The cheeky sods.

Sonisphere's announcement last week was for their European festivals and not the UK one! They held true to their promise mind. Haha.

First Sunday rehearsal for Titanic for me, although I really should keep my room more organised. If I had, I  would have been able to locate my schedule and known that I was needed at midday. Not ten in the morning. I could have been in bed for another two hours instead of getting up at 7.30! But hey, what's done is done, and the rehearsal went well - Act 1 has been done in three weeks. Just the second one to do now in the next three weeks. I won't lie, my vocal chords are begging for mercy - they can't wait for March 10th when it's over. Speaking of March 10th, the show runs from Wednesday 7th until then. Tickets are £12, £8 for concession and it's being held at the Redgrave Theatre in Clifton. You should all come down and support us - the link is here.

My grades have fallen from last year - I'm currently averaging 58.71. Last year it was 65 exactly. Really need to up my game in this second semester if I am to keep up my high standards. So far I've achieved 50, 50, 58, 60, 60, 66 and 67 in my assessments - I'd like to get everything else this year at 60 or above if possible.

Loneliness is a bitch isn't it? I seem to find myself feeling it quite a lot again. No fault of anyone else's, I should stress - we all have our own lives to lead and we are all close to different people and closer to others. I just feel out of the loop with quite a few dfferent social groups. The one that's particularly painful is my church group - I miss all their crazy souls and I won't be able to go back to Gloucester for a while yet, what with rehearsals and the like. If they came to visit me though, that would be wonderful...

And finally, FINALLY, we have a good review for The Secret of Monkey Island, one of the plasy that we took up to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year. Just click here to view the whole thing.

Laters xx

Good intentions

I am going to try and update every week on Saturday/Sunday now. I don't know why I've got so slack recently, probably due to the fact that we are now back into lectures and along with rehearsals for Titanic, I am quite tired when evening comes around and thinking about what to write is a little bit beyond my reach. Although that doesn't account for the ten days in between my last blog post and lectures starting, for which I apologise.

Titanic is going well, I've literally just come back from another rehearsal: I have been cast in the musical as The Major, a sixty-something retired army officer travelling first-class to the 'States, for reasons unknown as they are not mentioned at all within the dialogue or the songs. It's a nice little acting role that I hope to do full justice with, although it has caused great amusement that the main basis for my role is Major Archibald Butt, who sailed on the actual ship and gave his place up on a lifeboat for some women and consequently went down with the ship. So I am unofficially Major Butt. Yeah. I found out today though that me and my fellow first-class men will be allowed to smoke real cigars on stage during the run, which is a very interesting development. Sadly the brandy we drink will be merely apple juice, but hey, you can't have everything, right?

Sonisphere are making an announcement this week, which is good because I can now weigh up if I want to go to it as well as Download or not at all. Download, by the way, announced 14 new bands this week, including Machine Head, Tenacious D, Lamb of God, DevilDriver and The Devin Townsend Project. It's a very strong lineup already and I'm looking forward to seeing how Sonisphere respond to this. I don't get the hate towards Chase and Status playing above Machine Head and below headliners The Prodigy on the Friday night though. Firstly, The Prodigy probably chose them as Special Guests, and that's fair enough. Secondly, Machine Head were offered to headline the second stage or play third on the main stage and chose the latter, so evidently they're happy with their position on the bill. Also, Chase and Status may have their roots firmly embedded in drum 'n' bass, but there are definite rock influences coming through and by rights that makes them suited to a ROCK festival. Or am I missing the point? Plus, metalstep, or dubstep metal, will be the big thing in 2012, I'm sure of it. Enter Shikari will be playing arenas by the end of the year and people like Skrillex will collaborate with many other metal bands and bring the new genre to the foreground. It's my belief that the aforementioned metalstep along with the 'djent' movement that began last year will lead the way as we go into 2013. Which we will, because the world isn't gonna end.

My course has started well, really enjoying being back and getting stuck into work. Looking at Hamlet in Shakespeare, which means I've now studied it for the third year in a row. A bit of a bore, you might think, but it's my favourite play of all time and I love studying it from any angle, however I admit I'm getting slightly sick of it now. Ways is gearing us towards performing Sarah Kane's 448 Psychosis which I can't wait to do. Creative Writing is as it sounds, and in Representing we looked at Clowning and how it is incorporated into political protests with comical yet considerable effect. So that' all good.

A small downer as I bring my post to a close - yesterday was the fourth anniversary of my Grandad's death. He battled with dementia for the last seven years of his life and it was horrible to see a man of his prescence and intelligence deteriorate into a shadow of his former self. However, I know that his legacy will live on and his memory shines ever brighter, and that one day I will join him and the rest of my family in Glory with his memory restored. I miss you man, but I never stopped loving you.

Laters xx

50 Not Out

Apparently this is my 50th point, so well done me for getting this far I guess.

Anyway, my first post of 2012 as well (I almost wrote 2010, then 2011 there, oops). How have your NY resolutions gone? Better than mine I hope! Well, officially, mine won't start until the 16th when the new semester kicks off. I know, I know, that's more or less allowing me an extra two weeks of indulging, but it's when I start to adhere to my new timetable. Hopefully with a routine to get into I can actually get into a lot of good habits and allow them to pe part of my lifestyle, not least getting up at 8am every morning. That'll be the big step, once I can do that and shift my sleeping pattern  back I'll be cruising.

Sonisphere are starting to piss me off, as it's now January 6th and they haven't made an announcement on who's playing. I guess it's more the people baying for bands that is annoying me - if they had half a mind they'd understand that various contracts have to be signed and then they can be revealed etc etc etc, and that Soni probably want to announce but simply cannot do so right now. I'm going regardless, it's a fantastic festival and I wouldn't miss it for the world.

I have a new hair colour - I am a brunette, although only the females of our species seem to notice, or at least point it out which I consider rather odd. I don't care if I sound really femenine on this point, but I love my hair currently - right length, right style. It mae me feel good about myself, makes me feel handsome, which boosts my self-confidence. That's a good thing, right?

Iron Maiden's 'The Final Frontier' is blazing out of my laptop speakers right now. It's easy to see why it was voted the best album of 2010 in Metal Hammer - 76 minutes of pure gold. Almost halfway through it, on Track 5 out of 10 currently. I find something new about it with every listen - it's great, such a layered album. You can't give this thing one listen because you'll barely scratch its surface. It's once you've played it through three or four times that you finally understand why it's a brilliant record. If they headline Sonisphere I will explode  with glee.

Feeling rather tired for some reason. I'm off for a lie down, then off out this evening.

Laters xx