We're on high alert over here at the moment. Everyone looks suspicious, they may be plotting something sinister. And that's just the new government, let alone the two (three?) car bombs that almost went off.

So we got rid of Tony Blair and got his lady-in-waiting instead. Great. But I suppose a few more years of Labour is the lesser of two evils.

Went to see Tennessee Williams's The Rose Tattoo at the National on Wednesday. Very good. Slightly long. And some poor goat was pulled across the stage twice. What a fun life it must have. Nevertheless, Zoë Wanamaker was good in it, if a little too quiet at times (luckily we were in the third row).

Today sees yet another year and Pride parade here in London march past without my being able to attend, so I have celebrated in my own little way by looking at tattoos I would like to get and searching for "old flames" on the net. Which I do from time to time. Only now I have even started forgetting people's names. I can hardly remember whom I went to school with, for instance, and certainly not remember their names! I must be getting old.

At least my bonus was bigger than expected, which was very nice and which will help towards paying the tax I very surprisingly owe to the Norwegian taxman. The bastards claim I should pay them taxes for...uhmm...not just NOT working there last year, but also at no time whatsoever throughout the whole year visiting the country. Wonderful. I wonder what they're making me do next year, when I have repaid two of my credit cards and suddenly don't have much debt left over there. They'll probably expect me to pay tax twice. Don't quite see how I shall be able to afford that. Greedy bastards. And that's with a socialist government! Who knows what the right wing would have done! Sheesh.

Since my flatmate has been occupying the living room, and hence also the telly and Playstation 3, in order to follow Wimbledon for some peculiar reason (named Tommy Haas), I have had to entertain myself by re-reading the fifth and sixth Harry Potter books. Oh, the pain. ;-) I finally got around to pre-ordering the seventh book as well. I know I probably didn't have to, but if I hadn't, chances are there would be none left by the time I reached the shop on the day of release.

Labels: current affairs, literature, personal, sport, theatre

Wulff again.

Jekyll on telly tonight. Let's hope it follows in the same vein as last week's episode, which was good.

I also watched Hellboy on Blu-Ray yesterday, and first of all: I did buy the film because it was cheap(ish) but it turned out to be not bad at all! I quite liked it, in fact I think I will go see the sequel. Also, the Blu-Ray quality really was something.

Labels: film, humour, technology, TV

It seems I have completely neglected sharing This wonderfully wicked comic strip with you. Well, not quite, as I have linked to a few of them before, but this time it goes into my links section as well. Hooray.

Yesterday's "Lights Out London" was a huge disappointment to us living outside of Central London, as the promised "black-out" didn't really occur. Canary Wharf? Well, kudos to HSBC, who seemed to turn out most of their lights, but the rest can rot in hell for all I care. Apparently, it was "awesome" downtown, but that didn't really help us much. Still, we kept our promise and turned off most of the electricity by nine o'clock.

Labels: humour, personal, time wasting

I think Michael Ball will be speaking of drag for a long while after this.

And good luck to everyone participating in tonight's Lights Out London event! Let's make it worthwhile (ok, so I won't turn off my telly, but all the lights will be off, as well as my computers, stove, coffee maker, kettle and stereo (which sort of ruins it for the arranger, Capital Radio, haha)).

Labels: musicals, theatre

I suddenly had this strange urge yesterday (I blame the fever--I am enjoying a cold at the moment) to watch a lot of drag films. So I watched La Cage aux Folles II, Privates on Parade, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Victor/Victoria. I was also going to see Der bewegte Mann, but didn't have the time. Had to see Matthew Kelly turn nasty for a return of the Cold Blood series, you see.

But when it comes to the four films I did see, I think they're all brilliant. I have also seen them numerous times. La Cage aux Folles II is the one I have seen the fewest times, only thrice. The rest? Well, considering I saw Victor/Victoria thrice within the first 24 hours I had it...you get the picture, although that ratio has not kept up, mind.

The dubbing in La Cage is just awful, but is redeemed by the fact that Michel Serrault is extremely funny. Even with my limited French I understand that his timing is good.

Privates is just a deeply underrated dark musical comedy (yes, they do exist) and I just cannot believe I missed the chance of a lifetime of seeing Roger Allam as Captain Dennis in the 2002 stage version in this very city. I hang my head in shame. But I missed quite a lot of gems in the few years before I moved here and will eventually just have to get on with my life.

Priscilla...well, it's where I first spotted Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce. Bill Hunter I already knew through watching way too much Aussie telly (once again: Why isn't Aussie telly more popular here in the old country? You're missing out on some fantastic talent, people!) when growing up. Terence Stamp as Ralph...uhmm...Bernadette is just amazing. I constantly have to remind myself he is actually not a woman!

And V/V, with the most ridiculous turn by Dame Julie as the count/Victoria...the way she looks even the most skilled makeup artist would have major difficulties making her look the least bit masculine...obviously. But the film is very funny, the music is swell (I use that expression way too seldom, probably because it had its heyday in the fifties?) and it's sort of like the musical version of The Pink Panther. Only with a more interesting story. And James Garner, which is always a plus.

On Monday we ventured off to see Ocean's Thirteen which I think was way better than Ocean's Twelve. It helped having more of Eddie Izzard (for there can be only one Eddie...until another one comes along, that is). I was fighting against a very runny yet blocked nose (weird, I know, but perfectly natural when you have a cold) throughout parts of the film, but was saved by my trusty (but evil) Otrivine nasal spray and managed to enjoy the rest of the film. Even with overly salty popcorn.

On Tuesday I played Civilization IV. I wasn't going to, but once I got stuck on Monday evening, it just poured over into Tuesday morning, afternoon and evening. After 21 hours I finally won my first cultural victory, and immediately started a new game. What an idiot. However, it was fun watching my Viking civilisation suddenly, in a mad rush over a few decades only, manage to convert the whole world to Islam, their chosen religion. It's history in the making, I'm telling you.

I have also started buying Blu-Ray films. I was so impressed with the quality of Casino Royale (yeah, that was probably Sony's point when they gave it away for free, you sad git) that I simply had to get a few more. Not full price, though, they're much too expensive for that. And always check the online reviews before buying, as some of these films are too old to give you any effect over DVD when it comes to visual quality. I have pre-ordered The Patriot and bought Black Hawk Down and I swear it's not so that I can scrutinise the pores of Jason Isaacs. Honestly. I also bought Vertical Limit and Hellboy and of these four I already own three on DVD. I haven't even managed to upgrade my VHS collection to DVD yet, and now they want me to flesh out on a new system? Bastids.

Labels: eddie izzard, film, gaming, james garner, jason isaacs, roger allam, technology, theatre

What the world eats - some REALLY big differences here.

Labels: current affairs

I succumbed to emotional demand and decided to give Sweeney Todd a go anyway. So the ticket I told you I just would not allow myself to buy? It sort of...uhmm...multiplied. So I went a bit overboard (I think I may have to change my middle name to "Obsessively Excessive") and bought tickets to three performances instead of just one. Mind you, I chose the cheapest tickets for two of the performances, deciding I would benefit from just listening as well. Who needs to see anything, right?

Oh, and I bought a trip to Oslo. Ahem. Hotels were actually much cheaper than I had anticipated and feared, so the whole trip should not cost more than...hmm...the amount I usually paid to go to London for a theatre trip...there's a pattern here...

I'm also having an Extremely Spiky Hair Day(TM). I tried flattening it after having frightened myself in the loo mirror, but it only helped a bit. No wonder a lot of people kept staring at me on the train. Must learn to wait until I can actually see something in my mirror after having filled the whole bathroom with steam in the morning.

Labels: musicals, personal, philip quast, theatre

I'm against the death sentence, but in some cases I understand why it is easy to suggest such a thing. However, I think castration is the way to go. Let's not spread these genes any further, if they are found guilty.

Labels: current affairs

I know some of you received this from me earlier today, but it was just too good not to share with the rest of the world (yes, the whole world is reading my blog, you see) (I did not come up with this, of course):

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the
road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.
4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive -- but would run on only five percent of the roads.
6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation" warning light.
7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.
8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

Labels: computers, humour, technology, time wasting

Well, now I'm cross. Not only did my "Les Misérables" version with Gerard Depardieu and John Malkovich turn out to be the stunningly BAD English version of the brilliant series and not the French one, but today I am told that the Oslo Nye theatre has an amazing line-up in store for this autumn (Arsenic and Old Lace with Anders Hatlo and Johannes Joner and then Dennis Storhøi will turn up in Breaking the Waves) and I will be stuck here because it is way too expensive to travel to Norway. The price of the hotel room in itself would ruin the whole experience for me. Grrrr. Staying with my parents would be a cheaper option, but then the train company takes its unfair share and I have a feeling just sleeping at their place and spending the rest of my time in a different city would be a bit rude even for me. ;-)

I am going to sulk the rest of the day.

Of course...now that Evita is not showing anymore and I have heard no news about any upcoming projects with Philip Quast at the helm (or backstage or FOH, for that matter), I might possibly be able to perhaps spend my bonus (touch wood, btw, haven't had that one confirmed just yet) on a trip to Norway this autumn. Hmmmmmmmmmm...

Labels: anders hatlo, dennis storhøi, evita, film, philip quast, theatre

...Lord Lloyd-Webber had better be looking for a Jesus next, to make the family complete. Anyway, Lee Meade snagged the top spot, not at all surprising, as we picked him out in the first programme, just like we did with Connie Fisher last year. Does education have anything to do with it? Not sure. Anyway, rather well-deserved, but I cannot be bothered to go see the musical when it opens in about six weeks' time, I think.

Yesterday began with watching The Butterfly Effect whose director's cut was quite different from the theatrical version. I then followed up with all four films of the Harry Potter franchise, and when the fourth film ended I went online to find out I have to wait another month until the fifth film is released, and promptly fished its book out of my bookshelf instead. By the way? I would definitely recommend reading the books over watching the films. They have cut too much out of the films and J.K. Rowling's writing is absolutely brilliant.

Back to listening to Aussie radio.

Labels: film, literature, Lloyd-Webber, musicals, TV

They are probably not going to scrap it, but please sign the petition to get rid of the utterly ugly and extraordinarily expensive logo that they have made for the London 2012 Olympics. You may see the logo here, if you like punishing yourself visually, but I would rather send you here where BBC readers have come up with their own, much better and much cheaper versions.

And I finally got a computer at work where I can post to my blog. Yay!

Labels: current affairs, sport

Hi, it's me. Bet you missed me.

Evita has ended. I went to the last performance and it was all very tearful and sad and happy at the same time, because the very long curtain call and standing ovation seemed to be slightly more than most of the cast had anticipated. We finally managed to lure them back onto stage, ruining their whole "one curtain call only" rule, although it did take us a few minutes. And when they went back off the stage, they sauntered out, taking in the sight of a packed Adelphi giving them a well-deserved standing ovation.

So now that that adventure has ended, I am officially taking a break from spending all my time and money on theatre. I have been very good and not fallen into the Sweeney Todd trap. Too expensive for my budget.

Besides, I have spent my money on upgrading my home entertainment options. A new 32" LCD/TV, a Playstation 3 and a new mp3/video player for those long trips to and fro work. No, I did not win the lottery, only shuffled a few things around on my budget...and obtained a loan. Oops.

Let me just say...Playstation 3 on a normal CRT screen and a LCD/TV via the HDMI cable...two completely different versions of the same console. Wow.

Also, something very strange happened the other day (apart from the fact that they finally kicked Ben off of Any Dream Will Do?)--I've had this silly teenage crush on a particular actor for about a month now, one of those that'll probably go away after a while, but I have been very obsessed for a while. Last week I was going to town but had forgotten my Oyster card and had to go back home to get it. Back on the tube luck would have it that this certain actor was sitting opposite me for about 15 minutes. It's a small world.

Off to buy burgers. There's a programme about Sami people later on, followed by a documentary about the Shetland Islands. And thanks for bringing back The Friday Night Project.

Labels: gaming, jodhi may, Lloyd-Webber, musicals, philip quast, technology, theatre, TV