Trace-space

Game on!

2008-04-24T16:57:00.000-07:00

I finally did it. I went to the games exhibition at ACMI. It was cool. I wasn't too excited going in but I soon had a smile on my face - and that was before I'd even gone past the original arcade section. I still suck at Space Invaders. I surprised myself with my nostalgic reaction I have to admit. And then there was more - Atari, Spectrum, C64, Amiga 500! Systems I'd owned, some that friends had and others that I'd only heard of. (I still have my Sega Megadrive, by the way.) From Pong to PS3 is a lot to cover and they did pretty well in my opinion. Maybe I should go back another day, there were lots of games there I didn't play this time around and they might have fixed the dodgy Fire button on the Galaga machine.....

Problem solved

2008-03-30T02:48:00.001-07:00

The other night my parents were watching Frost or some such murder/mystery show on the telly. About 15 minutes before the end of the episode there was a local power blackout. "Oh no!" thinks Mum, "now we'll never know who the murderer was". If it was me, I would have turned to the internet for salvation. Dad's solution was more immediate. Why not use the TV in the car?
No doubt they felt a bit silly sitting in the garage but they saw the rest of the episode live to air so who am I to judge? I always wondered why BMW put a TV in their cars and now I know.

Birthday

2007-07-15T19:39:00.000-07:00

Yep, I'm another year older. The day itself was nothing special, I woke up with a head cold and went to work for 10 hours. Unlike a "normal" job I don't have the option of calling in sick. A quick trip to the chemist and I was able to soldier on. Of course I had "Happy Birthday" sung to me (at sound check) and was presented with a cake (very nice chocolate sponge).
Last night was the official family birthday tea - delayed a day because I was working and also Mum was in Adelaide on my actual birthday. It was quite a pleasant evening. Mum did the lamb roast and pavlova and my sister got a cake from Paterson's. The big suprise present of the evening was a TAR DVD board game which my baby sister imported from the US. It has Phil on it and everything!
So the big question is: who is up for some Amazing Racing?

From zero to hero

2007-05-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

Guitar Hero is really hard. And it makes your hand/arm hurt. I've had the new PS2 for just over 2 weeks now and have been playing with my plastic guitar exclusively. I'm getting better but the game is getting harder. I suspect that my inability to play a real guitar is not helping, I just don't have the required strength in my wrist and fingers yet. I finished Elite Beat Agents in 2 weeks, obviously this will take longer (if I ever even get there).
It's awesome fun though!

We made a cake

2007-02-15T03:21:00.000-08:00

My niece had a birthday and because I am the really cool Aunty who does the cakes for special events see above. I asked her what she wanted and we agreed on a pink 4 with flowers which is pretty much what she got. What you can't see from the picture is all the little flowers around the edge which essjayeff made out of chopped-up spearmint leaves and mini M&Ms. Everyone was very impressed of course and there wasn't much left at the end of the day which proves that it tasted great too.

Bargain!

2007-02-08T23:46:00.000-08:00

I've been looking at the new Goodies book in the shops but was not prepared to pay $45 for it (after all it is inaccurate on p190 and possibly elsewhere too). I just got one for $14.95 which I think you'll agree is an absolute bargain. Where? ABC Shop.

Can't blog, busy gaming

2007-02-05T21:30:00.000-08:00

Elite Beat Agents
Say no more.

Driving around

2006-11-07T02:43:00.000-08:00

I've been spending a bit of time in cars because they can get you to far-away places. Not long ago I drove up to Ky to see my sister's new baby. It's a nice drive - except the hassle of getting to the Hume in the first place. Once you get on the open road it sometimes feels a shame to switch highways so soon - why not keep going to Sydney?
Well, that's what I did last Thursday. There were 3 of us to share the driving and it took about 11 hours. We lost a bit of time in traffic at either end and made a couple of stops for food etc. The next day was more exciting. After a well-needed night's rest it was off to climb the bridge. Apart from looking like a dork in all the gear they make you wear it was worth the effort. The view from up there is absolutely sensational. We were fortunate not to get rained on until we were halfway down. So what do you do after one national icon? go see the other one! This was my first time inside the Opera House. I used my local contacts to get us a look at the stage from above - right at the top of one of the "sails" - and we had dinner in the Green Room with all the staff. Excellent. The show was good too which is always a plus. Another day or so trundling around Sydney passed and it was time to drive home again.
Oh yeah, the baby is very cute and brings the total count to 3 nephews and 2 nieces.

Public transport anyone?

2006-08-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

How many Metros have you been on? alsion wins but I was surprised to find we didn't overlap in Europe.

Got at b3co.com!

Spending Myer money

2006-08-04T00:27:00.000-07:00

Shopping at Myer. Urgh. What with Christmas and a recent birthday I have accumulated a plethora of gift card voucher thingies. Going by dollar value my collection of Myer money was the pick of the bunch. I decided to spend it on something fun as the Christmas/birthday presents it was intended to be. After a visit to the E-Gs I decided a Nintendo DS Lite might be the go.
Gosh it's hard to buy things at Myer. For a start the console games section is in between 2 service desks so you're not sure if you should be approaching the Toys people or the more pricey cameras/computers/big television people. Loitering with intent doesn't work. I did have ample opportunity to study the staff behaviour which helped fill in the time. There was one chap who was talking to customers and selling them expensive things. There was an older woman who kept attaching herself to the first chap's customers although he appeared to have things well under control (note to self: do not buy anything from pushy woman). Then there was the one on the phone and the one on a break. All gifted at being too busy to respond to a direct approach. I gave up and returned the next morning. No other customers - they had to serve me! Ha!

So now I have a DS and am busy improving my brain power.

Dental Drama

2006-08-04T00:15:00.000-07:00

Hmmm. Long time no blog. No good excuse really, just been using bandwidth torrenting Top Gear. As you do.
So anyway, one of my front teeth became sensitive. It didn't hurt or anything, I was just aware of it for a day or so. Then it felt loose. Seriously so. To the point where I had a little panic that it was about to fall out so took the obvious (but unusual for me) step of going to see a dentist. He took a picture and sent me on to another dentist. Joy! 2 dentists in 2 days. My new dentist was actually an endodontist - a breed of dentist of which (until 2 days ago) I was blissfully unaware. Perhaps it was just as well that I arrived not knowing I was about to have one of my root canals thoroughly scraped out. I guessed that a fancy type of dentist I hadn't heard of would be expensive and I was right there. Oh well.

Dine-in or Takeaway

2006-04-23T23:46:00.000-07:00

Could someone please advise McDonald's that eating their so-called food at a plastic table on the premises does not constitute a dining experience?

Post Office Bastards

2006-04-20T17:11:00.000-07:00

Today is my sister's birthday. I thought it might be nice for her to get a card etc on her birthday rather than a day later at the family dinner. I made an effort to purchase said card and a gift voucher thingy which I duly popped in the post for her to receive on the magic day. Well. The card arrived. The cardboard surround that holds the gift voucher was in the card. The voucher itself had mysteriously vanished. The envelope was open down the side. Some bastard stole my sister's birthday present!
Moral of the story: think carefully before placing anything in the care of the thieves in the sorting office.

Don't drive there

2006-04-20T16:59:00.000-07:00

Do you know where Old Warrandyte Road/Tindals Road is? Are you familiar with the big hill where the road goes past Donvale Christian College? It's really difficult to keep your speed under 60 going down the hill isn't it? The revenue raising bastards who operate speed cameras have decided to take advantage of the situation. So don't go there. Try Reynolds Rd and Springvale Rd instead. (Fortunately they didn't get me but others have not been as lucky).

Please note that I am not in favour of exceeding the speed limit but this particular hill is a very big one and I think it is unrealistic to expect even law-abiding citizens to still be under the limit at the bottom.

How can it be Easter already?

2006-04-12T18:30:00.000-07:00

Where has the year gone? I must have got distracted because when I looked up again whole months had vanished. Hmmm. To be fair there have been plenty of distractions thus far this year. We open with The Scarlet Pimpernel a month from tomorrow which is slightly frightening. I know it will all be ready on time it just doesn't feel like it right now. I do get worried when I jump in the car and arrive at rehearsal or the workshop with no memory of how I actually got there. Fortunately the car seems to know which hall I am supposed to be at on any given day. My life will be rather empty when it's all over, at least until we start working on Cats....

I've done 3 shifts at the opera now and it has to be the coolest job ever - well worth the sacrifice of my rare free nights. At least I have a few days to catch up with myself and the munchkins this weekend. Come and see the Pimpernel!

Off to the G

2006-03-13T23:28:00.000-08:00

Zone 1 ticket to Richmond
$3.20

Hot chips and a bottle of water
$7.80

Being able to say you've already seen the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony
PRICELESS

I need to work on my karma, the bonus of a free ticket to the Opening Ceremony rehearsal was offset slightly by being seated next to a lady who was much wider than the seat designer had planned for. And she was a Collingwood supporter. *sigh* I assume that the actual event tomorrow will be more exciting - what with having the real queen and actual athletes and everything. Maybe.

I'm an Uncle!

2005-11-24T19:58:00.000-08:00

Paige now has a little brother - Lachlan - born at 8:08 this morning. Mother and baby reportedly doing well.

Staying home

2005-11-13T22:11:00.000-08:00

Some people have accused me of never being home. I feel this is a slight exaggeration and thought I should mention that the situation is about to change. I took a break from watching TAR1 today and picked up a copy of Civ IV. A quick install, some not-so-quick driver updates and I'm all set to lose the next month (at least) of my spare time. Hooray!
Multiplayer could be fun too - who's going to join me in the quest for global domination?

Time flies

2005-10-08T15:49:00.000-07:00

In case you were wondering, I am in fact not dead, just too caught up in my own stuff to write about it.
Work has been crazy since I got back from my all-too-short holiday. And what with the ongoing calisthenics (finished now) and theatre stuff I've been a bit busy. I missed the slouch (sorry) and my niece's birthday and am worried if I don't get things under control soon I might miss Christmas as well.
Steel Pier opened last night and we made it through with only a few little technical problems. It's kind of cool to think that being the Australian premiere (and not running all that long on Broadway originally) it's a fair bet that nobody in the audience had seen the show before. They seemed to like it which is good. We'll see how it goes for the rest of the season.

Hooray for Microsoft

2005-09-21T18:39:00.000-07:00

Internet Explorer suddenly stopped working. At all. Not being overly suprised at this turn of events I used Firefox to find out how to reinstall it. It turns out that IE6 is part of XP Service Pack 2 so I figured a fresh install of SP2 would do the trick. Maybe. Worth a try. But what do you do when you try to download SP2 (because IE won't start) and you get a message telling you that you can only download SP2 from within IE?
Way to go Mr Microsoft genius!
Actually the problem was due to Microsoft's latest security update not liking the Google Toolbar. Uninstall the Toolbar and everything works just fine.
Makes you wonder how much testing they did (if any) and how many people now prefer an alternate browser?

Cleaning up after the holiday

2005-09-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

I fully intended to write a brilliant and detailed account of my sojourn to the other hemisphere but now I'm thinking that probably will not happen.
The mobile phone bill arrived today and (fortunately) was nowhere near as bad as I'd feared it would be. Here's the thing, I never asked my mobile service provider about global roaming etc as it was all a bit boring really. After all, I've travelled overseas once or twice and always coped just fine without a phone. (I always feel that an essential part of holidays is not being able to be contacted) On this occasion I had to meet up with people so took with me a foreign sim card, although I don't know what the actual number on the card was, so the intention was to use it purely for outgoing calls. However, when I turned my mobile on in London to check the state of the battery it appeared to be happy to magically work. It continued to work everywhere I went, spontaneously bleeping with welcome messages from phone networks I had never heard of. The longest calls I made cost about $20 each which I think is pretty good value considering.

Lost in translation

2005-09-18T22:35:00.000-07:00

My sisters took the munchkins to the Show. In one of the many show bags they bought was a bubble gun, which is not all that interesting except for the brilliant instructions - reproduced in full here for your pleasure and the immortality they truly deserve. (Apologies for the caps but that's how it is on the original.

EXPLAIN:
1.OPEN THE BATTERY COVER,INSET TWO AA BATTERIES ENSUING THE POSITIVE (+) AND NEGATIVE(-) POLES ARE IN THE CORRECT POSITION
2.OPEN THE COVER OF BUBBLE SOLUTION, FLOW THE SOLUTION INTO THE COVER.USE NOZZLE BEDEW THE SOLUTION
3.SQUEEZE THE TRIGGER, THE BUBBLE GUN CAN BRING SOME RICH AND COLORFUL BUBBLES AND WONDERFUL MUSIC. USE DIFFERENT MODE OF SQUEEZE TRIGGER CAN BRING BIFFERENT BUBBLES AND MUSIC EFFECT.
SQUEEZE THE TRIGGER ON END,IT CAN BRING RNNING MUSIC AND BUBBLES.
SQUEEZE THE TRIGGER INTERMITTENTLY ,THE MUSIC SOUND WILL RUNNING CHANGE.EACH KIND OF MUSIC CIRCLE ONCE.
SPUEEZE THE TRIGGER LIGHTLY AND INTERMITTENTLY,THE BUBBLE WILL BIGGER AND BIGGER,THE BIGGEST ONE IS LIKE A BASKETBALL.

WARN: A. THIS PORDUCTION IS INNOCUOUS,BUT KEEP OUT OF CHILDREN TO EAT.
B. THIS TOY NOT SUITABLE FOR UNDER 36 MONTHS CHILDREN.
BATTERY REPLACEMENT SHOULD ONLY BE CARRIED OUT BY AN ADULT.
ADJURE: CHOSE TOP-QUALITY BATTERIES,BRING THE BUBBLE 'S EFFECT IS THE BEST.
SUGGEST: WHEN USE UP THE SOLUTION,PLEASE GO TO SHOP BUY BUBBLE SOLUTION WHERE SELL THIS PRODUCTION.
CLEW: WHEN THE BATTERY POWER IS NOT ENOUGH ,THE BUBBLE'S NUMBER WILL REDUCE INDEED CAN NOT SHOOT UP THE BUBBLE.

Phone spam

2005-09-09T21:54:00.000-07:00

I am getting way too many unsolicited phone calls of an evening. I had 3 on Wednesday, 1 last night (but I went out so there could have been more) and have had another tonight. It is really pissing me off to the point I have considered contacting my local MP, or perhaps even my federal one (after all Simon Crean is always sending me nice letters offering to help with my problems).
I don't know what they wanted because nowadays I hang up on them before they can tell me. You can tell straight away - if you have to say "Hello" twice before anyone answers you, it's a safe bet you've been rung from a call centre. My current strategy is:
Me: "Hello"
Phone: (silence)
/me hangs up

Does this make me a bad person?

Back home

2005-09-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

And back at work
*sigh*

Auick updqte

2005-08-31T22:19:00.000-07:00

That should read "Quick update" but French keyboards are slightly different. So I've made it to France and will be home in under a week which is a little disappointing. Max has covered my 3 days in Peterborough so I'll add my 2 cents later (when I find a computer I can touch type on). So, I went to Edinburgh on Monday to see ISIHAC which was awesome and caught up with Tim after the show. He has changed his email address so did not receive my warning that I was going to be there which made for an interesting reaction :o) Rumour has it that another tour is being planned. Excellent. They will not be going to Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane this time though.
On Tuesday I went to France which ended up being much more of a hassle than I intended. The train which was to have got me back to London by 11 was cancelled and the next one was slower and delayed. The net result being that I missed the Eurostar I was aiming for and caught the next one an hour and a half later. This was delayed and had an unexplained stop in the middle of nowhere so we arrived in Paris 50 minutes late. Then the only ATM I could find at Gare du Nord was broken so it took me an hour to get some cash and navigate the Metro to Gare Montparnasse. The TGV to Le Mans was on time and Sabine met me at the station about 4 hours later than we had planned. Oh well, shit happens.
Today we did the castle (Brézé) and museum thing and nearly melted in the unseasonable heat. Still, beats being at work

Leaving London

2005-08-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

Last day in London. I enjoyed Guys & Dolls last night. It can be difficult with a show you know to get past the expectations but the performances were really good and I had a great night. There was a good atmosphere in the theatre too with people laughing at all the jokes. Truly a classic show. Ask me in person if you want more details (about any shows)
So, I only have one ticket left now which has to wait until Monday night in Edinburgh. It's just as well I'm leaving town, the whole theatre thing is costing me a fortune.
Just about recovered from the cold now which is helping my attitude no end :o)
I'm meeting Max tonight at King's Cross and then it's goodbye to London for a while.

Still in London

2005-08-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

Short update because there's not much to tell. I left the internet cafe yesterday with a coffee in hand (totally not drinking the stuff they have at the hotel) and made my way to the British Museum. Not bad, only took me 4 days to get somewhere that is literally around the corner from my hotel. I had a couple of hours before my next theatre experience so did a quick whip around at the major sights (the rest of the 6 million artefacts in the collection will have to wait).
So, obviously, I missed a lot of stuff but it was worthwhile taking a moment to enjoy the stuff I was particularly interested in. I would have spent longer looking at the Rosetta Stone but became annoyed at the thousands of flash photographs being taken. It was the same for all the bigger Egyptian statuary so I left the area quicker than I really wanted to. By the time I got to the Mummies I didn't care if I got in the way of the "this is me next to the ancient dead person" photos. Not that I could have dodged all of them successfully anyway. Fortunately things were a bit quieter around the Isle of Lewis chess set and the cool Celtic stuff. Before long I was historied out and it was time to head over to the Palace theatre for the latest ALW spectacular.
When I bought the ticket the box office guy told me that Dress Circle row B was a good seat for this particular show. I agree with him. I think that my usual preference for Stalls would not have worked so well with how the production was staged. I don't think this will ever become one of my favourite shows but I'm glad I went.
After a very quick stop for dinner it was on to the Palladium for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I'd heard some mixed reviews of the show so I was really only there for the flying car. But there was so much more! In fact, it was really really fun. Never thought I'd be paying good money to see Jason Donovan but there you go (and he was quite good too).
Tonight is my last night in London and my last show - Guys & Dolls. I'm looking forward to it.

Wednesday

2005-08-24T22:18:00.000-07:00

Still in London. I'm surprised my credit card hasn't melted from the strain but we're having fun. Since the last update I've seen 2 shows (3 to go) starting with (as previously mentioned) Billy Elliot. We had dinner at the pub next door then scrambled into our seats - if we'd known they'd be 10 minutes late starting we wouldn't have rushed so much. I suspect the late start was tied in with the fact that they switched cast members halfway through the first act. Until they made the announcement at interval I don't think many people had noticed that we had two different Billy Elliots. The show was absolutely brilliant. It was an amazing experience that I can't really describe.
Tuesday. Woke up stupidly early again (damn jetlag) and nervously scanned the sky for impending clouds. Reassured by the forecast of plenty of sunshine we made our way down to the London Eye. Blue skies, sensational view, sunlight glinting off Big Ben- certainly picture postcard perfect. I must remember to get a copy of the photos Karen took.
Munching on a hot waffle we then ambled through Westminster up to St James's Park etc as I was determined that Karen experience the Changing of the Guards. I dropped her off at the fence and watched the band (Welsh Guards) run through a few numbers before the ceremony started. Then I left the crowd to enjoy the spectacle and wandered off through the parks, along the Serpentine etc and generally soaked up the sunshine. The MBTs (new fancy shoes) got a solid workout and my legs and feet were aching when I made it back to the hotel to change and find my ticket for Mary Poppins. I can see why the reviewers call it a "magical" show. I guess I should have expected a ton of illusions and stage tricks from Disney. You certainly wouldn't want to have a fear of heights playing the title role.
Wednesday. Overcast and windy thus far. Karen has gone on the Hop On Hop Off bus with a view to explore the Tower along the way. I have got myself a ticket to The Woman in White so we'll see if it lives up to the hype. Karen is off to Les Mis tonight while I'm at the Palladium with Jason Donovan and the flying car.

Monday

2005-08-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

The holiday continues. There's always something very satisfying about being on holiday on Monday morning in particular. By the way, the sore throat has turned into a very unpleasant cold so I have had the pleasure of shopping at Boots which was not on the original itinerary.
Breakfast at the hotel was rather ordinary so we'll ignore that and move on to the shopping part. I hit Dress Circle first and put a decent dent in the credit card without too much difficulty. It would have been worse had they had the T-shirt I liked in a size other than XL (let's not kid ourselves, that would never have looked good on me). Then I found myself spending money again at Forbidden Planet (as you do) and found a perfect gift for Gav. I had to go to Harrods at some stage so got that out of the way this morning too.
Off to the theatre tonight to see Billy Elliot. Woohoo!

End of a long day

2005-08-21T22:44:00.000-07:00

In London now. It always takes a while for it to sink in properly especially when the brain is not coping what with jetlag and being squashed into a seat for 24 hours. So anyway, here's the summary so far...
Plane trip completed successfully. Watched HHGTTG (the movie) and channel surfed. Disappointing lack of trolley visits which usually break up the journey a bit. Landed on time - we were actually ahead of schedule but had a problem with the landing gear on the first attempt which meant we lost our spot in the queue of planes waiting for 6am so they could land. Took the Heathrow Express and then the tube to our hotel at Russell Square.
Our room was ready when we arrived which was great. After taking a few moments to freshen up a bit we hit the streets. The weather was perfect for wandering about. We made our way to Leicester Square, Trafalgar etc etc and both ended up buying stuff at Covent Garden.
Dropped the new souvenirs at the hotel and changed into something suitable for The Comedy Store. Although we both were struggling with the fact that we'd been awake for far too long by this point, we thoroughly enjoyed the show. The line up was not quite as advertised but I wasn't upset to have Niall Ashdown as a substitute. All in all a good night out and a fitting end to a very long day.

Singapore

2005-08-20T22:38:00.000-07:00

We've made it as far as Singapore. The flight was fine, closer to 7 hours than 8 which is always a good thing. It's nice to know that after all the running around there's nothing more I can do (except worry a little about what I forgot to do/pack). The bad news is that the catering people for BA are taking "unofficial industrial action" which basically means no food on the next flight. We've been given a voucher to forage at the airport but I'm not really hungry and doubt I'll be any more interested in airport food over the next 13 hours. Got a scratchy throat which I'm hoping will not develop into something nasty.....

Travel tip

2005-08-11T19:26:00.000-07:00

Apparently it's not a good idea to do a canoe/kayak safari when visiting the Victoria Falls region. This is because a hippo might munch your boat. I think I'll choose horseback instead as the hippo statistics are nasty. Seriously.
(Who said you can't learn useful stuff at work?)

Road trip

2005-07-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, the weekend. What can one do with 2 whole days away from work? I know - drive to Adelaide and back!
It sounds stupid but I actually did just that. In fact I went almost to Nuriootpa which is worse, especially when I didn't even stop in at a winery or two (why go to the Barossa if you're not going to check out the wine?). It was my plan. I planned it. Handover of the ORDFC is now pretty much complete. I parted with an entire car-load of club property and can see the carpet in the spare room again. I feel good.
Bonus points. After meeting up with my RD successor I drove another hour and a half back to Hahndorf. Poor Ron and Leo, they don't see me for around 8 years then they get me twice in 6 months. It's good to catch up with friends. Especially ones you've known since you were 9. Of course the down side was having to do an 8 hour drive the next morning. Not a huge problem - until the weather went feral somewhere near the Giant Koala. At that point I lost my enthusiasm for the drive. (I never had any enthusiasm for the Koala) I'm also really impressed with super high octane petrol - 800km on one tank. Wow!

Been there, read that

2005-07-19T18:32:00.000-07:00

I've now read the new Harry Potter novel (brick?). So that's that taken care of for another couple of years then.

Let's see a show

2005-07-19T00:20:00.000-07:00

I had become concerned that when I finally make it to London and decide on some shows to see there would be no (good) seats left. This was not just paranoia, I must add, but backed by preliminary research at ticketmaster etc.

I therefore decided to do some actual booking. I have now learned that just because website X offers a seat in the back row it does not necessarily follow that a seat in the middle of row K is not available. The internet is still valuable for providing phone numbers for theatres and associated seating plans. However, the internet is crap at determining "best available" seating.

That being said, I am a little nervous at what my next phone bill will be like and have not paused to calculate how much money in total I blithely spent on tickets. Oh, my poor bleeding credit card!

Summary: bought tickets on the West End, am now broke, too excited to sleep.

Auditions

2005-06-20T22:54:00.000-07:00

Stop! We only had the final Jekyll party 2 days ago. I'm not ready for the next one yet.
However, the show must go on and I agreed to help out with the auditions.
By the end of the night there were a lot of very sweaty people in there. Good thing I didn't try any dancing myself, I would have only made it worse.
Come and see Steel Pier in October. It's never been done in Australia before (I've been told).

Reliving the moment

2005-06-18T03:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday night. Theatre-people party. Just when I had managed to get all the songs from Jekyll & Hyde out of my head we got together and I'm humming them all again. Damn.
Good party though.

Ad-nauseum (2)

2005-06-11T23:48:00.000-07:00

Found another classic piece of advertising, this time in the print medium.
Apparently there's this new board game you can buy called "Senior Moments". Said advertisement features a group of people intently playing this highly entertaining game, most of whom have very grey hair. But here's the good part - the slogan for this wonderful new evening entertainment goes like this: You can't remember the last time you played a game like this!
Seriously. Also, it seems that You're never too young to experience a Senior moment
Gosh. I must rush out and get this one........

Or perhaps I should wait for the special Star Wars Trilogy Edition.

You can't make this stuff up. (Ever listened to any of George W's speeches?)

I shouldn't but I did

2005-05-29T16:43:00.000-07:00

You'd think that with plans to travel overseas fermenting in my brain I would have the sense to pull back on the unecessary spending. I will. I promise. I know I had no need to go to the theatre this weekend. After all, I saw the incomparable Mr Warlow last week and have a ticket waiting for next Saturday. Still, observe how the circumstances mitigate the guilt of an impulsive decision. Firstly, tickets are cheaper for the matinees - I could have spent more than I actually did. Secondly, I wasn't close enough to see any facial expressions last time so that doesn't really count. Thirdly, because I went today I ended up sitting next to Geoffrey Rush. True! Now doesn't it make it OK if you sit next to an Oscar winner?
It was almost a completely full house, lots of children of course and the usual compliment of loud coughers. This is one of my pet hates. I appreciate that it can be difficult to control a cough. However, there are things you can suck to prevent you from ruining someone's aria. I'm just saying. Thankfully there was no sign of the rustling lolly packets which I hate even more.
So I got to see Anthony again and Mr Rush enjoyed the show.

Ad-nauseum

2005-04-19T03:49:00.000-07:00

Did anyone see the David Jones commercial which aired during Survivor tonight? You know, the one offering 20% off women's underwear, men's underwear and small appliances.
Really, you've got to laugh.

Jekyll & Opera & Hyde - Oh my!

2005-04-17T18:18:00.000-07:00

I'm officially over the whole set-painting thing. I spent around 6 hours down at CLOCworks yesterday helping out. At least 80% was fiddly, boring black bits again and the rest of the time involved making coffee and being arty with the blue paint. The end is in sight. Finally!
So, for a change of scene (get it?) I decided to go to the opera. I am well known for my last minute decisions. Despite my lack of planning I got what I consider to be a good seat and was able to amuse myself checking out the crowd. Nabucco is not one of the more popular pieces but even so, the house was nearly full. The man on my right didn't "get" it, apart from deciding it was "about Jewish people" he couldn't follow the story. I know this because he kept telling his companion. He also got impatient when they were 5 minutes late starting and kept complaining "Come on, bounce the ball". *sigh* The lady on my left, on the other hand, enjoyed herself a lot more. I think I noticed some actual shoulder-heaving crying after Va, pensiero or maybe she was laughing? Hard to tell. Then there was the lady in the front row (3 seats away from dead centre) who had brought her binoculars. I kid you not. This made for some awkward juggling as it appeared she needed her regular glasses to read the surtitles. I always get a laugh from watching the front row switch from surtitle to stage - kind of like spectators at the tennis but vertical. A dose of culture for those with disposable income.
Today has been completely consumed by CLOC. Rehearsal all day and the crew night tonight. Even with an incomplete crew today the set moved pretty smoothly. Things are looking good. It's always a bit scary at this point when you realise there are only a few weeks left to finish and fine tune everything but at the same time it's exciting watching it all come together.

ComFest

2005-04-08T20:57:00.000-07:00

So anyway, there's this guy - right - and he asks me if I want to go see a show......
And we did. And because it is the Comedy Festival and because we are predictable and because the supply of free tickets has dried up we chose Chris Addison (like last year etc). Because he is funny and that is important when choosing a comedian. Did we laugh? Yes we did. Comedy dollars well spent. And - yes, it gets better - a lot of the material was perfect for recycling at work today. So there you go.
Afterwards we wandered around vaguely searching for food but not being very specific about what exactly we wanted or where we felt like eating it. In the end we found ourselves at the Blue Train cafe where we scored a great table outside overlooking the river. Ben wasn't feeling 100% but the food was good and it was fun to be out on a school night.

Goodies FAQ

2005-03-29T21:13:00.000-08:00

The Goodies are coming for you and you and wait, they've gone. But the important part is that they came. I say important because, like most of my generation, I grew up watching them at 6 o'clock every week night on the ABC. Many people who know I am a fan of the Superchaps 3 have asked me if I went to the live show. Here are the answers to that and other questions I've been asked.

Q I heard The Goodies were in Melbourne, did you know that?

A Yes.

Q They did a live show apparently - did you go?

A Yes.

Q Was it good?

A Totally awesome.

Q Is it true you've met Tim before?

A Yes.

Q Really?

A Yes, really.

Q Did you catch up with him while he was here?

A Yes

Q Oh sure you did - backstage I suppose?

A Yes.

Q Did you meet Graeme and Bill too?

A Yes

Q Can you prove it?

A Well, ToM was there and we got autographs later too.

Q So what are you going to do now that you've achieved a lifelong ambition?

A I'll have to get back to you on that one.......

Painting and Reality TV

2005-03-25T00:07:00.000-08:00

Yep, more set painting on the agenda today. Back to the basic black, no fancy arty type stuff today, more's the pity. The good thing about it is that another column has had the boring fiddly bits done and that's one column fewer to paint next time. I also like how you can instantly see the effect of your work. And I didn't get any paint on my face this time - well done, me!
So, warm fuzzy feeling from a job well done led into content-all-is-right-in-the-world feeling when I watched people that annoyed me get eliminated from both Survivor and The Amazing Race.
I am now in a Mozart kind of mood. I wonder how far I can get through Magic Flute before the Tim-Tams run out.......

Adding actual content

2005-03-20T19:51:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't heard, CLOC are doing Jekyll & Hyde this season which is pretty much dominating my life right now. Except for the calisthenics on Friday night. And the bit where I hurt my back. And the part where Suzanne came over and we watched a new episode of The Amazing Race. Apart from that, it's been CLOC all the way. I spent a few hours yesterday helping out with some set painting. This thing is a monster and it was hot work, especially on a ladder trying to reach the top of the upper level. Still, we have the base painting pretty much all done and the "fancy" parts are quicker to do so we achieved quite a bit.
This morning was all about photographs for publicity and the program. It's always exciting when you see cast in full costume and makeup for the first time. Once the photos were done it was time to start rehearsal so all in all it was a rather full day. Oh yeah, and Gemma and Bernard dropped by with some glassware for the laboratory scenes, a nice surprise.

Trace-space goes live

2005-03-17T22:20:00.000-08:00

Who'd have thought it? After slowly coming to the realisation that many of my friends keep in touch by reading each other's blogs I thought I'd give it a try.
This would be your basic Testing..1..2..3 type post then.