Culture
Out of my resolutions for this year, the one I've done best on is "Go to the theatre more; at least once a month". This review of theatre, cinema, books and games got long!
Last week I saw Cabaret with James Dreyfus as the MC, Honor Blackman as the landlady, and Sam off EastEnders as Sally. I'd never seen the show or the film, which helped a lot, although taking place in gay Berlin in the 1930s rather hints at how it might end. I was actually relieved at the ending (which apparently is different from the film) - the whole thing was like a prequel to Bent, done in a similar sparse, theatric style to the production with Alan Cumming I saw earlier this year. Excellent use of black flats and the best use of mirrors I've ever seen on stage - they are notoriously tricky as there's nothing like seeing the heads of the audience to distract from the unfolding drama.
A few days later I managed to get a return to The Caucasian Chalk Circle, at the National Cottesloe, which I'd wanted to see done properly ever since doing it for German A-level. Sadly the only time I'd ever seen it was as Sevenoaks School, where the Singer prefaced every song with a little dirge of her own devising, causing the entire audience by the interval to boo her every time she entered...
This, however, was very good, and similar to how I'd have done it: the Singer is a sex symbol who fancies himself no end, intoning phrases ominously to a background of electro-bass rock which explores Russian and Central Asian harmonies and minor keys. This made it more like a Sisters of Mercy concert than anything else: a theory I struggled to explain to the elderly lady I chatted with at the interval! Just imagine Andrew Eldritch with floppy blond hair and farm boots...
All the cast added to the cacophony with various objects, and the infamous V-effekt ("it was only a device to stop the cast overacting - Weigl") was confined to a few gags, such as the rather young Old Couple being given an odd look by Azdak the judge, and being told by a shrugging Milkmaid/Soldier, "They were the only ones we had left!" Given how many productions of Brecht miss the jokes (possibly the translation's fault?), this was a pleasant change.
I failed to get any returns for The Big Brecht Fest part 1 (as I was saying about humour...) so while at the Young Vic snapped up three tickets for Part 2 before they ran out. lizw can't make it, so I have a spare ticket for The Big Brecht Fest 2 on 3 May at 8:30pm comprising How much is Your Iron and Senora Carrera's Rifles, for anyone who wants to join me and djm4. I'm very much looking forward to it.
I finally got an email from the Palace Theatre saying they are refunding me £131 for Spamalot not having a functioning loop (and their misleading advertising). The RNID Mystery Shopper team are also planning a visit...
Film: I haven't been to the cinema since Casino Royale. I don't go much as I can't understand complex dialogue that well and popcorn-pleasers tend not to be my thing. I was going to see Hot Fuzz but missed it. Also I feel uncomfortable going to the cinema alone, whereas I'm happy to do the theatre alone. Is this just my perception of the different patrons, I wonder? I suppose if there were a film I really wanted to see, I'd go by myself, but that rarely happens. I also have scads of DVDs needing watching, so if anyone wants to come over (or me join them in Streatham) for a movie evening, just shout.
Books:
Today I read In the skin of the lion by Michael 'English Patient' Onaatje. Very pretty descriptions of 1930s Canada but it's now on the Oxfam pile, for having little characterisation or plot.
Just finished The Sandman Companion, which has been fascinating. I usually read very fast but had to re-read the first Sandman book about 3 times before I had a clue what was happening, because my ability to decode comic-style pictures is very poor. I got better at it as the series went on, but still missed a lot of what was happening, eg reading the epilogue that mentioned Luz and Wilkinson tripping over a dead body in the snow on page 1, I thought 'What body?' - oh. Is that squiggle meant to be a body?
So reading all about what's actually there in the pictures that people have likely missed was really interesting, but of course I want to read them all again now.
Recently finished Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson, just before people started refering to it when news of a real invented dentata came out. I really enjoyed this one - it got across how people can be powerful in online worlds but not in real life, and vice versa, and didn't get too bogged down in technology.
Nearly finished Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson - good but a bit dry, rather like Asimov.
Last week I went to Gipsy Hill for more lightbulbs for the fish, and explored Westow Street. I saw signs to a Collectors' Fayre, which was a wide range of stalls in some intertwined buildings and outside, very much like Snooper's Paradise in Brighton, and including a bookstall with a shelf labelled "Books for miserable sods". Fantastic! I then visited the local independent bookshop, to reward them for showcasing Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion as Book of the Week. Seeing as Kurt Vonnegut had just died, I bought his A man without a country, a series of vignettes and rants about his life in the USA.
Read it. It's short and double spaced, so won't take long. :)
Other culture - conflux and I are playing Broken Sword 3: Angel of Death, a classic point-and-click adventure game with a lot of humour, mostly referring to characters from the previous episodes. Our reluctant hero George Stobbart got a shag in this one, but of course it didn't end well... I got Heroes of Might and Magic 5 for Christmas, so am looking forward to losing much of my life on that! Have played a few games of Puerto Rico now with webcowgirl and others. Nice to have people who also enjoy competitive games around.
I've also installed a BBC Micro emulator and am working my way through Philospher's Quest again, which I never finished. It's a lot quicker, although the emulator is as slow as a Beeb if you don't want the keyboard to repeat letters, simply because I don't have to rewind and reload a tape every time I die! I'm hoping to beat my previous best score soon as I now have a map remade. annoyingly, the hints booklet doesn't appear to be online anywhere, but I did accidentally find a walkthrough, which I don't want to look at. In plot-based adventure games or fiendish ones like Riven I use walkthroughs a lot, but Philosopher's Quest has been me against the machine (OK, Peter Killworth) for the last 25 years, and I'm damn well going to do it myself!
And then have a go at Sphinx Adventure. :)
In between culture and work and sleep, I'm fitting in people and activism of the 'send snotty letter' variety, which is what I'm best at. Other people can go on demos - I'll make use of the FOI Act and DDA!
Last week I saw Cabaret with James Dreyfus as the MC, Honor Blackman as the landlady, and Sam off EastEnders as Sally. I'd never seen the show or the film, which helped a lot, although taking place in gay Berlin in the 1930s rather hints at how it might end. I was actually relieved at the ending (which apparently is different from the film) - the whole thing was like a prequel to Bent, done in a similar sparse, theatric style to the production with Alan Cumming I saw earlier this year. Excellent use of black flats and the best use of mirrors I've ever seen on stage - they are notoriously tricky as there's nothing like seeing the heads of the audience to distract from the unfolding drama.
A few days later I managed to get a return to The Caucasian Chalk Circle, at the National Cottesloe, which I'd wanted to see done properly ever since doing it for German A-level. Sadly the only time I'd ever seen it was as Sevenoaks School, where the Singer prefaced every song with a little dirge of her own devising, causing the entire audience by the interval to boo her every time she entered...
This, however, was very good, and similar to how I'd have done it: the Singer is a sex symbol who fancies himself no end, intoning phrases ominously to a background of electro-bass rock which explores Russian and Central Asian harmonies and minor keys. This made it more like a Sisters of Mercy concert than anything else: a theory I struggled to explain to the elderly lady I chatted with at the interval! Just imagine Andrew Eldritch with floppy blond hair and farm boots...
All the cast added to the cacophony with various objects, and the infamous V-effekt ("it was only a device to stop the cast overacting - Weigl") was confined to a few gags, such as the rather young Old Couple being given an odd look by Azdak the judge, and being told by a shrugging Milkmaid/Soldier, "They were the only ones we had left!" Given how many productions of Brecht miss the jokes (possibly the translation's fault?), this was a pleasant change.
I failed to get any returns for The Big Brecht Fest part 1 (as I was saying about humour...) so while at the Young Vic snapped up three tickets for Part 2 before they ran out. lizw can't make it, so I have a spare ticket for The Big Brecht Fest 2 on 3 May at 8:30pm comprising How much is Your Iron and Senora Carrera's Rifles, for anyone who wants to join me and djm4. I'm very much looking forward to it.
I finally got an email from the Palace Theatre saying they are refunding me £131 for Spamalot not having a functioning loop (and their misleading advertising). The RNID Mystery Shopper team are also planning a visit...
Film: I haven't been to the cinema since Casino Royale. I don't go much as I can't understand complex dialogue that well and popcorn-pleasers tend not to be my thing. I was going to see Hot Fuzz but missed it. Also I feel uncomfortable going to the cinema alone, whereas I'm happy to do the theatre alone. Is this just my perception of the different patrons, I wonder? I suppose if there were a film I really wanted to see, I'd go by myself, but that rarely happens. I also have scads of DVDs needing watching, so if anyone wants to come over (or me join them in Streatham) for a movie evening, just shout.
Books:
Today I read In the skin of the lion by Michael 'English Patient' Onaatje. Very pretty descriptions of 1930s Canada but it's now on the Oxfam pile, for having little characterisation or plot.
Just finished The Sandman Companion, which has been fascinating. I usually read very fast but had to re-read the first Sandman book about 3 times before I had a clue what was happening, because my ability to decode comic-style pictures is very poor. I got better at it as the series went on, but still missed a lot of what was happening, eg reading the epilogue that mentioned Luz and Wilkinson tripping over a dead body in the snow on page 1, I thought 'What body?' - oh. Is that squiggle meant to be a body?
So reading all about what's actually there in the pictures that people have likely missed was really interesting, but of course I want to read them all again now.
Recently finished Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson, just before people started refering to it when news of a real invented dentata came out. I really enjoyed this one - it got across how people can be powerful in online worlds but not in real life, and vice versa, and didn't get too bogged down in technology.
Nearly finished Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson - good but a bit dry, rather like Asimov.
Last week I went to Gipsy Hill for more lightbulbs for the fish, and explored Westow Street. I saw signs to a Collectors' Fayre, which was a wide range of stalls in some intertwined buildings and outside, very much like Snooper's Paradise in Brighton, and including a bookstall with a shelf labelled "Books for miserable sods". Fantastic! I then visited the local independent bookshop, to reward them for showcasing Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion as Book of the Week. Seeing as Kurt Vonnegut had just died, I bought his A man without a country, a series of vignettes and rants about his life in the USA.
Read it. It's short and double spaced, so won't take long. :)
Other culture - conflux and I are playing Broken Sword 3: Angel of Death, a classic point-and-click adventure game with a lot of humour, mostly referring to characters from the previous episodes. Our reluctant hero George Stobbart got a shag in this one, but of course it didn't end well... I got Heroes of Might and Magic 5 for Christmas, so am looking forward to losing much of my life on that! Have played a few games of Puerto Rico now with webcowgirl and others. Nice to have people who also enjoy competitive games around.
I've also installed a BBC Micro emulator and am working my way through Philospher's Quest again, which I never finished. It's a lot quicker, although the emulator is as slow as a Beeb if you don't want the keyboard to repeat letters, simply because I don't have to rewind and reload a tape every time I die! I'm hoping to beat my previous best score soon as I now have a map remade. annoyingly, the hints booklet doesn't appear to be online anywhere, but I did accidentally find a walkthrough, which I don't want to look at. In plot-based adventure games or fiendish ones like Riven I use walkthroughs a lot, but Philosopher's Quest has been me against the machine (OK, Peter Killworth) for the last 25 years, and I'm damn well going to do it myself!
And then have a go at Sphinx Adventure. :)
In between culture and work and sleep, I'm fitting in people and activism of the 'send snotty letter' variety, which is what I'm best at. Other people can go on demos - I'll make use of the FOI Act and DDA!