As an avid and long-time fan of twitter, I was rather pleased to find an application called ‘TweetCloud‘ which essentially tries to collate all your tweets for a given time period, and let you know the words that you’ve tweeted the most.
My stats were as below:
Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to be invited along to go and see this year’s pantomime (Jack and the Beanstalk) at the Lyric Hammersmith, London.
Yes dear reader, I too queried whether going to see a pantomime in November was going to be a good idea or not, but I needn’t have worried – the production was fantastic and has helped to really kick off my festive season – hurrah!
I went to see the show with my friend Adam, and the best way that we could think of to describe the production was that it was like the old pantomime games that they used to have the contestants play on the Generation Game in days gone by. Lovingly able to send itself up, helped along in this department by fabulous pantomime dame Ms. Wendy Windsor (played by the accomplished musical theatre star Martyn Ellis), this pantomime had a real community feel to it and, perhaps unusually, had a decent amount of content in it for the adults too. Adam and I both work in the industry and, like most adults, were perhaps a little jaded about watching panto at first, but by the Interval we were already raving about it.
As you would expect, the plot is a little weak, but then that’s not what you go for really, is it? Considering the average age of the audience, fun is, rightly, the top priority! All the expected elements are in there; the usual pantomime chants, some lovingly ripped off songs, a good old audience sing-a-long, and one and a half pantomime cows!
I really liked the staging on this production, but nothing impressed me more than Gog, the Giant. His presence is achieved through a huge puppet on the stage, the attention to detail on which was remarkable – twitching ears, blinking and a nose that kept wrinkling, all above-and-beyond what I’d expect from a pantomime set.
Only one part of the show made me (physically!) cringe – when hundreds of green beans (ok, balls!) dropped from the balcony into the stalls and the cast asked everyone to chuck them back to them. As you can no doubt guess, your average five year old cannot throw that far, so I did end up being hit on the head quite a bit heh! A health and safety nightmare no doubt, but still rather fun.
One thing that perhaps does need to be addressed was how they get rid of the handkerchief rope that is trailed through the audience. It was somewhat disruptive for the audience themselves to have to pull it back through the stalls – it may just be easier for them to achieve this with a selection of people going on stage instead?
Cast wise, I thought this production was superb! I really enjoyed watching Martyn Ellis as Wendy Windsor (and what remarkable frocks!), and also really enjoyed watching Sean Kearns as Plug. I thought that Martyn Ellis managed to come up with some great one liners, especially when it came to reading out the birthday list, and is guaranteed to keep the adults entertained. I frequently found myself comparing the characters of Wendy and Plug to Edna and Wilbur in Hairspray heh! I also enjoyed watching Angela Wynter as super baddy Evelyn Greedly. Of course, it’s not just the leads who are fabulous though, the entire cast are great and really bring some vibrance to the production.
This pantomime is currently on the top 20 Christmas shows to see list for both The Telegraph and The Times, and on the top 12 list for the Evening Standard and I can really see why. Yes, do the normal thing and go and see a big budget all-star cast in the West End, but you’d really be missing out if you didn’t also spare a little time this Christmas to head on down to the Lyric Hammersmith and see this production – by far the best pantomime I’ve seen in a long time!
Jack and the Beanstalk will play at the Lyric Hammersmith until 9th January 2010.
T’is marvelous to see pantomine at such a great venue, and after what I am informed is a 30 year absence, plus it’s very well priced too, with Adult tickets starting from as little as £10 (kids under 16 are just £10 too)!
Incidentally, for anyone in Swansea, I’d recommend you head down to the Swansea Grand this season to see my friend Adam in panto (Sleeping Beauty – he plays the King I believe) and do let me know if he was any good! 
So, I have something exciting to announce (and a first for this blog) – I have been approached by Island Records (owned by Universal Music) and asked if I would like to invite two of my blog readers down to a ’secret’ Erik Hassle gig in East London on December 17th 2009.
Regular readers may be aware that I have blogged about Erik previously, and that I am a fan of his music, and so this was not only a great surprise, but is a good way of putting my blog to some practical use I think (for me, you and the artist!), and allows me to give something back to those lovely people who visit my pages.
To be fair to all, I have decided to operate this as a small competition, as I think/hope that this could prove quite popular! I’ve been given complete freedom to choose how I want to select the people I guestlist (so please don’t be cynical people – and yes, the question is my own! ), I just figured this would be the best way.
Whether you’re an old friend, or a new face, do please feel free to enter, this competition is open to all who are 18 or over. It would be great to see a few familiar faces at the gig, or maybe bump into a few new ones.
To enter, all I would like you to do is answer the following question:
What date is Erik Hassle’s single ‘Hurtful’ being released in the UK?
(hint, you ‘ll find the answer on his official page)
To enter please fill out the details on the Contact Form at the base of this blog post with your name, email and your answer!
Good Luck!!
A few important points to note:
Thanks! 
I now seem to be stuck in a swirling YouTube based Bohemian Rhapsody hole, whereas every time I try to leave the site, I find yet another video that I want to watch!
I think it’s great that Bo’Rhap is getting such attention on the day after the anniversary of the death of the great Freddie Mercury (he tragically died on 24th November 1991). Queen were/are my favourite artists, and it’s great to see their music still inspires so many people to this day!
In a bid to exit the Bo’Rhap madness, I am going to post some more fab video clips. You may also want to check out my earlier post too.
And without doubt, the best and definitive version:
Another fab YouTube clip sourced from @JosephUK – he’s provided so many cool videos that I have given him his own Blog Tag – ‘Pinched from JosephUK‘ heh!
I am pleased to report that he is now on WordPress himself – so you may now have to visit his blog for cool YouTube links instead!
This is a fab ‘LipDub’ made by communication students from the University of Quebéc in Montreal (UQAM).
From the YouTube blurb:
“This LipDub has been produced during the integration week of UQAM (Quebec, Canada) with 172 communication students. Made on September 10th 2009 in 2h15min.”
I also stumbled across a LipDub by Pixmania, which whilst it isn’t as good as the UQAM one in my opinion and gets lost in the middle, but is being included in this post as I really wish our office would do something fun like this!!! heh
Looking at Pixmania’s YouTube channel, they seem to do these with astounding frequency!
So, twitter is ablaze this morning with everyone posting links to this YouTube clip of the Muppets cover of Queen’s classic, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.
I have to profess, I absolutely love this – I’d love to see them remake an alternate version with a cameo from Brian and Roger heh!
Mammmmmmmaaaaaaaaa….. Yooohoooo?
Whilst on the subject of Bohemian Rhapsody, the ever knowledgable @ianvisits on twitter has just shared ‘Titanium Rhapsody’ – a wonderful Megaman 7 parody which I think is well worth a watch. I love all things geeky, and so I hope that he won’t mind me adding this to my blog and sharing it with ya’ll 
Came across a cool bit of ‘industry’ news that I thought may interest some readers of this blog:
iTunes and Live Nation Team Up for Concert Downloads
Oh boo!
It’s just been announced that GLEE will be taking a mid-season break with the last episode airing in the US on Wednesday 9th December, before it returns on Tuesday evenings from 13th April 2010.
American Idol is to blame, but also may be benefit to a second series as when GLEE starts to re-air straight after the live Idol shows, they’re hoping it will swell viewing figures even more.
With E4 here in the UK starting to air from January 2010 we’re going to have caught up (or possibly overtaken) the Yanks with GLEE!
I don’t know what this means for the DVD and the soundtrack, as I understand that both were to be released via the usual media channels/outlets in January 2010 – a quick search online and it seems they’ve pulled the products 
Information from broadwayworld.com:
FOX has announced it’s winter line-up, which features the usual favorites, in addition to some new additions. American Idol will begin its ninth season on the network on January 12. The fan favorite will air in its usual slot, Tuesdays at 8:00pm. Also announced is that GLEE will button for the season on December 9, and move from its Wednesday, 9pm slot to Tuesday nights beginning April 13, 2010, opposite ABC’s Lost. it will be a long wait for the Gleeks.
Upon its return, GLEE will get the coveted lead-in of American Idol, the top-rated show on television for the past seven years. GLEE will re-air after the live “Idol” performance show on April 9.
Following on from my previous post where I blogged about how much I was looking forward to BBC Four’s Women We’ve Loved series, I have just found time to sit down and catch up with Enid, which aired last week.
I have to say, I found this programme absolutely beastly (for lack of a better word!).
Now, I say this not as a reflection of the programme, nor the quality of it – which was absolutely superb and first-rate! - but because I feel that I have had my story-book vision of Enid well and truly shattered! It was horrible to watch and see someone as beloved as Enid Blyton depicted in such a way.
Now of course, I am not disputing that she may very well have been like this – I know that the BBC did a lot of research before hand with the people who knew her best (including Imogen, her daughter) - I just found it so hard to watch, and so terribly sad to see this side to her; a side that I never thought would have existed.
For those who missed it, the programme explored the abandonment of a young Enid (and her family) by her father, and the rose-tinted spectacles that she saw his life through (as a side note perhaps there is a parallel with the audience and Enid, and in both stories the shroud of this perception dropping?). It showed the difficult relationship that Enid had with her mother as a result of this. From there the programme quickly moved onto Enid becoming a very strong-willed woman and, rather than focusing on her public success, the programme focused on her private life, especially on her relationship with her two husbands and her children.
It was awful to watch Enid shunning those around her, including her own children, who were portrayed as being nothing more than an inconvenience to her. One of the low points of the programme was when Enid was having a tea party for some competition winning children, and she deliberately excluded her own children, sending them away before the other children arrived, and then lying about the fantastic life she led with her own children.
Ultimately, the story went full circle, with her own children dismissing her and Enid ultimately became her own mother in many respects.
I suppose that it was a different era back then, women had to be strong and have a stiff upper lip if they wanted to be successful, and without doubt Enid Blyton was the most successful female of the first half of the last century. I have recently read online that the BBC refused to have Enid Blyton on their programmes for over thirty years, dismissing her stories as ’small beer’ and not believing her worthy of air time. They finally permitted her an interview shortly before her death. It is therefore quite fitting that the BBC should be airing this series forty years on I think.
I think that this surprise side to Enid Blyton is what will make the programme such a success. Many people, myself included, were expecting tales of sandy beaches and lashings of ginger beer, whereas in reality Blyton’s life was as far removed from this as could be. I think that ‘Enid’ successfully managed to tell a completely different story, and I applaud the cast and crew on this production for doing so.
It was fantastic to see Helena Bonham Carter in such a different role to those we’re used to seeing her in, and I though that the entire cast were very strong, and very believable.
There is a wonderful article in The Telegraph where they talk to Bonham Carter about her role, and the programme itself – well worth reading if you want a more structured/traditional collection of thoughts of the programme and the characterisation.
Without doubt, Blyton was the best author that has ever existed in my opinion – if nothing else, her sales statistics say it all – and I can only hope that, if her personality was as was depicted in ‘Enid’, that on the inside she was as happy in life as she managed to make the countless readers across the World who picked up / continue to pick up one of her stories.
As a child, I spent many a happy hour lying on my bed reading about the stories of the Famous Five, the Secret Seven, of goblins and fairies, of the Magic Faraway Tree and the Wishing Chair, and I still read these books to this very day. They are simply put some of the best stories ever written.
The Enid Blyton Society has a collection of quotes that their forum users believe show a sense of Enid’s personality and morality coming through in her works, and again, I’d recommend my readers to have a look around their website if you have an appetite for further reading on Enid Blyton and her stories
My favourite thus quote thus far is for when things are going wrong in life – “The best way to treat obstacles is to use them as stepping-stones. Laugh at them, tread on them, and let them lead you to something better.”
Advert by Stella (ugh), and deliberately a viral (ugh) but still great – mainly due to Flo and the concept itself.
The advert is part of Stella’s “le recyclage de luxe show” campaign.
You are currently browsing the DarkAeon's Demented Declamations blog archives for November, 2009.
DarkAeon’s Random Twitterings
|
Old MySpace Blog (please visit musicalmadgari on MySpace for full blog!) Last.Fm
