Summer Spotlight Series: Meerkat Musings

Hi all,

Here’s our next Summer Spotlight blogger: Ben @ Meerkat Musings!!!

Tell me a little bit about yourself!

Ooh, where to start? I’m in my late 30s, happily married with a spritely 9 year old daughter! I live in Essex, just east of London, and have done so for twelve years

Awesome! Can you tell me a bit about your blog and why you started it?

My personal blog started as a desire to express myself and chart my course through life. Along the way, it evolved into a combination of political and social commentary, a website that delved into geeky stuff (like Star Trek versus Star Wars), and a place for me to express my creativity.

I think a lot of us tend to start dipping into politics eventually. With everything going on in the world it’s really hard not to.

Your blog is called Meerkat Musings right? How did you come up with that name?

Good question! I was looking for a name that was catchy, and it just so happened to fit the persona I guess – Darth Timon and all that.

Definitely catchy! I also love meerkats, they are fun to watch and super cute. Is it true that you also have a podcast?!

Meerkats are awesome! Especially Timon! And yes, I have a podcast 🙂 https://anchor.fm/meerkat-musings – it’s early days, and it’s a work in progress, but it’ll end up being a way to be more… Eloquent, hopefully.

Nice!! I constantly forget that blogging has introduced me to people from different parts of the world so when I heard your voice I thought “oh yeah Ben has an accent” Ha

When you’re not blogging and podcasting, what do you do in your spare time?

I have what some people say is a posh accent – which is bull but there ya go! In my spare time, I like to read, mostly scifi but occasionally I’ll branch out! I also follow F1 motor racing, and I’m an armchair soccer fan. My main weakness is Nintendo, and in particular the Zelda games! My little girl is starting to get into them too, as well as Pokemon, so it’s a nice way to do a bit of daddy/daughter bonding.

If someone who does not read scifi often wanted to give it a try, what book(s) would you recommend to them?

If I were to recommend scifi, there are two series I would suggest – the Honor Harrington series, and the Lost Fleet saga. Both have quite a few books in their respective sagas, with the Honorverse being ‘realistic’ in terms of human beings and how we act, whilst the Lost Fleet has the best depictions of aliens I’ve ever read of.

Ooh nice! Two very interesting concepts there! Since you mentioned this earlier, I feel like I have to ask…….Star Trek or Star Wars?

Oooh… The ultimate question! I am gonna say… Star Trek. I love Star Wars too, but Star Trek has been so inspiring to me on so many levels, that it has to be the winner!

Nice! In your opinion, does the reboot hold up to the originals?

It’s Star Trek with a unique new… flavour I guess? It carries on the tradition of portraying people of different backgrounds as equals, yet for some reason there are plenty of ‘fans’ who are bitter about this (or bitter about style changes). It’s a shame, as they’re trying to divide the fan base.

Drama among fans. Interesting, although I can’t say I’m surprised. Is that a similar occurrence with the new Star Wars movies as well?

Very much so! There’s a lot of animosity toward Rey and Finn in particular, purely because of their sex and race respectively. That and faux outrage over the handling of Luke.

Speaking of reboots, what did you think of Timon in the new Lion King?

So, Timon, I would say he’s a, bit neurotic, like the original, in fact of all the characters, he’s possibly closest (apart from Mufasa!) to nailing the manner and nature of the original character. I dare say Nathan Lane will always be THE Timon, but Billy did a good job too!

I agree. Very well done but the original is still better. Has your daughter seen both versions?

She has – I think she prefers the original too, though she doesn’t tend to reveal her opinions beyond ‘I enjoyed that!’

Hahaha cute! Thank you again for doing this!!

If you would like know more about/get in touch with Ben, be sure to check out both his blog and podcast!

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Huge shout out to Ben for letting me pick his brain 🙂