Torchwood Photo

Torchwood Photo: I don’t live in a black and white universe. Blame the temperamental camera phone for that one. I’m not sure whether I look half dead from staying up into the small hours of Saturday morning or star struck. I’m not really great in photos. The amount of times people have met me in the flesh and said things like: “gosh, you actually don’t look that bad.” Seriously, you have a second to get the smile right and there was a load of screaming girls in the queue behind me making a lot of noise. And, let’s face it, we all have those photos that didn’t quite go to plan. But, to be honest, it isn’t that bad.

This is me meeting Ianto Jones from Torchwood. Well, Gareth David Lloyd, obviously. I have a lot of photos on my Facebook profile but very few of them actually have me in them. I’m often camera shy and I want that to change in the coming months. That’s not an invitation for people to follow me around with cameras. I just think it’s high time I released that sense of humour I have about myself and felt good no matter how I look in photos.

Thank goodness it wasn’t Eve Myles. If it had been, the picture would have been of me being on the floor having fainted. Gareth was cool and he had a legion of screaming female fans but…well…Eve Myles: gorgeous, talented, intelligent and has a Welsh accent. Enough said.

Gareth was signing copies of Torchwood: The Sin Eaters Exclusive Audio Story:

Buy It Here

Torchwood: Asylum

Torchwood: Asylum:  What do you do with your day when the Cardiff weather resembles a monsoon that has a personal vendetta against you for something you may well have once accidentally said to its Mum? Answer: you listen to this fantastic Torchwood radio play, now available for download and for purchase on CD.

 Buy Torchwood Asylum Here!

 

Also Available: Torchwood: Children of Earth on DVD

The Alice Roberts Poem:

The Alice Roberts Poem: This poem is inspired by someone who- in my humble opinion- is one of the best things to happen to science and learning for a long time.

The Alice Roberts Poem,

By Marty Drury,

Have you seen the woman who knows her bones?

The one who digs round rocks and stones,

Red hair glistening in the light,

Entertainment and enlightenment on a weeknight,

Hard to say which I enjoy the most,

But at a push I’d opt for “Coast”,

And yet “The Human Journey” told a fascinating tale,

A celluloid hike up the ancestral trail,

The appliance of science is her passion,

And yet without really following the latest fashion,

The Daily Mail dubbed her: “easy on the eye,”

An endorsement that might make others cry,

But she just shrugged her shoulders,

And carried on digging around boulders,

 

As long as I live, a moment I shall treasure,

When I interviewed her and she gave me the measure,

Of her musical taste,

An opportunity I did not waste,

Something to editors I could show,

An enhancement of my portfolio,

Watching her shows taught me more,

Than I’d learned in biology before,

Definitely not a boffin,

Just banging nails into ignorance’s coffin,

She bridges the learning gap,

And provides everyone with a map,

To a suggested potential,

Less a guide, more a stencil,

They call her Doctor Roberts when she’s on the staff,

Roll up and witness the return of the polymath.

 

Perched on the threshold of national treasure,

An anatomist at work, an artist at leisure,

In her words, nothing sounds complicated,

Yet you can clearly see that she is dedicated,

To the founding principles of education,

Not the pomp and circumstance of a televised occasion,

An inspiration, a doctor, a work of art,

The ignition an idea needs to start,

A Columbus spirit of discovery,

And an interest in our intellectual recovery,

Digging next to spire or steeple,

A hungry interest in the development of people,

An emissary of the rational,

Whose appeal is international,

 

She inspires the girls and leaves the boys gasping,

But at the very least they all are grasping,

The importance of science in the modern day,

Learning through fun, enlightenment through play,

Dawkins claims a lot of us are deluded,

But I think that I have concluded,

That we should pay more attention to Dr Roberts here,

And from conflict and rigid thinking we should steer,

Focusing not on the stormy weather,

But on what can bring us all together,

A shared yearning to understand,

How to make this place a better land,

The Time Traveler’s Wife – Long way home

WATCH THIS VIDEO ON YOUTUBE HERE

The Time Traveler’s Wife – Long way home.

Every so often in life, you encounter a truly gifted, remarkable person and you end up being blessed by their friendship. I speak, of course, of Hannah Scott.

I’ve got a suspicion that, given how well Hannah writes, discovering her discarded shopping list must be akin to discovering a lost Shakespeare play. But I could spend all day using my talent as a writer to describe how good she is. Why should you take my word for it? The proof is in the music. The proof is in the album, EP and live gigs.  Whether you watch footage of the live performances via Youtube or you go to one of the gigs, you get to see a great show and an up-and-coming star.

The song in the video above was inspired by the novel: The Time Traveler’s Wife. Personally, I’ve had a lot of those “haven’t I been here before?” moments. When I went to the open day at Bangor University, I got off the train and felt as if I already knew my way around the place. Indeed, some of you reading this post will be having a “hasn’t he written about Hannah Scott before?” moment. And you’re right, I have and you can read that interview here: Marty Meets: Hannah Scott.

Buy ‘Long Way Home’ on the EP ‘Falling Into Spring’ here

The irony in all this is that once you’ve heard Hannah’s music, you realise you really haven’t heard anything like this before. But you’d love to hear more.  And the good news is you can:

Hannah’s website.

Discover Hannah and John on Myspace

Balancing Out The Articles

Balancing  Out The Articles: Yesterday, a lot of people read my response to Carol Sarler’s piece in the Daily Mail. Of course, to know what I was actually talking about, a lot of people clicked on the link to Carol Sarler’s article and that increased her audience. Unfortunately unavoidable. It certainly wasn’t my intention to give Carol Sarler more of an audience but you can’t really disagree with someone without highlighting them and their position. To remedy this I thought it best to balance out the articles. So, today, we’ve got a link to a brilliant article by The Guardian’s Charlie Brooker.

The Incredible Human Journey: Pre-order the DVD

Pre-Order The Incredible Human Journey [DVD] [2009]. Click Here

(This DVD is a Region 2 release and will only work on multi-region and Region 2 DVD players/equipment)

June 8th sees the DVD release of ‘The Incredible Human Journey’ and you can pre-order the DVD by clicking on the link above.  Please keep in mind that you need to check your DVD playing equipment to make sure it can play this disc. This is a Region 2 release.

If you haven’t read the book yet, you can order it by following the link below:

Buy The Incredible Human Journey Book. Click Here.

Buy Don’t Die Young: An Anatomist’s Guide to Your Organs and Your Health. Click Here.

Marty Gets Exterminated in Cardiff

Marty gets exterminated in Cardiff

Marty Gets Exterminated In Cardiff: The people in Cardiff were friendly and welcoming beyond belief. But as for the pepper pots…

Finally getting the chance to live out his dream, Marty briefly becomes The Doctor and faces his greatest foes. Cardiff Bay is the setting for a climatic battle (it was, after all, raining at the time) for the universe. For reasons known only to himself, Marty (The Doctor) was wearing a rain coat and a jumper and a pair of beige-ish trousers. But we’ll let that one pass. The universe has never needed a hero…until now…

Image 1 copyright Marty Drury/Beyond The Question/Return Of The Polymath/Join Martin 2009.

Image 2 copyright Doctor Who Cardiff Exhibition 2009.

The Incredible Human Journey

The Incredible Human Journey(Buy the book)

The Incredible Human Journey: Starts Sunday May 10th at 21:30 on BBC Two

(UK TV Channel and air date. Join Martin has no information on when this programme will be screened in other countries).

This coming Sunday (in the UK), BBC Two (at 9:30pm) will screen the first episode of Dr Alice Roberts’s new programme: “The Incredible Human Journey”.  Dr Roberts travels the globe to discover the incredible story of how humans left Africa to colonise the world.

Dr Alice Roberts is a wonder and verging on the precipice of becoming a national treasure. I learned more from watching one episode of her ‘Don’t Die Young’ programme last year than I learned in two years of GCSE biology at my school. Mind you, one of my GCSE biology teachers did stand there whilst the unruly mob at the back of the class spent one of the years dancing on the tables. A good education is vital in this day and age and Dr Roberts is fantastically adept at getting her point across in a lively, entertaining and memorable way.  Science and its ilk has an unfortunate reputation in this country. If it’s not the march of the tiny minority of uber rationalists doing their best to side-step the irony of forming a huge movement of ideas to complain about a huge movement of ideas, it’s the media’s obsession with referring to anyone with a PhD as a: “boffin”.  Most of the time, we’re encouraged to think of scientists as either know-it-all clever clogs or white haired, white gowned professors the like of which have not been seen since the Back To The Future movies. Never mind skills. What is needed is passion. The engine falters without fuel. The true genius of Dr Alice Roberts is that she inspires a passion for her subject in even the most ardent of artistically minded people. Indeed, I’ve often wondered at the whole “scientific person”, “artistic person” thing.  Indeed, Dr Alice Roberts herself disproves a lot of this thinking by being a fantastic artist as well as a scientist. When, exactly, was it decreed that he or she who picks up the paintbrush cannot also pick up a microscope? Dr Alice Roberts brings her subject to life. Perhaps her greatest gift is the fact that she shows us that what we once thought was beyond us in terms of knowledge is, in actual fact, simply over the horizon. Watch the programme.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More with Feeling

Where Do We Go From Here?

Some of you fine and amazing people may well remember the TV show: Buffy The Vampire Slayer. In many ways, I grew up with Buffy. Not literally, obviously. For a start, Sarah Michelle Gellar is older than me and I live in the United Kingdom. What I mean is, I started watching Buffy when I was still at school and watched the final episode when I was just shy of finishing my last year at university (give or take a bit of time). Season 1 is good, Season 2 is fantastic and so is Season 3. Season 4 gets on my nerves because it’s got this whole X Files thing going on. Season 5 is superb, Season Six is superb and Season Seven starts off well but descends into “what the F” in plot terms towards the end. Although I will admit that the last episode is very good.

There’s a song in the musical episode of Buffy in Season Six called: Where Do We Go From Here? Since the Join Martin Challenge ended I’ve been meditating on that question. I have other blogs and an entire blog network in the pipeline and other things are going on in my life. Join Martin has a massive audience which increases week by week and it would be a real shame if a lot didn’t come of that.

Sometimes, we face these moments where we’re not sure where to turn. Don’t fret, this isn’t a sermon. Nor is it the start of a Sunday morning discussion programme on the metaphysics of existence.  It can be difficult to know which path to take these days.

Of course, one way you could turn, my dear readers, is in the direction that leads you to support this blog by purchasing products from Amazon.co.uk by clicking the links above and below. In particular, the Buffy Musical Episode soundtrack that inspired the theme of this post. However, it is, as ever, up to you.

Indeed, that is the crux of the issue. Circumstances govern and advice whispers from all sides but, at the end of the day, where I go from here is up to me. My decision. My life. My decision. I’ll keep you posted.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More with Feeling

Great Deals On DVDs

GREAT DEALS ON DVDs:

Please note: These great deals are available from Amazon.co.uk. The purchase price is set in UK pounds. As Join Martin has no connection with Amazon.co.uk or these deals, Join Martin cannot answers questions on the deals, on prices or on postage costs or postage in general. These items can, as far as we are aware, be posted within the UK. It may be possible for them to be posted to other countries but Join Martin is not certain of that so please do check with Amazon.co.uk yourself, should you have any questions. Join Martin remains an independent project under the umbrella of Beyond The Question and is not connected with Amazon.co.uk. Join Martin will receive a small commission from Amazon.co.uk for each DVD purchased via Joinmartin.wordpress.com but this is ONLY because of an affiliate account on Amazon.co.uk set up by the creator of Join Martin, Marty Drury. Join Martin has no idea how long these GREAT DEALS will be on offer for and reminds its readers that Amazon.co.uk may decide to change these prices at any time and without prior warning.

Wallace And Gromit – A Matter Of Loaf And Death [DVD] [2008]

Just £8.63

The Dark Knight (2 Discs) [DVD] [2008]

£5.98

The Wire: Complete HBO Season 5 [DVD]
Just £14.98

Quantum of Solace [DVD] [2008]

Just £12.98