabbed his specs from his jacket pocket and fumbled them onto his face, squinting at the tower and then the screen below it.

tardis-interior.preview“What’s wrong with you?” he asked rhetorically. Donna stood back, a little worried that she  had caused this by choosing the wrong destination or some other alien thing that she hadn’t accounted for or even been aware of. Over the last few months she had seen things that had changed her, a lot of her bitterness had gone now and she realised that had this been her first day in the TARDIS she would have just made some kind of stupid remark about how the space man’s flying wasn’t up to scratch or making asking if the ship had an upset stomach and offering it a Rennie tablet. But this time she just stood back and watched, it was a humble life on board the Time Lord’s ship, even if the time they spent outside it was always hectic and often life threatening.

The groaning came to an inevitable stop, as it always did, when the ship appeared to land on solid ground. Despite the dynamics of the vessel, you could always feel the difference between flight and being grounded, it was almost like your feet were slightly floating when they the ship was in motion, not that they were, it was just a very strange feeling. Even so, the ship had landed and they prepared to depart when there was a very sudden jolt which shook the TARDIS for a few seconds and then everything was normal again. Donna was near the front door at this stage, eager to go and find her Granddad, but outside she found something she hadn’t anticipated, or more precisely it was some-when.

“That’s not 2008” she said “what did you do?” Donna took a step out onto the obviously backdated road and looked around. A newspaper blew across the road and to her feet, picking it up she shouted out to the Doctor, who was still inside the TARDIS “1981? You’ve got to be kidding me! I thought you knew how to fly that thing!”donna

“What?” the Doctor said, stepping out and adjusting the lapels on his long brown coat, then  he looked around and noticed the evident change in where they should be. He ran back into the TARDIS and peered at the screen, which still said they had landed in 2008 “that doesn’t…” but before he could finish his sentence the ship shook again and a flood of summer sun now shone through the TARDIS’s doors. He dashed to the door and peered out, Donna was nowhere to be seen, just the world he had been expecting the first time. Donna was lost in time and he had no idea how to find her again…

TO BE CONTINUED

Monday 25 January 2010

Dream Diary? No thanks.

God, after last night’s dream I don’t think I want to tell you what happened. It was, in a word horrific, I would call it a nightmare but then at the time it didn’t scare me! It just grossed me out and it still does to think about it. Blech.

Anyway, first day at work was awesome today, had a really fun day manning the station and keeping an eye on Amy’s show. Not too sure what the plan is for tomorrow’s show but I guess we’ll see. The rest of the week is totally sorted so I’m a bit more relaxed about that.

I have a strange urge to go out at the moment, last week before gobble I was SO up for it, and despite the events that took place in the days following it I’m even more eager to find my perfect lady. Strange really. Oh well, bring on the party on Wednesday!!!800px-super_mario_64_box_cover

I was playing Super Mario 64 earlier and realised that our little Italian hero has a black  moustache but brown hair…what’s the deal with that? Does he have a strategic hair dye system? Or is it just a matter of bad luck that those evil Nintendo programmers from the mid nineties decided to inflict on him? Who knows. What I do know is that I love that game, in fact I love old school games…and other old school stuff that reminds me of my childhood – oh well, no time machine so I guess I’ll just use these things as a little reminder, it’s all good :)

I was telling AJ yesterday about how I have the entirety of my next Doctor Who story planned out, it might end up being even better than Scavenger Hunt (which I was actually very proud of) – I won’t spoil too much for you, but it takes place in series 4 (yep, Donna will be in it!) and will have a return of Launda Fox as well as 2 spin off chapters and lots of other little appearances from things you might remember. I think that’s enough for now.

I better rap it up now, have a good day and I’ll catch you next time!!

Reno x

Sunday 24 January 2010

Dream a little dream…

Hello all, I want to thank everyone who read Scavenger Hunt and gave me positive feedback, it’s been a real pleasure to write. I’m going to make you wait a little longer before Time Rupture starts, but I’ll be giving you a few spoilers between now and then so keep an eye out for them!

Anyway, there’s a few new things going on in my life – recently I’ve been having really really clear and strange dreams so I’m going to start blogging them as a dream diary (if I continue to have them) and you can post comments about them if you like, some people know the meanings to dreams so I’m all up for it. The other night I had such a crazy dream it had a million people from my past (not literally) and it signified the end to a lot of things for me, which was really refreshing, even if the imagery got a little trippy at times. Oh well.

My new (unpaid) job starts tomorrow as Executive Producer for the Home Time show on One Media Radio at Staffs Union, it’s going to be great managing a team of people, not too sure how good I’'ll be at it, I’ll be tweeting though so keep an eye at the top of this page or go to my twitter page to see what’s going on!

That’s about all for now guys, thanks for reading and I’ll catch you all soon :D

Friday 22 January 2010

Doctor Who – Scavenger Hunt

Part 13 – The Final Act of Critidan the Shadow Jailor

The TARDIS materialised in one of the larger cargo holds of the station

“And what is an orbital port?” Martha asked, stepping out

“Does exactly what it says on the tin” the Doctor said, kicking a large vertical girder as if to test its strength, even though he knew it was holding up at least two hundred and fifty tones of the port’s weight. They began to walk briskly down a dimly light hallway, from all sides of them they could hear shouting and booming music that echoed from deeper within the station “The orbital port was once a part of a huge network of stations which liaised between each other as ships came into the trade with Shantist VII and its moon. They’d supply safe routes to the surface or fuel or other things, a bit like a  service station on the motorway… only with more space ships”

“What happened to the other stations?”

“A great civil war among the Netrikai, the orbital ports became battle stations which not only fired upon military targets on the ground but would also exchange fire with each other as they crossed paths on their orbital cycles, this is the last one left – the only one to survive the massacre. The planet below was ruined by the war and is pretty much a wasteland, there’s just the Capitol city and even that is pretty empty. The Netrikai are almost extinct now, once the greatest trade civilisation in the universe – now a ruined people.” the Doctor paused for a moment, remembering the similarities with his own kind “Now the orbital port is just a place for pirates to trade knock off goods or travelers to drown their sorrows in a sea of Net Ale. There are a lot of dangerous people on this station Martha, better not let them know we’re here” Martha nodded back in humble agreement.

They were in the personal cabin areas now; endless doorways with round windows lined the walls which lead to small rooms which were once accommodation for customers, then barracks for soldiers and now they were private lockers for people to keep supplies in. One room had a glow of white light inside but the Doctor ignored it, knowing that time to find Critidan was slipping away

A young female voice echoed down the hallway “Marthaaaa…” she turned back and noticed the light shining from the door they had just passed. It was as if the room was calling out to her, she couldn’t help but approach the big circular window and peer within. Inside was a room lit from all sides by bright white lights that could not be seen, it was as if the walls were made of light. The chamber was only a few feet square and  had only one piece of rather odd cargo within; in the far left corner was a small blonde girl in a white dress, no older than 8 years old by Martha’s estimation, crouching down and hiding her face against the wall as if she was somehow afraid of the very person she had been calling

“Hello?” Martha asked “Are you alright?”

“Hello? Are you alright?” the soft voice said, repeating Martha word for word, rhythm for rhythm

Martha stuttered a little “Can…do you need help?” the voice copied her again. The Doctor, who was now far down the corridor noticed Martha’s absence and turned to look where she was. Upon noticing her trailing, he ran back for her, calling out her name. The girl in the room was now talking back to Martha

“Martha Jones… I can see you!” then she turned her head to display her face; eyeless and smiling. This terrifying little girl seemed horrifically misleading now and Martha feared a new threat, perhaps this was why she was locked away “Sweet kind Martha Jones… the one who will walk the path of salvation, the one who shall see so much that never existed, the girl of many faces, the great soldier!”

Martha was upset by the words the little girl had said “I don’t know what you mean…”

The Doctor caught up and slid sideways on his baseball shoes and peered into the window at what the hubub was about. The girl in the corner of the cell sprung up, staring at him with her absent eyes. To him, she looked like a child of the pantheon but within her shining smiling mouth her teeth were different and her whole face was not that of evil, for he had seen evil so many times before. She took a few steps closer and then stopped, through the thick door her muffled voice spoke

“Doctor…” it was soft and heavenly “you have come so far and yet your war is not won” he stared at her, it felt as though she could see right through him, his soul was naked and he could do nothing to cover himself

“Who are you?” he enquired

The girl pressed her hand against the small area of glass “I am Launda Fox, daughter of Jestix the Inquisitor”

“A Time Watcher…” he whispered, utterly dumbfounded just to acknowledge the impossible once again “but you can’t exist, that’s impossible!”

"And yet, I do.” her tone lowered to one of despair “I have seen so much, Doctor, and yet I know there is so much more to come”

He rummaged in his Jacket pocket for the sonic screwdriver “I have to get you out of here”

“No Doctor, there is no time, we shall meet again at the coming… of the end” she said softly

“What do you mean? What end?”

“Soon you shall see, as I have, the closing of everything – when time ends and every world dreams no more, the culmination of every timeline into one spot – I have seen this forever ending Doctor, and you will be…”

“What will I be? What do you mean?!” he shouted

“I cannot see…” she said, bowing her head in confusion “a Time Watcher’s vision is never clouded, what have you done?!” she snapped

“I don’t know, I haven’t done it yet!!” he said slightly confused “Look, whatever it is, we’ll get through it together”

“No Doctor, I will not be there to make this journey with you”

“Why’s that?”

“Because you killed me” the Doctor’s hearts stopped stone dead for just a moment as she told him the future that he no longer wanted “Fear not,” she smiled “now go”

As they continued down the the corridor the Doctor was weeping inside for another one lost, another helpless angel left in the heart of danger with only a forbidding prophecy to keep the faith in her salvation. Still, he and his companion had to keep moving, Critidan was somewhere ahead.

A trail of blood was the key to finding the traitorous jailor, spatters and droplets lead the two travelers across the quiet outer edges of the orbital port to a large open space with the limping Critidan on the far side, lumbering his way through a huge arch.

“CRITIDAN!”

“Too late Time Lord!” he muttered and slammed his hand on the door release, bringing the bulkhead doors to a close within the frame of the arch. As per usual, the Doctor withdrew his sonic screwdriver and began zapping and whirring at the controls to the side. It took a few minutes to access the ship beyond but Critidan had only made it a few metres down the dim green hall when the doors opened. They followed him hurriedly and around a left turn they found him, laying on his back with the wound Reelog had administered with his horn on the Hybrid Locker untitlednot long ago

“My masters will give me life” he squinted  

The Doctor peered around the ship he was in. He had not taken any notice up to now for he was too fixed upon catching the jailor “No…” he whispered “We’ve got to leave!” – they made their way swiftly out as they heard Critidan speak again in the control room

“I pledge myself…to the family…” and with that, a mass of green gasses and energies floated down from the interface on the wall, seeping into his body and jerking him upright; Critidan was back to life, but he was not himself “this body is dying” he said in a bold, deeper voice “the mind is corrupted…I cannot see him”

Another younger voice swept in from somewhere else on the vast wall console, it was a girl “Go, brother of mine! Find the Time Lord!” Grabbing a blaster rifle he pulled his new body out of the ship.

Limping and lurching, the fatally wounded body of Critidan was hard to maneuver for the son of the family. The Doctor and his companion were now in the far distance of the corridor which would lead them down to the TARDIS. They disappeared around a corner and by the time he had reached it he could see them lumbering into the blue box. He took one shot through the door and then collapsed, the body was useless now and he would return to his family in his natural state for the hunt; wherever and whenever the family would have to go, for the Doctor’s capture would mean they could live forever.

 

THE END.

 

EPILOGUE

THE DOCTOR WILL RETURN IN MY NEXT STORY – ‘TIME RUPTURE’ COMING SOON!!

Doctor Who – Scavenger Hunt

Part 12 – Pride of the Prisoners

Martha turned and slowly paced her way up the gangplank “Can’t we help them?”

“Martha that’s not our place”

“But you saw what they can do! Okay, they’re criminals, but they saved our lives countless times, don’t they deserve freedom?”the_tardis_whoohoo

“No.” he said and circled the console “I’ve tried so many times to do the right thing, to stop the innocents from dying, giving freedom to those who really deserve it, but sometimes it all goes wrong. I can’t let that happen again, this is their fight and whatever happens is down to them, I can’t be responsible.” he paused for a moment and looked up at her with a slight smile “They’ll be alright”

“Of course…” she said, trying to keep faith in them “What will happen after? I mean, if they succeed”

The Doctor looked down at the console and rested two fingers on a few switches “I dunno” his eyebrows lifted up “Knowing Reelog he’ll take the ship back to the Proclamation so they can all serve their proper sentences”

“Sho! Co! Fo!” shouted a voice from a speaker on the TARDIS centre system, Martha’s face lit up and she swept over to the com screen, which held an image of the judoon commander oozing green blood from his forehead and nose

“Reelog! You’re alive! What happened?” she shouted in excitement

“Critidan escaped, we were tricked!” he grunted boisterously “He has set the ship to collide with colossal meteor” Martha let out a slight gasp as Reelog fell backwards and disappeared, Taan took his place

17

The Doctor pushed his way into view “Let me get you out of there” Martha looked across to her companion, who had completely gone against his previous statement, it appeared that primal urges could get the better of Time Lords too

“This is our fate” Taan conceded “If you save us then Critidan will escape, you must find him”

“But you can’t!” Martha wept, pressing her hand against the screen while a silent tear streaked down her left cheek. Sparks began to fly and pieces of the bridge could be seen falling apart in the background. Reelog stood back up, to which Martha let out a brief smile “You’re okay!”

“Affirmative”

Taan looked at Reelog and then peered around at the rest of the doomed crew, who were struggling to piece back together the equipment that their former jailor had sabotaged in the revolt. Turning back to the screen it seemed as if the Sontaran had found a possible solution “Maybe we can…” and then the screen faded back into static

“What happened??” Martha asked desperately, but the Doctor said nothing, he just looked at her with that face; the one that signaled the end of another life and his knowing inability to change their fate “No! Bring them back!” she said, slamming her fists on the screen again and again until she broke down. The Doctor slung his arms around her and held her tight

“Come on, we have to find Critidan” he whispered

“I can’t”

“Martha I need your help, I can’t do this without you” he pulled back a little to look at her without breaking the hug “If you want to preserve the honor of Reelog and Taan and the other Prisoners you have to help me find him” and with a hesitated determinism she nodded

TO BE CONTINUED

Sunday 17 January 2010

Doctor Who – Scavenger Hunt

Part 11 – Sontaran Eulogy

reelogandtaaninthetardis

Taan had made his way up to the large metal balcony that hung over the back of the control room and sat down; his legs dangling over the edge. Martha noticed him and took a quick look at what the other two were doing - they were discussing locations and vortex manipulation traces, which she had little interest in, so she took this advantage to learn more about her Sontaran counterpart. She climbed the ladder and made her way over to Taan, slumping down next to him and smiling

“What is your story?” the inquisitive Sontaran asked. The Doctor was too busy to notice their conversation this time, so without fear of judgment from her seemingly wiser counterpart she told him

“Gosh, there’s not much to tell, I’m Martha Jones and I’m a medical student"

“Where are you from Martha?”

“Earth” she smiled, Taan looked a little confused as to how she could come from that desolate little planet they had just left and then he remembered that they were both travelling with a Time Lord

The Doctor continued to fuss with controls in the pursuit of the Hybrid Locker, Martha heard him tell Reelog that they were travelling forwards through the 21st and 22nd century

Martha looked back to Taan “That wasn’t my world though, so many years ago, miles away” by this point she had almost fallen into a daze and began repeating a cycle of four taps of her index and middle finger on her lap

“Martha?” Taan interjected, she shook her head and looked at him “Are you alright?”

“Yes… sorry"

“Do you have family?”

“Yeah,” she smiled “Mum, Dad, Brother and Sister” their faces lit up in her mind for a moment

“Then why are you here?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well on Sonta war is all we know, this is what I am made for, but you have so much freedom – why would you make yourself a soldier?” Martha didn’t quite know how to answer this

“Well, I don’t really see myself as a soldier, I’m just a traveler”

“And yet, in the space of two days you have been imprisoned, fought your way out of jail and battled an interstellar crime lord – is that the way you wish to travel?”

“I don’t know, I guess it’s just a part of the adventure” she changed the subject “What is Sonta like?”

Taan sighed “My home world is one big military structure, the war is designed in every inch of every complex, we exist to fight and we fight to exist. The air is thick with a heavy vapor from the cloning factories and we breathe the lust for victory. We are not born, we are grown from living cells – only the best warriors are selected and the rest of the live stock is burnt. We know of the sacrifice that our brothers feel day by day, we taste the war before we even see it. We are taught only one thing; the glory of Sonta.”

Martha was taken back by the imprinted ruthlessness in Taan’s mind

“But you’re different” she suggested, he looked at her displeasingly

“I am not, I would die for Sonta, just as you would die for Earth”

“But I wouldn’t kill for it,” she insisted “and I don’t think you would either”

Taan paused for a moment, realising his new found compassion for others “Only one” Martha knew exactly which ‘one’ he meant, and soon he would get that chance.

“GOTCHA!” the Doctor shouted from the console

“You found them?!” Martha shouted as she hopped up and made her way over to the ladder “OH YES!” the Doctor shouted in return. Taan, meanwhile, had decided to excuse kind footing and jumped the six or seven foot down to the outer ring of the control room before hulking himself over to join the other three in front of the tilted screen with co-ordinates that only the Doctor could read.

“So where are they?” Martha asked

“I’ve stabalised the TARDIS in a spot where the Hybrid Locker will soon pass on its way to the orbital port, when it comes near Reelog can jump back on board with his teleport”

Taan and Reelog grabbed their equipment and made their way towards the double doors of the ship “We have to stop Critidan, if he makes it to the orbital port he will have bounty hunters and friends on his side, if that happens they’ll hunt us all down and it will have been for nothing” the Sontaran said

“Not for you.” Reelog held his hand up to separate the two criminals from the Doctor’s companion. The teleport lit up the two warriors and they disappeared; leaving Martha on the gangplank

“No!” she shouted, lurching forward, but they were gone.

TO BE CONTINUED