Kirsteen Thomson Exhibition Launch @ Knight & Garter | Leicester

Last Thursday, I attended the Knight & Garter's re-launch, accompanied by the launch of an art exhibition in the pub's basement bar. Whilst not a permanent exhibition, the idea of an art exhibition in a bar intrigued me and I thought I'd head along.
As you're probably aware, I'm no expert on art. But by placing an art exhibition in a bar, I feel that the Knight & Garter are trying to break down the idea that you have to be an art critic to enjoy art when really it shouldn't be so exclusive.

History | Odd Things That Happened in History: Part Two

I had a lot of fun writing part one of Odd Things That Happened in History and it proved to be quite a successful post! I love discovering little pieces of anecdotal history and I think it's interesting how much they can reveal more widely about the context in which they occurred. Today's post features two anecdotes rather than three as the pope/anti-pope one turned out quite long. Hope you enjoy!

Entertainment | Theatre Review: A Midsummer Night's Dream at The Curve, Leicester

Last night I was fortunate enough to attend the press night of A Midsummer Night's Dream* at The Curve Theatre in Leicester. "Made at Curve", this was a community production and it certainly had that warm feeling about it. A Midsummer Night's Dream, being one of Shakespeare's most performed plays can sometimes seem a little overdone. Thus, there is a demand to constantly reinvent the play whilst still keeping true to its original script and ideas. This community production did a wonderful job at that - bringing a modern twist without any kind of reckless disregard for the original play.

'What the Artist Saw', New Walk Museum's Joe Orton Exhibition | Leicester

This post is rather new for me as I've never reviewed a museum exhibit before, and it's not something I read much of either. However, as a history student passionate about the importance of public history, I figured that my blog would be the perfect place to talk about museums and other heritage hotspots in my ever ongoing (albeit sporadic) efforts to get people engaged in the past.

What the Artist Saw marks the 50th anniversary of Joe Orton's murder at the hands of his partner, Kenneth Halliwell. However, the exhibition does not focus on his death but rather, more positively, upon his work's cultural impact. Orton was a Leicester playwright of working-class origins, whose work helped to subvert both the classist and homophobic status quo of 1960s Britain. He was also the inspiration for many socially-conscious art pieces which make up the bulk of this exhibition.

History | Stuff People Used to Believe: Sex Edition

If I were to ask you to name a strange thing people used to believe, you'd likely go for "the earth was flat". You probably wouldn't say that people believed a woman could essentially think her way into birthing rabbits (unless you have to put up with me in real life, in which case I've probably mentioned it several times). A whole range of weird things were believed back in "the olden days", and ideas of sex and reproduction were no exception.

Entertainment | Doctor Who: Thoughts on the new Doctor

So if you've somehow missed the news (how?), yesterday it was announced that the Thirteenth Doctor will be portrayed by Jodie Whittaker, who is in fact a woman. Whilst this has provoked a very mixed reaction across the many corners of the internet I personally am super excited as I feel that after Moffat, this was the regeneration the show needed both with regards to lead actor and head writer. For a while now I've been toying with the idea of writing a post on why I stopped watching Doctor Who shortly after Matt Smith's exit when Moffat's writing seemed to go from bad to worse. This seems the perfect time to summarise my thoughts on that and my thoughts on my hopes for Doctor Who's future.

Entertainment | Book Review: 'All That She Can See' by Carrie Hope Fletcher (spoiler-free)

All That She Can See's protagonist, Cherry Redgrave has the gift of being able to see people's bad feelings physically manifesting as monsters that follow the characters around. Although Cherry uses this power for good - baking cakes with positive feelings in them to help people - other characters she encounters are not so benevolent.

Travel | My Disneyland Disaster! (Part 2 of 2)

Welcome back to my disastrous tales from Disneyland [part 1 here]. Whilst I actually did have a really wonderful trip, it's much more fun to write up what went wrong. So buckle up, it's time for the tale of the time we had our luggage misplaced. Did we get it back? You'll just have to read on and find out!

Travel | My Disneyland Disaster (Part 1 of 2)

My first trip to a Disney Park was certainly an eventful one. In fact, I had a really wonderful few days away and Disneyland Paris was all that I expected it to be and more. But my gushing about how magical it was is not what you came to this post, with its mildly clickbaity title, to read. Instead, this is one of two tales [part two here] about the nail-biting delays we faced on our way to catch our trains.

Entertainment | Film: Let's Be More Like Legally Blonde's Elle Woods

Somehow, in all my 20 years of life, I had never actually seen Legally Blonde. But a few nights ago, one of my housemates and I decided it was high time we had a movie night, so, wrapped in fluffy blankets and armed with snacks and decaffeinated tea, we stumbled upon Legally Blonde on Netflix. We soon discovered that this film is absolutely brilliant and that we'd been missing out for far too long. I found myself rooting for Elle so so much throughout the film and absolutely loving everything about her character. As I'm really (really, really) late to the party on this film, I figured a review would be quite redundant. Instead, I decided to write about why I love Elle's character so much and why we should all be more like her.