Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Game Review: The Stanley Parable
My partner showed me this game and I got hooked. It is a pretty simple walk and click game, but the plot is delightfully mind boggling! If you love Portal you will probably love this.
You would think there is only a small range of choice, but along the way, random things keep popping up.
I can't tell you much about this game, because discovering it all is the fun of it! Don't look up anything about it, just go play it!
It should be around $10 on Steam.
The Paradise
I wrote this review quite a while ago and never posted it. It now seems that after a very long hiatus, The Paradise is finally returning, I just found these production pictures! I love the grey and black dress! Very excited that it is coming back! The Paradise 2: Behind the scenes photos
I am not sure what I can write about The Paradise after having watched Mr Selfridge. They are both similar in dramatic style and similarly contain wonderful costuming! Of course The Paradise is set a little further back in the past, being set in the Victorian era, while Mr Selfridge is set in the early Edwardian era, and was based on a Victorian novel by Emile Zola, as well as screening a year earlier, so we can assume that nothing in it is based on Mr Selfridge. I love them both, and hope they both continue to do well.
As with Mr Selfridge, I had the most fun watching them think up ideas for promotions, such as choosing a 'Miss Paradise Pink' to bring more women in to shop in the store, having a private lingerie sale party after hours, etc. It was sadly fascinating to seethe triumph of ready made over custom garments. Unlike Mr Selfridge, The Paradise also focused on how the big department stores pushed out the little stores, who could not afford to compete. The uncle of the main character Denise who works in the store cannot afford to employ her himself and is being driven out of business, along with others on the street. There was some mention of women having to choose between a man and a job, but women's issues such as this were not explored as deeply as in Mr Selfridge. Still, with Mr Selfridge coming out a year later, it isn't really fair to retroactively compare them.
The Paradise did stray a little more into melodrama,
(SPOILER) such as dark secrets and murder (END SPOILER)
There were definitely aspects like that that started pushing towards the soapie envelope a bit. However, it was based on a book written by a Victorian author so I think it is fair to assume that these aspects were probably in the original novel, the Victorians did enjoy melodrama.
I really enjoyed the costumes, I would love to have one of each! They are not totally historically correct, but they are still beautiful looking, not some of the awful costumey* things I am seeing in recent dramas. All in all I very much enjoyed it and would recommend it to all Victorian enthusiasts!
The Paradise is based (how loosely I am not sure) on the book The Ladies' Paradise by Emile Zola.
*costumey is a word often used in costuming and re-enactment circles to describe really frumpy, badly made costumes that look in no way historical. Think cheap Halloween costumes.
The Tolkien Ensemble: Galadriel's Song of Eldamar
Pure beauty.
Tuesday, 29 October 2013
Tea Duelling
Sunday the 27th of October
The First Inagural Gallery Serpentine Tea Duel

Myself and Yasmin
Emma
Photo by Jack Reason
Photo by Jack Reason
Kat, Bryce and a friend of Kat's who is also very nice
The official photographer and Yasmin
Mardo (who was the tea master) and Kat
This was one of the ladies who arranged it. Kelly of The Nerdyheard
Steampunk gas mask!
Talented seamstress and milliner Lady Chatsalot with her lovely selfmade hat, belt and skirt. She has a minitaure teapot and tea strainer hanging from her belt
That hat!
Lisa, another one of the organisers. Lisa of The Nerdyheard
Yasmin and I
I loved these girls' outfits, they looked like dolls!
This man's cloak was awesome!
This man was the winner of the Tea Duelling at Steamfest. I was glad that when I was beaten in the second round, it was by a champion. He ended up coming second.
Duelling my friend Emma. Our dresses go together so nicely!
Kathleen and Yasmin duel.
Francesca's outfit was so beautiful!
Kat Tea Duelling
Bryce Tea Duelling
There was a lot of ruler slapping from the Tea Mistress!
Lisa (Tea Mistress), Mardo (Tea Master) and Kelly (judge)
Francesca Tea Duelling
Yasmin's second round. The man who beat her ended up being the overall champion.
A lady in a very stylish skirt and shoes standing behind one of the champions.
Labels:
1900s,
events,
me,
Neo-Victorian,
outfits,
Steampunk,
tea,
tea duelling
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)