I went to see Riflemind yesterday, at the Trafalgar Studios, after a nice meal at the local Garfunkel's. I liked it, but it wasn't too straight-forward a play. Lots of angst-ridden scenes between middle-aged has-beens desperately trying to get back together for one more tour with the band. Or desperately trying to dodge it, all depending on their current mood, state of mind and amount of drugs in their system. I thought it would be more fun, but by all means, it wasn't meant to be a comedy. There were a couple of monologues there that could have been shrunk in my opinion; people started getting restless and drifting their gaze around the auditorium. But hey, these things may be ironed out by the time you may end up going; after all, it was the third preview and both the writer and director were there (Philip "Only one of the Best Actors EVER" Seymour Hoffman, the director, actually spent the whole of the second act looking at the audience's reactions--or he has a perverted side we just don't know anything about). It has to be said, of course, that the actors themselves were terrific. I have a soft spot for Paul Hilton, but John Hannah and both of the Aussie actors (Jeremy Sims and OMG, I've forgotten the name of the other one, please forgive me) were a treat to watch as well. I wasn't too sure about one of the wives to begin with (played by Susan Prior), but I eventually realised that the character she portrayed simply was a neurotic wreck, hehe! Anyway, the ensemble work was very good; they seemed to have been putting a lot of focus on the timing, which was quite impressive after such a short time of rehearsals and performances.

Which reminds me I have to buy the absolutely hilarious Still Crazy on DVD. My VHS copy is almost worn out.

Completely unrelated, but still very important bit of news: I just discovered Sagaen om Isfolket (The Legend of the Ice People) is finally being translated into English! Read all about it here.

Labels: bill nighy, film, literature, Norway, theatre

...seeing as it's the 800th post I make on this blog. Not too busy, in other words, since it's been going since November 2003.

Anyway, scrap that. I am going to make another typical post.

Lately I have been watching quite a lot of recorded telly and films, plus spent some time on my Nintendo Wii. Wii Fit arrived yesterday (as I was hanging around, chatting with our new neighbour), so after two days of training I have reluctantly come to realise my stamina is nothing to shout about (unless you want to holler rude remarks). I also really have to remember to stretch afterwards. Sheesh! Apart from the Wii Fit, I have been flexing my brain muscles in Big Brain Academy, pretended to be a surgeon in Trauma Center: Second Opinion and jumped on a whole lot of creatures' heads in Super Mario Galaxy. All brilliant games.

I have also managed to watch two thirds of a series of Boston Legal in just three days (let's just say work wasn't too busy), started watching American Gothic, skipped through a vast number of TV recordings we'd made last year (some were more than a year old) and seen a few films, only now I can't remember which ones, apart from St. Trinian's, which was surprisingly funny! I may have been biased, though. I mean; Colin Firth, Anna Chancellor, Stephen Fry and then Rupert Everett in horrible drag; what's not to like?

Right. I'm going to do something I really don't do any more. I am going to tell you beforehand that I am going to see Afterlife at the NT tomorrow. This is my Roger Allam-stalking week, apparently. Thankfully I realised, by chance, that my ticket wasn't for Friday, which I had led myself to believe now for weeks, but for Thursday. Sort of a difference there. However, now that I've made it official, something will probably come up and either I won't be able to make it to the theatre on time (damn and blast! Must be the Jubilee Line's fault), or Roger Allam won't be there. Or they've cancelled the preview (it happens).

I watched State of Play again yesterday, and it is freaky how many fabulous actors they have cast in that excellent series: John Simm, Kelly Macdonald, Marc Warren, James McAvoy, Tom Burke; even Bill Nighy, and of course the ever-so-brilliant Philip Glenister. Must admit I had forgotten David Morrissey was in it, though, but then I only really started noticing him when he portrayed The Colonel in Sense and Sensibility on telly earlier this year.

Well, I'll go back to watching Shackleton for the fourth time. How I wish they could have waited three years making this; then I am absolutely positive they would have used Dennis Storhøi instead of Sven Nordin. Picturing the scenes between Branagh and Storhøi; well, you can't have it all.

...or I may just continue sitting here, listening through all my Prodigy songs.

Oh yeah, and congrats to Barack Obama for securing the Democratic vote. Let's hope for the best.

Labels: bill nighy, colin firth, dennis storhøi, film, gaming, kenneth branagh, music, roger allam, theatre, TV

I have been drawn into this season's Celebrity Big Brother, simply because I must see how long Jermaine Jackson will stay. Two contestants have already bowed out (because of Jade Goody, haha, isn't that just perfect) and it's only been four days!

My favourite quote so far; Jermaine is discussing his many children with Jade and tells her one of them is called Jermajesty. "I ran out of names." I spat pizza. I mean, you have eight kids, already run out of names and of all the words out there, you make up such a silly one?

Thank God Waking the Dead is back, though. It is getting sillier also, but as long as the chemistry between Trevor Eve and Sue Johnston is such a good one, I don't mind.

Other than that, I have seen a couple of films lately; Deja Vu was ok, but I wouldn't really recommend it until it's on telly for free, and Flushed Away was quite funny. Bill Nighy stole the show again. How does that man do it?

Labels: bill nighy, film, trevor eve, TV

Using last year's template and then adding and removing as I see fit:

Coolest Villain of the year
Bill Nighy for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Funniest Sex Swap Film of the year
She's the Man

Best Hasselhoff Moment of the year
His being slapped around in Click

Most Embarrassing Yet Funny Film Moment of the year
Jean Reno doing interpretive dance in The Pink Panther. Worth the whole film!

Best Steve Carell Film of the year
Dead heat between Over the Hedge and Little Miss Sunshine

Indie Album of the year
The Killers: Sam's Town

Musical Album of the year
The 2006 London Revival Cast: Evita

Album of the year
Pet Shop Boys: Fundamental

Funniest New Series
The Class, Warner Bros. (US)

Strangest Series Cancellation of the year
Day Break, Touchstone/ABC (US)

Most Disappointing Comedy Series of the year
Twenty Good Years, Warner Bros. (US)

Favourite Comedy Series Character of the year
(Much like the previous two years:) Anne from Little Britain, BBC (UK)

Favourite Comedy Series Sketch of the year
Numberwang from That Mitchell and Webb Look

Best Cliffhanger of the year
The series finale of Green Wing

Most Anticipated Film of the year
X-Men: The Last Stand

Most Anticipated Film for everyone else, it seemed
The Da Vinci Code

Most Anticipated Game of the year
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Best Game of the year
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

British Film of the year
Snow Cake (UK/Canadian)

Best Play or Musical of the year
Evita, Adelphi Theatre (surprised?)

Would Have Most Wanted to See
Idina Menzel in Wicked, Apollo Victoria Theatre

Most Anticipated Book of the year
Per Egil Hegge: Harald V

Funniest Book of the year
Julian Clary: A Young Man's Passage

Most Annoying Yet Strangely Catchy Song of the year
Lily Allen: Smile

Worst Idea of the year
Having yet another round of Big Brother. Enough, already.

Best Moment of the year
16 August, finally getting Philip Quast's autograph

Labels: Alan Rickman, bill nighy, comedy, computers, evita, film, gaming, julian clary, lists, literature, music, musicals, philip quast, tamsin greig, theatre, TV

I am currently shedding dry skin off of my nose. Dandruff, anyone?

So, and this has nothing to do with dandruff (I think) - I got the next two series of Waiting for God for Christmas, plus a few books, a couple of CDs, some soup (this may sound odd, but it was actually one of the most appreciated gifts I had all Christmas), a new brolly (a small one), another calendar (but this one I'm actually going to use, as opposed to the several calendars we've got from various local fast food restaurants for our patronage (oops) - even though one of them does show both English and Chinese bank holidays), some gift certificates and some other bits and bobs. Since I was alone I decided to spread the gift unwrapping a little bit across the day and opened the last one just before I started preparing for lunch.

Lunch lasted for just about all of The Snowman and the plates and bowls had been removed by the time the Queen popped up on the screen. So much for overeating. Didn't even finish one portion. And the desserts were so rich I felt like a millionaire after eating a few mouthfuls.

And I almost made my way through Christmas without watching Love Actually, but then I suddenly got this urge to see Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman and Colin Firth, and what better way than to watch the one film that puts them all together, eh? By the way, to those who have been wondering what Rickers is saying to Emma after the school play, you're not alone. Listen to the commentaries on the DVD.

Speaking of commentaries, I would really recommend the commentaries to This is Spinal Tap. It brings a new dimension to this already fantastic film, as the three actors Guest, McKean and Shearer stay in character as their alter egos/stage personas throughout the whole thing. It's quite brilliant.

And if I haven't said this already...you must see Best in Show. Seriously. In fact, anything with these guys (Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind and the brand new For Your Consideration). Or else you will simply have to be spanked. And not in a good way, either.

Woke up this morning to the most wonderful trail on BBC...apparently the long-awaited umpteenth series of Waking the Dead will be back "soon". Yum. And speaking of trails...they have started showing the trail for Perfume on telly. Slightly desperate for another film with Rickers by now.

I think I am going to vote for the inauguration of Midsomer Murders: Ghosts of Christmas Past as the traditional murder mystery for Christmas. I think ITV may be ahead of me, though, as they have been showing it three years in a row now. It's just that you can never have enough Quastiness, and this is the best showcase for that quality. Well, if not the best at least certainly good enough! Awaiting the arrival of Javert - Misunderstood Copper, a drama series of 52 episodes where Quast is contractually obliged to appear in every single scene.

OK, maybe that would be a tad too much even for me.

Every other scene, then. But then we'd need 60+ episodes. And lots of plot.

Good luck to the writers.

Labels: Alan Rickman, bill nighy, Christmas, colin firth, comedy, daniel hill, film, illness, Javert, philip quast, trevor eve, TV

...or something equivalent to that. Yep, we went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean film yesterday. Swashbucklers, cutlasses, Letters of Marque, squids, dubloons, everything you expect from a great pirate film. Wait...squids?

Bill Nighy and Stellan Skarsgård did their best (which is a helluva lot, really) to make it a very enjoyable film indeed. And I was very happy to find the answer to One of the Great Mysteries (spoiler alert, so check the comments to see exactly what I mean when you have actually seen the film yourself). Looking forward to the third installment, that's for sure!

We also went to see Over the Hedge earlier this week. Great voices all around. Really liked Steve Carell as Hammy. Spot on!

Other than that, I have read a few books (well, one book and one play) and played The Sims 2: Open for Business during my days off, as well as watching a nearby paper warehouse burning down. It's on its third day today; still flames to be seen.

Current track: Nothing.

Labels: bill nighy, film, gaming, geoffrey rush, literature, theatre

By the way, that incident the police were here about? Murder. Nice.

So Ali came to my door yesterday as I was playing Chrono Trigger and stood there for about ten or fifteen minutes going on and on about how amazingly cheap his electricity company was in comparison to mine. He was a smooth-talker and a fast one at that, so I never got the chance until the very end to tell him that I wasn't the only one living here and I couldn't make such a decision on my own. I was lying. He was stupid enough to show me the form I had to fill out and I thought "he'll need to come inside in order to fill all this out and my sitting room looks like a complete mess". We haven't quite unpacked yet. It's like the boxes multiply during the night. I'm also getting fed up of IKEA Edmonton (the one where they had to close down shortly after the opening because of all the commotion). It's a nice place, but it's a hassle getting there and we don't have a car so we have to order home delivery. Which is a bitch if you've forgotten something, like we did.

Something spectacular happened here yesterday, though. I got up, had a shower and when I came back to my bedroom I turned on the radio and listened to Jonathan Ross live. After more than two years of listening to his show (religiously, every Saturday) through the internet, I was finally able to listen to it on my own radio, and in the right time zone, even!

I feel I have to mention two things off the telly. Yesterday I watched Holiday Showdown on ITV2 as per usual (nothing like watching a good row while having supper), and every week those people increase my blood pressure. First of all, the producers naturally put together people who are as farthest away from each other when it comes to hobbies and interests as humanly possible. So when the chavs go on holiday with the posh, there's bound to be a lot of clashing. Now, this is very important: It doesn't matter how high-brow you think you are. One: They only pick the most extreme families for the programme. You're weird no matter what. Two: Let's face it. You can't be very high-brow since you watch ITV. Stop pretending.

The other programme I want to mention is The Girl in the Café, a new film by Richard Curtis which was shown on BBC1 last night. I thought the script was really good, but then I'm inclined to like whatever Curtis does. The comedy part of it was delivered wonderfully by the immensely talented Bill Nighy - top-billed for once, probably because they've realised he steals any scene his in anyway - and Kelly MacDonald was spot on as the slightly bewildered "girl in the café", looking worried and whispering her lines most of the time. As you may or may not know, this year's G8 summit takes place in Scotland in the beginning of July, as from what was discussed in the film it is pretty clear that Curtis is very much involved with the Live8 concerts and the whole idea behind it. It's a bit of an extension to his already well established Comic Relief in that the BBC gives him a prime time slot in order to plead for Africa. However, the day the leaders of the UK, Japan, Russia, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and the US want to waiver all debt, increase the aid enough for the poor African countries to actually have a real future and trade with them in a fair manner is the day when the rest of us spontaneously combust out of amazement.

On a happier and sillier note, I had a fantastic dream the other night. Apparently, I was the student vice president at some high school and was about to turn thirty (so this'll probably happen in a few years). We were planning a huge concert with people from all over the world performing traditional songs and dances, but this was all a cover-up of the real concert, which was in my honour (megalomaniac much?). My friends had put their lovely heads together and come up with a long list of my favourite performers (most of whom were actors, strangely enough, ahem...). All of them had accepted the invitation, even those who were sick. Kevin Kline was the first one out, and he had broken his ankles and hurt his back, but still he found the energy to hop around singing some song while frantically trying to find me in the audience (he had obviously only been told where I was seated, and I had moved when I found out it was a surprise birthday celebration). I want to extend my apologies to Mr. Kline right now. Unfortunately, since I live in a rather noisy neighbourhood, I woke up just as they announced the host for the evening (a certain Mr. Quast), so I don't really know who else was on the long list of performers, but I know the whole thing took place in different arenas and that even I had to have tickets for each show, one of which was the world premiere of Dogma...hmmm...

Well, I probably promised you pictures of my new place - here's about one sixth of my skyline at night:




Current track: Morrissey & Siouxsie - Interlude

Labels: bill nighy, current affairs, dreams, film, humour, kevin kline, personal, philip quast, radio, TV

...AKA The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...

How I longed to hear the theme music and watch the film version of this brilliant radio show/book! The TV series is a laugh (on many levels) and should be watched by the core fans only. I'm not a core fan, meaning I don't actually own any rare, out-of-print "42" band aids or anything, but now that the film is out there really is no reason for the typical admirers to see the series.

I had to go to London to see the film before the summer (no, I didn't go just to see the film. I'm not that much a fan) and we ended up on the least original place in England when it comes to cinemas, namely Leicester Square. Not the Odeon, though, who charges you through the nose and back for a seat in one of their many centrally-controlled franchises. Argh. End of rant.

I had, unfortunately, watched too many trailers and features about the film, so by the time I saw the film I had already seen most of the funniest parts. That means I was kind of disappointed. But! The film itself was really good, and anyone with the slightest bit of an alternative edge to their sense of humour would like it. Sam Rockwell is spot on as Zaphod Beeblebrox and the Warwick Davies/Alan Rickman partnership that has become Marvin, the Paranoid Android is hilarious. Bill Nighy, however, overshadows whomever else is in his scenes - simply because he is Bill Nighy. Some of the special effects are stunning and spectacular and then there are some surprise cameos for the hardcore fans. :-)

Basically, you should see this. Just don't see any features or behind-the-scenes beforehand.

Current track: Eros Ramazzotti singing something on the radio.

Labels: Alan Rickman, bill nighy, comedy, film, literature, TV