Just want to say that anyone who buys newly signed theatre programmes on eBay is no friend of mine, as they undermine the proper fans. The people selling these are nothing but autograph hunters who want to make a profit and care nothing about the acting profession. They ruin it for the true fans who may have come a very long way (both physically and mentally) to meet their idols, as the actors may stop signing programmes at all when they know that their autographs have given some sod a lot of money.

Current track: Nothing.

Labels: online shopping, personal

Looks as if I will spend a lot of time wandering the streets in the West End these next months. I just cannot stay away from that bloody Adelphi Theatre and now I have even started buying cheap tickets for other shows as well.

Tonight I went to see Eh Joe by Samuel Beckett and starring Dumbledore Michael Gambon and Penelope Whilton. It was spot on for a reactiophiliac like myself (yes, I believe I just made up that word). The whole play (which lasted half an hour) was the voice of Whilton talking to a muted Gambon. All he did was reacting to her words and it was true theatre, the kind you wish they would do more often, really get into the soul of the profession. I am a great believer in the power of reaction and honestly think that the best acting lies in reacting. Therefore I love theatre because - contrary to the confined medium that is film and especially TV - you can watch the non-speakers as well. I love doing that. That is one of the reasons why I loved Noises Off on Broadway because the ensemble was such a drilled one that they seemed to be living their parts.

Speaking of Noises Off, I am going to see another one of Michael Frayn's comedies tomorrow. I must admit I didn't even know it was showing, but apparently it is. I am really looking forward to it, because I love Frayn's work and also James Dreyfus is in it, which is a good thing. Hopefully it is going to be infinitely better than the last performance I saw at the Comedy Theatre, which just happened to be the West End version of Noises Off, with the same director as tomorrow's play. Still, since he also directed the brilliant Broadway production I hardly believe the director's to blame for the last mess.

My next dream is to find super seats for Evita for next to nothing. Like I said, it is a dream, and they seldom come true for me. I will also be looking for tickets to see Avenue Q and Wicked (I love the albums from the recent Broadway productions) as well as The Rocky Horror Show which I haven't seen in six years. The last time was rather embarrassing, but it was fun too, so I would like to go again. Just...try to sit in the middle of the theatre, or next to very large people who are cumbersome to slide past. :-)

Current track: I can hear "We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz" being repeated in my head. I blame Wicked.

Labels: comedy, evita, musicals, theatre

I read this book some years ago and I agree with Oprah in that it is a chiller. I was disappointed by the dramatisation made the following year (I think), but the book was really, really good. Highly recommended!

Current track: I am currently listening to a football match.

Labels: literature

I was a bit grumpy yesterday because I couldn't go to the West End Live event in Leicester Square. However, I then checked which performances were going to be there, and it turned out to be ok after all.

Something which is harder to swallow, though, is that I will also be working when the parade during the EuroPride gets underway. This is just annoying. Last year EuroPride was in Oslo, and I had just moved here so I couldn't attend. This year, it's over here and I will be working until after the last speeches have been made. Grrr! Then again...I do get paid for this job and can actually pay my rent and bills and still have a little left over for food and entertainment (well, when the local cinema charges two pounds for the latest films on Mondays, most people can afford going to the cinema from time to time). Nothing left for my credit cards and Norwegian loan, though, har har!

No, wait, that's supposed to be a negative thing.

We were interrupted here earlier today as the fire alarm went. I was of course on the phone at that exact moment, and in the beginning we just thought it was a test (they test the alarm once a week, minimum), especially since it happened at eleven sharp. So I continued talking to the customer on the phone, but when the alarm persisted and then became more agitated, I had to take his number and get out of here. For some reason, even though I had it in my hand, I did not bring my bag with me. We never found out what caused the alarm and were let back in after about fifteen minutes. There is extensive refurbishment work going on here, though, so that could be it.

Earlier this week was equally exciting at home, as my computer did not work after having been unplugged in wait of the terrible thunderstorms that never came (touch wood, they'd better not pop up right now). I left it until the next day (things are usually more scary in the dark) and then tried turning it back on. I don't know what made me think things would be any different at that point, but still... Well, the bloody thing wouldn't work. Thinking I'd ruined the cord, I tried another one. Still no luck. That's when I discovered the red button. Never, ever touch a red button, we all know that, right? Well, I did anyway. And then it said 'poof!' and there was smoke and my first thought was 'shit, we don't have a fire extinguisher!' The smoke lasted for about three seconds and then there was only the smell left, so I opened the window and went to take a shower instead. I quickly made it downtown to buy a new power supply unit, thinking it muct have been the fuse. When I later came back and installed the new unit, I actually red what the red button said... '110V'. As we use 220V in the UK, this was a pretty stupid move. Well, at least I tried. The new power supply unit works perfectly well, by the way, and by some miracle the rest of the computer is unscathed.

Well, it's time for lunch and some football. I need to make some money. I'm aiming for another ticket for Evita.

Current track: Nothing.

Labels: computers, evita, musicals, personal, sport, technology, theatre

It's taken me several days to comment upon Friday night's performance of Evita. Not just because I was busy at work (the World Cup has started, and boy, have we noticed!), but also because I wanted to make sure I was writing the right review.

Let's just start by once again stating that I was biased when watching this. I counted the minutes until Philip Quast entered the stage (27, by the way). That does not mean that the first half hour was boring, rather the opposite. Great music, nice flow, and all in all I was pleasantly surprised about the number of slightly older ensemble members. Very good move! I am sick and tired of this being a business for those under 30 only. Especially since I'm getting there myself, soon, ahem! (LOL!) I was sitting next to a nice couple from...ermm...somewhere in Wales, I think, who were exalted as well and we were chatting away during the interval. Nice to see Matt Rawle on stage, as it wanted me to run straight home after the performance and listen to Martin Guerre. Not that I actually, did, mind! It's on my list for when the weather is cooler (which seems to be today and for a few more days, since I start my three days off tomorrow). Elena Roger was of course very good, it was a joy listening to her almost effortless singing. Hearing her and Philip together was a goosebumby experience.

All in all, if Evita is this good after one week of previews, I think the rest of the West End should look out when it actually premieres! Looking forward to the cast album, as there was a lot of great music in there, and of course the next performance I will be attending, in August.

Current track: Nothing. I'm at work, after all!

Labels: evita, musicals, personal, philip quast, sport, theatre

The first series of Prison Break has finally ended, something which means I won't have to say "I didn't know Haakon Myrtvedt had a part in this series?" every Monday evening. You see, back when we started watching it, I knew I'd seen the guy playing Lincoln before, and it took me about half a second to place him in an Australian series I used to watch in the late nineties, Raw FM. But I just had to check anyway, and off I went to IMDb. When I read on his page that his father was Norwegian, I just had to read further, and found that his full name is Dominic Haakon Myrtvedt Purcell. So naturally I have to mention this every time he's on the screen.

I also watched a documentary about the Patrick Henry College in Virginia, USA. I had decided to try and refrain from commenting during the programme, but that lasted for about eleven minutes. I can understand why parents think it is really scary out there these days, but I don't think that kids who have grown up in a closed environment, with homeschooling and as part of a very homogenous community, should become politicians. If you don't at least have a sense of what other people's lives are like, you should definitely not be allowed to represent the people. They look innocent, but their thoughts are highly dangerous and giving them power would be a huge mistake. The school itself declares that its students are carefully selected among the top notch evangelical Christian families of the US and the aim is to put them into powerful positions, preferably in the White House. It was very suspicious that we spotted one Asian American and no black people, and about half of the students seemed to have Northern European surnames (particularly German and, sigh, Scandinavian). I've said it before and I will repeat it many times over: Mixing politics and religion is the most scary thing there is. Nothing good comes out of it.

On a much more positive note; we went to see X-Men: The Last Stand today and it was just about as good as I had expected. The next big film I have been looking forward to for a very long time (ever since the first film ended) is Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and after having seen the trailer for about six months now, it is highly overdue.

And I'm still boycotting The Da Vinci Code; I will not give Dan Brown my money. Too bad a few of my favourites have sold their souls and appear in the film.

Current track: Nothing.

Labels: alfred molina, film, personal, TV

The other day I was asked to appear in an Italian football shirt together with the real Italians at work. Apparently, all of the girls had pulled out. So there were a few of us that...hmm...didn't quite fit in. But the pictures were ok, I suppose. It's for a promotion/newsletter thingie for the Italian version of our site.

I am going to moan a bit about the gaming community again. Actually, coming to think of it, maybe I haven't moaned to much about that in the past. I will start now. The thing is, I have been a bona fide gamer now for 21 years. Most of you should know or have realised by now that I am of the female persuasion, and so can probably understand that being a girl gamer is not that much fun because the guys don't ever take you seriously. These days, when there is a whole new generation of adults who grew up playing console and computer games (video games, they were called back then), we are definitely supposed to "grow up" and get rid of this silly notion that we can actually still be entertained by such childish pastimes. Well...turns out we can't. And those who did not grow up with this kind of entertainment don't understand us. Many of these are girls my own age, actually. They have only in recent years learnt how to use the computer for word processing etc., and some of them love playing Mine Sweeper and Solitaire and that's just about it. And then you have my friends, of whom most play more complex computer games, just like I do (although I think it's fair to say I'm much more of a geek than they will ever be and that I have so many games that most guy gamers would be extremely envious). I don't really like playing multiplayer games, but I think it may be due to the fact that I have not been used to playing computer games with others for so long, not since my early Amiga days in the late eighties. I don't particularly feel like jumping into to testosteron-filled world of online gaming, either, because the discussions there are mostly ridiculous unless you happen upon a group of core, adult gamers, but they are usually too close-knit that they would rather not let anyone else in anyway. Argh! So I stick to single-player games, which suits me very well, and occasionally wander into the odd discussion forum (ok, I do so every day). What really annoys me is when they try to "find a game for their girlfriend" or something like that and the replies are usually "Barbie" or "My Little Pony" or "The Sims" or "Solitaire". Yes, many of my gaming female friends play "thinking games", like adventure games and puzzle games, but I think all of them would cringe if they were given stupid games like Barbie. No wonder most of the male forumites talk about girls all the time - they're obviously not used to having them around! I enjoy the odd action game, too, for instance the Grand Theft Auto series is great fun and I love car racing (always have), and I think some of the old platform games are still brilliant (Apprentice being a top favourite). But put me in front of a nice strategy game and I stay there for most of the day, if possible. Those are the best, together with the role-playing games. But I can play just about anything, really. Some of my very diverse favourites are: Amplitude (very addictive rhythm-based reaction game), Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (adventure role-playing game with lots of swoosh sounds - I have finished both games), Master of Magic (Civilization-like game with added magic), Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (and it helped my conscience when I suddenly got an incredible sum of money through horce race betting and didn't have to mug old ladies for food) (in the game), Zeus (historic city-building game), The Sims 2 (spend all of your time spending some digital person's time) and Push-Over (puzzle game with cute ants or summat).

Anyway, that out of the way I'm going to go home and spend the next three days doing what I love the most (sleeping, eating, playing computer games) before going back to work as a break before This Year's Ultimate Experience.......... Evita!!! Never mind the World Cup.

Current track: Nothing.

Labels: evita, gaming, musicals, personal, theatre