On Tuesday we went to our first (of, hopefully, many) film quiz(zes) at the local cinema. It was good fun, even though we drank way too much (I had Diet Coke, since I was going to work the next day and am such a prude). We won the first round. Well, we would have, but then the quizmaster forgot us during the tie-break and gave the victory to somebody else even though we had the closest answer to his question. The guys next to us loudly exclaimed that we were the actual winners, causing us great embarrassing and apparently this "gesture" seemed to suggest we should help them through the next six rounds. We ended up with a Will Hunter action doll from the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

Anyway, the evening was well spent (even though I did miss Julian Clary on BBC2) and the next even better. On Wednesday we went out for dinner after work and then on to see the highly acclaimed Boeing Boeing at the Comedy Theatre. That was well worth the money! I would recommend it to anyone who has the least bit of knack for comedy. Michelle Gomez was absurdly brilliant, the rest of the cast (minus Tamzin Outhwaite, who was just not as good as the others, sorry to say) were top class and we laughed a lot. I laughed out loud more than I usually do, but then again I really love the odd farce.

Today I got the anticipated recordings of Fiddler on the Roof (Broadway, 2004) and Man of La Mancha (Broadway, 2002/2003) and have listened to both already. Great music when tidying up. And the tidying up was needed, especially since I have figured out I should move my computer to where it doesn't overheat all the time. I have been pushing it too hard, poor thing.

Labels: computers, film, julian clary, musicals, personal, roger allam, theatre

Reading the last sentence in this article, I am thinking "so, basically, they were NOT treated with respect?" Nice.

Labels: animals

So, semi-favourite Henry Goodman appears in Fiddler on the Roof starting in May, something which means I may have the chance to see it again this year. Yay! It would be worth the ticket just for the song "Tradition", actually. :-)

Labels: musicals, theatre

Not that he has been very far away, but anyway, Julian Clary was back on telly tonight, in the rescue dog training programme The Underdog Show live on BBC2. Interesting and fun programming, actually, but based on a very serious premise from a desperate situation where 100,000 dogs are abandoned in the UK every year and need a good home to go to. Visit Dogs Trust to read more and to sponsor a dog for as little as one pound a week.

To round off tonight's post, I recently found this picture on my computer, and I know none of you (except for the dozens who visit my blog mistaking it for an official site of his) is interested, but I just thought it was a really good photo of Dennis Storhøi. Nighty-night!

Labels: animals, dennis storhøi, julian clary, TV

Yep, it's that time of the...uhmm...two-year-period. Comic Relief's biggest day is on and the programmes start at 7 pm. I am going to watch until midnight, I think. As I am working tomorrow, I cannot watch the whole show, which reportedly will last until three o'clock or eternity.

May I just say that I really hope the Beeb will commission another series of Fear, Stress and Anger? It has been a surprise hit this winter.

Labels: comedy, TV

My birthday was celebrated downtown at an Italian restaurant (which we will probably not return to) for dinner and Garfunkel's for dessert and coffee before sauntering across the road to the Trafalgar Studios in order to see Lee Evans and (especially) Jason Isaacs in The Dumb Waiter. The one-act-play (by Harold Pinter) was very well performed. We had a laugh before the play when someone suddenly said "shh!" and people stopped chatting, expecting the two actors (who had already been on stage for quite a while) to stir and start the play, only causing the usher to begin laughing. The play didn't start for another five minutes or so.

Then we went home and I entered my room to start packing for my trip the next morning. Or I would have entered my room, if it hadn't been filled with 100 balloons. The perpetrator had to spend the next 45 minutes helping me moving them into the sitting room. It was fun, though.

Thursday was a day of waiting and travelling, basically. I eventually landed on my parents' doorstep and got to meet the new member of their family, the long-haired dachshund who had managed to turn nine months by the time I visited them. He was as ecstatic about my arrival as of seeing me every day for the next four days. Incredibly happy all the time. The other dog was also very happy to see me (he was the only one who actually knew who I was--of course, my parents know me too) but was a bit more dignified and didn't try to nibble my heels every time I went somewhere.

On Friday I got to see the town's brand new shopping centre (well, extension to the old one, that is), and it had grown to a rather amazing size, at least compared to other Norwegian shopping centres. Finally found some sheets and linen for my bed. Impossible to do that here. No DVD's of the Seks som oss series, though, so I will have to buy them online later and ship them via people in Norway. My aunt and uncle came for a visit during the evening and watched telly with us. Which was nice.

Saturday was brilliant in that I visited Oslo, which was nice, cold and smaller than I remembered, and finally met up with Torill for the first time in almost two years. We went to our...uhmm..."favourite" cafe, which had not changed much. The service was crap, the coffee was lukewarm, the furniture questionable. But hey, many a good idea has been produced there, usually followed by an even better plan. We then went on to have pizza at Peppe's Pizza, and I am pretty sure that was my last meal there. I swear they must have forgotten our pizza, because it was delivered only a couple of minutes before the pizza for the people on the table behind us, who ordered 30 minutes after us. It took them more than an hour to actually come up with the pizza, and it was barely warm by the time it arrived. We ate it, paid for it and left them an extra 5p, more as an insult than anything else.

The rest of the evening was spent at the Oslo Nye theatre, and I must say it feels good to mention that theatre again. Hopefully I will be able to re-visit it within a year or so. I went to see Fiddler on the Roof, which has very deservedly received much praise. I was a bit scared it would drag on forever--even though I secretly wanted it to--as I had a train to catch, but after three hours the curtain was lowered and we all had to leave. I was thrilled all the way through, but especially pleased to discover that Anders Hatlo and Dennis Storhøi had a long scene together. Just do a search for "La Cage" on my blog and your memory will be refreshed.

After that highlight of my trip, Sunday was a bit of a let-down at first, but then I got out of bed and went to visit my grandmother and later to my aunt and uncle for a family gathering of sorts. We spent some hours there chatting and drinking lots of coffee (only after two hours my aunt told me it was caffeine-free and I almost fell asleep that instant). And watching telly. I re-watched an episode of a documentary they showed on BBC1 a few months ago.

Monday was supposed to be another highlight of my trip, but as I woke up with a sore throat and didn't want to risk giving anyone a nice cold, I stayed at home and chatted with my mum instead, until it was time to go shopping for sweets and crisps (yes, I actually go to Norway to get proper snacks) and then have a lovely meal (fish, naturally, we were in Norway, after all) before another large number of hours waiting and travelling.

I was as secure as can be on my way to Norway, as they did everything but a full cavity search on me and my stuff, but on my way back they were a bit more relaxed. One funny thing happened, though, apart from the flamenco dancers sitting next to me in the departure lounge--as I went through the passport check, one of the police officers recognised my middle name and asked me if I was related to a certain someone who happens to be my mum's cousin and the local police commissioner. When I said yes, they both smiled and told me to say hi. It's a bit more chummy when you're a local, for some reason.

The best thing about the trip was that I was kept so busy I didn't even think about the computer games waiting for me at home.

One day I am going to earn enough money to afford going by British Airways instead of the low-price companies.

Labels: anders hatlo, animals, dennis storhøi, holiday, jason isaacs, musicals, Norway, theatre

This must have been the best Oscar show in years. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole show for once, helped by the fact that I did not disagree with any of the winning entries. Oh, and Norway was mentioned, so that was nice. :-)

May have overextended myself lately, as I bought The Sims Seasons, Okami and Final Fantasy within a day of each other. Oops. I also bought five new books (four of which are written by the brilliant Christopher Brookmyre). I sometimes wish I didn't have to sleep, but of course then I would have missed out on my astonishing dreams. Hrmph.

Labels: award shows, film, gaming, literature, TV