Updateyness
I don't seem to have updated for a while which is basically because I haven't had very much to say beyond "Oh look, it's raining again!" which it just has been. Our grass is knee deep, the weeds are alive and moving towards the house in battalions and we're fighting a war on all fronts to keep the slugs away from our bean plants (and out of the kitchen, yuck).
Yesterday ghost_guessed and I went to the British Museum which was absolutely packed full of people. As it wasn't actually raining on St Swithun's Day (hopefully a good sign) and there were even glimmers of sun I couldn't understand what they were all doing there. We got amazingly lost; found the Egyptian mummies, which we specifically didn't want to; admired some winsome Babylonian camels; worried about the eyesight of medieval ivory carvers; paid a call on the Lewis Chessmen and then went for lunch and much chat. It's always lovely to meet up with LJ friends :)
In between tidying efforts and failed attempts at gardening J and I managed to go and see "The Sunshine Boys" starring Danny DeVito and Richard Griffiths. We hadn't originally intended to go but got such a good deal on the tickets that we couldn't resist. It turned out to be a very enjoyable evening as Danny DeVito gave a masterclass in comic timing. The performances were probably better than the play but it was still a lot of fun to watch.
The BBC Proms have now begun and though we didn't go to the First Night we were lucky enough to go to the Dress Rehearsal for "My Fair Lady". The was a delicious treat as the production was more or less fully staged but with a much larger orchestra than it would have in a theatre. Anthony Andrews was Professor Higgins but unlike Rex Harrison could actually sing, Annalene Beechey was gorgeous Eliza and Alun Armstrong was fantastic as Alfred Doolittle (I knew he could sing as he was the best Sweeney Todd I've ever seen). Because of the size of the John Wilson orchestra the chorus only had a really small space in which to sing, dance and act but the choreography was fabulous particularly in the Ascot scene. This production was absolutely full of treats including Julian Ovenden singing "On the Street Where You Live" and Sian Phillips, looking impossibly glamorous, as Mrs Higgins. Even the fact they had to stop ten minutes before the end (MU rules) didn't detract from the enjoyment as it left the ending completely ambiguous. As we couldn't go to the main performance we felt really privileged to be able to actually see this and not just hear it as it was as much a visual experience as a musical one. It's just a shame it couldn't be on the telly :( Here's The Guardian's review of the actual performance. If anyone wants to hear it it's up on the iPlayer at the moment and presumably not region specific as it's radio.
In TV viewing news I've been enjoying "The Hollow Crown" enormously. Gorgeous filmed and acted and probably a benchmark for doing Shakespeare on the television for years to come.
"Line of Duty" is turning into a really intriguing thriller with Lennie James giving a fantastic performance as Tony Gates. To say more would be to spoil the intricate plot but I was quite amused when Mark Lawson on "Front Row" asked writer Jed Mercurio if he'd borrowed the plot from "The Professionals" episode "In the Public Interest". Jed Mercurio said he hadn't but he wouldn't mind borrowing from early Professionals episodes :) Are people finally realising that the plots of "The Professionals" were good?
We're not watching much else at the moment but we really liked "Episodes" starring the ever amazing Tamsin Grieg, Stephen Mangan and Matt Le Blanc (as himself). It's kind of slow burn, bittersweet comedy rather than laugh out loud funny but once you get into it it's well worth the time. "Twenty Twelve" is back on and hilarious, though possibly having trouble keeping up with being as bizarre as the actual truth!
I thought it had stopped raining but it hasn't! Off to do useful things (or possibly read more about the Merlin panel at SDCC). Time to fire up Google Chrome again as Firefox is currently not letting me play videos. Sigh...
Yesterday ghost_guessed and I went to the British Museum which was absolutely packed full of people. As it wasn't actually raining on St Swithun's Day (hopefully a good sign) and there were even glimmers of sun I couldn't understand what they were all doing there. We got amazingly lost; found the Egyptian mummies, which we specifically didn't want to; admired some winsome Babylonian camels; worried about the eyesight of medieval ivory carvers; paid a call on the Lewis Chessmen and then went for lunch and much chat. It's always lovely to meet up with LJ friends :)
In between tidying efforts and failed attempts at gardening J and I managed to go and see "The Sunshine Boys" starring Danny DeVito and Richard Griffiths. We hadn't originally intended to go but got such a good deal on the tickets that we couldn't resist. It turned out to be a very enjoyable evening as Danny DeVito gave a masterclass in comic timing. The performances were probably better than the play but it was still a lot of fun to watch.
The BBC Proms have now begun and though we didn't go to the First Night we were lucky enough to go to the Dress Rehearsal for "My Fair Lady". The was a delicious treat as the production was more or less fully staged but with a much larger orchestra than it would have in a theatre. Anthony Andrews was Professor Higgins but unlike Rex Harrison could actually sing, Annalene Beechey was gorgeous Eliza and Alun Armstrong was fantastic as Alfred Doolittle (I knew he could sing as he was the best Sweeney Todd I've ever seen). Because of the size of the John Wilson orchestra the chorus only had a really small space in which to sing, dance and act but the choreography was fabulous particularly in the Ascot scene. This production was absolutely full of treats including Julian Ovenden singing "On the Street Where You Live" and Sian Phillips, looking impossibly glamorous, as Mrs Higgins. Even the fact they had to stop ten minutes before the end (MU rules) didn't detract from the enjoyment as it left the ending completely ambiguous. As we couldn't go to the main performance we felt really privileged to be able to actually see this and not just hear it as it was as much a visual experience as a musical one. It's just a shame it couldn't be on the telly :( Here's The Guardian's review of the actual performance. If anyone wants to hear it it's up on the iPlayer at the moment and presumably not region specific as it's radio.
In TV viewing news I've been enjoying "The Hollow Crown" enormously. Gorgeous filmed and acted and probably a benchmark for doing Shakespeare on the television for years to come.
"Line of Duty" is turning into a really intriguing thriller with Lennie James giving a fantastic performance as Tony Gates. To say more would be to spoil the intricate plot but I was quite amused when Mark Lawson on "Front Row" asked writer Jed Mercurio if he'd borrowed the plot from "The Professionals" episode "In the Public Interest". Jed Mercurio said he hadn't but he wouldn't mind borrowing from early Professionals episodes :) Are people finally realising that the plots of "The Professionals" were good?
We're not watching much else at the moment but we really liked "Episodes" starring the ever amazing Tamsin Grieg, Stephen Mangan and Matt Le Blanc (as himself). It's kind of slow burn, bittersweet comedy rather than laugh out loud funny but once you get into it it's well worth the time. "Twenty Twelve" is back on and hilarious, though possibly having trouble keeping up with being as bizarre as the actual truth!
I thought it had stopped raining but it hasn't! Off to do useful things (or possibly read more about the Merlin panel at SDCC). Time to fire up Google Chrome again as Firefox is currently not letting me play videos. Sigh...