And so, the end is near...

You will all get a special update tomorrow about Titanic - tonight is the final night and I am due on the bus in just over two hours. But for now, here's an update on the life of Elliot!

Quitting smoking has gone very well. I admit I have had my slip-ups, but in some way this is really good - the fact that, after having the odd cigarette, I haven't fallen back into my old ways means that I don't HAVE to in the future - I can go on being a lot healthier and things. So that's all good.

Sonisphere have FINALLY announced a lineup! And I have to say - WHAT a lineup! Three exclusive headline performances from KISS, Queen and Faith No More, with other appearances by Evanescence, Tim Minchin, The Darkness, Mastodon (performing latest album 'The Hunter' in full), Marilyn Manson, Within Temptation, Wolmother, Black Stone Cherry and LOADS more. It's not got the lineup that Sonisphere has had in the last three years, but it's still incredibly strong. Here's hoping I can go.

I'm getting by on my work: I've lost a lot of confidence in myself recently with everything I do, but I guess that's just because I've been focusing on other things in the last couple of weeks. Lots of assignments coming up soon but I should get through them with little trouble at all.

A few of the guys on my course went out last week in town. It was great to spend some time with my coursemates as I never really go out with them, always going out with the Drama Society when I do hit the town, but it was a really good night, and the 4:30am bedtime suggested that too. I also tried a wonderful cider called Black Dragon, a Welsh concoction that is 7.2% strong and a pint I was forced to down to 'Save the Queen'. Somehow, I didn't have a hangover, which considering what I drank is a great effort.

I have really got into playing Civilization II recently, the second of Sid Meier's series. I absolutely love it, it's a brilliant game and hopefully I won't have to use cheat mode to get through it in the near future.

Many congratulations to Terri Hammond and Daisy Cochran for winning the race to St. Matthias Campus Officer for next academic year - you're going to do a sterling job, I'm sure of it. Comiserations to Pip Hyland and Richard Gibson who finished runners up. Also, big condolences to Tom Renhard who sadly did not gain the position of SU President for next year. You're going to go onto bigger and better things in the future.

Right, I'm off to get ready and then out for the day! I will most likely be sleeping tomorrow, but will post on the highs and lows of Titanic at some point.

Laters xx 

Special post: Guns N' Roses - Not Always 'Welcome to the Bumble'

They were rightly labelled as the most dangerous band on the planet. Their debut album is regarded as one of the best ever, the two follow up albums sat at #1 and #2 simultaneously on release week and the peak came in 1992 when they co-headlined an arena tour with none other than Metallica.

After that, the story doesn’t go according to plan. A breakdown in band communications saw every member but the singer replaced. The follow up to their 1994 covers album didn’t surface until 2008. Live shows were marred by walkouts, late start times, constant cancellations and generally poor onstage conduct. And today, Guns N’ Roses announced a new UK arena tour in May of this year that was greeted with apathy and overall disinterest, many hoping that the band’s induction to the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame will rekindle a ‘classic’ lineup reunion.

Now, I cannot say that the band are completely blameless: I think singer Axl Rose needs his ego deflated significantly and a good look in the mirror. But I would like to take this opportunity to make a solid case for why you should see the band on tour this year and not pass up the opportunity.

Firstly, the whole situation regarding the lineup. The countless comments of, “It’s not GnR, it’s Axl and Friends/The Axl Rose Band/Axl and his massively inflated ego (delete as appropriate)” and “No Slash=No GnR” are just moronic. I say to these people: grow up, get over it and move forward a good 15-20 years. Alright, so the ‘classic’ lineup has been completely demolished, but out of the eight current members, 5 have been a part of the band for ten years or more – Axl, Dizzy Reed, Tommy Stinson, Richard Fortus and Chris Pitman: Stinson has actually now been bassist longer than Duff McKagan was. Yes, there have been a lot of changes: since the classic lineup that released ‘Appetite for Destruction’, GnR have gone through ten guitarists, two bass players and five drummers (adding two keyboard players in the process) but half of the lineup has been stable since Pitman’s addition in May 1998 (Fortus joined in July 2002). To me, that says a lot. Plus, as far as I’m concerned, it’s the only Guns N’ Roses I ever knew.

Onto the live shows. People complain about Axl’s conduct and rightly so: a tendency to walk off if bottles are thrown, taking to the stage up to three hours late, being out of breath and out of tune. The setlist comprises a huge amount of jams and solos that could quite easily have additional songs added. Plus, with a ticket price of around £50 standard, the question for value-for money comes up quite a lot. However, I think that as long as you book the following day off work then you should definitely go. It IS a gamble, I won’t lie, and the chances of them taking to the stage on time are less than zero, but they know how to put on a show. Axl still has the energy of when he was younger, if not the physique, and there is a huge amount of special effects and levels upon the stage to give a great show to anyone who goes to see them. I also feel that with so many members the sound is a lot fuller than when it was the ‘classic’ band, although that’s just my opinion. Plus, having watched videos of them from New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas, they are far better than the trainwreck to show up at Reading and Leeds in 2010.

As for the potential of a classic lineup reunion – I often bring the point up that bands like Iron Maiden and Motorhead only have one original member and you don’t  see people calling them ‘Lemmy and Co.’ or ‘The Steve Harris Experience’, to which they reply ‘Yeah, but they haven’t dragged the band’s name through tons of shit just for the money’. I put this to you: how many bands that have reformed are NOT doing it JUST for the money? Regardless of whether they release new albums or not, if they say they’re not doing it for the money then they’re lying through their teeth. It would be the same here: a classic reunion does not interest me in the slightest. And let’s be honest and realistic, the reunion won’t happen: Slash is enjoying his work as a solo artist, Duff has his band Loaded and plays in Velvet Revolver alongside Slash, Steven recently published his autobiography and Izzy is content on his own. Plus, I cannot see Axl turning around to every member of the current GnR lineup and saying “The classic lineup is back; you’re all fired.” I wouldn’t put it past him, but I really cannot see him doing it. I think that the lineup will be reunited, shake hands and make everyone believe they’ve buried the hatchet, then go back to their separate projects afterwards and not think about it again.

So, Guns N’ Roses in May? Yeah, I think people should go if they haven’t seen the band before. I know it’s a risk, but I think one last chance to let them redeem themselves is needed. If they fail you this time then you have every right to wash your hands of them. But I fully believe that you would see a far better show to any classic reunion. Let the King do his thing, embrace the classic hits and see Guns N’ Roses in the UK in May.

Fury of the Storm of Life

No Dragonforce pun intended - I've genuinely had a tough couple of weeks, but hopefully things will be better from now on.

So, on Wednesday just gone I lost the Vice President election at the Drama Society AGM. I tried my absolute best as well: posters, flyers, even a campaign video, all to no avail which was very painful. It's added the icing on a cake of trials and tribulations this academic year, with a lot of rocky patches for me to face. All I need is to fail in my bid to get on a capped module in my Options preferences and there's the big fat cherry on top. Nevertheless, I send my heartiest congratulations to the new Committee and I have total faith that they will steer the Drama Society ship through next year.

It's not getting any easier for two weeks either on my front. Titanic is now only a fortnight away. This has led to the most distressing of events: my hair has been lopped off in order to fit the role I have. It was a very sad occasion as I had been growing it for almost a year and now it's gone. But hey, it'll grow back. On with Titanic again - rehearsals are now comprising full run-throughs, with six in a row starting tomorrow and running until the Friday. Then it's performance week, two final run-throughs on Monday and Tuesday and then six actual performances from the 7th-10th March to hopefully six sell-out audiences. Add this to rehearsals starting for two of my modules and you wouldn't think that I actually had a reading week coming up and had no lessons.

I have also decided to give up smoking for Lent. A big decision and one that I know will be incredibly tough, but I am sure I can get through it. My only contact with tobacco is coming from the cigars I have to smoke on stage for Titanic - other than that I'm going to do my utmost to go cold turkey.

Does anyone reading this watch Take Me Out? It's a proper funny show. If you don't, essentially a single guy tries to impress 30 single women in the hopes of getting a date with them. Each girl has a box in front of them with a light. If they don't like the guy, they turn their light off, hence the catchphrase 'No likey, no lighty'. If every girl turns their light off it's a Blackout and the guy goes away single-handed. If he keeps one or more of the girls interested long enough for three rounds, he assures himself of a date and gets the chance to choose the girl himself by turning off THEIR lights. It's funny because some of the women are complete airheads and say the stupidest of things, and some of the guys are complete dicks too. If a date is secured, the couple go off for a date on an island called 'Fernando's', and everyone sees how they got on.

What gets on my nerves is there's one woman on there called Gracie who seems really lovely and genuine, yet she can't find the right person. She's had her light turned off several times by guys, including today when she was in the final two and still was turned down. I know that one man's trash is another man's treasure and everyone has their own tastes, but she really deserves a guy. However, what I like is that every single person has a job, is making a career for themself. And if there's one thing I cannot understand, it's why so many guys who may have a job, treat women right and are intelligent and funny are left single, whilst bums who sponge off the government and count the days until their 15 minutes of fame on The Jeremy Kyle Show are in relationships with people who could do a lot better than them.

Yeah, there's probably quite a lot of bitterness laced into that last statement: my wait for the right person is taking its toll on me and seeing couples is proving most frustrating at the minute. However, I know that she is out there somewhere and she will appear at the most random of times and steal me away. Who knows, we may know each other already, and our time is just not quite right. That would be a nice surprise.

Until then though, I can only wait, because she will appear. I admit I'm not the coolest, the funniest, the most handsome or the greatest, but I am very good at being myself. And one day, myself will be the perfect match for someone. Let's hope it's sooner rather than later, eh?

Laters xx

Procrastination at its finest

I should be doing an essay. It's due in a week today. So, I've decided to start by updating my blog. My mum once said to me I could 'make a tune out of a wet fish'. And it's true to an extent - I have a natural ability to hear a sound that is repeating itself over and over (a squeak as a tumble dryer spins, for example) and immediately start making up beats and little rhymes that go in between each 'squeak' until I have some rudimentary tune. And it's the same with essays - I have a brilliant ways of finding new and imaginative ways of wasting time I could be spending researching online, finding quotes in books and planning. I will do some today, I've actually had a rather productive day so far. But I knew I needed to update here first as I didn't yesterday.

I reshuffled my MP3 today. This is a time-consuming and slow exercise that would not be necessary if I had an iPod. Essentially, I have about 25/26GB of music on my computer at home. When I want to reshuffle my MP3, I have to choose what songs from this collection I want to fit onto a 4GB player. All my Iron Maiden would fill half of it. And because everything has to be in alphabetical order, I have to delete every folder and put them on again, one after the other. Also, to avoid disappointment, I have to work out how big each folder is and then add them up so I can fit it all on. Yeah, it's laborous, but worth it in the end. However, having a 160GB iPod would cover it all in one shot, and would set me up for life more or less - my music collection is only gonna grow.

Did you have snow this weekend just gone? We did, but then it rained and washed it all away. Still, on the bright side, we've avoided all the chaos and disruption that other places have had. Disruption which led to rehearsal on Sunday being cancelled, not that it mattered to me as I wasn't needed. Instead, I was a guest on the Drama Soc Radio Show on a Sunday. I loved it, always loved being on the radio and it was great to sit with a few mates for two hours in a small booth and chat rubbish.

One last thign before I go and actually DO some work: everyone should get one of these.

Laters xx

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