We came into this world together.
We belong together.I love them. So much.
☛ GET INSIDE YOUR CHARACTER'S HEAD! aka The Excessively Detailed Headcanon Meme
Ask a question, any question! I can talk about my characters all day!
1: What does their bedroom look like?
2: Do they have any daily rituals?
3: Do they exercise, and if so, what do they do? How often?
4: What would they do if they needed to make dinner but the kitchen was busy?
5: Cleanliness habits (personal, workspace, etc.)
6: Eating habits and sample daily menu
7: Favorite way to waste time and feelings surrounding wasting time
8: Favorite indulgence and feelings surrounding indulging
9: Makeup?
10: Neuroses? Do they recognize them as such?
11: Intellectual pursuits?
12: Favorite book genre?
13: Sexual Orientation? And, regardless of own orientation, thoughts on sexual orientation in general?
14: Physical abnormalities? (Both visible and not, including injuries/disabilities, long-term illnesses, food-intolerances, etc.)
15: Biggest and smallest short term goal?
16: Biggest and smallest long term goal?
17: Preferred mode of dress and rituals surrounding dress
18: Favorite beverage?
19: What do they think about before falling asleep at night?
20: Childhood illnesses? Any interesting stories behind them?
21: Turn-ons? Turn-offs?
22: Given a blank piece of paper, a pencil, and nothing to do, what would happen?
23: How organized are they? How does this organization/disorganization manifest in their everyday life?
24: Is there one subject of study that they excel at? Or do they even care about intellectual pursuits at all?
25: How do they see themselves 5 years from today?
26: Do they have any plans for the future? Any contingency plans if things don’t workout?
27: What is their biggest regret?
28: Who do they see as their best friend? Their worst enemy?
29: Reaction to sudden extrapersonal disaster (eg The house is on fire! What do they do?)
30: Reaction to sudden intrapersonal disaster (eg close family member suddenly dies)
31: Most prized possession?
32: Thoughts on material possessions in general?
33: Concept of home and family?
34: Thoughts on privacy? (Are they a private person, or are they prone to ‘TMI’?)
35: What activities do they enjoy, but consider to be a waste of time?
36: What makes them feel guilty?
37: Are they more analytical or more emotional in their decision-making?
38: What recharges them when they’re feeling drained?
39: Would you say that they have a superiority-complex? Inferiority-complex? Neither?
40: How misanthropic are they?
41: Hobbies?
42: How far did they get in formal education? What are their views on formal education vs self-education?
43: Religion?
44: Superstitions or views on the occult?
45: Do they express their thoughts through words or deeds?
46: If they were to fall in love, who (or what) is their ideal?
47: How do they express love?
48: If this person were to get into a fist fight, what is their fighting style like?
49: Is this person afraid of dying? Why or why not?
In the current issue of Q Magazine you’ll find my portrait of Professor Brian Cox.
This was such a satisfying shoot to do. I thrashed out the concept of Brian sat at a table looking at a space shuttle mid-launch with Russ, Q Magazines Picture Director the day before the shoot. The thought of doing this as a digital comp just felt naff to us so as ever I suggested and promised to pull of an idea that I had no real clue how best to achieve. (Russ is used to this…)
All we were certain of was that we wanted this shot to all happen in camera. No digital trickery or retouching and apart from having to retouch out the Magic Arm that was holding the model shuttle aloft (the small room wouldn’t allow me to position it in such a way as to hide it) we achieved our objective.
Everything was done in camera.
I built and painted the model shuttle through the night and heart in mouth made the ‘take-off’ smoke cloud in the morning before the shoot drawing on my complete ignorance of basic electrical wiring and hoping my death trap of a setup didn’t electrocute Brian halfway through the shoot. When I switched on the smoke model for the first time I was so pleased and had high hopes it was going to be a good one.
Anyway, after about 18 hours of solid work to build it we had the shot nailed in about ten minutes. Brian enjoyed it and for my part, in recent years this portrait is a personal highlight.
(behind-the-scene photo © Russ O’Connell)
We must not look at goblin men,
We must not buy their fruits:
Who knows upon what soil they fed
Their hungry thirsty roots?Something I didn’t notice on my first viewing: whatever the creature is, it doesn’t start exclusively copying the Doctor until the exact moment everyone else turns on him.
It’s not that it wants the cleverest voice in the room. It’s that both times, it goes after the most vulnerable person in the room.
Recovery
Expectation: I feel a little bit better today!
Expectation: I feel a little bit better today!
Expectation: I feel a little bit better today!
Expectation: Hey, I think I feel pretty good!
Expectation: I guess that means I'm normal now! Time to go live a normal life!
---------------------------------
Reality: I feel terrible.
Reality: I still feel terrible.
Reality: Is this seriously "recovery?" This sucks.
Reality: I don't want to be thinking about all of this shit, this is exhausting.
Reality: I guess today's not so bad.
Reality: Today is bad again.
Reality: Today is bad, but I think I'm starting to understand why.
Reality: Wow, how long has it been since I cleaned my room?
Reality: Cleaning my room didn't make me feel any better, but hey, room's clean.
Reality: Whoa, okay, I need a shower. And maybe a haircut? Definitely a haircut.
Reality: Everything sucks.
Reality: Okay, except you.
Reality: And you too, I didn't mean that you sucked.
Reality: And that thing that I like is pretty cool.
Reality: What was I talking about?
Reality: Oh, THAT'S why my ex broke up with me.
Reality: Wow, it turns out that was totally my fault?
Reality: I was the jackass.
Reality: Holy shit, I am such a jackass.
Reality: Everybody must hate me.
Reality: EVERYBODY HATES ME.
Reality: Okay, how could everybody hate me? I mean, even if I'm a jackass, the Law of Averages dictates that SOMEBODY out there would probably like me anyway.
Reality: Why would everybody hate me anyway, I'm awesome.
Reality: ...I'm not that awesome.
Reality: Sometimes I'm pretty awesome, though.
Reality: OH MY GOD I HATE MYSELF
Reality: WHAT IS THIS, I'M RIGHT BACK WHERE I STARTED
Reality: EVERYTHING SUCKS, THE WORLD SUCKS, I SUCK, NOBODY WILL EVER LOVE ME AND I WILL DIE UNMOURNED AND ALONE
Reality: ...What the hell was that about?
Reality: Anyway, gonna get stuff done.
Reality: Gonna get stuff done
Reality: Getting stuff done
Reality: WHY DO I FAIL AT EVERYTHING
Reality: WALLOWING
Reality: WALLOWING SOME MORE
Reality: Okay NO MORE WALLOWING, we've talked about this, we're not doing this right now.
Reality: ...I can't believe that worked.
Reality: Huh.
Reality: So hang on, is this it?
Reality: I mean, is this recovery? Am I doing this right? Is it going to be over soon?
Reality: I just want to be normal.
Reality: I am such a ridiculous trainwreck of a human being. How do I even exist? Why do I get to have friends? Why do you people talk to me? There's so much about myself that I really don't like, and there's probably even more stuff that I don't even know about that isn't too hot, either. And I'm working on it, but man, it's hard.
Reality: ...I just realized that everything I just said is normal.
Reality: Oh my God, am I already normal?
Reality: I'M ALREADY NORMAL. THIS IS NORMAL.
Reality: It's...not exactly everything I was hoping for, to tell you the truth.
Reality: ...Oh well.
Reality: Today was okay.
Reality: Maybe tomorrow will be better.
