exorcising the ghosts (of colonies past)

Stephanie would like to talk to you about ghosts. Beneath the fold she uses words like ‘decolonise’, ‘ritual’, and ‘read the Koran to keep the ghosts away in a video game’.

Continue reading “exorcising the ghosts (of colonies past)”

No Award’s 2017 Resolutions

bulldogcat3APPARENTLY research shows that you should only make resolutions after having a nice epiphany on a nice holiday. But it’s Lunar New Year on Saturday, and Liz only just went back to work last week, so it seems like a good arbitrary time to talk about things we’d like to do as individuals (and a blog) over the coming months.

Post features pictures of cats.

Continue reading “No Award’s 2017 Resolutions”

A No Award 2015 in Review

In 2015 we really ramped up vis No Award; a whole lot of posts, including guest posts, and even a posting schedule (!!). We’ve got plans for 2016, which we’ll announce shortly. Thanks for yelling with us in 2015, Australia.

(Speaking of yelling, if you’re getting intrusive pop-up ads on NA, especially on the mobile version, please let us know! We’re looking into it.)

And now, starting as we mean to go on, a day late we bring you our favourite posts of the year!

Continue reading “A No Award 2015 in Review”

Doctor Who 9.11, 9.12 and 9.13: “Face the Raven”, “Heaven Sent”, “Hell Bent”

I could have done these in individual posts, but I’ll be honest: I was busy, I was tired, I couldn’t be bothered.  The three preceding episodes were so offensively terrible, they managed to pretty much destroy my enthusiasm for season 9.

It’s a shame, because “Face the Raven” was genuinely outstanding, and not just because it advanced a strong anti-birb agenda.  And “Heaven Sent” and “Hell Bent” were both quite good, even though I nearly noped out when —

But I get ahead of myself.

Continue reading “Doctor Who 9.11, 9.12 and 9.13: “Face the Raven”, “Heaven Sent”, “Hell Bent””

No Award’s Handy List of Scary Last-Minute Hallowe’en Costumes

Ah, Hallowe’en.  It’s the one time of year No Award doesn’t complain about American cultural imperialism.*  Yes, it’s deeply frustrating that you spend all day carving a pumpkin, and 24 hours later it’s covered in fruit flies.  But come on, this is a festival that involves costumes and confectionary.  We’re not complete monsters**.

So if you’ve only just remembered that costume party you were invited to back in August, or if you’ve received a polite letter from a neighbour, letting you know in advance that their children will be trick or treating and asking if you’d like to participate, No Award is here to provide some extremely scary costume suggestions.

Continue reading “No Award’s Handy List of Scary Last-Minute Hallowe’en Costumes”

Doctor Who 9.05 and 9.06 – “The Girl Who Died” and “The Woman Who Lived”

How great is Maisie Williams, eh?  People are saying it’s a shame she’s too busy with Game of Thrones to be the next companion, but I say, wait until she’s 40, then she can be the sixteenth Doctor.

I probably didn’t need to review this as a two-parter — synchronicity of titles aside, these episodes didn’t have to be consecutive — but hey, I didn’t know that until it was too late.

(Beyond the cut are discussions of alleged spoilers published in the UK tabloid press — emphasis on “alleged”.)

Continue reading “Doctor Who 9.05 and 9.06 – “The Girl Who Died” and “The Woman Who Lived””

Doctor Who 9.01: The Magician’s Apprentice

Let’s get some things out of the way first:

  • Yes, it’s really season 35, the proper season 9 had Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning and Roger “no longer the best Master ever” Delgado.
  • Stephanie plays  no part in these posts, due to her moral objections to time travel, and also her general disinterest in matters Whovian except when Liz begs her to write an essay about Peri.
  • This will be a weekly thing, time and energy and the existence of the universe permitting.
  • There will be spoilers.

“The Magician’s Apprentice”, in which the Doctor meets a winsome child on a battlefield, Missy advances the asexual agenda, and Clara/Jane Austen is canon.

(Steph has proofread this post: There really is a lot about the Asexual History of Doctor Who, just fyi)

Continue reading “Doctor Who 9.01: The Magician’s Apprentice”