strange_complex | Paul Cornell and shoes!

strange_complex

Yesterday evening, I ventured along with

nalsa,

big_daz,

myfirstkitchen and two other folk (who are probably on LJ but I don't know their usernames) into the remarkably friendly and agenda-free territory of the University Chaplaincy, for the sake of an audience with Doctor Who writer, Paul Cornell. We got there a bit early, so had time to settle down with free cups of coffee amongst the bean-bags, and chat to Paul (whom

myfirstkitchen already knew) while we waited for the talk proper to begin.

And an excellent session it was, too. The rationale behind the evening, and its Chaplaincy setting, was that Paul has variously been described on internet profile sites as 'Christian', 'Wiccan' and 'Christian - other', so he was going to talk to us about his faith and his work, and how the two intersect. And the topic did surface every now and then, both in his initial chat, and in the questions which followed. Basically, the low-down was that he'd been a practising Wiccan as a student, but had later moved towards a very non-evangelical form of Anglicanism, while still feeling that all the things he'd seen in his Wiccan group were good and fine things, and admiring the very self-aware stance amongst the Wiccans he'd obviously encountered about the origins of their practices. He used words like 'ecumenical' and phrases like 'different paths towards the same central truth' quite a lot, and also frequently stated that religious people 'shouldn't be in charge', and that what he really liked about Anglicanism was that it was all about having cake (directly referencing Eddie Izzard) rather than telling people how to behave. So, in summary, impossible not to respect, really. Regarding his work, he talked about how and where he had approached religious issues, particularly in his novels, but also in his Doctor Who stories, and basically said that he felt as a Christian that it was something he should tackle, from all angles, in his creative work - not for the sake of converting anyone, but rather because it was an important and compelling drama that he wanted to explore.

But there was plenty of room for non-religious questions, too - in fact, probably 75% of the evening had nothing in particular to do with religion. Rather, he talked about what fandom meant to him, the issue of the Doctor becoming a sexual (well, at least a romantic) being in New Who, how he'd become involved in writing for the new series, the writing process, the success of the new series, who his personal favourite Doctor was (Peter Davison, followed by Sylvester McCoy), what moments he felt best revealed the character of the Doctor (when the Master was dying in his arms at the end of 'Last of the Time Lords'), and of course also his various other projects involving novels, comics etc. With plenty of laughs and good humour along the way. He said nothing specific about future Who episodes, but did say he felt his involvement with it 'wasn't over' - so I think we can look forwards to more scripts from his pen in the future.

Plans to drag Paul to a pub afterwards at the end of the evening were thwarted by the fact that the poor guy had to drive all the way back to Faringdon (nr. Oxford), ready to wake up the next morning at 5:30 and drive to Heathrow for a flight to a convention somewhere in North America. Instead, we listened politely to the Chaplaincy team's announcements about upcoming events, and then departed homewards on our various buses. It was only this morning, looking at the leaflet I'd had pressed into my hand as I left, that I realised the discussion evening they had been plugging for the film Children of Men included not just discussion, but also a free showing of the film beforehand. And since I haven't seen it, and always really meant to, and I know they've got a pretty decent big (if slightly wavy) projection screen in there, and they are only 50m away from my office after all, I think they might actually get me back through their doors again to watch that. Tuesday November 13th at 7:30 pm, if anyone wants to join me - and you don't even have to pre-book tickets this time. Just turn up!

Finally, while I'm writing, I also want to rave about my fantastic new shoes! Behold their shoey goodness:

I knew I liked the look of this pair before they arrived, as I have always had a particular preference for chunky platform ankle boots of this kind. They're not always easy to get hold of, as fashions come and go, but if they were, I would basically be wearing shoes with soles like this all the time. They strike an excellent compromise between being stompy and yet also wearable to work and between giving extra height and yet not forcing you to walk around uncomfortably on tip-toe all day. But it wasn't until this particular pair arrived and I tried them on that I realised just how damn comfortable they are. For such chunky shoes, they are actually incredibly light - almost bouncy, even - thanks to their rubber soles, and they also have lovely soft pads inside for extra cushiony comfort. So they feel practically like tripping around the place in baseball boots, except with added bounce and height. I am already calling them the Boots of Power, and enjoying every step I take in them.