My Quantum Leap obsession

As part of my Leap Day celebration on the 29th February, I had a Quantum Leap binge-watch, and it has rekindled my interest (not that I'd ever lost it!) in my favourite TV show of all time!

I can still remember the first moment that I watched Quantum Leap. I turned on the TV and saw a man waking up with amnesia. I thought, "this looks like just the sort of crappy made-for-tv movie I love to watch" and kept watching. It wasn't until Al appeared that I realised this was the new sci-fi show I'd seen trailers for, and from that moment I was completely hooked!

The weird thing is the air date of this was Tuesday the 13th February 1990 (30 years ago last month!). But my memory is of watching it at my parents' house, and I wasn't there on that date, I was at uni, and there's no mention in my diary of watching it. I only had a black and white portable at uni, and I don't remember watching it in black and white. I can't find a repeat listed for that episode until the second series was starting, and I definitely watched the first series!

It just so happened that 1990 was also the year that I began studying Computer Science in my second year of university, and this was when I discovered the internet! I found my way to the usenet newsgroups where people were discussing Quantum Leap, and my obsession grew over the next few years to the extent that in 1994 I probably spent more time writing absolutely dreadful fan-fiction than writing my MSc dissertation!

I collected magazine articles, and the novels, which I thought I'd got rid of but have actually found ten of in my cupboard (don't know how many there were in total). I spent a lot of time taping episodes from TV. I'm pretty sure I phoned my parents when I woke up after the night out for the end of my MSc course, to check on a recording!

When videotapes were released, I bought those, and more recently the DVDs. Since some of the music has been altered in the DVD releases, I've also had a go at converting some of my old videos taped from the TV. Some of them worked, and on some the sound has gone out of sync with the picture, which I only realised after throwing the tapes away!

I've now got hooked again, and have started watching the whole series from the beginning!

Amélie-ish movie suggestions

Because I've loved Amélie since it first came out, I've always sought out other films that are similar in some way. In fact, I have a whole section in my movies notebook devoted to this subject! Here are some ideas if you liked Amélie and are looking for something to watch!

For a cute Amélie-ish character (in looks or actions):
This Beautiful Fantastic

Chungking Express

I'm a Cyborg but it's OK
Air Doll
Orchestra Seats

I really love the colour scheme of Amélie, and these are films that remind me of that:

In the Mood for Love (and 2046)

Three Colours Red
Suzhou River

Jean-Pierre Jeunet's films all have a similar dreamy look to them, so you may enjoy these:

A Very Long Engagement (which also has Audrey Tautou in it)

Micmacs

Delicatessen

If it's Audrey Tautou you like, these are some of the other films I've enjoyed with her in:

Happenstance

God is Great and I'm Not

Priceless

When Amélie came out, I immediately thought that there was an Audrey Hepburn look to Audrey Tautou. Here are my favourite Audrey Hepburn films:

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Sabrina Fair

Roman Holiday

Charade

How to Steal a Million

If it's films with a French feel you are looking for, try:

Chocolat

Before Sunset (but watch Before Sunrise first!)

Other visually stunning and very quirky films:

The Science of Sleep

Love Me if You Dare

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Princess & The Warrior

Run Lola Run

Finally, the most Amélie-ish film that isn't Amélie! There are so many elements of this film that remind me of Amélie:

La Double Vie de Veronique

Deep Thought card

I’ve had this card in mind for my brother ever since I turned 42 myself four years ago! For those who aren’t in the know, the number 42 is the “answer to life, the universe and everything” from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. My family watched the TV version when I was nine and my brother was five, and it’s become such an ingrained part of our family’s culture that we quote from it all the time.

For this card, I wanted to show the scene where the massive supercomputer Deep Thought announces the great answer after millions of years of calculation. And it’s not quite the answer anyone was expecting or hoping for! It’s one of my favourite scenes anyway, and very appropriate for my brother’s 42nd birthday.

I made the whole card out of green card, and simplified the shape of Deep Thought so that it formed the shape of the card. I also gave the computer a face. Then I added two figures, and speech bubbles. Each of the four sides of the card forms a panel in the story. I had fun positioning the heads of the figures to make it look like they were eager and then puzzled/shocked!

Clangers display

I've finally got most of my Clangers related items together in one place, and they make quite a nice little display!

The items date from a 1970s annual that I bought online, through the 1980s with a Tiny Clanger toy I've had since the '80s, and a jigsaw I picked up at a car boot sale recently, to the present day with a Major Clanger, Froglet, Soup Dragon, and Iron Chicken. There are also some cards and postcards. 

And finally there are the handmade items - Mum's knitted Tiny Clanger, and my Clangers miniatures which are stored in a Birchbox that perfectly matches the Clangers colours!

Clangers birthday cards

Here are the birthday cards I made for my parents - and they are Clangers themed!

1. I started out with some of the colouring designs from the BBC website to use as templates. 

2. I cut the main shape of each Clanger from pink textured card.

3. Then cut out the other pieces from different colours.

4. Stuck it all together.

5. And added details with pen.

6. Finally I added some glittery stars!

The soup dragon and iron chicken appear to approve!

Christmas Clangers

Christmas has arrived on the Clangers planet!

One of my favourite childhood TV series, the Clangers, returned to TV this year, so it was only natural that my Christmas cards would have a Clangers theme!

So, to my Clangers scene, I added the pipe-cleaner trees I made last year, a present made from a piece of wood wrapped in paper, and, one of my first ever polymer clay pieces from back in the early 1980s, a Santa. I based him on one in the Fimo book I bought at the same time as my first ever blocks of Fimo.

I photographed them, and sent the pictures off to Moo to have them printed - which now makes me realise I should have had a Sky-Moo in the pictures too!

Sunday self-portraits: Dr Who

Ever since seeing the image below on Gudrun Sjoden's site, which immediately gave me a Tom Baker era Dr Who vibe, I've wanted to create a Dr Who styled look of my own.

Of course, I had to have a shot of me exiting my Tardis (otherwise known as my shed, which accumulates so much junk it must be bigger on the inside).

And one with my sonic screwdriver. 

And some attempts at a wide-eyed Tom Baker-esque stare.