Cinecity 2013: My guide to being a film festival volunteer

In November, I helped out at Brighton's annual film festival run by the fantastic Cinecity team. The theme for the festival's 11th year was 'Adventures in World Cinema', so as you'd imagine, the schedule spanned global offerings from mellifluous Mexico to forward France and many film making nations in-between. The festival also payed homage to Jan Švankmajer, the wonderfully imaginative Czech surrealist filmmaker, with free screenings of his bizarre short films and an exhibition of his incredibly detailed and eclectic treasures, kindly on display for the inquisitive.

Follow the LEGO bricked road and have fun with marketing

On the late-train with this, but thought I’d do a quick post about the exclusive Lego Instagram video shoot I helped out with back in October, as part of the DK books Lego Minifigure Year By Year title launch.

DK Chats: The shiny new DK Books podcast

News! I'm very excited and proud to announce the super new podcast series from DK Books, called 'DK Chats'.

Throughout November I've been working with the very talented DK Books' Digital Marketing Officer, Gemma Smyth, putting together the shiny audio-feast that I hope you all find insightful and essentially, just a really good listen.

Doctor Who: A location guide

From caves to castles, I had great fun researching and writing this feature gallery for the fantastic Rough Guides travel website.

Spanning a beautiful array of earthly locations from Croatia to Colchester, with not a quarry in sight please enjoy the gallery and maybe take a trip and walk in the good Doctor's footsteps yourself...

Mark Buckingham's Fables Exhibition Artwork Launch Party at Orbital Comics, London

Fables Vol. 1: Legends in
Exile NEW Edition

Last night Orbital Comics hosted the launch of an exclusive exhibition showcasing some of comic book artist Mark Buckingham's favourite pieces of work. Fellow Fables artist Steve Leialoha was also in attendance, contributing to Mark's guided tour, giving us a whirlwind journey of personal artwork anecdotes and processes, all the time beaming with genuine excitement to be able to share their beautiful insights to the worlds of fabled lands and good versus evil with us all.

Some or these pieces are even for sale for those lucky few of you fast enough to get down to the exhibition and snap up an absolute steal of original British talent.

The exhibition runs until 24th November 2013, so pop down, pick up a copy of the classic first Fables collection in it's new trade edition.

AUDIO: Ender's Game Q&A with Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield, London

On 7 October 2013, MCM hosted an exclusive panel with the stars and filmmakers of Ender’s Game at London’s Leicester Square Odeon, UK. I was lucky enough to bag a ticket and be in the same room with cinematic royalty.

The exclusive panel included Harrison Ford, yes, HARRISON FORD (Star Wars, Indiana Jones), Asa Butterfield (Hugo), Oscar nominated Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) and Ben Kingsley (Schindler's List, Ghandi). Also in attendance was the film’s director and writer Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), and producers Bob Orci (The Amazing Spider-Man 2) and Gigi Pritzker (Drive).

The original Dalek?

Since the dawn of The Last Great Time War has the origin of both the Dalek form and name been discussed by Whovians across our tiny little globe.

The BBCs most feared pepper pots of hate designed by Raymond Cusick, were supposedly mocked up in under an hour from a very short brief by Terry Nation, who wanted a legless antidote to the commonplace Doctor Who 'man in a suit' monster.

Nine Worlds of geekdom

When I got the call asking me to host some panels at the debut fan oriented convention Nine Worlds Geekfest, it was really hard to form an idea of what to expect. I’ve been to the vast cross section of the UKs convention and expo offerings in the science fiction, pop culture and film veins, but this was the first large-scale fan-driven residential festival I’d gone along to.

INTERVIEW: Dan Boultwood IT CAME! comic book launch at Forbidden Planet Megastore, London

I spot Dan at a distance. As ever, I can see he’s dressed for the occasion; the comic book creator is standing out, looking groomed and suited with vintage august, throwing a signature cheeky wink to his industry counterparts where casual is the prevailing trend.

We’ve only minutes before kick-off of his launch party at the flagship fanboy Mecca. Dan goes and readies himself behind the signing table as tannoy announcements are hailed and a crowd gathers to welcome another name to the establishment’s hall of creatively-minded honour.

Films: The Good, The Bad And The Thinkers

Last week I watched Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion and to be honest, I wasn’t going in to the cinema with high expectations. I’d heard the Twitter review rumbles and listened to thoughts from friends, but it was an Orange Wednesday, so the runtime-for-your-money value alone was worth the discounted gamble.

Half way through, I was definitely starting to fear a LOTR moment (when a film is so unnecessarily prolonged, you really need to pop to the toilet but don’t want to get up for fear of falling over in the dark or never being able to find the same seat again on the way back so you sit and hold, uncomfortably tight).

How to stylishly #SeeFilmDifferently

Last night I was treated to a taste of movie-star magic.

The foyer of Brighton’s Duke of York’s Picturehouse glowed invitingly, on an otherwise inclemently wan British Tuesday evening. It didn’t take long to spot the red carpet and the dapper venue staff milling around, anticipating the opening doors to their exclusive one-off screening of the 1959 classic comedy, Some Like It Hot. Starring none other than blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, I am a very lucky gal to have had a ticket to the most smouldering event in town.