Links and Stuff

We’re back with more links and stuff! April was A-to-Z Blogging Challenge month, and I hope you enjoyed the flash fiction fun. I’ll be posting an “A-to-Z Reflections” post next week, hopefully on Monday, where I’ll talk about this year’s adventure in the blogisphere. Blogosphere. Blogasphere. Whatever.

I’ve been collecting links over the past month, so I have a ton to share. Not all today, you’ll be pleased to know. And, in fact, some of them warrant special articles because they raise interesting issues. But for now, here’s today’s collection:

Of course, who didn’t hear about Prince’s death on April 21st? Hmmm… actually, probably a lot of people if you take the entire population of the planet into consideration. I’m sure there are a lot of people in India and China who have never heard of Prince. One person who has heard of Prince is Paul McCartney. He recently played a concert in the late pop star’s home town of Minneapolis, Minnesota, during which he launched into a mini tribute. See for yourself:

Wasn’t that nice? I can’t say I was ever a big Prince fan, but in a year in which we’ve already seen so many actors and musicians pass away, it’s notable when someone of his stature joins the list of dearly departed.

An actor death that probably slipped by many in the US, but certainly didn’t go unnoticed by me, was that of Gareth Thomas on April 13. I knew Gareth as the star of the British Sci-Fi drama, “Blakes 7” that ran from 1978-1981. My older brother and I watched the original run with almost as much devotion as we watched Doctor Who. A great series, and another sad loss to the entertainment world.

Speaking of Doctor Who, on Saturday, April 23, the BBC announced the name of the Twelfth Doctor’s new companion. The actress taking the role will be Pearl Mackie, who has quite a stage resume, but not much television. From the little clip they played introducing her, she seems up to the role–but what can you really tell in two minutes? She looks like she’s having fun, though, which will, hopefully, translate through the screen. Here’s the clip:

Her character’s name is Bill. An odd name for a girl you may think, as did I, until I remembered my aforementioned older brother has a female cat called Bill. 🙂 Here’s Pearl’s first interview:

As others have noted, she has a bit of an Eighties look about her. Might this new companion be from the past? That would make a change.

Anyway, that’s enough for the links and stuff this week. More next week!