Here are the best geeky web sites, blog posts and articles I have enjoyed over the last week including some Dr Who footage from the new series, another great geek radio show from The Power Geeks, some great movie posters (like The Birds one below) and plenty of other nerdy links.
A new trailer for Dr Who has been broadcast, along with the somewhat vague news that the first episode will air in the UK during Easter 2010.
According to various news sources and blogs, BBC America has announced that the new Dr Who will debut there on Saturday, April 17th 2010.
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Regular supermaw readers will know that I am a lover of all things undead, so I am sure you won’t be surprised to find out I have put a little time and thought into my top ten zombie movies of all time.
I generally find it impossible to actually settle on favourites, so this definitive list would probably change from one week to the next depending on what I had most recently seen. Regardless of this, I have decided to put together a list, partly just to praise the movies I love, but also to give a good overview of the variety of zombie films available.
A day later than planned, ( for reasons to dull to go into) here is my weekly web digest for last week. Plenty of geeky web treats including a great Alice review, R2-D2 cake, movie brands, geek collectables and even toilet paper designs.
People who follow my blog and tweets may have noticed me saying I am unwell, or read previous post about my ongoing health saga, and wondered what the hell is actually wrong with me. I have been asked the question a few times recently, so I guess other people might be curious too.
It’s probably a bit unusual for someone in their early thirties, who looks fine on the surface, to have so many health problems, so this is my attempt to explain things… oh and have a bit of a moan at the same time of course. I have probably mentioned a lot of this before in other posts, but sometimes it’s just nice to get it all out of your system. If you don’t want to read a lot of moaning and unnecessary medical details you might want to give this post a miss.
So to answer my own question, I have fairly severe endometriosis, which has escalated in the last few years to the point where I am no longer able to manage a full-time job and well just being a normal person. Initially the problem was how long it took for diagnosis. From first requesting a referral to finally getting it diagnosed (after paying privately for surgery) took over 7 years, and during this time my health got a lot worse and I suffered with a lot of pain and stress. I was basically being dismissed and told there was nothing wrong with me, when I couldn’t function at all for a large part of the month.
Once I was finally diagnosed I thought everything would instantly get better, but unfortunately I haven’t reacted that well to treatments. There is no cure for endo, however there are various options that can help, ranging from basic medication through to surgery. While excision surgery did give me some relief it only seemed to last 6 to 8 months last time, then the symptoms came back full force. I will spare you some of the gory details, because I’m just nice like that. However a lot of people look at me quizzically when I tell them I have endo and find it hard to understand that it causes so many problems, especially as I look fairly normal.
I have tried to explain it simply and have had some infuriating reactions like, “oh so it’s just period pain”, “oh yeah I have bad periods but I don’t let it bother me”, “you must have a really low pain threshold”or “you must be a hypochondriac”. Of course most people are more sympathetic, but don’t really understand what I’m talking about, so I have decided to try to explain it as well as I can. I can’t tell you how every woman with endo feels, as symptoms can range from mild to debilitating. So I will just explain what it does to me.
While they are a lot of symptoms the main 2 problems for me are pain and exhaustion. The pain varies in location, type and intensity, but it’s mainly pelvic, lower back, legs and generally a lot of pain and discomfort in the lower abdomen. Sometimes it’s just a dull ache, sometimes it’s just nasty cramps, other times it’s a horrible stabbing pain that can leave me curled in in a ball or literally crying my eyes out. I get a lot of bloating, swelling and mysterious lumps and bumps, which can make it difficult to move around or even just sit/lie down comfortably. Before I was prescribed with painkillers I felt almost suicidal from the endless pain with no relief. I cope with it much better now, but I do worry about the long term effects of taking strong pain medication daily
When the problems first started many years ago I would have 3 good weeks a month, then horrendous period pain which would often knock me off my feet. Over time the pain has spread over more and more of the month, and I have basically ended up without any guaranteed good days, the symptoms just change a bit depending on the time of the month.
The average month goes like this. Menstruation which includes horrendous pain, tiredness, excessive bleeding and the appearance of suspected skin endometriosis which seems to trigger painful skin lumps/cysts. Then I have week or so with slightly less pain, breakthrough bleeding, and any lumps that have flared up will slowly start to dissipate. The pain then starts to increase a bit, with a lot of bloating and lower back pain. Depending on the severity I have a lot of trouble sleeping and eating, which can leave me in a fairly zombiefied state. By the time I start ovulating I’m back to my full dose of pain meds with the added bonus of mood swings, and the pain and symptoms gradually get worse peaking at menstruation. Then it’s time to start all over again.
Of course that’s a month without any additional problems, but due to my weakened immune system I often have whatever bug is going round too. As I mentioned earlier, the pain and just feeling unwell can interfere with my appetite, however despite making an effort to eat a lot (with the help of build-up shakes) my weight has dropped to just over 6 stone (90lbs), and I can’t seem to get back up to a more healthy weight. It’s not as bad it is sounds, as I am only 5’1, but it’s still a lot thinner than I would like. I have seen my GP and a dietician about it, but so far the only conclusion they have come to is that I’m somehow burning off a lot of calories just by being in pain. Hmm maybe I could market this to supermodels or weight obsessed teens…
Then there’s the tiredness. While I have always enjoyed being lazy when the mood strikes, I’m actually into doing a lot of stuff. A few years ago I was always up to something, be it learning new code, figuring out software, writing blogs, learning how to snowboard, reading as many books as I could get my hands on and generally enjoying myself. These days my energy supply is so limited I find myself unable to do a lot of the things I want to do. Even something as simple as reading a good book becomes impossible when you have severe nausea or are wiped out from tossing and turning all night. When I have a lot of pain and tiredness I can get pretty dizzy and clumsy, so even something as simple as taking a shower seems like a major mission. On my worst days I’m scared to take a shower if I am on my own in the house, as I know I could easily get dizzy and fall over.
I have a hard time dealing with social activities and have had to take a break from nights out and holidays. I can’t drink these days without getting really sick after just one or two, and feeling even rougher than usual for a few days, so it just isn’t worth it. I feel really bad for not making more effort to see friends and cancelling things all the time, but sometimes I’m just too wrecked to be able to act normal. If I have something important to do, like a family visit, I can generally load up on painkillers and carry on as if there’s nothing wrong, but as soon as I walk back through my door I sort of collapse in on myself, and can then take a day to get over a few hours of socialising.
At the moment I’m waiting to have another laparoscopy (keyhole surgery) to remove endo and adhesions. Last time I had this I was a lot better for about 8 months, so I can’t wait, but I can’t help wishing it was a long term solution. I don’t want to paint too negative a picture of endo treatments, as there are a lot of great options and many women find treatment successful or at least helpful. Unfortunately I seem to react badly to the standard hormonal treatments, so at the moment surgery seem to be the only option.
The most recent treatment I tried was Prostap injections, which basically reduce the amount of oestrogen in your system, leading to a medically induced menopause. While my pain was reduced slightly I had horrible side effects including hot flushes every 30 mins, hair falling out and severe joint pain/discomfort. Since stopping the injections most of the symptoms have stopped, apart from the joint pain, which just seems to be getting worse and worse.
I wake up every morning now with hands like claws and find it really difficult to bend or move my fingers. It gets a little better after 10 minutes or so, but still feels a bit uncomfortable and tight and flares up during the day depending on activity. In the last month a few small lumps have appeared on my finger joints and both of my little fingers seem to kinda pop out of the socket (not sure how else to describe it) when I try to bend them. The pain isn’t that bad really, compared to the endo, but I must admit that the reduced strength in my hands and weirdness of it is bothering me a bit, especially as it seems to be getting worse. My knees and hips are also a bit sore and uncomfortable, but nowhere near as bad as my hands, so I’m not sure it’s related.
I have been to see my GP about this a few times now, and they have given me blood tests and x-rays which are apparently fine. My first fear was arthritis. My dad has fairly severe osteoarthritis, which started in his 30′s, and I know that menopause (and therefore treatments like Prostap) can be a contributing factor in women, but as my test results are all clear I don’t know what to think now. After so many years battling to get my endo diagnosed I really don’t want to have to keep going back to the doctors over and over while they say there is nothing wrong, so I have put it off for the last few weeks. I know it’s not normal though, so I want to get it figured out, I just don’t know if I can face another major battle right now.
I know all this sounds probably makes me sound miserable, and in all honestly it can get me down sometimes, but for the most part I would describe myself as a happy person. While I have had some bad luck with my health I have lucked out in so many other ways. I have a great husband, great friends and family, a nice little flock of cats and I just generally enjoy myself. Even if I am stuck on the couch feeling crappy, I can enjoy great films, books, talking nonsense on the internet and enjoying various other nerdy hobbies. I’m not asking for sympathy, and would generally rather not dwell on negatives too much myself. I guess I just want anyone who at all interested to understand what I mean when I say I’m having a bad day, and not wonder what the hell I am going on about.
If any of you made it all the way to the end of this rant, thanks for reading. I promise my next post will be way less heavy, and hopefully a bit shorter.
There have been loads of brilliant blog posts, articles and sites to chose from this week. My favourites range from edible art through to stylish Penguin and Pelican book covers.. and of course the exciting news that the new Dr Who should be returning to our screens on April 3rd.
A selection of the best blogs and sites I have been looking at this week…
Everyone hates bad news, and there is a lot of it about, and of course we can’t blame the news media for that. What we can blame them for however, is making the news well, just terrible. I don’t just mean that they highlight all the most shocking issues for ratings and drama (although they often do), I mean bad production, bad story choices, bad reporting, and generally being inane enough to make me shout at the TV daily.
I try to avoid 24 hour news channels, as that much nonsense might make my head explode, but as a human with a normal interest in the world around me I will generally watch the evening news and/or BBC’s supposedly news based morning show, Breakfast. Now I don’t want to be too unkind to the BBC, as frankly it’s one of the few news channels I can bear to watch, but I still despair at the silliness of it all. I can’t help being appalled by the inane Brass Eye style graphics, the patronisingly simplistic reporting, the cringe inducing celebrity interviews and more infuriatingly the way they choose to cover major/global news stories.
I often seem to find the way the news media choose to report on major events and disasters distasteful. Especially their recent habit of ghoulishly filming grieving relatives going into funerals and even bodies of celebrities being removed from their homes. They generally seem to pick and choose which stories to cover based on the issues they deem as popular or current rather, than basing it on the need, human cost or suffering involved. The recent Haiti disaster is a sad example of the way the news can distort stories to suit them. I have watched various news channels over the last few weeks, and frankly I have been disgusted at the way many of them have decided to cover this story. While they have done a lot of good, making people aware of the suffering and need for support, a number of reporters just haven’t been able to resist focusing on the negative and highlighting inevitable outbreaks of violence.
In that situation any society would be in trouble, yet I have heard countless reporters imply that Haitian people are more violent and irrational than the rest of us, due to their troubled history. To me that is just a small step away from blaming them for their misfortune. Sounds far fetched but sadly TV evangelist Pat Robertson has done just that, blaming the Haitians for their misfortune as they had “made a pact with the devil”. These ridiculous statements have since been gleefully reported by various news sources, and of course most of them condemned his comments outright, after bringing it to our attention with shocking headlines first of course. I just can’t help thinking that focusing their cameras and our gaze at such negative comments, or any scuffle they can find, is unlikely to help the situation.
I could list plenty of other examples of news stories that have annoyed me over the last few weeks, but frankly there was no real need for me to say as much as I have, let alone more, as there is a man who says it all far better than I ever could. Charlie Brooker, guardian columnist, TV presenter and angry genius, has focused his attentions on the news media for Newswipe, a BBC show described as a sideways swipe at the news. The format is similar to his Screenwipe TV review show, and it’s equally funny. However as the news tends to be a bit less trivial than most entertainment shows, it can be a bit more depressing.
It’s great to realise that I am not alone in my disdain, and the ridiculousness of the clips he finds and his brilliantly caustic comments really bring home the reality of how awful the news can be. While he can be incredibly funny, even in the face of frankly horrific news stories, he is also appalled at certain aspects of the news and has a real talent for highlighting these flaws. It’s clear that he isn’t claiming to be an expert on news, but I believe that this lack of expertise and involvement actually enables him to notice and comment on how messed up news shows can be, in the same way that many of us do at home.
So if, like me, you find yourself becoming enraged by the inanity of the news and news related shows, check out Newswipe on BBC4 (22.30 on Tuesdays). We are currently on season 2, so there are plenty to catch up on via iPlayer/Youtube. While I loved it from the start, Brooker has really nailed this season, and every episode will have you laughing loud enough to annoy the neighbours. It may not make the news any better, but at least you can finally get some enjoyment out of bad news.
As the year draws to a close I have been contemplating my choices for the best books, films, TV shows and comics I have encountered this year. I always find these kinds of decisions hard, but when it comes to this year’s films I have no hesitation is recommending Moon, a brilliant science fiction thriller from director Duncan Jones.
Today, while you’re in the lovin’ mood, why not share your big geek heart with others.
Geek Girls Network™ & Geeky Clean have created a fundraiser to support the Haiti Relief called Geeks With Heart.
Through Mercy Corp, Geeks With Heart has a fundraising goal of $2500 and there’s no minimum for donations. If you can spare just one special cup of coffee, an iTunes download, or a crispy chicken sandwich, donate to Haiti instead. Show Haiti why geeks have heart!
As extra incentive, and not that you need any, once Geeks With Heart reaches $2500, all who donated will have the chance to win a prize from an amazing grab bag of geek prizes!
So donate, tweet it up, put a badge on your website, and tell all your friends and family. Thanks!
Geeks With Heart: http://www.mercycorps.org/fundraising/geekgirls
Geeks With Heart Haiti Relief Fund from Galaxy Sailor on Vimeo.
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Welcome to supermaw, a geek girls blog about toys, gadgets, web, zombies, book, comics, code, starbars and much more.
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This purely self-indulgent blog is all about the things that are of interest to a coding, star bar loving, zombie obsessed, snowboarding cat lady.
If you enjoy this blog feel free to follow me on twitter or add me on facebook.
You can check out my recent pics on flickr or see what I am reading on librarything, or check what music I enjoy on last.fm
More about maw…
Born 07/11/1976
Work as a web developer, mostly in .NET in Cardiff Bay.
Live in Cardiff with my husband, a print designer, and 4 kitty cats.
Interests include all things computer related, a good read, snowboarding, music, movies (especially horror, sci-fi, strange asia extreme movies, zombies and generally weird stuff).
If you want to contact me with questions, comments or to offer me gifts email me on th3maw@gmail.com
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