Host with the Most (toys)

I am sure there are other tales I should be throwing at you. I had no access to this for nearly two weeks ... my life cant be that empty!!
Um..
We went and saw the theatre last week where the Welsh Final for the one act festival is being held. Looks lovely on the website. Bit of a shit hole in reality. With no toilets backstage. And the audience chairs are a bit threadbare. really, no toilets backstage. And paint peeling off the walls of the auditorium. I mean, can you imagine having to hold your pre show nerves wee and poo from when they open the house at 6.00 until you go on at about 8.30? And we aren't even performing on the stage ... that's going to be used as a scenery store as they have no wing space. And did I mention no loo backstage? Not bad a venue for just your common or garden am dram production .... but this is the Welsh Final. I pity the poor fuckers who are travelling for about 5 or 6 hours down from North Wales ... but would like to be there to see their faces - it will be quite a picture.

Weds night was GREAT FUN! Our 7.00 - 8.00 walk in period sold out. Completely. By about 6.45. So we had a few hundred people in the queue, with nothing for them to go and see unless they wanted to come back at 9.45 ... and then seats were limited. And I'm not being sarcastic. I genuinely enjoyed work. Disappointing people I feel are below me on the evolutionary ladder (we are the nearest cinema to Pontypridd you see) is something I take pleasure in. Call me twisted.

And did you see The Unicorn and the Wasp? Fuck me hard with a wheelbarrow! i LOVED it. I am not a huge Agatha Christie fan, I think I read about 10 of her books when I was 11 or so.... so a lot of references were lost on me, as I suspect they were the general public at large, but how can you not love such campery delicious goodness? Only Doctor Who can be a show like that one week and a twisted horror the next (well, two weeks .. as we have had Eurovision in between).

Yes .. Eurovision, now that's worth a paragraph.
It was all planned. Get a Chinese delivered (food, not some young oriental man) while we slowly get pissed laughing at the rest of the continent who actually take it seriously, Goddess bless them. Do you think we could find a chinky that was open? Could we buffalo! All closed for mourning for the earthquake. Which is fair enough .... but on a Saturday? Id have thought that was not a sound business decision. I have checked with a few friends ... nobody else had this problem - just Aber valley and Caerphilly. But its their choice and left me with fish and chips and pissed off before the night even began.
And how we laughed.
Spain .. Latvia ... France ... what the fuck was that about?
And why did our entry appear to be a re write of Sydney Youngbloods If Only I Could? Honestly ... go you tube them both and see if you agree.

Still, Silence in the Library tomorrow (followed by Forest of the Dead for me .. but you mortals have to wait a week MWAH HA HA HA!) and we are hosting KI'n'DA's ep night. we have themed it ... everybody needs to come dressed as a librarian. I have made little library cards (laminated and everything) for all attending and shall be cooking a lasagne. Expect reports after the weekend!

Technical Difficulties

Yes ... its been a while .... but basically I couldn't get on here for various reasons.

But now I can again it seems.

So whats been going on?
Well I had a week off last week and it was glorious weather. Rich was down to stay with us for a week and we had a great time. We finally got to do a decent amount of work on the comedy stuff we have been tinkering with for some time. Even though, I don't think you will ever hear our recording of I Know Him So Well. believe me, its for your own benefit.
But we did get a few other songs recorded .... and a large portion of Love of Monsters too .. with some bonus things that happened as we filmed that add a nice touch too.
We also spent a lot of time sat around eating and relaxing, which was cool as we both really needed it.
Dan is now off this week - and its pissing down! I picked the right week then!

Young Mr Leete is in town this week and we had a lovely chat and meet up last night, then it just so happened that my Fire Warden training was in his hotel, so we met for breakfast too!

reeto .. short n sweet ..... got to go to other job now and have a night of madness as its the first Orange weds for Sex & the City (meh) and Indy (loved!) and pissing down ... chaos will ensue!

Breathe Easy

Today is the first day I have not been coughing .... well .... maybe every 5 or ten minutes, but certainly not the continual hacking. I am probably back where I was about 4 weeks ago ... so perhaps that's how this works ..... or maybe, like before, just as I think I am better, it will knock me for six again.
Good news though - Watching the Magpies is officially in the Welsh Final for the one act festival. There was a bit of doubt on it as one of the other festivals top 2 plays scored extremely high, so may have pushed us out. Actually, they may still have pushed someone out - it just wasn't us! I'd better look at my script. Not really touched it since I came off stage a month ago! And as Kay became a Nan yesterday (William Gethin Baber, ickle dot of a baby), at least that is no longer hanging over things. There was some worry that the baby could come during festival, if early or late! We should be on the Friday .. but that isn't confirmed yet. And since its in Blackwood, its as close to home as its ever likely to be for me. And then we shall have to see if we make the British Final - in Swansea this year. The good news there is, that as the home team, we would go first on Friday ... so no fears of missing Doctor Who, as that's finale night. I could watch Who, then go to festival in case we won and I had to go onstage at the end of the night.
I now have my tickets for Indiana Jones next week. I am off work all week and Richie is coming down and we are going to be filming some stuff we have put together. Its actually going to be a tough schedule for us as we have a lot to achieve. But as I was quite adamant that I wanted to see Indy on day 1 and wanted gallery tickets, I had to book now to avoid disappointment. So we are at the 6.00pm showing - the first Dan could make after work. V excited. Also quite keen to see Speed Racer but goodness when I'll get there now.
And this afternoon I am off to take a brief for a chocolate factory. In my head I really want it to be a bit Willy Wonka..... I am sure the reality is going to be something of a let down.

Snot Fair

You may not want to read this if you are eating
So the flu that knocked me down a few weeks back came back with a vengeance over the course of Wednesday, meaning that by 4.00pm I was at home, in bed, coughing so hard it was causing me to retch and vomit. The earliest appt my GP could offer was Friday morning and as I was only getting worse, I took it and went along. He listened to my chest, looked down my throat, and while I sat there hacking away like a blue sky miner, he looked me square in the eye and told me I don't have a cough. That threw me. I am fairly sure, and given I live with me 24/7, that I have been coughing continually for some weeks now. But its not a cough. Its a Chinese strain of flu that has some completely unpronounceable name - C strain. No cure. Minimum of six weeks for it to pass through you. So in theory I only have about 8 days left now .....
Apparently the horrendous hacking is caused by the insane amounts of gunk being produced in the back of my head, dripping down my throat. So he prescribed super duper strength sudafed and told me to drink lots of water, rest over the weekend then go back to my usual routine from Monday.
Well, Friday was a day like I have never experienced. I pulled several muscles from the extent of the hacking and retching. Food and sleep were something I hadn't experienced since the wee hours of Wednesday .. but I finally managed to get some dinner down me on Saturday night .... and also managed something very close to a nights kip.
The pain and coughing continues, and breathing is difficult at times. Not to mention talking .... that comes in fits and starts .. but today, I finally feel like there is some improvement.
And of course, the weather the past 7 days has been utterly glorious. And from my bed and toilet, the view has been great.

Spoiled Brats

Darn my terrible all consuming desire to know everything and know it all NOW.
There are spoilers aplenty winging their way electronically around the world as we speak, for the finale arc for the current series of Doctor Who. And of course, as much as I'd like to say I didn't, I read them. I am a ming mong. Oh dear. Do I join the growing throngs and post them here? Are they entirely accurate? I suspect a few choice points are but not the entire thing .... it seems to completely ignore the fact that the episode Midnight exists between Steven Moffats 2 part story and the Doctor Free ep for one thing.... but it wouldn't be too hard to edit the endings around to make that work, I am sure.
No, bugger it, I'm not telling you ..... they are out there if you want to find them.

And to top it all, after the opening show last night in Paris, I now also know almost every last limb movement for Kylie's X 2008 Tour. But that's ok ... I don't mind that so much.
Pictures can be seen here.
And this is the set list (with thanks to young David and Monsieur Leete)

Act 1: Xlectro Static
Speakerphone
Can't Get You Out Of My Head (Greg Kurstin Remix) (with excerpts of "Boombox" (an unreleased song from X)
Ruffle My Feathers
In Your Eyes

Act 2: Cheer Squad
Heart Beat Rock
Wow
Shocked (with excerpts of "Lose Control" (an unreleased song from X)

Act 3: Xposed
Like A Drug
Slow (with excerpts of "Free" from Impossible Princess)
The One
2 Hearts

Act 4: Black verus White
On A Night Like This
Kids
Step Back In Time
In My Arms
Love at First Sight

Act 5: Naughty Manga Girl
Sometime Samurai (Video Projection)
Come Into My World (Fischerspooner Mix)
Nu-di-ty
Sensitized

Act 6: Starry Nights
Into the Light
I Believe in You (Ballad Version)
Cosmic

Act 7: Beach Party
Loveboat (from Light Years)
Copacabana
Taprobane
Spinning Around

Encore
No More Rain
All I See (Acoustic Version)

Ooh Doctors Daughter!

There we go, bank holiday weekend done with. Including a bastard of a migraine Sunday night, which lingered and left me feeling rough as fuck all day Monday.
And now, for Doctor Who continuity sake, I need to go all out of order. But that's dealing with time travel for you.
Saturday night and KI'n'DA's military themed party for The Poison Sky. What larks! Our lovely hosts Richie and Jeff put on a great night, with karaoke (I sang Cher. Well, sang is pushing it .. growled is more like it. And I was the only sober person who sang .... and its just as well they had all been drinking to put up with my wailing) quizzes on the playstation thing - that I won both times I played - and an extensive tour of the library from Jeff. Which is two units, but worthwhile all the same. And we all passed round a fake Tera Patrick arse and pussy doll that was delivered to them by mistake. And we played with the vibrating bits to much amusement. And of course, we all gathered to watch The Poison Sky. And how cool was that? particular highlights include 'back of the neck', Sylvia's no nonsense axe business, the fire in the sky (which surely would have burned up all the oxygen in our atmosphere?) and the latest surprise Rose.
Now, I have been thinking .... is Rose looking for the Doctor to warn him of the impending theft of planet Earth (see missing planets theory), or has she come back from the events which are due (we think) in ep 11 when the Doctor himself is stolen? Time will tell. What a cracking two parter!
But on Friday night, I had the privilege of watching this coming weeks episode, The Doctors Daughter.
Wow.
The boards are alight with speculation about this daughter and where she may have come from ... and a few people are going to be gutted. Stop now if you don't wish to know.
She is made from a chunk taken from the Doctors hand ... not in the jar, but the one still on his arm. It uses technology to form all the bits it needs and forms a fully grown female, ready for battle. So she isn't a pre existing daughter, she is born there and then with the Doctor effectively Mother and Father to her. She does have two hearts, but is she a time lord? The Doctor is very nasty and bitter towards her at first, saying that every time he looks at her, he remembers his real family who are now all gone - and its in these moments that DD excels. The main story about warring factions of Humans and Hath didn't set my world alight ... but the consequences from it, the smaller character moments it gives Donna and the Doctor are what really stand this out. And the minor twist .. such as it is ... about the war, is something I doubt anyone will see coming.
And what becomes of the daughter? Can you say spin off?

From New York to LA

This song has been stuck in my head since seeing Pam Ann last week .. and I love it!
In other news. Iron Man.
What fun!
Great comic book adventure movie. The effects are great, even if the story does feel like a big set up for a franchise .. but aren't they all these days?
There are lots of very nice nods for Marvelites .... the SHIELD running joke is superb, if a tad obvious to anyone who has read any related comic material.
Robert DJ is a very dry Tony Stark, equally at home with his humour as his serious moments. A lot of the performance is in his eyes, a sign of a great actor. So glad he was cast - this would have been shit with a Cruise/Pitt/Clooney in the starring role. And Jeff Bridges is very woof. Who knew he'd make such a nice Daddy? Gwyneth makes a very sweet Pepper, all fawning eyes and sighs.
Iron Man isn't a comic I have read a great deal of (mainly just Civil War really) but I feel this does the characters justice.
Pus we had a brand new Indy trailer that I didn't even know was coming. I think I had a bit of wee come out i was so excited. Also had the new Hulk trailer. Meh. I liked Ang lee's one frankly.